This second week of Advent finds us still waiting and watching for the coming of the Lord, but we get a most welcomed visitor today – John the Baptist. We read at the start of the Gospel of St. Mark (1:1-8) that he comes from the desert to prepare the way of the Lord, and while he was by all accounts a bit eccentric, his message is as timely today as it was some 2,000 years ago. Let us heed his message to repent, and, as we go about busily preparing our Christmas lists and making plans for the holidays, be sure to equally prepare your hearts to welcome the coming of the King of Kings.
It’s an exciting week for us at CtR as we look forward to the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tuesday, Dec. 12, and the dedication of our new Marian Prayer Garden. If your schedule permits that morning, please join us for this special celebration that begins with Mass in the church at 9 a.m. and concludes with a procession to the garden for the dedication. We’ve all seen the construction for the past six months, so what a joy it will be to finally gather in this beautiful new prayer space that will serve our community for generations to come.
You will recall that this is the fruit of our efforts in the Ignite Capital Campaign of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston from a few years ago. Through the generosity of your pledges, our portion of the money raised in Ignite funded this new construction project. Having focused heavily on physical growth over the past 20 years with the building of a new Church, new Parish Hall, new School and Religious Education building, new Activity Center with gym and auditorium, we this time focused on increasing our spiritual development by expanding our existing Prayer Garden to include places for personal prayer and devotion.
The new space includes a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and, next to it, a Sorrowful Garden where we will move the statue of the Pieta from its place in the original garden. These are the first two parts of a planned four-part expansion that will ultimately include a Resurrection Garden and a Marian Grotto. The centerpiece of the new space features a newly commissioned statue of Our Lady from Wiktor Szostalo, the artist that created the corpus of Jesus that hangs on the crucifix in the main church as well as our Stations of the Cross. She was put in place this past Monday and let me tell you, it’s truly a work of art. I have no doubt that this will become a very popular place for prayer, and once word gets out in the local Catholic community throughout the Archdiocese I have no doubt that many people will make a pilgrimage here to see it.
So please join us on Tuesday for Mass and the dedication followed by a reception in the Community Center. If you can’t join us on Tuesday, consider coming to the vigil Mass (in Spanish) on Monday at 7 p.m. where we will honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, first with the traditional matachines dance on the plaza at 6:30 p.m. prior to Mass, and then followed by a grand fiesta with a play representing the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe and reception in the Parish Hall. All are welcome.
As mentioned last week we are Assumption Catholic Church by collecting Christmas gifts for the children of that community. We invite you to bring an unwrapped toy and drop it in the narthex, or use our Amazon Wish List at www.ctrcc.com/adventoutreach to have it sent directly to the office. The gift need not be elaborate or extreme, but simply from the heart. The children range in age from just a few years old up to 17, but the bulk are in the 5-15 age range. What do they want? Well, just about whatever any child wants. Feel free to use your imagination, or consult an expert by asking the closest kid you can find! It’s a safe bet that the children of Assumption parish would welcome the same type of gifts. Act quickly, however, as we will deliver the toys next Saturday, Dec. 16. If you’d like to help with the distribution (the best part) at Assumption, see the volunteer sign-up link on the same website page.
Closer to home we are again collecting gift cards to be distributed through Cypress Assistance Ministries (CAM). Drop off a gift card to a local merchant (Wal-Mart, Target, and HEB gift cards seem to be the most popular as they can be used for a variety of items) in the narthex at church or in the office and we’ll distribute them through CAM. It’s a great way to help out those in need in our community and be part of the Christmas spirit.