“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come.” On this Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, we might paraphrase this quotation as: “Rise up in splendor, O earth! Your light has come.”  Indeed, the splendor of the Lord shines on all people. This is a great feast for many cultures; this is the day when presents are exchanged and the blessings of the Lord are celebrated. The First Reading proclaims that “darkness covers the earth, but upon you the Lord shines.” Yes, there still is darkness in the world, locally and well as far away. It is by embracing the Lord and opening ourselves to his light that this darkness is transformed into light. It is, indeed, a day of celebration as we move into the year 2020.

The beautiful liturgies, the beautifully decorated church, and all of the festivities were the result of the work of many people working together. Our Maintenance Crew works behind the scenes setting up and cleaning up, Meredith Augustin and the musicians practice long hours for our liturgies; Edward Trochimczuk is assigning our volunteers for the many jobs that need to be done; Joe Nuzzi organizes our use of technology; the Friars prepare homilies and hear many, many confessions; the receptionists serve the many people who want to purchase items or arrange Masses; the Development Office records and sorts through the volume of mail received daily; and the other ministries keep running smoothly even thought there are more pressures. And you are a blessing to us – thank you for your donations, greetings, cards, and presence at the many things that happen here.

Happy New Year!

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

It seems appropriate that we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph during the Christmas season, just after families have gathered for Christmas, frequently with stress over gift-giving, travel drama, and the intricacies of meal preparation for people with their various dietary needs and preferences. Today’s readings ask us to put family and life in their sacred and holy perspective. When we take care of aging parents we care for Christ, who is with all and in all. When we approach one another with compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience, we communicate Christ’s love. Even when the Lord leads in ways we cannot quite appreciate or understand, we must follow God’s will, knowing that in doing so, we cooperate with God’s grace in our midst. Every family is called to be a holy family.

Your Holy Family

Families come in all shapes and sizes. When asked to describe your family, you might begin by telling people about a parent, sibling, or extended family members. You might even describe what you have learned from a genealogical study. You are unlikely, however, no matter how wonderful your family may be, to describe your family as “holy.” And yet, this is our primary call. Each of us as people of God, and each of our families, is called to be holy. We are called to live as God’s people in the world, to communicate God’s love and presence through the way that we live together and in relationship with others. Every family, no matter what their circumstances, is called to be a holy family. Even Mary, Joseph, and Jesus faced challenges and trials. And yet they rose to the occasion, listened to and followed God’s will, and were assured of the love of the Lord through it all.

Listen to Your Angel

Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads? One direction may be momentarily advantageous or easy, another more challenging but right or good. It is not always easy to know which direction to choose. Discerning our path of life necessarily involves prayer, the guidance of others whom we trust, and the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us. The example of the Holy Family is that they followed the will of God, trusting in God’s abiding presence even when they knew that doing so involved risk and uncertainty. Mary trusted the voice of the angel, although the message was beyond comprehension; Joseph listened to the voice of the Lord in dreams and proceeded, assured of God’s guiding spirit in the midst of troubling circumstances. This is what our families must do as well. Being Christian people in today’s world is not always easy, even when we know it is right. This is the meaning of holiness. This is what it means to be a holy family.

The Urgent Call of Love

Love compels each of us to resist racism courageously. It requires us to reach out generously to the victims of this evil, to assist the conversion needed to those who still harbor evil, and to begin to change policies and structures that allow racism to persist. Overcoming racism is a demand of justice, but because Christian love transcends justice, the end of racism will mean that our community will bear fruit beyond simply the fair treatment of all. After all, “Within the [human] family, “ as St. John Paul II said, “each people preserves and expresses its own identity and enriches others with its gifts of culture.” Our faith gives us a treasury of inspiring holy men and women who courageously worked toward racial reconciliation, showing us the way forward… St. Katharine Drexel… dedicated her life working closely with Native Americans and African Americans, exhibiting genuine respect and concern… As she said, “If you wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let is open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.”

(to be continued)

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is the Feast that we celebrate this Sunday after Christmas. We can easily over-romanticize their life together, forgetting that Jesus’ birth too place in a stable and his parents had to flee to Egypt to escape the threat of Herod who was searching for the child ”to destroy him.” We need to think about not only the physical discomforts that this family had to endure, but also – when you think of the emotional challenge of these days – their ability to think quickly and take the appropriate action. They offer us much inspiration whenever we may ask ourselves what we need to do and how to go about doing it. We might wish that an angel would appear to us and tell us what to do, but God endows us with much to help us know what to do when we need help. I hope that you had a Blessed and Merry Christmas! I’m sure there were large family gatherings as well as simple, quiet observances of the day. This season seems to provide us with many opportunities to get together and enjoy one another’s company; however, everyone is different in the way that they  celebrate this Christmas season. Many are blessed to have extended families to spend time. The Christmas-Epiphany season continues until the Baptism of the Lord on January 12th.

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

While you are St. Francis, stop by the lobby of the Parish House and take in all the Christmas items on sale. Most items come from countries that have Fair Trade policies. The craftsmanship in many of the items from Peru or Kenya or India is amazing. Some of the small nativities have details so small that you wonder how anyone could make these ornaments. The ornaments from Kenya are made from straw. There are different styles of nativity sets on display, but they are selling quickly since we have a limited supply.

The Christmas Market is open every day. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Below is a table comparing November 2018 collections to our current November 2019 collections.

As you can see our collections have gone down and we are not making our budget.

We need everyone to do their part to keep St. Francis on firm financial ground.  The best way to use this is to make your offering using our online giving system.

You can sign up for online giving HERE.

We ask all of our members and visitors to offer the equivalent of ONE HOUR of their weekly salary per week to support the mission of the church.  This comes to a tithe of 2.5%

Most people would not consider themselves to be racist. A person might admit to being prejudiced but certainly not racist. As Christians, we know it is our duty to love others. St. Paul reminds us that we live by the Spirit and the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” We must be honest with ourselves. Each of us should examine our conscience and ask if these fruits are really present in our attitudes about race. Or, rather, do our attitudes reflect mistrust, impatience, anger, distress, discomfort or rancor?

When we begin to separate people in our thoughts for unjust reasons, when we start to see some people as “them” and others as “us”, we fail love. Yet love is at the heart of the Christian life… This command of love can never be “live and let others be.” The command of love requires us to make room for others in our hearts. It means that we are indeed our brother’s keeper.

(to be continued)

The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent begins: “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.” Joseph is the hero of this section of Matthew’s Gospel. We do not know much about Joseph except for a few references to him in the Gospels, but what we read is amazing. This is not only a compassionate man, but a brave man who is willing take this pregnant woman as his wife. Everything in the culture of those times said: “She should be stoned. Stay away from that woman.” Joseph has a dream and is given an assurance that what his heart is telling him is what he will do. Although we may not have an angel appear in our dreams, many times we should listen to our hearts. They can draw us closer to others that we may not understand. Joseph is strong example for us to consider when we want to understand another person or situation.

I hope you attended the Carols with the Choir last Sunday. It was inspiring, moving, spirit filled. Congratulations to Meredith, the choir, our cantors, organists, and musicians for drawing us closer into the Advent/ Christmas spirit. We are blessed to have such talent here at St. Francis.

Check the schedule for our Christmas Masses!

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

The Christmas trees, the wreaths and the poinsettias which adorn our sanctuary at Christmas are offered to honor the birth of Christ and to glorify God.

We invite you to memorialize members of your family, friends or other loved ones with a donation for our Christmas decorations. Donations and the names of those received by December 14th will be included in the bulletin of December 20th.

You can make your donations online HERE,

or use the cut out in the weekly bulletin and drop it off at the front desk.

Thank you for helping make our church beautiful for Christmas.

… Experiencing racism is not limited to African or Native Americans. Many different groups have encountered “in varying degrees the evil of discrimination, racial prejudice, and oppression that endangers the very fabric of American society.”

… We would be remiss not to highlight the experience of Hispanics in our country. Since the Mexican-American War, Hispanics from various countries have experienced discrimination in housing, employment, healthcare, and education. Hispanics have been referred to by countless derogatory names, have encountered negative assumptions made about them because of their ethnicity, have suffered discrimination in applying for college, for housing, and in registering to vote…

Today, many Hispanics are often assumed to be in this country illegally. These attitudes of cultural superiority, indifference and racism need to be confronted; they are unworthy of any follower of Christ. After all, a large part of our nation consists of immigrants and their descendants.

(to be continued)