Exiit qui seminat

"May the Child Jesus be the star that guides you through the desert of your present life." - St. Pio of Pietrelcina

As a Church we find ourselves in the unusual circumstances of the 4th Sunday of Advent being on the same day as Christmas Eve. Without getting into the weeds about satisfying both our Sunday obligation in addition to going to Mass sometime on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, today is a day of lightning quick transition. For one brief moment we continue our remote preparation for the Birth of the Savior and in the next, He’s here! It’s not something we experience every day! In fact, the next time the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve coincide will be in 2028. In a spiritual sense, the necessary alacrity of our liturgical celebration makes perfect sense for it mirrors the impact of Jesus’ birth. Since the disobedience of our original parents, Adam and Eve, we have longed for God to enter into our lives and save us. For millennia the Messiah, the Christ, was prophesied and the Chosen People of Israel awaited His coming. Then, in the most unusual and unexpected of ways, Jesus enters into our world and, in an instant, everything becomes different! Hope enters into the world and the Light pierces the darkness forever! So take advantage of unique dynamism of today, because, just as the Lord entered into the world unassumingly as a baby on Bethlehem, so too, in an instant, He can enter into our lives and transform them … forever!  On behalf of the whole parish family of St. Padre Pio, I want to wish you and your family a happy end to Advent and a glorious celebration of Christmas!