Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
There were, no doubt, many people returning gifts, using gift cards and shopping for bargains after Christmas.  And then there were others who were sitting down and composing thank you cards to those who had given them someting for Christmas.  Our first thanks, of course, on the day after Christmas (AND EVERY DAY) is thanks to God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to show us the way and to open for us eternal life through His Passion, death and Resurrection.

As we conclude the Christmas Season and celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of The Lord, we look ahead to the Easter Triduum, which will be April 2-5.  During this period before Lent, I invite and encourage you to read the book, "Rediscover Catholicism" which we gave as a gift at Christmas.  I have already received good comments from those who have started reading it.

While I was, in fact, writing some "thank you" cards on December 26, I want to use this space to thank all of you who remembered me personally at Christmas through Christmas cards (some with the gift of Masses for me), and gifts (some of which were delicious to eat).  I am blessed to pastor so many thoughtful, caring, and giving people.  I pray God never lets me take you and your kindnesses to me for granted.
As I compose this column, I am also looking over the parish calendar for January, 2015 which had to be finalized and put in the bulletin the weekend of  December 28.  As always, there are plenty of activities going on in the parish which I hope more of you will consider participating in.  First, the  calendar doesn't (and couldn't) list all the hours when people are coming to be with Jesus in prayer and reflection in our Perpetual Eucharistic Chapel.  The prayers that are going on there and the growing relationship with the Lord that is fostered there, is the strong spiritual backbone of everything else that we offer here (after, of course, the celebration of the Mass).  Then we have social gatherings like the Crock Pot Supper and Movie Night on January 9; the Dinner/Theater Playhouse on January 23; a Knights of Columbus delicious breakfast on January 18; and, of course, every Wednesday from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in the Upper Hall, we offer Spades and other games along with some goodies to eat.  (If you want to see me in my most relaxed mood, come join us for Spades).  In addition, our Social Justice and Charitable Outreach Commission meets on Wednesday, January 28, at 9:45 a.m. in one of our classrooms and welcomes any parishioner to join us in our efforts to help those in need as well as promote, especially babies in the womb of their mothers.  The March For Life happens in Little Rock on January 18 at 2:00 p.m. by the state capitol (and once again, we have a free ride on a nice bus for anyone who wants to go).  I'm going to run out of room here, so please take the time this month and every month to read the calendar, and ask the Lord to inspire you to participate in these wonderful opportunites to get involved and get to know the Lord and others better, and in most cases, do the work of the Lord for the benefit of others.
I hope each one of us has reasons to look ahead and look forward to the upcoming new year, 2015.  Christmas and the Christmas season point us forward toward the celebration of the Easter Triduum (April 2-5).  Between now and then we have the opportunity to support, encourage and give a Christ-like example to three individuals who are growing in and with the Lord through the process of formation in the Catholic faith and way of life.  They are Ted Girard and Junior Wilken (husband of Kay Wells of Sacred Heart Church) and Seleta Rich.  The first two are non-baptized, and the hope is that they will be ready for the Sacrament of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  Please pray for all three of these candidates on the journey of faith, and rejoice that we have this potential of new life in the Church.

If you weren't at Mass a few weekends ago, you missed the introduction of Nelson Rubio as our newly-sponsored seminarian who is in formation to be a priest in service to the Diocese of Little Rock.  Nelson is a missionary seminarian who has come to us from Venezuela.  He is probably less than two years from ordination (and, with hope, First Mass at Sacred Heart Church).  He is currently at the House of Formation, 1201 South Van Buren, Little Rock, AR 72204. Please consider dropping him a card or note of encouragement and support to Nelson.  He is really pleased that we have adopted him as "our" seminarian.