This weekend marks the beginning of our Campaign Together Let us Go Forth Juntos Sigamos Adelante! Thanks to all those parishioners who gave us feedback back about the campaign goal, the projects and any aspects of our parish community.

The Feasibility Summary Report in last week's bulletin is also available here.

Our goal: $4.4 million for new parish buildings:

1. a new School building that will include classrooms and offices
2. a covered Pavilion that can be enclosed in the future if desired

Campaign pledge cards will be available after Mass in the weeks ahead where we will be sharing the 1st drafts of the architectural renderings.

I cannot but totally agree with Fr. Teilhard de Chardin, A Jesuit Priest who maintains that human beings like other animals and plant species are also endangered. He revealed that what is threatening the survival of the human species in today's world is not nuclear and atomic bombs; it is the absence ofsomething more basic: love. That the unwillingness to love one another as God wants endangers the entire human civilization and existence on this planet earth.

One of the most difficult things to do in this present dispensation is to relinquish our control to someone else and depend totally on that person to lead and guide us. This is difficult in our age to do because education and learning have become idols to which people increasingly bow to. We live in a time of exceeding pride in human knowledge and accomplishment. We are also surrounded by a culture where the desires and rights of the individual are considered the greatest good—where I can have whatever I want or be whatever I want, as long as it doesn’t harm others or keep them from their own desires. Many see this as a perfect argument against the existence of God and hence cannot accept to surrender to Him the control of one's life.

It's the prerogative of God to choose whosoever He desires to work for Him. Sometimes it doesn't matter the personality of the person, his background, age, status or even his abilities. The Bible is full of stories of how God has called people in different ways and times and even some with evident disabilities like Moses and questionable characters to carry out his task.

We all like to be affirmed and lifted up. We all want to be told how good we are and that we don’t have problems in life at all. Often times we prefer to listen to a message that makes us feel secure and contented and not that which will expose our weaknesses or challenge us to a task.

You will all agree with me that out of all the WORDS known to humans, there is nothing more powerful than the WORD OF GOD. Even Philosophy with its unending questions can never be compared to the Word of God. Some scripture commentators even suggest that if one takes all the prominent speakers from all ages and compare what they have said to what God has said, one will discover that their words are just as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

Today’s gospel sees Jesus begin his mission. Now, for the first time, Jesus can go public, and we begin to discover the power of God at the wedding feast at Cana. AT this wedding, Mary, the mother of Jesus was invited, as well as Jesus himself and his disciples. As the wedding feast went on, the wine ran out. Mary went out of her way to intercede with Jesus and Jesus performed what John tells us was His very first miracle.

Today we reflect on Jesus' baptism. For some time now we have been talking and celebrating Jesus as an infant. Today we begin celebrating Him as an adult. This we begin with His first public appearance as an adult, his baptism by John the Baptist in the river Jordan.

Epiphany means manifestation. We celebrate therefore the manifestation of our Lord Jesus to the whole world. After being made known to the shepherds of Bethlehem, he is revealed to the Magi who have come from the East to adore him. In fact, the Christian tradition sees the Magi as the first fruits of the Gentiles; to whom Christ the Savior of the world was revealed to and that makes today our Christmas.

For some few weeks now you must have seen many depictions of the Holy Family. Perhaps you saw Jesus, Mary and Joseph on Christmas cards, or perhaps in Crib scenes, or perhaps you were as lucky enough as l was to see them in action at a Nativity play here in Lake Havasu. Each depiction whilst telling the same essential story, conveys something slightly different, putting the accent on a different aspect of a story at times dangerously familiar. There’s variety, too, in the many beautiful paintings of the Holy Family, depicting in almost every conceivable geographic, climatic, racial, economic, and cultural setting. It is almost as if the Holy Family carry a kind of ‘everyman’ quality, as it were; standing outside of time.

The gospel account is about two pregnant women: Elizabeth and Mary. These were remarkable women. Remarkable in the sense that under ordinary circumstances they would not have been pregnant. One was a virgin; the other was beyond, way beyond childbearing. These two great women understood the miracle of conception and birth. To add to the unexplainable mystery, they both bore within their wombs mysterious babies. One bore the Christ, God's only begotten Son; the other bore John the Baptist. Both of them were full of joy for themselves and for each other despite their age differences. Indeed God was at work within them!

In the church’s Latin days, the third Sunday of Advent is always called "Gaudete Sunday”, and its message is comfort and joy (gaudete means rejoice). We are urged not to worry, for the Lord is near. Yes, don't worry be happy! With St. Paul, “There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving”. We need not wait until after God has granted our requests before saying thanks. Even as we ask, we should already be grateful.

Advent is a hopeful season. Hope is such an important Christian virtue, something deeper than simple optimism of temperament. We can feel cheerfully optimistic about all kinds of things, but, strictly speaking, the true object of hope is union with God. We are hopeful because we believe in a God who can bring life out of death, light out of darkness. It is above all in dark times that we need hope. And we pray for hope and help for those going through dark days at the present time, for people insecure in their jobs or their health or their home life, and even more for those who have been displaced as refugees.

Today we begin a new liturgical year. Jesus said to us 27 times in the Gospel, “Follow me!” and each liturgical year we do just that, tracing his footsteps along the route of salvation history, trying to become more and more like him whom we’re following. The New Liturgical year also begins with ADVENT, a special time of waiting and hoping, of renewing our trust in God’s merciful love and care, and of reflecting on the several comings (advents), of Christ into our lives. Besides his first coming at his birth, we are asked to reflect on Christ’s coming as the risen Lord at Easter, in the Sacraments (especially the Eucharist), in our everyday lives, at the moment of death, and at the end of human history (the second coming).