A very Blessed Christmas to All! On behalf of all the Dominican friars and novices, who are so blessed to serve you and be among you, we extend our prayers to you as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. Please remember that the Christmas Season begins today and continues until January 9, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Words cannot express my thanks to many who have worked hard to make everything so beautiful for Christmas. To the Dominican friars who celebrate Holy Mass for us, to our ushers, servers, sacristans, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, I extend my heartfelt thanks. In a special way I wish to thank all who worked so hard to decorate our church. To our choirs and cantors under the direction of Mrs. Catherine Fishlock, thank you. Finally to all of you for your presence among us this Christmas. Thank you for your continued support of our parish community and all the good that is being accomplished.

As I mentioned last weekend please remember in your prayers members of our parish community who have lost loved ones this year. In a special way reach out to them and make sure they are not forgotten this Christmas. Please also remember those who are alone and find Christmas to be a challenge. They need our love and support in a special way as we all continue to share the love of the Infant Child with each other.

In reflection upon Christmas I would like to share with you a special sermon by Pope St. Leo the Great. Please use this during the week for your prayer and meditation.

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.

No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.

In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, that that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.

And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to his people on earth as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvelous work of God’s goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?

Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sin he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.

Christian remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.

Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was brought by the blood of Christ.

Merry Christmas to all,
Christ is indeed very near.

Rev. André-Joseph LaCasse, O.P., Pastor