Pastor’s Letter: December 28, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: December 28, 2025

26 Dec 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

May the blessings and joy of this Holy Season continue to be with all of you! I hope that everyone has enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and that we will have many graces to look forward to in 2026! This weekend we celebrate the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…and then on Jan 1 we celebrate Mary, Mother of God.

The title Mary, Mother of God is actually one of our four main Marian Doctrines of our Catholic Faith. What are these major Marian Doctrines?  How does their celebration come down to us? As the Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs, “What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ” (CCC 487). We see this very clearly through the four main Marian doctrines.

1. Mother of God: As The Catholic Source Book teaches, “Mary’s oldest title, celebrated on the January 1 solemnity, was established in 431 by the Council of Ephesus which, in defending Mary’s divine maternity, was clarifying Christ’s true nature” (The Catholic Source Book, p.375). During that era, some people were saying that Jesus wasn’t truly God and truly man…but just a man. The Council decided that honoring Our Lady with this title, “Mother of God,” not only called to mind who God chose her to be…but also reminds us that her son Jesus is both true God and true man.

2. Perpetual Virginity: According to the Catechism, “From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary…The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century says: ‘You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin’…” (CCC 496). “The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth ‘did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it’ [Vatican II]. And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the ‘Ever-virgin’ [Vatican II]” (CCC, 499).

3. Immaculate Conception: Our Catechism states: “To become the mother of the Savior, Mary was ‘enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role’ [Vatican II]. The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as ‘full of grace’ [Luke 1:28]. In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace” (CCC, 490). “Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace’ through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: ‘The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin’ (CCC, 491).” The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on Dec 8.

4. Assumption: As a conclusion to the above three doctrines, a fourth one is fitting. As Pope Pius XII taught in 1950, “Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” Our Catechism continues, “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians…” (CCC, 966). The Assumption of Our Lady is celebrated on Aug 15.

Whenever we celebrate one of Our Lady’s Feast Days, I’m always reminded of what a wonderful mother we have: She points us to her Son, the Savior; she cares for us, prays, and helps protect; she provides a constant model and reminder of the fruits of living faithfully according to God’s will. Let’s not forget to thank the Lord for such a wonderful mother! On these days, I’m also reminded to give thanks for my own mom. She (along with dad) has been a great teacher in the Faith, and we could see them striving to live a faithful Christian life at home and out in the world. As a parish priest, I’m also thankful for all the women who faithfully serve our parish family:  helping in the Mass, teaching our children, preparing and serving for our parish celebrations, and many other “little things” that sometimes go unnoticed. In honor of our Lady, let’s stop and give thanks for the women in our lives. From the gift of life to helping us grow, from our own moms, grandmothers, godmothers, friends and other family, to members of our community…God’s blessing upon all “mothers!” Know of my prayers and blessing for everyone this week!

In Christ,
Father Luke