Fr. Tom’s Letters

Each week Fr. Tom writes a letter to parishioners in our bulletin. Every letter is comprehensive, including current information about the Parish, an explanation of Scripture for that Sunday, and an invitation to become more engaged in the life of the parish.

December 21, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

Merry and Blessed Christmas! We celebrate the Birth of Jesus this Wednesday night and Thursday. I hope these will be happy and peaceful days for all our parishioners. Along with many themes, the Solemnity of Christmas highlights the gift of life. As we hear the announcement of his birth in the gospel stories, and we place the baby figure in our manger scenes, we are reminded how the Son of God named Jesus begins his time on earth as we all do: as a baby received and welcomed by parents into the world. For Jesus, it was a birth surrounded by poverty and some simple elements of creation: a darkened sky, some meandering shepherds, a few wilderness animals; but as was the case for most, received and welcomed by the world of love that only parents can offer their newborn. And as we hear for this Fourth Sunday of Advent, Jesus is received and welcomed by Joseph who understands his unique role is to be the one who chooses to be faithful to Mary who is the singular person known to us as Mother of God. Joseph and Mary have very different calls but together they join to give Mary’s son this welcome of love.

So we are invited this Christmas to receive and welcome Jesus into our lives. As Mary and Joseph shared their Son, so we may share in that relationship of love that Jesus shares with all people. Our Christmas prayer can be one expression of our love. This past year at St. Anne’s, as the months of 2025, the Jubilee Year of Hope progressed, often we focused our prayer on the experience of healing. The need for healing was profound. Some parishioners mourned deeply; some suffered very serious illness and injury; some experienced serious disappointment and frustration; some have suffered for years with chronic conditions. Four times during this past year, our parish paused from its usual business and many activities to come together at Mass to pray for healing of all kinds.

With all the world, we have learned again of the tragedy of war, devastating poverty in the form of hunger, and the effects of disasters, those in nature, and those initiated by evil minds and hearts that took the form of shootings, bombings, and forms of terrorism.

Still, the experience of anticipation that is Advent now turns to Christmas joy. And the joy of this Christmas time is only a taste of the joy that will be the world’s when the King of Peace comes again, drives out evil, and proclaims the victory of the Kingdom of God. So we celebrate our faith again this Christmas Season as we do every year! I invite you to continue our prayers for healing and peace. As we receive and welcome Jesus into our lives, we may ask that he guide us in the continued search for healing and peace.

A SPIRITUAL PREPARATION

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession and Penance, is a wonderful way to prepare for Christmas. The Sacrament will be available here at St. Anne’s and at all Catholic Churches on Long Island on Monday, December 22. That is tomorrow from 2-4PM and 6-9PM.

Why receive the Sacrament? I confess my sins in the Sacrament so I may be absolved of my sins. I make mistakes. I offend people. I can be self-centered. I can be inappropriate. When these sins happen, when I commit these sins, I feel anger, shame, guilt. I want to be rid of these sins and these feelings. I confess, receive absolution, do my penance, and the sins are gone, forgiven, and forgotten to the past. I feel renewed, a fresh start, a new beginning. I enter confession burden with negative feelings. I am absolved. I leave the sacrament in a new place in my relationship with the Lord and with a lightness in my unburdened heart, soul, and mind.

It is a wonderful sacrament. You are invited to share in it on Monday. Make it your Christmas gift to yourself!

Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Fr. Tom

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