Dear Friends,
I pray that your Thanksgiving Day was blessed and that you are having an enjoyable weekend as well. We have arrived at the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical year. Advent is the time of preparation, of anticipation, and of patient waiting upon the Lord. This does not invite us to sleepiness but rather active preparation.
Saint Paul, in our second reading this weekend, lets us know just what we are to be about, “…You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
For sure we will be called to increased busyness as these weeks unfold. But our preparations are not simply about the day of Christmas. Our preparations and our anticipation are for the day we meet the Lord in person, about the end of our life here on earth, about the end of time. Take the opportunity now to plan how you will spend these weeks of Advent, how you will prepare for this Christmas 2022, how you are preparing to encounter the Lord Jesus in His Sacraments, in personal prayer, in acts of repentance as we await His coming in glory.
May the words of the psalmist fill our souls with joy as we offer our praise to God. “I rejoiced because they said to me, "We will go up to the house of the LORD." And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem. …Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” The Lord wants to make His house within our souls. He knocks at the door of our soul and through His Sacraments, He pours out His grace, His life, His power to help us be all that He has created us to be. As Saint John Paul II urged us, “Open wide the doors to Christ!” today and every day.
Hope to see you at our annual Christmas Tree Blessing and Lighting this Monday evening at 6:30 pm at Church.
God bless you, God love you,
Monsignor McCulken
