Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Fourth Sunday of Advent! We are now one week away from the great Feast of Christmas! We have been preparing. We have prayed many prayers. We have gone to Reconciliation. We have made sacrifices and performed works of charity and mercy. This week everything comes together as we get ready to celebrate the Incarnation next weekend. We are blessed this year, in that we get an entire week of the fourth week of Advent. Next year, will be the opposite extreme, when the Fourth Week of Advent will last only for a few hours. And so we should enjoy this whole week this year because we can.

Perhaps this week we could focus in on acts of charity and doing kind deeds for others. Once again, this is fairly counter-cultural. For most of our world, the general mindset is one of “What am I going to GET for Christmas?” To best prepare as Catholic Christians for next weekend’s Feast, perhaps for us, the much better question is: “What can I do and/or give this week to make somebody else’s life better, or happier, or to show them the love of Christ?” This should not be a selfish week. Instead, with every ounce of our being, this week, in final preparations for the birthday and the return of our Savior, we should be living, and concerned, and giving, for and to others. I promise you, the more that you get out of yourself this week, the more the next three weeks of our Christmas season are going to mean in your life. Jesus’ love compels us to care more about others than we do ourselves! How can you live that out in your life this coming week? What can you do? Who could you visit? What could you make? Who could you pray for? The possibilities are endless! We have a whole week to do good things for others. I do not care what the media and our advertising agencies say, the truth is that to have a Blessed and truly Merry Christmas next weekend, we need to concentrate on what we, ourselves, can do and give this week. It’s not about us! It’s not about what we’re going to get out of the “holiday”. Nothing will fulfill you like doing and giving for others. That generous love was at the heart of what God our Father did two-thousand years ago in Bethlehem. The Father didn’t send His Son to this world to suffer and die for us, because of what He was going to get back out of His Gift. The Gift was freely given. The Gift was offered to ALL. The Gift could be rejected, or unopened, or returned. What we would do with God’s Gift of His Son Jesus would not dictate what God was going to do in His generosity. And neither can we let others dictate what WE do in our generosity. We have been given an extraordinary example of love and generosity! How can that not change us? How can we be “unaffected” by what our God has done for us?

Early yesterday morning, the two rooms at the back of the Parish complex that were serving as storage for the Advent Angel Tree program were both completely full of gifts for others. All of us took very seriously the challenge to help out our brothers and sisters in need this Christmas. I am so proud of everyone who helped out, and who bought and wrapped presents, or who got the food ready to go, or who helped deliver the food and gifts to the families who need them this Christmas. This effort takes an army of people! Thanks to everyone for all that they did. Thanks in a special way to Anita and Mark Wojda, who so generously head up our HELP Committee, and who provided so much of the organization for this effort. Just look at how many people were helped this year! It is truly amazing and is a tribute to the awesome generosity of this Parish family. Thank you.

You may have noticed that in the last few weeks in our petitions at Mass, we have been praying for all of those for whom the Christmas season is a difficult time of the year – especially for those who are separated from, or who have lost loved ones in recent years. I’d like to challenge all of us to remember these folks in our prayers this week and next. For many, these are not happy or joyful days. We need to all remember that and to pray for these brothers and sisters. Someday, we may all have to face the holidays in similar situations. It’s not easy. Our prayers and our love and support can help. The Christ-child was born so that down the road, in eternity, we would not have to be separated from one another, but so that we could all be together forever with the Lord. We all look forward to that day!

Next weekend, please be aware that we will be using our Christmas Mass schedule, even though Christmas falls on Sunday. Our Masses next weekend will be at 5:00 PM, and at 7:00 PM on Christmas Eve, and at Midnight and 10:00 AM on Christmas Day. THERE WILL NOT BE AN 8:00 AM or 5:00 PM MASS NEXT SUNDAY. The following weekend, for New Year’s Day and the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, we will be using our regular Sunday schedule.

Fr. Dale and I are both praying for all of you as we enter into this final week of preparation. If you are going to be traveling next weekend, please have a safe trip, and remember us and your Parish family in your prayers wherever you are next weekend. God bless you and keep you safe! Have a great week!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Kindness is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.