CELEBRATING AND CONCELEBRATING CHRISTMAS VIGIL AND MIDNIGHT MASSES.............

A Happy and Holy Christmas 2013-2014, to you my blog readers and internet friends, for your presence here as we Come into the celebratory observance of the Birth of the Messiah Jesus The Christ.  May you and yours wherever you may be around the World today be blessed with Joy and Wonder of the Incarnation of the Co-Eternal Son of the God of the Universe; Who Became The Word Made Flesh for our Redemption.  It is my hope filled prayer today that in this Season of Christmas between today and January 12, you will make the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and Prayer, Worship, and Ministry, with your Church community a central part of your celebrations.  For me, this Christmas opens with two liturgical celebrations - presiding at a Vigil Mass with the Friedrich Family in Carmichael, as their "titular Dad"; and concelebrating the Midnight Mass with Msgr. Walton and Fr. Juan, at Sacred Heart Church joined with these wonderful and welcoming People of God in East Sacramento.  My thoughts and prayers are with all of you in my circle of family, friends, fellow believers, supporters, advocates, readers, for your affirmation and acceptance of my personhood and my priesthood, and their merits despite the physical challenges of my life.  The Christmas Season lets us realize ever more clearly the inherent dignity and value of every human being not only the whole and fully abled, but the ill and the disabled, as well.  That is the healing and inclusiveness of Life and Faith Jesus our Lord and Savior, and Pope Francis the Vicar of Christ on Earth, call us to renew our own outreach to - as we remember and provide a place for the poor, the alienated, the marginalized, even unbelievers, and as one of 14 million Catholics in the United States and tens of millions more throughout the World know intimately well, the disabled members of the Body of Christ, as active participants in His Church.
May the Blessings of the Incarnation of Jesus The Christ be yours in abundance this Christmas.  Faithfully and Gratefully Yours, Fr.  Troy David Powers