Posted on December 16, 2022 View all Pastor's Letter
Dear parishioners,
Happy fourth week of Advent, time flies by and we are close to celebrating the Nativity of Our Lord. In this last week of preparation within Advent, the Gospel invites us to admire Saint Joseph, a truly good man, an exemplary man, husband and father. In Saint Joseph, we see that his attitude revealed faith and trust in God, and that this attitude prepared him to accept and believe in the angel’s announcement. Putting everything in balance, he was able to recognize his vocation and mission in those words he heard in his dreams: “Joseph, son of David, do not hesitate to receive Mary, your wife, into your home, because she has conceived by the Holy Spirit.” (Mt 1, 20). This is faith, it does not impose itself as an absolute truth on our intelligence, but rather it is something that requires humility in order to accept and go beyond our ability to understand. Many times God does not contradict our understanding, but his Truth is beyond our reach, and only with His grace can we reach it. May Joseph’s example help us trust and believe in the promises and challenges that God places in our lives.
Changing the subject. I congratulate in a special way the Hispanic ministries and groups that prepared a very beautiful celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe, they took great care in preparing the altar, organizing the mass and serenade for Our Lady- thank you for all the effort in preparing the food sale after the celebration. I am very happy with the assistance. Blessed be God and His Holy Mother for such a beautiful response. Congratulations to the groups for unity and working together.
This year, our Christmas celebrations will be a little different because they fall on a weekend, therefore; the schedules of the celebrations will be almost the same. On Saturday, December 24th, on Christmas Eve, we will have masses at the following times: 5:00pm in English, 8:00pm in Spanish and at 12:00am (midnight) we will celebrate the solemn Christmas mass, you are invited to participate. On Sunday, December 25th, we will have regular mass times, 8:00am, 10:00am, and 12:00pm, and 1:30pm in Spanish.
I also would like to remind you that for the Christmas holidays the parish office will be closed starting on December 26th, for employees to take a break; we will reopen on January 3rd, 2023. Therefore, if you wish to do anything in the office please do so before these days. And I remind you that the office is now open from 9:00am and closes as usual at 5:00pm. With a space of 45 minutes for lunch (12:00pm – 12:45pm).
Finally, I hope that this last week of Advent will be of much spiritual benefit. I look forward to seeing you this Monday December 19th at 7:00pm for the penitential act and confessions (Advent Penance Service). It will be a time of prayer, preparation and spiritual reflection.
May the child Jesus who is coming soon find us prepared to receive Him. I have you in my prayers.
Fr. Alex
