Fr. Tom's Christmas greeting

This is my Christmas message to all my Pennsylvania AOH Brothers and Sisters.

A Blessed and Happy Christmas to all my AOH Brothers and Sisters!

In many of our conversations this Christmas Season, we are focusing on our fears about the economy, in our own country and abroad. Why? Because that’s the way it is. Fear and compassion abound as each week, we learn of real live people -- people we know -- losing their homes or jobs. Whether we want to or not, we have an anxiety about what might lie ahead in the economy.

But -- isn’t Christmas, more than any other season, the time for good news? These are anxious times. What is the Good News this Christmas? The Good News is the same every Christmas – that Jesus, from the day of His birth in Bethlehem, took on every human experience except sin. Jesus embraced in his time what we face in a very real way this Christmas – uncertainty. Like ourselves, Jesus faced economic, political, and personal uncertainties. We are not alone.

This, I see, as the Good News of every Christmas - that the Babe of Bethlehem came down upon this earth to become our Brother, to be with us a show us His Love in all our every day joys and sorrows. Jesus came to let us know that we are never alone, that is why he is Emmanuel – the Name which means that God is with us!

I will remember all of you in my Masses and prayers during this Christmas Season. With every blessing and best wish,

Father Tom O’Donnell – AOH Pennsylvania State Chaplain
Todonnell@diopitt.org or padretom@aol.com