Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 5 January 2025

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Every year I have the best intentions of writing out Christmas cards. It hasn’t happened in a few years, the last time I accomplished it I spent most of the holiday up until Epiphany and sent cards with the three wise men on the front. It has just become too much of a task, so this year I sent email cards. I particularly like this image of the Holy Family, they look so beautiful. I searched for its source but could not find anything on it. So here is my Christmas card to all of you.

This year, what if we were to live as if we actually believed:

—that everything we do can bring benefit or harm to all of God’s creation, whether publicly known or in secret?

—that Jesus’ law is a law of love, not judgement? Just love, and leave the judgement to a just and merciful God.

—that there is no place for fear? I hear increasingly from people in my generation who are realizing that life in the Church when we were children was based more in fear of God than in love. Unconditional love was not a concept, really. And I am surprised at the number of adults who are finding the courage today to say that they want more. They want a real relationship with God. Let’s work on this in the new year.

—that we can’t ever fully exhaust knowing God until we are with him in eternity, and eternity is really worth working toward, looking forward to? It is the most important thing. Because we can’t understand all the mysteries of faith doesn’t mean we are somehow deficient, only that we are human. We have the ability to learn, to know more. In the coming year let’s commit to studying and growing together as a community in the knowledge of God and his Son, Jesus.

—that we have already received our superpowers? It is the Mass: we actively participate in the offering of Jesus, as Jesus to the Father, for the salvation of the world. You can save the world, with God, in Jesus. If people really believed this, I mean, really believed this, there would not be enough Catholic churches in the world and not enough Masses in the hours of the day. Just think about it. We have already received everything we need to be powerful, and effective, and holy. You are holy.

This holiday I am cleaning out my office from the boxes of stuff we moved there when we turned my old office into a second Preschool classroom. The offices were only going to be temporary as we were going to renovate the space with the new Parish Hall. When the budget got cut, so did the office renovation, so I am going through stuff that has been packed away in my small office for seven years. I came across a whole box of cards that I had printed in various colors - the cards say YOU ARE HOLY.

When I came to Saint Bernadette I was struck by the sense that you didn’t believe this. For whatever reason, you either were told otherwise or not treated as holy people. But holiness isn’t something you can lose. It is because God made you that you are holy. Our actions can overshadow the truth and we can choose darkness, but that has no power over the fact that you are still holy. I’m going to put a basket of these cards in the vestibule. Take some, and give them to everyone you know! Happy new year.

The Lord be with you.