I hope that each of you had a blessed Thanksgiving. Please remember that we will not have a Parish Advent Service this year. Therefore, we now have confessions prior to each Sunday obligation Mass as well as our normally scheduled opportunities. If you wish to make a confession prior to Mass please be on time because I will only hear confessions in so far as there is a line. These new confession times are Saturday at 4:30pm and Sunday at 7:30am, 9:30am, 11:30am, and 1:30pm.
On December 2nd our parish will celebrate the Solemnity of the Dedication of the Parish Church with a special Mass at 6pm. On December 5th I will celebrate a Rorate Caeli Mass at 6:30am. This Mass will be by candlelight and will be in the Extraordinary Form. On the Eve of the Feast of Saint Nicholas, December 5, we invite you for the lighting of our nativity star and nativity scene following the 5pm Mass. During this event we will enjoy hot chocolate and cider as we enjoy a few hymns to prepare us for the Advent season and our encounter with Christ’s coming as Word made Flesh. Saint Nicholas might even make an appearance to take social distanced photos with those present.
I thank Jena Bitler, a parishioner who works with www.doxologydesign.com, for working with me and the communications committee to help design a new parish logo which is located on the front of the bulletin. It is my hope that we will begin to use this logo to brand our parish within the community at large and to remind us of who we are as a parish community.
This logo makes use of the “M” which can be found within the miraculous medal. This “M” represents Mary as Mother our Mediatrix. From the “M” extends the cross which reminds us of the cross of Christ which brought about our redemption. The “M” and the cross are intertwined reminding us of a sign of their union. Under the “M” is the year 1906 which reminds of the year that our parish was established.
The 12 stars remind us of Revelation 12:1, “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” This verse points towards devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe who is patroness to the Americas as well as very important in the life of our Spanish speaking people. These 12 stars also reminds us of the 12 apostles who were first called by Christ to be fishers of men. Likewise, each of us have been called by Christ towards the missionary journey to evangelize other towards Christ and His Church on this earth. These stars have 7 points which remind us of the importance of the seven sacraments (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, confession, anointing of sick, marriage, and holy orders) and the seven fruits of the Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord). May we fully enter into the sacramental life of the church and live out these fruits of the spirit within the world.
Below all of this, we find the mountains which are used within the Johnson City logo. These mountains remind us of the city to which we belong and to which we are sent forth to live out our life of faith. Mountains are very important throughout the course of Sacred Scripture and are mentioned within it some 500 times. The mountains are seen by the people of Jewish and Christian cultures as bringing them closer to God. From the mountain tops God gave Moses the ten commandments and from a mountaintop Christ gave us the Beatitudes which call us into service to God and one another. Likewise, may we strive to be closer to God in this life and to bring others with us on this journey.
Within this logo we find the use of three colors blue, green, and white. Blue is a color which is associated with Mary who is the patroness of our parish community. This is a color which is associated with purity and so the Blessed Mother was most pure and through devotion to her we will be brought into relation with Christ. White represents purity, holiness, and virtue. We must always be reminded of our missionary awareness and commitment which is rooted in the grace of baptism The color green is seen within the Johnson City logo, but is also the color that we see during Ordinary Time. The Church clothes herself in green vestments to express her joyous, lively hope of the ever lovely and eternally verdant meadows of the heavenly paradise, of the incorruptible inheritance and the unfading crown of glory in Heaven.
In Christ,
Fr. Dustin Collins
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