Advent Gospel Reflections
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I would like to thank those parishioners who offered Gospel Reflections during the Advent season. It is heartening to see people take on the challenge of breaking open the word and doing it so well and differently. This is one way in which we mentor and pastor each other.
The schools have ended. Some students are heading for new schools, some staff to new roles, and we will welcome students and families from other parts of New Zealand and overseas into our schools and parishes next year. I hope our schools can gather early next year at the Cathedral for an Ash Wednesday liturgy.
Thanks
The Pastoral Team wishes everyone peace and joy throughout the season. The whole Team acknowledges that so many people’s generosity makes the life of the Church across the Kotahi Ano Parishes possible and life-giving. To all, a heartfelt thanks and wishes for a blessed and holy Christmas celebration, and in the holidays, safety and fun.
The Pastoral Team has worked hard throughout this year and managed many things along the way, so I offer my thanks to them, too, and my best wishes for a happy and blessed Christmas time.
Christmas
Christmas is around the corner!
School is out, and many are planning their exit from work, gatherings with friends and family and hoping for weeks of sun and fun.
The symbols and language of Christmas are changing. The sign in the Square in Palmerston North reads “Happy Holidays”, not Happy Christmas, probably because Christmas is seen as a cultural hangover, not a religious festival.
Many use the language of Christmas (peace, joy, freedom, community, harmony, hope) but don’t realise the challenge these words present.
The great symbol of Christmas is the child.
In this child, so much hope is invested; the desire for freedom and longing for freedom. This is the child who will bring people into communion with each other by bringing harmony to the world and peace to individual hearts and between nations. “Happy Holidays” doesn’t begin to depth this meaning.
For New Zealand’s Christian minority Christmas is much more than holidays. The Christmas Season begins for us with the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve. Christmas day is the festival of God’s revelation to the Hebrew People. Our celebration of Christmas continues for eight days (perfection is seven days, and perfection plus one more day is eight) until the Feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, on January 1st 2023. The great festival of Epiphany, celebrated by us on January 8, is the festival of God’s revelation to the whole world, to people of goodwill, the ones we sing about in the Gloria.
Our liturgical calendar shows that we Christians celebrate differently than the general population becomes one day isn’t enough to welcome the revelation of God amongst us. The celebration sets us up for our mission to make the message of Christ known to others in ways that invite them into the story of salvation.
Until 2023
This is our last Newsletter until the end of January 2023. Please check the website for mass times and other information.
The parishes’ offices are closed from midday on December 23rd until January 24 2023.
Christmas Blessing to all.
Yours
Fr. Joe Grayland
Parish Priest Our Lady of Lourdes
Moderator St Mary’s Foxton
Acting Parish Priest, the Cathedral
Next Christmas Mass Timetable here