{"id":4568,"date":"2022-12-16T10:37:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T16:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/?p=4568"},"modified":"2022-12-16T10:37:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T16:37:17","slug":"pastors-letter-december-18-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Letter: December 18, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

The December 18 bulletin is available online.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

Happy 4th<\/sup> Week of Advent. I pray you are having a blessed Advent season. The preparations for Christmas can be intense with the purchasing of gifts and preparing for parties, but most importantly we are called to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. Advent invites us to reflect on the final coming of Jesus at the end of time as well as remember the great miracle of the Incarnation of the infinite God born as the Christ-Child. The Bible is filled with Divine Promises that God fulfills in time. All of God\u2019s fulfilled promises are meant to deepen our faith and confidence in our Creator.<\/p>\n

The first reading from Isaiah this weekend records the Lord asking Ahaz to request a sign from heaven. The Prophet Isaiah responds to all of Israel, to all humanity, that seeks signs from God that God Himself will provide a sign that only He can give. \u201cThe virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.\u201d This prophecy in the Book of Isaiah was written 500 years before the birth of Christ and provides one of the many prophecies God fulfilled to show His love for humanity. God always wants to provide what we don\u2019t know we need; what we truly need for our spiritual growth. After the Fall of Adam and Eve, what the world truly needed was a Savior. This last week of Advent is the time for us to prepare for this fulfilled promise in Jesus Christ. To fully prepare ourselves, the Church invites us to seek what God only can provide, forgiveness.<\/p>\n

The primary means of receiving God\u2019s forgiveness in the Christian Church is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This week we will offer some additional Confession times. I will hear Confessions Wednesday December 21 at 5 pm, Thursday December 22 at 11 am and Friday December 23 at 11 am. I hope these scheduled times will offer plenty of opportunity for those interested to receive forgiveness prior to Christmas. Please don\u2019t hesitate to contact me if you need to schedule a different time. As Christmas Eve is on Saturday, December 24, we won\u2019t have the normal Saturday afternoon confessions, as we have our Christmas Eve Masses at 2 pm, 4 pm and 6 pm on Saturday. Please plan accordingly this week if you\u2019d like to celebrate the sacrament. I pray the Advent Season has been a time of peace and preparation for the coming of the Lord. This season is meant to be a time of real peace as we reflect upon the depth of God\u2019s love for humanity.<\/p>\n

God bless,<\/p>\n

Father David<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The December 18 bulletin is available online.\u00a0 Dear friend, Happy 4th Week of Advent. I pray you are having a blessed Advent season. The preparations for Christmas can be intense with the purchasing of gifts and preparing for parties, but most importantly we are called to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. … Continue reading Pastor’s Letter: December 18, 2022<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,40],"tags":[64,131,91,86,87,116],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-father-david","category-letter-from-pastor","tag-advent","tag-catholic","tag-mass","tag-confession","tag-reconciliation","tag-scripture"],"yoast_head":"\nPastor's Letter: December 18, 2022 - St. Philomena Catholic Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"chadmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"chadmin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/5e00f5f2ab9dc0c9672d91f3666e7572\"},\"headline\":\"Pastor’s Letter: December 18, 2022\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-16T16:37:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/\"},\"wordCount\":448,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/RICHARDSON-Father-David-P.-Pastor.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Advent\",\"Catholic\",\"Mass\",\"confession\",\"reconciliation\",\"Scripture\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Father David\",\"Pastor's Weekly Letter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-december-18-2022\/\",\"name\":\"Pastor's Letter: December 18, 2022 - 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