Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake:

During the four Sundays of Advent we are invited to reflect on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love! For our Fourth week we are to reflect on Love.

◆ First, I’d like to ask you to look again at the Advent Wreath, which speaks volumes of Love. The round shape of the Wreath signifies God’s Love, which has no end. The evergreen on the Wreath signifies God’s ‘evergreen’ Love, which never dies.  In His everlasting Love for us, when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son to us: ‘In this way the Love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.’(1Jn 4: 9). The same message is expressed in Jn 3: 16: ‘For God so Loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.’ 
◆ There is something about a baby that we cannot help but loving him/her. Christmas time reminds us: God humbles himself and empties himself --making himself just as accessible to us, just as vulnerable, as a tiny baby—so that we can dare to Love him, and in our love for him, find all his Love for us. As a whole, the Birth of Jesus, His ministry, the Gospel, the Church, the Cross --all boil down to love. May Advent & Christmas prompt us to deepen our Love of Jesus, the Emmanuel –God-with-us! At the same time, ‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must Love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we Love one another, God remains in us, and his Love is brought to perfection in us.’ (1Jn 4: 11-12)

◆ During Advent and Christmas, we cannot help but reflecting on the love of two other very special figures: Mary and Joseph. Mary loved God dearly. At the Annunciation, through Gabriel, God wanted her to conceive in her womb and bear a son –i.e. the Son of God. With her Love of God and of humankind, she dared say to the Angel, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it de done to me according to your word.’  St. Joseph was the just man, to whom God entrusted the most daunting task ever asked of a man –i.e. to be the husband of a woman who would gave birth to the Messiah. He was indeed the wonderful foster father of Jesus and the protector of the Holy Family. Both Joseph and Mary certainly Loved Jesus and were the closest ones to Him. Let us ask Mary and Joseph to pray for us, so that we may know, love, and serve Jesus more as His disciples.
                                                          Fr. Philip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry & Blessed Christmas
filled with

HOPE, PEACE, JOY & LOVE

And All the blessings that you need most to be faith-filled disciples of Jesus in the world today!
                                                          Fr. Philip