Dear Friends,
This Thursday, December 8, is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a holy day of obligation. There will be four Masses celebrated for the holy day: at 7:00 AM and 12:05 PM at St. Mary’s and at 9:00 AM and 5:30 PM at St. Agnes. The holy day celebrates a special grace granted to the Virgin Mary whereby she was conceived without the stain of original sin in view of her role, as predestined by God from all eternity, as Mother of God. The United States has adopted the Virgin Mary, under her title as the Immaculately Conceived Mother of God, as our patroness. Please be sure to take a bulletin with you by way of reminder for the holy day Masses.
This year, owing to the return of Father Moncy to India for reasons of health and as we wait for a replacement, we have been forced to curtail the Christmas Eve Mass schedule. The lack of a third priest prevents us from having an overflow Mass in the school gym, as has been our custom. The churches will fill quite early for both 4:00 PM Masses. Therefore, it is imperative to try to arrive early if you would like a seat. Furthermore, the lack of numbers of parishioners attending the 10:00 PM Mass at St. Agnes last year led to my decision to have only one Mass at 10:00 PM this year and to celebrate it at St. Mary’s. Out of fairness, and with deference to a sense of balance, I opted at the same time to move the 6:00 PM Mass from St. Mary’s to St. Agnes.
Since there will be no overflow Mass in the school gym this year, we will not be having a Christmas pageant as has been the custom for a number of years. I have thought about the Christmas pageant and the practice of having it within a Mass on Christmas Eve and I think that the time has come to discontinue it altogether. The Mass itself is a pageant and there is no need for augmentation of any kind by acting out the Christmas story. The Gospels speak sufficiently for themselves and need no amplification. Going forward, we will be offering instead a “Children’s Mass” at one of the Christmas Eve celebrations. This will entail calling the children up and presenting the Christmas story at a level that they can understand and allow them to participate more actively. This is much more in keeping with the thinking of the Church regarding the liturgy.
As for a Christmas pageant of some kind, I think it might be better organized within the St. Mary School community, making use of the music program and religion classes. There is also the possibility of involving children from the parish who do not attend the school. Such a pageant can be presented on a Sunday afternoon in either of our churches, perhaps the Sunday after January 1, when we celebrate the Epiphany, which is often overlooked and underappreciated in our culture.
Have a good week!