This Wednesday, January 1, is a holy day of obligation, celebrating Mary, Mother of God. We have a vigil Mass for the holy day on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. We have two Masses on January 1: at 9:00 and 11:00.
Christmas, of course, is not over. From December 25 until January 1, we celebrate the Octave of Christmas. Christmas Masses continue. The Christmas season then continues, ending with a celebration of the Baptism of the Lord on January 12. This wonderful season flies by much too fast.
I offer a great word of thanks to the musicians, the church decorators, the sacristans, the money counters, the maintenance crew, and to all who have put in long hours preparing for our Christmas celebrations. Beautiful liturgy gives glory to God and draws us closer to him. I am very grateful for the enormous charity seen in helping the poor through our Advent Giving Tree. This is one generous parish.
Advent is a time when priests are stretched thin hearing confessions. In addition to our many hours of parish confessions, we had First Reconciliation for our second graders, confessions for our school students and religious ed students, and confessions for the students at Bishop Dwenger. As other priests came to help us, we also made ourselves available to help with the confessions in many other schools and parishes.
With the Advent season over and life slower for priests, we are in a prime time for our international priests to return home on vacation. For the next seven weekends, one of our St. Charles priests will be out of town, covering Masses in either LaGrange, Pierceton or Besancon.
We are organizing a new ministry here at St. Charles, a support group for those who struggle with mental illness and for those who have family members or loved ones with mental illness issues. We will have a speaker from Catholic Charities at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 29 in the Community Room. If you or a loved one suffers with depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or any other such issue, mark your calendar for January 29.
