Part five -- the universal church will just need to wait until next month. Instead allow me to share the joys of December 2014 with my faithful readers.
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| Altar of honor of our Mother Mary |
The people of St. John Paul II Catholic Mission in Rutledge truly embrace the month of December. They began on November 30th with the first of nine rosaries, one recited each night, in honor of the Immaculate Conception, which turns out that she is not only the Patroness of the United States but of Oaxaca, Mexico as well. These rosaries are normally hosted in people's home or hosted by a family in the location of the church. Anywhere between 45 to 100 people will attend.
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| JP II Choir leading songs of praise |
Once these rosaries are completed we just continue with the nine days of rosaries in preparation for Our Lady of Guadalupe. This year for the first time, the people of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Parish engaged in the nine days of rosaries known as novenas.
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| Our Lady of Guadalupe leads the way. |
Then on December 12, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a procession, play, Mass, traditional dance, and food.
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| the play with Juan Diego and others |
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This image was in nine different homes
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| Dance of the Viejos |
On December 13 we held the festival in Rutledge beginning with the procession on our land and a procession to the Agricultural Center. Close to 200 people participated, our largest feast to date.
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| Procession begins of the land of our future church |
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| Our Lady in procession |
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| Dance of joy |
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| Altar designed by Nancy |
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| The actors of JP II |
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| Fr. Neil joined us for the Mass |
Then the community at St. John Paul II took a day off and began the rosaries known as the Posadas in preparation for Christmas. The Posadas is the story of Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay. These celebrations include song, prayer and candy and fruit for the kids. This year the Toppa Joppa sponsored an evening with volunteers from St. Xavier in Cincinnati. This ended with the Posada party on December 23rd, including a special nativity play known as the pastoralias. Here the devils try to keep the shepherds from going to Bethlehem. They lose!!
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| The nativity play including the drummer boy |
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| This crib set visited nine homes |
The children's party at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was held on December 17th which included a visit from Santa Clause. They held one day of Posadas after the Sunday Mass on the 21. We also celebrated a Quinceanera, a young gal's 15th birthday.
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| BTC Children's party with Santa |
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| Justin getting ready to hit the pinata |
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| The Quincearea |
The highlight remains the celebration of Christmas. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It really is amazing that God accepted all the limitations of being a human person to demonstrate how much He loves us. The humility of the Creator to become the creature is incredible. How blessed we are to be saved by God, who was human like us. The miracle of Christmas is truly worth singing about.
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| Blessing of the crib at Midnight Mass |
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| The Word became Flesh |
Merry Christmas!!!
