On Friday December 8th we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In my childhood it was the day the country folk came to town to do their Christmas shopping. They would go to early Mass and catch the train into the city. Sometimes my mother would meet up with her sisters but most times she stayed at home and cooked a dinner so that when they arrived burdened with packages they could eat and spend a little time before heading to catch the last train home. Even though it was a shopping day they never forgot that it was a church holyday or the religious significance of the season. For them religion and faith was part of the fabric of their being. Everything they did reflected that from the house greeting God save all here to the signing of the forehead with holy water on the way out. Some how it would seem that at times religion and faith has become a private thing not something we acknowledge in public. Yet the call of Jesus is to proclaim the word publicly and to live it in our daily lives. Remember Mary’s YES and try to live it daily as we come near to celebrate birth of him who is the way the truth and the life The Journey Continues, Fr Karl