Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We think of them when we see stories about the many homeless and refugee families in our world. Joseph and Mary were homeless when they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. After his birth, the three of them were political refugees from King Herod when they fled across the border into Egypt. At both St. Anne and Our Lady of Lourdes we have displays of manger scenes. At Our Lady of Lourdes on one side of the display case is a creche inspired by one in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. On the other side are creches from Bethlehem, Peru and Canada. Each of them is very different from the others.

The display case at St. Anne shows the nativity scene owned by the late Peter Verstraete, brother of Francis Verstraete, together with the large wooden case in which it was stored. On the other side are nativities from The Philippines, Bethlehem and Assisi. The displays will remain until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is celebrated this year on January 12th

Grace and Peace,
Fr. Gary Tyman