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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Welcome to our Third Sunday of our Advent Season, “The Pink One”, as some of our
children call it. This Sunday’s official name is Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete
is Latin for “rejoice”). The liturgical color for the day is officially
“Rose”. I still say they call it
Rose
to make it more of a natural color, an earth tone, so to speak, to make it more
palatable for an all-male priesthood to actually wear the vestments of the day.
But then again, as you well know, I more than a little prejudiced about this
particular Sunday. Today we do rejoice in the fact that we are now more than
half-way to the Great Feast of Christmas! Our joy and our expectation increase,
as we get closer to our celebration of the Incarnation. Now is the time to
begin getting ready for Christmas. It is still NOT Christmas yet. But
hopefully we have done much of the “interior” work, and I’m not talking about
inside the house, I’m talking about in our hearts and souls, so that now we can
start some of the other preparations for Christmas. This Thursday, Advent goes
into “over-drive” in our readings and prayers, as everything in the Church turns
specifically to the story of the Nativity of our Savior. We are getting closer
by the day!
Also
this Thursday, December 17th,
St. Maria Goretti will be having its Advent Penance service at 7:00 PM in the
main sanctuary. Several priests of the Deanery will be here to help us to
celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I cannot stress enough how much you
need to be here on Thursday night. We all should go to Confession at some time
during Advent in preparation for Christmas. We really need to take advantage of
these penance services when they are offered. Fr. Dale and I could hear
Confessions ALL DAY on Saturdays during Advent, and it still wouldn’t be enough
to get everybody the chance to go to Reconciliation. A parish in our situation,
with lots of people and few priests, really need to take advantage of these
opportunities. In addition to ours, St. Louis De Montfort in Fishers is having
theirs this Tuesday evening, Dec. 15th.
And the final two penance services in the Deanery are offered next week. St.
John Vianney will have theirs in their new church building, on Monday evening,
Dec. 21st.
And St. Elizabeth Seton will have theirs on Tuesday evening, Dec. 22nd
at their church in Carmel. Please take advantage of one of these
opportunities. It will give you more joy and peace this Christmas than you
realize.
Today, as we light our third candle on our Advent, “the
pink
one”, we receive the gift of Joy. Joy is supposed to be an essential part of
being a Christian. When you think about it, we should be the most joy-filled
people around, because we know what this life is all about and we know where we
are going when this life is over, or at least where we hope to go. I’m not
talking about the “giddy joy” of some fake laugh-track on our favorite funny TV
show. Jesus invites to real, ever-lasting deep joy, the kind that the world
cannot give. And once you experience that kind of joy, there simply is no
other. God offers us all so much! We can have everything that we need to
thrive, to be happy, and to have peace in this world, and it is all free!!! You
don’t need a gift card. You don’t need to know somebody. You don’t need to
stand in line at the mall or wait in traffic at Clay Terrace or Castleton. God
is offering us real joy, the kind that lasts forever. Today we celebrate that
joy as a people who have been redeemed! It is awesome to behold!
How
do you live that joy out in your life? Sometimes, when you look at us Catholic
Christians, we don’t look very joyful. We don’t always act very joyful either.
Most of the great saints of our Church were wonderful people to be around. The
greatest secret about the saints is that, most of them, were happy and fun
people. They liked to joke, and have fun, and enjoy life. Read the life of St.
Philip Neri sometime. Their holiness and their joy, was contagious! You can’t
really express that very well on a holy card or lives of the saint’s book.
Their joy was complete. And so can ours be! Pray for the deep inner conversion
to have real joy! And may we show it in our lives and on our faces.
Hey
speaking of joy, the Altar Rosary Society is having their annual Bake Sale today
in the Parish Hall after our Saturday evening Mass and the two Sunday morning
Masses. Help support the ladies by stopping over and buying some dessert or
breakfast or snacks. It will add to your joy and you will be supporting a great
organization.
Have
an awesome week! We are so glad that you are here with us.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
“Faith is
taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
