House Blessing

12-29-2019Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

One of the great Christmas traditions of the Church is to bless one's house to start a new year. "Chalking the door" is a centuries-old custom in which Christians gather on the feast of the Epiphany to ask God's blessing on their home. A traditional way of doing this is to take a piece of blessed chalk and inscribe above the entrance door to the home the following: The "20" and "19" refer to the actual date. The "+" between the letters symbolize the cross of Christ. The "C M B " initials have two meanings: 1) The initials of the three magi: Caspar, Melchoir and Balthazar, the three wise kings or Magi who visited the Christ Child. 2) This is the abbreviated Latin phrase, Christus mansion benedicat, which translates as "May Christ bless the house."

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Merry Christmas!

12-25-2019Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we celebrate Christmas, there is a tradition that comes to mind that expresses the transforming effect of Christ's birth. That is, at midnight, the children in England were given bells to ring throughout the house. It was to remind them of the end of the reign of Satan through the birth of the Newborn King. As the prophet Isaiah proclaims about this beautiful day, "The Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised!"

During Christmas time, there is much to celebrate. This Advent has been a beautiful season of preparation and I am grateful to so many people this week for making our celebration meaningful and prayerful. I bring them to your attention with the hope that you might add a few prayers of thanksgiving for each of them in exchange for their service to our community!

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The Christmas Tree

12-22-2019Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Despite many historians' attempts to link the Christmas tree to an ancient pagan practice, it is completely Christian in origin. The origin of the Christmas tree begins in the year 723. St. Boniface was blessed to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to areas of modern Germany and parts of the Netherlands. As he was evangelizing the pagans, St. Boniface discovered that every winter, uninformed folks from the village of Geismar gathered around a huge old oak tree known as the "Thunder Oak". The tree was dedicated to the god Thor. This annual winter event of worship centered on sacrificing a human, usually a small child, to the pagan god. St. Boniface's zeal for serving Our Lord and saving innocent children from being slaughtered, impelled him to help others to know the love of God in the person of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Boniface came up with a plan to convert the entire village by destroying the Thunder Oak. This is the very tree that the pagans believed the God of Boniface could not destroy.

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A Gaudete Sunday and Christmas Masses

12-15-2019Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near!

I have a good friend who is a priest and lives in Indiana. He is about six and a half feet tall! He tends to stand out in a crowd… especially when he wears his clerics. He usually comes to visit once a year or so. While in town, we often go hiking because we do have some amazing trails. So to get a little exercise, I decided it would be good to try climbing Camelback mountain. If you have never hiked this mountain, I have to say it is a difficult climb. My friend let me know that it is especially difficult for a guy with size 15 shoes! Hiking with skies for feet is hard enough but my friend is not all that coordinated either - as he reminded me all the way up the mountain! Actually, I was nervous for him! There were lots of obstacles along the path and crevices and sheer cliffs. He kept reminding me that there was a shortage of priests and perhaps we should turn back!

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Second Week of Advent

12-08-2019Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

The Advent Calendar

The Advent calendar, or Adventhaus, began in Scandanavia and Germany. Its purpose is to help children become aware of the expectancy of Advent. Sometimes the Advent calendar is a picture of a house with 23 small windows and 1 large window that are opened to reveal the tiny religious symbols, icons and pictures behind them. Another variation is to construct a Jacob's Ladder that leads step by step to the day of Christ's birth. Every morning or every evening before bedtime, the child opens a window, behind which appears a star, an angel, a manger or some other picture appropriate to the Advent season. (If there are several children in the family, the privilege of opening the windows rotates from one to another). An appropriate bible verse can serve as a caption to the picture. On the 23rd, all twenty-three small windows are open; the big window remains closed until Christmas Eve, when it is opened to reveal the Holy Child in the manger. When all the windows are opened, stand the calendar in front of a lamp or window. The light will shine through the paper, giving the little house a Christmas glow.

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First Week of Advent

12-01-2019Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The word Advent comes from the Latin words, advenire (to come to) & adventus (an arrival), and refers to Christ's coming into this world. The Advent season is a time of joyful expectation and preparation for Christmas, the day upon which Christ's birth is celebrated and His first coming into this world. The focus of Advent is upon the centuries of waiting and preparation by God's chosen people, which preceded the coming of the Messiah. As such, it is a time marked by expectation, hope, preparedness and penance. The latter being mindful of John the Baptist's cry to prepare for the coming of the Lord with repentance (Treasury of Latin Prayers by Michael Martin).

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