Pastor’s Letter | The Epiphany of the Lord

Posted on January 12, 2023 View all Pastor's Letter

Dear parishioners,

This week Christmas time ends, with important celebrations, the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord. This Sunday in the Epiphany of the Lord; Jesus manifests Himself to all people as a sign that His incarnation is universal, for all, on this very special Sunday let us pray for the unity of nations and especially for unity in our country, so that there are no more divisions, instead we create bonds of unity and peace. In the wise men all the nations of the earth are manifested and they are the sign of humanity’s desire to seek God and His salvation. Hopefully, like these wise men, we let ourselves be guided by the star of truth that guides us to Jesus, the absolute truth.

Also, next Monday, January 9th, we celebrate the feast of the Lord’s baptism, with this feast we end Christmas time, and begin Ordinary Time. At Christmas Jesus manifests His deep love for humanity that with great love He comes to save. This celebration invites us to meditate on our Christian reality and our baptismal commitment, through this sacrament we become children of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven, it is a day to meditate on this grace; at the same time let us remember the day of our baptism and pray also for the priest or deacon who baptized us.

After having celebrated Christmas and the end of the year, we have to return to the reality of our parish life, this new year we have to propose goals and dreams that inspire us to keep walking, and not allow difficulties to stagnate us and separate us from the grace of God. We have to have confidence in the God who gives us life, for this we have to feed ourselves with the bread of the body and the blood of Jesus, participating in the Eucharist; frequent confession also helps us to have inner strength to continue and maintain peace and friendship with Him. In this new year we will continue working on the formation of ministries; we will place more emphasis on spirituality and prayer. Together with the pastoral council we will seek to give more life to the ministries and parish groups- your commitment is important to carry out all these evangelization projects.

Also, as many already know, last November our bishop inaugurated the second year of jubilee in our diocese in preparation for the fifty years of its establishment as a diocese. This year will be dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the theme is: “My soul rejoices in the Lord” therefore, all our formations and pastoral activities will be directed in the yes of Mary, as our mother, our Queen and our intercesor. In the bulletin and in the weekly email you will receive some Marian messages and reflections.

Finally, I invite all men to come together in a parish men’s meeting that we will hold once a month to pray and reflect on different faith issues. The first meeting will be on Saturday, January 14th at Hannan Hall after the 8:00am mass. We will have as a speaker Father Noah Morey, chaplain of Bishop Ireton High School, the theme will be, “Mary’s Yes in God’s project”. I hope many of you can attend. We will do these meetings every two months.

God bless you,

Fr. Alex