Epiphany of the Lord

Dear Parishioners,

With all the activity in 2023 and in the first half of 2024 that I was involved in as pastor of St. Gertrude’s in Des Allemands and its merge with St. John the Baptist in Paradis, as well as in the second half of 2024 in becoming pastor of St. Peter’s and its joining with St. Hubert’s, I didn’t realize that 2025 would be a “Holy Year” - something that the Pope designates every 25 years. Since this is only the third Holy Year in my lifetime, this celebration is certainly not something we observe often. In the Holy Year of 1975, I was fourteen years old, and a “graduating 8th grader” at St. Peter School, and twenty-five years later, in the Holy Year of 2000, I celebrated 13 years of ordination to the priesthood. This 2025 Holy Year marks my 38th anniversary of ordination, and if the good Lord keeps me here until I’m 89, I’ll observe the Holy Year of 2050! The first Holy Year of Jubilee was declared by Pope Boniface VII in 1300, and every 25 years since, a Holy Year of Jubilee has been celebrated throughout the Catholic Church. So, for more information on the Holy Year of 2025 and all the events that are taking place throughout the United States, go to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website. There you will find all you need to know about what the Holy Year of Jubilee is all about. As we “ring in” 2025, let us never forget that every year, month, week, day, minute, and second are gifts from God, and therefore “holy” and that by our Baptism and membership in the Church, we are holy people as well. Being holy is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of – if we make a sincere and consistent effort to love God, to love our neighbor, and to keep the commandments as best we can, we are holy. It’s a title that Jesus wants to always give us as well as a title that we should strive for. To be holy doesn’t make us superhuman, weird, or unapproachable, it makes us more human, normal, and approachable as Jesus was when He came to earth to “pitch His tent among us” and join us in the human and earthly journey.