December 26, 2025 December 25, 2025
Dear Friends:
We need to be softer and gentler. Life is very fragile. The world, hurting and wounded as it is, needs the healing balm of tenderness. There is too much anger. Too much rage. We often treat people so harshly, as things to be manipulated and dismissed, rather than as the beautiful, unique, fascinating creations of God that they are.
Many are afraid and have to flee. The place they once called home has become hostile and now rejects them. Where do they flee? Where do they find refuge? Who reaches out to help them? Is there an empty manger bed somewhere where they can lay their heads?
It is very cold. We often walk through life wearing blinders. We do not want to see the pain around us, the agony of our neighbors. It is better to pretend that everything is well. That it is somehow going to get better. It is not well.
The Holy Family found their respite for the night. Will others find theirs? Our world needs to learn how to welcome the lonely traveler. To be bearers of peace, not bearers of arms. We have to learn a better way, how to build bridges, not fences with locked gates. Christ, the Son of God and Prince of Peace, is calling us to a life of tenderness and mercy.
God gives us the ability to chart a path through life that works, to create a home on earth for everyone He has created. To live the Justice of the Gospel as it is meant to be lived. This is our task. This is what we are meant to do.
Find peace within this Christmas. Allow God to dispel your darkness, your fear, and your bitterness. Learn to trust in the One mightier than you. Then, share that peace with others.
Merry Christmas!
Father Mark Suslenko
Pastor
SS. Isidore and Maria Parish
