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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Fourth
Sunday of Advent! We’re almost there. Christmas is now around
forty-eight hours away, depending on what time you are reading
this. We’ve got another short fourth week of Advent this year. We
need to make the best use of our time today and tomorrow, as we make
our final preparations for Jesus’ birthday. More on that in just a
minute…
I cannot miss
the opportunity this week to thank EVERYBODY who helped with our
outreach to our brothers and sisters in need last Saturday. There
are just so many of those times when I am so proud of our community,
and certainly one of those times was last Saturday morning. As you
heard at Mass last weekend, those of you who were able to make it to
Mass last weekend, we delivered food and Christmas gifts to 165
local families in need. The Parish Hall looked like the North Pole
with all the gifts bagged and organized for delivery. There were
stacks of pies from Market Day that had been purchased by us, not
for ourselves, but for others! There was a row of shiny new bikes,
and boxes full of food, and most of all, there was a perceivable
aura of love, that went with every gift, and every box of food, and
every car or truck or minivan or SUV that drove away from our drive
to deliver these “gifts” to their recipients. I am so moved all
over again just writing about it! Last Saturday morning, to see
hundreds of us come together to make this happen was just a very
proud moment for this priest. And yeah, I had tears in my eyes
again when I saw so many different people from so many different
walks of life come together out of Faith and love. And I know it
wasn’t just last Saturday morning. Ann and Mike Brown, Kendra and
Jerry Geis, Peggy and Ken Norus, Suzanne and Tom Oliger, Ron and
Kathy Pelletier, and several others had been getting ready for last
Saturday morning for months! Thank you for giving our community the
opportunity to do that much good! Thanks to everybody who helped
wrap gifts, shopped for them, and organize them. Thanks to our Boy
Scouts and our Girl Scouts, the Holy Name Society, the Temple
Knights of the Holy Eucharist, our PRE students, our St. Maria
Goretti School students, the girls from the Little Flowers group,
the Angel Writers, and the volunteers from the Shepherd’s Gate Food
Pantry who ALL volunteered their time to make this happen. It was
an awe-inspiring day that not even the snow and ice could dampen.
Thank you!
…So, what
are you going to do with this “abbreviated” Fourth Week of Advent?
Well, we’ve got to decide quickly, because it’s here and it’s going
fast. Want some ideas? Here are a few…
1. Eucharistic
Adoration continues in the Holy Spirit Chapel until 3:00 PM tomorrow
or Christmas Eve. Wouldn’t it be great to stop in the Chapel with
the whole family to make a visit, to tell Jesus “Happy Birthday”, or
just to check in with Him before all the Christmas “stuff” gets
going? Can’t bring the whole family? Then bring a friend or just
stop in yourself to spend some time with the “Birthday Boy” Himself.
2. Tonight,
after the 5:00 PM Mass, the Liturgical Decorating Committee will
start decorating the main Sanctuary for our Feast of Christmas.
There are lots of things to carry and move. You don’t have to have
an artist eye for decorating to lend a hand. How about stopping by
and helping out for a while? It’s a big job and it goes a lot
quicker with many hands, arms, legs, and hearts.
3. Every
nursing home and assisted-living facility in the county have been
over-visited during this month of December with choirs, and church
groups, and school organizations. But a funny thing happens these
last few hours before Christmas, and that’s that everybody
disappears to spend time with his or her families. What about those
left behind without families or friends? Nursing homes can be
terribly lonely places on Christmas Eve and Christmas. What if YOU
stopped by and said “hello” or introduced yourself to someone who
just might be waiting for YOU to come and ease their pain? Come on,
you could find the time to do it IF you wanted to. You don’t have
to see everybody. You don’t have to stay all day. You don’t have
to know anybody. Make a new friend. And if you think that things
slow down on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a nursing home,
let’s not forget the other eleven months out of the year! It’s not
fair that we all rush to the nursing homes during December with our
cookies and cutout Christmas cards to make ourselves feel good, and
then we abandon and forget the already forgotten members of our
society, the rest of year. How about making visiting someone in a
nursing home one of your New Year’s Resolutions?
4. What
about praying a Rosary together as a family sometime before
Christmas? What a great time to remember Mary and her role in the
Incarnation.
Finally, how about
just spending some time with YOUR own family? We don’t get enough
time together as families. Get out a board game. String some
popcorn. Put a jigsaw puzzle together. Play cards. Watch “It’s a
Wonderful Life” for the hundredth time. Or just sit around the
kitchen table and share each other’s stories of your favorite things
about past Christmases. You’ll be surprised at what your kids
remember!
Christmas is
almost here! This is going to be awesome! From all of us at St.
Maria Goretti, have a very Blessed and Merry Christmas! We’ll see
you back here tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
“He became what we
are that He might make us what He is.”
St. Athanasius
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