Letter from the Pastor
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November 22, 2020
When the pilgrims dropped the anchor in Plymouth harbor 400 years ago in December 1620, they were filled with hope. They had survived a perilous three-month journey in a refitted cargo ship called the Mayflower. They had planned to start a settlement in the Virginia Colony, but during the long Atlantic voyage, storms blew them off course. They landed near present day Provincetown on Cape Cod, and then sailed through the bay to the mainland. They settled and called it Plymouth, because that is where they came from, Plymouth, England.Their incessant prayers for a safe arrival had been heard and they were ready to begin a new life in a New World. Little did they know the year that would await them. Of the 103 people that disembarked, more than half would die before winter was over. Governor John Carver, their leader, succumbed quickly to fever. Ten of the seventeen husbands and fathers died. Fourteen of their seventeen wives also perished. The young wife of soon-to-be Governor William Bradford drowned in Plymouth Harbor before even reaching the shore. Those who didn’t die remained in grave danger because of fevers, famine and freezing temperatures. Yet they never gave up hope.
The fifty-one survivors easily could have looked at the previous eleven months as the worst year of their lives. They had buried almost as many bodies in the soil, as they got food from it.
The reason they were able to thank God so heartily that first spring, in spite of the suffering they had endured, was because they believed those hardships and blessings were both part of God’s providential care. No amount of personal suffering could shake their faith. No amount of hardship could shake their trust in God whom they knew loved them and was looking over them, and would take care of them somehow.
Certainly this year’s Thanksgiving will be quite different for us than in the past. The Norman Rockwell portrait of this national holiday will have to wait until next year (hopefully). We have to be prudent about our celebrations this year.
This year we will be more like the Pilgrims, than ever before in our memory. May we have that same spirit of true thanksgiving to God that marked the Pilgrims who had survived. Can we thank God for everything over the course of this last year, as difficult as the year has been?As St. Paul reminds us: In everything: give thanks (I Thess. 5:18). Have a blessed and a true Thanksgiving Day.
Our Annual Parish Mass of Thanksgiving will be this Thursday at 9:00 AM.
Bring a food item from your table to be blessed at Mass and return the blessing to your table.
The Christmas Season used to begin with the arrival of Santa at the end of the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving Day. In that spirit, I would like to announce the plans for our Christmas Eve and Day Mass Schedule.
As you know we need to keep to the maximum number of parishioners allowed in the Church at 90 people. Christmas has always seen a larger number of our parishioners come to Mass, especially families and their young children. I never liked the idea of using tickets for Mass or reserving seats. So, the Masses will be first come first seated. After the number has been reached, we can’t allow any others in the Church proper.
We will livestream and record the 10:00PM Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and record it to our YOUTUBE channel. You can watch the Mass later on Christmas Day. We also have the capability of broadcasting the Mass over our outdoor loudspeakers. Hopefully, it will be as warm as it was for the past two years, so you can stay outside (bring a chair) or in your car along Central Ave.
We will have 8 Masses for Christmas:
Christmas Eve: 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM, 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM
Christmas Day : 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM and 12:00 Noon
NOTE: There is no evening Mass on Christmas Day.
~~~~~God's Blessings on our Parish children who received the Sacraments of Confirmation & First Holy Communion.