Bulletin for Dec. 23

Dear friends in Christ,

“And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.'” Those words from the Gospel of St. Luke resound in our hearts as we celebrate the birth of our savior, Christ the Lord. On behalf of Fr. Ralph, our deacons, and the entire pastoral staff of CtR, I wish you and your family a blessed and merry Christmas.

Of course, if you are reading this on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, Dec. 22 or 23, those words don’t yet apply to us! Give it about 24 hours and Christmas will officially be here. This bulletin is doing double-duty for both the last Sunday of Advent and the Nativity of the Lord, and so, on this 4th Sunday of Advent, we are still waiting in joyful hope.

Let’s take one final look at our Mass schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Monday, Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) our Masses will be at 4 p.m. (with an additional Mass at the same time in the Parish Hall), 6:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 12 midnight. (The answer to the age-old question of “What time does Midnight Mass start?” is once again, “Midnight.”). On Tuesday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day) we have Masses at 9 and 11 a.m.  Also, please note that for the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass in the Parish Hall we will not use incense. It will be used, however, at all the Masses in the Church, so if you have sensitive allergies, you might consider attending the Mass in the Parish Hall.

Regardless of which Mass you attend you can expect large crowds so please arrive early. We’ll have caroling before all Masses. We ask that any seats you try to “save” for late arriving family and friends be opened up 15 minutes before the start of Mass. It’s only fair so please respect this policy. Also, be mindful of the police directing traffic and please obey the traffic signs and do not park in turn-arounds or exits. You may have to walk a little further, but please do not block traffic in the parking lot. We added 150 new parking spaces this past summer so I think we’ll have plenty of room, but overflow parking is also available at Cypress Academy Gymnastics, the big blue building next door.

Most of all, come with a joyful attitude ready to welcome the stranger or newcomer who may be visiting, and simply be patient. Christ has come into our world! That’s why we are all here on Christmas – to give thanks to God for sending us Christ the Redeemer. Don’t let anything keep you from praising God for the blessing of the birth of His son!

I offer a special word of welcome to all our visitors who are with us on Christmas and in these coming days of the holiday season. We are truly glad that you are with us and we hope you will join us again in the future. Whether you are here for just a few days to visit with family and friends or you live in the neighborhood and are visiting today for the first time, it is truly good that are with us. Please know that the doors to this church are open to you always. We hope the Lord will touch your heart today and lead you to worship with us always. Please let me or any of our fine staff know how we can assist you.

In particular, I extend both a welcome and an invitation to those who perhaps were raised Catholic, but who have been away from an active practice of the faith in recent years. Christmas is often a time when some among us “come home.” We rejoice that you are with us today. I hope that the celebration this weekend might prompt a gentle “nudge” of the Holy Spirit within you to begin coming again on a regular basis. Both Fr. Ralph and myself or any of our deacons would be happy to arrange a time to visit to see how we might assist you to reconnect with the Church. It would be our great honor to do so. Our contact information is in this bulletin or you can also find it on our website.

Every day our parish continues to grow in faith and we are blessed by the many (7,000+) families that call CtR home. The number of people responding to God’s call in their life to be good stewards of their time, talent and treasure has been a real source of blessing for our community. I thank all of you. There is no way we could continue to grow and offer the many ministries we do without the dedicated ministers and volunteers that we have. I invite everyone to take up the call of Stewardship in 2019.

Speaking of 2019, what might the coming year have in store for us at CtR? We don’t have any building plans as in past years. Our new Redeemer Activity Center (RAC) that opened this past summer has quickly become home to many of our ministries, most especially our Youth Ministry program and CtR Catholic School, so we are good in terms of physical spaces, not withstanding a touch-up here and there. No, what we really want to focus on in the new year is building up the Body of Christ to grow in holiness. That’s what it means to be a good steward of God’s gifts. That has to be the litmus test of all that we say and do. We must strive daily to grow in holiness, to care for the least of our brothers and sisters, and to be Christ for others. Everything else will flow from the single, solitary mission of CtR. We’ll be unpacking what that means in the coming months as we focus on our vision for 2019 and 2020. For now, let us faithfully celebrate the coming of Christ into our world at Christmas and let us long for His coming again.

Again on behalf of the staff of Christ the Redeemer, we wish you a blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May God bless you and your family always in this coming year.

Peace,
Fr. Sean

P.S.: As we near the end of 2018, I invite you to prayerfully consider a special end-of-the-year financial gift to CtR. Gifts of cash and stock are also most welcomed at this time of the year. Gifts can be made to our Living Our Mission: Capital Campaign or to the general parish fund to help us pay down our debt. If you are new to the parish or haven’t yet made a pledge to our Capital Campaign, I invite you to prayerfully consider doing so now. Every gift is important regardless of size. In addition, those 70½ years of age or older might consider a Charitable IRA Rollover donation. For more information, please contact our parish business office. Thank you for remembering CtR at Christmas and for your generosity and support throughout the year.