Christmas Message from Father Gagne

    The incarnation of God happened when the eternal word of God took on a human body by becoming flesh, as the prologue of St. John’ s gospel states: “And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Through God’s initiative, a whole new act of creation had once again taken place in the human experience.

     When the Virgin Mary said yes to Gabriel’s message, God was able to begin a new creation, after the manner of what we read in the book of Genesis; when God first created man and woman in his image and likeness, and saw that what he had created was indeed very good.

     The seasons of Advent and Christmas celebrate God’s new creation. This new creation takes the form of a regeneration of God into the human experience. In the person of his son Jesus, God begins the healing of all the effects of sin, and makes a new beginning of goodness.

     The joyful mysteries of the rosary reveal God’s new creation through Gabriel’s announcement to a young girl, the virgin of Nazareth. This announcement takes away her fears, fills her with joy, allows the Holy Spirit to over shadow her, and causes the child in her cousin Elizabeth’s womb to leap for joy. These mysteries go on to show how Jesus grew in wisdom and age, became obedient, was presented to the world by the prophet Simeon, and became a sign of contradiction, and a sword that would pierce Mary’s heart, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

      May this Christmas find us watching in prayer and our hearts filled with wonder and praise, as we celebrate God humbling himself to share our humanity, that we could share in his divinity.

     May the birth of Jesus in time and place, fill us with love, as we embrace the coming New Year with renewed hope, that with God, all things are possible for those who believe. That like Mary, we will say yes to God, and bring Jesus to the people of the “hill country” in our time and place.

    A Blessed Christmas to all of you. You, and your families, will have a special remembrance in my Masses during the Christmas season.

Rev. Roger C. Gagne