Dear Flyer Family,
As the Christmas season approaches, we are excited to celebrate the reason
for the season together as a community. After all of our Christmas concerts and
decorating, we have looked around at the sights and sounds surrounding the season
and said, “This is what Christmas is all about.” Even here at the rectory, the
priests and I have worked hard to decorate and make it look like Christmas – you can
only imagine how many decorations a priest’s house has! Yet for some reason, God
chose to be born as one of us in the manger, inside of a stable for animals,
surrounded by dirt and hay. It is as if God himself had looked around and said,
“This is what Christmas is all about.”
But this is the very reason for all of our celebrations: God became a little
child in the lowest place so that he could pick us up and raise us to the highest
place in heaven! May we celebrate this beautiful salvation of ours with great joy
this year.
I wanted to address one item with you as we wait for the students’ return
next year. By the time school starts back up, Fr. Recker announced that we will be
making one change to the sanctuary in St. Paul the Apostle church. The next time
we celebrate school Mass together, the students will notice that we moved the large
crucifix to the front of the Church. We understand that the parish has a deep
devotion to the Resurrected Christ, and this statue will be in another prominent
place. However, to better symbolize that the Mass is a representation of the
sacrifice of love that Christ performed for us on Calvary, we see it fitting to move
the crucifix closer to the altar.
It is important to remember that the Cross is not a symbol of shame for us.
By no means did Christ himself intend this to be. It is a reminder that our infinite
God has chosen in some mysterious way to love us in this way: the only way he
could express his infinite love for us was by loving us to death on the Cross. The
Resurrection is still our hope! But we know that Christ is with us in our daily
crosses, leading us through the Cross to the Resurrection.
God bless our students!
Mr. Andrew Messer
Seminarian Intern