December 14, 2025

Dear Parishioners

I love the fact that Saint Matthew includes in his Gospel this scene of John the Baptist doubting whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah. We don’t find the account in the other Gospels. It is not a stellar moment for John. Or, at least, that’s what the score-keepers of saintliness would think for them, a saint is one who is firm in his or her faith, doesn’t doubt (or, at least, keeps the doubt hidden), and inspires others to faith. Thank God our Lord doesn’t follow that conventional wisdom on saintliness. Look at the other characters in the Gospels—Peter, the apostles, Mary Magdalene, and so many others. They all had their faults. I wonder why only Thomas was stuck with the moniker “Doubting.” It could have been given to Saint John the Baptist or any of the others. But God sees beyond human appearances and into the heart. He saw a genuine quality in John the Baptist and he lauded it.

This isn’t a toast to doubt. This is a toast to honesty. John doubted and he wasn’t afraid to express that. He wasn’t afraid to involve others in his struggle. If only we could learn from the greatest prophet.

I think we are sometimes afraid of our thoughts, and perhaps even of our desires. They don’t seem pure. Or, they don’t seem “right” with regard to our state in life. You have a decent job, and yet you find yourself doing a job search and sending your resume out to other places. Will you actually leave? Is it wrong to think about leaving? Or, you are married and are a parent and feel unhappy. Does that make you unfaithful, a terrible mother/father? Or, you are a faithful Catholic and you struggle with the Mass or with a church teaching or with prayer. Are you going to Hell?

We know the end result must be to remain faithful—faithful to our responsibilities, to our family, to our faith. This is especially true if we made a promise or a vow. But the journey to that end result of fidelity can include some “bumps” along the way. It is okay to have these questions, these seemingly incompatible desires. We don’t think this, and so we feel guilt and shame. That’s a bad thought, we think, and so we suppress it and soldier on. We don’t pray about it because it is unholy, and prayer should only be holy experiences.

Suppressing the bad thought is not the answer, and it is not God’s will. First of all, you are not always the architect of your thoughts and desires. What if God gave you that conflicting thought as bad as it might seem? What if Jesus was the one who planted that seed of doubt in John the Baptist? What if it wasn’t John being a bad boy or you being a bad person? That would give us a lot more peace and freedom to explore the thought. And that exploration would bring us closer to God.

The invitation is to honesty. God doesn’t want us with perfect thoughts. He wants us as we are. And “as we are” is generally broken, confused, and searching. Prayer is not meant to be a sanitized experience. It’s meant to be authentic, and authentic is however you are (good, bad, whatever).

Now, we don’t rest in that bad thought or that confusion and do our own thing. That’s the mistake many people make, unfortunately. They don’t understand the Catholic Mass, for instance, and so they just throw up their hands and either give up going to Mass or go to some other Christian church where the preaching and music are more straightforward. Or they sit comatose through the Mass. God wants us to open our hearts to him. Sometimes it’s easiest to open our hearts when there is a lot of challenging “stuff” going on in our hearts. So, the challenges are graces given to us, meant to save our soul and strengthen our friendship with God.

Also beautiful is when we can involve other trusted individuals in our struggle. Again, John didn’t stew on his doubt in prison. He brought it to his disciples. He didn’t worry about what they would think of him. They helped him. John received the resolution he needed. If we can open our hearts in vulnerability to people who are wise, then we too will be helped. We won’t necessarily receive the specific answer to our dilemma. We’ll receive communion: a person sharing our heart. And that is a taste of heaven.

May we embrace the unexpected gifts God has given us at this midpoint of Advent: the doubts and struggles we have in our hearts.

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We will have a Family Mass in the HFC this Sunday at 10:30am. There will also be a Confirmation retreat for our 8th graders following the Mass in the HFC.

SPC School dismisses for Christmas break this upcoming Friday, December 19th. Best of luck with the end of the year for students at all schools, and welcome home to our college students.

Oplatki Christmas wafers are for sale in the rectory office and in the sacristy before and after Mass on the weekends during Advent.

I am pleased to introduce Mrs. Molly Ryan as our new rectory office manager. You can read more about Molly on page 8. Welcome, Molly, and thank you for serving our parish.

Looking ahead to Christmas, our liturgy schedule will be:Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24th): 3pm (UC) and 3pm (GYM), 5pm (UC)Midnight (UC)Christmas Day Masses will be: 7:30am (UC), 9am (UC), 10:30am (UC), and 12pm (UC).

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace