Holy Innocents Catholic Church!

December 3, 2021

Now is the time, now is the moment.Knowing the Season, now is the moment to awake from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed.  Romans 13:11

Next Wednesday, December 8 is a Holy Day, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.   Mary, the Blessed Mother, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of the United States.  On that day, we ask her intercession and protection upon the Catholic Church in the United States and we pray in a particular way that we may be faithful disciples (followers and students of Christ) so that we may grow in the image and likeness to Christ.

Pope Benedict reminds us of the significance of Mary and this  feast:

In Mary shines forth the eternal goodness of the Creator who chose her in his plan of salvation to be the mother of his Only-begotten Son; God, foreseeing his death, preserved her from every stain of sin (see Concluding Prayer). In this way, in the Mother of Christ and our Mother the vocation of every human being is perfectly fulfilled. All men and women, according to St Paul, are called to be holy and blameless in God’s sight, full of love (see Eph 1: 4, 5).  POPE BENEDICT

It also marks the day that Archbishop Etienne has chosen to lift the dispensation from attending Mass in person on Sunday and Holy Days.  The dispensation was given some 18 months ago when COVID was spreading, there was no vaccine, and no good treatments for the virus.  Now that the number of infections has gone down, we have effective vaccines, and most people are doing the basic things of everyday life, certainly our worship and thanksgiving to God ought to be foremost among the things we are doing.

Even when COVID numbers were high, our Archdiocese had very few cases of COVID at Mass and almost no spread.  Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had no reported cases of COVID at Mass at St. Jude and only one at Holy Innocents and there was no transmission from it.  People have been wonderful at both churches about observing our safety procedures.   Those precautions have worked and we will continue to observe the most important of the them as directed by the Archdiocese and public health authorities.  

So now is the time, now is the moment to come back to Mass.  As Archbishop Etienne wrote in his letter to the Archdiocese inviting us all back to Mass and restoring the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days:

Advent is a wonderful time to draw near to Christ. It is time to renew our faith through personal reception of the sacraments and rebuild the relationships and community life of our parishes.

As has always been the case, those who have a serious reason are excused from attending Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2181). This includes those who are ill, have significant health risk factors or care for someone who is ill or immunocompromised, as well as those who have significant fear or anxiety about contracting COVID in a large group.

I invite you to come back to church. Be a part of our family of faith. Make the Lord’s Day a true celebration of the Resurrection, and a great celebration of being renewed in his life, mercy and love.   ARCHBISHOP ETIENNE

We also invite you to watch the video message of the Archbishop posted on our website. Here are some links to the full letter and some resources on the Sunday Mass to help us remember the importance of Mass and keeping Sunday holy: https://archseattle.org/mass/. 

Please join us next Wednesday for the celebration of the Holy Day December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception:

• Holy Innocents- Duvall:  7 PM
• St. Jude- Redmond:  9 AM and 7 PM

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate  Conception, pray for us!

Blessings on your week!

Fr. Johnson