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December 25, 2022Dear Parishioners
Merry Christmas to everyone! The day for which we have spent the last four weeks preparing has arrived. We remember this weekend, and for the next several days, that God took the much longer journey to us to save us. He did not come with a display of power or might, but instead as a helpless infant. He did not come in the palaces of the greatest empires of the time, but in a manger. He did not come on his own, but in a family. How blessed we are that God should come to us in this way. The mystery of Christmas cannot be celebrated in just one day. So for the next several days the Church celebrates the octave of Christmas. During those days I pray for a blessed and healthy Christmas to everyone.
Why did God choose to save us in such an extraordinary way? The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists several reasons why God became incarnate:
“…The Word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature. For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.”
Christmas means that we can become sons and daughters of God. Remarkably God took to Himself our human nature. Our minds are filled with awe knowing that the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipresent creator of the universe, who transcends time, squeezes himself in a manner of speaking, into a tiny, helpless baby. Similar thoughts can be had about the Mass and the transformation of the Eucharist. He does this to raise us to a higher level: to know and love as God loves. What an amazing gift to receive.
Our Christmas celebrations here at the parish would not have happened without the staff and volunteers who made these celebrations possible. Whether singing in the choir, playing instruments, decorating the church, setting up the liturgies as sacristans, reading at Mass, distributing Holy Communion, altar serving, ushering, or working behind the scenes to accomplish the myriads of other tasks, I want to thank everyone who made our Christmas here at St. Teresa Parish so special. We are blessed to have such a vibrant community.
Since New Years falls on a weekend this year, we will have the usual weekend Mass schedule: Saturday, 4pm, Sunday, 7:30am, 9:00am, and 10:30am.
Once again a Merry Christmas to everyone!
Fr. Barrow
