The Parish Office will be closed on Jan 2
The Parish Office will be closed on Jan 2 and reopen on January 3.
From Our Pastor
Dear Folks,
This week I encouraged each of the priests to spend 48 hours with their families, just hanging out with them and taking a ‘staycation.’ It really helps to put all of life and the holiday stresses in perspective, being able to get away and be with the people you love and who love you. Dad, a brother, and I watched ‘stupid guy movies’ like Armageddon, and I even let my sisters put on a Hallmark Christmas movie and “White Christmas.” As I put my stuff back in my car to return to the parish, I thought “this is time well spent!”
I pray that during the holidays you get some time to do nothing. And by “do nothing” I mean spend time with loved ones without some great master plan of all the things you will accomplish. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do for someone is to just be with them. Then maybe you will hear what they want to do, or better yet that they will just want to be with you.
In the words of as 8th century monk: “He who neglects contemplation is deprived of the vision of the light of God; he who is carried away with worry and allows his thoughts to be crushed by the tumult of the things of the world is condemned to the absolute impossibility of penetrating the secrets of the invisible God.”
Maybe that is my New Year’s resolution…. more quality time with family.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Pax,
Father John Mosimann
Statement by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge regarding the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
I respectfully ask all in the Diocese of Arlington to unite in prayer as we mourn the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. May we give thanks to God for his example and witness and pray for his eternal peace and happiness.
Born Joseph Ratzinger, he served the Church faithfully and generously for more than 70 years as a priest, bishop, cardinal and pope. He was an influential figure at the Second Vatican Council and served as one of Pope Saint John Paul II’s closest collaborators before being elected pope himself in 2005. A devoted student of the Word of God and steeped in the Church’s liturgical and theological tradition, he was able to engage the modern world with intellectual clarity and pastoral charity. The breadth and depth of his teachings have inspired many and are already considered part of the Church’s patrimony. May the Lord grant to this good shepherd eternal rest and abundant reward for his labors.
January Family Dinner is Jan 21 at 5:30pm
