THE LIGHT OF OUR SALVATION COMES ON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR IN OUR LADY OF LOURDES PARISH @ SOLEMN MASS IN SACRAMENTO / DEL PASO HEIGHTS / RIO LINDA / ELVERTA / ROBLA / IN CALIFORNIA USA..........

173 persons attended OLOL's Midnight Mass, which concluded just twenty minutes ago.  The Tongan Choir enhanced the beauty and splendor with their melodic voices, singing Christmas Carols and Mass parts in a mixture of English and Tongan.  After Holy Communiuon they sang in Tongan, a glorious rendition of the awesome Christmas song,  "O Holy Night".  My Sacramento State University Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity brother Scott Vogelsang, was present tonight, for his second consecutive year attending the Midnight Mass I celebrated.  Tonight, his daughter Gabriela, and a friend Rebecca, were with him.   I again preached the Christmas message of the Gift of our Salvation in Jesus the Christ, Who is God Made Man, and the long awaited Messiah of God's People.  I stressed the Chreasters need to be present and participating in the Parish Community throughout the year.  It was a solemn, but simple Liturgy well received and faithfully celebrated, although lacking the use of Incense for the first time at Midnight Mass in my 24 Christmases as a priest, as the altar servers were unprepared to provide it at the times it would be used.  I got past that better than I usually respond to liturgical faux pas' like that, and noted one more way the altar servers training needs to be tweaked.  Celebrating the Holy Birth of the Christ, incense or no incense, is the more important thing.  Thus, as we approach the 2 am hour on Christmas Day, 2 of our 4 Christmas Eve and Day Masses are complete.  Now for the 8:30 am & 10:30 am Masses in the morning, after a few hours of sleep.  But before bed I will partake in my family's post Midnight Mass tradition of eating an orange, some mixed nuts, and a little Christmas punch..........In The Light Of The World Jesus The Christ This Holy Night,   Fr.  Troy

..........>>>This year's Pastor's Christmas punch is a blend of Cranberry, Orange Pineapple Apple, Juice , Schweppes Ginger Ale, and Spring Water<<<..........