December 12, 2024 – Pastor’s Note

Hispanic Month
Ever since my ordination, December for me has been Hispanic month. Our Hispanic Community spends nine days preparing for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe by gathering each night from Dec. 03 through Dec. 12 for a Rosary and a Mass. And then they start all over again on Dec. 16 with a nine day preparation for Christmas called “Posadas”, which usually involves Scripture reading, sometimes a Rosary, and a cultural reenactment of the Holy Family looking for an inn.

First, I want to thank all of our parishioners for their patience with all the Mass and schedule changes to accommodate these devotions. Your sacrifice is worthwhile. Not only are we celebrating a culture, but these are evangelical opportunities, as Hispanics (especially Mexicans) missing home will often show up to these events which are so prevalent in Mexico, and every year we convince a few of them to start coming back to church each Sunday.

Second, I want to thank all of our Hispanic parishioners for all the work they have done and are continuing to do to keep these devotional celebrations going all month. It is a lot of work. But our Hispanic parishioners always impress me because there is still a very strong spirit of volunteerism among them – they call pull off big events with very little staff support because such a high percentage of the community chips in every time.

Finally, I want to impress upon everyone in our parish the importance of Our Lady of Guadalupe being the patroness of all the Americas. We are tempted to think of her as only the patroness of Mexico or the Mexicans, but her message was specifically that the Gospel belongs to all people, not just Europeans. The Lord claimed the New World and its people just as he claimed the Old World and its people. We are all – indigenous or immigrant – redeemed by the same Lord Jesus Christ, and we are all adopted sons and daughters of his mother whom he gave us on the Cross. I am powerfully reminded of this when I celebrate Mass at St. Joachim’s, where there is an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging in the back. Her claim on the people of the New World did not end at the Rio Grande, but was for all people, including the Native Americans of our own area.

School Confessions
The other big thing happening this week is that the priests all took turns hearing school confessions. I am convinced that, minute for minute, this is the most fruitful and impactful thing I do all year. There are some really profound questions our students struggle with, and having a safe place to offer those questions to God, and receive advice from a priest has a massive impact on their spiritual and emotional health. I have also found that getting school-aged children in the habit of regular confession causes them to look to the Church for love, care, and advice as they struggle with the deep questions of growing up. Every year I am deeply impressed by how much our children desire holiness, and how much they care about their spiritual lives. Sometimes they even bemoan how they do not receive the spiritual support they want from the adults in their lives. Never underestimate the spiritual life of a child!