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November 29, 2023Dear friends in Christ,
As we begin the four-week season of Advent this weekend, we are called to wait joyfully for the Lord. We know Christmas is near. The Thanksgiving holiday is behind us and many of us are probably already in high gear in terms of preparations for Christmas. We know it’s always a stressful time. Why not make a “liturgical new year resolution” to wait patiently? While everyone else is speeding up, try slowing down and listening to the voice crying out in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
Our Advent wreath is blessed on Sunday and the first candle is lit to remind us of the coming of the light of Christ. Let us not allow the darkness of the world to overshadow that light. It has been entrusted to us to be kept burning brightly. Just as we light our trees and homes these days, do not fail to show forth the light of Christ in all you say and do in these coming weeks.
One liturgical note for Advent: As has become our custom, we will profess the Apostles’ Creed during these four weeks of this holy season. The Church gives us the option of saying either the Nicene Creed (which we do most of the Sundays of the year) or the Apostles’ Creed. It’s probably the one you learned first as a child so it seems appropriate to focus on it during this time of active waiting for the Lord.
Since Advent starts a bit later this year the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is coming up sooner than we might expect. It’s this Friday, Dec. 8 and it is a holy day of obligation. We’ll celebrate Mass on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 5 p.m., and on Friday, Dec. 8 at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. (The school will have a separate Mass in the afternoon.) It is under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception that the United States of America has been dedicated as well as our Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. While the Blessed Virgin Mary has many titles and days dedicated to her, the Immaculate Conception is supreme. As with all holy days of obligations, our parish offices will be closed on this day. In addition, please note that we will not have confessions or Mass this Wednesday, Dec. 6 in the evening as both Fr. Vincent and I will be at Cardinal DiNardo’s Advent Vespers and dinner for the priests of the Archdiocese. We will have 9 a.m. Mass that morning, however.
Let’s take a look ahead to the Christmas schedule. It’s a bit unusual as we are going to have to do our Advent waiting in a hurry! The 4th Sunday of Advent falls on Dec. 24, meaning we’ll have only a few hours to celebrate the last week of Advent before immediately transitioning into the season of Christmas later that same day. On Sunday, Dec. 24 we’ll celebrate just two morning masses at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. – there will not be an 11 a.m. Mass on Dec. 24 so that we can set up the church for the Christmas masses that follow beginning in the afternoon.
To be clear the obligation to attend Mass extends to both the 4th Sunday of Advent and to Christmas Day. You can’t “double dip” and count two-for-one because they are two different celebrations. Perhaps you might like to come to the 5 p.m. vigil Mass on Saturday, Dec. 23, and then again on Sunday afternoon or evening for Christmas. Or once in the morning and once again in the evening. Regardless, plan now in advance how you and your family can attend both Masses. We’ve got plenty of opportunities to do so.
Our Christmas Mass schedule is as follows:- Sunday, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve:
- 4 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 12 midnight, and
- Monday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day:
- 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. (bilingual).
In fact, I might encourage you to consider the 8:30 p.m. Mass, or, of course, the great Midnight Mass, particularly for those who ordinarily come to the earlier masses. The 4 p.m. Mass is always extremely crowded with more than 2,500 people and the 6:30 p.m. is also very popular. Or consider coming to one of the two masses offered on Christmas morning, because while they are usually full, they are not often overcrowded. You’ve got two choices that morning at either 9 or 11 a.m. (the latter will be in both English and Spanish), and I find them to be especially spiritual. There’s just something special about waking up on Christmas morning, getting dressed up (this is a day to get “decked out,” so to speak), and coming to pray at the crèche of the Lord.
With all those masses we will be stretched thin on ministers to help cover the many needs of the liturgy. In particular I’m asking our Eucharistic Ministers of Holy Communion, Ushers, and Greeters to please sign up in advance to assist at one (or two) masses if at all possible. We’ll have a lot of visitors with us and we need your presence, please. We’ll also have opportunities to assist with the Art and Environment set-up in the Church. That’s always a special thing to do and given the short time between the end of Advent and the start of Christmas we’ll need extra help this year. I’ll have more information in the next couple of weeks of how you can help, but consider giving of your time to assist our wonderful team of volunteers.
As you are busy doing your shopping, remember that we will once again have our toy and gift drive, though this year we’ll be partnering with Assumption Catholic Church off I-45 and W. Little York instead of Our Mother of Mercy Church, which has requested not to participate this year. You may recall that Fr. Osas Onaiwu from Assumption was a missionary speaker here a few years ago, and he was overjoyed when I asked him if we could bring toys to the children in his community. They’ve never had a gift giving experience at Christmas, he said, and so we’re more than happy to help them do so this year. We’ll collect the gifts (unwrapped, please) at Mass the next two weekends (or you may order them via an Amazon link on our website) and deliver them to Assumption (date and time still to be finalized) for distribution to children in the parish and surrounding community. Plan now when you are at the store to pick up an extra item or two that might brighten the day of a young boy or girl at Assumption Church.
A little closer to home we will again be participating in collecting Christmas gift cards for Cypress Assistance Ministries in our Giving Tree project. For those new to this endeavor, we ask you to bring a gift card from a local merchant (think Wal-Mart, Target, etc. as they seem to be the most popular options) of any denomination over the next two weeks. We’ll get them to CAM right away for distribution to many needy families in the area to help brighten their Christmas. The requests for assistance have spiked this year, and your gift cards will be a most welcome addition to the food and other items that will be distributed by CAM.
Peace, Fr. Sean - Sunday, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve: