Weekly Message from Fr. Bob
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. ( Psalm 118:24) As we celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent, we are coming close to the Birthday of our Savior, Jesus Christ, on December 25th. This is the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament. Isaiah 7:14 speaks of the sign from God that the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall name him Emmanuel. The Archangel Gabriel confirmed this message to the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Annunciation by telling her that she would conceive the Son of God and carry Him in her womb by the Power of the Holy Spirit. The Archangel Gabriel also revealed the same message to Joseph in a dream about the Birth of the Savior. As the Gospel of Mathew, Chapter 1:24: “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home”. There was only one reason for the Incarnation to take place. That reason is found in John 3: 16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” This gift to us of our Savior by God, our Father, was the first and most important Christmas gift. We will celebrate Christmas Eve Vigil Mass at 4 pm on December 24th and will celebrate Midnight Mass on December 25th, and Mass at 9 am on Christmas Day. I pray for God’s abundant Blessings upon you as you gather with family and friends to celebrate the joy of the Birth of the Savior. As you exchange gifts, remember that we are all gifts to each other. Above all, Jesus Christ, is the greatest gift God has given to us. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas! Fr. Bob Romaine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24) The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally known as ‘GAUDETE SUNDAY’. It is based on the verse from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians, Chapter 4:4-5 where it says: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.” What does ‘Joy’ actually mean? Is it a feeling of satisfaction or having fun all the time or having no worries, or problems? Joy actually means to be conscious of God’s presence which is within us and surrounds us at all time. This conscious awareness of God’s presence is the strength which helps us survive the trials and tribulations of life. That is why Nehemiah in the Old Testament told the people of Israel after they returned from Babylonian exile to rejoice because God was with them. It is worth quoting that sentence from Nehemiah 8:10: “This day is holy to our Lord —— for the Joy of the Lord is your strength.” God did not abandon His people during their exile in Babylon. The reason for their captivity was because they abandoned the Covenant their forefathers, Abraham, Moses, Isaac and Jacob, had made with the God of Israel. The New and Eternal Covenant which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made with the entire humanity is the Holy Eucharist where we eat His body and drink His blood. What a heavenly gift!!! By being faithful to this New and Eternal Covenant, let us be joyful and grateful that the Lord is always with us. He will never abandon us! With that joy, we celebrate His birthday and wait for His second and glorious coming. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. (Psalm 118:24) On this Second Sunday of Advent, the Church is asking us to prepare the way of the Lord by listening to St. John the Baptist who called himself a “…voice crying out in the wilderness.” This is an invitation to all of us to renew our lives by regularly attending mass, receiving the sacrament of Confession, and growing deeper in loving God and our neighbor. December 8th is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a Holy Day of Obligation which means that it is to be observed like a Sunday. We have three Masses that day as follows: 8 am, noon, 6 pm . On May 17, 1846, the U.S. Bishops consecrated the United States of America to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. What is the dogma of the Immaculate Conception? First, a dogma is a teaching or doctrine of Faith which has been defined by the Church’s Magisterium and proclaimed by the Pope as the official teaching of the Church as “…infallible and divinely revealed truth.” The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was proclaimed a dogma of our Faith by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, ex cathedra: (meaning with full authority of the office of the Pope, implying infallibility) “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.” This dogma is the reason that Mary is so important to the Church and to us, its members, as she is not only free from sin but she is also the Mother of Christ. By virtue of her position as mother of our Savior, she is our mother as well. How fortunate we are to have Mary to care for us and for the Church, just as she cared for Christ when He was on this earth. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
