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AS WE CONTINUE TO CELEBRATE THE CHRISTMAS SEASON, may the peace of the newborn Savior fill your lives in the coming new year.

As we continue to celebrate the Christmas season, may the peace of the newborn Savior fill your lives in the coming new year.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., shared this Christmas message with the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton.

BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., SHARED THIS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE with the faithful of the Diocese of Trenton.

The Chancery in Lawrenceville will be closed Tuesday, Dec. 23, for Christmas and will reopen Monday, Dec. 29. We wish you all a blessed Christmas!

It’s a remarkable moment, because it comes from the book of the prophet Isaiah — whose words about the coming Messiah have been our steady companions throughout these four weeks of Advent. Isaiah speaks in a moment of fear, uncertainty and political turmoil. Ahaz, the king of Judah, ruled for about 16 years in eighth century B.C. He was young and inexperienced, and Scripture remembers him as a wicked ruler — someone who had allowed his heart to drift far from the God of his ancestors.

It’s a remarkable moment, because it comes from the book of the prophet Isaiah — whose words about the coming Messiah have been our steady companions throughout these four weeks of Advent. Isaiah speaks in a moment of fear, uncertainty and political turmoil. Ahaz, the king of Judah, ruled for about 16 years in eighth century B.C. He was young and inexperienced, and Scripture remembers him as a wicked ruler — someone who had allowed his heart to drift far from the God of his ancestors.

Today the Church invites us into the radiant joy of “Gaudete Sunday,” a name drawn from the ancient entrance antiphon for the Third Sunday of Advent that urges us to rejoice. Advent is a season of longing, of holy waiting, but on this Third Sunday the Church gently opens the door and lets the light of Christmas spill into our hearts. We rejoice because the Lord is near. We rejoice because the Savior once again draws close. We rejoice because God’s compassion and love are not distant promises but living realities.

In December of 2018, I was blessed to lead priests and lay faithful on pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Together we knelt before the Mother of the Americas, lifting our hearts in prayer in that sacred place where countless pilgrims have come before us. We watched as thousands—many who had walked for days from distant villages—brought their petitions and sorrows, entrusting them to Christ through the tender intercession of His Blessed Mother.

We’ve reached that all-too-familiar point of the year when we must contend with the limits of our time, energy and material resources, even as the demands of the secular Christmas holiday ramp up. Spending time in quiet and prayerful preparation for the coming of Christ’s birth might seem challenging, requiring us to be very intentional about giving it the greater share of ourselves

The Chancery in Lawrenceville will be closed Monday, Dec. 8 for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Normal business hours will resume Tuesday, Dec. 9.

Never had the world received more joyful news than the words spoken by the Angel Gabriel to a humble young woman in Nazareth: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). In that single greeting, centuries of hope found their fulfillment. Mary—chosen from the beginning—was revealed as the one uniquely “full of grace,” preserved from sin from the first moment of her existence. She alone was prepared to welcome the message that God Himself would dwell within her.

Never had the world received more joyful news than the words spoken by the Angel Gabriel to a humble young woman in Nazareth: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). In that single greeting, centuries of hope found their fulfillment. Mary—chosen from the beginning—was revealed as the one uniquely “full of grace,” preserved from sin from the first moment of her existence. She alone was prepared to welcome the message that God Himself would dwell within her.

ON THIS SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, THE WORD OF GOD OPENS BEFORE us a horizon filled with hope, mercy, and divine possibility. Through the prophet Isaiah we hear a promise powerful enough to stir even the weariest heart: “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” What a breathtaking reminder that God brings life precisely where we see only endings.

On this Second Sunday of Advent, the Word of God opens before us a horizon filled with hope, mercy, and divine possibility. Through the prophet Isaiah we hear a promise powerful enough to stir even the weariest heart: “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.”

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception will be celebrated on Monday, December 8, 2025, and is a holy day of obligation.

Rev. Sudheesh Arogyadas, parochial vicar, Holy Apostles Parish, Colorado Springs, Colorado, to parochial vicar, St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Bradley Beach, effective Dec. 1, 2025. Father Arogyadas is a priest of the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum, India.

Closing prayers to mark the end of the six-week Torches of Our Lady of Guadalupe observance will be recited in participating parishes across the Diocese. All petitions collected from parishioners during the parish torch visits around the Diocese will be taken to the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico for the feast day of St. Juan Diego and the second annual Guadalupe Torch Congress on Dec. 9.