St. Mark's News & Events for December 31, 2006

Greetings as we begin another week!

Well by now the Christmas season is in full swing as we ended the Season of Advent last week. What wonderful celebrations we had on Christmas Eve and Christmas day as thousands of people worshipped with us here at St. Mark. With Thanksgiving and all the Christmas parties I am now the proud owner of 20 more pounds! Thanks to many of you for helping me set that record with all the delicious cookies and chocolates you sent to us here at the parish office. Please don't stop! I always go on a massive diet at the start of the New Year in anticipation of this "sweet season" anyway. Plus, I hear chocolate is good for you! I also wish to thank you all again for such a wonderful season of giving to all those most in need. This year we had a record number of donations of food at Thanksgiving and gifts at Christmas. You never cease to amaze me by your love and generosity to the less fortunate and I know God will bless you for it.

I, along with 25 of our young people and adult leaders, worked a shift down at Metropolitan Ministries before Christmas. It warmed my heart to see so many from our youth ministry getting their hands dirty putting together packages of food and toys for needy families. I was in charge of stapling the boxes together so they wouldn't fall apart. After about five minutes I started to get the hang of it and began to whip them out fast so they could be filled. I took a break and let a boy who looked to be about16 operate the large stapler while I got a soft drink. When I got back, he did more in those five minutes than I did in a whole hour! I simply stood and watched him in amazement until he decided to move onto something else. It was then I realized that I'm really getting older since the bones just don't work like they used to. Anyway, it was a fun time for all of us and at least we did our small piece in bringing joy to those who really need it.

Well, that is all for now. May God continue to bless you in the New Year and may all your resolutions come to fruition!

Peace, Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for December 24, 2006

Greetings as we begin another week!

There are lots of congratulations going around St. Mark this week as we just heard that Jose Diaz and the Spanish Choir has recently won the first place award for best Spanish Christmas Music throughout the region of Central Florida! This is truly a great honor for St. Mark the Evangelist and on behalf of our community we offer our heartfelt love and support. If you wish to hear some of their music, they will be playing throughout the Christmas season. Again, congratulations!

Also this past week was the beautiful Ceremony of Candles held last Sunday night. What a wonderful presentation of the birth of Christ through music and light. Congratulations to Todd LeBlanc and the Adult and Children's Choir for all their hard work in making this such a lovely event! Our parish is so talented and we continue to look to more of you in our community to give praise to the Lord through song and music.

I did finally hit the golf course last Friday and I have to say our team finished tied for first place! Although I contributed little, our team was on fire and made the game so much fun to play. To settle the tie, our teams had a "chip off" to see who would be given the check for "a million dollars." After explaining to our opponents and to the huge crowd gathering to watch that "I was playing for all the poor children in Haiti," I took a mighty swing at the ball and proceeded to hit it right in the middle…..…of the lake. So much for making our opponents feel guilty about trying to knock it close. I'm sure at this moment nobody ever wants me to win something for them. We thus lost the playoff and now EVERYBODY knows how rotten I am at golf.

Well, that is all for now. On behalf of Fr. Isaac and the St. Mark Staff, Merry Christmas!!

Peace, Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for December 17, 2006

Greetings as we begin another week!

As we get closer to the birthday of Jesus, I'm sure some anxiety is starting to set into some of us. Shopping needs to get finished, what do we buy for Uncle Harry and Aunt Jane who have everything?! The kids are cranky after all day at the mall and they're hungry. I guess sometimes it's not too bad being a priest during this hectic time of year, especially when it comes to getting ready for the Christmas Feast. However, sometimes us priests even get real stressed out preparing for that magical day and we also have to remind ourselves what this season is all about. This year, our family made an agreement that we wouldn't buy gifts for each other and to give some of that money to those who really need it. I have to say, this is the first year that the stresses of gift giving are not evident for me and this experience of a peaceful Advent will finally turn into Christmas joy for real! I have been amazed how our parish has embraced the Christmas giving tree located in the narthex. All the "ornaments" are gone and it proves to be a great Christmas for kids who are less fortunate. I would like to thank Chuck and Katie Thibault for all their work these past years in coordinating this event. You have brought joy to lots of children. If Advent peace hasn't happened to you this year, why not try it the next time Advent rolls around and truly experience this gift of peace that God wants us to so desperately have in our lives.

This past week has also seen an increase of people in hospitals with various forms of illness. Fr. Isaac and I have been to UCH more times than the doctors who work there. I am happy to say that they all are getting better and I ask that you continue to pray for those who are sick in hospitals and at home so that they will experience God's loving care during this special time.

No golf to report on this week since I didn't want to disturb my Advent peace! However, I did get some new shoes, which will at least make me look good the next time I play.

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given us in each other.

Peace, Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for December 10, 2006

Greetings as we begin another week!

The St. Mark annual Christmas party held at Hunters Green Country Club was a huge success this year. The food was fantastic and the festivities of dancing and singing highlighted the event. I even got onto the dance floor with my two left feet and I have to say that I'm sorry to all those I tripped. However, it was a wonderful night of gift giving as everyone came out of the party with a prize. I would like to thank Carl and Theresa Irwin for donating an afternoon of sailing and David Larson for a weekend stay at his hotel and a free dinner at Bone Fish Grill. We also would like to thank Polo's Italian Restaurant and Stonewood Grill for donating dinners to their great restaurants. Of course, we wouldn't have been able to do this without the Jubilee Committee who has accomplished outstanding work as we celebrated our Jubilee Year. It was a wonderful tribute to St. Mark Parish and the growth that has taken place since we started in 1996. I wonder what it will be like when we celebrate our 25th ? I should be the Pope by then and you all will be invited to the Vatican as my special guests.

If you haven't seen it yet, the memorial bricks are now being installed in the Piazza area near the rock. It's a great tribute to all those who donated $5000 and over to the Capital Campaign. Parishioner Tony Olivito from Paver Works deserves our many thanks for donating his time in putting them in for us. Hope you get a chance to take a look.

This past week our Steering Committee met as we lay the groundwork for building our new Church. Sometime in January we will be presenting at Mass this groundwork and timeline to our parish community. It's a long process and the committee will be very much involved in talking to parishioners and answering questions. By the time we finish, all of us will have a Masters Degree in theology and architecture after reading all the documents and studying them. Keep us all in your prayers as we continue the process.

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given us in each other.

Peace, Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for December 3, 2006

Greetings as we begin another week!

Well, after last week’s Thanksgiving festivities, I don't think I will eat for the rest of the year. The food and especially the desserts were all so tasty that I couldn't help myself. I would like to write that I had taken a jog around the block a few times, but that would be a lie. For all you after dinner couch potatoes out there, rock on! I did get the miserable opportunity to play golf the next day with my brothers and took lots of grief from my wayward shots, but at least we live in Florida where we CAN play golf in the winter without worrying about snow and cold. Well then again, maybe it would be better for my golf game. I'm going to ask Santa for another new swing this year.

As you read this, we will have celebrated our final event of the Jubilee year with our annual Christmas party at Hunters Green. I hope I had a good time there despite the early start to Christmas. Details will be forthcoming next week. Last Sunday we were at the Cathedral of St. Jude for the Annual St. Jude Award Medal ceremony and our very own Kathy DiSanto was this year's recipient! What a beautiful ceremony and we treated Kathy to a first class celebration. Thank you Kathy for your continuous service to St. Mark the Evangelist and we hope that there will be many more to come! Ad Multos Annos!

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given us in each other.

Peace, Fr. David