As we look back at the past year, it is a cry of thanksgiving that we have uttered to the Lord from our hearts on the last day of 2018 or on January 1st of 2019. We have all received from God innumerable blessings, grace upon grace most of which I would think we don’t even deserve. But God in His mercy made us worthy, for we are His beloved children in Christ our Lord and Brother. In various ways, we have shared these blessings to others. Blessings in their very nature are meant to be shared.

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL! A little girl was heard praying the Lord’s Prayer and saying “Forgive us our Christmases.” Perhaps, many of us need to pray that prayer. On the first Christmas, there was no room for the Lord Jesus in the inn. Today, for many, there will be no room for Jesus as well. Do I have room for Jesus? Do our various institutions have room for Jesus? Or do we put up thick walls and say “there is no room in the inn.”? It is that holy time of the year again when God calls us to take time to reflect on all that has gone before and what is to come.

The mid-point of Advent alerts us to issues of justice, equality, honesty and integrity. St. John the Baptist called the people to repentance so they can prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Through the Church, he continues to call people of every generation to enter into this inward decision to seek and receive God’s offer of forgiveness as the excellent way of preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ anytime He wants. But what does repentance looks like? What does it demand?

Please read the letter from Most Reverend Larry Silve to ll Parishioners regarding October designated as Pro-Life month in the United States Catholic Church, to focus on the extremely important issues related to defending the lives of the unborn, of the sick and elderly, and of all who are vulnerable.

Come join our Octoberfest on October 27th Saturday 5:30PM to 9:30PM. Delicious food, cold beer, Oompah Band and dancing $45 - Adults / $25 - Children (4-14) Tickets are on sale at the Church entrance after Mass and at the Church office during the week. This will continue our fundraising to upgrade the cafeteria to accommodate multi-purpose church and school functions. Mahalo for your support!

Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, MSOS Grade School will include a KINDERGARTEN program. Our upper school will now become a K-8 Catholic School. The MSOS Grade School Kindergarten will align directly with the Grade School’s curriculum, standards and pedagogy. We are excited to have the opportunity to provide this new entry-level Kindergarten experience to new families who wish to join our Mary, Star of the Sea Grade School Ohana. Read our Pastor's announcement on this Sunday's Bulletin.

We will be closed Thursday August 23rd and Friday August 24th due to Hurricane Lane. Please note that all parish related activities are cancelled. There will be only 1 Mass on Thursday 8/23 at 7:30AM. No Mass on Friday 08/24. We will notify you should we need to make additional closure announcements. God bless and be safe!

This reality should give us something more than ordinary optimism. It should give us a supernatural joy, in ALL circumstances. But that takes work. When I was a teenager my mother used to tell me, “joy is a choice.” She was right, and reflecting on those words throughout my life has helped me to become a joyful man. She didn’t say “feeling good is a choice.” I doubt very much that St. Paul was always feeling “tip-top” when he was in prison awaiting his beheading, but he was joyful. Much of what he wrote while in chains was brimming with joy. He wrote things like, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” “Have no anxiety at all!” “I may be struck down but I’m not destroyed.” and “In all these things we are more than conquerors!”

Our loving Abba-Father has sent Jesus to us to shepherd us – lead, guide, feed, care for, and love us. We have all experienced that loving presence in our lives, more strongly at some times than other. We can truly proclaim that: “The LORD is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.” But the challenge that this imposes on us is that we need to reach out and shepherd others with the same loving care we have received. We are called to share what we have received and further the mission and ministry of our Good Shepherd by compassionately shepherding those whom GOD has placed in our lives. May you continue to experience the loving care of the Good Shepherd and may the Holy Spirit prompt you to share that loving care with those whom GOD our Abba Father has entrusted to your care.

July 4th, Independence Day, is an American national holiday. This holiday gives us time to thank God for the birth of our nation, and give thanks for the gift of life and petition God to preserve our country and rid it of its evils. This is a great day for picnics and spending time with family and friends. This month holds for Americans the celebration of our glorious Fourth, Independence Day, a great national holiday not connected with the feast of a saint (as is Saint Andrew's Day in Scotland and Saint George's in England), or with a festival of the Church. And yet can it be said that the anniversary of the birth of a nation is ever an entirely secular affair?

The name John means “God’s gift,” and such was the Baptist. From the moment he came on the preaching scene, he proved himself a powerful, captivating herald of God. His bold, dramatic, austere, and uncompromising style is what many people had in mind when they hoped for a Messiah. But John understood that his role was to prepare the way for the One who was to come. His prophet witness and commitment to his call are his legacy to us. Share in his gift by being true to your own Christian calling.

Join our vibrant youth and family ministry. All children and youth of all ages & their families who want to share and develop their musical talents, grow in Catholic faith, make friends and fellowship with other families are invited to be part of our growing ministry.

"Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy" (Catechism of the Catholic Church) .

The Great Fast, Lent, is a time of spiritual reflection. The forty days not only reflect Jesus’s journey into the desert, upon which he fasted for forty days and faced severe temptations before the start of his public ministry, but also the years which Moses and the children of Israel were said to wander between Egypt and the Promised Land. It is a time of struggle, a time of purification, and hopefully a time of spiritual enlightenment.

At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then "imposed" on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The ashes are blessed at least during the first Mass of the day, but they may also be imposed during all the Masses of the day, after the homily, and even outside the time of Mass to meet the needs of the faithful. Priests or deacons normally impart this sacramental, but instituted acolytes, other extraordinary ministers or designated lay people may be delegated to impart ashes, if the bishop judges that this is necessary. The ashes are made from the palms used at the previous Passion Sunday ceremonies.

Catholics believe that during the Mass which we attend each week (for some of us daily), the priest (during the consecration) speaks these words as he holds the communion host, "...He took bread and gave you thanks. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you". When the priest says "this my body", it is at that instant when, through the miracle of transubstantiation, the bread and wine which we offer as the bloodless sacrifice to our Lord truly become the Body, Blood , Soul and Divinity of Jesus. It is His true Presence in the form of bread and wine. It is Christ. Here are twelve biblical reasons for wanting to spend one hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

On New Year's Day, the octave day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God. The divine and virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a singular salvific event: for Our Lady it was the foretaste and cause of her extraordinary glory; for us it is a source of grace and salvation because "through her we have received the Author of life.”

It is a beautiful Advent tradition that captures the expectant, excited, spiritual waiting that pervades Advent – the precursor of Christmas. It is a vibrant expression of unity and community. Many parishes in our diocese will fittingly mark Christmas preparation with an Advent Novena of Masses, popularly called “Simbang Gabi” (Filipino for “night mass”, indicating it being held when dark). It is one of the oldest and most popular among the Filipino traditions in the Philippines. Simbang Gabi is a nine-day novena to the expectant Blessed Mother. The novena begins on December 16, and culminates with the “Misa de Gallo” ("gallo", Spanish word for rooster, which crows at break of dawn) on Christmas Eve.

A simple way to mark the season, Advent wreaths are a time-honored tradition rich in symbolism. The circular shape reminds us that God is eternal; He has no beginning and no end. The wreath itself is often made of evergreens, symbolizing everlasting life. Each week, an additional candle is lit, accompanied by Scripture –based meditations and prayers. The progressive lighting of the candles in the Advent wreath models the expectation of Christ’s coming. The four candles (three violet, one rose) symbolize the four thousand years between the fall of Adam and Eve and Christ’s birth. The rose candle, representing joy, is lit on the third Sunday of Advent (called Gaudete Sunday) to mark the halfway point of the season.

In this first week of Advent, we reflect on the tension of the already-but-not-yet; of being sure of the hope that we have, but of having but a small taste of that which has been promised. The nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, had heard from God through the patriarchs and prophets since its very beginning. He had taught them how to live life in the very best way, life lived close to Him and to others. But the people of Israel had rejected God and did whatever was good in their own eyes. God sent prophets to warn Israel of what would happen if they continued to rebel against God. Prophets also foretold of a new covenant God would make with his people. They pointed people to a coming Messiah, an eternal king who would fulfill this covenant, save them, and rule forever. Despite the warnings of the prophets, the people of Israel stopped listing to God and God did not speak to humans again for 400 years. And it is against this backdrop that we begin our first week of Advent, wondering with the Israelites what God is going to do and how he is going to fulfill his promises. In a similar way, though Jesus has already brought about our salvation by his life, death and resurrection, we eagerly await with great hope the day when he will come again and fulfill all of his promises and put the world to rights.