The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
December 27, 2025 Bulletin Column Father De Celles
Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a blessed and merry Christmas Day. But, the celebration of the Birth of God the Son, Jesus Christ, is too great an event to celebrate on only one day, so Christmas continues well past December 25th.
First, we have the “Octave of Christmas,” eight days of celebrating, ending on January 1, the Solemnity of the Mother of God, as if it were still the Lord’s birthday. Beyond that we have “the twelve days of Christmas” running from Christmas day until January 6, which in most of the world is the Solemnity of the Epiphany. In the U.S., however, the liturgical celebration of Epiphany is always moved to “the Sunday occurring between 2 January and 8 January,” which is next Sunday, January 4. Then we continue to celebrate “Season of Christmas” for an extra week, until the following Sunday which is usually the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord (but see my note below).
All through those days, until January 11 this year, we will still be celebrating Christmas. So, “Merry Christmas.”
Thanks. I’d like to say “thanks” all those who worked so hard to make Advent and Christmas so special this year. In particular, the choir, cantors, musicians and Elisabeth Turco for all the beautiful music. All the volunteers, young and not so young, for their work on Breakfast with Santa, Lessons and Carols and the Senior Lunch (particularly the American Heritage Girls and Trail Life boys). The Knights of Columbus for all they did in so many ways. All the sacristans, for all their work in preparing the sanctuary. Julie Mullen and her family and the rest of the flower committee, for decorating the church so beautifully. To the ushers who helped make everything run so smoothly, especially our head usher, Patrick O’Brien. To all those who contributed so much in time and treasure to the Giving Tree, especially Sheri Burns who coordinated everything. To all those who assisted in special ways at the Mass, especially the altar boys, lectors (led by Patty Pacheco), extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion (led by Barbara Aldridge and Christine Spengler). Also thanks to Luis Tapia and Dania Ochoa, for keeping the church so clean. A special thanks to the rest of our dedicated parish staff, Mike Thompson, Mary Butler, Maerose Naduvilekunnel, Virginia Osella, Mary Hansen, Dominique Murray, Jeanne Sause, Erin Burns and Catherine Hansen who all worked very hard during Advent. And finally, to my brother priests, Fr. Bergida (especially for his “Advent Series”), Fr. Horkan and Msgr. Rippy for their dedicated service to the parish. I know I’ve left out lots of groups and names; my apologies. Thank you all, and God bless you all.
New Year’s. I look forward seeing all of you this Wednesday or Thursday on New Year’s Eve or Day, to celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (a holy day of obligation). Maybe I’ll see some of you at Midnight Mass: we keep things simple at this Mass, but it’s the perfect way to bring in the New Year. May the Christ Child bless you in the New Year, and may His Blessed Mother will keep you in her care. Blessed and Merry Christmas, and Holy and Happy New Year!
Solemnity of St. Raymond. Our patron saint’s feast is normally celebrated on January 7, but canon law allows the pastor, with the permission of the Bishop, to move the patronal feast (“title of the church”) to the following Sunday. So, with Bishop Burbidge’s permission (thanks Bishop!), I am transferring the liturgical observation of St. Raymond’s to Sunday, January 11th, as I did last year. As noted above, that this is also the last Sunday of the Christmas Season, which we would normally celebrate as the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. But since St. Raymond’s feast (a “solemnity” to us) “outranks the “Feast” of the Baptism, the celebration of the “Baptism of the Lord” be transferred to the following Monday, January 12.
In conjunction with the celebration of our patronal Solemnity on Jan. 11, the Knights of Columbus will be sponsoring a free pancake breakfast after the Sunday morning Masses. All are welcome!
Volunteer Dinner. This coming Saturday, January 3, is our annual dinner in appreciation for all those who volunteer their time to support the activities of the parish. If that should include you, and you haven’t rsvp’d yet, please contact the parish office or your committee chairman asap.
Year End Donations. Every year at this time we get inundated with requests for donations from all sorts of charitable groups. Unfortunately, many of these groups are not doing work consistent with God’s will, and others may have good intentions, but are inefficient or ineffective in using their resources.
So, you don’t have to give to every group who asks for help, and I recommend you give mainly to those groups you have confidence in. The groups I give to and would recommend for your consideration include: the Little Sisters of the Poor, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, House of Mercy, Project Rachel, Gabriel Project, Mary’s Shelter (Fredericksburg), the Poor Clares, Angelus Academy, Christ the King—Chesterfield Academy and the St. Dominic Monastery in Linden, VA. And of course, St. Raymond’s parish is a very worthy charity…
Pope St. John Paul II
Homily, Holy Family Sunday, December 31, 1978
The deepest human problems are connected with the family. It constitutes the primary, fundamental and irreplaceable community for man….The Church wishes to bear a particular witness to that too during the Octave of Christmas, by means of the feast of the Holy Family. She wishes to recall that the fundamental values, which cannot be violated without incalculable harm of a moral nature, are bound up with the family…It is necessary to defend these fundamental values tenaciously and firmly, because their violation does incalculable harm to society and, in the last analysis, to man….
What are these values? ….[T]rying to express ourself concisely, let us say that here it is a question of two fundamental values which fall strictly into the context of what we call “conjugal love”. The first of them is the value of the person which is expressed in absolute mutual faithfulness until death: the faithfulness of the husband to his wife and of the wife to her husband. The consequence of this affirmation of the value of the person, which is expressed in the mutual relationship between husband and wife, must also be respect for the personal value of the new life, that is, of the child, from the first moment of his conception.
The Church can never dispense herself from the obligation of guarding these two fundamental values, connected with the vocation of the family…While maintaining respect for all those who think differently, it is very difficult to recognize…that anyone who betrays conjugal faithfulness, or who permits life conceived in the mother’s womb to be wiped out and destroyed, behaves in a way consistent with true human dignity. Consequently, it cannot be admitted that programmes…which admit such behaviour serve the objective well-being of man….
Felicem Nativitatem Domini et Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles