Letter from the Pastor
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January 8, 2023Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, the Twelfth day of Christmas. It is the ancient feast celebrating the 'shining forth,'(Greek: epipháneia), or revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ to the magi, representing the Gentiles.
Epiphany as a feast day was celebrated long before Christmas. It is also known as “little Christmas,” “Three Kings Day”. It is the conclusion of the Christmas Season. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which begins the Winter Ordinary Season.
The observance had its origins in the Eastern Catholic churches, the feast included the birth of Jesus Christ; the visit of the three Magi (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar) who arrived in Bethlehem; and all of Jesus' childhood events, up to His baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist. This was fixed on January 6 because the feast was viewed as the fulfillment of the Jewish Feast of Lights (Hanukkah).
Over time the western churches decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25. The eastern churches continued to treat January 6 as the day marking Jesus' birth. This gave rise in the west to the notion of a twelve day festival, starting on December 25, and ending on January 6, called the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Today is a feast of great joy, God revealed to all humanity His Divine Son as a gift to us all. In the spirit of this day, I wish to thank all those who made Christmas 2022 a wonderful, prayerful and joyful Season.
It was so good to see so many of you back at Christmas Mass; close to 1500 people attended Christmas Masses this year. I also would like to thank you for your generous Christmas gifts, cards and baked goodies. You are so generous to Father Clarke and me, please know how grateful and appreciative we are to you.
Allow me also to thank you for your generous contributions to the Christmas collection. Thanks to those who contributed to the special Music and Flower collections. Once we close out the collection-season, I will certainly publish the numbers.
I would like to thank all those who made Christmas, once again, a beautiful and prayerful experience. I would like to thank in particular way, our choir and our Director of Music, Mark LaRosa. He along with the Choir put in many hours to make such beautiful music in honor of the Lord’s Nativity. If you missed our Lessons and Carols, or the Mass at Night on Christmas Eve, you missed something special; you missed beautiful and stirring music. Save the dates for next year, the Third Sunday of Advent for Lessons and Carols and Christmas Eve Mass at 10:00PM.
I would like to thank Dan Gurniak who sang once again this year Silent Night in German during the Night Mass, all our guest singers, our guest string ensemble and our magnificent Choir.
The ushers, lectors, ministers of Communion, those who help decorate our Church, the Rectory Staff: my deep gratitude.
Merry Christmas, Until Next Year!
