Christmas

A Portion of Fr. Joseph’s Christmas 2022 Homily

My Dear Brothers and Sisters

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We celebrated the greatest gift God ever gave us and all humanity His precious son, Baby Jesus, our Lord and Savior. With Christians around the world, we celebrated the reason for the season – The birth of Jesus born in the stable in Bethlehem. We listened to the Holy Scripture, especially the Gospel about what happened over two thousand years ago. 

In Christmas time to continue to reflect about the mystery of God’s incarnation. It is a remarkable story that God’s Word became flesh in the womb of the Blessed Mother Mary through the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit and the message of the Angel Gabriel. The truth is that the Spirit of the Lord lives in us.  

Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, because she was humble and holy. With her trust, she accepted that noble role of the Mother of the Baby Jesus, our Lord and King. She is the Spiritual Mother of all of us. She accepted that special role with the remarkable and great support of St. Joseph the earthly guardian of Jesus, person of holiness. He didn’t say much in the Gospel but he did a lot. He followed the message of the angels, he listened to Mary and fulfilled God’s will in his life. 

The Christmas message reminds us to suppress our selfishness and to think about others. We look for the opportunities to give rather than to receive. This is the truth, that happiness comes from serving others. 

Wouldn’t it be that great that all mankind were made up of kind women and warmhearted men? The mystery of humanity is that we have more extreme thinking but shorter tempers, bigger ambitions but smaller families, larger houses but more broken homes. We have multiplied our possessions but diminished our values. We buy more but enjoy less. We have added years to life but not life to years. We have become more educated but lack common sense.

If we take the Christmas message into our hearts, we can change it. We need to be willing to accept the values which Jesus brought to earth for us. Jesus wants us to follow his example. How can we do so? Simply by doing good deeds in our life. He wants us to enrich others by serving others in His name.  We are called to love and worship our God at least on Sundays, love our neighbors as ourselves, love tenderly and walk humbly with God.

Children and everyone are called to fulfill our daily tasks to the best of our ability, honestly and conscientiously. Why is it so important?  Simply because the church members are the foundation of our society……

A Christmas Prayer

Come, Lord Jesus, Prince of peace and Beloved Savior; come into our hearts this Christmas and fill us with Your gifts of love and joy. With Mary and Joseph, we rejoice and thank God for You. With the angels and saints in heaven we sing, “Glory to God in the highest.” With the Magi and the shepherds, we bow before You with hearts full of wonder. Help us to follow You faithfully and to share the good news of Your coming with everyone we meet, this Christmas season and always.  Amen.

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SOCL Children Prepare Gifts for Manor Residents

Last week Natalie Lazar and Natalie Cyman delivered 32 poinsettias, 32 Christmas cards and ornaments to residents living at Hinchliffe Manor, Paterson NJ. We thank Sunday School teachers Ms. Natalie and Mr. Paul for organizing this project, children who prepared Christmas cards and parents who supported this project for the benefit of the elderly. Job well done!

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Holy Mass Schedule for Christmas

Vigil of the Nativity, December 24th

  • 4pm Holy Mass for families and children
  • 10pm Holy Mass for all parishioners

Solemnity of the Nativity, December 25th

  • 10am Holy Mass for all parishioners

St. Stephen, Proto-Martyr, December 26th

  • 8:30am Holy Mass for all parishioners

St. John Apostle & Evangelist, December 27th

  • 7:30pm Holy Mass for healing with blessing of wine

Holy Innocents, December 29th

  • 8:30am Holy Mass in memory of all benefactors

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SOCL Family Movie Night

We thank School of Christian Living (SOCL) teachers Mrs. Donna Maher, Mr. Paul Murphy, and Ms Natalie Lazar for their time and talent in preparation for Family Movie Night that took place on Wednesday December 27th in the parish hall. The children watched two movies, shared fellowship, enjoyed pizza, popcorn, snacks, and had an enjoyable time with games and in opening the Christmas gifts with kitchen mittens. We invite all parents to help and participate in the events for the good of our children. The enrollment for the winter / spring 2018 SOCL program is open. The registration forms are in the parish office and on can be found here.

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2017 Annual Christmas Dinner

On Sunday, December 10th, dozens of parishioners attended our annual Christmas Dinner. The children and all attendees enjoyed a Christmas carol sing-a-long. We thank all those who came for this event, especially parents for bringing their children. We had fun, shared a great menu which was prepared by Deacon David and his helpers. We thank Neil Estanislao, our organist for the music arrangement and accompaniment. Because the children of Holy Cross are very special, Santa Claus came and gave them goodies asking them to listen and help their parents and behave well. Merry Christmas to all!

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Christmas Eve Holy Mass with Youth

On Christmas Eve at 4 pm we traditionally holy Holy Mass with our children’s participation. They wear costumes of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the Three Kings and angels. The youth read the Holy Scriptures, the prayers of the faithful and sing Silent Night with lighted candles.

We thank the youth, their parents, School of Christian Living teachers and all who helped to celebrate the Birth of Jesus in such a meaningful way. Merry Christmas to our web site visitors and Facebook friends.

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Christmas Crafts for the Homebound

On Sunday, December 4th our School of Christian Living children prepared Christmas crafts that will be given to homebound members of our parish and that will be used to decorate the Christmas tree in the parish hall. The youth also practiced Christmas songs with organist, Jessica Muccilli. They will present them at our Christmas Party which will be held on Sunday December 11th after the 11am Holy Mass.

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