December 18-19

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

    We have come to the final Sunday of Advent and the anticipation of celebrating the Birthday of Our Lord will soon be upon us.  One of the ways of participating in the joy of this holy season is the exchange of gifts  We give in order to show our appreciation or our love and devotion to those close to us.  We try to make our gifts as personal and meaningful as we possibly can and sometimes we are right on target and other times we may have given a gift that evokes a puzzled look on the recipient’s face.  Surely we always mean well.

Sometimes the world is puzzled when we proclaim that God became man and has made His dwelling in our midst.  For some it is a difficult message to swallow and when we offer this gift of Good News it may not always be well received.  Nonetheless it should never curtail our desire to give what others need the most, i.e. to know how much God loves them.

      When we reflect on what God has given us we can only respond with great generosity.  As St. Elizabeth responded to the visitation of her cousin Mary: “Who am i that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  all of us can ask the same question in regards to our Lord.  And yet He has come to all of us and for all of us.  Not with puzzled faces but with joy-filled hearts we embrace the Gift that the Father has sent us and with gratitude give what we have received.

May you and yours have a Blessed and Merry Christmas,

Father Langan