Dear Brothers and Sisters,

One of the great Christmas traditions of the Church is to bless one's house to start a new year. "Chalking the door" is a centuries-old custom in which Christians gather on the feast of the Epiphany to ask God's blessing on their home. A traditional way of doing this is to take a piece of blessed chalk and inscribe above the entrance door to the home the following: The "20" and "19" refer to the actual date. The "+" between the letters symbolize the cross of Christ. The "C M B " initials have two meanings: 1) The initials of the three magi: Caspar, Melchoir and Balthazar, the three wise kings or Magi who visited the Christ Child. 2) This is the abbreviated Latin phrase, Christus mansion benedicat, which translates as "May Christ bless the house."

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we celebrate Christmas, there is a tradition that comes to mind that expresses the transforming effect of Christ's birth. That is, at midnight, the children in England were given bells to ring throughout the house. It was to remind them of the end of the reign of Satan through the birth of the Newborn King. As the prophet Isaiah proclaims about this beautiful day, "The Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised!"

During Christmas time, there is much to celebrate. This Advent has been a beautiful season of preparation and I am grateful to so many people this week for making our celebration meaningful and prayerful. I bring them to your attention with the hope that you might add a few prayers of thanksgiving for each of them in exchange for their service to our community!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Despite many historians' attempts to link the Christmas tree to an ancient pagan practice, it is completely Christian in origin. The origin of the Christmas tree begins in the year 723. St. Boniface was blessed to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to areas of modern Germany and parts of the Netherlands. As he was evangelizing the pagans, St. Boniface discovered that every winter, uninformed folks from the village of Geismar gathered around a huge old oak tree known as the "Thunder Oak". The tree was dedicated to the god Thor. This annual winter event of worship centered on sacrificing a human, usually a small child, to the pagan god. St. Boniface's zeal for serving Our Lord and saving innocent children from being slaughtered, impelled him to help others to know the love of God in the person of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Boniface came up with a plan to convert the entire village by destroying the Thunder Oak. This is the very tree that the pagans believed the God of Boniface could not destroy.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near!

I have a good friend who is a priest and lives in Indiana. He is about six and a half feet tall! He tends to stand out in a crowd… especially when he wears his clerics. He usually comes to visit once a year or so. While in town, we often go hiking because we do have some amazing trails. So to get a little exercise, I decided it would be good to try climbing Camelback mountain. If you have never hiked this mountain, I have to say it is a difficult climb. My friend let me know that it is especially difficult for a guy with size 15 shoes! Hiking with skies for feet is hard enough but my friend is not all that coordinated either - as he reminded me all the way up the mountain! Actually, I was nervous for him! There were lots of obstacles along the path and crevices and sheer cliffs. He kept reminding me that there was a shortage of priests and perhaps we should turn back!

The Advent Calendar

The Advent calendar, or Adventhaus, began in Scandanavia and Germany. Its purpose is to help children become aware of the expectancy of Advent. Sometimes the Advent calendar is a picture of a house with 23 small windows and 1 large window that are opened to reveal the tiny religious symbols, icons and pictures behind them. Another variation is to construct a Jacob's Ladder that leads step by step to the day of Christ's birth. Every morning or every evening before bedtime, the child opens a window, behind which appears a star, an angel, a manger or some other picture appropriate to the Advent season. (If there are several children in the family, the privilege of opening the windows rotates from one to another). An appropriate bible verse can serve as a caption to the picture. On the 23rd, all twenty-three small windows are open; the big window remains closed until Christmas Eve, when it is opened to reveal the Holy Child in the manger. When all the windows are opened, stand the calendar in front of a lamp or window. The light will shine through the paper, giving the little house a Christmas glow.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The word Advent comes from the Latin words, advenire (to come to) & adventus (an arrival), and refers to Christ's coming into this world. The Advent season is a time of joyful expectation and preparation for Christmas, the day upon which Christ's birth is celebrated and His first coming into this world. The focus of Advent is upon the centuries of waiting and preparation by God's chosen people, which preceded the coming of the Messiah. As such, it is a time marked by expectation, hope, preparedness and penance. The latter being mindful of John the Baptist's cry to prepare for the coming of the Lord with repentance (Treasury of Latin Prayers by Michael Martin).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In 1863, President Lincoln designated the last Thursday of November nationally "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." As a nation, we are invited to pause once again on this Thanksgiving Day and take time to pray, reflect on our lives, and give thanks. I hope many of you make an effort to attend our 9:00am Thanksgiving Mass too! Yes, we give thanks to God from Whom all blessings flow. This Thursday, we give thanks for the gifts of family, the Church, the Sacraments. We give thanks for the people who are entrusted to our care and those who care for us. We give thanks for the country that we share, for the people who protect it and the freedoms we sometimes take for granted.

I recently saw a movie at the Heartland Film Festival called, Clemency. The movie is set for general release on December 27th, an odd time to release a thought-provoking movie about capital punishment. You know, ho ho ho and death by lethal injection don't seem to mix well, but I digress.

Bernadine Williams is a prison warden. The movie details what happens to her as she participates in 12 executions with one pending. Bernadine is tasked with following the rather bizarre rituals of such a death—an inmate's last meal, last meetings with family members, ensuring that the right people are witnesses and even an execution rehearsal.

The film reminded me of the movie Unplanned, which details the real-life moral struggle of Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson who slowly came to terms with what abortion really is, the taking of innocent human life. Abby Johnson walks away from the abortion industry in horror and by the end of the movie, it seems like Bernadine Williams will do the same. Her prison work takes a psychological toll. She drinks heavily. She has marital problems. Post-traumatic stress seems to swallow her alive.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A few weeks ago, I invited you to consider consecrating yourself and your family to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary by participating in the prayers of consecration that begins today (November 9th) and ends on December 12th. This opportunity is presented with the hope that our parish and our hearts will grow closer to Our Lord through His Blessed Mother. This year is a significant moment in our lifetime because it is the 25th anniversary of our parish, the 50th anniversary of the Diocese of Phoenix, and the Jubilee Year of the Family.

Consecrating your family to Jesus through Mary on the feast of our patroness, Our Lady of Guadalupe, is a powerful way to strengthen your family and invite many graces into your home and your hearts. A total consecration to Our Lord leads us to love… to love one another, to love ourselves, to love God.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have vivid memories of November 2nd, when I was a seminarian, studying and praying in preparation for the priesthood. This was a big day, especially for seminarians who were curious about the monastic life as we lived next to a monastery and were taking in their traditions.

Benedictine monks wear a habit with a long black robe, a black leather belt and a black hood that most days seems kind of worthless really, except on All Soul's Day. On that day, after evening prayer, the monks pull up their hoods, pick up a lighted votive candle and process in pairs behind a processional cross to the monastic cemetery in the crisp, fall evening twilight.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The way our culture currently recognizes Halloween is more than scary... it is wrong. Let me attempt to clarify a few things. This week we will celebrate the Feast of All Saints, which is celebrated every November 1st. This celebration dates back to the fourth century. It was originally called the Feast of All Martyrs and it was celebrated on May 13th. The words “martyr” and “saint” originally meant basically the same thing — someone who is a witness to Christ even unto death.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of our parish, the 50th anniversary of the Diocese of Phoenix, and the Jubilee Year of the Family, Bishop Olmsted invites all Catholics in our diocese to consecrate their family to Jesus through Mary. I encourage each family of St. Bernadette and St. John XXIII to make this consecration together.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A few years ago, I was blessed to be able to visit the Island of Molokai where St. Damien De Veuster and St. Marianne Cope ministered to lepers. Several people afflicted with Leprosy or Hansen's disease, who are now cured, remain on the Island. If I had to guess, I would say they prefer to be hidden from the world after being treated so harshly when diagnosed.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany. What exactly is an epiphany? Some would say that it is a sudden, profound realization of something important; a breakthrough; a deep and profound understanding of something once mysterious. The Church uses the term to describe God as being made manifest in Jesus Christ.

On Christmas, we focused on Jesus' humanity. On Epiphany, we turn our attention to Christ's divinity. We pause here today, just like the wise men, to pay this Divine Child homage and adoration as only a true King deserves. Next week we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, a dramatic leap forward in Jesus' life when we celebrate the initiation of Jesus' public ministry.