Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • December 20, 2024 3 Gulf Pine Catholic (ISSN No. 0746-3804) December 20, 2024 Volume 42, Issue 8 The GULF PINE CATHOLIC , published every other week, is an official publication of the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. Editorial offices are located at 1790 Popps Ferry Road, Biloxi, MS 39532. Periodical postage paid at Gulfport, MS. —POSTMASTER— Send address changes to: The GULF PINE CATHOLIC 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —PUBLISHER— Most Rev. Louis F. Kihneman —EDITOR— Terry Dickson —PRODUCTION/ ADVERTISING — Shirley M c Cusker —BILLING — Shirley McCusker —CIRCULATION— Robin Peeler —PHOTOGRAPHY— Juliana Skelton —OFFICEHOURS— 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— Editor: 228-702-2126 Production/Advertising: 228-702-2109 Billing: 228-702-2109 Circulation: 228-702-2100 Photography: 228-201-2132 —EMAIL— News: tdickson@biloxidiocese.org Production / Advertising Billing: smccusker@biloxidiocese.org Circulation: rpeeler@biloxidiocese.org Photography: jskelton@biloxidiocese.org —OFFICEAND MAILINGADDRESS — 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 —WEBSITE— www.gulfpinecatholic.com —SUBSCRIPTIONS — Subscription rate is $18 per year. When changing address, renewing or inquiring about a subscription, customer should include a recent address label with old address and new address. Allow three weeks for changes of address. —DEADLINES for JAN. 10— News copy and photos: Due DEC. 17, 4 p.m. Advertising: Completed Ad and/or copy due DEC. 17, 10 a.m. Bishop Kihneman’s Schedule Dec. 24 Midnight Mass, Nativity BVM Cathedral, Biloxi, 11 p.m. Jan. 2 School Leadership Teams Retreat/Workshop Jan. 3 Parish Leadership Teams Retreat/Workshop Jan. 5-9 Region V Bishops’ Retreat, Archdiocese of New Orleans Retreat Center Jan. 10 Mass & School Visit, Holy Trinity Elementary at Our Lady of the Gulf, Bay St. Louis, 8:15 a.m. BY BISHOP LOUIS F. KIHNEMAN III Bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2: 8-14) In the late 19th century, a young Belgian priest named Father Damien De Veuster left everything behind to serve a forgotten and ostracized community -- the lepers of Bishop Kihneman Christmas is the perfect time to invite Jesus into the messiness of our lives Molokai, Hawaii. When he arrived, he found not just sickness but despair. The lepers were exiled, left to die in misery, their lives falling apart in a place marked by filth and suffering. Yet Father Damien chose to live among them, tending their wounds and sharing their burdens. Over time, his love transformed the colony. What had been a place of despair became a community of hope, dignity and joy. Father Damien himself would contract leprosy in 1885 and died of the disease four years later. He was canonized on October 11, 2009. Father Damien’s life is a reflection of the mystery we celebrate at Christmas. In Luke’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus, the son of God, was not born in a palace or among riches, but in a humble, dirty stable, sur- rounded by animals. It was a place of pov- erty, discomfort and filth -- a far cry from what we might expect for the birth of the Messiah. His birth in a stable reminds us that God’s love is not found in earthly splendor, but in the humble, the poor and the broken. He wanted to show us that He is not afraid of the mess. Jesus came to enter the messiness of our lives -- the places of brokenness, sin and struggle. Just as Father Damien went to the outcasts of Molokai, Christ comes to the stables of our hearts, where we feel unworthy, lost or afraid. In her ministry, St. Teresa of Calcutta sought out the forgotten and the most destitute, seeing in them the face of Christ, In the filth and broken- ness, she saw the presence of Christ, just as He was present in the stable on that first Christmas night. As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us reflect on the “stable” spaces within our own hearts. Are there places in our lives where we have allowed pride, sin, or neglect to keep us from inviting Jesus in? Just as He was willing to enter into the filth of a manger to be our Savior, He longs to enter into the most difficult and imperfect parts of our lives. This Christmas, let us open our hearts wide to receive Him -- not in the perfect, but in the messy and the broken, just as He was born into that very reality. May we, like the shepherds, respond to His birth with great joy, knowing that the Savior of the world is with us, even in our struggles. Let us allow the light of Christ to shine in the dark corners of our lives, trans- forming them with His love and grace. Merry Christmas, and may His peace fill your heart today and always. This Christmas, let us not be afraid of the mess in our own lives or the lives of others. Let us open the doors of our hearts, however unworthy we may feel, and allow Christ to enter and transform us. And, like Mother Teresa, may we see Christ in the poor, the suffering, and the lonely, serving them with love and tenderness. SEE BISHOP’S SPANISH COLUMN, PAGE 6 From the staff of the Gulf Pine Catholic, have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!