Oh my God! It is almost Christmas! Where did the time
go?
Anyway, it is time for CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!! And I am
hoping for, and our construction crews are trying to make happen, some presents
for our parish family.
With any luck, by Christmas Eve we will have the lighting
of the rose window facing Guadalupe Street. Look for it to be lit after dark.
It is a pretty window, and I think, when it is lit, it will give us more
presence on the Drag and help our building to look more like a church. Merry
Christmas!
The metal sconces on the front of the church will be
in and lit. They are beautiful! One represents St. Paul the Apostle–patron of
the Paulist Fathers–and the other represents St. Augustine of Canterbury–patron
of our parish. These beautiful additions to our façade were made by artist Lars
Stanley of Stanley Studio here in Austin and are genuine works of art.
Finally, we will have the new back door, and just in
time as the current one is ready to fall apart! This beautiful and noble door
proclaims that this is the entrance to a church, not the back door to a
warehouse or factory. In fact, this door will now be so attractive that “back”
door is no longer suitable name for this entrance. Therefore I ask you to
please begin referring to this entrance as the “Deacon’s Door,” since this is
where our deacons exit after Mass to greet people leaving Mass.
Next Sun., Dec. 24, will be hectic. Nonetheless, I
plan that after the 5 p.m. Mass on Sat., Dec. 23, and after the 7:30, 8:45,
and 11:30 a.m. Masses on Sun., Dec. 24, we will have a formal Blessing of the new door. This
is the official Order of Blessing of New Church Doors from the Book of
Blessing. It should take about 4 or 5 minutes. So plan to stay for the
blessing.
Thanks to all our generous donors and all who have
worked so hard to make the renovation of our church building such a success. We
look forward to a formal blessing and
dedication of the entire renovation project on Sun., May 27, which is the Feast of St. Augustine of
Canterbury.
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