The Abbey Church at St. Leo Monastery

Last Sunday night I celebrated the student liturgy at St. Leo University and confirmed six of their members and offered First Eucharist to one. First let me begin by saying that it was a lovely liturgy and they had a roughly ten person choir who provided very appropriate and beautiful music for the liturgy. Father Stephan Brown, S.V.D. is in charge of Campus Ministry and invited me to be with his community. Normally I do not ever confirm during Lent but I made an exception this time at Father Brown’s request since Easter falls so late and there are only ten days of sch0ol left at St. Leo after the Easter break.

The liturgy on Sunday night took place in the Abbey Church although it usually occurs in a room at the student union. I suspect that St. Leo had a large share of students who go home on week-ends because they live so close to the University. Attendance of students at this liturgy was not large and the fact that Sunday Eucharist is celebrated in the Board Room of the student union indicates the challenges inherent in a campus ministry program for a school such as this.

St. Leo University has grown significantly in the last twenty-five years, for the first ten or eleven under the leadership of Monsignor Frank Mouch and for the last thirteen under the current president, Dr. Arthur Kirk, Jr. While its residential program on campus numbers about 2000 traditional four-year students, its outreach through distance learning and programs on military bases makes St. Leo about the fifteenth or sixteenth largest Catholic university in the nation.

I know a lot of graduates of our high schools who attend St. Leo and love it. They are certain that they are getting a first rate education for life after college and the graduates students are grateful for for the opportunities afforded them as well. It’s local, it’s Catholic, it’s educationally sound. – all good things. Soon they will dedicate a new building housing the School of Business and the campus has experienced such growth that it is impossible for me to locate a single picture which does the whole justice. St. Leo Prep which preceded St. Leo College which preceded St. Leo University was for many years an apostolic work of the Benedictine monks of St. Leo Abbey. A number of years ago the title and ownership of the college was turned over to basically a lay board of trustees who have taken bold ownership while still remaining committed to the Benedictine spirit and tradition of ora et labora, or “prayer and work.” Another part of the Benedictine spirit from their founder is that of hospitality and it was certainly in evidence on Sunday night. Congratulations to the confirmandi, to the campus ministry and peer ministry program and to all who keep the light of Saint Benedict and his sister Saint Scholastica alive.

+RNL

Today also belongs to the Mother of the Redeemer as the Church pauses between Christmas and the Epiphany of the Lord to remind us of the significance of Mary in the story of our salvation. We celebrate her solemnity which is interesting because the only thing one can reasonably glean from the scriptural references these past few weeks is her “humility.” The joy of successful childbirth preceded by weeks of uncertainty, physical dislocation and discomfort, and giving birth without the known assistance of a mid-wife or what she might have had available to her in Nazareth quickly gives way to more uncertainty, physical dislocation, discomfort, and outright fear as she, Jesus and Joseph flee Herod’s jealousy. This is not a story that would play well on ET or make the cover and front pages of PEOPLE magazine. The solemnity is to be found in her incredible faith and trust in the Lord, in her religious belief and practice, and in her trust. How I long to comfortably possess in my own life those foundational elements of a person of true faith. Remember at Christmas I spoke of the “risks” one must take to come to Jesus? Tomorrow three more “risk-takers” show up on the scene, the Magi or “Wise Men.” They come to see Jesus bearing gifts, a message, and an uncertainty that quickly turns to an investment in faith when in the presence of the Lord, his mother and his foster-father. What happened in the week or days between Christmas and their arrival on the scene is silent and somewhat lost in Scripture, like the last seven days were for most of us, unless like Mary we took time to contemplate the place of Christ in our lives.

Christmas 2010 is mostly a blur to me already. I was planning to make a quick trip to see a friend who is an Archbishop and papal diplomat serving in another country but the great blizzard of Christmas in the Northeast left me sitting on the tarmac of my house wondering what to do, so I changed directions, literally and figuratively and went west to spend some days with a family in St. Louis with whom I have been very blessed with friendship for almost forty years now. Among the opportunities afforded me this past week was one to go and see what I consider one of the most extraordinary and compelling movies I have seen in some time. Titled The King’s Speech and now showing in this area at only three theaters (including the Tampa Theatre), this movie is definitely worth the look and if it does not win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Actor for Colin Firth and best supporting actor for Derek Jacoby, then it will be a travesty. Rated as an “R” film, there is absolutely no sex in the flick at all. There is, however, the repeated use in several momentary segments of a four-letter word which is always inappropriate in daily speech. The story is about King George VI of England, Queen Elizabeth’s father, who was second in line of succession to the throne but succeeded when his older brother who most of us remember not as King Edward but the Duke of Windsor abdicated to marry an American woman and divorcee, Wallace Simpson. George VI was born with a stutter and stammer and wanted no part of being King until thrust into it by the decision of his brother David (aka, King Edward). His wife seeks out a speech therapist and therein lies the story. Want to feel good in the early moments of 2011, go see this one.

My Christmas Day was full as expected and also as expected the day’s climactic moment of Mass at the Hillsborough Correctional Institution for Women was the highlight. My how they sang and prayed. I confirmed two of the inmates during the ceremony who had been prepared for the sacrament by the wonderful women and men who work there as volunteers, mostly from Prince of Peace parish in Sun City Center and Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission in Waimauma. My deep sleep Christmas night was interrupted by a phone call at 4 a.m. informing me of the flight cancellations. I went back to sleep dreaming not of sugar plum fairies but of the faces of those who had come in the previous twenty-four hours to see Jesus.

Yesterday, I joined about  dozen of our priests and offered the Funeral Mass for Clarice Larkin, the sister of our beloved former bishop, W. Thomas Larkin. With her passing, a chapter in the emerging history of the Diocese of St. Petersburg comes to a close. May she rest in the peace which she found difficult to find in this life and take her place alongside her beloved brother and parents in everlasting life.

Happy New Year, all

+RNL

Within seven days the Liturgy of our Church moves us from the image of Jesus Christ, our King, to, in the words of this Sunday’s Gospel, prepare for the coming of the “thief in the night.” It is quite a literary and theological chasm to span between these two images but both are important to our lives of faith. Today, as I write this, the USA consumer culture acknowledged what our retailers have come to call “Black Friday.” The malls and shops are full of people anxiously expecting to receive bargains for Christmas gifts. Last night, Thanksgiving, I went to sleep as one of the local television stations showed pictures of people sleeping outside the stores of one of our major electronic and appliance stores in the hope of being first in line to grab the few items which really are on sale today. The expectation which drove the waiting is amazing to me.

Advent season, beginning Sunday, is also a time of expectation and waiting, not for a bargain but for a baby. This baby comes in fulfillment of the Scriptures which foretold of a child who would fulfill the hopes and dreams of all humankind, a Messiah, God Himself, in the person of Jesus. It takes us all of about fifteen days to deal with His infancy but it will take us another year to deal with his life, mission, ministry until at its conclusion we acknowledge once again that he is indeed our King, our Lord, our Savior. So the Church would have us prepare for something which we know happened and which needs to happen every year in our life – to acknowledge and live with the Word who became flesh, taking on all our humanity, save our sins, in order to save us from our sins. But Advent is also the season when we most need to reflect that He will indeed come again and we need to be prepared.

I drove by several of our parishes this morning and I saw no lines of people, or even one solitary person, perched outside the door awaiting their opening. I understand this. But I wonder how prepared we are for the coming of the Lord, not just historically as we will recall in four weeks, but spiritually. I live with the realization that “the thief in the night” almost came for me fourteen  months ago and I must confess that I was not as prepared then as I am today having lived with that reality now for some time. This is the season to check your spiritual security systems. The sacrament of reconciliation is more readily available at this time with Penance Services in almost all the parishes and additional hours in others. Try preparing by spending a little time in quiet reflection if you can find both the time and the space. Ask the good Lord for help in acquiring those gifts and habits which will best prepare you for the day of reckoning.

There is no lock which can keep the “thief” from entering our lives, rather we leave the door slightly ajar, prepared and awaiting his arrival at any time of His choosing. Not to fear, take comfort. Have a blessed Advent.

+RNL

Here’s another set of random thoughts while shaving……..

Vacation days are upon us. At our office we can tell when things begin to shut down in our parishes with pastors and associates taking their vacations and a dearth of phone calls and letters to be answered are the rule of the day here at the Bishop Larkin Pastoral Center. For we older generation types, the window of summer vacation weeks has been narrowed considerably by the earlier opening of school, now in early August instead of after Labor Day as  back in the “days of the giants.” This has it effects not only on parents of school age children and their teachers and administrators, but pastors and associates as well. Generally one can not get away until school is closed and must be back prior to school reopening. What was once a twelve week window for my brothers is now more like an eight week window at best and imagine the complications next year when Easter is on the last possible day it can be observed, April 24th, and Pentecost is not until June 12th. I am ready to resume a full confirmation schedule next year and am hoping that more parishes will choose a date prior to Ash Wednesday and after Christmas or at least the first five weeks after Easter. So we have the same challenges of “when to rest from our labors” as many of you do.

Finally, while on this topic, don’t forget Sunday Mass when you are away. I am edified at the number of people in the summer who fill the huge Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of the Universe at Disney. I am also edified by those who attend Sunday Mass on cruise ships when the opportunity is offered by a cruise line (now just Holland America and Crystal among the major players) and at our national parks. The rule of the Church has always been that you can be excused if you are actually travelling (read that on the road, plane, train or ship) during Sunday Mass times but must attend if at all possible otherwise. The Creator deserves our praise for the beauty of creation, after all.

For readers from the Diocese of St. Petersburg, four priests who were originally a part of our diocese but now minister in the Diocese of Venice (we call them “SOB’s” which means “South of the Bridge(rs)”) have been recommended by Bishop Frank Dewane to the Holy Father for receiving papal honors. Monsignor Edward Moretti, V.G. Vicar General of the Diocese of Venice and pastor of Saints Peter and Paul parish in Bradenton has been named as a Protonotary Apostolic with the title of Monsignor; Monsignor Gerard M. Finnegan, Pastor of St. Mary, Star of the Sea on Longboat Key,  and Monsignor Stephen Edward McNamara, pastor of Resurrection of the Lord parish in Fort Myers were both named Chaplains of His Holiness and Father Fausto Stampiglia, pastor of St. Martha in Sarasota and a member of the Pallotine Order has been given the  Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award. Congratulations are in order to our alumni.

Monsignor Norman Balthazar, for the past decade almost the Director of Catholic Cemeteries is retiring at the age of seventy as is allowed and will be returning to his home on Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts,  next month. Monsignor has done an outstanding job of transforming Calvary Cemetery into a beautiful final resting place for our loved ones and has made all of us proud of what a Catholic cemetery can look like. I wish him well in his retirement.

Finally, stay off the roads at the end of next week because that is when all our priests who are changing assignments and returning to new assignments will be moving. There are quite a few this year but not nearly as many as my first Spring as bishop here when about thirty were reassigned and it was referred to, quite irreverently but comically as “the lynchings.” All the alia I can think of for now.

+RNL

This week-end, it seems to me, is definition week-end. It is the week-end when the liturgy calls our attention to who we are as baptized and practicing Catholics in a special way. It defines what separates us from most of the rest of Christendom and focuses on the unique gift we share as Catholics. It is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi which we translate as “the body of Christ.” Easter time has ended and before we get back to “Ordinary Time” we have one more special focus and that is on the Eucharist. When I was young there were two special days: Corpus Christi and Sanguinis Christi. The Church paused to reflect on the two constitutive elements of the Eucharist or the Mass, the body and the blood of Christ. If memory serves me right, one was celebrated on a Thursday after Trinity Sunday and the other was celebrated a week later. We had processions in my youth, of the Blessed Sacrament, mostly through the Church since I lived in towns where Catholics were such a minority that an outside procession in the streets would have occasioned taunts and ridicule from by-standers. And then there was the fact that fifty families, not all of whom would be able to attend, would hardly constitute a procession. The two feasts of the two parts of the Eucharist were combined after the Second Vatican Council into Corpus Christi and moved to the second Sunday after Pentecost.  In Rome there is still a procession of the Blessed Sacrament on Thursday from the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major and a younger and vigorous Pope would carry the Blessed Sacrament while walking. In recent years, the Pope still holds onto the monstrance (the gold vessel which contains the host) but is driven from one to the other – slowly, with great reverence, hymns and prayers along the way.

Part of our strategy these years here in the diocese has been to turn the spotlight back on the Eucharist as both gift and identifying mark of who we are as Catholic Christians. We are a Eucharistic people and if we do not understand that, then we are missing the source and summit and the central focus of our life with Christ. Through the transformation of bread and wine into his body and blood, the sacrifice on Calvary is re-enacted every Mass in an unbloody way, and Christ comes to those of us who receive Him. We do not consider Eucharist or Communion simply a memorial or a sharing of common cup. That approach was a result of the reformation era. We have remained true to his command on the night before He died to take bread and wine, break it, bless it and then share his body and blood by our own reception and the communion of others doing the same.

It is such a gift and so much a part of what makes us Catholic that when someone leaves the practice of the faith to join another Church, I grieve because somehow we never got through to them that life without the Eucharist is like a day without sunshine, or worse. It is pedagogical failure. It is a liturgical failure. It is a pastoral failure. No one who truly understands and longs to receive the body and blood of the Lord can or should go for any extended period of time without approaching the blessed Lord and receiving the Corpus Christi. The Lord dwells under the “roof of the believer” for a brief but significant and powerful time. Our religious ancestors longed for this intimacy with God. Jesus gave it to us in Himself.

So this week-end, discover once more the greatest treasure of our faith after baptism – the body and blood of Christ. Then thank God for the privileged moment we share with Him in Eucharist. It must be a defining moment in our lives every time we approach the Eucharist.

+RNL

Early reports about Thursday night’s THE LIGHT IS ON FOR YOU are that despite the heavy rain and strong wind throughout the five counties, many people still made use of the opportunity to approach the sacrament of reconciliation, including many who were returning to the sacrament after a long period away. In the Church in which I heard confessions, we were not busy or “slammed” and I thought perhaps that last year’s success was wearing off. But, when outside the sacrament, I would inquire what was the impetus for seeking the sacrament this night , many told me that they had seen the thirty-second spots on TV (especially ESPN) and decided to come home. Today, we have heard from a number of pastors that confessions last night in their Church were steady and extremely worthwhile.

Sunday is Laetare Sunday which is Latin for “rejoice”. We are at the halfway point in Lent and Holy Week and the reenactment Lord’s passion and resurrection are drawing near. It is also the Sunday when we take up in all the parishes and missions around the country the annual collection for Catholic Relief Services. CRS’s work and importance shown once again in their response to the earthquake in Haiti and no Church has a disaster and development program to rival our own CRS. Some of the money also goes to Migration and Refugee Services, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the USCCB Committee for International Justice and Peace and to the Holy Father for his assistance to nation’s suffering from disasters, natural and manmade. Please be generous this week-end to one of the best causes for which special collections are taken in the United States.

This afternoon (Friday) I took the occasion to visit the Intensive Care Unit and the fifth floor of St. Anthony’s Hospital which took such great care of me in the days and weeks of my hospital confinement. The reason for my visit which was spontaneous on my part was to thank those wonderful, dedicated women and men (nurses, aids, cleaning people) who took care of me and take great care of all. I would say that they loved seeing me and a number commented that they seldom see people whom they have nursed back to good health after they leave the hospital upon discharge. Many could not believe how much weight I have lost. I had a great time telling of the lady who approached me at the Cathedral to ask if it was really Bishop Lynch standing before her and then commenting on my loss of weight asked me if it was “Weightwatchers” or “Jenny Craig.” Even the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES declared me healed. One could not ask for a better source on the subject!

The Diocesan Pastoral Council meets tomorrow (Saturday) at the Bethany Center and on Sunday I will be celebrating the 1030am Mass at St. Mary’s parish, Lutz, where the pastor has returned to the Philippines for kidney replacement surgery. I wish to assure the parishioners of my concern and prayers for their Father Jude Vera and my concern for them during this time without a shepherd.

Finally, it is not too late to get serious about Lent and preparing for Easter. Starting on Palm Sunday, this space will include a special reflection for each day of Holy Week. I will shut down for the week after Easter and return on “Low Sunday” – a term which I will attempt to explain when the day gets here.

+RNL

This week in the South we are celebrating the solemnity of the  Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. I say in the “south” because if you were attending any Church north of the District of Columbia you would be celebrating the sixth Sunday of Easter. Long ago when most of the country transferred the Ascension to Sunday, the bishops of the northeastern part of the United States chose to keep this Solemnity on the fortieth day after Easter which would have been last Thursday. Ascension Thursday marks that strange moment when the Lord ascended (under his own power, mind you) into heaven where he rejoined his and our Father, the Spirit, and the holy women and men he left when he came to earth. So we find ourselves paradoxically recalling a moment in history when the Lord chose t o leave us. But he did not really leave us and the Gospel today indicates, he said to his disciples, “lo, i am with you always, even until the end of time.” So what gives here? What assumptions can we make about the ascension?

First, he was really just finishing off that last ounce of his humanity by physically taking his leave like we all must some day, except there was no separation of body and soul as there is for us. His physical presence for those thirty-three years was ended with his Ascension into heaven but His presence in the Eucharist and in the world remains. The disciples and friends needed to adjust to the reality that he was no longer physically present as they had experienced him. They began on Ascension Thursday the solemn nine days of prayer and meditation, awaiting the promised coming of the Holy Spirit and perhaps even hoping that Jesus would descend again, come again, soon. Mary was with the apostles during this time between Ascension and Pentecost. We often refer to Mary as the first among the Apostles.

Before physically ascending, Jesus gave his disciples and us a mandate – “go forth into the world and preach the good news.” That task was made appreciably easier for the early Church because of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost but an assumption about the ascension was that the Lord needed to leave before the spirit could and should come. It is a wonderful solemnity and I, for one, am happy that it was transferred to the sixth Sunday so that more and more Catholics could hear the readings and celebrate the occasion. Listen, contemplate, and wait!

+RNL

Tomorrow is not only the first Sunday of Lent but it is also the afternoon when at the Cathedral of St. Jude, the Diocese of St. Petersburg welcomes most of those preparing for baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist at the Easter Vigil ceremony throughout the Diocese on Saturday, April 11, 2009 (the catechumens) and many more who will be received into “full communion” with the Church and be confirmed and make their First Eucharist at the same Easter Vigil (candidates, they are called). Candidates will have experienced first Penance prior to the Easter Vigil and, of course, those being baptized are washed clean of all sins in that sacrament, not just Original Sin.

The Cathedral ceremony is called “The Rite of Election” and earlier in the morning, those present will be “sent” to the Cathedral following the homily at Sunday morning’s Mass. One of the great pleasures in my life as bishop takes place tomorrow when these 1000+ gather for Evening Prayer and the welcome. Catechumens come up into the sanctuary first, accompanied most often by their pastor or the person who has helped them through the whole Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) or the Order of Christian Initiation of Children (OCIC). They bring a “Book of the Elect” which contains their names inscribed and enrolled to remain forever a part of the history of the parish. They shake my hand and I congratulate and welcome them, in the name of the whole local Church. For much of their journey they think they are largely alone or making the pilgrimage of faith with a few other nice people who are doing the same. When they get to the Cathedral and see the vast throng of people coming into the Church, they often become even more excited about their journey.

The reading for Evening Prayer tomorrow is taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Phillipians, (1:4-6, 8-11): Brothers and sisters: I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the Gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. St. Paul’s pride at the growth of the Church at Phillipi gives him “joy” and “confidence”. The number of converts was likely to be no more than several hundred at the most at any one time. Imagine St. Paul’s joy at receiving over a thousand into the Church. God is very good and continues to work in our midst through the modern day servants of the Gospel, those who guide and direct the RCIA/OCIC programs in the parishes, the sponsors of the catechumens and candidates and those whose example of faith (often a spouse) has moved the initiate to make the journey.

A great afternoon for our local Church is in store and a thousand welcomes to all who await the Easter Vigil for unity of faith with us.

+RNL

“Throughout these forty days, O Lord, with you we fast and pray. . .”

Students Receiving Holy Communion on Ash Wednesday at SPCHS

Lent has begun. I celebrate Mass this morning for the students and faculty of St. Petersburg Catholic High School, my next door neighbor.  Green gives way to purple, the Gloria gives way to something of a more somber tone, clean foreheads give way to ashes. Priests generally like Lent, partly because the Gospels chosen for the next five Sundays are great for preaching, partly because of the excitement of those preparing for Initiation at the Easter Vigil, and surely partly because there are always more people at daily Mass.

How about yourselves? Do you like Lent? Do you make use of its special call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving? Do you prepare to make things straight with the Lord through use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Do you find just a little more time in an already busy day for prayer, reflection, meditation? It’s none too early to begin to think about these things as faster than a speeding bullet, quick as a gazelle fleeing a lion, Holy Week will be here and you and I may end up lamenting opportunities lost.

Every Lent I give a parish mission somewhere in the diocese. That means I preach all the week-end Masses and speak usually on three successive nights. It is something of a penance and a privilege for me to share Lent with others in this way but it might be a mighty penance for those who come to the mission. I am not by training or great experience a terrific mission preacher in the old school, but this year I will be preaching on the three evenings on: Gathered in Faith, Nourished in Love, and Sent as Hope for the World. This year only I am doing it two weeks in two different parishes and here is the schedule if you are in the neighborhood and are interested:

St. Paul’s Church, Tampa – Week-end of March 14-15 and the 16,17, and 18th in the evenings at 700pm/

Holy Family Church, St. Petersburg – Week-end of March 21-22 and the 24,25 and 26th in the evenings at 700pm. In this parish only I will also say the morning Mass and “try out” my evening presentation then.

I hope I am not “shilling” for myself but preaching Jesus Christ crucified and risen.

Wear today’s ashes proudly and throughout these forty days, fast and pray with the Lord Jesus.

+RNL

I truly hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that this week-end has been a time devoted to family and perhaps some relaxation. Today at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Indian Rocks Beach we said our farewells to Sister Helen Conway who died on Christmas eve at the age of 78 after a little more than two years of living with cancer. Sister Helen chose to forego all forms of cancer treatment and devoted her remaining days to helping others who were facing death to prepare for it and be at peace with it. It is a little unusual for me to attend a funeral for a religious sister, but Sister Helen had been the General of her religious order for twenty years. She was a Sister of St. Clare (they work at a number of our parishes in the diocese). Born in Ireland and a religious for just a few months shy of sixty years, she was the principal of St. Lawrence School in Tampa and worked in New Port Richey, on St. Petersburg Beach and at St. Jerome. My presence was a way of thanking God for the life of this good women and thanking the Sisters of St. Clare for their presence in the diocese. Sister Helen is now resting in peace, home for Christmas as she predicted.

During the seven days between Christmas and New Year’s the Church celebrates a number of saints and one horrific event. St. Stephen, the first martyr for the faith and a deacon of the Church was celebrated on Friday. Most likely stoned to death by an angry mob which included Saul of Tarsus (later the convert, St. Paul), Stephen’s  last words were those of Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

On Saturday, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. John the Evangelist and Apostle. This is interesting because it is highly likely that these were two entirely different men.

On Monday we recall the 12th century martyrdom of Thomas a Becket. Like Thomas More some centuries later, Becket was Chancellor of England to King Henry II who ultimately had him murdered in the Cathedral of Canterbury. Thomas a Becket was also the Archbishop of Canterbury. The “rub” between the two men was the same as for More, the freedoms between Church and State. Canonized only three years after his death, English Catholics would make pilgrimages to his grave in Canterbury, later memorialized by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales and by T.S. Eliot in the wonderful play and movie, Murder in the Cathedral.

The atrocity of which I spoke would have been recalled on Sunday were that day not a Sunday and the Feast of the Holy Family. It is the day the Church remembers all the newborn males slaughtered by a jealous Herod in an attempt to put to death the Messiah born in Bethlehem, in the city of David. We call this day the Feast of the Holy Innocents and it reminds us today’s sad atrocity, the death of over a million of unborn children by abortion each year.

Thursday is a Holy Day of Obligation throughout the United States and attendance at Mass is obligatory. It is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and the World Day of Peace.

I am taking the next seven days off and will resume again next Sunday night, January 4th. Until then, my prayers and very best wishes go out to the readers of this blog and the people of the diocese for a happy, healthy and holy New Year.

+RNL