Faith and Love in Action
Psalm 119:33-34 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your decrees, and I will follow it to the end. Give me understanding, and I will observe your law and obey it with all my heart.
Each week from September through May, the Interparish Religious Education Program, affectionately known as IREP, gathers to teach and guide approximately 225 students, ages 3 to 18, deeper into their faith lives and prepare them for the sacraments. Our dedicated catechists work to help young people grow in knowledge and love of Christ, building an understanding of our faith to help sustain them throughout their lives.
But our mission extends far beyond the classroom walls. We remind our students that a faithful Christian life requires both heartfelt participation in the sacramental life of the Church and active, compassionate service in the world around us. Christ’s incarnation, God’s profound participation in our humanness, serves as our springboard, inspiring us to see Christ in all people and to care especially for those who are struggling, marginalized, or in need.
Living Out Our Faith Through Service
Throughout the year, IREP students engage in numerous service projects that transform their growing faith into tangible acts of love and charity. Our Youth Group students, grades 8-12, join us monthly for both service and fellowship.
Fall and Winter: We partner with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVdP) for the Thanksgiving food drive, supporting Ascension Food Pantry. This past Thanksgiving, student donations combined with parish contributions helped feed 250 families a Thanksgiving dinner, a powerful testament to what we can accomplish together. Our students also collect gifts for the Christmas gift drive, which benefits another New York City parish, ensuring that children across our city experience the joy of Christmas morning. Our eighth graders write letters to veterans on Veterans Day, expressing gratitude for their service and sacrifice.
Year-Round Commitment: Students support the SVdP blood drive twice annually, learning that even a simple donation can save lives in our community. IREP students and our Youth Group write heartfelt Christmas cards for all residents at Vista on Fifth, bringing warmth, connection, and the reminder that they are remembered and loved during the holiday season. Our eighth-grade teachers sponsor the annual Pasta Bowl during Super Bowl season for the 8th grade classes, the students donate and personally delivering pasta to the New York Common Pantry, where they witness firsthand the impact of their generosity.
Lenten Season: Parish-wide, we’ve begun our Lenten food drive, with IREP students once again stepping up alongside the Saint Vincent de Paul Society to help feed our neighbors during this sacred season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Additionally, our Change for Change Lenten Change drive invites students and families to collect spare change throughout Lent, with all proceeds going towards making birthday boxes for Ascension Food Pantry, turning small sacrifices into celebrations of joy for families in need.
Coming in March: Our Youth Group will assemble birthday cake boxes for Ascension Food Pantry. These self-contained boxes include cake mix, Sprite (which mixes together without eggs or oil), a cake tin, frosting, and candles; everything needed to celebrate a birthday with dignity and joy. For families struggling to make ends meet, these boxes offer more than dessert; they offer the gift of celebration.
Confirmation Send Off: After our Confirmation ceremony, newly confirmed students will conclude their IREP journey by hearing from inspiring speakers who share how they continue to live lives of Christian service beyond their religious education years. During this final gathering, students will make sandwiches for the New York Common Pantry, reminding them that their newly received gifts of the Holy Spirit are now the inspiration and strength for their impact on the world around them.
A Heartfelt Thank You
None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of our IREP parents. Throughout the school year, you have encouraged your children to participate, helped with service projects, and modeled what it means to live a life of faith in action. Thank you for walking this journey with your family and with us.
As Psalm 119 reminds us, understanding God’s law means living it with all our hearts. Through IREP, our young people are discovering that faith and love are inseparable, and that both call us to serve our neighbors with joy, compassion, and an open heart.
— Kate Noonan, Pastoral Associate/Director of IREP and Youth Group
February 8th Essay: Walking Together: An Eyewitness Account of Pope Francis’s Legacy of Synodality and the Renewal and Reform of the ChurchI am convinced that synodality is Pope Francis’s abiding gift to the church. His energetic mission to school the church in the art and practice of synodality in the final few years of his life fittingly defines his pontificate, even though the ensuing synodal process did not receive universal approval.
Synodality presents opportunities for the renewal and reform of the church, beginning with creating a shared space for listening, dialogue, and discernment. This synodal process is considered threatening by some critics and doubters, in part because of a fear of loss of authority by some priests and bishops. Synodality calls us to convert and reform a clericalist obsession with and exercise of power and authority in the church. The effort to heal this distorted form of authority in the church stands as a bold and enduring manifestation of Pope Francis’s synodal vision.
Synodality is Francis’s way to foster participation in mission by welcoming the gifts, talents, and wisdom that the Spirit generously bestows on the entire community, through the grace of baptism. In the synodal vision of Pope Francis, participation in mission is an expression of our faith in God.
Francis demonstrated by his words, deeds, and gestures that in a synodal church, people who disagree do not have to become enemies, because it isn’t a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Differences, disagreements, and competing visions of synodality exist and are part of the synodal tradition. As such, synodality isn’t easy. We make the way by walking in a transparent, inclusive, and sustained process of discernment in common. We do not determine the answers ahead of the process, nor exclude anyone from the ‘way’.
Discernment is a mark of the church that Pope Francis encouraged us to co-create, so that, as a church, we can build our capacity to listen with openness and honesty and to speak with courage and charity. This process calls for co-responsibility in governance and the inclusion of lay people in consequential decisions. In a synodal church, lay women and lay men have a right to be listened to and that right is warranted by our shared baptismal grace as equal members of the body of Christ. (See Final Document, no. 60).
Synodality is not a task to be completed but a spirit to be incarnated and lived, a habitual way of life. The process is as important as its outcome. As such, it offers a chance for ecclesial renewal and conversion. Beyond the diatribes, controversies, and divisions, the fundamental question remains how to synod (verb); how do we walk well together as the People of God?
The gift of synodality to the church can be further thought of as a catalyst for renewal and reform of the church, first, because it reconfigures the mission-framework of the church, so that every baptized Christian carries the duty and responsibility of mission and, second, it helps the church become constitutively synodal, that is, a church which makes a preferential option to continuously engage in inclusive listening, dialogue, and discernment, as expressions of its ordinary ways of living, working, teaching, and ministering.
Finally, as envisaged by Pope Francis, synodality invites us to recognize the equal dignity of women members of the People of God, their indispensable role and ministry, and the necessity of a continued discernment of women’s diaconate. Listening to women’s voices, honoring their talents, celebrating their competence, and learning from them about being a synodal church in mission ultimately make us a better Church.
Pope Francis’s prophetic vision of a synodal church aimed to promote an understanding and practice characterized by inclusive decision-making, participatory discernment, and co-responsibility in ministry, as habitual ways of fulfilling its mission. Continuing this rich legacy is the task of the church for the rest of the Third Millennium.
— Fr. A. E. Orobator, S.J., Dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in California
February 1, 2026 Essay: Rejoice and Be Glad!Happy February! For the shortest month of the year, there sure is a lot happening—just check out this bulletin! For example, in 17 days, on February 18th, we will begin again our solemn fast, the Lenten journey from ashes to glory. In 19 days, the greatest phrase in our country—“Play Ball!”—will be uttered as Spring Training begins and, at last, all is right in the world with Major League Baseball returning to action! (So, if you’re looking for me then, you now know where to find me…)
Back here in wintry New York, in just 5 days, on February 6th, the Most Reverend Ronald A. Hicks will be installed as the eleventh Archbishop of our Archdiocese. In these days leading up to the Mass of Installation, we pray in gratitude for the years of ministry and care from Cardinal Dolan. And we pray for Archbishop Hicks, that the Lord will give him the grace of the heart of a pastor, the very heart of the Good Shepherd.
Back to our February countdown: In just one day, tomorrow, Monday, February 2nd, the Church marks 40 days since the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ as we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. In keeping with Jewish law, Mary and Joseph go to the Temple in Jerusalem to present their son to God in thanksgiving and joy. It is there that they encounter the prophets Simeon and Anna, who both had been eagerly awaiting the coming of the Messiah. The Lord Jesus is presented in the Temple as the light of the nations, and so we bless candles to remind ourselves that Jesus is the true light, and that we all are called to carry the light of Christ into the world.
For the last three decades the Church has also marked the 2nd of February as World Day for Consecrated Life, as we celebrate the light that comes from the vocations of women and men religious. Consecrated life is nothing new to our parish, as we Jesuits have been here since 1866! The parish school, too, was blessed to have the Sisters of Charity for a good number of years, and a Sister of Mercy for the last several years. In fact, last week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week, where we gave thanks for the gift of consecrated life in our parish school. I’m sure that many of you were also the recipients of the care, teaching, and support of religious women and men in your own upbringing.
At our core, we religious are called to be signs of hope and light, called to be joyful messengers of the Gospel. As Pope Francis said in a 2013 speech to religious-in-formation:
“Wherever there are consecrated people, seminarians, men and women religious, young people, there is joy, there is always joy! It is the joy of freshness, the joy of following Jesus; the joy that the Holy Spirit gives us, not the joy of the world. There is joy!”
This joy of following Jesus, the joy of the Gospel, shows itself in tender moments of deep encounter, when we truly see each other as God sees us. For indeed, as Pope Francis says, “joy, true joy is contagious; it is infectious… it impels one forward.” I hope, in some small way, we Jesuits have been joyful messengers of the Gospel in our encounters with you, impelling you forward to be the joyful presence of Jesus in the world.
Please pray for us—and for all religious women and men—that we may be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, the joy of following Jesus! And pray for vocations: that young people will be open to the call to serve the Church joyfully as consecrated women and men.
– Rev. Jonathan P. Pennacchia, S.J., Pastoral Year Priest
January 25, 2026: What’s Your Spiritual Resolution?Did you make any New Year’s resolutions at the start of this year? If so, how have you been doing thus far with seeing them through?
Whether it’s starting a new hobby, embarking on a new exercise routine, giving something up for a specific amount of time, or making certain promises, the start of another new year has traditionally allowed us to see the world with new eyes and a “fresh start,” so to speak. There is something beautiful about leaning into the hopefulness and possibility of a brand-new year, especially when the realities of pain and hardship are so jarringly present in the news and current events of our lives.
But as we set New Year’s resolutions for ourselves and make plans to see them to completion, how often do we also consider resolutions that impact our inner spiritual lives? Perhaps bettering our Mass attendance or resolving to go to confession more often are options that readily come to mind—but are there some other creative and nuanced ways that we can consider when it comes to enriching our spiritual lives in this new year?
In this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus calls two sets of brothers, Peter & Andrew and James & John, to leave behind their fishing nets and their families to come and follow him:
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Not knowing what was to come, the first four Apostles dropped everything and followed Jesus. They left behind lives that held more assurance and perhaps, more security, and instead resolved to follow a Teacher whom they believed would change everything.
In a similar fashion, our own St. Ignatius of Loyola made a resolution. After a life-changing war injury confined him to a bed for many months, and having nothing else to read or ponder during his long convalescence other than The Life of Christ and a book about the lives of the Saints, Ignatius felt compelled to give his life to follow Jesus. When he was well enough to travel, he decided to give up a life of chivalry as a soldier and instead commit himself to a life of holiness and spiritual pilgrimage—a decision that would not only change the trajectory of his own life, but one that would have a reverberating impact for over 500 years and counting.
The best resolutions, if truly committed to, become transformative choices. In our spiritual lives, God is always inviting us into deeper relationship. The words spoken to the Apostles by Jesus, “come and follow me,” are endlessly echoed to us—it is only up to us to decide when and how to respond.
So, what if our own spiritual resolutions this year are only focused on answering one question: What can I resolve to do (or not do) this year to further deepen and strengthen my relationship with God?
Perhaps your answer is going to Mass more often or returning to the sacrament of reconciliation again after a long absence. Or perhaps you might be drawn towards a call to do something new: to join a new ministry group at the parish, to offer more of yourself in service to others, to share an area of abundance in your life with those who might not have that same privilege of abundance, to read that spirituality book that has been sitting on your bookshelf for a long time, or to seek out spiritual counseling for a challenge that you have only previously faced on your own. Maybe it’s participating in a spiritual retreat, either here at St. Ignatius or at a retreat house, or finally inquiring about finding a Spiritual Director with whom you can have ongoing spiritual conversations about your prayer life.
Let’s follow the call to be courageous, as the Apostles and St. Ignatius were in resolving to follow Christ. Whatever might be stirring your heart at this moment, don’t be afraid to make a new resolution. I promise you—it’s never too late to try.
+AMDG+
— Roxanne De La Torre, Pastoral Associate for Ignatian Spirituality & Faith Formation
January 18th Essay: More Prayer, More Intimacy
Meeting Christ in Prayer is famously practical—Jesuit practical. (There’s a familiar joke about a Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Jesuit when the church lights go out: the Franciscan praises simplicity, the Dominican preaches on divine light, and the Jesuit goes to the basement to fix the fuse.) That spirit of practicality shapes the entire program.
The eight-week series meets over Zoom on Wednesday evenings from 7 PM–8:30 PM. Each participant receives a workbook with a day-by-day guide. Even with a full life (including a toddler, two preschoolers, and a job), I found the program manageable and deeply enriching.
One of the highlights of Meeting Christ in Prayer is St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Examen, a daily prayer of awareness. The Examen unfolds in five steps: noticing where you are, recalling what you are grateful for, reviewing the day, asking for forgiveness, and preparing for tomorrow. Over time, something subtle yet profound begins to happen.
You start to recognize God’s steady presence in the ordinary moments of life—missed trains, bedtime meltdowns, successful meetings. St. Ignatius urged his companions to “find God in all things” by paying closer attention to everyday experience.
During our eight weekly meetings, we pray together, engage in guided meditation, and share honestly in a confidential setting. These faith-sharing moments foster genuine intimacy, with one another and with God.
After the final week, we attend Mass together. It was the first time I met my co-facilitator in person, and my one-year-old son gravitated toward him throughout the Mass—an unselfconscious openness that felt like a small parable. That openness stayed with me. At Christmas, while waiting to receive Communion, I recognized another participant I had known only through Zoom. We embraced immediately.
Ignatian spirituality invites us to be “contemplatives in action,” carrying what we receive in prayer outward into generosity, humility, and service. Since participating in Meeting Christ in Prayer, I’ve returned to Scripture through Lectio Divina, begun reading more deeply, and even started practicing the Examen with my children at bedtime. Together, we slow down to notice where God showed up during the day.
Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt described this spirituality as “a long, loving look at the real.” That is what this program offers—not a retreat from everyday life, but a deeper awareness of God’s presence within it.
For me, Meeting Christ in Prayer has been a reminder that seeking intimacy with God and others through prayer—both privately and in community—is something I am capable of undertaking. In one of the last things he wrote before his death, Pope Francis said, “Believe in love, believe in God, and believe that you are capable of taking on the adventure of a love that lasts a lifetime.”
I hope you will consider joining us beginning February 4 at 7:00 p.m.
To register, click here.
— Julia King Pool
January 11, 2026 Essay: A People in PerilCould the world be witnessing the permanent dispersal of the Palestinian people? This question is prompted not simply by what is occurring in Gaza, but by what is occurring in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians are being displaced at a rapid pace as their communities are erased.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, between October 7, 2023 (when Hamas attacked Israel) and December 7, 2025, 1,039 Palestinians—at least 225 of them children—were killed in the occupied West Bank. These deaths coincided with a violent campaign by Israeli settlers to drive Palestinians off their lands. At the same time, the Israeli government has accelerated the approval of settlements in the West Bank. Three years after Israel took control of the West Bank, after the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, there were an estimated 1500 settlers. Today, there are at least 770,000. On December 21, 2025, the Israeli government approved 19 new settlements, raising the total number of approved settlements to 200, which is an increase from 140 just three years ago. When these settlements were approved, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, declared: “We will continue to develop, build, and settle the inherited land of our ancestors with faith in the righteousness of our path.”
On December 20, 2025, the New York Times offered detailed reporting on the systematic campaign of intimidation and violence being used by settlers to displace Palestinians. According to the reporting of the New York Times, and independently confirmed by Israeli human rights organizations, the Israeli Defense Force, which retains authority over the West Bank, frequently turns a blind eye to the violence being perpetrated by the settlers, while at the same time facilitating the displacement of the Palestinians in response to that violence. When official action is taken in response to unprovoked violence against Palestinians, that action is anemic at best.
An Israeli settler, who is an Israeli reserve soldier serving in a regional defense unit, was filmed running his all-terrain-vehicle over a 23-year-old-Palestinian man as he knelt in prayer on the roadside outside of Ramallah. Breaking the Silence, a group of Israeli military veterans critical of the Israeli occupation, has referred to the regional defense units—which have been responsible for many other attacks on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank—as “no more than settler militias in uniform.” The IDF said that the soldier’s weapon has been confiscated and that he’s been suspended due to the “severity of the incident.” Israeli police released him from custody after a few days. He was placed under house arrest for five days, and ordered not to approach the village where the incident occurred. This same individual was involved in an earlier incident that day in a village north of Ramallah. In that incident, he opened fire on Palestinians injuring a young man.
In January 2025, the Israeli watchdog group Yesh Din reported that across more than 1,700 reports of religious or politically motivated hate crimes committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank over the past two decades, nearly 94% of them were closed without any indictment and only 3% resulted in a conviction. At the same time, some 8,000 Palestinians are currently being held indefinitely in Israeli prisons without trial, many of them under “administrative detention orders” which prevent detainees, and their lawyers, from reviewing the evidence against them. Settlers may not be held under the same orders. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the goal was “to convey a clear message of strengthening and encouraging the settlements.”
As this systematic campaign of expulsions continues, the Israeli government, in late December, became the first country to recognize the break-away region of Somaliland. Earlier last year, it was reported that the United States and Israeli governments had asked whether Somaliland would accept displaced Palestinians. Somaliland denied that such conversations occurred.
— Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J., Associate Pastor
January 4th Essay: The Legacy of Pope Francis: 2026 Lecture SeriesAs the Holy Year of Hope comes to an end with the closing of the Holy Doors, it is time to announce our 2026 Lecture Series, which will have as its theme “The Legacy of Pope Francis.” The calendar of lectures can be found elsewhere in the E-Newsletters and Sunday Bulletins of recent weeks. As each lecture approaches, the speaker will offer an essay on his particular topic.
Francis’s papacy (2013-2025) was marked by a distinct focus on humility, social justice, interfaith dialogue, and environmental stewardship, contributing to his legacy as one of the most influential popes in modern history.
One of Pope Francis’s most significant legacies was his commitment to social justice and the plight of the marginalized. Throughout his papacy, he emphasized the Church’s role in advocating for the poor and marginalized, calling for a more equitable distribution of resources and a renewed focus on humanitarian issues. This commitment was evident in his outreach to those living in poverty, his strong stance against human trafficking, and his support for refugees and migrants. He encouraged Catholics to engage in acts of charity and social justice, mapping a path for the Church to follow in addressing systemic issues like inequality and discrimination.
Interfaith dialogue was another cornerstone of Pope Francis’s legacy. He consistently promoted understanding and cooperation among different religions. His historic visit to Egypt in 2017, where he met with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, was particularly noteworthy, emphasizing the need for mutual respect among varying faith traditions. By fostering relationships between Christianity and other faiths, especially Islam, Pope Francis aimed to counteract religious extremism and promote peace in a world often divided by belief systems.
Environmental stewardship also played a pivotal role in Francis’s papacy, with the encyclical “Laudato Si’” being a critical document in this regard. Released in 2015, it calls for urgent action to combat climate change, emphasizing the moral imperative to protect the planet and care for creation. This document resonates with many outside the Church, as it aligns with global movements advocating for environmental sustainability. Pope Francis encouraged individuals, communities, and governments to prioritize the health of the Earth, framing environmental concerns as both a spiritual and social duty.
Pope Francis brought about a more inclusive Church, advocating for the integration of women in church leadership roles and a more compassionate approach to issues such as divorce and remarriage. His emphasis on mercy over judgment represented a shift in tone for the Church, appealing to many who have felt alienated from institutional religion. By embracing a more pastoral approach, he sought to make the Church more welcoming and reflective of the diverse realities faced by its followers today.
Moreover, Pope Francis’s approach to governance within the Vatican was marked by a call for transparency and accountability. He worked to reform the Vatican’s bureaucracy, addressing corruption and financial malpractice, aiming to lead the Church with integrity. His efforts to bolster financial transparency reflect a desire to restore trust in the Church’s governance and ensure that resources are directed towards charitable missions and community support.
Despite facing criticism, both from traditionalists who found his views too progressive and from reform advocates who felt he hadn’t gone far enough, Pope Francis continued to push the Church toward a more inclusive and socially aware identity. His papacy sparked conversations about the role of religion in modern society and the responsibilities of faith leaders to tackle pressing global issues.
Pope Francis’s legacy is characterized by his unwavering emphasis on social justice, interfaith dialogue, environmental stewardship, inclusivity, and reform within the Church. His efforts to transform the Church’s engagement with contemporary issues made a significant impact, resonating with believers and non-believers alike. In an era that often seems to be defined by division, his message of compassion, understanding, and action remains particularly relevant, shaping the future of the Catholic Church and its role in the world.
The first lecture will be on Monday, February 9, at 7:00 PM in Wallace Hall. Save the date!
— Fr. Michael Hilbert, S.J., Associate Pastor
December 28th Essay: The Holy Family: Symbol of HopeChristmas has the power to trigger potent emotions and memories, particularly around families. While many of those are warm to recall, it is a reality of the human condition that families can be complicated. For some of us, Christmas might be an unwelcome reminder of the many ways families can fracture—estrangement, divorce, death, addiction—and the ways that politics have divided families and our nation. I feel a kind of tension, a “holy sadness,” around the concept of family this time of year. I reverence the truth that the Divine Child is seeking to be born in my heart in a new way, while also recognizing that my families—of origin, of religion, of country—are in need of his healing light.
This Advent, several of our fellow parishioners and I had the privilege of studying, discussing, and praying with Matthew’s Gospel. This evangelist begins his story in a most creative and unexpected way—Abraham begetting Isaac. The gospel goes on to list a veritable rogues’ gallery of ancestors. Among them are Jacob (who defrauded his brother and deceived his blind father), Judah (who was seduced by a prostitute who turned out to be his daughter-in-law), David (who had his lover’s husband killed), and Ahaz (who sacrificed his son to an Assyrian idol). What a remarkably dysfunctional family tree! Yet despite these deeply flawed characters, God managed to find a way to work with and through them, to Jesus, to us.
The Holy Family, whose feast we celebrate today, knew difficulty and dysfunction intimately. Matthew’s story continues with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, a transgression punishable by death, and a husband who was ready to walk away in shame from his betrothed. And if this crisis wasn’t enough to endure, political tensions created by a cruel king and his agents force this fledgling family to flee from their home. If it weren’t for a few timely dreams and some good judgement on the part of his parents, Jesus might not have survived infancy. What a statement of solidarity God makes by choosing to enter the human condition through such a complicated, vulnerable situation!
Henri Nouwen wrote, “Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” This Christmas, I find myself turning to the weak, vulnerable, powerless dimensions of the Holy Family’s story. As I experience our national family becoming more deeply estranged; as I live with our worldwide Catholic family struggling to find healing and common ground; as I hold the tensions and broken-ness that are present in my own family, I feel a deep solidarity flowing from the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Theirs was no angelic existence where they floated three inches off the ground. No—they, too, were fully immersed in the complexity of being human. And that is where God came and met them, becoming weak, vulnerable and and powerless, all in order to demonstrate great compassion.
Today’s Gospel ends with a journey, from Bethlehem, to Egypt, to Nazareth. I can only imagine the anxiety, the terror, the loneliness, the resentment, the confusion the Holy Family must have felt while wading through such danger and broken-ness. Nonetheless, they found a way, by the grace of God, through the chaos to a new kind of life. This is the promise of this Divine Child who comes to us at the darkest time of year, seeking to bring his light and hope to the darkest corners of the human heart—and the lesson we learn from his parents, who chose to trust in that light. Today I pray in gratitude for God’s compassion and solidarity, and I pray that I may also trust that God is coming to meet us in our most broken places.
— Brian Pinter, Pastoral Associate
December 21, 2025 Essay: The Gift of HopePerhaps you can recall the endearing short story about the exchange of Christmas gifts between James and Della Dillingham Young. Newly married and young, they had little money between them, but it was important for them to honor their love through an exchange of gifts on Christmas Day. They wanted to keep their gifts secret until they presented them to each other. Della had the grand sum of $1.87 to buy a gift for James, and James not much more than that to buy a gift for Della.
When they exchanged their gifts on Christmas morning, it was neither the expensive set of finely decorated combs for Della’s knee-length brown hair nor the shining platinum fob chain for James’s gold pocket watch that captured their hearts and filled them with happiness. Rather, it was what they did to pay for these gifts that showed the depth of their love for each other. That is what they cherished more than anything else. That is what gave them a true understanding of Christmas
I presume by now that with these few sentences you recognize the short story, The Gift of the Magi, written in 1905 by American author O. Henry, and will remember what James and Della did to be able to buy their gifts. If not, treat yourself and read it during the Christmas holiday. It is a story of the depth of love that James and Della experienced through personal sacrifice. In exchanging their gifts that Christmas morning, hope for a bright and happy future together was born as they reveled in the love that they had for each other, a love that they knew would endure no matter what their financial circumstances. Nothing had more value for them than that.
Why focus on sacrifice as we prepare for a day that is intended to be celebrated with joy and festive gatherings? Can’t such a consideration wait until a time when we are in the throes of anxiety and despair or have surrendered ourselves to a feeling of hopelessness? After all, most of us have more than $1.87 to our names and can afford to buy admirable Christmas gifts and feast on foods prepared from treasured family recipes. By God’s grace, all of this will be done without great personal sacrifice. While this may be true for the vast majority of us, it is certainly not true for everyone.
As a parish, we are very generous at this time of the year and help those in need with food, clothing, and toys. Such good deeds are noteworthy and virtuous. They are done without any expectation of a word of gratitude or personal recognition. To do what is right is always its own reward. However, when we give generously to those less fortunate, do we recognize and honor the personal sacrifices of those who choose to accept and receive what we offer to them? Out of love for their families or concern for their own welfare, many will have sacrificed their pride, their sense of self-worth, or their dignity. If we can acknowledge their sacrifices, we will then be challenged to sacrifice our pre-conceived notions of the poor. Hope will spring forth from the abyss of ignorance, fear, and judgment when, like James and Della, we understand the true meaning of Christmas. And so, what is that meaning?
More than two thousand years ago, a young women sacrificed her will out of love for God. Her betrothed sacrificed his reputation out of love for the one he was to marry. Parents-to-be sacrificed their dignity and accepted shelter in a stable so their child would be born in safety. And ultimately, their son sacrificed his life out of love for all God’s creation that we might know the depth of God’s love for us. In the midst of surrender to the will of God and confounded by confusion, fear, anxiety, and hardship, hope was born in Bethlehem, and the meaning of love was found in sacrifice.
For James and Della, the spark of hope for a brighter future together was kindled into a roaring fire as they exchanged gifts on Christmas morning. May we be blessed with the gift of hope in every expression of love we experience on Christmas Day.
— Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J., Pastor
December 14th Essay: Rejoice! Really?Today is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is the Latin for “rejoice.” It is from the opening antiphon of today’s liturgy. “Rejoice in the Lord always …rejoice. The Lord is near.” Is there cause for us to “rejoice” in these distressing times in which we now live?
What is the cause of our rejoicing? The antiphon tells us: the Lord is near. This is not a reminder that Christmas is less than two weeks away. It is a reminder to us that the Lord is near right now. The Lord, indeed, is within us and within our midst. Jesus dwells in each one of us personally by virtue of our baptism in which we come to share even now in his risen life. All of the baptized together form the body of Christ, that is, the Church and the Lord, of course, dwells within the Church. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, the Lord is present in all the members of his body who have gathered in remembrance of him. The Lord is also present outside the body of Christ, that is, the Church, wherever the values of the reign of God, which Jesus inaugurated in his life and ministry, are present in this world. Wherever we witness an all-inclusive compassion, an all-inclusive mercy, wherever we witness selflessness and generosity, wherever we witness the desire for the good of all persons, and the desire to lift up the poor and marginalized, the Lord is present there as his values, the values of God’s reign, are present there. Yes, indeed, the Lord is near, and that is cause for rejoicing.
The challenge for each of us is to deepen our participation in the risen life of Jesus Christ so that we are powerfully aware of his presence within us. In that awareness, we rejoice that we share in his very life right now so that we are with him, and he is with us. Nothing in this world can separate us from him—not even death. Instead, death will be our passage into the fullness of life in him. This is reason to rejoice. Yet, our intimacy in Jesus Christ is predicated on a life of prayer and action. Through prayer, we deepen our awareness of his presence within us, and we hear him call us to lives of deep compassion, lives rich in mercy, lives marked by selflessness and generosity, lives in which we truly desire the good for all of God’s people, lives in which we share his passionate concern for the poor and marginalized. In living in fidelity to what Jesus calls forth from us, we serve as agents of this world’s transformation. This is cause for us to rejoice as it joins us ever more intimately to Jesus Christ. It is also cause for this world to rejoice as we work in cooperation with Jesus to overcome what is unjust and evil in our world today.
Migrants have cause to rejoice when they see persons stand in solidarity with them and advocate for them. Workers have cause to rejoice when we join with them in their struggle to obtain the wages, hours and benefits necessary for them to live in dignity. The unborn rejoice within the womb when we are advocates for them. Those who are poor rejoice when we demand that our society provide for them what they need to live a dignified live. Are we persons who are cause for rejoicing in our world today? If so, we have cause for rejoicing, as the Lord is, indeed, near to us. The Lord is within us and acting through us to bring joy to this world.
Will Christmas be for us a day to rejoice as we celebrate our intimacy with the One whose birth we commemorate; an intimacy made manifest in how we are the cause for this world’s rejoicing?
— Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J., Associate Pastor