December
24, 2006
Cloaks
rolled in blood
My
Christmas Wish List
Here’s what I wish for this Christmas...
• Someone to rent our Convent Building now that Nassau County
is moving the police out (or else we’re
going to face severe debt)
• New boilers in our three oldest buildings (we’ll
get to save a lot if we do so). But for now I’m just hoping
we’ll get through the winter
• People who recommit to coming to church each week to be part
of our parish family
(actually this is the FIRST thing on my list,
but I thought I’d tuck it in here to surprise you!)
• You
(see the preceding item)
• Six more years of being pastor here
(my term as pastor runs out this June so I wrote
to Bishop Murphy to renew my stay here. I’m hoping for a positive
response.)
•Every parish family to complete their census if they didn’t
do that already
(we’re still trying to get a good “snapshot”
of who belongs).
Christmas
Collection
Did you know that our parish "survives" financially because
of the donations to our Christmas Fund collection? If you're reading
this online and you "visit" our parish from afar, I'd like
to invite you to support our parish with a donation to our Christmas
Fund. Mail contributions to :
St Brigid's Church
75
Post Ave
Westbury NY 11590
Thank you.
Online
Masses
We are now going to be able to stream masses and other events live over
the internet to homebound folks and to relatives who live in other lands.
If you’re interested in this, in this, click
here.
Away
at College?
Are you or your child away at college? At St. Brigid’s we like
to stay in touch via occasional e-mails as we send photos and news from
“home”. College students wishing to be connected through
our “Letters from home” can sign up online here
or you can mail or
e-mail thecollege names and e-mail addresses to Father Ralph and he’ll
put them on the list.
Census
Continues
Of the approximate 6,000 families we usually send mail to, we’ve
received completed Census booklets from over 4,000. So we’ve got
a ways to go.
Is your booklet in?
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
December
17: What About Us?
December
10: To Whom Do We Look?
December 3: Drowsy Hearts
November 26: Looking Ahead
November 19: Giving Thanks
November12: Putting Our
Two Cents Worth
November 5: Our Youth, Our
Hope
October 29: A Dark and Stormy
Night
October 22: Washington Trip
October 15: Marriage Help
October 8: Fall Fix Up
October 1: Cut Off Week
Sept 24:War Begins At Home
Sept 17: Who Do You Think
You Are?
Sept 10:God Be With You
Sept 3: Back to
School
August 27: Merry Christmas
August 20: Wine or No Wine
August 13: Mangia...
August 6: Mixed News
July 30: Impossibly Little
July 23: Come away!
July 16: Got a Mission?
July 9:Missing God
July 2: Jesus Interrupted
June 25: One Here, One to
Come
June 18: A Father's Gift
June 11: Charity Begins
At Home
June 4: Turning Silver
May 28: Eight Years •
Eight Months
May 21: If Any
May14: Celebrating Mothers
May 6: Celebrating Priests
April30: Baked Fish
April 23: What we hear
April 16: Out of the Tomb
April 9: Jesus, Our Source
of Peace
April 2: NOW, Can you Hear
Me?
Mar 26: Can You Hear Me
Again?
Mar 19: Can You Hear Me
Now?
Mar 12: Now Take 4Steps
March 5: Take A Step
Feb 26:Coming Home
Feb19: Visiting Heros
Feb 12: Passing Pastor
Feb 4: Annual Appeal
Jan 22: Abandoned Nets
Jan 15: Everlasting Life
Jan 8: I'm not going to
jail..
Jan 1: Happy New Year
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns from
2003
Columns from 2002
Ooh,
what a terrible title for a Christmas message! Yet every year at midnight
we listen to Isaiah’s prophecy that when the child is born, “every
boot that tramped in battle and every cloak rolled in blood shall be burned
as fuel...” In other words, the stuff of war will be done away with
when the Prince of Peace is born.
Oh, would that be true this Christmas!.
Yet our soldiers are still in harm’s way and the lives of people
of many nations are in grave danger tonight -- from the kidnapped children
of Haiti to the starved and brutalized people of the Sudan, to those in
our own homes whose dreams of a “normal” Christmas will be
ruined by screaming matches, sulking siblings, fresh grudges, family members
who won’t show up, those who do only to criticize and belittle...and
then there are those who will tolerate Christmas through a depressive
haze. Let’s face it -- many of us will have a lovely Christmas,
but many will suffer. Perhaps not “cloaks rolled in blood”
(thank God) but enough pain is in our midst that the words of Isaiah reach
right out and grab our lives and give us new hope.
Isn’t that why we’re
here now? We see hope in the rough story of Bethlehem where God comes
into the world in the midst of inhospitality and dung-scented hay. (If
I was God, and in control of the world I created, I would have arranged
things a little better. As it is, I stand in amazement before our God
who does not hide from the rude and disappointing realities of life.)
Christmas is full of hope because we see the first Christmas through the
eyes of the Risen Jesus who conquered not only his humble birth, but also
every kind of indignity and pain known to humanity, And he forgives all.
And seeks all so that he can walk beside each of us in our journey through
life. Is there something not-quite-right with your life? Well then, Jesus
runs to you. Will you accept him?
This Christmas can be focussed on our own “cloaks
rolled in blood” or on the divine friend who wants to burn all that
and bring us healing, freedom and peace instead.
Come, Lord Jesus!
And a blessed Christmas to you and your
family!
