Mar 15
Easter, 2012 Dear St. Edward Parish Family Members, May you and all your loved ones have a most blessed and joyous Easter. May the Peace of Christ, which comes at this happy time, remain with you throughout the year. Holy Week gives us all the opportunity to relive the sacred events of our Divine Lord’s …
Feb 20
We are now into the great season of Lent, when we spend six weeks preparing to celebrate the high point of our faith: the Paschal Mystery, the suffering, death and resurrection of the Incarnate God. Formerly it was a time of severe penance as a way of purifying ourselves from our sinful habits and …
Jan 29
This ancient festival marks the midpoint of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox. Candlemas is a traditional Christian festival that commemorates the ritual purification of Mary forty days after the birth of her son Jesus. On this day, Christians remember the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple. Forty days after …
Dec 25
Read Sundays’ gospel, Luke 2:1-14 Gospel Summary This portion of Luke’s infancy narrative contains two distinct components. First we are given the setting. Decreed by the rulers of the day, people were to journey to their hometown and be counted in the census. For Joseph, this meant taking his pregnant wife to Bethlehem. No sooner …
Dec 11
Read Sunday’s gospel, John 1:6-8, 19-28 Gospel Summary The Jewish leaders questioned John the Baptist asking who he was. They even took a few guesses themselves suggesting that he was the Messiah, Elijah, or a prophet. John had his own following who would have been glad to acknowledge him in any of these three categories, …
Dec 04
Read Sunday’s gospel, Mark 1:1-8 Gospel Summary The Messiah is foretold in Second Isaiah and the words of John the Baptist continue the foretelling during Advent. Just as the Jewish exiles were filled with hope and led home, John the Baptist filled his followers with hope if they would only first repent and then share …
Nov 27
The season of Advent reminds us that we live in between the times of Christ’s first and second coming. And so “we wait in joyful hope.” What are we waiting for? The second letter of Saint Peter gives us the answer. We wait for “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” We …
Nov 27
The Advent wreath, like many of our customs at Christmas traces its origin to pre-Christian times when candles were lit during the winter to the “sun-god” asking for light. It was the Lutherans who started the Advent wreath as a Christian custom. The word “advent” comes from the Latin term for arrival or “coming.” It …
