News - December 2023 RSS Feed

On this last Sunday of the year and the last day of the year, we are still celebrating the Christmas season. Today, we can celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. This celebration is assigned to the Sunday within the octave of Christmas. When Jesus was born into the world, He was born into a family—a model for us all to imitate. As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, here are a few questions for our personal reflection. Do we love and respect our children as Joseph and Mary did their Son? Do we love and honor our parents as Jesus did His own? Do we nurture the bonds in our family as the Holy Family did? On this last day of 2023 let us pray to the Holy Family for guidance and support in the year ahead.

We have a very short Fourth Week of Advent this year—only twenty-four (24) hours. This Sunday we read the story of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary about the birth of Jesus. This story is found only in Luke’s Gospel. On this fourth Sunday of Advent, the liturgy shifts our attention from John the Baptist to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Both John and Mary serve as important figures for our reflection during the season of Advent; they both played instrumental roles in preparing the way for Jesus. Last week we reflected on John the Baptist’s announcement that the Savior was among us, although not yet recognized.

This Sunday’s Gospel invites us to continue our reflection on the person and mission of John the Baptist. Today we depart from the Gospel of Mark and read a selection from the Gospel of John. The Gospel for today combines a brief passage from the prologue to John’s Gospel with a report about John the Baptist. As in Mark’s Gospel, the Gospel of John contains no birth narrative. Instead, John’s Gospel begins with a theological reflection that has come to be called the “prologue.” This prologue places the story of Jesus in its cosmological framework. It speaks of Jesus’ existence with God since the beginning of time. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the culmination of the Word, the light that is coming into the world’s darkness.

The Giving Tree will be in church this weekend. Wrapped gifts with ornament tags must be returned to the rectory no later than December 13th .

Today’s Gospel is taken from the beginning of Mark. Unlike Luke and Matthew, Mark does not include any details of Jesus’ birth. Instead, Mark begins with the appearance of John the Baptist in the desert. On this Second Sunday of Advent, we are invited to reflect upon the role of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus and the salvation that He would bring to us. John the Baptist is presented to us as a model during Advent. We, too, are called upon to prepare a way for the Lord. Like John the Baptist, we are messengers in service to one who is greater than we are. Our Baptism commissions us to call other to life as disciples of Jesus.

Mass Schedule: Thursday, December 7 -  Vigil Mass 5:00 P.M. Friday, December 8 - 6:30 A.M.,10:00 A.M. & 6:00 P.M.

Today we begin the season of Advent, which marks the start of a new liturgical year for the Church. The readings for Sunday Mass are arranged on a three-year cycle. Each year features a different Gospel— Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Readings from the Gospel of John are interspersed throughout all three years. With this year’s first Sunday of Advent, we begin Cycle B of the Lectionary, which focuses our attention on the Gospel of Mark. This week and next week, our readings from Mark’s Gospel present two important Advent themes: the Lord’s return at the end of time and John the Baptist’s preparation for Jesus. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Advent is about more than our preparation for the Church’s celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas. Advent is also about preparing ourselves for Christ’s return in glory at the end of time. Like the disciples and the faithful in Mark’s community, we must also stay alert and watchful. Our faithfulness to God, through the good times as well as the difficult times, shows us to be ready for the coming of the Son of Man.