My dear parishioners, in the bulletin that was distributed, which has the times for the celebrations of Advent and Christmas, you may have noted that on Saturday 25 December and on Saturday January 1 we will not celebrate the 5 p.m. Mass as we usually do. The pastoral reason for this is easy to understand: it is the desire of the Church that the faithful not lose the awareness of the meaning of the celebration of that day, the celebration of the solemnities of the Nativity of our Lord, and of Holy Mary, Mother of God, respectively. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, in the n. 28 of its instruction on the Eucharisticum Mysterium encourages us, pastors, to explain carefully to the faithful the meaning of the permission to fulfill the Sunday obligation by participating in the celebration of the Mass on Saturday, to ensure that the significance of Sunday is not thereby obscured. “The purpose of this concession is in fact to enable the Christians of today to celebrate more easily the day of the resurrection of the Lord.”

We will celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord during the Masses of Saturday 25 of December at 10 a.m. and 12 noon. The following day, Sunday 26, we will celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Family during the Masses in accordance with the usual Sunday schedule. We will celebrate the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God, on Saturday 1 January, during the Masses at 10 a.m. and 12 noon (this year it is not a holiday of obligation because it falls on a Saturday). The following day, Sunday 2 January, we will celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord in accordance with the usual Sunday schedule. The following weekend, 9 January – the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord – we will return to our usual Saturday schedule: Confessions from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and then the holy Mass at 5 p.m. With these changes we desire to give each day, each solemnity and each liturgy its own weight, measure, height and depth.

On another matter, we want to share with you that this week we sent  a letter to our beloved Archbishop requesting his authorization to begin a series of important repairs that are needed by our parish facilities. As soon as we receive his reply we will explain to the entire parish community what these repairs entail; in the meanwhile we ask for your prayers so that we may complete them successfully, and that this House of God where we come together to adore him, Sunday after Sunday, continues to be in good condition for many more years.

That these last two weeks of the Season of Advent be full of peace and serenity for each of you, and that retreat toward our interiority to listen to the Lord, who is coming, and there, in silence and prayer, we may be found on the day of his arrival.

With an embrace and a blessing for each of you,

Fr. Agustin