I want to take a moment and wish you a Merry Christmas, I only hope that our new born King brings us peace in our hearts. This world really needs his redemption we also need to renew our ways of living and the way we are caring for the creation.

This Christmas indeed is going to be very different for me being so far from my family and friends, but reflecting in these moments I discovered that, is not a gift, is not people, is not confort the reason for Christmas. It goes beyond that, it is to know that someone knows us, and loved us way before we were formed in the womb of our mother. The real reason for us to celebrate Christmas is the Baby Jesus, lets go back to him. It is not easy to be faithful but the only way to do it is trying.

December is always a busy but festive ministry for us Filipino priests. Here in Boston, aside from the general Christmas celebration for the Filipino Apostolate last Dec. 27^th in Quincy, I had the opportunity to celebrate with the other communities: Dec. 26^th in West Roxbury, Dec. 31^st in Malden, and Jan. 2^nd in Quincy.

In Christ,
Fr. Alex A. Castro, A.A.

Hello!

My name is Paul Kearney, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, and currently the house volunteer at the General House of the Assumptionists in Rome. How did I end up here? I've been asking myself that question lately. This past February, during my senior year at the University of Notre Dame, I received an email from Fr. John Franck asking if I would be interested in volunteering in their community for a year after graduation. Fr. John and I knew each other from back home when he was stationed at Assumption College - where my family attends Mass at the campus chapel- and I met up with him again a few times at the community here in Rome in the Fall of 2013 when I was spent a semester abroad here at John Cabot University. He knew how much I loved Rome and my burning desire to return some day. I just never knew that day would be so soon!

Since hopping on this wonderful opportunity back in April, I haven't looked back. I spent the summer back home in Worcester preparing mentally (studying Italian), physically (practicing Italian hand gestures), and even monetarily (saving up some money landscaping while I prepared for a year of service).

Interviewer - Fr. Erny, would you share with us a bit about your background and the beginnings of your life - long interest in ethics?

Fr. Erny - I was born in Luxemburg and early on I became interested in the Christian workers’ youth organizations.  As a result, I was led into the world of justice at the workplace and in society.

- How did this interest develop further?

– I soon asked myself the question of how come that ideologies and questions of faith separate people pursuing the same goal? Following a gut feeling, I set off to study theology, first in Luxemburg and then, thanks to good companions, later in Switzerland. Doctoral studies then took me to Belgium where I got to know the questions and needs of patients, doctors and hospital workers.

December 19, 2015

Dear Friends,

As Christmas approaches, I wanted to send you one final note before the holidays. I have been in meetings of the Plenary General Council of the Assumptionists, the expanded leadership team of the Congregation made up of the permanent members stationed here in Rome (five of us) and the provincials of the six districts of the Congregation. These provincials oversee our day-to-day operations in the 30 countries where we are located. Among those present was the provincial of Africa who is responsible for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Beni school will be built. In an interview with me, he gives you the latest information about what is happening in this war-torn and forgotten corner of the world and what the latest plans are for the school. I think you will find that the interview is not only enlightening but that it also brings home how urgent this project is.

While most College students are opening gifts with their families on Christmas morning, Assumption College freshman Grace Clark ’19 will be delivering presents, along with much needed food and water, to members of Haiti’s destitute communities.

Clark is one of a dozen individuals traveling to Haiti with the Be Like Brit (BLB) organization for the Christmas break (Dec. 19-27).  BLB was founded by Len and Cherylann Gengel to honor the memory of their daughter, Britney, who was killed in a 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation. The orphanage the organization has established there, which houses 66 Haitian children, provides a safe, nurturing environment where children can grow, learn and thrive.

O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature and still more wonderfully restored it, grant, we pray, that we may share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. Amen.

( Mass During the Day, Collect)

Richard Cardinal Ezzati opened the Jubilee Year of Mercy in the western region of the archdiocese by traveling to the Assumptionist basilica of Lourdes on this Third Sunday of Advent.

By Francisco Morón

“Pope Francis did something wonderful by inaugurating this year of mercy. It's something missing in the world and especially in our country. The Holy Door is an opportunity that we Christians have to start things all over again," commented René Contreras, one of the faithful who was preset at the opening ceremony which took place at 5 PM on the Third Sunday of Advent.

Miami was the site of a recent fall retreat for a Young Adult Group called Regina Coeli. Fr. Claude Grenache, A.A., from the Assumptionist Center in Brighton, was their spiritual guide for the weekend.

This was the second time that Assumptionist presence reached out to these faith-filled young people in the Miami area. Last summer several of them came north to visit the congregation's communities in Brighton, Worcester and Sturbridge.