Epiphany of the Lord

January 4, 2020

by Fr. Reginald Samuels

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On this celebration of the Epiphany of the Lord we are called to ask God to lead us closer to the kingdom. God leads us just as surely as the star led the magi to Bethlehem. We are not in control, but we must trust in God’s loving presence and sure guidance. As we start a new year, this is the best opportunity to ask God to guide us through our lives in a new way. Let’s try not to limit God, but allow a limitless God to guide us through all the wonderful possibilities of our lives.

Once again I want to thank all the wonderful people who were responsible for decorating the Church and the Church grounds this Christmas season. There have been many people who have worked long and hard of the past few months to make sure that the people of St. Hyacinth could celebrate the incarnation our Lord. Thank you all for your time and generosity to make this Christmas season special for all.

I want to thank our entire ministry team who help bring to St. Hyacinth a wonderful Christmas liturgy. Without the Sacristans, Ushers, Greeters, Altar servers, Readers, Acolytes, Musicians, and Choirs; we could not have a Christmas celebration in the Church. Thank you all and your efforts are appreciated by everyone.

I want to say a special thank you to our Director of Liturgy and Music, Mrs. Pamella Pittman and our STHY choir who presented us with a wonderful Christmas concert this past weekend. The music was beautiful. We are soo blessed to have such wonderful and talented people in our community.

  One of our goals for 2020 is to increase the number of people using our electronic formats for the dissemination of information from our parish. We have our website: Sthyaicnth.org, which is updated almost daily with information about the activities that go on in the parish. There is Flocknotes, which is our information delivery service for the parish, in which we email and or text information about the activities of the parish. Go to Flocknote.com/sthyhouston and join the group “Parishioners”. We are on Facebook, go and ‘like’ our Facebook page at   https://www.facebook.com/StHyacinthchurch .

  As we enter 2020, let us all think of ways in which we can make life easier for ourselves and the parish. Recall that our electronic payment system, Faith Direct, is an easy and secure way to see that your offertory contributions to the church are made on a timely basis. It is an easy and wonderful way to contribute to the church. You can register in less than five minutes by logging on to www.faithdirect.net and entering our parish code of TX526. From there a few short steps will have you set up as you wish: weekly, monthly, special collections, etc. You can pay by credit card or bank draft. It’s convenient, fast and secure. Writing checks has become almost obsolete for so many of us, so please add the church to your list of those you contribute to online. It helps us tremendously with less bank fees on our end, too. Thank you for your generosity and support of STHY.

Finally, Please keep in prayer throughout the next few weeks for our high school youth who will be having their Confirmation Retreat on near the end of January. Our Coordinator of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Mr. Steven Sotelo along with our Director of Faith Formation , Mrs. Pamella Johnson and the Confirmation team, have all been working very hard over the past few months to make sure that all the details for the retreat ready for our Confirmandi. Auxiliary Bishop George Sheltz will be the Celebrant for the Confirmation Mass which is scheduled for Spring 2020.

God Bless and have a blessed New Year!!!!
Fr. Reginald Samuels