Our Lady ​of Mount Virgin Parish

Roman Catholic Church

Garfield, NJ

My Friends:

On this Feast of the Epiphany which is a manifestation of God's presence, I want to share this Christmas Epiphany in Garfield!  It is what I call a God Wink!

After a four-day Mass Marathon and a priest’s life being no Fr. O’Malley (Bing Crosby movie), I finally settled in to prepping for the arrival of 14 family members. If you’ve viewed Christmas Vacation (Chevy Chase) then you get my drift, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I hooked the dogs outside the front door, leaving the door WIDE OPEN, then returned to the kitchen. In my busy exhaustion I forgot about them until a young boy appeared in my kitchen. I was frightened and baffled, especially in the climate of our church with the priest scandal. He mentioned the dogs and asked if he could stop in church with his pop! No Problem! He starts to tell me how pop takes him here at times and the church is always locked AND pop wants him to see inside. I go out and wave pop into the driveway. I took them through the rectory and into church. Their names: 10-year-old Christopher and John, his pop (grandfather). Chris & John! Main Character and Supporting character in our Incarnation story found in the Gospels. Speaking with pop, who was literally in tears over this Christmas gift, I come to discover he, himself, was a server here over sixty years ago. They now live in Delaware. He is raising his grandson because his son committed suicide several years ago and the boy’s mom died too. Both tragic. Chris spoke of this, but with such faith and strength, you know who else was crying. It’s Christmas and this child is leading me. We now enter church. Pop really begins to cry with emotion thanking me for this gift. Promised not to stay long. NP Pop! You can sleep in a pew if you wish. I removed myself so they could pray their rosary together. I couldn’t see through the tears, nor speak from the knot in my throat, containing a MAJOR SCREAM! I told them to return through the rectory. They did. My family was arriving. I invited them to PLEASE have dinner with us. Chris said to Pop “please Pop, they are nice people here.” We interacted for a time and they had appetizers. Chris shared his story with my siblings etc. I came to make a connection between he and his family who are very active at OLMV. They thanked me for this special gift as they then went to their family, with whom I then contacted to share this beautiful Christmas message, this gift to me to strengthen my minuscule faith. John foretells of the coming of Christ (Chris). They return to a church dedicated to the Blessed Mother, where we have a great devotion to St. Joseph. You get my drift!!! It was a major wink and Hallmark moment for sure and all from God! I was thrilled my family experienced this as they arrived before they thought I was making it up!

Merry Christmas. Yes, God, Jesus is in our midst. It’s all a Divine Plan! Like Ripley, Believe it or not! Oh Holy Night!!!

God bless you always!

Fr. Peter