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Christmas and Ascension: Family Reflection Video

Christmas and Ascension: Family Reflection Video

Seasonal Reflections

Friends, this Ascension has three beautiful and extremely important messages…

Friends, this Ascension has three beautiful and extremely important messages: about Christmas and the Ascension, about the mission of every baptized Christian, and about the joy of living in Christ. Why is this so important? Because it reveals our truest identity our truest self and fills us with a joy that no one can take away.

In today's Gospel, Jesus gives this mission to all the believers: "Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” This mission is not given to a select few but to all believers. To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer. We are being commissioned to go forth and proclaim the Gospel of life and love, of hope and peace, by the witness of our lives.

So, Christmas, Jesus brings God down to man. By Ascension he brings man up to God. He entrusts us with his precious mission and identifies with us as his family.

About Father Willy Raymond, C.S.C.

Father Wilfred J. Raymond, C.S.C. (Father Willy), a native of Old Town, Maine, is the eighth of 12 children. He joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1964 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stonehill College in 1967 and a master’s in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. He served in ministry at Stonehill College (1979-1992), Holy Cross leadership (1994-2000), National Director of Family Theater Productions, Hollywood (2000-2014), and President of Holy Cross Family Ministries (2014-2022). In addition to English, he is conversant in French and Spanish. He remains a diehard fan of the Boston Red Sox, even though he has served as Chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers.