Despite the snow, love still found its way to our annual Open House Christmas celebration. About two hundred parishioners, friends, and families braved the weather and filled the space with warmth, laughter, and the true spirit of Christmas. It was a beautiful reminder that community is stronger than the storm.

I am deeply thankful to everyone who came and shared in this moment of joy. And a special word of gratitude to my dear friend Joyce— whom I called at the last minute—who stepped in with grace, vision, and generosity. She assembled an incredible team and helped create an evening that truly felt magical.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Each year at Christmas, we return to a truth so profound that even the heavens bent low to behold it: God became one of us. In the Vigil Gospel for Christmas, Matthew reminds us that the Child born of the Virgin shall be called Emmanuel—a name that means “God is with us.” Not above us, not distant from us, not watching from the sidelines of history, but with us—choosing to walk the very roads we walk.

When I was 11, I was riding my bike on a Friday night in Scottsdale, Arizona. I saw giant spotlights swirling in the sky. Something amazing had to be happening. I pedaled after them with excitement. Sweaty and tired, I arrived, only to find a used car lot. Bright lights, flapping banners, inflatable balloon men swaying wildly in the wind. I stood there, heart sinking. All that spectacle, and all my effort … for this?

This week we hear that John the Baptist is out in the wilderness eating “locusts and wild honey” (Mark 1:6). It’s not just a strange historical detail. It’s a symbolic expression of a healthy spiritual diet. The path to Christ includes both the hard and the beautiful, the gritty and the sweet. We have to learn to gulp the locusts and savor the honey.