Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas! Our Parish Staff and Leadership welcomes everyone who is joining us for our Masses this Christmas weekend. We ask God to bless your holiday gathering, and that good food, good conversation, and hospitality are part of everyone’s experience.
Many of our Christmas carols remind us of the mystery of the child being born in a manger, and that people from afar came to see this child. The angels proclaimed good news to the world, that Christ our Savior is born. God becomes fully human, and as a baby, needs Mary, Joseph, and his entire family to care for him, to be his advocate, and welcome the child Jesus into his family and Community and to advocate for him as he grows into a young man. Advocate means to speak on one’s behalf, to tell others of the goodness in the person we know and love. Jesus eventually is an advocate for all people, yet in his childhood he had people care for and love him.
The role of the Church goes in many directions for people especially over 2,000 years. Yet, it really comes down to the most important role, to advocate on behalf of all people to God. Every prayer of the Church is for all people, not just members. It speaks on behalf of everyone through prayer for those who are sick, for those who have died, and for those seeking to be loved and accepted. The Church’s powerful mission is to stand before God on behalf of all of you and to say to God, “Remember the goodness of all your people.”
As a Priest, I love our ritual prayers at Masses and all prayers at all times. I love when the prayer turns to God in humility and asks to remember all your people.
So this Christmas, many do know the weakness of the Church and our failings, yet I hope everyone will one day understand it is the Church that stands before God, asking him to remember the goodness in every person. All of you are being prayed for everyday. I invite you, the Church, to pray for me and everyone as advocates for each other.
Blessings this Christmas season.
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Eric Tellez, Pastor