As you are reading this newsletter we have celebrated the birthday of our Savior and are well into the Christmas season. I wanted to thank everyone for supporting us all throughout 2013 and your continued support in 2014. With your help we can truly make a difference in our parish and community.
We have many events during the month of January and we hope to see you there. In addition, I would like to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year and may the Lord bless us all!
The past year, 2013, was truly momentous for us as Catholics. We have a new Pope, Pope Francis, who is making a big impact on our faith. He has been made the TIME magazine “Person of the Year” and seems to be in the news every week. His message of tenderness, mercy and compassion are being heard by millions. This message rings so true during the Christmas Season.
In an interview published on December 15th the Pope was asked: “What does Christmas mean for you?” His response was: “It is the encounter with Jesus. God has always sought out his people, led them, looked after them and promised to always be close to them. The Book of Deuteronomy says that God walks with us; he takes us by the hand like a father does with a child. This is a beautiful thing. Christmas is God’s meeting with his people. It is also a consolation, a mystery of consolation.”
As a Knight I think about how these words intertwine with our Order. Our first mission is Charity. We are there to do the work of God here on earth. We help to feed the hungry by helping the Holy Family Food Pantry. We help to support vocations so that people have the chance to know God and his message to us. We help to support those with intellectual disabilities in our community, state, and nation. We help to protect those most in need of our help, the unborn, by helping expectant mothers make the choice of life. We are here to help look after one another, and this is what God has asked of us.
In closing I would remind you that on Wednesday, January 22nd, an expected quarter million defenders of life will rally on the National Mall and walk up Capitol Hill to the U.S. Supreme Court in the annual March for Life. There will be people there representing Holy Family Parish, along with many of the thousands of parishes found in the Untied States. Please pray for our parishioners that will participate in the March.
Dean Hayward, Grand Knight