Dear friends,

As we continue on with the new year, many of us may have already taken time to reflect on our lives, on our priorities, and our relationships. We may have made some resolutions based on those. For instance, we may have made resolutions to improve ourselves, our health, our finances, our connections with others or to break bad habits. Those are all great, but for our parish, I want to call you to something more, something deeper: I want to call upon you to make a resolution to nurture a deeper relationship with our God this year.

Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel,

I am excited to invite you to participate in the first Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish and School Endowment Drive!

With your support, we plan to raise $25,000, and with the dollar-for-dollar matching opportunity with our trusted partners at the Catholic Community Foundation, the total can double to $50,000.

Dear Friends,

I continue to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2025. We are already two weeks into the new year. BUT, as I reflected on the events of the past couple of weeks, I found myself going back to the Christmas we have just celebrated. As I did so, I realized that it has been years since this month of January found me in the country, and perhaps that is what triggered this reflection. For many years, I celebrated the first of January in Uganda with my family and friends. So, I found myself thinking about the events surrounding Christmas and my past experiences of it in my village. Hence, the title of this article.

Dear Friends,

We are now in the midst of the Christmas season and we recognize, during this time, the presence of the living Word of God in his creation by his miraculous incarnation. In this incarnation (taking on human flesh), Jesus maintains his divinity as consubstantial (of the same substance) with the Father and the Holy Spirit while also taking on human nature in the flesh in all ways but sin: a human will, a human intellect.

Dear Friends,

Even though we have just celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus, I would still like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Indeed, as we come to the end of this year, my heart is filled with gratitude for the abundant blessings we have received as a parish, as a family, and as individuals. However, at individual levels, this Christmas celebration may never have been the same for some of you because of the loss of a dear one or due to other circumstances.

Dear Friends,

As we enter the final part of our Advent season, the Church invites us to intensify our preparation for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in a few days’ time. Since the beginning of the season, we have had great opportunities here at our parish to prepare by participating in our “Lessons and Carols” led by our own choir and clergy; then we had the “Honor Your Mother” Novena Rosary which our diocese asked our parish and school to lead, followed by a very inspiring and engaging “Advent Mission” led by the renowned and nationally acclaimed Jesse Romero.

Dear Friends,

During this third week of Advent, we celebrate Gaudate on Sunday. Gaudate is Latin for “rejoice,” the first words of the opening antiphon for mass. This Sunday is unique as the third candle lit in the Advent wreath is colored rose rather than violet. Along with the candle, the priests and deacons who celebrate wear rose vestments. In this season of purple, the rose of Gaudete Sunday sticks out as a symbol of joy and rallies us to persevere in our Advent practices as the celebration of our Lord’s birth draws near. The Lord is near, so rejoice!

Dear Friends,

Yes, dear friends, we are already in the second Sunday of Advent. Each year, this season offers us an opportunity to re-examine ourselves and turn away from sin in order to prepare to receive the birth of our Savior in a befitting manner. However, before I go into a bit of detail as to what we are called to do during this season, I would like to briefly share the meaning of Advent.

Dear Friends, I was reminded of a strange dream I had some time back. In that rather strange dream, I was on a journey that took me through a lonely, deserted, and fearful terrain to a destination not quite clear to me. At around midday, totally hot and exhausted, I suddenly came upon what looked like a corpse. In a state of terror, my first reaction was to flee for my life, fearing that the body lying on the pathway was a victim of some wild animal or robbers. Afraid that I could easily become the next victim, the urge to flee grew even stronger.

Dear Friends, “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.” (Romans 12:4-5)

Our parish community at Mount Carmel reflects the Catholic Church in miniature. I observe this in the way that our ministries seek to serve each other and the people outside of our community. I see this in the various prayers offered through mass intentions and devotions for both the living and the deceased souls in purgatory. I recognize this in the celebration of the saints who have gone before us and won the crown of salvation as victors in Christ. In all this we reflect what our Church wisely calls Communion of Saints.

Dear Friends,

We have just gone through an election peacefully, for which we must be grateful to God. However, it is not an exaggeration to say that the period preceding the election and the election day itself were full of fears and anxieties at many different levels. Almost two weeks after the election, fear of the unknown about the future of our country may still be lingering among some of us, while others may be very optimistic. In this article, I want to dwell briefly on the power of trust in God over fear in an attempt to make some sense of our situation.

Dear Friends,

Last weekend, I gave you my state of the parish address, reflecting on my past year as your Pastor and laying out my plans for our parish going forward. I pointed out how excited and blessed I am to be your pastor. I reminded myself, too, as I often do, how grateful I must always be to God and to the several people that God brought into my own life over the years. That now includes you! It is this sense of gratitude that always brings a bright smile to my face, if you are wondering!

Dear Friends,

Since this weekend, my focus is on addressing the state of our parish at all Masses, so I decided to give a brief reflection on the liturgy of this 31st Sunday of Year B. Whereas the readings of this weekend focus primarily on Love: Love of God and Love of neighbor, my mind was drawn to the title of this article. I think this is for a good reason: who or what we love greatly influences our worship. Who and what do we worship in our society today?