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November 28, 2021Dear Parishioners,
This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone had a blessed day. Here at the parish we had the Mass at 9:00am. After the Mass we had our traditional blessing and handing out of bread for families. We purchased the bread from Bachini’s bakery, and it was donated by a parishioner. A big thank you for the donation!
This weekend we begin the Season of Advent! Last weekend we celebrated the solemnity of Christ the King of the universe. It marked the end of the liturgical year. We journeyed with Our Lord from his birth through his ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and into the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel to all the nations. Now we enter the season of Advent with all its many symbols and meanings.
The essential meaning of the season may be encapsulated by the terms anticipation or waiting. We anticipate the coming of the Messiah, the Lord, the return of the King. The term “advent” means “coming” and involves four weeks of preparation. We await two comings of Christ: (1) His Second Coming when he will judge the living and the dead at the end of time, (2) and we relive the period before Christ coming in the flesh in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Before Christ the world was in darkness, enslaved to the forces of sin and death.
The color of the season is purple like the season of Lent, albeit the purple of Advent is darker and has more of a blueish hue to it. St. John the Baptist gives us a reason for the color purple when he quotes Isaiah: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” Our paths are prepared and made straight by acts of repentance and conversion. Hence, similar to Lent, the season of Advent is meant to be a season of repentance and conversion to prepare for the coming of the Lord.
Living in the northern hemisphere the days get shorter while the darkness gets longer. The Advent wreath helps us to symbolically experience the darkness of the world without Christ. As we light the individual candle with each passing Sunday the darkness retreats because the light of the world is coming.
As part of our preparation for Christmas this Advent the parish is doing two things. First, Mr. Cole DeSantis will present three lessons on the meaning of Advent, the prophecies of Isaiah, the Incarnation, and the O Antiphons. He has just finished his degree in theology, so the material is still fresh in his mind (unlike yours truly who has been out of school for six years!). If you wonder why the Church celebrates Advent, or what it means to prepare for Christmas, then these presentations are for you! They will be held in the Church Hall at 5:00pm on November 28th, December 5th, and December 12th. Second, you will find an Advent Companion published by Magnificat at the entrances of the church. This little booklet has prayers, explanations, and the readings for the entire season. It should prove very helpful.
God bless,
Fr. Barrow
