“On entering the house, the wise men from the east saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.” Mt 2,11

Dear parishioners,

In this humble incident, recorded in this Sunday’s gospel of the Epiphany, history was being made. This gesture of homage by three wise men from the east, in other words, Gentiles, non-Jews, was the beginning of the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah that Paul expresses in these words in today’s second reading: the Gentiles were to become fellow heirs, together with the Jewish disciples of Jesus, members of the same body and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. We are the ongoing fulfilment of that same prophecy. We are the Gentiles, drawn to Christ by the light of Christ, shining on the face of the Church. And then we become the light, and others are drawn to us. And so it goes, across the ages. We are, by the grace of God, Epiphany… If you haven’t followed today’s mass online, please go to the readings for the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, whether in Living with Christ or online, to re-read Isaiah’s incredibly beautiful prophecy, in the first reading. If you want to find it online on a Bible site, here is the reference: Is 60,1-6

In other news, this coming Friday, January 8th, marks the end of the present lockdown of churches. We will know what the future holds at a press conference to be given by Dr. Bonnie Henry, probably on that very day. As soon as we know whether we are allowed to re-open or not, we will post the schedule of mass and confession/personal prayer times.

This much I can say for now:

If we are not allowed to re-open, the current schedule will simply be continued, with slight irregularities. This is because the demand for church opening hours for personal prayer and/or confessions has dropped a great deal since Christmas. So if you go on the pre-registration site, and certain scheduled hours are not available, it is simply because we had to remove it from the list because no one signed up, or too few to justify mobilizing ushers. Also, it could be that any given mass or confession time is automatically removed because we have reached our quota for that event.

If we are allowed to re-open up for in-person attendance, the current schedule will be maintained until Sunday January 10, and the new schedule will begin Monday January 11th. This is to give us time to mobilize ushers for the new schedule, and to give you time to pre-register.

As we transition from 2020 to 2021, there is much to ponder. As I write this, I am filled the sense of just how blessed we have been to experience this past pandemic year in Canada. Our nation has been good to us. Our public health care systems have protected us and cared for us as best they could. We have to acknowledge that in B.C. in particular, they have succeeded remarkably well. And our governments, both federal and provincial, have been promptly and immensely helpful to a great many of us, including St. Mary’s Parish. I think this is a good time to take the measure of all that we have received, and to ponder how we might give back, or “pay forward”, as is said. It doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary, and it doesn’t have to be payback to the government. It could just as well be in terms of time and service. How can we give back to a society that has given us so much? It could be volunteering to coach or referee for a neighbourhood softball league. It could be as modest as picking up the garbage that other people have tossed in our local park. It can be anything at all. It would simply be really nice if we resolved that in the coming year we will be, in some way, good to a society that has been so good to us.

To conclude, as we venture into the New Year, I simply wish to pray for God’s blessings upon all of you in 2021, using again the beautiful prayer of blessing that we find in the first reading for the January 1st mass:

“May the Lord bless you and keep you;

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Nb 6,24-26

May his blessing be upon us all, and upon all those we love.

Fr. Guy