News

Dear parishioners,

 Christ has been born and keeps being born in our hearts. The Advent season has ended; now is our time to proclaim Emmanuel, God among us! I hope and pray that this Advent time has been a thoughtful time for all of us, as we prepare, build, level, and flatten the way to Christ’s birth, knowing that Christ is coming to bring us salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Christmas is a time of Joy because we remember the time when Jesus was incarnated in a fragile human being and from our humanity to guide us as our shepherd toward the heavenly Kingdom that He won for us through His passion, death, and resurrection. However, Christmas is also a time of hope, since we are in expectation of His second coming in glory and majesty.

We will be entering a Jubilee Year (The Church celebrates one every 25 years) named by Pope Francis as the Year of Hope. A great name, especially for the time we have been living through. With wars, division, violence, diseases, and so many other negative things, along with a lack of Christian values, we tend to think negatively. But if we allow the Light of Christ to enlighten our path, we surely can change not only our perception of the world today, but we can also be, together with Christ, the force that would change everything for good, since for God nothing is impossible.

With His incarnation, Christ teaches us to look for those who are in need as He did for us. By His ministry, He taught us that it is possible to open our ears to the word of God and to the cry of those who are struggling; to open our mouths to praise Him and to speak for those who are speechless; to open our hands to those who are in need. He set the example for us to care for the sick and even to feed the hungry, as He is feeding us constantly with His Body and Blood in every Eucharist.

In other words, He is nourishing the hope that, as we become one in Him, everything can change for the better—even those horrific sins against His Love and against our humanity. The humanity that He embraced with love beyond all telling.

May this Christmas be filled with Joy, Love, and Hope, especially as we receive and share with others Christ’s coming into our hearts! Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Hopeful New Year!

Fr. Manuel Fragoso Carranza

Pastor.