Dear Family,
As I write, it’s the day after Epiphany. A great group of people - or better, a group of great people – are over in the Main Sanctuary carefully packing away all the Christmas decorations. They are determined that next year we will not have to worry about “fluffing” the wreaths. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry. It’s only important to people who value symmetry in their wreaths.
Many of them also were involved in preparing the Sanctuary before Christmas. It really becomes hard to say Thank You in any way that begins to match the gift they give. It’s not just Christmas decorations, but the myriad of people – here myriad means a couple of dozen – who are always there into help, and not only help but be creative in anticipating what they think will make this an ever-better place for seeing the face of Jesus. It runs from a clean floor and pew, to the magnificence of drapery made with love and hung with care.
Sue and Scott Martinez (the Martini’s) shepherded the group. They moonlight as the pancake wizards, also with a great team. So we had their talents throughout it all. (Scott wants me to send him to Canada next summer to pick blueberries, but I thought perhaps I’d go myself.) To Charlotte, Beverly, Ann, Linda, Debbie, Mary Alice, Cynthia, Mark and Sheri, and Barry and Marcia, my thanks and the thanks of the parish. You are temple tenders par excellence. Of course, Patricio fits in here as well!
It’s also a time for me to say thanks to Annie and Cynthia. I labor under no illusion that I would be surviving and enjoying this place without them.
You’ll note “Second Sunday” up above. Well you might ask, “What happened to the First?” The Catholic trivia answer is that the last day of the
Christmas season, which can be Epiphany like this year, or Baptism of the Lord in other years, IS the last Sunday of the Christmas season. The First weekdays after the season are “ordinary” or regular time. It comes in under the radar, and brings us to today, the beginning of the Second Week. Sundays stand at the beginning of the week to consecrate that week to the Lord. It is a forward-looking work¬week! Does the Lord’s day and its teachings shape the rest of your week?
Eight ‘ordinary’ Sundays will bring us to Lent on March 1st. Ordinary Sundays use about half the Church year, with Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter time taking up the other half of the year.
As we live our lives from moment to moment, decade to decade, the rhythms of our lives move us along. When it comes to the Church’s seasons, it might seem we keep making the same journey year after year. But we don’t.
The story of Jesus may sound the same I’m not the same as I was when I heard it last year. When I hear the gospel proclaimed today, it speaks to me about today. I’m not exactly who I was last year. Sacred Time becomes the work of living as well as I can today. What does the gospel say to me today?
Speaking of today, you heard the annual financial report from Mary Wood. She chairs the parish Finance Committee. Mary Ellen Maher, Tom Ryan and Ron Picur serve with her. I am more than deeply grateful for all the work that you never see that went into preparing the report you received.
Today is about the parish. Next Sunday we’ll reflect on ABCD, the annual appeal of the Archbishop. That’s it for money talks from the pulpit. Next week I’ll Twitch a little more about what I’ve learned from the Committee and their concerns. Please pray that we all get with the program.
In Jesus,
