Happy Easter! American culture has almost completely secularized the celebration of Christmas. Our commercialized society takes us from “Turkey Day” (Thanksgiving) to “the Holidays” with little or no serious attention given to the birth of the Messiah!
I am very pleased to know that you are gathered together for the celebration of the Eucharist today when the Church honors St. Mary, the mother of Jesus, commemorating Mary’s sinlessness, her Immaculate Conception.
As Thanksgiving approaches, school children begin their annual preparations and lessons about early Thanksgivings celebrated by colonists, especially those who landed safely on the east coast after sometimes harrowing journeys at sea to arrive in a new world.
Here’s a thought: We’re all too busy, especially our children. One 5-year-old whose mother wants her to take piano lessons on Thursdays can’t do it earlier in the week because the child is “too busy” with dance lessons and play dates. If the mother isn’t exhausted taking the child to all these places, maybe the child needs a break from too much of everything.
For the second time in two months a personal representative of the Holy Father has been the guest of Bishop Braxton and the Diocese of Belleville. Last month, on September 25, The Most Rev. Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, spent a day in the Diocese.