Faith
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of mind and heartMy Dear People,
The Christmas Season ends today with the Baptism of the Lord. It may seem strange that in just a few short weeks, we went from Jesus, an infant in the manger, to Jesus, an adult entering public ministry. There are a lot of years between the newborn Jesus and age thirty.
As you know, little is known about the “growing up” years of Jesus. From the Scriptures we know that shortly after the birth of Jesus, the Holy Family fled to Egypt, where they lived until King Herod, who sought to kill the child Jeus, had died. Coming back to Israel, the Holy Family lived in Nazareth, roughly 90 miles north of Jerusalem. We know that from time to time they would go up to Jerusalem to the Temple. One Gospel story tells of Jesus who, unbeknown to Mary and Joseph, remained there after one of these visits. This greatly distressed the holy parents, but revealed Jesus’ awareness that God was his Father, who gave him a mission. We have to assume that St. Joseph died before Jesus began his public ministry, since he is not spoken of in the Gospels, only Mary is consistently present in the Gospels. We have to assume that Jesus lived as a carpenter and was faithful in practicing the Jewish faith, as he grew in wisdom and understanding of his “Father-given” mission and purpose. The Baptism of the Lord was a key point of his readiness and commitment to take his mission out into the world.
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the perfect place to end the Christmas Season and begin Ordinary Time for Jesus and for us. Through the Gospels, we see how the Baptism of Jesus propelled him into his ministerial life. We see his life, faithful to his Father’s will, unfold before us, step by step. It eventually leads to his passion, death, and resurrection. These same Gospels call us to faithfully and publically live out our Baptismal call to be united with Jesus in our ministerial journey. The “tidings of great joy” of Christmas keep us firm in our understanding of who Jesus is, why he came into our world, and what it means to believe in him, belong to him, and be united with him, in the “ordinary time” of our daily lives.
May the spirit of Christmas live on in your heart as you live out your daily life in Christ!
Fr. Bill
CHRIST MISSION APPEAL 2021-2022 RESPONSE REPORT (12/15/21)
St. John Paul II Parish received $30,125.01 in cash & pledges towards its goal of $46,490.62.
Christ the Good Shepherd received $41,700 in cash & pledges towards its goal of $57,063.
We sincerely and deeply appreciate your pledges and donations made to this important Appeal.
May God bless us in reaching our targets and in embracing our part in the Mission of Christ.
SINCERE GRATITUDE OF THE PEOPLE OF OUR PARISHES GOES OUT TO:- The men and women who gave so generously of their time and talents to decorating our Churches during Advent and Christmas. Please know that your work in setting up, maintaining, and taking down the seasonal decorations does not go unnoticed.
- Patrick Portner and David Hammond, the choir members, cantors, and soloists for their work in providing the music for the Advent and Christmas Seasons. We thank them for the extra work in putting together the Epiphany Christmas Concert. Music is an important part of our Liturgical celebrations and the spirit of Christmas.
A PRAYING OF THE ROSARY will begin next weekend in our Churches at precisely 35 minutes before each of the weekend Masses.
Saturdays: at St. John Paul II at 3:25p.m. and at Christ the Good Shepherd at 4:55 p.m.
Sundays: at St. John Paul II at 8:25 a.m. and at Christ the Good Shepherd at 9:55 a.m.
You are invited to come and pray this beautiful devotional prayer with your parish family.
The praying of the Rosary 35 minutes before the weekend Mass will allow for 10-15 minutes of quiet prayer time before the celebration of the Mass. For more information or to volunteer to lead the Rosary, please call (at Christ the Good Shepherd) Marianne Fehrman, (989) 799-9235; (at St. John Paul II) call Ruth Gomez 989-754-4289 or 989-284-8404, Margaret Gonzales 989-395-5550, or Elaine Schnepf 989-755-1028.
We will offer this praying of the Rosary from January 15 – February 27, at which time we will evaluate its participation and decide if we can continue to maintain its weekly praying or limit it to the Marian months of May and October.