A week to go until Christmas. Always a time of expectancy mixed with a great deal of hard work and family fun. The Church is becoming ever more decorated. Mary and Joseph are on their way, the Magi are in the distance following the star and the Church itself is starting to sparkle for the forthcoming festival. Here in the parish we are getting ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord with the PARISH CAROL SERVICE this Sunday afternoon at 3pm. Please do come along to hear Voices of Christ lead us in choral and congregational carols and readings of the Christmas story. Then on Wednesday 21st we have the Parish Reconciliation Service. This service will be in English and confessions will be available in English and Spanish. There will be about 14 priests to hear confessions that evening so there will not be a lot of waiting around. This is one of the best moments of the year to reconcile with God through this sacrament of his love. A chance to be refreshed and open to receive the gift of Christ our salvation at Christmas I want to thank the visiting Fathers for coming and helping hear confessions this week. It also means that you can get to see a priest other than your own pastors here at SLDM!
In the New Year we will be adding, ad experimentum, another Mass for our Spanish speaking parishioners. This will be at 3pm on Sunday afternoons. There has been a real need to add a Mass at SLDM on a Sunday to cater for the needs of the community. This is a sign of growth but also shows how large the parish is as the parish team will have to celebrate ten Masses at the weekend.
If you are going away for Christmas have a safe journey (don’t forget to drop off your Christmas offering to the Church before you go or on your return). If you have family or friends coming to you for Christmas do invite them to join us here at SLdM or at St Anthony’s in Los Alamos or San Ramon at Sisquoc. As the hymn goes, “All are welcome in this place” and elsewhere, “O come all ye faithful”.
God bless you, your families and the new Church year ahead,
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter