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December 12, 2024Dear friends in Christ,
Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent and we are more than halfway through this journey to the manger of the Lord. Let’s use these final 10 days to wait in joyful anticipation. As a people we don’t usually like to wait, whether it be in traffic, the doctor’s office, or at the grocery store. But Advent waiting is different and worth the effort. We light the rose-colored candle on our Advent wreath today as a joyful reminder of the two-fold coming of Christ at his birth and at the end of time. Today is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday from the Latin word meaning “rejoice.”
As we wait this week, amidst all the busyness of the season, let’s also take a look ahead at our upcoming Christmas schedule of masses. On Tuesday, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve masses will be at 4 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 12 midnight. On Wednesday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day masses will be at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. (The 11 a.m. Mass will be bilingual in both English and Spanish.) We will have overflow seating available in the Parish Hall, with communion brought over, for all masses. Note as well that both the Midnight Mass and the 9 a.m. Mass on Christmas Day will be livestreamed, and caroling will start 30 minutes before each Mass. For those with small children, the nursery will be open for the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve mass only.
While we still have a few more weeks before the calendar flips to 2025, I want to alert you to the upcoming discernment for new members of our Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) on Thursday, Jan. 23 beginning at 6:30 p.m. The PPC is an advisory board to me as pastor of the parish and is one of the chief ways that the parishioners participate in the life and mission of the Church. We have an excellent PPC at the moment and I have benefited greatly from their collective wisdom the past several years. We all owe the current PPC a tremendous amount of gratitude for their service.
The PPC is composed of 12 parishioners and we rotate membership every year to get new people and new ideas involved. We try to keep a balance of nine discerned members and three appointees. A process of discernment has become the normative way that pastoral councils are filled throughout the country. Though it takes a few hours to complete, it allows all participating to share in the experience and, most importantly, allows the Holy Spirit to guide the collective wisdom of those discerning. It soon becomes clear who the Spirit is calling to serve in this ministry.
It is important to note that members of the PPC are expected to be attentive to the needs of the entire community. They must work on behalf of all, not just their favorite areas of interest. They are a representative body, not a body of representatives. They serve in a consultative role only and have no decision-making authority. They do not deal with the day-to-day operations of the parish, but rather are to be “forward-looking” in their role. They help identify present and future needs of the parishioners and consult with me on ways we can best achieve those goals.
To be a member of the PPC, one must be an active registered parishioner with a demonstrated commitment to the life of the parish. You must be fully initiated in the sacraments, and if married, be in a Catholic marriage. A PPC member must also be willing to engage in spiritual growth and skills development to best serve on the council, and I think it goes without saying that you must be willing to commit to working collaboratively with others. The PPC meets once a month, but there are often other responsibilities associated with the council that require time and preparation.
If you would like to participate, please contact me in the office ([email protected]) or catch me in the Narthex as you are leaving Mass. If you would like to nominate someone to go through the discernment, please let me know so that we might invite them to attend the discernment. I’m hopeful we will have a good group of parishioners on Thursday, Jan. 23 from 6:30 – 9 p.m. in Room 111 of the Parish Office Building. Also, please feel free to ask any current PPC member any questions you might have about the council. You’ll find them at most every Mass wearing a PPC name badge.
We delivered the many, many toys you donated for the children at Assumption Church yesterday. Thank you for your generosity! Due to early publication deadlines for this week’s bulletin, I’ll have a report for you about it in a couple of weeks, but if you didn’t drop off your gift on time and still would like to do so this week, we’ll gladly take them and distribute them to Cypress Assistance Ministry for last-minute requests that come in. We’ll do the same as well for our Christmas gift card program for CAM. Bring your cards by the office this week and we’ll get those local families in need of a little extra assistance this time of year.
Lastly, please note that we will not have confessions or evening Mass this Wednesday, Dec. 18, as both Fr. Vincent and I will be joining our brother priests at Cardinal DiNardo’s annual Advent Vespers and dinner for the priests of the Archdiocese. We will have 9 a.m. Mass that morning, however.
Peace,
Fr. Sean