Everyone knows that Christmas is a time of gift-giving. The meaningfulness of a gift is not dependent upon the amount spent but on the heart given. The greatest gift ever given is the greatest heart ever given: God sent the only Son to dwell among us. Jesus came among us as God’s gift of Salvation to us. As a gift of salvation, Jesus is the incarnation of God’s loving presence among us. This gift cost us no money. It does cost us our own life: a heart turned to God.
As you are “making your list and checking it twice” for those you will remember at Christmas, might I so humbly ask that you please don’t forget your church? The parish relies on your end-of-the-year donations to help us meet our ever-growing financial obligations for our parish. We are happy to assist those who might need or want to make end of the year tax donations of cash or stocks, or if you have a minimum distribution from your IRA that you must take, we can help in that area as well. Please call the parish office for details. Thank you for your generosity and support of St. Hyacinth.
As we wind down our Advent season and move into the Christmas season please let us continue to pray for our country and our governmental leaders that they may continue to work hard to cherish the gifts of life and liberty and work to safeguard those liberties. We always keep in our prayers those who are serving our country in the military services, especially those far from home at this time of the year. May the Lord protect them and guard them, and bring them home safely and soon.
I want to thank all the wonderful people who were responsible for decorating the Church this Advent season. We have had a host of people who have given of their time and talent to come and make sure that the Advent season is truly bringing praise to God here at St. Hyacinth.
One of our goals for 2021 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 .
FORMED.org is a digital online platform that gives STHY unprecedented access to video-based study programs, feature films, audio presentations, and eBooks from the Church’s foremost presenters. With your free access to FORMED, 24/7 on your television, smart phone, laptop, I-pad, or Kindle; you can:
Prepare for Mass each week by watching an insightful five-minute video on the Sunday Readings.
Study the Scriptures at your own pace and time.
Enjoy movies as a family that are both nourishing and entertaining.
Enrich your marriage with the award winning video program Beloved.
Help your children grow in faith and character with engaging children’s materials.
Please register for your free access to all the amazing content on FORMED. Go to FORMED.org to register and enter Code:77GVZ3.
Next, one of the projects we have been working on for a while is to provide livestreaming of the Mass here at St. Hyacinth. Please go to our website, or our Facebook page to get the current livestream mass.
With Christmas day 2020 on December 25th this coming Friday it’s going to be a busy time for us in the church as we transition from our Advent season environment to the Christmas season. Due to the tight schedule, we need lots of hands in decorating the church, Guyot Hall, the Religious Education building and the parish grounds this Sunday immediately following the Noon Mass.
Our Christmas Mass schedule is as follows: Thursday, December. 24th, Christmas Eve: 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 4:30 Mass in Guyot Hall and 12 midnight; Friday, December. 25th, Christmas Day: 10:00 am.
The parish office will be closed on December 23rd, 24th , 25th and 28th in observance of Christmas and December 31st- January 1st for the celebration for the New Year. On behalf of the staff here at St. Hyacinth, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a joy filled New Year!