“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” (Jn. 1:14)

I had a great Christmas. I hope you did too.  Part of my joy came from visiting a small women’s monastery outside of Post Falls, Idaho called the Carmel of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  Not more than 20 women (who all seem to be in their twenties) are living out the universal call to be saints at the monastery. 

The Christ Child Reigns!

In this country, Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday between January 2–8.  Epiphany is a Greek word that means revelation or manifestation.  This Sunday we celebrate the manifestation of the divinity of baby Jesus to the nations (as opposed to just the Jews).  Until the 19^th Century, this feast day was as significant to Christians as Christmas, in some countries it still is.   

“And in that region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ..”

Family is super important; without it the human race would go extinct.  It is the source of most people’s greatest consolation.  Yet family members can be very difficult to get along with, let alone live with.  Throw in the divine person of Jesus Christ and His life changing expectations, and some family members become downright hostile.  Why is that?  Almost everyone loves Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, yet so many don’t care at all for who or what Jesus actually is and stands for.  We do.

As you know, Advent is a short season in which we prepare to meet the Lord at His birth at Christmas.  The Gospel reading (good news) this Sunday calls us to repentance.  Repentance, because we are all sinners in need of God’s mercy, lest we meet Him one day to discover His justice.  We hear that theme throughout the year because it is so important for our salvation.  We also hear that theme over and over again because we don’t respond.

Years ago, I asked 2^nd graders to forgive me for something I said to their class at school…

I was born in Pannur, a traditional Catholic village of about 750 families in northeast Tamil Nadu State, India, on December 17, 1965. Catholicism in this area goes back to Saint Thomas the Apostle, who came to India in 51 AD. He first landed in Karala and then he came to Chennai, the nearest metropolis to my village. Our Catholic Faith goes back to the Apostle; he is the founder of Christianity in India.

We are all sinners yet no one in heaven is, yet they were on earth.  How does the transformation from sinner on earth to sinless in heaven happen?  How are our sins atoned for after death?  God has a plan for all this – purgatory – a word derived from Latin, meaning purgation, purification, or cleansing.  Purgatory is the process after death, of the saved, by which God’s justice for our sins is satisfied through our remorse (which is very painful), and we are purified by God and prepared to enter the beatific vision of heaven.

A little over a month ago (9/29/24) I wrote a pastor’s column about us calling ourselves “Columbia River Catholic.”  This pastor’s column is a follow up to that one, furthering clarifying who we are, where things stand right now, and where we’re going into the future.

            Because some were confused by my previous pastor’s column on Columbia River Catholic, I need to clarify some things.

Notice how Jesus Christ is a King and not a President?  The Kingdom of Heaven is a monarchy not a democracy.  There’s never been an election in heaven, and never will.  There, God rules as an absolute sovereign, and we’re grateful for that because He’s infinitely good and perfect.  If we had to govern heaven, we’d mess it up and it wouldn’t be heaven anymore. 

In reference to helping his parishioners grow in holiness, a good priest friend of mine says, “I can’t make anyone do anything, all I can do is offer.”  He’s right.  With that said, my priest friend’s statement would be more accurate if it was: “while I can’t make anyone do anything, God has entrusted me with the responsibility to try to help people grow in holiness.”  If you know me at all, then you know this is something I take to heart.

This Wednesday at 6pm at Holy Redeemer, there will be a Mass of the Holy Angels.  The Mass will be celebrated by Fr. Wolfgang, a priest from Opus Angelorum, a missionary order that spreads devotion to the Holy Angels.  There will be an opportunity after that Mass to start a process to consecrate yourself to your guardian angel.  We can all use the protection and help that heaven’s angels want to give us. 

In light of Fr. Wolfgang’s visit, I thought I’d write on the holy angels. 

Instead of dressing up your kids for Halloween as a fake superhero, popular cultural figure, or monster, how about dressing them up as a saint or angel?  Instead of having them trick or treat through demonically themed lawns and front doors, how about having them come to the parish center for Christ-themed fun?  This Halloween let’s protect our children and reclaim this festivity from its current godless and even satanic manifestation and return it to its Catholic origins.

            On Thursday, October 31^st, Holy Redeemer will host our annual “All Hallows Celebration.”

God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I love the Rosary and want you to pray it daily.  When the Blessed Virgin Mary visited St. Bernadette at Lourdes, she always prayed the Rosary on her 14 visits.  When the Blessed Virgin Mary visited the children at Fatima, she told them to pray the Rosary daily.  Simply put, heaven wants us to pray the Rosary daily.  If all the Catholics in the world prayed the Rosary daily, Satan’s power would be broken, and the world would be converted to Jesus Christ.  The Rosary is a gift from God, a superpower. 

As most of you know, the Archdiocese of Seattle, to which we belong, has embarked upon the greatest reorganization in our 147-year history.  That reorganization is called Partners in the Gospel, or Partners.  Last July parishes and missions throughout Western Washington were organized into regional clusters under a single pastor, called parish families.  There are sixty of these in the Archdiocese of Seattle and our number is #46.  Our Parish Family includes Holy Redeemer Parish, Vancouver, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Camas, and Our Lady Star of the Sea Mission, Stevenson.  Again, many or most of you reading this already know this.  What almost no one knows is that we are called Parish Family #46 or PF 46.  That’s a challenging title to remember and certainly not one that engenders a sense of identity or community.

            Identity and community are important for the Church because they are important to God. 

A possessed woman, snarled at Saint John Vianney and said: “If there were three like you on earth, my kingdom would be destroyed. You have taken more than eighty thousand souls from me.”

This statement by Satan toward St. John Vianney is very interesting, because St. Vianney is the only priest out of thousands whom the Church has formally declared a saint (canonized) who was just a parish priest.  Not a parish priest and a founder of a religious order, or a parish priest who went onto become a bishop, missionary, monk, theologian, etc.  He was a parish priest throughout his priesthood, the only one ever to be declared a saint in 2000 years of Christian history. 

This Sunday we have the honor of hosting a choral ensemble called “Chor Anno.”  This is a choir made up of music professionals that sing uplifting and, at times, Christian songs.  Holy Redeemer Parish hosted them last year and I discovered how impressive they are.  During those 90 minutes I was at times driven to goosebumps. 

The ultimate origin of music is God, so music has supernatural power.  At many points in our lives, we have listened to a favorite song over and over again.  Why?  Because it moved us in some powerful, mysterious way.

If you’ve heard at least a handful of my homilies, then you’ve heard me mention, at least in passing, how harmful screens our to our lives. Barring a chastisement (and one will come), screens of all kinds are here to stay: TVs, computer monitors, iPads, smart phones, and any others I don’t know about or that haven’t been invented yet. Screens can waste away a person’s life...

More than at other time in human history, people are swamped with information.  ...  We must be discerning not only about the information we access, but the degree to which we access it.  This is also true of where we get information about our Catholic faith.

At this point, it should simply be assumed that non-Catholic sources intentionally run misleading stories to undermine the Catholic Church, while championing heretical Catholics and denigrating faithful Catholics. ...Recently, The Seattle Times published a hit piece on the Archdiocese of Seattle’s handling of the sexual abuse claims.

This pastor’s column is an update on where things stand for the three communities that share me as their pastor: Holy Redeemer Parish (HR), St. Thomas Aquinas Parish (STA), and Our Lady Star of the Sea Mission (Star).

            As of July 1^st, we entered phase #1 of the Archdiocesan plan to reorganize.  What that amounts to at this point for us is sharing our priests (pastor and vicar) and staff. I do not know what the future holds.  I was told that the next phase (phase #2) will be shown to the priests and staff in September.  Whatever is in that phase would be worked on over a one-to-three-year period of time.

More than at other time in human history, people are swamped with information.  With the internet being in the palm of everyone’s hand, information is everywhere, some of it true and helpful, some of it misleading and evil.  We must be discerning not only about the information we access, but the degree to which we access it.  This is also true of where we get information about our Catholic faith.