Monday in a Holy Day of Obligation, celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

From The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception:

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, defined by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, states that “The Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, preserved exempt from all stain of original sin” (Ineffabilis Deus).

For us as members of the Catholic faith, the Immaculate Conception is not just significant, it is essential. Because of the grace of God, Mary was preserved from sin. Because Mary was preserved from sin, she was prepared to become the sinless Mother of Jesus, who by his life, death and resurrection, has ransomed us from sin. Because of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, because of her “yes” to God, we have been redeemed, and given the promise of eternal life through the merits of Mary’s Son, Jesus.

During the Season of Advent, we will have a special Mass at 6:30 am on December 6, 13 and 20. This Mass is traditionally known as the Rorate Caeli Mass, in honor of the Blessed Mother. These Masses will be bilingual (Latin and English) and will be celebrated “Ad Orientem,” meaning that the priest will face the same direction as the congregation.

This Advent, we are invited to countdown the days to Christmas by reading the Gospel daily.

The Diocese has prepared a list of daily Gospel readings to help us prepare our hearts as we celebrate and remember the coming and birth Jesus. The readings begin on November 30 and end on Epiphany January 4, 2026.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Peace to you from the Rectory! When Bishop Burbidge came to the parish a few weeks ago to celebrate the 10:30 am Sunday Mass, I was reminded of an image that I often have of him: A coach leading his team and urging his players on to victory. Given his great love for sports, his winning attitude, and his professional style, this image comes to me frequently. The occasion for his visit to St. Philip last month was the World Day of the Poor, and his message was that we all need to be concerned for the welfare of the poor. By the time Bishop Burbidge got to the end of his homily, I felt so inspired by his words and delivery that I imagined myself and all of you in the congregation charging out of the church to serve the poor, in the same way that a team rushes out onto the field at the start of a football game after a pep talk by the coach.

Right around the time of Bishop Burbidge’s visit in mid-November, a new venture was being pitched to St. Philip Parish to help the poor. At a meeting of the three pastors of the Catholic parishes in Falls Church, Larry Ferguson, the President of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP) of the Diocese of Arlington, advocated that our three parishes start an SVDP conference here in Falls Church. Such a conference would enable the three parishes to pool our resources, benefit from SVPD’s developed procedures, and provide a spirituality to sustain the volunteers in their work on behalf of the poor. At that meeting, all three pastors agreed that an SVDP conference here in Falls Church is an idea worth pursuing.

I broached the idea with the parish staff in the last few weeks, and they were enthusiastic and unanimous in their support. For years, the parish has been helping those in need using funds from the parish Poor Box and from other special donations. Most of the distribution work has fallen to our front desk secretaries, Kim Whelan and Sandra Reyes. While much good has been accomplished by this approach over the years, there has been a sense that a Catholic parish should be offering something more spiritual, that is, something more than just the monetary assistance we always offer, like rent, prescriptions, car repairs, utilities, etc. An SVDP conference might just provide that extra spiritual component, where parish volunteers assist in the evaluation and distribution of assistance by their personal outreach.

Since then, the idea of an SVDP conference has gained traction. We have arrived at a point now where we have set a date for an informational meeting to see if there are sufficient parishioners in each of the three parishes who could support an SVDP conference. That meeting is at St. James Parish on Tuesday, January 27, at 7 pm in Heller Hall. I will be at that meeting, and I would be so proud if 8-10 others from St. Philip accompanied me to learn more about SVDP. In the coming weeks there will be notices in the bulletin and on our social media advertising this informational meeting. In light of the recent emphasis on the poor by Pope Francis and Pope Leo, and on Bishop Burbidge’s inspiring homily here at St. Philip on the World Day of the Poor, I ask that all of us take these notices to heart and ponder these questions: “Is God calling me to dedicate myself more profoundly to serve those in need? Is it possible that He is calling me to do this in the context of an SVPD conference here in Falls Church?” This ministry is not for everyone. I sense, however, that there are certain people in this parish that God is calling to this particular apostolate. I would be very happy if an SVDP conference got off the ground in Falls Church. I think it would be pleasing to our “Coach” Bishop Burbidge, too. St. Philip the Apostle – pray for us!

May Christ’s Peace be with you,

Fr. Donahue