Entrance Hymn: O Come, all ye faithful

Thanks to all who ensured that we had a worthy celebration of Christmas this year. The preparation of the crib and sanctuary in the weeks prior to the feast gave us a fitting setting for our Christmas Masses. Singing makes such a difference to the liturgy and the choir and music groups this year were very much appreciated by the congregations, as evidenced by the spontaneous applause at each Mass. Thanks to the priests who concelebrated the Masses and were available for Confession the previous weekend. A special word of thanks to the collectors and the generous offerings which they collected at the Masses. Mile buiochas for the generous contributions to the Christmas collections which goes towards to the priests’ income.

New Boiler has been ordered. The old boiler went out of action at such an unfortunate time of the year. Cost of new boiler: €29,303.00!

Happy New Year

I wish you every blessing, good health and freedom from needless worry in 2025. The future is always uncertain. We rely on God’s providence to lead us into the future with hope, hope being the theme of the Jubilee Year.

New Year’s Day: Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

A New Year is about to dawn for us, 2026. Thursday next is the solemnity of Mary Mother of God. Incidentally, this feast is not primarily about Mary; it has to do with Christ. The identity of Jesus Christ is revealed in this feast of Mary, Mother of God. Of the many titles given to Our Lady, this title is among the most controversial. In the early church there were two views about the motherhood of Mary. One suggested that Mary was the mother of the human Jesus only but was not mother of the divine Jesus. The other position disagreed with this because it recognized a problem, viz. if Mary is the mother of the human Jesus only then the unity of the human and divine in Jesus is in question. The more correct view is that Mary is the mother of Jesus God and man. This view was accepted by the Church at the Council of Ephesus in 431. It protected the unity of the divine and human in Jesus: there are not two persons in Jesus. This means that we can call Mary mother of God. She is obviously not mother of God the Father or God the Holy Spirit: she is mother of Jesus Christ, who is God and man, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. What we discover in this Marian feast is that doctrines concerning Mary are not primarily about Mary but about her Son.

2.          Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born king!

Christ, the everlasting Lord,

Late in time behold him come,

Offspring of the virgin’s womb;

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

Hail the incarnate deity,

Pleased as man with man to dwell,

Jesus, our Emmanuel.