May the Lord give you His peace!  I am looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior with all of you for the first time here at St. Anthony’s!  I would also like to extend a special welcome to those of you who may only be able to come a few times during the year on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.  If that is the case then we are probably meeting and welcoming each other for the first time.  I am so glad you are able to join us for Christmas Mass this year…not as a guest…but as a member of our parish family!  I hope that your experience of Christmas will encourage and inspire you to join us on the weekends to come throughout the year.  Please note, that if scheduling is an issue for you with regard to coming to Mass, I have added a 6 pm Mass to the Sunday schedule.  I hope this helps.  If there are other issues, like not feeling connected to God, the Mass, or our Church for example, please let me know personally.  I am happy to do whatever it takes on my end as your priest and pastor to help you find or deepen that connection.  This is called spiritual direction, when we simply sit and talk Faith.  The Parish Office, the parish website ( www.sapwh.org) or after Masses are great ways to get a hold of me or any of our priests, deacon, or staff for that matter.  We’re here for you!  I hope the following meditation will provide some spiritual nourishment for all of us to deepen our connection to the joy of that first Christmas. 
 
If you had the chance like one of the shepherds to visit the Christ Child in the manger in the stable in Bethlehem would you go?  Of course, right?  Perhaps at first out of simple curiosity or wonder.  (Afterall, Angels in the sky did appear shouting the good news of His birth from the night sky!)  It would be the first normal reaction.  Lots of things get us curious but we don’t always check them out.  There was something about THIS message from the Angels that made it worth checking out.  The announcement of His birth resonated with something in their hearts.  Hope.  The Angels weren’t speaking about ANY child…this was the Christ Child whose coming had been foretold as far back as Adam and Eve.  The Savior is here?!  Their lives…their world, like ours at times, were filled with so much emptiness and brokenness.  Their hearts if not their voices were crying out, “save me Lord from sin, weakness, ignorance, temptation, confusion, fear, ego, doubt, addiction, grief, loneliness...”  They just had to go and see.  When they arrived at the stable, they saw things just as the Angels had said.  There was the Child in the manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.  It all made sense.  It all came together: what they saw with their eyes, what they understood in their minds, and what they felt in their hearts.  It was so right in every way.  Beyond words.  Like falling in love.  You just know.  He is the one.  They believed.  Christmas Joy!! 
 
They had received three special gifts on that first Christmas, better than any gift on earth: Faith, Hope, and Love.  These three gifts would enable them to be able to behold the Child always…not just in the manger of the stable but within the very manger of their hearts.  These shepherds were entrusted with a little Lamb…the Lamb of Lambs who would one day become their Shepherd.  What started out as curiosity and wonder led to a joy that would be eternal.  We need Christmas as much today as the shepherds did back then.  In other words we need “Christ-Mass.”  This is our way (as the shepherds of today) of encountering the Christ Child.
 
Who are the Angels in your life who have announced His birth to you?  For many of us it’s our parents.  Perhaps like the shepherds it sparked a curiosity and a wonder.  Make haste!  Rush to the stable.  Today’ stable is the Church…St. Anthony’s right here in West Harrison for example.  The manger is the altar.  Mary as our Mother through whom Christ was born is the model of Holy Mother Church through whom we receive Christ the Savior of the world in the Holy Eucharist.  The Christ Child in the manger is now present on the altar as Holy Communion.  The same God who came down from heaven to be present to us as a Child on that first Christmas comes down from heaven to us at every Christ-Mass to become present to us as a piece of bread.  We not only behold Him with our eyes as the shepherds of old, we hold Him in our hands as the Bread of Life and bring Him into our hearts, the empty stable now filled with Christmas joy. 
 
Each Christmas is an opportunity for us to each recognize our own personal need for a Savior.  What do I need saving from in my life?  What is stealing my peace and my joy?  What are the obstacles that need conquering?  The challenges that need surmounting?  Let us heed the message of the Angels “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”  Luke 2:10-11  Let us hasten to meet the Lord, at Mass, in prayer, and in one another. 
 
A Blessed and Merry Christmas to all of you!!  Know that you will be kept in prayer especially during this Christmas season.
 
 
Your local shepherd,
 
Fr. Tom
 
 
P.S . Friendly reminder to check out our parish website: sapwh.org!  We are rolling out NEW programs for youth and young adults.  Take a look as well at programs for our senior citizens and opportunities for adult faith formation.