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Greetings From Us!

 

 

Fr. Saturnino Ochoa, SJ, Pastor

Dear Jesus, Happy Birthday!

 

We all know that you never fail to keep your promise to come to us year after year. Thank


you, dear Jesus. Thank you for sharing our fears and our little joys, our sorrows, and our moments of happiness.


They say that your name means “God comes to save us!” Particularly this year, we do need you to come bringing salvation. You yourself are our salvation. As you know, there is a vicious war going on. The number of people who have to leave their countries and homes is increasing. The three-year-long pandemic is unabated. Well, dear Jesus, our house is messy and not very clean. We apologize, but please do come again this year. We need you and we welcome you.


And when you come to us, do not forget to bring us two New Year’s presents. One is PEACE on earth and peace in our hearts. The other one is HEALTH, to be able to come back to our church freely again and without restrictions. And to be able again to SING and PRAY TOGETHER, in a loud voice.


Thank you, dear Jesus. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


P.S. Best wishes to Mary and Joseph!


 


Fr. Bony James, SJ, John de Britto English Director

Happy Nativity of the Lord!

 

Christmas is a time of great joy. When Jesus looks at the stable where


he was born, he can see various people lined up there. Wise men and shepherds forget their differences and become one, standing side by side and praising Jesus. I pray that all the parishioners of St Ignatius will be able to do the same.


This year, in addition to the stable that the church puts up every year, the Vietnamese community has also built a stable. The stables built by each community have their own national characteristics and colors, but each aims at the same purpose of praising Jesus and conveying his joy.


Christmas is the celebration that unites us all and brings great blessings and joy to our parish community. With all our various linguistic and cultural backgrounds, let us continue to strive for unity in diversity.

 

 

Sr. Flor Florece, F.I. Coordinator

How many Christ- mases have you already had? Christmas after Christmas…. Have they drawn you closer and closer to its real meaning, or has the secular world been enticing you farther and farther away? We Christians living in Japan have a special role every time we celebrate Christmas – to proclaim and witness with our lives the joy, the mystery, the awe of the INCARNATION -that “the WORD WAS MADE FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US”!

 

This Special Edition is a collaboration of many priests, religious, and lay people of all ages, languages, races, and culture. On every page, it attempts to convey what Christmas is all about, from a Christian perspective. It presents the different angles of Christmas, starting from Advent, an often forgotten period, bypassed quickly by a secular world. Christmas Season does not end in December but in January, with the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. In some cultures, it is extended to the Feast of the “Sto. Niño” (The Child Jesus).


“God so loved the world that he gave us his most precious One”! This year, we chose John 3:16 to center us on Jesus, rather than on the peripherals. How do these words speak to you, i.e. in what you are going through right now? Or in your search for true happiness and not just a “MERRY Christmas”? Does the need of a Savior make all the more sense in what is happening in our world today? “CHRISTMAS“ can COME anytime, every time Christ is in-fleshed in your heart! It does not have to be only on December 25.


On behalf of the John de Britto English Center volunteers and staff, I wish you a “Grace-filled Christmas and a New Year full of HOPE!”

 

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