Last Sunday we heard Jesus say, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” In today’s Gospel he shows that the kingdom is indeed at hand: he teaches with authority and he drives out an unclean spirit from a man in the synagogue. The kingdom is happening before the very eyes of his listeners. Jesus is using the authority and power that has been given him to broaden their idea of God and to teach them that they don’t have to be afraid of unclean spirits and the power of evil because they have a greater power available to work with them. He uses his power to make lives better. It is so important to make the ways and the attitude of the Lord Jesus our way of handling the various situations that we come across daily.

On Sunday, February 11 at 3 PM, we will host a presentation by Kevin Tuerff who was on Air France heading to the US the evening of 9/11. His plane and 67 others were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. 7,000 people were fed and housed by the people of this small town. Kevin will relate his story and what he learned from it. The story is the basis for the Broadway musical, Come From Away. His book will be available for purchase. It will be an inspiring presentation and is free. Click here for more information and to RSVP.

Don’t forget that next week we will have a Week of Prayer in honor of Our Lady, Untier of Knots. There will be special prayers after the 11:30 and 4:30 Masses. If you have any intentions that you would like included during these Week of Prayer, ll out one of the envelopes in church and drop it o at the reception desk.

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.

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“Ordinary Time” began for us this week. On the old calendar, the feast of the Presentation, still more than two weeks away, was the last day of the Christmas season.

Sadly, Bethlehem is hardly a place of peace on earth these days. The ancient Christian community has been largely uprooted by political strife. The Church of the Nativity stands (barely) in remarkable disrepair and disorder in Manger Square. The roof is crumbling, the major doorways are blocked, the wiring is faulty, and the worship life is disrupted by quarrels among Eastern Christians.

The church was founded by the Emperor Constantine in 325, destroyed in a Samaritan revolt in 539, and rebuilt by the Emperor Justinian. When the area came under Muslim control in 638, the holiness of the church was respected, and in return Christians allowed Muslims to pray in the south aisle, a right still upheld. Earlier in that century, invading Persians were ordered to destroy all churches, but when they saw the magi carved over the doorway of the Church of the Nativity, they spared it out of respect for their ancestors who bore gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the same city.

The Crusaders restored and redecorated the church by the twelfth century, and it is their plan that survives. Down a few stone steps is a stone grotto with a silver star marking the place of Christ’s birth: when the star was stolen in 1847 it triggered an international crisis that exploded into the Crimean War. Since 1852, the church has been shared by the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Churches. The Greeks are in charge of the grotto, but don’t enjoy the best of friendships with the Armenians. Catholics have the care of the Chapel of the Manger, and avoid the squabbles by a separate entrance to the Franciscan monastery church of St. Catherine.

Pray for peace in Bethlehem!

-Rev. James Field

Starting this month we made a small change in our weekday Mass schedule:

The noon-hour Masses are now celebrated at 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM
(the 1:15 Mass will be eliminated).

So since Tuesday, January 2, 2018, the Mass schedule for Monday to Friday is:

7:00, 7:45, 8:30, 11:30 AM, 12:30, 4:30 and 5:30 PM.