Dear Parishioners,

I was reflecting the other day of how grateful I am to be back in parish work and assigned here at Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. How good to the see the life of parish families – people who have been here since day one and those who are new members, those who come for the winter months and call this home. A parish is a place of encounter. First with God, but then with the Church, the people of God. The Church and our Sunday worship of God is a great reminder to us that God is part of our daily lives.

Dear Parishioners,

We are now on our short journey in ordinary time in the Church. The root of the word ordinary comes from the word order. The focus for this short period is Ordinary Holiness—Ordinary Lives. Meaning, recognizing that holiness is about living lives that have a natural order toward God and Godly things. The Church provides that structure and order.

As a priest, I’m amazed how happily married couples remember the tiniest details of their earliest encounters. They effortlessly report things like: “he wore a blue shirt,” “we ordered brussels sprouts,” “her hair was up in a bun,” and “he spilled shrimp cocktail sauce at my family’s open front door when it was ten degrees below zero,” (that one’s courtesy of my mom). We delight in remembering and speaking of when our new life of love began. The little details are glorious reminders that it’s all real.

Dear Parishioners,

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany this weekend we are in the last days of the Christmas Season. This day reminds us of two things; first, the message of Christ is meant to reach far and wide to distant lands; second, the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh have a deep meaning of who Jesus is and what the wise men believe. Gold is meant for a King, frankincense is used to honor the holy and divine and myrrh is an oil used to anoint the body at death. Each reveal something about this Newborn Child and His destiny for all mankind.

Dear Parishioners,

I pray that this Christmas season is filled with peace and joy for you and your family. It is important to remember Christmas is not a day—but a season of joy. It is a time we as Christians focus on the gift of a God who became flesh and dwelt among us. He reveals Himself in simplicity and humility. This is how God acts and exposes His Divine Love. It is true, beautiful and good….human hearts are drawn to this mystery in the infant Jesus and the Holy Family.

Dear Parishioners,

This bulletin reflection is for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, that this year is one full day! It has been a beautiful journey to ready ourselves for the coming of Our Lord; to Be Watchful—Be Alert—Listen. As we now prepare in our final day to celebrate Christmas...the Birth of Christ our Savior.

Dear Parishioners,

We continue our Advent journey and once again hear from John the Baptist this weekend. He reminds us that he came to testify to the lights, to Jesus. He was not the light but the one who prepares the way for the light, for others to encounter the deep love and mercy of Jesus.

Dear Parishioners,

It is the second week of our Advent Journey and we continue our efforts to “Be Watchful-Be Alert-Listen”. Trusting that God is speaking to His people through His Son, His Spirit and His Church. The readings from the Prophet Isaiah during Advent are hopeful and comforting. They were written for a people in exile during the Babylonian captivity. These people deeply longed to be saved, to see God’s face and to be set free. It is a message that finds its fulfillment in Jesus, Emmanuel—God with us. The one who shows us the face of God, the one who saves us and sets us free.

Dear Parishioners,

O Come, O Come Emmanuel. This common chant/song helps us to understand a key part of the Advent season, as we recognize that Emmanuel means, “God is with us.” It is an Advent song that we sing with longing for God to be with us, for a deepening of our faith, hope and love. We as a people know and celebrate that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth and suffered, died and rose in Jerusalem and ascended to heaven; but we still wait for Him to perfect all things when He comes again.

Dear Parishioners,

This weekend is the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe or what we have more often called, Christ the King. While Christ has always been King, the Feast was not instated until 1925 by Pope Pius XI in response to the growing secularism and atheism in the world. During this time in Mexico, Russia and other parts of Europe there were militant secularistic regimes that threatened and persecuted the Catholic Church. In Mexico, many faithful Catholics called the “Cristeros” were martyred for the faith and the great cry “Viva Cristo Rey” became their last words. They kept Christ the King as the center of their lives despite anti-Christian governments.

Dear Parishioners,

This coming week we gather with friends and family to celebrate the American holiday—Thanksgiving. It is a beautiful holiday to stop and give thanks—to be grateful in this fast paced world that is often more ready to criticize and complain than give thanks. Of course, we as Catholics give thanks every time we gather for Eucharist...we are truly thanksgiving people.

St Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This can be hard if we see gratitude or thanksgiving as an emotion rather than a virtue. Christian thanksgiving does not depend on circumstances but on practices and habits we develop by always looking for the good and trusting in God.

Dear Parishioners,

One of my favorite quotes is from Saint Augustine, Bishop in the late 4th and early 5th century.

“Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying, but let us live well, and the times shall be good. We are the times, such as we are, such are the times.”

Dear Parishioners,

As you read this I hope the Diamondbacks have clinched the World Series title. A worldly hope, but none the less a hope. What is Christian hope? This week at morning Mass, St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, speaks of hope, “for in hope we were saved.” It also speaks of “creation groaning” in this life, much like we groan when we watch the news these days...hoping for peace, for the respect of human life and care for those most vulnerable. As Christians, we groan as we wait in hope for God’s fulfillment.