Happy New Year!

May the Lord be with you as we bring 2023 to a grateful conclusion, and begin 2024 with joyful hope. We continue to celebrate our Christmas season this weekend with the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. When we look into our heart, we will find that, like Jesus, we all desire to be part of a holy family. 

Because we are created in the image and likeness of God, we all have the innate desire to be accepted, included, and embraced by a family who loves us. God is the Father of our human family who ultimately fulfills these desires for love. God gives us an earthly family to model His familial love to us. Even when the love of our earthly family is lacking or breaks down, God is there to embrace us as His beloved children. As members of His family, God also calls us to love one another with the same love we have received from Him. Our Church is a family uniquely called to live out this model of familial love of God in all our relationships. 

We can see this model of familial love enacted in the Holy Family, and in Jesus' mission to include as part of His family everyone who desires to live in His Father's house: "Stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother." Note that the inclusivity of God's family is predicated upon acceptance of God's will. If we claim to be a member of a family, that means we must accept the rules of God’s house: the commandments and Christ’s teaching faithfully proclaimed and handed down to us by our family of the Church over thousands of years. 

Having a family calls us to love particularly, concretely, and intimately. When he was Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, who would become St. John Paul II, wrote in Love and Responsibility about the four ways that love matures. Over the course of many pages, he speaks about love beginning as an attraction (I like this) and then becoming a desire (I want this). Love becomes personal as it matures into good will (I want good for you) and then blossoming into sacrificial love (I want to give my good to/for you).

Applying this to our family, we know that God calls us to love sacrificially with Christ. We need to commit ourselves to more than simply wishing good for others. We must find within the gift of God to offer ourselves with Jesus for the redemption of our bodies and the salvation of the world. As our Christian love matures, we begin to see our lives and the whole human family in this light of sacrificial love, that God made me to be a gift for all of His children who are my brothers and sisters and mothers. This is my family God entrusted to me. Am I committed to responsibly loving each person as a member of God’s holy family?  

Tabernacle Refurbishing and New Ciboria
Remember that our tabernacle is being refurbished over the next few weeks. A smaller tabernacle is in place for the time being while the restoration work is being done. We should have our refinished tabernacle back in time for Easter. We have also purchased new ciboria which we will use at Mass for distribution of Holy Communion. Thanks to our benefactors of the Chinese auction whose support made these liturgical works possible!

New Year's Mass
Please remember that this year's Masses for the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God (January 1) is NOT a Holy Day of Obligation this year since it falls on a Monday. We will have Mass at St. Mary's in Chardon at 9:00 am on New Year's Day for the Solemnity.

I am yours in Christ,
Fr. Scott Goodfellow