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December 29, 2017This Christmas week is one of my favorites every year. As a child our family would always visit with extended family and friends during the Christmas Season. And after the crazy rush before Christmas, I still love the more relaxed time after Christmas as we take the time to visit with family and friends. On the day after Christmas the priests of the Diocese gather for a Stefanstag dinner hosted by Bishop Hartmayer. Stefanstag in English is St. Stephan’s Day and liturgically we celebrate the memorial of St. Stephan on December 26th. I look forward to this gathering every year because the priests of the Diocese have few opportunities to simply gather in a relaxed social setting. It is a good time and the Bishop springs for a good meal.
Throughout this Christmas Season we celebrate the reality that God loves so very much that He the Creator of the universe became creature. God always wants to be Emmanuel, which is to say he always wants to be with us. Mary’s “Yes” to God made it possible for God to dwell among us. And as Catholics if we are truly living in Christ, our “job” is always going to be on the lookout for God dwelling in our midst. The sacraments help us to do this in a wonderful way. But as we transition from one year into the next, it is a good time to ask how else to we experience the presence of God in our everyday lives?
If you are making any resolutions today for the New Year, it might be good to consider an old spiritual practice that you haven’t been doing lately. Whatever it is that has fallen out of favor from your daily calendar — be it silent prayer, journaling, visiting the Blessed Sacrament (most days the Church remains open until the evening), attending daily Mass, praying while walking, spending time meditating on scripture, prayer of gratitude before you fall off to sleep, the rosary or the Divine Mercy chaplet — think about why that practice has diminished and if it might be possible to reclaim it or try something new. If you do want to explore a new prayer exercise there are many sites on the internet that explore the broad and rich treasures of Catholic spirituality but one of my favorites is https://www.ignatianspirituality.com
Keep me in your prayers. Football is a violent sport and my Mom 50 years ago knew that it wasn’t very good for long term brain health so she conspired with our family physician to make sure he’d never sign the medical release for me to play. After several years of prayer and therapy, I came to a point where I realized that my Mom did love me and I forgave her. I’m not sure if Tex Flannery, the legendary football coach at my high school, ever did. As a priest I am concerned about the number of football players who damage their health because of concussions. But I am still a red blooded American male and football is still right up there with golf as my favorite spectator sport.
I ask for prayers because as two of my favorite teams, the Dawgs and the Iggles, draw close to the possibility of completing Championship seasons, I will get a little crazy with anxiety. I am happy for them to loss in the first round of play offs to put me out of my misery. When it comes to football, I’ve always been a pessimist. The Eagles have never won a Super Bowl. So, my pessimism is real. In fact, one longtime Eagles fan, Jeffrey Riegel, died last summer and one of his final requests was "to have 8 Philadelphia Eagles as pall bearers so the Eagles can let him down one last time." The Eagles have not always been an easy team to love.
If our mission as a Faith Community is to make God’s love more evident in our community than I think an important building block towards that mission is that we become very much committed to forming loving bonds between our members. The way our parish pulled together for Lou Arcangeli’s funeral was a good indication that many of you understand what we need to be about as a faith community. I believe that an important aspect of loving each other is spending time together, sharing our lives and having fun. So, I am hoping many of you will attend St. Michael’s Night at
on Wednesday, January 10
th. This I am hoping will be the first of several nights out to our local restaurants during the slow winter months. It’s a win for them and for us as a faith community. It is a “soft” way of reaching out to others and asking them to “come and see.” “Those Catholics sure seem to know how to have fun together. Perhaps we should check out their Church on the weekend.” I’m grateful to Carolyn Williams for coordinating this project for the parish.
On the Way Home: As we begin a new year, what can we do as a family to be more aware of God’s presence in our lives?
Fr. Jerry Ragan