Brothers:

As we come to the start of the month of February I remind you that it is the month of the “HOLY FAMILY” and within its days, two honoring Our Lady.  At the start of the month on the 2nd we celebrate “Candlemass,” the feast of her Purification, known to us by its biblical title, the “Presentation of Christ in the Temple.”  It is the day that the Church has set aside for the blessing of candles in honor of Him whom at the time of His Presentation was acclaimed by Simeon to be “the Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”  Thus the common title of “Candlemass” given the day.  A Sung Mass will be celebrated at 6:30 in the evening at Saint  James during which candles will be blessed.  Toward the middle of the month on the 11th, we keep the feast of Our Lady under her title as “Our Lady of Lourdes.”  It was on the 11th of February, 1858  that the 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous had her first vision of Our Lady while collecting wood with her sister and a friend.  Lourdes continues to be one of the most important sites of Christian pilgrimage in our own day.  This day falling on a Wednesday there will be a Mass celebrated at Saint James at 10:00 A M.