Well it is good to be back after my two weeks of meetings and travels as Vicar General of the Josephites. It was great flying in on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I was upgraded and LAX was virtually empty; I only had to wait for three minutes before I got to the passport desk – usually that’s at least an hour wait for “us Aliens”! Being away meant that my Josephite confreres missed out on my now legendary bread sauce to go with the Turkey, there will be other opportunities I’m sure, but I thank them for the extra works they had to undertake in my absence.
The 30th just past was St Andrew’s Day, may I ask your prayers for Fr Andrew of the English Community of Josephites who is now bed-ridden at the age of 93. His mind is all there but his body fails him and as you can imagine it’s distressing for him. Fr Andrew was a great Josephite teacher of biology, geography and religion and has always been meticulous about his regularity at prayer and community exercises and has a good and sometimes mischievous sense of humor. May God bless him at this time and soon bring him to his heavenly reward.
Advent has started and it is the shortest length of time this year, the 4th Sunday is also Christmas Eve! So there will be Sunday Masses and then Christmas Masses over the two days; phew! Our English speaking Reconciliation Service is this Tuesday evening at 7pm. On Dec 12th we all give glory to God for the gift of Our Lady of Guadalupe with Mañanitas starting at 5am, our Parish Carol Service on Friday 15th and the various Pastoreles celebrations leading up to Christmas. A busy program preparing us all for the gift of the birth of our Lord. Please take part.
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter