Fr. Sean's Weekly Column

Dear friends in Christ,
Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and our last full week of this great time of waiting for the Lord. Next week we have the 4th Sunday of Advent on Dec. 23 and then, just a day later, Christmas will be upon us. Let’s use this week 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 in line 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.”

Dear friends in Christ,
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. He comes seemingly out of nowhere 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, let us prepare our hearts as well to welcome the coming of the King of Kings.

Dear friends in Christ,
As we begin the four-week season of Advent today 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 as well that it’s often a time when our nerves can easily fray and we feel stress more acutely. Why not make a “liturgical new year resolution” to wait patiently? While everyone else is speeding up, try slowing down and listening for the voice crying out in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Dear friends in Christ,
Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Church’s liturgical calendar. Next week we begin the great season of holy waiting, Advent. But before then we honor Christ as our King. Not an earthly king of physical and political power and might, however, but a king who lays down his life in service to all.

Dear friends in Christ, Welcome to our 10th anniversary weekend celebration of the dedication of the “new” church at Christ the Redeemer. I put “new” in quotes because while our present church building is relatively new at 10 years of age, our parish is in its 38th year. (And, yes, we’re already planning on a big parish-wide 40th anniversary celebration in 2020.)