The month of February is a very busy month for us and I want to mention just a few of the events coming:

1. This Thursday, is the Feast of St. Blaise and we will celebrate the Blessing of Throats after the 9am Mass and after a Mass at 6:00pm.
2. Next Saturday the Order of Malta will again host the World Day of Prayer for the Sick Mass here at St. Bernard, televised on EWTN. Bishop Olmsted will be here and anointing is available for those who are seriously ill. Also, on Sunday at our 9am Mass the Knights of Columbus will remember and honor those knights who have died this past year.
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Just a reminder: As you all know, the COVID problems continue and seem to be getting worse again. I worry that another “mutation or variant” will develop if we do not get this under control. With that said, I am again asking you to consider wearing masks as much as possible for your own safety and the safety of others. Also, please be aware of coughing and runny noses at Mass, especially among children. Our other parishioners get concerned if this occurs near them.

Last week I mentioned some of our liturgical ministries that need some help. Actually, all ministries always need new members as some either move away or decide to stop because of age or other reasons. The strength of a parish community comes from our volunteers and as we get busier we can always use more help.

Today is the Baptism of the Lord and the end of the season of Christmas. From now on we will walk with Jesus through his adult life and ministry. It is a time to listen and learn from our Lord. Although we call this time “Ordinary Time” there is nothing ordinary about it; actually the word comes from “ordinal” or “counted time”.

Christmas season is such a wonderful time with so many great feasts helping us remember the wonder of God’s great gift to us. Saturday is, or was, the feast of Mary the Mother of God; usually this is a obligatory feast but not this year since it fell on a Saturday . Sunday is the feast of the Epiphany, which signifies God’s being made present among us.

Next weekend we begin our annual Charity and Development Appeal for the various ministries in the Diocese of Phoenix. This is an important appeal for the witness of Christ in the works of our Diocese. I ask you all to prayerfully commit to helping these ministries in these critical times. Our parish goal is again $260,000.

It is hard to believe that Christmas is over… Wait, we are Catholics and Christmas is season until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This year that is Sunday, January 9. So keep celebrating!!

Today is the feast of the Holy Family; it is important to remember that the Holy Family is not simply Jesus, Mary and Joseph. God is our Father, Mary is our Mother, and Jesus is our brother… we are also part of the Holy Family by adoption.

Next weekend we celebrate Christmas, the fulfilled promise of our God to come to us, and we look forward to His coming again in glory. Most of our Christmas Masses will be on Christmas Eve, as usual.

I hope you are having a wonderful Advent season. It seems like our parish Advent is more busy than usual, and I am always talking about slowing down in Advent. Oh well…

Today, Sunday we have our celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe at our 9:00am Mass followed by a brunch. This afternoon at 3:00pm we will enjoy our Advent Concert given by our music ministry. On Wednesday Julie Carrick will be with us again sharing faith and music as only she can do.

We are beginning Advent; for the Church this is the beginning of a new liturgical year. Advent is the time of preparation to receive the gift of the Incarnation of the our Lord. It is not Christmas yet! I usually advise our groups to celebrate Advent rather than Christmas. For Catholics, Christmas is a season following the birth of our Lord. For secular folks, Christmas starts sometime in the Fall and concludes with Christmas Day.

Let me continue last week’s meditation from the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council:

“While the Church helps the world and herself receives much from the world, she has one object in view: the coming of God’s kingdom and the salvation of the whole human race. Every good that the people of God in the course of its earthly pilgrimage can confer on the human family derives from the fact that the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation, revealing, and at the same time bringing into operation, the mystery of God’s love for all people.

One of the documents from the Second Vatican Council is the pastoral constitution on the Church in the Modern World; I want to share a part of that with you this week and next:

“The way in which the earthly and the heavenly city interpenetrate each other can be recognized only by faith; indeed, it remains a mystery of human history, that is, of a history always troubled by sin until the glory of the sons of God is fully revealed.

In many parishes, November is the month to talk about your stewardship of God’s gifts. Last week I wrote about tithing and this week I want to mention another important subject.

This year, due to the uncertainty of the Covid virus and our increased activities, our budget is not balanced. We have a small deficit. One thing that helps us budget is our Faith Direct program that so many of you participate in. Faith Direct allows us to know how much we can expect each week; it also allows you to give even if you cannot attend Mass.