Dear Parishioners,
In a few days we will celebrate Christmas. This is normally a time of the year when families and friends gather in a spirit of joy and hope. To be able to celebrate this year as we have in the past, will be difficult, if not impossible.
This Christmas season we face one of the most challenging crisis of modern times, a pandemic that has made millions ill and taken the lives of thousands of our fellow human beings. And so our natural response may be to ask how can one speak of joy and hope in the midst of so much suffering, so much isolation, so much anxiety and fear.
But it is the very Christmas message that gives us hope. Jesus came into a world where there was pain and suffering. God became one of us, took on our human form. In doing so Jesus experienced the joyful moments of life but also the suffering that is part of our human state. In the end He gave His life for us on the Cross.
He walked the journey that we walk, and in doing so He gave us all something to believe in and to have hope in. His life reminds us that suffering and even death is not the final word. The Gospel of Christmas day proclaims to us “what came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race, the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Jesus continues to walk this journey with us, even now. He is the light that gives us direction.
In the midst of this most difficult moment in our history, let the Light of Christ be our light, let the joy and the hope of the Christmas message, give us the courage and strength to believe that things can get better and will get better.
Finally, this Christmas let us give thanks for all those doctors, nurses, first responders, those in service work, all who are making incredible sacrifices, and taking great risks, to heal and help us through this moment. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers, and the thoughts and prayers of my fellow friars. May the Lord Jesus bless you and your loved ones this Christmas Day.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. John O’Connor, O.F.M.