Grateful Hearts

Dear Friend, 

We’ll gather as a community for the celebration of Epiphany this Sunday and I find myself looking back with gratitude at Advent and Christmas. I see the energy of hands and hearts, the glow of faces and smiles; the activities - the women gathered for the Advent retreat and the crèche builders - undaunted by the rain! Our Christmas gatherings - the glow of Midnight Mass, the music, and so many who prepared it all…wreaths hung, candles lit, tents set up, chairs set out…

And then came last Sunday, and our dear sister “Day Day,” rebounding from so many setbacks of health and personal loss was back at Mass, one of so many for whom Advent and Christmas were charged with challenge and grief. I would include my fellow friars, who on Christmas Day lost our friar and brother, Jeff MacNab, at the end of a long journey with cancer. Jeff brought so much warmth, beauty, and love here to the Mission as Novice Master and gentle companion to many!  

The light of Epiphany entered a history - Israel’s - shaped by so much struggle and loss. Jesus was born into all of it. I read recently that it is only when we have the past in some kind of healthy perspective that we can live richly in the present and dream of the future.  I see the gifts of the Magi as treasures of memories placed before the Lord. The light and newness surrounding the Christ child is the wisdom which opens new paths for us, as it did for the Magi. We need to stay close to it. Over time it reveals perspective and gives meaning to our lives. It guides us to hope and goodness. Our hearts become grateful, as mine is now.

With love,

Fr. Dan Lackie ofm, Pastor

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