Greetings from Fr. Dave

Is your Christmas stuff all down? Officially the Christmas Season ended last weekend with the Baptism of the Lord, but culturally it ended on the afternoon of the Christmas Day! Oh well…….perhaps we should be grateful that the Season begins immediately after Halloween!
 
So here we go into “Ordinary Time” with the next change being Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent on March 6 ^th. Ordinary Time in our liturgical understanding does not mean “same old, same old” or unimportant. It simply means it is the “time” outside of the seasons of Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter.

The transforming work of the Holy Spirit continues in each of us personally, in the Church, and in the world! As Fr. Hans mentioned last weekend in his homily, we do not end Mass by saying:  “Go in peace to be the same”, but instead we go to glorify the Lord, changed by his ongoing presence in our lives.
 
World Youth Day begins on January 22 ^nd in Panama.  For those interested in watching it, it is available live in English at www.shalomworldtv.org/wyd2019.  May all our youth be inspired and come to an ever deeper friendship with Jesus!
 

Congratulations and blessings to Noah Heyer, Gabriel Hogan, Ella Pelatt, and Marcus San Nicolas, who were baptized this weekend!