Dear Brothers and Sisters,

See how much God loves us. When we fail in discipleship after the baptismal waters have cleansed us, Jesus offers yet another sacrament to heal us. In John 20:23 Jesus calls his disciples to forgive sins. After breathing the power of the Holy Spirit into them Our Lord states, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Dear Catholic School Families,

A happy and blessed 2018 to each of you! This year the theme for Catholic Schools Week "Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed." encompasses the core products and values that can be found in Catholic schools across the country. Not only are we teaching students to become future servant leaders, faith-filled disciples and enriched citizens in our communities, we, as educators, are growing with them. In Catholic schools, we are all learners, servants and leaders. These shared qualities are what make Catholic schools work. They are what make Catholic schools succeed!

One of the great Christmas traditions of the Church is to bless one's house to start a new year; and in a perfect world we the priests and deacons Peter and Mark could get that done for all of our parishioners before the close of Christmas on January 8th. Breaking the numbers down for our 2000 families that would mean each of us would need to bless about 42 homes a day for the 12 days of Christmas, which would be a fun challenge for us and probably the making of an insane Hallmark movie [or our next fundraising opportunity]. In lieu of that, we will instead provide in this bulletin the prayers for the blessing of a home during the Christmas season. Why blessed with chalk?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Mary and Joseph did everything they could do to protect the Christ child. They had already dealt with so many hardships. The Holy Family then has to leave everything and move to a foreign country to avoid the king who wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus is just a week old and, already, there is trouble. Surely there was another way! Couldn't God have somehow just "taken care" of Herod? Why did the Holy Family have to suffer so much?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Four weeks ago, we began Advent, pondering the end of the world and the last things. But Advent ends with a beginning! It is the beginning of the Kingdom of God that has been established here on earth by the one whom God has sent to us as our Messiah, Christ Jesus, the Son of God whose nativity we celebrate on this glorious day!

It goes without saying that I am exceedingly grateful for the generous stewardship of our parishioners of St. Joan of Arc. Thank you! You absolutely amaze me. It is such a joy to be your pastor and see all the good you accomplish!

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Despite many historians' attempts to link the Christmas tree to an ancient pagan practice, it is completely Christian in origin. As the story goes, St. Boniface and his companions interrupted an event where there was to be the sacrifice of a child. With his bishops’ staff (crozier) in hand, Boniface approached the pagan crowd, who had surrounded the base of the Thunder Oak, saying to his group, “Here is the Thunder Oak, and here the cross of Christ shall break the hammer of the false god, Thor.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My friend, Fr. Richard, recently shared with me a true story about a university-sponsored trip that he experienced as a college student. Part of the trip included a dinner with alumni at what he described as a “posh country club”. You have to understand that Fr. Richard has this amazing knack for recognizing food from a great distance away…it is sort of a special gift that he is constantly perfecting (I’m joking, sort of). As he stepped off the chartered bus, the first thing he noticed was the savory smell of steaks on a grill.

While we both enjoy our fair share of fast food, there is nothing like a home-cooked meal. Fr. Richard noticed that his mouth immediately started to water like an old hound dog. Then he remembered that it was Friday and it was Lent. And his eyes started to well up with tears. Okay, I made that last part up.

THE ADVENT CALENDAR

The Advent calendar or Adventhaus began in Scandanavia and Germany, especially in the regions of the Palatinate and Hesse. 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 form of a lamp or window. The light will shine through the paper, giving the little house a Christmas glow.

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 later 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).

(Excerpts from a homily on pornography by Fr. Richard Doerr, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Carmel, IN)

What is the response in dealing with an addiction to pornography?

The first is honesty. Admit that the dark side of the Internet is a problem in your life if it is. Most importantly, through thoughtful reflection, when you have fallen into sin, determine what emotion triggered it. Addictive behavior of any kind is self-medication. Somehow, we are hurting and we are looking for ways to “check out” when we engage in addictive behaviors like the dark side of the Internet. If this is you, get to counseling and be at peace with yourself and your past.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde, the Bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, wrote: “In my nearly fifty years as a priest, I have seen the evil of pornography spread like a plague throughout our culture. What was once the shameful and occasional vice of the few has become the mainstream entertainment for the many—through the Internet, cable, satellite and broadcast television, smartphones and even portable gaming and entertainment devices designed for children and teenagers. Never before have so many Americans been so tempted to view pornography. Never before have the accountability structures—to say nothing of the defenses which every society must build to defend the precious gift of her children—been so weak” (Bought with a Price: Every Man’s Duty to Protect Himself and His Family From a Pornographic Culture).

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The nurturing of vocations to the priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and the lay faithful and sacramental married life are vital to the mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To be clear, Our Lord asked us to “GO MAKE DISCIPLES… OF ALL NATIONS.” We have had many couples receive the Sacrament of Marriage at St. Joan of Arc. We have many lay faithful seeking to become saints. St. Joan of Arc has never had a priest or religious from our parish.

We know that God calls many young men and women to serve as priests and religious sisters. There is still a shortage of priests and religious in our diocese. Why? There are many reasons for this problem. I would say that the main issue has to do with listening to Our Lord. I believe there is a “crisis of listening.” I often wonder how many people have entered into the wrong vocation and are living a life that is not God’s will for them.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our Lord prayed that His followers would all “be one” (John 17). We read in John 17:3 where Jesus addresses his Father, saying, "And this is eternal life, that they know You - the Only True God." Our Lord is very clear about His hope that all God’s children would be truly one and that all would come to know Him. Our Lord’s prayer needs to be our prayer too.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that our mission as followers of Christ is to lead others to the one Teacher, the one Doctor, the one Father who is Lord of all. God is our goal and really the purpose of our existence. Our Lord sets our priorities when He says to call no man "Rabbi" or "Teacher" or "Father." We have only one Master, one Teacher, one Father - God himself.