December 23, 2025

“Knowledge”

Today Psalm 25 says, “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.” It can be said that this psalmist is seeking his purpose in life. The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Knowledge empowers us to discern God’s paths for our lives.

This fifth Gift of the Holy Spirit, Knowledge, is often confused with both the gift of Wisdom and the gift of Understanding. Like Wisdom, the gift of Knowledge is the perfection of faith, but whereas the gift of Wisdom gives us the desire to judge all things according to the truths of the Catholic faith, the gift of Knowledge provides the actual ability to do so.

Like Counsel, the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Knowledge is aimed at providing insight into our actions in this life. But whereas the gift of Counsel blesses us with an intuitional insight that builds upon our human reasoning ability, in a limited way, the gift of Knowledge allows us to see the circumstances of our life the way that God sees them.

Through this Gift of the Holy Spirit, with divine perspective, we can determine God’s purpose for our lives and live them accordingly.

Can you begin to see the matrix of support the Gifts of the Holy Spirit afford us in our quest to know God’s paths? The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Wisdom blesses us with the desire to contemplate the things of God, while His gift of Understanding blesses us with the ability to grasp what we contemplate.

Meanwhile the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Counsel blesses us with an intuition into what God would have us do while His Gift of Fortitude blesses us with the ability to do it.

Concurrently the Holy Spirit’s Gift of Knowledge blesses us with an ability to see ourselves as God sees us and so determine our purpose.

As we approach our Christmas celebration realize the gifts we are currently given to desire and grasp the things of God as we intuit and are strengthened to do what God would have us do, seeing ourselves as God sees us.

In the Christmas season we will explore the final two Gifts of the Holy Spirit – Piety and the Fear of the Lord – and how they complete our sanctification toolbox.

Raffle Tickets will be available for purchase starting Sunday, January 4th. Tickets will be available on-line and in the Gathering Space. Each family is asked to check out a pack of 10 tickets to purchase or sell to friends and family.

Check back here after the 4th for a link to the Give Smart site to purchase on-line.

Visit the Taste of St. Francis event page for more information about TOSF, the Auction, and how you can help.

Campus will be closed during this period, with no Walking/Fellowship in the Xavier Center. There will be weekday masses, but no Adoration.

Thank YOU for your generous donations made to this year’s #iGiveCatholic! We have raised $7,370, surpassing our goal of $7,000! Stay tuned for more details and volunteer opportunities for our Love the Hungry packaging event that will be held on March 22, 2026.

To learn more about Love the Hungry, visit their website at www.lovethehungry.org

Immaculate Conception

We celebrate today one of our four dogmas concerning Mary, that she was immaculately conceived. (The assumption of Mary, Mary as the mother of God, and Mary’s perpetual virginity are the other three.) So, this celebration is not about Jesus’ conception, nor does it say Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit like Jesus; she was not. We celebrate that Mary was conceived in a state of sanctifying grace and free from the corrupt nature Original Sin brings to everyone else. Or, as Pope Pius XII put it, “Mary was free from all sin, original or personal.” Understand what this means…

Does this mean Mary did not need a savior? No, she herself said, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Lk 1:47) Mary’s immaculate conception means she experienced Jesus’ saving in a unique way from how the rest of us experience it. Mary was saved by way of ANTICIPATION of Jesus’ Paschal Mystery. An ancient analogy illustrates this:

Humanity, created in God’s likeness, always had the ability to say “no” to God’s Will. A “no” was not inevitable (Mary in her freedom never said “no” to God’s Will), but a lack of ability to say “no” would have meant we were incapable of giving God a real “yes.” Yet, eventually a “no” was chosen as our Adam and Eve scripture story captures. The result of this “no” was an infinite rift between humanity and God, an objective separation we call Original Sin.

Original Sin is therefore like a great pit that our first “no” to God dug, into which we fell. Humanity got itself into a hole from which we couldn’t climb out. To this day we are each born into this hole. It took Jesus’ perfect “yes” to God the Father’s Will (Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection) to save us from this pit. (Picture in your imagination Jesus reaching down to pull you from the pit.) Mary, however, was grabbed by Jesus at the moment of her conception and was held back from the pit. Mary, like all of us, needed saving from the pit, but her saving was anticipatory. Get it?

Here is the next logical question to ask, “If Jesus could pull Mary back from the pit, then why not just pull everyone back?” In other words, why not simply immaculately conceive everybody? I think the answer is that without Jesus’ Paschal Mystery (his passion, death, and resurrection), without Jesus’ perfect “yes” to God the Father that counters humanity’s original “no,” the resulting pit from the original “no” would never be filled and all things restored. Love’s sacrifice reversed the consequence of our sin. Jesus’ sacrifice sets in motion the inevitable elimination of sin’s “pit” and the restoration of all creation to its original perfection and the Second Coming’s consummation of everything to God.

You and I now live in-between this saving Paschal Mystery action of Love and the Second Coming’s consummation of everything to God and the resulting elimination of sin’s “pit.” As disciples of Jesus we are each summoned to take up our cross in the here and now and follow in Jesus’ footsteps of service and sacrifice. This is how we embody our “yes” to God’s Will. This is our “Amen” to Jesus’ sacrifice.

You see, we each still have the ability to say “no” to God’s Will which gives value to our “yes.” Only unlike our ancestors we now have access, through the Church, to the effects and resulting grace of Jesus’ Paschal Mystery. BAPTISM pulls us out of the pit and immerses us into the life of the Holy Trinity through the Holy Spirit abiding within us. CONFIRMATION strengthens the Holy Spirit’s gifts embedded within us at baptism. EUCHARIST nourishes God’s life within us along the journey. RECONCILIATION pulls us back out from the pit when we jump back into it. ANOINTING OF THE SICK heals the spiritual woundedness of the pit we still suffer physically at times. And ORDINATION and MARRIAGE empower our most fundamental relationships to mirror God’s love for us all as we make our way through this life we are given.

Today we celebrate that Mary, as the sinless servant of God, lends her aid to our efforts to take up our crosses and follow her son. May our understanding of her special place in our salvation story inspire us to lean into her intercession and help as we strive to live our “yes” to God more readily.

You can donate on-line anytime through the following link or visit the “Giving” section of the SFX website.

Please note that if Bullitt County Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the parish office and campus will be closed, and weekday mass will be cancelled. This will allow more time for our facilities staff to clear the sidewalks and parking lot, ensuring staff and parishioners have safe entry ways when campus reopens. Weekend masses will continue as scheduled.