The Feast of the Holy Family falls right smack in the middle of Christmas week. It is a week where many folks slow down and enjoy some family time, as I hope you are doing.
One year, for this feast, I started my homily with, “I have a gi for the parish this weekend.” And I preached a 3 minute homily closing with “Merry Christmas, your gi is this three minute homily!” And the church spontaneously applauded!
Some folks apologized after Mass for applauding, to which I said, “haha…. I get it! It was truly a surprise and gift!” A few other folks complained that now they would be early for their dinner reservation, so we hung out, chatted and laughed until the ‘normal’ departure time. But the gift was received with smiles.
I don’t promise you a short homily this weekend, and I can’t even promise that I will be on time for more Masses in the new year. But I do promise that I thank God for you, my parish family, with all of our joys, sorrows, quirks and gifts. We read these words recently at Mass, and I have been thinking of them in prayer since:
“I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6)
Every Christmas the last thing that stood between me and opening presents would be a poem read by my mother. My Dad has taken over this reading now. But I share it with you and wish you blessings beyond your imagination.
And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and moves upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused–and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.
—Sigrid Undset
As a pastor, I have also come to appreciate even more how much work goes into everything we celebrate. To make our Christmas celebrations beautiful, St. Mary’s army of elves, reindeer, volunteers, and KofC have been decorating, singing, planning, training, cleaning, trying to keep the parking lot moving, and much much more. Just as children have no idea how hard parents work to make Christmas magical, so too the average parishioner is unaware of the work behind the scenes. Please say a prayer of thanksgiving for all the elves, knights, and volunteers!
