As you can imagine, I receive inspiration for the topics of my pastor's column by various events or happenings in the world, in the Church and and in my own personal experiences. After the first of the new year, I plan to spend time reflecting on various aspects of our bishop's recent response to the input that was amassed in parishes throughout Arkansas in preparation for the Synod on Synodality with the Pope and Bishops in 2023-24. It seeks to promote a more collegial spirit between our Church's leaders (and clergy) with the lay people who make up the bulk of Church's members. If you have not read and started reflecting on it, I invite and encourage you to go to www.dolr.org and click on the icon that appears in the navigation window that says, "Bishop's Response" with a picture of Bishop Taylor in the window. For today, my pastor's column was inspired after I composed for this bulletin the schedule of the special celebrations (of Mass) that are about to happen in the "Church's" Christmas Season which begins with the "Solemnity" of the Nativity of the Lord. Just as on the secular calendar, there are commemorative days that are "ranked" differently as far as their importance and the numbers of people who celebrate them, so the Church has a ranking of commemorative days that are meant to highlight their importance and, thusly, to be celebrated with greater vigor and, hopefully, by more of the faithful than those of lesser importance on the calendar. If you look at the Church's Christmas Season (which actually concludes with the "Feast" of the Baptism of the Lord (January 7-8), you noticed that it has quite a few solemnities and feasts. A Solemnity is the highest level in the order of importance (after the Easter Triduum of the Lord's Passion, Death and Resurrection) and, therefore, is meant to be celebrated by ALL CATHOLICS (as a day unlike most other days on the calendar). The greatest of ways we, as Catholics, can celebrate is in and through the Mass. The Christmas Season (as you hopefully will see, has 3 solemnities within a fifteen day period and two of them (The Nativity of the Lord and the Epiphany of the Lord) are two of the four highest ones of the liturgical year! (I wonder if you can identify the other two? Feasts come right after solemnities in terms of importance and, as you can see, The Christmas Season has five of them! The sheer number of solemnities and feasts during the relatively short Christmas Season speaks strongly of how special these days are. If I'm reading and interpreting it correctly, these are of higher rank than Sundays in Ordinary Time which, thankfully, draws you to church for Mass every Sunday. Shouldn't the solemnities (firstly) and the feasts (secondly) deserve our attnetion and celebration in our home AND at church? I hope your answer and your actions will say YES. I can assure you that many blessings will come from it!