Christmas Readings & Reflection
Take 5 minutes and review the readings before Mass. Click here to read online. You can also listen to them by podcast through iTunes, through Podbean or by clicking the player below.
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Christmas Eve | Saturday, December 24
2:00 pm in the Church
2:00 pm in Fenlon Hospitality Center
4:30 pm in the Church
4:30 pm in Fenlon Hospitality Center
7:00 pm in the Church
10:00 pm in the Church (Adult Choir/Brass Quartet, 9:30 pm Prelude Music)
Christmas Day | Sunday, December 25
10:30 am in the Church (Adult Choir/Brass Quartet, 10:00 am Prelude Music)
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 Golf carts & Shuttle on Christmas Eve... Hassle-free parking and an amazing Christmas double-decker shuttle ride or one of our five golf carts to the Church!
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Bring a Friend... Christmas provides a great opportunity to share the love of God with those who do not otherwise come to Mass. Take this opportunity to reach out to those you know and bring a friend to Mass so they can share in the Christmas joy!
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Seat Saving... Because of all the friends you bring, we will be celebrating Christmas together in a full church! Saving one seat is permitted up to 30 minutes before Mass, then you will be asked to release any unused seats so we can accommodate as many people as possible for our celebration.
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One More Christmas Note... Because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, we will be missing a Sunday collection. Please be generous this December with both your Sunday offertory donations and your Christmas donation. Thank you!
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Advent Reconciliation Opportunity (Last one!)
In a special way during the season of Advent, we are invited to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Use this season as a way to experience the grace and mercy of God through our repentance and God's forgiveness.
Confession is available today, Wednesday December 21, from 6:30 - 7:30 pm in the Church.
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Golf Cart Drivers Needed for Christmas Eve Masses
As you know, Christmas brings large crowds to St. Patrick to celebrate Christmas liturgies. Because of that, we try to accommodate those crowds and make it easier for people to get to and from their cars, wherever they have to park in our lots.
We are in need of a few more people to drive one of our golf carts on Christmas Eve:
- 2 drivers at the 4:40 pm Mass
- 2 drivers at the 7:00 pm Mass
- 1-2 drivers at the 10:00 pm Mass
If you are planning to attend one of these Mass times, please consider coming early and helping with our Golf Cart Ministry. We will provide a quick orientation and you'll be ready to go! Then, when Mass begins, you can park your cart right out front of church and head into Mass.
If you can help, please click on this link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c054fadae29abfe3-golf
If you have any questions, please contact Dan Minton, at dminton@stpatcc.org, or 480-998-3843.
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Special note... On January 1st, our 8:30 am Sunday Mass will be changing to its new time, 8:00 am. ~ Also, on January 1st, there will be no 5:00 pm Youth Liturgy. (These are the correct times. We apologize for any confusion caused by a misprint found in our Christmas envelope mailing.)
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DECEMBER
December 21 - Reconcilliation
December 23 - Parish Office Closes at Noon
December 24/25 - Merry Christmas!
December 26 - Parish Office Closed
December 30 - Parish Office Closes at Noon
JANUARY
January 1 - The Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (New Sunday Mass Schedule Begins)
January 2 - Parish Office Closed
For more events, times, and locations please view our Online Calendar or the Bulletin
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Love is all around...
What difference does it make?
As our week unfolds, we shift seamlessly from the impatient waiting of Advent into the joyous festivity of Christmas. In our liturgical space, violets and purples are replaced with celebratory whites and greens; in our liturgical prayer, focus shifts from Christ’s coming in the “end times” (there are fancy words for this concept but I thought I’d spare you) to his incarnation, his birth as the infant Jesus.
 With the incarnation, Love is birthed into humanity in a whole new way. Christ’s transformative love flows out over humanity—indeed over every living thing, every aspect of creation—as an extraordinary divine energy. And so, analytically inclined as I am, I ask myself, “What exactly do I do with that realization? What difference does it make to me that, as the song says, love is all around?”
The answer whispers back in the form of something I read in a newsletter from Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, a very fine author on the spiritual life. “Love,” he says, “is not love until you stop expecting something back. The moment you want something in return for your giving, love is weakened and prostituted.”
Strong words! Since I’m not liking the notion that any love I offer be weakened, much less prostituted (what a thought!), I think I’ll work on making sure that my love always flows outwards. I think I’ll try to work on letting go of any desire for reciprocity, any expectation of return-in-kind, any desired outcome from whatever giving my Christmas season entails.
It’ll have to be a secret mission, though. After all, if I let the family know that I’m working on expecting nothing back in return for the love I’m dishing out, then they’ll be compelled to notice and compliment me on my marvelous generous spirit, which of course defeats the purpose.
Wish me luck.
Tricia Hoyt
Director of Evangelization, Family Ministry and Adult Formation
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