In Holy Family Parish we are beginning our own immediate preparations for the Year of Jubilee. During Advent one of our church doors will be symbolically sealed. This will signify the period of expectation for the birth of the Messiah. But this year Jesus' birth will have particular meaning because we are observing two thousand years of his Incarnation. Although Jesus was God from all eternity, his taking on our human flesh happened in a precise moment of time and very soon we will have have fulfilled 2000 years since that central event in history. It is an event well worth celebrating.

The United States Bishops have sent us a Blessing of a Jubilee Door. We will use that blessing on Christmas for our own Holy Door. The first to pass through it will be the children representing Joseph and Mary seeking a place in Bethlehem. We will then invite all to pass through that door which represents Jesus himself. Our Knights of Columbus have refurbished our original statue of the Sacred Heart which will be there to welcome all. The Holy Year is a great time of grace, of receiving back to the Heart of Jesus all those who seek him - and more to the point, all those he himself is seeking. His heart longs for souls, yours and mine.

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