Merry Christmas! Jesus Christ is born!

by Fr. Adrian Cisneros  |  12/25/2022  |  From the Clergy

This is my first Christmas in my pastoral role here at St. Stanislaus, and I have been looking forward to it since before Advent began. As we have been hearing over and over again in the readings in Advent, I have been preparing right alongside you in many ways, including for my new little puppy-her name is Lucia. I will introduce her to you in time, but I believe she will be a great gift to me and our community!

As we continue to celebrate Christmas through the next eight days and beyond, allow yourself to truly celebrate! There will be the Octave of Christmas (eight days after Christmas up to and including January 1st), then there is the celebration of the Epiphany (traditionally celebrated the first Sunday after the Octave), and then there is the Baptism of the Lord (which is usually the Sunday after Epiphany Sunday), and then there is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord-so much to celebrate!

But if you think about it, everyday is Christmas, in the most basic sense. This is because every day, the Word becomes flesh in the sacraments, particularly in the Eucharist; and through the sacraments, the people of God become the Body of Christ in the world. I read in an article on teaching Catholic Kids: “Just as Mary’s ‘yes’ made her an instrument of God’s incarnation in the world, by our ‘yes,’ we too birth the Son of God into the world.”