Pastor’s Weekly Letter: December 2, 2018

Pastor’s Weekly Letter: December 2, 2018

30 Nov 2018 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear friends,

This weekend marks the beginning of the Advent season. Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas and the final coming of Christ. This twofold preparation for welcoming God allows us the opportunity to reflect on the extent to which God will prove His love for us. All of the Christian mysteries begin with the birth of Christ and they certainly will culminate with the last judgment. This season, thus, has the feel of waiting. We wait for all sorts of things in life. The world waited for the Messiah to come, which we believed happened in the birth of Christ. We wait for appointments, human gatherings, personal celebrations, retirement, and certainly we wait for heaven. The challenge of the Advent season is to see our waiting as having eternal significance. No matter what the life situation, we wait in peace knowing that the fullness of God will be revealed to us. The confidence we have in our God should inspire us to see every day as an opportunity to live toward eternal fulfillment. May this Advent season give us the courage to invite Jesus anew into our lives, that our personal meaning and purpose compels us to live the Christian life. As usual, we have purchased the daily meditation books for the season of Advent. Please make use of these to aide in your celebration of Advent. Every day of the year has its own Mass in the liturgical cycle. Advent is one of those seasons in the Church that each Mass clearly continues the progressive theme toward the celebration of Christmas. Please feel free to join us for Mass at 7am or 8am each weekday. It’s a great way to start the day and to prepare for Christmas.

Saturday, December 8, 2018 is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It is a holy day of obligation. We will offer Mass on Friday, December 7 at 5:30pm as a vigil for the feast as well as 8am and 10am on Saturday morning. The 4:30pm evening Mass on Saturday, December 8 will be a vigil for the 2^nd Sunday of Advent. The Sundays of Advent are a higher ranking liturgical celebration than the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the Church doctrine that we believe the Blessed Virgin Mary to have been conceived in the womb of her mother, Anne, without the stain of original sin. Mary, from the moment of her conception, was kept free from sin in order that she might carry the Son of God, Jesus, in her womb. Not only is this a day when we can celebrate the fact that human life begins at conception, but also celebrate the true plan of God to bring salvation to the world. While Mary was not forced to be the Mother of God. She had to offer her free yes or “fiat” to be the Mother of God. She was miraculously kept free from sin in order to give her flesh to the sinless, Jesus Christ. We gather on December 8 to seek Mary’s intercession and the grace to live in union with the divine will of her son, Jesus.

God bless you,

Fr. David