Christmas
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrates Mass on Christmas Eve in St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton Square. He is assisted by Deacon Joe Latini, left. Father Jason Parzynski, right, served as the Bishop’s master of ceremonies.
‘Let Christmas open your eyes, hearts to hope,’ Bishop preaches in Christmas homilies BY JENNIFER MAURO Managing Editor
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cknowledging the challenges the pandemic-stricken world has experienced in the past year, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., urged every faithful person to look to the hope Christmas brings. “This Christmas is an invitation to us and to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to let the mystery in, to let it warm our hearts and make them feel new, to let it influence our way of looking at the world he came to save, to give ‘glory to God’ as we embrace one another – although at a distance, although online, although livestreamed yet no less real or compelling – in love, in compassion, in forgiveness, in mercy,” Bishop O’Connell preached during the Christmas Eve “Christmas Vigil Mass he celebrated Dec. 24 in St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton is truly the Square, and midnight Mass in St. Rose feast of Church, Belmar. The Bishop spoke of how those God's infinite Christmas graces will come alive in and around every faithful person, because mercy.” “they always have since that first Christmas and always will.” Faithful across the Diocese tuned in via livestream video for both Masses, which were accompanied by cherished Christmas hymns and carols, creating a sense of warmth and familiarity in an otherwise unconventional year. Joining the Bishop at the altar in St. Rose Church were
Msgr. Edward Arnister, pastor, Father Christopher Dayton, parochial Bishop O'Connell celebrates midnight Mass in vicar, and Father St. Rose Church, Belmar. The Mass was liveDavid Baratelli streamed. Screenshot photo of the Archdiocese of Newark and chaplain in Newark Liberty International Airport. Father Jason Parzynski, diocesan vocations director, served as the Bishop’s master of ceremonies at both Masses. In St. Gregory the Great, Deacon Joe Latini assisted, and Father Michael Hall, pastor, helped administer Holy Communion. Christmas, Bishop O’Connell preached, is truly the feast of God’s infinite mercy. “Could there have been any greater mercy shown to us unhappy men than that which led the Creator of the heavens to come down among us, and the Creator of the earth to take on our mortal body?” Bishop O’Connell said, quoting from St. Augustine of Hippo. “That same mercy led the Lord of the world to assume the nature of a servant, so that, being himself bread, he would suffer hunger; being himself fullness, he would thirst; being himself power, he would know weakness; being himself salvation, he would experience our woundedness, and being himself life, he would die. All this he did to satisfy our hunger, alleviate our longing, strengthen our weaknesses, wipe out our sins and enkindle our charity.” Continued on 53
January 2021 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 7
