Third Sunday of Advent

Dear Parishioners,

     It is hard to think of Advent as a penitential season. We eat and party to excess this time of year.  We run around buying presents and we do not take the quiet time we need to reflect on the wonderful dogma of the Incarnation.  Perhaps the last thing on our mind is our spiritual lives. 

     We have a chance this week to slow down, to reflect and to receive the forgiveness that we so desperately desire.  We will be having our Advent Reconciliation Service on Monday night at 7 p.m. Confessions will be heard in the context of a prayer service with scripture, music and an examination of Conscience.  There will also be a service at Christ the King at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

     Some of the most spiritual moments I have enjoyed as a priest have been in the context of Reconciliation.  I had a couple of such moments recently.  We celebrated the sacrament of Reconciliation at Alleman High School last week. On two days about ten priests heard the confessions of the students.  Everyone went to the gym and prayed and silently reflected. We might think that there would not be that much interest among teens.  But I would say that almost every student in the school made their confession.  They really took this seriously.

     This proved to me, once again, that everyone has a hunger to receive God’s forgiving love.  It is a fact, that we cannot grow in faith until we experience purgation, of leaving our sins behind.

     I would encourage everyone to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation this week so that we all may experience true Christmas joy.  This happiness does not come in a box with a ribbon on it, but from the knowledge that we are loved and forgiven.

Blessings,

Fr. Mark

P.S. Perhaps you are wondering when our sound system will be worked on. We have been announcing this for the last couple of years.  We are going to put in some new speakers. We have contracted with a sound company and had hoped to get this work done before Christmas, but the speakers are on back order.  We will probably be doing this work in January now.  This will be about a $25,000 project and it is being funded by a bequest, our Heart to Heart Fund and by our endowment.  Hopefully, in the end, we will all hear better.  At present, the priests who sit at the presider’s chair even have a hard time hearing.

P.P.S. We’ll have extra hours of Reconciliation this week on Wednesday and Thursday night from 5 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. in the church.  This is an opportunity for you to receive the sacrament if you cannot come at another time.