On the middle two Sundays of Advent each year, St. John the Baptist takes center stage. In today’s gospel reading, Luke introduces us to John by quoting from Isaiah the Prophet: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths….”” This is the essence of John’s preaching and meaning of the baptism he administers. As Luke says, the Baptist “went through the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins...” To repent literally means to feel such dissatisfaction over our past actions or ways of life that we resolve to change our ways. As we continue the Advent journey we, too, must be sincere in our desire to reform our lives and our world. We should feel such genuine dissatisfaction with the sinfulness in our lives and in our world that we commit ourselves to authentic transformation. We can and should never be satisfied with the status quo. We must open ourselves more fully to the grace of Jesus Christ that his light may shine into the dark corners of our lives to dispel our sinfulness. Then, with Christ’s light shining in us, we may bring that light to bear in our world that injustice, violence, and hatred may give way to the peace, love, and joy of God.
On Monday the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast has its origins in the seventh century, when it was known as the “Conception of Mary by St. Anne”; Pope Clement XI established this solemnity for the universal Church in 1708. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. The Blessed Virgin Mary, under this title, is the patroness of the United States—among many other countries—therefore, this feast is always celebrated as a holyday of obligation in our country, regardless of which day of the week it falls.
Holyday Masses on Monday will be at 9:00AM and 12:10PM at Holy Family and 8:00AM and 6:00PM at St. John. The Sunday Evening Mass at Holy Family is in the zone where our liturgical calendars collide—the sanctoral cycle (the anticipated Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception) overlaps with the proper of time (the Second Sunday of Advent). The 6:00PM Sunday Mass will feature the readings and Mass prayers for the Second Sunday of Advent; however, if you have attended Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday morning for the Second Sunday of Advent, attending the Sunday evening Mass will fulfill your holyday obligation. You cannot get a “twofer” however, by attending just the Sunday evening Mass. If you have not attended Mass earlier in the weekend, then the Sunday evening Mass covers your Sunday obligation but not your holyday obligation. If that sounds a bit bizarre or picayune to you, don’t blame me; I don’t make the rules, I just have to explain them. Also note, if you attend Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent on Sunday morning then attend the evening Mass, you can receive communion at both Masses, even if they are on the same day, because you are attending two separate celebrations.
Next Saturday 10 of our young parishioners will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the very first time. They are in this year’s sacramental preparation program and will be receiving first Holy Communion in the spring. Please keep these young members of our parish family and their families in your prayers this week as they prepare to take the next step on their journeys of faith.
Regional Penance Services begin next Tuesday, December 17; all the priests of our region will be present to hear confessions at these services. In addition to the penance services, individual confessions are scheduled as usual at both parishes next Saturday, December 14. Please note that because of the extremely busy and condensed schedule leading into Christmas week, there are no confessions scheduled at either parish on the afternoon of December 21 The last scheduled opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation before Christmas will be at the Regional Penance Service at Holy Family at 11:00AM on December 21.
On Thursday the Church in North and South America celebrates another beautiful feast of our Blessed Mother with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. For four days in early December 1531—just 39 years after Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the New World—the Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Aztec Indian convert, on the hill of Tepeyac, just outside Mexico City. Twice she instructed him to tell the bishop to erect a church at the site of her appearance but the bishop refused. When Our Lady appeared a third time she told St. Juan Diego to gather roses in his cape and present them to the bishop. During his second audience with the bishop, a miraculous, multi-colored image of the Blessed Mother appeared in place of the roses. It is only in this well-known image of the Virgin of Guadalupe that Mary appears as a pregnant woman, wearing a blue sash traditionally worn by expectant Aztec women. She also has a flower on her womb, an Aztec symbol of new life and a new era. [2012 Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons and Weekdays, p. 30] Pope Pius XII proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe as Patroness of the Americas in 1946 and in 1999 the celebration was raised in liturgical rank to a feast throughout the Western Hemisphere.
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