1st Week of Advent

11-28-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Michael Straley

We are beginning Advent; for the Church this is the beginning of a new liturgical year. Advent is the time of preparation to receive the gift of the Incarnation of the our Lord. It is not Christmas yet! I usually advise our groups to celebrate Advent rather than Christmas. For Catholics, Christmas is a season following the birth of our Lord. For secular folks, Christmas starts sometime in the Fall and concludes with Christmas Day.

This year, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, falls on Wednesday. This is the patronal feast of the United States and is always a Day of Obligation to the attend Mass. We will not have confessions on that Wednesday due to the evening Mass.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12, falls on a Sunday. This is the patronal feast of our diocese. Since is it a Sunday, the Lord’s Day, we do not celebrate the feast at every Mass, however, we will include her in our 9 am Mass, and will be having a brunch after Mass. Also that day, our Advent Concert will be at 3 pm in the Parish Center.

On Wednesday, December 15, we will have a Day of Prayer, and Julie Carrick will return to share with us. She will speak both at 11 am and 6 pm. There will also be no confessions that day. We will have extra confessors available Saturday, December 18 since Christmas Day is on Saturday, December 25 and there will be no confessions that day. Finally, the Feast of Mary the Mother of God falls on a Saturday and is not a day of obligation.

I know that is a lot of change during the season so I wanted to make you aware of it at that start of Advent; please mark your Calendars.

Finally, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has called for a Synod in 2023. Our parish preparation for the Synod will begin soon and we will have more information in the bulletin as plans develop.