On this, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we all realize that Christmas is just a few days away! And, you will notice that the two Christmas trees – one at the St. Therese Shrine and one in the baptistery – that had been filled with about 300 tags suggesting gifts for women and children who will be spending Christmas at Mercy Hospice and Women of Hope – are gone; so are all the tags! Over the past few weeks, so many of you have so generously taken the tags and […]
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” These opening lines from today’s second reading capture the spirit of this, the third Sunday in Advent. This first sentence is the origin of our calling this Gaudete Sunday, after the Latin word, “Gaudete,” which means “Rejoice.” Now with three candles lit in our wreath and we priests wearing rose-colored vestments, we hear lessons that dance with delight, celebrating this joyous good news that the Lord is near. Paul is writing this letter to the Christians living in Philippi […]
As we see from the two candles lit on the wreath in front of me, Advent is well underway; how time flies! And, while the rest of the world seems already to be in the Christmas spirit, we first spend these forty days of Advent preparing to celebrate Christmas which, as most of the world seems to have forgotten, is the celebration of God coming in our midst in the person of Jesus Christ.
In fact, during this sacred season we are given the opportunity to reflect on the three […]
Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. (Baruch 5:1-4)
With these words that we hear at Mass today, the prophet Baruch helps to prepare us for the coming of our God. As Jerusalem […]
As Americans, we don’t often think about kings and queens and royalty. You may have recently read with mild interest about Queen Elizabeth, the 95-year-old beloved queen of England as she experiences some health issues. Other than that, who hears about kings or queens. It may surprise you to learn that there are currently 44 countries worldwide that have a king or queen, countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, Spain and New Zealand.
Of course, there aren’t really many true kings in the world today. After the […]