Nativity Scenes

My Dear Parishioners,

For most of us, our most treasured Christmas decoration is our Nativity Scene. Our Nativity Scenes give beauty to our homes and brings back good memories. Yet, they are so much more than a decoration. They are in fact Christian Art. They bring back the memory of that very first Christmas. They bring to life the Gospel passages about the Nativity, making those passages real to us.

They also provide the opportunity to contemplate the joy of that very first Christmas, and to contemplate what the Nativity means in our lives today. When I contemplate on the Nativity on my fireplace mantle, I can’t help but feel the joy of that very first Christmas, joy that always warms my heart and makes me smile.

I am looking forward to again seeing our beautiful Nativity Scene in church and having that opportunity to contemplate the joy of Christmas as a parish family. In advance, I thank all of our elves who will be helping this week with the decorating and cleaning of the church in preparation for Christmas, and please remember, you bring a lot of joy to a lot of people.

I have provided a Home Nativity Scene Blessing in this letter along with a little reflection on St. Joseph by Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln.

Our Christmas schedule is published on the front page of the bulletin this week. Christmas Eve Masses are at 4:00 and 6:00PM. Christmas Day Masses are at Midnight, 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30AM.

I know that our choirs, cantors, and musicians have been hard at work preparing for our Christmas Masses. I thank all the members of our music ministry for the joy that will be adding to our celebrations.

St. Joseph, Foster Father of Jesus and Protector of the Holy Family, pray for us!

Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor

Home Blessing of a Nativity Scene

From the United States Council of Catholic Bishops

When the manger is set up in the home, it is appropriate that it be blessed by a parent or another family member.

All make the sign of the cross as the leader says:

Our help is in the name of the Lord. R/. Who made heaven and Earth.

One of those present or the leader reads the Nativity Story from the Gospel according to St. Luke (2: 1-20)

In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.

And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son.

She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

Reader: The Gospel of the Lord. R/. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. The leader prays with hands joined:

God of every nation and people, from the very beginning of creation you have made manifest your love when our need for a Savior was great you sent your Son to be born of the Virgin Mary. To our lives he brings joy and peace, justice, mercy, and love.

Lord, bless all who look upon this manger; may it remind us of the humble birth of Jesus, and raise our thoughts to him, who is God-with-us and Savior of all, and who lives and reigns forever and ever. R/. Amen.

St. Joseph at Christmas

By Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, NE December 24, 2020 (the Year of St. Joseph)

Not only did Jesus come into our world and show us how to interact with others, He did it in a familiar manner: he entered into a human family, the Holy Family.

Jesus freely chose to be a vulnerable infant, completely dependent upon Mary, Joseph, and all those around him. God’s entrance into the world would not have happened without the love and faith of a family—the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—who gave the necessary human love to the newborn Prince of Peace. We rightfully recall the fiat or “yes” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she agreed to give birth to the Son of God. Mary is in the words of Wordsworth “our tainted nature’s solitary boast” as she said “yes” to God at every moment of her life, remaining free from both original sin and personal sin. She remains for us both the greatest model of a Christian disciple and greatest intercessor of any creature.

However, St. Joseph is the one member of the Holy Family who is often forgotten. Perhaps, he wanted it that way. Perhaps he preferred to work behind the scenes.

The Church has always revered the sanctity of St. Joseph. Since 1870, he has been declared the Patron of the Universal Church. As you may know, Pope Francis has proclaimed this year as a “Year of St. Joseph.”

In his recent apostolic letter on St. Joseph entitled Patris Corde, he noted how everyone in the world can connect to the life of St. Joseph. He said: “Each of us can discover in Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble. Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”

The world that Jesus entered into was not necessarily a friendly one. We know this even from the context in which Jesus was born. The courage of Joseph is those difficult times is noteworthy.

Joseph and Mary had to travel this arduous journey by foot from the hill country in Nazareth all the way to Jerusalem. Scholars believe they had to do this to be counted in a census for Roman tax purposes. There was no exemption for them, even though Mary was with child.

Joseph endured the humiliation of being homeless in Bethlehem as they arrived with no room at the inn. He humbly endured the reality that this child entrusted to him would be born in what was essentially a barn. Even after the birth of Jesus, he had to travel to Egypt, a foreign land, with Mary and Jesus to escape the murderous wrath of King Herod.

And yet, we never hear of St. Joseph complaining about any of this. He accepted his role as father and quietly carried it out. This can only be accomplished by a man of great prayer. St. Pope John Paul II alluded to Joseph’s closeness to the Lord saying, “The total sacrifice, whereby Joseph surrendered his whole existence to the demands of the Messiah’s coming into his home, becomes understandable only in the light of his profound interior life.”