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Second collection is for the retired priests fund
(Villa Vianney).
 Midnight
Mass: December 24, 9 pm
Our Polish Midnight Mass will take place on
Thursday, Dec. 24 at 9 pm at Our Lady of Perpetual
Help Church on Poplar in Germantown. Everyone is
welcome!
Christmas Mass: December 25, 12:30 pm
Our Christmas Mass
in Polish will take place on Dec. 25, Friday at
12:30 pm at St. Ann’s Church on Stage in Bartlett.
The second collection will help the retired priests
from the Diocesis of Memphis. This time we will not
get together after the mass.
Parish Celebration at St. John’s Church – December
27 (Sunday)
 We
would like to invite everyone to participate in the
Polish – American mass on Sunday, December 27, at
12:00 (noon) at St. John’s Church on Lamar Avenue in
Memphis. Right after the Mass Father Kazimierz
invites everyone to participate in the parish
celebration („odpust”), including tasting of the
wine blessed during the mass. Please bring cakes,
cookies and fruit to share with others.
Sharing of the Opłatek and Christmas carol singing –
January 2, 2010 (Saturday)
We would like to
invite everyone to come to the Polish Mass on
Saturday, January 2, at 6:30 pm to St. John’s church
on Lamar Ave. Just a reminder: participation in an
evening mass on Saturday means that it is not
necessary to go to another mass on Sunday. Also,
Christmas carols sang during the holidays are forms
of prayer.
Right after the mass you are welcome to share the
traditional oplatek and join us in singing Polish
Christmas carols. We will also have an opportunity
to wish each other happy holidays, and welcome the
New Year 2010. We encourage you to bring some cake,
cookies or fruit to share. We hope to see you there!
Traditional „Koleda” – visit of a priest and bessing
of the homes
Those of you who would like to invite a priest to
your home for the traditional „koleda” are asked to
call the priests directly. The phone numbers of
Fathers Kazimierz, Krzysztof and Jacek are listed
above.
Holy Mass in January 2010
Our next monthly mass in Polish will take place on
Saturday, January 16, at 6:30 pm at St. James’
Church on Lamar Ave. Everyone is welcome to
participate!
There is a little more to Christmas than......
„Through him was
life, and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it”. (J 1:4-5). Christmas is a
little more than the candelight meals, beautiful
nativity plays, or the wonderful atmosphere of
Christmas Eve. Christmas is not only calm quiteness
and looking for peace, it is also the scandal and
the shock. „The Word has became flesh” – for the
ancinent followers of the Gospel this was 
unthinkable, unimaginable. God in human body – how
is it possible. If we think about it for a minute,
even today this message has not lost its provocative
character. The Word, born in a modest manger, has
become flesh, with all the consequences of this
transformation. It became flesh, so it became a
human being in its fullest, a human being with all
its needs, sensitivity, mortality. There is nothing
divine in being a human, yet God, it its eternal
wisdom, decided to become a Men. Why? He did this
because of love: „For God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in
him might not parish but might have eternal life” (J
3:16). Because of love God came into the world, and
accepted all the final consequences of this step. He
wanted our life to be full of light, so he came to
our darkness, to our fear, to the freightening
violence and to hate that poisons our lives. God
comes to the darkness. This is exactly what
transforms it into light, God is the ray of light.
The light that remains will show us the way in the
darkness. When Jesus was born, not everything
changed from bad to good immediately. But everything
has been different since then. In every part of the
Globe, anywhere, there is no person who is alone any
more.
Regardless of where
we are heading, or have to go, God who became Man is
always one step ahead of us.
Father Kazimierz
Abrahamczyk S.V.D. (Christmas 2009)
 End
of Karnival celebration - "Polka Dance"
The last party this carnival season – Polka Dance –
will take place on Sunday, February 14 at 5 pm in
the Madonna Hall (St. Ann’s Church – Bartlett). The
party is organized in cooperation of the Polish
Catholic Mission and St. Ann’s Church. More details
coming in the next newsletter. Please save the date!
Announcements and ads in the newsletter
We would like to remind you that we are accepting
requests to publish an announcement or an ad in our
newsletter. If you are interested, please contact
Zofia Schmidt (372-5794). This offer should be
particularly interesting for all business owners.
Come, our Lord, you are the King of Glory...
Dlaczego jest święto...
Dlaczego jest święto Bożego Narodzenia?
Dlaczego wpatrujemy się w gwiazdę na niebie?
Dlaczego
śpiewamy kolędy?
Dlatego, żeby się uczyć miłości do Pana Jezusa.
Dlatego, żeby podawać sobie ręce.
Dlatego, żeby się uśmiechać do siebie.
Dlatego, żeby sobie przebaczać.
ks. Jan Twardowski
Christmas traditions
 Christmas
is a special time for all of us. It is not only an
occassion to remember an important religious event,
but also to relax and get together with our friends
and loved ones. Christmas is the time of peace,
reflection, escape from our hectic everyday lives.
In most Christian countries, Christmas celebration
begins with Christmas Eve supper on December 24.
Christmas Eve is the time of waiting for the birth
of Jesus. The period of time preceding Christmas is
called Advent, and it lasts 4 weeks. On Christmas
Eve families gather together to look out for the
first star, the sign of the birth of Jesus. Before
midnight many people go to church to celebrate the
festive Midnight Mass, also called the Sheperds’
Mass, which commemorates the shepards who gathered
in Bethlem praying and waiting for baby Jesus to be
born.
December 25 is one of the most joyful holidays in
the Christian tradition. The churches are
beautifully decorated, the mass celebrants wear
white garments, and the people sing christmas
carols. In the past, there were three masses
celebrated for Christmas: the midnight mass, the
morning mass and the afternoon mass.
Today
the masses are celebrated as on any other Sunday,
except for the midnight mass. 
At
Christmas time, family members are particularly nice
to each other, they share with each other love,
affection and holiday wishes. Wishes can also be
shared in writing, by sending Christmas cards, often
accompanied with oplatek (white waffer shared with
those we cannot see in person). Other traditions
celebrated in Poland and around the world include
the nativity scene, christmas tree, siging christmas
carols and giving each other gifts.
In most countries Christmas is celebrated in a very
festive way, with family and the loved ones. In the
countries where Christmas Eve is of less importance,
Christmas Day is the highlight of the holiday.
Families gather around dinner table and share meals
traditional for each region, for example in Great
Britain the traditional Christmas meal consists of
the roasted stuffed turkey, holiday pudding and a
mince pie, in Germany – holiday sausage, in France –
baked duck and sea food, and in Denmark – roasted
duck. Regardless of where Christmas is celebrated,
it always brings many positive emotions and unites
people around the world.
Second day of Christmas – December 26 – is
celebrated in some countries, including Poland, as
the memorial of the first mortyr – Saint Stephen.
Saint Stephen was stoned to death because he did not
want to deny the divinity of Jesus. On this day
masses are celebrated as on any Sunday. In the
communist Poland people would throw oats at the
priest to commemorate the stoning of the martyr.
There are also many folk proverbs associated with
this day, mostly related to weather.
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Ksiądz Kazimierz Abrahamczyk S.V.D.