…from your Pastor’s Desk
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Yes, thank you for all the Birthday and Christmas cards and your generous gifts and especially your prayers for me. I would not have gotten through this year with out them. I am looking forward to 2023 – for,
’The Best is Yet To Come’!
Father Ron
On this first day of the New Year, there are two things we primarily come to do. We have come to offer thanksgiving for the blessings that we have received during the year past.
We also have come to invoke God’s blessings as we begin the New Year. But before we invoke blessings from the Lord, we must also be thankful for His blessings that we have received. And here is where we need to ponder and remember how God has blessed us.
It is in pondering and remembering the blessings that we receive from God that our hearts continue to be filled with thanksgiving. 2022 is still fresh in our memories and it must be. We won’t forget things so quickly. And what a year it has been!
We have seen birth and death, health and sickness, happiness and sadness. We have had our share of joys and hopes, and also anguish and disappointments. But over and above all these, in good times and in bad, we must see the hand of God blessing us. And so we remember, we ponder, and we give thanks to the Lord for blessing us with good times and lifting us up in bad times.
In the gospel, we see Mary pondering on what she heard about her son Jesus, and she treasured them in her heart.
Jesus is her greatest blessing from God. Jesus is the greatest treasure in her heart and today as we honor Mary with the eminent title of ‘Mother of God’, she wants to share with us this great treasure. Jesus is her greatest joy and blessing, and that blessing enabled her to endure the painful sorrows to come: The escape to Egypt from the persecution of Herod, the loss of Jesus when he was 12 years old, His crucifixion and death, and having to bury Him.
All these sorrowful moments pierced her heart, like the sword that Simeon prophesied. But out of her pierced heart flows the greatest gift to us, Jesus, and also her motherly prayers for us.
So we pray for blessings for the days ahead. Like Mary, let us know that we will receive the greatest blessings from God, and that is Jesus.
With Jesus in our hearts, no sorrow will break them, and with Mother Mary praying for us, let joy fill them on this first day of the New Year and may joy be in our hearts all the days of the New Year.
May the Peace of the Father,
The Love of the Son,
The Friendship of the Holy Spirit
And the Intercession of Our Lady,
Be with you throughout 2023.
I wish you a Happy and Holy New Year !
THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED ON
MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2023.
Father Ron
