Jesus in the Midst
December 2026
Matthew 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"
This month we will focus on Christ present in unity. Jesus in the Midst-when mutual love circulates among us, we experience Jesus’ presence.
Jesus in the Midst: When love becomes mutual, Jesus becomes present among us.
Jesus promised: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). This is more than an encouragement to gather for prayer. It reveals a profound mystery of Christian community: Christ himself can be present in the relationships among us.
When I love you with the love of Jesus, and you respond by loving me, something happens that neither of us can produce individually. A third reality emerges: Jesus in our midst.
This changes the way we understand community.
We do not gather merely to accomplish something for Jesus. We gather so that Jesus can live among us. Our meetings, ministries, families, friendships, parish groups and Hearths become places where his presence can be generated and recognized.
This also gives us a powerful examination of conscience: Is Jesus in the midst of us?
If he is absent, perhaps we need to ask whether we have stopped loving one another, stopped listening, stopped forgiving, stopped beginning again.
MONTHLY GATHERING:
Saturday, December 12, 2026
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Located in the Main Church
The speaker will be Fr. Richard McNeillie
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Rev. Richard McNeillie
Fr. Richard McNeillie is the Director of the Office of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, a ministry he has led since 2018. In this role, he accompanies men and women as they discern God’s call to priesthood, religious life, marriage, and other forms of Christian vocation, while also overseeing the care and formation of men preparing for the priesthood in the Archdiocese.
Fr. McNeillie has a particular passion for helping people recognize that God is not distant from their lives. Through retreats, discernment groups, prayer, Eucharistic adoration, parish and school outreach, and personal accompaniment, he helps young people and adults learn to listen for the voice of Christ and respond to His invitation. The Vocations Office’s vision is that every person might prayerfully discern and joyfully discover the vocation God has prepared for them.
His ministry has given him a unique perspective on the way Christ continues to work through His Church. In accompanying hundreds of people in moments of discernment, struggle, conversion, and decision, Fr. McNeillie has witnessed how Jesus makes Himself present through prayer, the Eucharist, Scripture, the sacraments, and especially through the people who accompany one another in faith.
Fr. McNeillie also writes and speaks on the spiritual life, vocation, discipleship, prayer, justice, and the Eucharistic and sacrificial dimensions of Christian life. His reflections consistently point back to the person of Jesus Christ and the invitation to follow Him with the whole of one’s life.
For Embers, Fr. McNeillie will speak on “Jesus in Our Midst,” inviting us to discover one of the beautiful mysteries of Christian community: that when we come together in His name and love one another with His love, Jesus Himself becomes present in our midst.