CHRISTMAS 2021

THE CHRISTMAS PROCLAMATION

This proclamation is chanted on December 24 before the beginning of Midnight Mass.  It is taken from the Roman Martyrology.

The Twenty-fifth Day of December, 

when ages beyond number

had run their course from the creation of the world,

when God in the beginning created heaven and earth

and formed man in his own likeness;

when century upon century had passed

since the Almighty set his bow

     in the clouds after the Great Flood,

as a sign of covenant and peace;

in the twenty-first century since Abraham, our father in faith,

came out of the Ur of the Chaldees;

in the thirteenth century since the People of Israel 

were led by Moses in the Exodus from Egypt;

around the thousandth year since David was anointed King;

in the sixty-fifth week of the prophecy of Daniel;

in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;

in the year seven hundred and fifty-two

     since the foundation of the City of Rome;

in the forty-second year of the reign of 

     Caesar Octavian Augustus;

the whole world being at peace,

JESUS CHRIST, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,

desiring to consecrate the world by his most loving presence,

was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and when nine months had passed since his conception,

was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah,

and was made man:

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. 

ADVENT BEGINS

      ADVENT, which began last Sunday, announces both of Christ's comings into our lives.   That first coming as the Messiah and our Savior happened in time and fulfilled a promise made to a specific people.  It was a light in the darkness of life in this flawed world.  It was the birth of HOPE in a troubled existence.

     The second coming has yet to happen, but it too is promised as the time of fulfillment.   At that second coming, ALL peoples will stand before the King of kings and answer for the way they lived their lives.  It will be a time of judgment, rooted in justice in the midst of an unjust world ... a time of accountability rooted in understanding, compassion and mercy.  It will be the rewarding of the hope placed in the One who is Lord of all.

     ADVENT is full of beautiful icons, images of grace and favor, images of the sacred.  HOPE is one of those Advent icons.  Remember that we are a people of hope.

     Sunday's Gospel from chapter 21 of Luke reminds us that in the midst of all the world's turmoil, which has grown greater and darker over the centuries, and even as Jesus prepares for his own suffering and death, he tells us to "stand tall and lift your heads!" because our redemption is at hand.

     Our redemption ... freedom from sin, deliverance from evil, a way through suffering ... is near!  His truth has set us free and provided a firm foundation upon which to builds our lives and to journey toward a kingdom of happiness and joy.  Jesus is with us, he is near and desires us to share his power and goodness.  This is our hope!

     How easy it is to lose hope in the chaos of this world.  Even with our faith and the hope it creates in us, love often seems too great a challenge.

    But ADVENT invites us to remember that hope is not wishful thinking, it is the promise of God, his love for us, and our place as his beloved, his chosen.  This is our hope!  Celebrate that we are children of an awesome promise and of eternal life.

REMEMBERING THE DAY

      It was a Friday afternoon and I was taking a Latin test at the end of a grading period.  I was in my Junior year in High School at Saint Vincent Prep in Latrobe.  Our Latin teacher was Benedictine Father Augustine Schultz.

     During the testing period there was a knock at the classroom door, and an upperclassman said something to Father Augustine, who sent him packing.  They often played tricks on some of the faculty.  But soon another one came to the door, obviously with some news.

     Father Augustine announced to us that the news was reporting that President John F. Kennedy had been shot.  He said that after we finished the exam, we were free to leave the class.

     Most of us went to the room of Father Emeric, the Art teacher, who had a television, and spent the remainder of the afternoon glued to the tv, before boarding our bus which took us to our residence at Saint Joseph Hall, a few miles down the road.  There we were given permission to watch tv in the rec room (not usually permitted), and we were devastated to learn of the death of the President.

     The rest of that day, and the entire weekend, was a very somber and sobering time.  I remember that one of our Religious Sisters of the Ivrea Sisters, who had come to cook for us at Saint Joseph Hall, Sister Joanna, was setting the tables for supper with her eyes filled with tears.

     For me, this day was one of those moments that is seared into my memory and my heart.

     The date was November 22, 1963, and yesterday marked 58 years since that tragic afternoon.  I don't remember how I did on the Latin test, but I am again at Saint Joseph Hall, now known as the Christ Our Shepherd retreat/Conference Center for the Diocese of Greensburg, and residing in our priests' retirement residence known as Neumann House.  This is after finishing my schooling and serving in priestly ministry for forty-eight years.

     November 22nd is for me a Day to Remember.

Musings

      It was 35 years ago today, the feast of Saints Simon and Jude, that I arrived at my second assignment as a pastor at All Saints Church in Masontown and the mission church of Saint Francis de Sales in McClellandtown.  I remember the date because our Principal, Sister Mildred Minosky would always remind me that I arrived on the feast of Saint Jude, who is the patron of "hopeless cases".  We never clarified "who" the "hopeless case" was.

     I remember the day well, for Sister Mildred arranged a "smooth" transition between Father Andrew Charnoki, my predecessor, and myself.  I was coming from Connellsville, and she coordinated our time of departure/arrival to be an easy moment for the school students to say farewell to one pastor and welcome to the new pastor.

     I arrived at the scheduled time and was met up the street by one of the teachers, asking me to pull over and wait for the upcoming farewell - for Father Charnoki decided on another cup of coffee before departing.  Finally all went as planned.

     After he pulled out to the waves of the children, I pulled up to their greetings, the younger priest (at that time) replacing the older priest (who had been there for 23 years).  It was to be a time of changing expectations.

     I spent five great years in that small town and those two beautiful parishes and a host of wonderful people (both parishioners and townsfolk) who blessed my priesthood and life.

     Saint Francis de Sales closed a few years later.  All Saints was merged with at least five others parishes a few years ago to form the Saint Francis of Assisi Parish - with the All Saints Church and Saint Thomas Church in Footdale serving as the worship centers.  Many memories and many friendship grew out of those five brief years.  I pray for my friends often.

A throwaway culture

      This past Sunday was "Respect Life Sunday" in our Church.  We look at life in all of its forms and, seeing life as a gift from God, and are faced with the challenges and threats that our societies place upon the gift.  The first gift of God is the gift of life, which we continue to hold, begins at the moment of conception and continues through our natural life's journey.  Even a great nation life ours, though, has brought into law in our generation, a position that is contrary to that wisdom.   Pope Francis is always referring to the fact that we live in a "throwaway culture".

     Here are the thoughts of Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy for Life that he gave at the Vatican on September 27th of this year in this regard.  I thought they were worth contemplating.

     "We are victims of a the throwaway culture ... there is the throwing away of children that we do not want to welcome, with that abortion law that sends them back to their sender and kills them.  Today this has become a "normal" thing, a habit that is very bad; it is truly murder.  In order to grasp this, perhaps asking ourselves two questions may help: is it right to eliminate, to end a human life to solve a problem?   Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem?  Abortion is this.  In doing so, we deny hope, the hope of the children who bring us the life that makes us go forward."

     He also goes on to speak of the elderly, "the elderly who are a bit of "throwaway material" because they are not needed ... But they are the wisdom, they are the roots of the wisdom of our civilization, and this civilization discards them!"

    He concludes these thoughts with these words: "This is a path which we cannot take: the throwaway path."

    The pain and struggle of the issues are not "black and white" ... but the truth cannot be ignored - life, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, is a gift from God, is sacred, and deserves the rights and dignity that law can afford.

     Food for thought and a call for action.

The Saint of Assisi

       October 4th is the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, a saint much beloved and respected by many facets of society throughout the years since his death in the early 1200's.  Many of my seminary years were under the guidance of the Third Order Regular Franciscans at Saint Francis in Loretto.  I have a great love of Francis and find a universal inspiration in his life and example.  I was the celebrant at our liturgy this morning, and the following is what I shared in my homily.  It comes from the words of the Francis of our day, Pope Francis, in his encyclical "Laudato Si!" of a few years ago.

    Pope Francis says of his namesake: " Francis loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his open heartedness.  He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself.  He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace. 

     His response to the world around him was ... for him seeing each and every creature as a sister united to him by bonds of affection.  That is why he felt called to care for all that exists.

     If we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.  The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical.

     Francis invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness."

     Great words to ponder the gift of this first Saint of Assisi.

LABOR DAY

          WORK must be seen as a GIFT given by God, as a RIGHT reserved for every person, and as a RESPONSIBILITY for all of creation.

    As we hear in the story of creation in Genesis, the beginning of everything flows from God's creative work.  He made the earth and the heavens ... he formed man and breathed life into him ... he planted the garden and placed man there.  And as Genesis tells us, God settled man in the garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it.

    The Lord has shared his creative work with those he made in his image and likeness, and in doing so called us to be blessed, god-like in our dignity.  He gave us the right to a dignified work that must continue to manifest his creative action.  And he gives us the responsibility of being his stewards - stewards of all creation.  There was a joy, in the beginning, in this creative work and a satisfaction in working with God.

    But then came the Fall, the sin of Adam and Eve, and work now was done with the "sweat of the brow".  Now work became a challenge, at times a burden rather than a blessing, a weight upon our shoulders.  Now we were not guaranteed respect or dignified work, but now had to struggle and fight for it.  Now we lost sight of our responsibility for creation and for each other.  We worked for ourselves and our immediate circle.

    Pope Francis recently addressed the 109th gathering of the International Labor Organization.  He said: "It is the fundamental mission of the Church to appeal to everyone to work together, with governments, multilateral organizations and civil society, to serve and care for the common good and to ensure everyone's participation in this task.   No one should be left aside in a dialogue for the common good."

    The Church has been and continues in her dedication in promoting dignified, productive and creative work for all peoples with the intention of benefiting all creation, looking to the future and not just to the present.

    One other thing the Holy Father said in that address: "We run the risk of being attacked by a virus even worse than Covid-19: that of selfish indifference.   In other words, a society cannot progress by discarding.  This other virus spreads by thinking that life is better if it is better for me, and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me, and so we begin and end by selecting one person in place of another, discarding the poor, sacrificing those who have been left behind on the so-called "altar of progress"."

    There continues to be much work to be done to ensure just and dignified work for all, a care for our common home, and most particularly care for the poorest of the poor.  We must continue to be prophetic in our vision for humanity and protective of the worker in our actions.