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On behalf of the Parish Staff/Volunteers, Trustees, Msgr. Mahoney, and the other Priests who occasionally assist me at the Parish, I extend Christmas Blessings of Peace and Joy to you and your Families.  May the coming New Year be filled with happiness, good health, and serenity, as you continue to live your lives in our Catholic Faith in the spirit of Hope, Charity, and Gratitude to God for His many Blessings.  Christmas is a time that reminds us that we can  take refuge in the Lord, Who came among us as one of us to give us Hope in showing us the way through all things.

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The gentility and dependence of the Baby Jesus reminds us that it is proper and necessary for us too, at times, to be dependent upon another.  For us, that primary ‘Other’ is God, Who we experience as Jesus the Son, our Redeemer; Father, our Creator; and Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier.  It is through the Life, example, and commission of Jesus that we strive to become like Him for others, and have the ability and mission to reach out to those in need. 

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In addition to your kindness and support to those in need, thank you for your generosity to the Parish in so many ways during this past year.  Most recently that has been exhibited by your overwhelming response to those whom we supported through our Christmas Giving Tree: Saint Matthew’s Lunchtime Ministry, Hoboken Homeless Veterans in Need, the Mercy House (a ministry of our Archdiocese), the Parishioner Families in Need, and our participation in the Toys for Children campaign.  Your Christmas Spirit and Heart brought Joy, Hope, and real comfort to those in need who, otherwise, would not have received anything for Christmas. Think of the effect of your generosity on every individual who will benefit from your gifts: they will feel thought about and cared for; they will feel a part of a caring community, rather than 'apart' from one; they will feel loved. Any despair with which they may be living will be relieved, if even for a Day or a few hours. Your acts of kindness restore Hope.  The Lord will certainly reward your compassion towards others.

 

Because of the Birth of the Baby Jesus on that first Christmas morn, we can celebrate every Day the reality of  Heaven touching Earth in a new and profound way.  The World would never be the same from that point forward.  It was God's own action and plan to enter into our midst in human flesh, to experience all that we would experience, and to be with us through it all: Emmanuel - God with us!

 

Christmas Blessings & Happy New Year!

Monsignor Michael

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He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.

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He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

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He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.

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Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.

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*Attributed to James Allen Francis.

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