VOL Parish Weekly Bulletin January 11 2015 | Page 2

January 11, 2015

The Baptism of the Lord

2

Views From The Pews

Views From The Pews continued

Because of the holidays, “Views” hasn’t
appeared for a while and your comments
have built up.
Here are a few of them.

“The Poor Box is embedded into the wall adjacent to
the far right glass door leading from the vestibule into
the main body of church.”

A big bunch of you have comments about my Christmas
homily. The comments are about evenly split between
those who express disappointment about my decision not
to do “Broccoli Barometer” and those who praise my
choice to preach on Christmas being about hugging the
unhuggable. Here are one comment on each.
Cindy writes, “I LOVE the Broccoli Barometer. It is part
of my Christmas tradition. I need to hear its message at
least once a year. Please bring it back next Christmas.”
On the other hand, Bob writes, “Thanks for telling us that
the real meaning of Christmas is to be like Jesus and to
hug even bums. That is enormously hard for me but I
know I need to do it.”
“Thanks for the compliments. If you want the
Broccoli Barometer back next year, please let me know.”
We are inundated with compliments about this year’s
Christmas decorations. Here is one of those.
Trudy writes, “This year’s Christmas decorations are the
best ever. The colors are fabulous. I love those yellow
poinsettias and those big red pom pom flowers. Thank
you so much. You helped make my Christmas very
merry.”
“Thanks go to Irma Jordan and Carmelitte
Venturella. They are the artists who turned our church
into a fittingly beautiful place for us to celebrate the
2014 birthday of Our Lord.
By the way, I believe those `pom pom’ flowers
are carnations dyed red and clustered together.”
We have many inquiries about the boarded up window in
the hallway leading to the Cry Room. Hank writes, “What
happened to the window by the cry room?”
“We had a break-in. Burglars broke through
the glass, entered the church and stole some of
“SoulSpirit’s” electronic equipment. Nothing else was
taken. I’m disappointed about the burglary; but, on the
other hand, I give thanks that this is only the second
incident we have had in my ten plus years at VOL.”
Three of you ask where the “Poor Box” is. Elena says, “I
want to give some money to the poor for Christmas.
Where is the poor box? I looked and looked but could not
find it.”
Continued in next column

Anonymous writes, “I saw someone park in the fire lane.
Why is it people are so lazy? He put people’s lives in
danger so he wouldn’t have to walk a few extra feet. It
infuriates me.”
“I saw only one parked vehicle in a Fire Lane,
probably the same one you saw. Overall, parishioners
have been great about not parking in the restricted areas
and I hope they continue to be because violators could
prevent emergency vehicles from getting to the church. I
put a note o the person’s windshield explaining the
potential dangers.
The parking lot was crowded, but I saw six
empty legal parking spots in the church lot and there
was not a single vehicle in the school lot.”
Fr. Mike

Did You Know?
Historians say it is unlikely the Wise Men visited Jesus
shortly after his birth. The visit may very well have
occurred months or even a year or so after his birth. And
as Scripture attests, it took place in a ‘house’, not in the
stable where Jesus was born.
Fr. Mike

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the
Lord! The Church offers us this feast each year to
help us recall our own baptism and the commitments
made that day. Do you know the day you were
baptized? Do you celebrate it as your birthday into
the Body of Christ?
I encourage each of us to go look back at our
baptismal certificates to see what day we were
baptized and to start this year celebrating that day as
we do our birthday. In some families they don't even
give gifts on the natural birthday but wait until the
day of Baptism. In this way we can recommit to what
we have promised and strive to live it out better each
day.