Christmas Eve Vigil Mass, live broadcast from CoCathedral of St Thomas More
Of the Holy Eucharist so as we enter into these sacred Mysteries let us first acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate this Mass I confess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters that I have greatly SED in my thoughts and in my
Words in what I have done and in what I have failed to do through my fault through my fault through my most Grievous fault therefore I ask blessed Mary ever virgin all the angels and Saints and to you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord Our
God May almighty God have mercy on us forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life amen Lord have mercy Lord Merc Christ have mercy Christ mer Lord have mercy Lord have Merc glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace to people of
Good Will We Praise You we bless you we adore you we glorify you we give you thanks for your great glory Lord God Heavenly King oh God Almighty father in EX in Lord Jesus Christ only begotten son Lord God Lamb of God Son of the father you
Take away the sins of the world have mercy on us you take away the sins of the world receive our prayer you are seated at the right hand of the father have mercy on us Lord in Exel day oh in for you alone are the Holy One you
Alone are the Lord you alone are the most high Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the father Amen in Exel Let us pray oh God who Gladden us Year bye as we wait and hope for our Redemption grant that just as we joyfully welcome your only begotten son as Our Redeemer we may also Merit to face him confidently when he comes again as our judge who lives lives and reigns with
You in the unity of the Holy Spirit God forever and ever amen a reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah for Zion said sake I will not be silent for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet until her Vindication shines forth like the Dawn and her Victory like a burning
Torch n Nations Shall Behold your Vindication and all the kings Your Glory you shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the Lord you shall be a glorious Crown in the hand of the Lord a royal diadem held by your God no more shall people call you forsaken
Or your land desolate but you shall be called my delight and your land is spoused for the Lord Delights in you and makes your land his spouse as a Young Man marries a virgin your Builder shall marry you and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in
You the word of the Lord thanks be to God Yeah forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord forever I will see the goodness of the Lord I have made a Covenant with my chosen one I have sworn to David my Ser forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations for I will see the goodness of The Bless the people who know the joyful shout in the light of your countenance oh Lord they walk at your name they Rejoice all the day and through your Justice they are exalted for I will see the goodness of the Lord he shall say of me you are my
Father my God my rock My Savior forever I will maintain my kindness toward him and my Covenant with him stand her for will the goodness of the Lord a reading from The Acts of the Apostles when Paul reached Antioch and pidia and entered the synagogue he stood
Up motioned with his hand and said fellow Israelites and you others who are God-fearing listen the God of this People Israel chose our ancestors and exalted the people people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt with uplifted arm he led them out of it when he removed Saul and raised up
David as king of him he testified I have found David Son of Jessie a man after my own heart he will carry out my every wish from this man’s descendants God according to his promise has brought to Israel a a savior Jesus John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to
All the people of Israel and as John was completing his course he would say what do you suppose that I am I am not he behold one is coming after me I’m not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet the word of the Lord thanks be to God hallelu hallelu Hallelu hallelu hallelu hallelu tomorrow the wickedness of the earth will be destroyed the savior of the world will reign over over us hallelu hallelu hallelu the Lord be with you and with your spirit a reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew the book of the genealogy of
Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham Abraham became the father of Isaac Isaac the father of Jacob Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers Judah became the father of Perez and Zarah whose mother was Tamar Perez became the father of hezron hezron the father of rah rah the father
Of aminadab aminadab became the father of Nishan Nan the father father of Salon Salon the father of Boaz whose mother was Rahab Boaz became the father of Obed whose mother was Ruth OED became the father of Jesse Jesse the father of David the King David became the father of Solomon
Whose mother had been the wife of Uriah Solomon became the father of rabam rabam the father of ABIA aishia the father of Assaf Assaf became the father of Jehoshaphat Jehoshaphat the father of jeram jeram the father of Uzziah Uzziah became the father of jotham jotham the father of ahaz ahaz the father of
Hezekiah Hezekiah became the father of manessa manessa the father of Amos Amos the father of Josiah Josiah became the father of Je and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile after the Babylonian exile jeah became the father of shtiel shtiel the father of zerubabel zerubabel the father of
Abud abiud became the father of eliakim eliakim the father of Azor Azor the father of zedak zedak became the father of aim aim the father of elud elud the father of Eleazar Eleazar became the father of methan methan the father of Jacob Jacob the father of Joseph the
Husband of Mary of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is 14 Generations from David to the Babylonian exile 14 Generations from the Babylonian exile to the Christ 14 Generations now this is how the birth of
Jesus Christ came about when his mother Mary was betr to Joseph but before they lived together she was found a child through the Holy Spirit Joseph her husband since he was a righteous man yet unwilling to expose her to shame decided to divorce her quietly such was his intention when
Behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph son of David to not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home for it is through the holy spirit that this child has been conceived in her she will bear a son and
You are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel which means God is with us when
Joseph awoke he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home he had no relations with her until she bore a son and he named him Jesus the gospel of the Lord praise toist the thought occurred to me there
Was an online video from a Kean pkit of a substitute teacher who got all the names wrong and uh I was thinking about all these names um this reference might have been too old for the young people and too young for the older people so I don’t know if anybody knows what I’m
Talking about but uh it’s pretty funny anyway I decided not to do that this evening but out of respect for our our Nativity and our celebration I um I think that we can look at the manger scene first and then what I’d like to do is some Christianity
101 and then look at entering in the season and it of the Nativity so the mangor the mangor scene Pope Benedict talks about in his infancy narratives and he points out that Christ is placed in a feeding trough a Manger in French we say m if you’re from Italian family you’re like mja
Mja Christ who is the bread of life is placed in a Manger he’s also placed in a Manger in a place called Bethlehem Bethlehem means House of Bread and so you start to see these you know obvious symbols of what Christ has come to do that he’s come to feed beat us now
Augustine points out that there are the ox and the ass that are traditionally in the in the manger scene and that these represent the Jews and the Gentiles but also from a prophecy of habac and exodus they talk about the two living creatures surrounding the Ark of the Covenant the
Two angels and that Jesus in some way is coming down upon the mercy seat and God is taking his throne here in the manger scene beautiful beautiful other details from from different uh Nativity and Crush scenes are Jesus being wrapped and the the bands he almost looks sometimes in art
Like a mummy and the early church fathers talk about this him being wrapped in these swaddling clothes as a preparation and foreshadowing of why he has come he’s come not just to live for us as Fulton Sheen says but he’s come to die for us uh the incense and the
Different gifts of the wise men so our church is really beautiful CU we’ll we’ll start inching these wise men closer and closer as we get to the Epiphany and they bring out also gifts for his burial frankincense for his godhead and gold for his kingship and so there’s all sorts of really wonderful
Images I encourage you to look up the nativity scene and and all the the symbolism there it’s so so beautiful all right we’ve already we’ve already got past step one okay so Christianity 101 we would say that um this is something that our regular parishioners
Hear quite a lot that um Jesus has come not um he didn’t come to run for president he didn’t come to become the emperor he’s not some super social worker or some super Theologian he comes as Savior and something that’s really interesting about human beings is we’ve
Tried to fix and cure the world in so many different ways I mean we’ve tried to cure the world economically we’ve tried to cure the world politically psychologically all of these fields are are wonderful but if you take them to the very end we realize that it’s not
Enough that within this globe within this world we haven’t find this we haven’t found a solution to the problem that humans experience and so what we see in Christianity is that the answer comes from outside that God comes to save us um that there are forces out there like
We mentioned sin and death these are forces that are stronger than us that we cannot conquer and Christ has come to do that so as we celebrate Christmas in a certain way uh we can enter into the season fathoming what the problems of the world are um especially those
Problems that we cannot wrap our heads around and that we can call upon Christ OK come Come Emanuel so this is a really a summary of Advent kind of some of the stuff that I’ve been eeking out during Advent season during our Sunday homilies but I’d like to share with you uh
Something that I’ve personally been thinking a lot about during this Advent season and com coming into this Christmas season so uh something Father Tim and I like to talk about is um just the enormity of outer space you know he’s he you know his threshold for all
And wonder is pretty low as well as mine it doesn’t take a lot for me to be like Amazed by stuff I shared this at the 10: a.m. mass that I watched a video and it was one of those scales of the universe you know it kind of zoomed out and it
Showed you you know what we think you know the current model of how big the universe is and I’m watching these numbers tick off as we’re zooming out from the human eye we’re zooming out from Nevada United States lunar orbit Kyper belt it keeps going and I’m watching these numbers of distances from
The human eye and these places as it’s scaling out and there was a uh there was something that I encountered at FSU of all places I was here studying economics and I remember one of our professors talking about you know large numbers and he he was talking about the US debt and
At the time it was around $1 trillion and kind of out of character he stopped the class and he said at a certain moment that’s just a large number and he challenged us he said you can’t even imagine1 trillion he said in your mind $7 trillion would probably look the same as
11 or 990 billion that it just becomes just this large thing so as this video is zooming out and we’re getting past our galaxy and then I start hearing words or learning words that I had hadn’t known about that we have a local Galaxy neighborhood and
Then it goes about and we have these Galaxy groups and then there’s this thing called uh super clusters and then you get into the cosmic web of of what we know as the uniform universe and I remember my mouth was just dropping and this has followed me in prayer that we
Know through the the teachings of the church and the catechism it talks about God as pure spirit that the Father the Trinity that God himself is pure spirit so that God is outside of all of this that the the sheer enormity of God I mean it it really just breaks your
Brain I’m surprised the internet didn’t break with this video okay it was so it was so astounding just to see how much of creation and how much space there is and to think that this is what happens in Christmas that this God who is beyond all being he’s beyond all being in all
Creation and he comes into creation the author comes into his story and he writes himself then and he becomes microscopic in the womb of Mary and this is what’s happening you know as we enter into the Christmas season it says uh in the in 42 of the catechism uh the the
Official teachings of the Church in paragraph 42 it says God transcends All Creatures we must therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited image bound or imperfect if we are not to confuse our image of God the inexpressible the incomprehensible the invisible the ungraspable with our human
Representations we must not confuse these our human words always fall short of the mystery of God and then it it goes on to say that in the fourth latter in Council relatively early church Council it says that in as much as we are similar to God we’re Made
In His Image and likeness there’s some similarity there the dissimilarity is even it it’s so much the greater that God is completely other that he is other Pope Benedict says this he says what does it mean when we call this God the Living God it means that this God is not a
Conclusion we have reached by thinking which we now offer to others in the certainty of our own perception and understanding when we talk of the Living God it means this God shows himself to us he looks out from eternity into time and puts himself into relationship with
Us we cannot Define him in whatever way we like he has defined himself and stands now before us as our Lord and we see in the self-revelation of God that he becomes Jesus something that we can actually comprehend so the catechism uses this word incomprehensible that God is
Incomprehensible this is a lovely word I I really Marvel at this it comes from the Latin coma which means to to grasp and or comer means around and henso means to grasp so when we comprehend something we grasp all the way around it we get it but God is
Incomprehensible that we can’t get Beyond him and yet although God is completely Transcendent theologians say he is both Transcendent and imminent that he is beyond all and yet he comes to dwell with us in the Tabernacle that he takes shape in the womb of Mary and in his
Humanity that I and grasp Jesus and this is how God chooses to reveal himself and ultimately his his most Supreme Revelation is in the cross and the and the crucifixion which we get to celebrate later in the lurgical cycle one other thing uh one feature uh
Of uh just while we’re at we’re just going to go for it one other feature of outer space is that it’s silence I think I’ve heard this before maybe you’ve heard this before but it’s you know we have Concepts like absolute zero in chemistry but we also have you know you
Could say the universe is in a way almost like absolute silence so 99.99999 however many nines there are of creation itself is silent and so we see that God he speaks and I know God speaks to me you know as a sunrise as a Sunset and he speaks to
Us in many different different ways but sometimes God talks and this is something very miraculous God doesn’t talk to me I just think that would be you know the the the reverberation of his voice that probably not exist but sometimes he talks and he he uses his voice on Mount Si when he
Gives the law and through the angel Gabriel he uses his voice and he says that Mary is to conceive a child the Son of God and so this is so important as we get in touch with the scriptures during the season as we get to know what God
Says and who he is how he discloses himself to us um these are amazing things to think about the people of the Bible in the world of the Bible they didn’t have the understanding that we do so for them when they would praise God they would talk about mountains as you know being
The solidity of God that he is a fortress and they would talk about you know the fire and these elements of earth now we’re encouraged by our church the church encourages us to to not only seek The Sciences seeking faith and to let those inform one another that in some
Ways we are so blessed to be able to see these videos that scale out and to see these models and to see you know images from the telescopes that we we have a a way in which we can now voice our Praises of God not just hills and
Mountains and rivers and and and valleys but all of those things in the universe were down to his glory and what do they speak to us about God this is our mission this is the invitation and it makes it almost even more tremendously astounding that that this God who’s even
Bigger than we we could even have even imagined has become a baby that he has come to us these are Mysteries that were were invited to to to enter into this this Advent and this uh Christmas season so what I’d like you to do um I know that
Each of you have your different Christmas traditions and uh giftgiving etc etc and uh meals and all of these things but I invite you to enter into the Christmas mystery the Christmas you know the birth of Christ which was what we’re celebrating um I’d like you to
Enter into it and you can do that in your own unique way I was saying at the earlier mass that if you’re pregnant if you’re a pregnant woman you can enter into these these mysteries in a very unique way you can really relate to Mary if you’re a father or you’re a husband
Of a wife who’s pregnant I mean you can really enter the manger scene Through The Eyes of Joseph in a very powerful way um if you’re single like me or you’re married to God and you’re just like a nerd you know you can look at space images and you can enter into the
Mystery by thinking about how big God is and how small he becomes now I just made the single joke Okay so let’s let’s side that for just a second here’s this is what I’m trying to say that each of you have an entry point into this mystery that God speaks to
Your heart and he knows the language that you speak that there are certain things that Fascinate you about the world and my question to you would be how do those connect to the Christmas mystery how th how do those connect to God becoming human so during this season
Uh this is your mission is to enter into these Mysteries to enter enter into the contemplation of God’s birth the birth of God and what will be your entry point how will you enter into the Christmas season this evening as we as we uh profess our faith together
Through the nyine Creed you’ll see in the book that it’s indicated that we are to kneel at the words and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary so that’s something we celebrate particularly on this day so you can just follow my lead
What we’ll do is when we get to that part we’ll we’ll kneel we’ll take a moment of silence honoring that moment and then we’ll continue with our creat so I invite you now to stand if You’ like to follow along you can find that in the inside coverage your worship
Himel as we profess together I believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth of all things visible and invisible I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God born of the father before all ages God from God light from light true God
From true God begotten not made consubstantial with the father through him all things were made for us men and for our Salvation he came down from heaven and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became men for our sake he was crucified under pontious
Pilot he suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no
I believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord The Giver of Life who proceeds from the father and the son who with the father and the son is adored and glorified who has spoken through the prophets I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church I confess one baptism
For the Forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the Dead the life of the world to come amen with hearts open wide we celebrate the birth of our savior with confidence and trust that God hears us we place before him now our needs and
Concerns for our Holy Father Pope Francis and all church leaders that their words and their example may lead us all to Christ the Savior we pray to the Lord Lord here our pray for parents and grandparents that their faith and love may be the greatest gift and Legacy
To their children we pray to the Lord Lord our pray for children throughout the world especially those in poor or homeless families that they may feel the love of Christ through those around them we pray to the Lord Lord our pray for all who are struggling for the
Sick the lonely and the Forgotten for those who are out of work and for those who are far away from home we pray to the Lord Lord our pray for all of our family members and loved ones who have died that they may be with Jesus in
Heaven we pray to the Lord Lord our pray for our silent intentions we hold in our hearts we pray to the Lord Lord here our pray our intercessions end this evening with the blessing of the manger scene God of every nation and people from the very beginning of creation you
Have made manifest your love when our need for his savior was great you sent your son to be born of the Virgin Mary to our lives he brings joy and peace Justice mercy and love Lord bless all who look upon this manger may it remind us of the humble
Birth of Jesus and raise up our thoughts to him who is God With Us and savior of all and who lives and reigns forever and ever amen you may be seated our operatory hymn is oh little town of Bethlehem and can be found in your mass programs on page Four to of how still we see the light of light the stars go by yet in the everlas the H and of all is in the tonight for Christ is born of and G all while the Angels keep their Wasing love oh morning stars [Laughter] together name the holy and great to God
The king and face to all on Earth how silently how silently the one his so God human heart the blessing of his no in this when soul will receive him Still Christ holy child of desend to us s PR our s Ander be born in us today we in the Christmas angels [Applause] Theing Oh Come to Us with Us Ah Hey brothers pray brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the AL y father as we look forward O Lord to the coming festivities may we serve you all the more eagerly for knowing that in them you make manifest the beginnings of our Redemption through Christ Our Lord
Amen the Lord be with you and with your spirit lift up your hearts lift them up to the Lord let us give thanks to the Lord Our God it is right and it is truly right and just our duty and our Salvation always and everywhere to give
You thanks Lord Holy Father Almighty and eternal God from The Mystery of the word made flesh a new Glory has Shone upon the eyes of our mind so that as we recognize in him God made visible we may be caught up through him in love of things invisible and so With Angels and
Archangels with Thrones and dominions and with all the hosts and powers of Heaven We Sing The hym of your glory as Without End we Acclaim holy holy holy Lord God of host oh holy holy holy Lord God of host Heaven and Earth are full of your Glory in the highest highest in the the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord bless in the name of the lordana in the highest oh in the highest highest in the highest to you therefore most merciful father we may humble prayer and petition through
Jesus Christ your son our Lord that you accept and bless these gifts these offerings these holy and unblemished sacrifices which we offer you firstly for your Holy Catholic Church be pleased to Grant her peace to guard unite and govern her throughout the whole world together with your servant Francis our
Pope and William our Bishop and all those who holding to the truth hand on the Catholic and Apostolic Faith remember Lord your servants and all gathered here whose faith and devotion are known to you for them we offer you the sacrifice of praise where they offer it for
Themselves and all who are dear to them for the Redemption of their souls and hope of health and well-being and paying their homage to you the live the the Eternal God living and true celebrating the most sacred night on which blessed Mary the immaculate virgin brought forth the Savior for this world
And in communion with those whose memory we venerate especially the Glorious ever Virgin Mary Mother of Our God and Lord Jesus Christ and blessed Joseph her spouse your blessed Apostles and martyrs Peter and Paul Andrew James John Thomas James Phillip Bartholomew Matthew Simon and Jude lonus Cletus Clement 6us Cornelius cyprien Lawrence chrysogonus
John and Paul cosmus and Damen and all your Saints we ask that through their Merit and prayers and all things we may be defended by your protecting help therefore Lord we pray graciously accept this oblation of our service that of your whole family order our days in
Your peace and command that we be delivered from Eternal damnation and counted among the flock of those you have chosen be pleased oh God we pray to bless acknowledge and approve this offering in every respect make it spiritual and acceptable so that it may become for us the body and blood of your
Most beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ on the day before he was to suffer he took bread in his holy and venerable hands and with eyes raised to heaven to you oh God his Almighty father giving you thanks he said the the blessing broke the bread and gave it to his disciples
Saying take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for You in a similar way when supper was ended he took this precious chalice in his holy and venerable hands and once more giving you thanks he said the blessing and gave the Chalice to his disciples saying take this all of you and drink from it for this is the Chalice of my
Blood the blood of the new and eternal Covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the Forgiveness of sins do this in memory of me The mystery of Faith we Proclaim your death oh Lord we Proclaim your death oh Lord Lord and profess your Resurrection until come again therefore Lord as we celebrate the memorial of the Blessed passion the resurrection from the dead and the Glorious Ascension into heaven of Christ your son our Lord we your servants and your holy people offer to your glorious Majesty from the gifts that you have
Given us this pure victim this holy victim the Spotless victim the holy bread of eternal life and the Chalice of everlasting salvation be pleased to look upon these offerings with a Serene and kindly countenance and to accept them as once you were pleased to accept the
Gifts of your servant able to just the sacrifice of Abraham our father in faith and the offering of your high priest mchis EDC a holy sacrifice a spotless victim in Humble prayer we ask ask you almighty God command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your Holy Angel to
Your altar on high in the sight of your Divine Majesty so that all of us who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy body and blood of your son may be filled with every Grace and Heavenly blessing remember also Lord your servants who have gone before us with
The sign of faith and rest in the sleep of Peace grant them O Lord we pray and all who sleep in Christ a place of refreshment light and peace to us also your servants who those Sinners hope in your abundant mercies graciously Grant some share and fellowship with your Holy
Apostles and martyrs with John the Baptist Steven maias Barnabas ignacius Alexander marcelinas Peter Felicity perpetua Agatha Lucy Agnus Cecilia Anastasia and all your Saints admit us we beseech you into their company not weighing our merits but granting us your pardon through Christ Our Lord through whom you continue to make all these good
Things oh Lord you sanctify them fill them with life bless them and bestow them upon us through him and with him and in him oh God Almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever and ever amen amen [Applause] aen amen
Savior’s command and formed by Divine teaching we dare to say our father in will will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation
Deliver Us from Evil Deliver Us Lord we pray from every evil graciously Grant peace in our days that by the help of your mercy we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress as we await the Blessed hope and the coming of Our Savior Jesus
Christ the kingdom and power and Glory are yours now and forever Lord Jesus Christ who said to your Apostles peace I leave you my peace I give you look not on our sins but on the faith of your church and graciously Grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will
Who live and Reign forever and ever amen the Peace of the Lord be with you always let us offer each other the sign of peace Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us have mer Mercy on US Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us have Mery on US Lamb of God You Take Away The Sins Of The World gra us peace grant us peace Behold the Lamb of God Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world blessed
Are those called to the supper of the Lamb I know I just my way to f oh good Jo our first communion song will be silent Night St night holy night all is all is Right Round On and child holy and so And heavly PE Heavenly peace silent night holy night sheers PR and the sight Glory from Heaven of heavly sing hallelu Christ the saor is Christ theor is silent Night night Son of God L pure light be from thy holy face with the of Redeeming Grace J us Lord at thy bir Jesus Lord and Still eyes On the high Heart Him in him sh Stly on the Ground the snow lay on the ground a star shown bright when Christ Our Lord was born on Christmas Night the adorable Was Mary virgin pure of holy and that brought into this world the God made man she laid him in a stall at bethleem the O and ax and shed the roof with them be then they Ador GL Be let us pray Grant O Lord we pray that we may draw new Vigor from celebrating the Nativity of your only begotten son by whose Heavenly mystery we receive both food and drink who lives and reigns forever and ever just a few announcements tonight what’s a mass with announcements young
Professionals adoration and Christmas party January 4th uh so that’ll be at 600 p.m. um again that’ll be their Christmas party and that’s going to be um like I just said January 4th for their for young adults our church office will be closed December 25th 26 27th and January 1st Good
Shepherd uh will have an epiphany water and salt blessing on January 5th at 900 a.m. and then something we’ve been uh uh promoting as it it comes on the radar is Christopher West will be here on March 20th that’ll be the week before Holy Week we’re very excited about him coming
And doing an event uh they call it a Made for More um night night of theology ology and and art and it’s it’s we’re really looking forward to that so hope you have a blessed Christmas uh it was really a joy to celebrate with you and
Um I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season and you find a great entry point to contemplate uh again the birth of God so we’ll have a special solemn blessing so we’ll end the the Liturgy with this blessing and this is a one of those triple blessings so
You’ll say Amen uh three times and then for the final you have one more amen so please be ready for that for your part heart and the Lord be with you and with your spirit bow down for the blessing may the god of infinite goodness who by the Incarnation of his
Son has driven Darkness from the world and by that glorious Birth has illumined this Most Holy Night Drive far from you the darkness of vice and illumin your hearts with the light of virtue amen may God who will that the great joy of of his son’s saving birth
Be announced to Shepherds by the angel fill your minds with the gladness he gives and make you Heralds of his gospel and may God who by the Incarnation brought together the Earthly and the Heavenly realm fill you with the gift of his peace and favor and make you
Sharers with the church in heaven amen and may the blessing of almighty God the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come down on you and remain with you forever amen amen go in peace thanks be to God St Michael the Archangel defend Us in battle be our protection against
The wickedness and snares of the devil may God reuke him we humbly pray and do thou o Prince of the Heavenly Host by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits prow about the world seeking the ruin of souls [Applause] amen [Applause] let Earth rece
Heart and heav nature sing and nature sing and Ang Jo to the world the saor let us our s and and the sounding theing the sounding Joy to the and the na the glor of his and wonders of his love and wonders of his love and allers