‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’- Matthew 2:18
This weekend I am attending a wedding. Every wedding points to God's love. Our model for marriage is Christ's death on the cross. Paul says, "Marriage is a great mystery and I mean it about Christ and the Church." Ephesians 5:32. The Christian ideal of marriage is to die to self and selfishness, to create life from that death, and to proclaim love to the world. Thus, marriage is not the easy option. It is difficult to die to self and give up selfishness. The life of children comes at the sacrifice of the parents. Christian marriage refuses as an affront any selfish action, yet does not let the selfishness of one member destroy the bond. Every marriag . Even secular marriages and pagan marriages point in some way to the higher reality they aim at. Some marriages for instance forced marriage show us in their ugliness that beauty is missing and even in them we see an arrow pointing to truth. May alll marriages be signs of Christ's love for his Church and for the world.
Parish family photos please submit photos of your family if you would like to be in the directory. Please find printable photos at the link below.
Sunday, December 29 9 am and 11 am
Feast of the Circumcision January 1 7 pm Wednesday, January 1
Save the Date January 12 we will prepare food for the homeless after both liturgies. We hope to prepare at least 1000 meals. We need volunteers to pickup ingredients from St. Vincent de Paul and to deliver ready to cook casseroles.
We have to pay back $200,000 zero-interest loan. We have applied for a loan from the Knights of Columbus. However, we would prefer $150,000 in new donations to retire the loan.
Update on 5915 N Springboro Pike: As you know we have 5.21 acres of property for sale on a major road. Currently there is a 122,000 sq ft Kroger Marketplace being built .5 miles down the road. This implies a high growth potential for the area. Recently we have settled the price of our property from $989,000 to $899,000 a price recommended by the stewardship council and the real estate agency Mark Fornes Realty. Our property could sell as a church, as commercial, residential, or mix use. According to the real estate agency the sale of the property could take an additional year as the average listing length is 18 months for commercial property. Every month we hold the property will cost us a few thousand dollars. However, we can calculate that it is worth waiting for the right buyer. (We can calculate using a present value calculation and calculating for risk.)
Eparchy Capital Campaign eparchy.org https://www.facebook.com/OLOLEparchy/
Jesus came and said, “I have not come to be served, but to serve.” The Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles is blessed to have such dedicated and loving priests. As leaders of our faith family, these men have kept our Eparchy vibrant and spiritual throughout their years of committed service. Because they have answered a call to serve us it leaves us with a clear moral obligation. We must ensure the most basic needs of our past, present and future priests are met.
Watch our campaign video and learn more about how the Vision for the Future – Mission for Today Capital Campaign will benefit our retired priests who have so faithfully served our Maronite faith communities.
St. Ignatius of Antioch Church First Sunday after Christmas December 29, 2019