The Solemnity of the Holy Family
On the Scriptures
When He was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom...
It’s really hard to overstate the importance of Jewish festival culture. In a society where most everyone lived on a subsistence diet and where even a mild drought or flood could mean the death of 10% of the population, any and every excuse to celebrate was an opportunity not to be missed! Additionally, God had specifically told His people that they were to eat and drink and be merry... The Jews as a whole and each local community took these feasts very seriously.
Each feast had its own character and vibe. Hanukkah, for example, was about God’s providence, but it was also about winning battles and God’s promise to eventually kick the hineys of various scary martial societies. So Hanukkah was a time for war stories. Purim, though, which celebrated the exploits of Queen Esther (as told in the book of Esther) was specifically a feast for drinking wine. Jews as young as ten were ordered by God’s law to get tipsy! Seriously, if you’ve never heard of Purim, look it up on the internet. It’s a fascinating feast!
Just as today, these feasts were better in some places than in others. And so families could use these feasts to get together and connect long before even written letters were common.
The feast of Passover - which we see in today’s Gospel - is unique in that it basically required any family who was able to go to the temple in Jerusalem in order to celebrate it rightly. In practice, most people weren’t able to afford to make the trip very often. It’s possible, but not certain, that the Holy Family was in Jerusalem because Jesus was old enough to accompany His father into the temple for the presentation of their lamb. This would have been a special rite of passage for a young man. He would’ve felt very grown up walking with the men and the lambs into the inner courtyards of the temple nearer to the altar where the priest would sacrifice the lamb and sprinkle both father and son with the blood of the lamb... Of course, for St Luke, this is the real point of the story. Jesus comes of age, is sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, and then begins to teach the Jewish teachers the truly Good News.
From Fr Ryan
THANK YOU to all who helped make Christmas so special… The decor was lovely from the creche to the tree to the altar florals and even the cute little window angels! The music, too, went off without a hitch and we had some more singing than usual from the congregation! Our Masses went so well and our Lectors and Servers really brought their A-Games. It was a lovely Christmas week and I couldn’t be more appreciative of all of you for making it happen for the Lord, for us and for our many guests!
THANK YOU, too, to those who were so generous in giving me gifts, personally, this Christmas! Everyone was so generous and I am just so very happy to be able to remain in this wonderful community!!
One of the few really good lessons I learned in seminary was that Thank You cards should go out as quickly as possible. I’ve always tried to do that and, hopefully, I haven’t missed anyone that I know of. To those who gave me gifts at the Christmas Party - I am so, so very thankful! There were several names on the list whose addresses I don’t have access to - and so to those (if they’re reading this) thank you!!
To my generation, Thank You cards are a quaint and even nostalgic sort of thing. We could just as easily send a text or say thank you in person. But there’s something wonderfully human about the physical act of writing a note and posting it and having someone get that little boost that we all feel when we get an envelope (without a plastic window) with our name handwritten on it.
My handwriting is basically illegible - as most of you know personally, I got a “U” in handwriting - and yet I really enjoy the act of writing a Thank You note. In fact, I bought a few thousand custom printed cards with a simple red cross in the corner that I use for Thank You notes. It’s taken me 17 years of priesthood, but the 3500 cards I bought a few months before my ordination as a deacon in 2005 are about to run out. I have a supply to last a year or so, but I’m looking forward to designing a card and having it printed and writing mostly illegible Thank You notes for years to come.
One of the struggles we have as Americans is that this time of the Holiday Season is the time of burnout. We’ve opened all the gifts. We’ve eaten and drank more than we should’ve. We’ve done the special Masses, thrown the parties, and watched the movies. The music has been in our ears for weeks and we’ve had pumpkin spice everything. Now, we’re ready for a break. But this time is the ACTUAL Christmas season! This is the time for celebration and festivity. I’m not going to tilt at windmills and tell you to become crusaders for a new way of doing Christmas, but I will say that the best way to recover after the Holidays is to step up your time in prayer, esp listening in prayer.
Prayer can be restorative if we don’t stress ourselves out about it. This is an ideal time to take the end of year stress and offer it to the Lord. Your prayer doesn’t need to have a formula, it doesn’t need to accomplish something, it doesn’t need to meet any standards, and it doesn’t need to be anything more or less than the raising of your heart and your mind to the Lord in a moment of quiet. Don’t fret about distractions. Don’t fret about boredom or method. Just sit with the Lord and enjoy actual Christmas with Him.
From the Saints
“It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.” -- Mother Teresa
“Today, a few days after Christmas, the Church contemplates the Holy Family. At the school of Nazareth every family learns to be a workshop of love, unity and openness to life. In our day a misunderstood sense of rights sometimes troubles the very nature of the family institution and of the conjugal bond. People who believe in the importance of the family based on marriage should join forces at all levels. The family is a human and divine reality that should be defended and promoted as a fundamental social good.” –- Pope St John Paul II
“God, to Whom Angels submit themselves and Who Principalities and Powers obey, was subject to Mary; and not only to Mary but Joseph too, for Mary’s sake [….]. God obeyed a human creature; this is humility without precedent. A human creature commands God! it is sublime beyond measure.“ -- St Bernard of Clairvaux
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Paul VanderVieren/family
- Sun 9:30a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon 9:00a In memory of deceased members of the Bolton and Howington families/family
- Tue 5:30p In memory of Vicki Morelli
- Wed 9:00a In memory of Gail Gilfoil Grangnard/Nettles family
- Thu 9:00a In memory of Joe Farlow/Bellard at Legacy Nursing
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Mary Agnes Gilfoil York/P Gilfoil
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Payton and Donald Trichell/family
- Sun 9:30a Pro Populo for the Living & Dead members of our Parish Family
ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) | EMHCs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/28 5:30p | None Scheduled | L Bullard | C VanderVieren |
| 12/29 9:30a | Michael & Evelyn | C Guizerix | - |
| 1/4 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow | M Ernst |
| 1/5 9:30a | Kathleen, Evelyn, Ashlyn | S March | - |
Stewardship The first reading today provides a challenging guideline for the good stewardship of our family relationships. How do I measure up?
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2022-23 | $ 2,111 |
| November Budget | $ 8,444 |
| November Income | $ 9,187 |
| November Expenses | $ 11,235 |
| December Budget | $ 10,555 |
| December 22 Collection | $ 8,657 |
| December Income To Date | $ 14,901 |
Upcoming Events
Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and on Sunday from 9a until Mass
Sunday Catechism with Coffee and Donuts after Mass unless otherwise indicated
Wednesday Morning Catechism about 9:30 a.m in Church and on Facebook and YouTube
Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p
Dec 31 Vigil of Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God….5:30 p.m. Mass
January 1 Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God … 9 a.m. Mass
January 3 First Friday devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - 5:30 p.m.
January 4 First Saturday Devotions to our Blessed Mother-Mass and Holy Hour– 9 a.m.
January 5 First Sunday Benediction following Mass
For Your Information:
Our NEW YEAR’S EVE schedule for the Holy Day of Obligation (Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God)... Mass will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31. We will not have confessions available before Mass.
On NEW YEAR’S DAY (Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God), Mass will begin at 9:00 a.m.
Our MAUSOLEUM project is now underway. We are in the pre-sales phase where those who are interested in any way are asked to give us your name and mailing address so that the company can judge if there is sufficient interest to complete the project and so that they can send preliminary information. (Signing up is not an obligation to buy.) If you would like to sign up, you can do so at any Mass or by contacting us via email at the address listed on the inside page of the bulletin. Thanks!
FORMED.ORG… has an entire page of weekly featured videos that are worth checking out at https://watch.formed.org/this-week-on-formed. Remember to sign in using our parish’s zip code (71282) at http://signup.formed.org
2025 STEWARDSHIP ENVELOPES... 2025 envelopes can be found at the entrance of church. Please sign your name on the register and indicate the number on the box of envelopes that you take.
ANGEL TREE… Thanks to the generosity of our faith family, we provided for 22 children in four homes (all of which were headed by grandmothers who are providing for children whose parent(s) are absent from the home). Additionally, gifts were provided for five adult women living in a local group home who have no family.
Along with the clothing and toys provided by parishioners, each family received Children’s Bibles, Bible story activity books and a bag of hygienic goodies like soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, baby wipes, bandaids, etc. Each family also received a food box as well.
MEMORIAL SERVICE….for VICKIE ERNST MORELLI, sister of Norman Ernst and aunt of Stephenie, Katherine, Courtney, and Norm will be on Sunday, December 29, 2024 at 12 noon at St Edward the Confessor, Tallulah. Vickie died earlier in November and had considered St. Edward as a home parish.
Following the service, our faith family is serving lunch for the family in our Church Hall. Beth Sullivan is giving leadership to the lunch plans. If you would like to assist, please notify Beth, Father Ryan or the church office.
FIRST FRIDAY …. .JANUARY 3...Holy Hour and Mass 5:30 p.m. ...make a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and attend first Friday devotions for nine consecutive months.
FIRST SATURDAY … … JANUARY 4…Mass and Holy Hour … 9 a.m. Our Lady of Fatima called for special devotions to be offered on the first Saturday of each month. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION… JANUARY 5…at the conclusion of weekend Masses as part of our larger program to improve Eucharistic Devotion and to understand what a gift we have in the Most Holy Eucharist.
SAINTS ALIVE, ANGELS AT WORK…..our Birthday Party for Jesus was very well received by children and parents who participated. Thanks to Kendra and Dana for providing leadership for that and to all who contributed refreshments. The Adult Christmas Party was also a hit and was an opportunity to include friends from the community! Shannon, Stephenie, and Abby gave leadership to that effort and were supported by Bart, Lance, and Darryl. Lots of good food was provided by participants and recipes were shared!!!
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Emory Dukes (Dec 30), Jamie Howington (Jan 1), Beth Sullivan (Jan 4)
Happy Anniversary Elizabeth and Paul Naya (Jan 4), Abby and Darryl Ellerbee (Jan 5)
In Our Daily Prayers…
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
Our parishioners who are sick, shut-in, under full-time care and for those who care for them, and for those otherwise in need of our prayers: MaryKathryn & Nap Book, Connie & Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Susan & Johnny Gilfoil, Margaret & Pat Gilfoil,Terry Farlow Hall, C.W. & Alyce Keene, Sidney & Mary Jane Johnson, Frances & Bill Kennedy, Ed Mills, Susie Murphy, Bobby Reynolds, Mike & Sue Rome, Kenny and Betty Smith
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Kathryn Wood Allsopp (D Wood), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), Marie Farlow Bellard, Tommy Bickham (C Copes), Nap and Martha Book, Kay Boolos (S Gilfoil), Dick & Sue Boyd (S Gilfoil), Chris Breard (Gilfoil), Sarah Cannon (Gilfoil), Fran Castile (Keene), Jeannie & Donald Collins, Teresa Carney Condra, Jami Cook (Wilks), Bobbe & Gene Cox, Marla Evans Cummings, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Wayne EdwardsMike Farlow, Patty Farlow, Monique Florence, Jimmy Fordham (Gustafson & Fordice), Judy Fortenberry, April Franklin (Wilks), Fred and Cathy Fulton, Thom Gilfoil, Wyly Gilfoil (Gilfoil), LaVonne Givens, Charlotte Green, Theresa Gunter, Rita Hargrave, Ralph Harris (Gilfoil), Arlice Evans Headley, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Charles Howington, Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), Lynn Lisonbee, LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Ruth McDonald (Copes), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Randy Parker, John Neill, Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Bailey, Scott and Tiffney Rome, Dianne Roper (Murphy), Janie Saxon (Lancaster), Debbie Kedrick Sims, Tommy Trichell, LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Randy Watts, Jr.
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Bruen Johnson, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Blake Sullivan, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, Chandler Wood, Marsh Wood
