The Christmas Cards You Send to Us

By Peter J. Markavage

What happens when you send a Christmas card to Fr. Joseph, MIC, and the staff at the Marian Helpers Center? Here's a word of acknowledgement from Peter Markavage, Executive Assistant, Office of Fr. Joseph.

Every year at the Association of Marian Helpers Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, we receive many beautiful expressions of love in the form of Christmas cards from members and friends.

And every year, I am always in a quandary: How will people know we read their Christmas cards?

Whenever members of the Association of Marian Helpers come to our administrative offices in person, we show them around our office building and print shop because this place is really their place. Without their love, support and generosity, we would not be where we are today, advancing the cause of the Kingdom of God in the spreading of the message of God's mercy.

But when it comes to the Christmas cards they send, I always wonder: How will the people know we received and loved their Christmas cards, since it is not customary to return 'thank you' notes for those cards?

Over the years, my solution has been to take these beautiful Christmas cards and showcase them on our employee bulletin board in the Center. I want everyone who works here to know how loved and appreciated they are, but - even more importantly - how much impact Christ's Incarnation has on people all over the world. He did not simply come to be a cute baby in a manger for us to fawn over. He entered the human experience to live and breathe as we do. He knows exactly what it is like to live in a fallen world with its various temptations and tests (Heb 4:15). Then, He died for our sins, tasting death for every man because of His infinite mercy! And then - in a triumph over death - He was raised on the third day so that we, too, might have the newness of His life! Without His death and resurrection, the story of Christmas is simply not complete.

Every card we receive is an expression of this complete story and a testament to Christian love that makes life worth living.

Thank you to all of our members for your love and support. Pictured here is just a small portion of the cards that have been given to us this Christmas season. Please know that each and every card has been read, and each and every card is immensely treasured. You have kept "mercy" in Christmas!
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