From the Pastor’s Desk:
This weekend as we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent it seems as if time is just flying. The last nine months have been unlike anything I have ever lived through, a truly hard time to minister to people. Priests have had to step outside the box, at times way outside to find ways to minister in our parishes. The Advent Season as well as we now look to the celebration of Christmas is so different. Nothing is like it has been in the past. It is not going to be the Christmas of the past. I wanted the Vietnamese youth to realize our traditions and ways we celebrate Christmas has been a long time in getting us to where we are today. So in my homily at their mass I gave them a calendar of Christmas.
332—Constantine the Great, decreed December 25, the birth of Jesus Christ
337—Pope Julius I, decreed December 25 as the date of the birth of Jesus Christ
1050---1st German Christmas Carol
1200---St. Francis, Nativity and 1st Christmas Carol in Italy
1539—Notre Dame in Paris displayed 1st public Christmas tree in France
1659—Puritans laws against Christmas celebrations in Massachusetts
1600--- The Dutch and English place stockings on the fireplace for gifts
1820—German immigrants in Pennsylvania, holiday trees
1822—Night before Christmas poem by Clement Moore
1828—Dr. Joel Poinsett introduces poinsettias to the US from Mexico
1840—Christmas Cards first in England
1856—Massachusetts is the last state to legalize Christmas
As immigrants came to the US from all over the world, they brought with them their traditions, music, foods and decorations of how they had celebrated Christmas and we today are heirs to all along with what we create as truly American. This 2020 Christmas will be somewhat different, perhaps we will create new traditions more centered around our immediate families. This would be a good opportunity to attend one of the nights of the Christmas Novena beginning on December 17th. Confessions will also be available at 6:30 each night of the Novena.
If you haven’t signed up to reserve your spot for the Christmas Masses please call the office at 831-3565 and do so! We want to make sure we are prepared so no one gets turned away.