The Christmas Season hasn’t ended. In fact, it offcially ends tomorrow, Monday, with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today, we celebrate the Epiphany. The beginning of the reading from Isaiah proclaims: “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem. Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you…upon you the Lord shines.”

Although there are many places of darkness in our world, in our cities and even in our lives, the Lord shines upon us and our world. Today, we recall that Magi from the east came to find this “light”, this “king of the Jews.” Can you imagine what they must have thought when they had to go, not to a palace or a comfortable dwelling, but to a humble spot where Jesus was born? This “king” would indeed be different and we know that his message was unique and meant for all people. Our light has come! May he show us the way!

So many cold days. If you are elderly or ill or physically challenged, these are good reasons to stay home and pray at home. There is no sin involved in missing Mass under these conditions. We will have better days coming, but in the meantime, the rule is “common sense.”

You will notice that we have eliminated the 1:15 weekday Mass and moved the 12:15 to 12:30. We have watched the attendance at the noon-hour Masses and decided to combine the 12:15 and 1:15 to one Mass at 12:30. We still have seven Masses a day and we hope that the changes will be helpful.

Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.