Time has taken its toll. These past months, so many events in our personal lives and in the world have been rescheduled, pushed back or forward, postponed or canceled. We are invited to experience and share our encounters in real-time and in-person or digitally and at some other time. We can relive a moment in time, again and again; and yet, is this a matter of technology or simply a part of life? How many times through the years have you seen your favorite movie, or reread that special book that rests on your night table, or played back that voice message that you will never delete from your phone? How many times have you told that same story to family and friends who have heard it countless times, yet each time as if it were the first? Where are you with Jesus, this Christmas, this time around? Wherever you are, it is Christ Who has been and will always be with you.
The calendar this year sets the Christmas Season into a compressed schedule that seems to perfectly fit our current situation of “here and gone.” The individual liturgies from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day carry us on a journey through time in the course of a single day. We have been celebrating Christmas this way for centuries. The final Mass of the day includes the beginning of the Gospel of St. John, where John the Evangelist, through John the Baptist, reminds us of who Jesus is … just in case we missed Him the first time around. But the Christmas Story doesn’t end there; no, now we expand it and hold on to it for eight days … the Octave of Christmas … and retell it with a new encounter each time over.
So, don’t let the time worry you. We would love to see you in Church and in -person. If that doesn’t work, you can find us online at the parish website: churchofthesacredheart.net or on the parish Youtube channel. Please know that we continue to do what we can to stay connected to you. The Christmas schedule is on the reverse side. The printed, abbreviated version of the weekly bulletin is available at the church and parish office. The full, digital version is available in all of its glory with archived issues, always accessible from the parish website.
Be safe and healthy in body, mind and spirit. Thank you for your faithful witness and generous spirit. God bless you and your loved ones. With the prayers and best wishes of our Sacred Heart Parish Staff, I am devotedly yours in Christ,
Rev. John P. Alvarado, pastor
