The Second Sunday of Advent
Today is the second Sunday of Advent and our focus is the wild man of the desert, John the Baptist! He calls us to repentance. We begin every celebration of the Eucharist by calling to mind our sins. There is nothing negative about the Penitential Rite of the Mass. It is the continual call to conversion. We do not want any part of our lives to remain untouched by God’s grace, by Christ’s presence. While Advent does not have the same penitential aspect as Lent, it is a season of opportunity. The opportunity to open our lives to the healing presence of Christ, the Word made flesh. The Eucharist is a sacrament of healing and forgiveness: “Lord, only say the word and I will be healed.” John’s call to repentance prepared the Way of the Lord. In the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter ‘Living Eucharist: Gathered, Nourished, Sent’ we are invited to prepare for Mass before leaving home for Church. The Bishop writes (page 7): “People should ask themselves what challenges, sorrows and joys they bring to the Lord this week. Even if one has avoided serious sin, this preparation should include a few moments spent considering our failures, oversights and neglect of others and of the Lord, so that these too can be presented to the Church with a humble request for God’s love, mercy and healing.” May we always recognize that the Eucharist is a Sacrament of forgiveness, mercy and healing.
Tomorrow (Monday) is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which is a holy day of obligation. Mass is celebrated at 7, 9am and 7pm. Mary Immaculate is the patroness of the United States. We pray for her motherly care and protection. This solemnity is well suited to the Advent season. We see the hand of God preparing the way for his Son, choosing Mary, and keeping her free from sin from the very moment of her conception. Pope Benedict urges the Church to look toward Mary who “stands before us as a sign of comfort, encouragement and hope. She turns to us saying: Have the courage to dare with God! Try it! Do not be afraid of him! Have the courage to risk with faith! Have the courage to risk with goodness! Have the courage to risk with a pure heart! Commit yourselves to God, then you will see that it is precisely by doing so that your life will become broad and light, not boring but filled with infinite surprises, for God’s infinite goodness is never depleted!”
We welcome Father Jim McKarns to our parish. Father Jim will be speaking at all the Sunday Masses inviting us to the Advent Mission which begins on Tuesday, December 9th. The main mission service will take place on Tuesday – Thursday at 7pm. Come and discover the Nine Habits of Highly Successful Christians. Invite your neighbors, family and friends. This mission will help us to prepare spiritually for the great feast of our salvation, the birth of Jesus Christ.
We are also in the midst of the Jubilee Year of St. Paul. It is 2,000 years since his birth. On Monday, December 8th, after the 9am Mass, Father Jim will give a special presentation on the life of St. Paul. He is inviting us to encounter Paul, the great missionary, in a very special and personal way. “From St. Paul we draw a very important lesson: what counts is to place Jesus Christ at the center of our lives, so that our identity is marked essentially by the encounter, by communion with Christ and with his Word”. (Pope Benedict).
Enjoy this beautiful season of hope and joy in the Lord!
- Fr. Gary Dowsey
