Hi there, everyone! It’s Angel! My dad’s been doing a lot for Advent & Christmas so I wanted to help him out and write today’s column. Let me start out by wishing you all a Happy New Year! As we begin this new year, we enter, in many ways, into the unknown. While we certainly have our hopes, plans, & dreams for today & the upcoming 364 days of this year, in many ways the course of this new year is unknown.

Merry Christmas! On behalf of myself & our entire parish staff please know of our prayers during this holy time of year! A special welcome too to anyone who might be visiting us on these holy days as well as all those who are returning home to celebrate. We are glad that you are here!

Throughout the season of Advent we often sing the familiar hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” It’s a very haunting & very familiar melody, but how many of us are aware of where the words of the song find their origins?

Last month, I took some time for my annual retreat. While many times I like to do group retreats with other priests, for this particular retreat, I packed up my car & headed down to southern Ohio & a cabin in the woods in Hocking Hills for a solo retreat.

As we continue along our Advent journey, I’d like to begin a new tradition on the 3rd Sunday of Advent (next weekend), an annual Bambinelli Blessing.The Bambinelli Blessing isn’t a tradition that I came up with, but rather a tradition at the Vatican that began with Pope St. John Paul II & has continued through Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.