Christmas: Receiving the Gift

This weekend we continue our Christmas message series on Receiving the gift. Christmas day is not the end of a celebration, but the beginning of a season for rejoicing and renewal. Undeserved and unearned, we receive the greatest gift of love ever given, not an event of the past, not something to set upon a shelf, but an invitation to know God, carry Him with us, and live with Him forever as family.  He came to make us new.  In this series we respond to God’s invitation to let His love transform us, our families, and the world around us, including those rejected by the world. We discuss: “Who is the gift?” and what it means; seeing our immediate and wider “Family as gift”,  how “Giving the gift” enlarges our heart; and how to live God’s invitation of “Being the beloved one of God”.

In this weekend's Gospel we hear, "After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased"”. God the Father blesses God the Son in this weekend's Gospel in the declaration that You are my beloved Son. By virtue of our baptism we became Beloved ones of God as well. The Baptismal promises we make are to renounce Satan and all his works and all his empty promises plus that we believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God promises that we are God's Beloved Ones and so are cleansed of original sin. Something that is powerful to do is to celebrate your baptismal anniversary. We celebrate each year Jesus baptismal anniversary and we are invited each year to celebrate our own baptismal anniversary. We are used to lighting candles for our birthday and we can celebrate our baptismal anniversary by lighting the baptismal candle that was used at our baptism.

 
There are some upcoming opportunities for you to see those around you as Beloved ones of God and to help them. The first is January 25/26 when we will have the St. Vincent De Paul (SVDP) Stuff the Truck. Now is the time to look through your homes for any gently used clothes, furniture or other items that can be donated to the SVDP Thrift store on Braker Lane. We will have two trucks available in the St. Albert the Great parking lot the weekend of January 25/26 to receive your donations. You can also sign-up to help at the SVDP food pantry by contacting Debbie Hall at [email protected]. This weekend you also have the chance to sign up for Discipleship U. You can go here to register: https://saintalbert.org/adult-faith-formation. You also can give a financial gift to St. Albert the Great by going here:  https://www.givecentral.org/customizable-online-giving/1294/event/31959

If you are looking to get out of debt or to better manage your money then I invite you to take a FREE Wallet Win course at: walletwin.com/albert

Let us realize in a deeper way that we are God's Beloved ones,

Fr. Charlie