Merry Christmas!

"Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no plae on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness!"

Merry Christmas! (A bit early, I know) I hope that this holy season of Advent and the

coming season of Christmas finds you filled with the joy and happiness that Saint Leo the Great speaks of in the quote at the beginning!

All is most well here in Rome. Sorry I have not posted in a LONG time, but you have all been often in my prayers and on my mind in these busy months of school and seminary formation. God has been so good over the last months with the high light being a visit from my Mom and Aunt Kay back in Novemeber right before Thanksgiving! It was so good to see her again! Not only that but the same weekend, the old Archibishop of Saint Louis and a real spiritual father and inspiration to me, Raymond Burke, was made a Cardinal of the Roman Church by Pope Benedict! It was so good to be able to share in the celebrations of that weekend- and with my mom at my side! Praise God.

Tomorrow, December 19th, I, along with about 30 other seminarians and a few priest leave from Rome for Israel. We are spending Christmas in the Holy Land. As one of my friends said: "Jesus knows you haven't been home in 18 months, and you can't go to your home for Christmas, so he has invited you to his house, his home town, his neighborhood- he wants to share his life with you." It will be and amazing journey of faith to visit the places (see below for a complete list) where Our Savior, the Word made Flesh, took flesh, was born, grew up, preached the Kingdom, called his disciples, founded the Church, suffered, died, and rose again on the Third day! I am not sure what the Lord has in store for these next 12 days but I am sure they will be ones that I will not ever forget. Know that as I go you will be remembered in my prayers all the way through, along with all of your intentions.

May the Good Lord pour out an ocean of graces on all of us this Christmas season as we welcome, our God into the world, our God who is so powerful and so full of love that he became small enough to fit into a manger. I hope that you and all your loved ones know the peace, joy, hope, and love that only Mary's Son can bring!

I leave you again with Saint Leo the Great, his words from a Christmas morning homily some 1500 years ago:

"In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God's wisdom, the
Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with
its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the orgin of death, in that very
nature by which he had overthrown mankind.
And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to his people on earth as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvelous work of God's goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?
Christian, remember your dignity! Now that you share in God's own
nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is
your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been
rescued from the power of darkness, and bright ino the light of God's kingdom.
Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do
not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the
devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ."

O Come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him, born the king of Angels!

Merry Christmas!

Itenerary for Holy Land Pilgrimage and place where YOU will be prayed for:

Sunday, December 19th 2010: Arrive in Irsael and go Sea of Galilee where we will stay for the first week.

Monday, December 20th 2010: Sea of Galilee, St. Peter’s Primacy, Capernaum (House of St. Peter, Synagogue of Jesus where he preached the Bread of Life sermon (John 6), House of Centurion), Eremos Hill, Cave of Jesus (the "Desert place" where he would go to pray cf. Mk 1:35, Lk 5:16), Mt. of Beatitudes (where Jesus preache the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5-7) known as the Magna Carta of the Gospel)

Tuesday, December 21nd 2010: Still in Galilee around the same places as before

Wednesday, December 22rd 2010: Nazareth, Cave of Annunciation, St. Joseph’s workshop, Synagogue of Jesus (where he would have gone as a child with his parents every sabbath to learn the scriptures), Mary’s Well, Cana in Galilee – Site of Wedding Feast or Mt Tabor

Thursday, December 23th 2010: Back at the Sea of Galilee

Friday, December 24th 2010: Again at the Sea of Galilee

Saturday, December 25th 2010, the Navitivity of Jesus Christ, Savior of the World: Move from Galilee to Jerusalem, stop at Jordan River Baptism Site, Qumran, the Dead Sea

Sunday, December 26th 2010: The Garden of Gethsemane, the Site of the Ascension, Palm Sunday Path of Jesus on Mt of Olives, Visit Dominus Flavit – Where Christ wept over Jerusalem, Grotto of Gethsemane, Tomb of Mary- from which she was Assumed in to Heaven, Church of St Stephen’s Martyrdom, Last Supper Route of Jesus through Kidron Valley, Pool of Siloam, Holy Sepulcher

Monday, December 27th 2010: 6:30am Mass at Calvary – Altar of the Crucifixion, Way of the Cross – Via Dolorosa to Church of the Holy, Sepulcher at Calvary, Mt Zion – Dormition Abbey, Last Supper Room, St Peter in Gallicantu Church – Holy Steps, Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Tuesday, December 28th 2010: Cenacle Church of Last Supper and Pentecost, prison cell of Jesus on Via Dolorosa

Wednesday, December 29th 2010: Tomb of Christ, the Western Wall of the Temple, St Anne’s Church (The house Mary grew up in), Pool of Bethesda

Thursday, December 30th 2010: Ein Karem (the place of the Visitation and of the birth of John the Baptist, Bethlehem

Friday December 31: Return to Rome