St. Stephen
Singing Matins before Midnight Mass
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Merry Christmas! And thanks again for all of the continuing work for this great holiday, the holy days of Christmas. We celebrate it, this feast of Christ’s Mass, most of all with…Christ’s Mass. We are among the few to retain this treasure. We will never give it up, nor the pure Faith it enshrines, and the unchanged Church.
So, these days we have Pontifical High Masses and Solemn and Sung and Low and even whispered side-altar Masses, and in each Christ is born anew, sacramentally, upon our altar. Everything else, the decorations and the so beautiful music, the lights and the incense, the sea of vestments and the stately measured movements of the sacred ministers and servers, the ancient grave uplifting prayers of Missal and Breviary, the carols and the chants, and even the cookies and parties and gifts and greetings; are all in function of one thing: Christ’s Mass, His birth in time made present in the Mass, in our souls, and finally, His longed-for return in glory. Merry Christmas.
Thanks then to all of you who give of your time, of your holiday, so generously for these great feasts. Thanks to all who assist at Mass actually and virtually, and contribute to our church. Thanks be to God Who allows all of this to continue, even as the Revolution which would destroy us gathers steam. But so does its resistance. “Hope in God,” as we say at the Foot of the Altar.
We cherish our parties at Christmas. Join us for “the Health of St. John” tomorrow evening, and bring a bottle to be blessed if you’d like. Bring the children to be blessed on Tuesday, at 11:25, in case the Angel Sunday blessing is wearing thin. In any case, there’s a little party and a present.
We open our Infant of Prague Novena on New Year’s Eve, a true “night watch” but early enough to avoid the revelers. First Saturday comes this week, and with it a new year and a new month and…by God’s grace, a new you!
The outdoor looks lovely, with a creative fountain tree and ornaments on the evergreens, and many lights. The outdoor weather has cooperated nicely, with plenty of sunshine and mild days. It rained a bit for the church decorating a week ago, but a great crew did great work, and…were well fed as well.
In the midst of our joy, there were sorrows, especially the death of †Kyle McGuire, the father of one of our priests. But Mr. McGuire was blessed with a beautiful Catholic death and funeral. As we sang the In Paradisum at the end, we processed out the main aisle with the coffin and the clergy and mourners into the sunshine, which comes through the southern “Sharonville” window. The sun was so strong, I could see nothing else. The Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, was full of light, Christ’s Light, in which we walk all the way to eternity.
Blessed Christmas Week. Special greetings to visitors, guests, and the new members of our church. You are welcome!
With a blessing in Jesus and Mary,
–Bp. Dolan