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Other Notes & Updates
Many of you have been aware of the health challenges my mother-in-law Mary has been facing since a minor surgery gone awry way back in the middle of October. It has been a family journey through hospitals and the healthcare system since. We are eternally grateful for the many prayers and all of the support that has been offered.
It’s likely, with the right actions by those providing her care, that Mary will return home for continued rehab later this week - on the 2nd or 3rd day of Christmas! She’d prefer to come home today, but it’s important to cross all the “t’s” and dot all the “i’s” and follow the doctors’ orders, and we’re trying to help her understand and be at peace with that.
I give you this beautiful picture of my beautiful wife, with her tentative smile as she sinks into the hospital bed when she and I visited Mary last night. She proves time and again that she’s a true gift from God and the strongest woman I know, as she’s been staying on top of all of her existing commitments while adding a layer of looking after her mom and dad and their care. To me, Suzanne increasingly becomes the face of love and sacrifice, and I love her all the more for it.
Those who have been reading along since I first picked up weekly updates again back in the early fall recall some “projects” I was starting to work on back then. I’m excited that some of them are coming out of stealth mode and going live in the coming weeks.
The first, Deacon Life, a membership community for fellow deacons, has started to go live and bear fruit. Deo gratias! You’ll hear more in the New Year as I launch the first few episodes of the Deacon Life Podcast - interviews with brother deacons about their life and ministry - to share the stories of deacons and spread the word about Deacon Life.
The second is ready to open to the broader community of faithful next month. I’m REALLY excited to share that one with you - more on that soon! (Again, Deo gratias.)
Slamming the Door on Female Clergy
There has been a lot of ink spilled lately in reaction to the release on December of the conclusions of “a “Study Commission on the Female Diaconate” set up by Pope Francis in 2020. Much has been wishy-washy. Straightforward and direct as it is, I actually appreciated the directness and clarity of this article & analysis in First Things.
A Father and Son’s Journey from Addiction to the Altar
This was a fascinating and phenomenal story of two deacons - father and son - and their individual journeys of addiction, recovery and conversion
Sunday’s Mass Readings
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Here’s a link to the Scripture readings for Holy Mass.
Last Sunday’s Homily
A Final Word
“The first great “exodus,” then, is God’s own - his going forth from himself to meet us. The mystery of Christmas proclaims precisely this: the Son’s mission consists in his coming into the world.”
Until next Wednesday,
Merry Christmas!
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saint Michael, defend us in battle.
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