Thank you for your warm Christmas Greetings and for the generosity you have shown to us in so many ways over the past year and especially recently as the New Year approached. This coming year of Our Lord 2020 will be a year rich in His Grace. It is my prayer that we will recognize the many opportunities which will be offered to us to cooperate with Him in the work of redemption, not only for our own salvation, but for those of our families, friends, acquaintances and those with whom we come into contact in our daily lives.
This Christmas Season will conclude with the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord which is also the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady on Sunday the 2nd of February. Let us take these last weeks of the Christmas Season, a Season of Light, to reflect on the light we have been given in Christ Our Lord, a light that should not be hidden but placed on a stand so as to shine in the darkness for all to see. As a sign of this, candles are blessed on that day and distributed before a solemn procession that brings the Light into the world, a manifestation or Epiphany of Christ in the World.
This year of Our Lord is also the 30th Anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. So I ask for your prayers for this young foundation, for its founder, Monsignor Gilles Wach and for the co-founder and rector of the Institute’s seminary, Very Reverend Canon Philippe Mora together with all of the priests, oblates, sisters, seminarians, members of the Society of the Sacred Heart and those discerning their vocations as postulants with the sisters or as candidates for the seminary. I ask also for your prayers for the apostolates, works, and missions entrusted to the Institute. Please pray especially for the Bishops and the clergy that support this young Institute. May God reward you for your prayers and sacrifices offered for these intentions.
Be assured of my daily prayers for you and your loved ones.
In Christ the King Sovereign Priest,
Canon Smith
Prior of the House of St. Chad