More than a few of our parishioners fondly remember parishioners Phil and Marlene Carl who moved away from the parish and Village a number of years ago. Every Christmas a visit to their home was a special treat as they had a collection of creches spread all over their house. It was indeed a pleasure for me and others to see the various artistic expressions of Jesus in a manger with Mary and Joseph on either side of him humbly praising and thanking God for the most wonderful gift God ever gave humanity, His Son, Jesus Christ! I am blessed to have in my possession a small but beautiful creche that belonged to my grandmother and the creche is close to 100 years old. She, my Uncle Jim and others, including myself, always enjoy setting it up and looking at it during the Christmas Season ( and now that it's with me all year long). Its uniqueness is in the fact that it includes a sheperd, a sheep dog and a whole flock of sheep. I have to admit that this year, for the first time, I have come to a new insight about this scene that, perhaps, was in the mind of the one who created this creche with its figurines so long ago. It now speaks to me of the adult Jesus who speaks of the "Good Sheperd" who never leaves his flock untended. We hear in the Gospel of Luke (2:15-20) that the sheperds heeded the voice of the angels who announced the Savior's birth to them and decided "to go to Bethlehem to see this thing that the Lord has made known to us." (Lk 2:15). Like the "Good Sheperd," Jesus Christ, or, in this case, sheperds from their field they took their flock with them in order to see the baby who was lying in the manger. I am reminded now every time I look at my grandmother's creche scene of not only the great truth of our faith that God came down from heaven to share in our humanity and redeem and save us, by his passion, death and resurrection, but also Jesus, the Good Shepherd who never leaves us, but is always at our side to lead and guide us to heaven. Maybe, as we look at the creche at home, at our church, or at other places, we can (and perhaps should) look more deeply at what or who is there and ALL THAT HE TAUGHT AND DID that hopefully makes our lives joy-filled, love-filled and hope-filled every day! A Blessed Christmas Season to all of us! Be assured of my prayers for all of you in this wonderful parish family!
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!
As I was giving thought to our VIP for the month of December, Tom Yerina, the word "leader" came into my mind, I believe, for good reason. As I share with you Tom's activities and ministries in the past and the present since he and his wife, Martha (of happy memory), moved to the Village and our parish in 1998, you will see that he was not only actively involved, but he also was a leader or took the lead in a number of areas and ways. When I think of his active participation in our Knights of Columbus Council and Assembly (as a transfer from his previous Council and Assembly), I give thanks for his leadership on the initiation team for new members of the Knights of Columbus and how well he had his lines memorized for the part he played to exemplify new members. In our Assembly, he accepted the role of Captain of our 4th degree honor guard and served with distinction in that role for 19 years! Recognizing his efforts and the support he received from his dear wife, Martha, his fellow Knights voted he and Martha to be family of the year for our Council in the fraternal year 2000-2001 and he was awarded Knight of the year in 2006-2007. Tom served on the parish council as the chairman and was largely responsible for having AED (emergency medical) units brought to the gathering areas of our parish facilities. He set up training sessions for all of the ushers at the time. That training is still available and encouraged of our ushers now. Tom was a memeber of the committee that worked on growing the parish facilities by adding on the current administrative and classroom sections of our parish facilities. For several years he coordinated and encouraged men of the parish to go on a 3 day silent retreat that was held in a Jesuit retreat place in Dallas, Texas. Tom has been active over the years in liturgical ministries that included being a lector (which he continues to do at daily Mass), an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Mass and for our homebound parishioners, and as a member of the Sunday choir (as one of the few male members) and for awhile as cantor at Mass. He has been a Eucharistic Adorer (who, for a long time, took on one of the late nights hours) and continues to invite and encourage parishioners to participate with him in this ministry. Tom is often a participant in daily Mass, and for a while, "took the lead" in inviting people to join with him right before Mass in a prayer for religious liberty. He has been a long-time volunteer at CHI St Vincent Hospital where I saw him many times manning the information desk. Tom's leadership and long-standing participation in so much that goes on in this parish, including the Tuesday/Thursday afternoon exercise class is truly commendable, to me, especially now, when he is challenged by age to get around. All of us should say a prayer or prayers of thanks to God for Tom Yerina and thank him when you see him. I must not forget to mention his marriage to his dear wife, the love of his life, Martha that lasted over 60 years until her passing to the Lord! Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord!