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Show S A I N T C H R 1ST 0 F H E H ' 8 N EW S L E T T E R SAINT CHRISTQFHEHI[ iIjLiSSIl) ~LTO THE NAVhJ~BLUFF . U'I'AH , QECE1VIBER' .~9,1~~1-~. \ ttL'-'- n~""8 HE WEEhS before Chrl stmas were fur'iously busy. It is impo:r J ~ '\ slble t o 1J. 8 ::iCrlbe th-= wc,rk cf gett1ng reddy for the Feast, . candy t o be l--ut up in li 'btle boxes, pres en ts to be s or t ed ac~ord i ng t o a ge :md s ex . 1:~aDY r~an-hours wur; t hus c ?n ~, ~' m~ d, and we cannot tel.L how gr3 t..e fUl we are t o al..L who made '. hI S ~~ work possible . Here we m ~y ~ efh~p s be able to e x t end p e r- 50n&1 thanks to two or three whose pac ka ges h ad the senders 1 names ob scured or torn off. .• Dec 8mber 23 gave ll S ODe of thos e peri odi(: 3 :::'Cr:'J.]S which l~eep us busy der'ending our build i.ngs fr om flo od- - here a gain (; 1:' .... ' little Gibson Tractor helped in do zing up the dykes--and when the 3t:. C'ID subsided the skh~s rel1laj.ned leaden. and we feared the worst for Chl':is ,J!1:X:; , But Chris tmas Eve the day d~ wned ciea r and bright; the ground dr i ed 0 _ nough for c amping . By nine in the e V9n~LD~ the Miss~on House wa s P~;,CK ';(l , ~nd while Fr. Li ebler in the Church hea r d ~onf e ssioDs, Brother Jun Ip e r showed movi es 2nd s lide s in the House. Pef :r8 ~~ hments were served t o t n8 guests, and soon after el even we all went i~to the Cha p e l and practic ed carols; a t 11:40 we had t he sermon, and then our now celebrated Navajo Frayer-Song in pr'3p:; r ::l ticm for Holy Co:nmuniDn; a t the stroke of M 1d-ni ght, the Mass b e gan. . . The Cha pe l wa S full, ,but not bulglng---we counted 62 present; we con sider 50 t he norma l CUIJ2c city . We'san g th'3 Mass of St. Isaac ~Togues, and fami liar hymn s as well rl,S the propers, and the partic i pa ti 0] of the congrega tion wa s f a r beyond anything we have had before ---thanks to many hours of practicing with the child r en . Fathe r N ~s h s aid the s e c ond Ma ss-- a t sun-up instead of at dawn, with a congregq.tion of 22, and ::it 9:30 the MaS's of the Day Vlas ' ~ung, following Morning Pr ayer . Be fore the strains of thp Ambrosian Te Deum had di ed down, the ChapE':!l Wd S mor·::; than full, and by t he b e ginning of the Mass there were at least a hundr ed people t he r e . The serri10n was all in Navajo---we ha d no whi te congr e ga tion e xc ep t ,our St a ff a t this s e rvice---- and as a lway s we had a numb e r who had n E: vs r witn e ssed a 3e rvic e of Christia:J1 worship b e fore. Ye t, exc ept 'for a f E';W b aby squawks and 30nie r e stl t; ssness 2lTJOng t he quite undiscll-,J.in ,=)d chIldren, the congreg2ti on wa s qui e t 0nd r 6 s p~ ctful if n o t GDtirely d e vout . Intc r es t cd 1n st d ti s t ics? We hew have 36 Na vb jo communIcants; two 'J. r ~: vvor ktng in Color<:,.do, t VtlO liVing n c al' /,n eth wc: r e un a.bl e t o come to the IvIi 3310n . Th':.:: t (J t al lJumbd' of communj.ons ma de wa s 37 . (Of cours e , t he SE; fi gur e s arc mi sl':;;9.din g, for our Sta ff r 8c e i Yed the Ble ssed Sacrament, the:: p ri e st is c oun t ed in, arid :1J cmy attend 6d s .3 ve r a l or e ven all s e rVIc e s. St i ll on e c a rino t help ~o nd e rlng how many pa ris h can ~ccount for t he I r communic a n ts a s cr2di t a b ly .) Af t e r th~ Ma ss of the D ~y, we had our usu a l archery cont e sl wi t h a crud81y dr&\'!TI rnount i::"1in shee!) os t a rg E.!t, and, C:igain, s omIJ exc ell ent scor e s p rov ed t ha t t he bo w and a r row a r e f a r from obsol e t e with these N ~ v a jos. Then the dinn er. We were un able to ge t mea t, but ther f wa s no a udibl E; grumbling over the vc g2 t CLri an meal of b c<;tns, pota to es, coffee and Nava jo bread. Tb i-; rJ ;:;,Dothe r:' movia show, which only half of those pr e s ent c ould a tt en d , due t o the limit 0d s pac e in the school house, and t hen the distributi on of c andy and gift s from y o u, our g ~ ne r ous dnd d epend a bl c~ fri ends . Finally thE. r c wa.s a gr ea t di s tri buti on of cloth lng, .:::.lso fr om y ou, and we hope tha t no Na va jo wi t hin many mil e s of the Mission will be cold this wint er for l ~ ck o f a d aquate_ covering. |