A Note From Father Eickhoff
January 1, 2023
Merry Christmas!
No, I am not behind in wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Instead, I am reminding everyone that Christmas in the Catholic Church extends for an entire week so that even now we are still celebrating Christmas. So, make sure to greet people today with the words “Merry Christmas” and help both you and them to rejoice over all God has done for us by giving to us His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Within the celebration of Christmas, the Church has several other feast days including the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, which always falls on January 1st. The reason for holding this great feast day in honor of Mary during this time is not hard to explain. It is difficult to celebrate the birth of a child without thinking of the child’s mother. The two go together. And so, the Church links the celebration of Christmas with the feast in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
There are a great array of lessons to be learned from the fact that Jesus, the Son of God and the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, chose to be born as a human being and chose Mary to be His mother. I would need a much longer bulletin article just to summarize these lessons. However, if I had to pick just one to include in this article, I will say that the fact that Jesus Christ has a mother and was born as a human infant shows to us that God has truly come to be with us human beings. Jesus’ humanity is not a cloak or an illusion. His humanity is real. He is truly with us. His experiences growing up and living in this world are truly human experiences. Jesus Christ can truly speak for us before His Father as one of us and at the very same time Jesus Christ can truly save us in His divinity.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Stephen Eickhoff
Pastor