Search
-
Dear Friends in Christ,
A blessed, happy, and holy Christmas to all, and a heartfelt welcome to all who have joined us for this observance of the birth of our savior. The short Advent season this year brought the celebration of Christmas Eve and Day a little sooner than usual. Thankfully, our Catholic Tradition invites us to commemorate this wondrous mystery of God with us beyond Dec. 25th and well into the coming new calendar year, all the way to January 8th and the great feast of the Epiphany.
I’ve been blessed with 68 Christmas seasons filled with many special memories of faith, family, and friends. While I continue to enjoy the many tellings of the Christmas story, one has become especially dear to me in recent years. It comes in a scene from the French Film “Des hommes et des dieux, Of Gods and Men,” released in 2010. It tells the true story of a group of French Trappist Monks living in a primarily Muslim part of Algeria during a time of dangerous civil unrest in that country. On Christmas Eve day, a group of armed rebel terrorists break into the monastery to intimidate the monks. Their continued presence in the country at this point has posed a real threat to the monk's lives. After the terrorists leave, they gather for the celebration of Christmas Eve Mass. Though shaken and afraid about what may be coming, they place the infant child Jesus in the manager while they sing the following chant:
God has prepared the earth
like a cradle
for His coming from above.
This is the night,
the happy night in Palestine.
And nothing exists except the child,
except the child of life Divine.
By taking flesh of our flesh,
God our desert did refresh
and made a land of boundless spring.
In the midst of our own uncertainties and fears, may we join these monks in celebrating the peace that surpasses all understanding, Christ the Lord born once again into our hearts, our church, and our world. O come let us adore him!
Merry Christmas!
Fr. William Heric, Pastor
