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December 21, 2023Merry Christmas to one and all! I have been reflecting on all that has happened this past year and realizing that it is all due to being a witness to God’s grace working in the world. This past year we celebrated 42 baptisms, 25 weddings, 19 first communions, 19 confirmations, and 47 funeral masses or services. This was in addition to our daily and Sunday masses, events, social gatherings, and other moments of meeting with others and the Lord. What is always striking to me at this time of year is the conscious desire of so many to remember those who are less well off, whether here or in distant places. Christmas reminds us of the generosity of God, but also, through Mary, the generosity of human beings. All the acts of kindness and thoughtfulness remind us that God did that first to inspire and cause a reaction in us.
As I reflect on the year, my memory is brought to Bethlehem and Nazareth as well as our time in Jerusalem. To be honest, I could have returned home after the first day, because, as I have said to a few, the Garden of Gethsemane was one of the first stops on that fateful trip to the Holy Land. For me, it is one of the most important places in Christianity, because it is there that Jesus submits himself to the will of God which includes his suffering and death. That obedience reverses the effects of the disobedience in the Garden of Eden and so renews, restores, and changes the direction of all of history and certainly my and any other Christian’s history. Places in the Bible are important and so there and Nazareth where Mary said yes to God’s will and helped to change the course of history was the second place on my list of things I wanted to see in my life if I could. We left Jerusalem early to escape the possibility of violence. While it was tense, we got out safely.
I walked with my sister, who was on the trip, to the church built over the place of the annunciation in Nazareth. It was quiet and felt peaceful, although a few miles away there was awful violence and mourning for those killed and captured. It was a moment to reflect and ask God to help us once again as we saw how inhuman we can be to one another. While we were tense and somewhat frightened, to be where Mary said “yes” to whatever God wanted from her also was a place of peace and consolation. This Christmas, I pray and hope for an end to war and violence around the world.
As we begin this new year and begin to explore the possibilities that await us, I hope all will continue to pray, to ask the Lord to give us the courage and wisdom to be a parish that welcomes those seeking Him, tend to those who come to us with wounds of any type, and enable us to proclaim his message whether convenient or inconvenient to the whole world beginning here in Salem.
I hope that all those who have not signed up for a ministry will consider doing so during this period of recruitment. The Grateful Discipleship program is ongoing and there are encouraging results and new volunteers. It is very encouraging.
Finally, This Christmas, as always, the Clergy Fund is the sole beneficiary of the Christmas collection. It is intended to be used to care for the priests of the Archdiocese and those who have served here as well as the missionary priests that have served in the name of the Archdiocese in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Having visited some of them in Peru, I can testify to the enormous work and sacrifice of those men who went off to preach the Gospel in a far-off place and did so with deep faith, reverence, and love. Thanks for your generosity.
Peace and Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
Fr. Murray
