As we all finish our leftovers from Thanksgiving, we find ourselves entering the season of Advent. We are reaching the end of the calendar year, but for the Church, this is just the beginning of the liturgical year. It is the first Sunday of Advent and time to light that first candle on the Advent wreath.
Sometimes it seems so contradictory to start something new when we are so close to the end of the calendar year. But yet it makes sense in our spiritual lives. We need to renew ourselves, we need to prepare ourselves for the upcoming celebration of Christmas. When Mary said “yes” to the angel that she would be the mother of God, the world would change forever. We would have a chance to see how we could come closer to God through His Son Jesus. Our Lord would show us a whole new way to live, bringing a message of hope to every nation, to every person. The message that God intended to bring to the world through His Son would indeed be life changing and help us to break free from sin.
Lighting that first candle of the Advent wreath reminds us of the virtue of this first week of Advent: Hope! When we light that candle, it brings us out of darkness into the light that Christ will bring to the world. No more will sin and sorrow triumph. Instead, we will see how Christ will change the world we live in. It is also hope for what is to come. This world is not the end, but the Lord promises that we can be with Him in the promise of Heaven. Our upcoming celebration of Christmas leads us on our journey to Easter. Let us make the most of these weeks of Advent so that our hearts will be ready to receive the Christ child into our lives once again.
Our parishes of the Central Deanery (Kalamazoo area) will begin to have our Advent penance services this week. Our St Catherine penance service is this coming Wednesday, December 3rd at 6:30 PM. Our area priests will be assisting each other to provide confessions to our parishes. If this is not a convenient time, please check the schedule in the bulletin for additional penance services in the area. In addition to this, we will continue to have our Saturday morning confessions at 11 AM until all are heard.
One final thing that I would like to let you know about. A second documentary has been made by the Vatican News on our Holy Father: “Leo from Chicago” -Documentary. The full version is a YouTube video on Vatican News. It’s fun to watch and see the Holy Father’s origins in Chicago and how he has become our Pope Leo XIV. Thanks for reading!