Cruising Around Italy

Greetings to all of you!

Well as many of you may know, I spent almost two weeks cruising around Italy with two of my brothers and sister-in-law a few weeks ago.  What a wonderful trip it was since my oldest brother Joe has never been out of the U.S.A other than Canada.  It was an eye opening experience for him and it was fun as we brothers bonded even more spending all that time together.  Other than the snoring, it was nice sharing a room wherever we went catching up on old stories etc.  We even made a trip to my mother's birthplace Torrice in the province of Frosinone!  We visited her two hundred year old house which is abandoned now and even met up with our cousins for a fun filled Italian feast!  However, it's always great to get home and finally sleep in my own bed without having to listen to the locomotive sleeping in the bed next to me!

This week we have begun the great Season of Advent as we prepare once again for the Christmas celebration.  It seems the older you get, the faster these seasons come and go and most of the time I'm left with the question, "what just happened?"  I'm hoping to do better this season with more time for meditation and prayer and continue to reflect on the significance of this great event in history when God in His Awesomeness took flesh and became a human being.  So with all the hullabaloo that happens during this time of year, TRY to take some moments and reflect on this moving event that changed the course of history a brought light to darkened world.

Last week we visited St. Catherine's Church in Largo (since the Cathedral is closed for renovation) to witness the bestowing of the St. Jude Award Medal to one of our own, Mary Strickland.  This Medal is given to a person in our parish who has given themselves totally in the Stewardship way of life and has been instrumental in helping St. Mark parish in their self-sacrifice. Mary has been working with the RCIA for years now and has helped many people come into the Catholic Faith.  Her energy and devotion has been a model to many of us and we congratulate her on this special award. Mary truly is a disciple of Christ, not a mere follower but one who had taken on the work of ministry in bringing about the Kingdom of God.  Thank you Mary!

If you haven't gotten your tickets yet for this year's Christmas party to be held on December 7th, you better hurry before they get sold out!  We have always had a great time at these events and this year's is sure to be another great one!

Well, that is all for now.  May this Advent Season fill you with God's Peace.

Fr. David