Dear Parishioners:
We continue the Season of Advent and with it our prayerful and joyful anticipation of the coming of Christ. It is a time for us to be more patient, more prayerful, more charitable and more hopeful. As we ready ourselves for the joy of Christmas this year, let’s live Advent well and remember why we’re supposed to be joyful and hopeful. In the end, Christmas is not about the gifts, the carols or the parties, as joyful as these might be for us. Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who brings meaning and hope to a world that needs redemption. In Christ, and only in Him, is our hope
Last week Pope Francis visited the town of Greccio, Italy. It is the site of the first Nativity Scene, first instituted by St. Francis of Assisi. While there the Holy Father offered a brief reflection in which he called on the faithful to be like Mary and to let Jesus transform us and our ways of thinking. He said: “Let us identify ourselves with Mary, who places her Son in the manger, because there was no room in a house. With Her and with Saint Joseph, her husband, we have our gaze turned to the Child Jesus.”
Also while there, the Holy Father signed and issued a wonderful Apostolic Letter on the Nativity Scene, entitled Admirabile Signum, meaning “A Wonderful Sign” in Latin. In the letter, the Pontiff encourages all people to set up the nativity at home as a family, but also to set them up in schools, workplaces, hospitals, prisons and town squares. We know that it is now legally prohibited to put up the crèche at government buildings, so all the more reason for us to be sure to set up a nativity in our homes, on our front lawns and at our own businesses for all the world to see what we celebrate at Christmas!
I recommend reading the Holy Father’s letter about the tradition of St. Francis and the nativity and its importance for our faith. It is a beautiful reflection on the meaning of the crèche. In it, Pope Francis reminds us: “In front of the crib we discover how important it is for our life, so often frenetic, to find moments of silence and prayer — the silence to behold the beauty of the face of the Baby Jesus, the Son of God, born in a lowly stable.”
Next Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent which is also known as Bambinelli Sunday. It was St. Pope John Paul II who first began a tradition of inviting the children of Rome to assemble in St. Peter’s Square on the Third Sunday of Advent. He asked them to bring their little statue of the baby Jesus that would be placed in their Nativity set at home and then the Pontiff would bless the images of the baby Jesus. It is a beautiful Advent tradition, one that sanctifies the home with the baby Jesus and makes his arrival in the manger scene an even more joyous and hopeful event. The tradition continues in Rome with Pope Francis and we also mark the Bambinelli Blessing at OLM next weekend.
We ask all parishioners to bring the baby Jesus figurine from the manager scene in their home to Mass next weekend. At the end of Mass, the blessing of these sacred images of Jesus is offered as they are held aloft in the Church. “May the Infant Jesus, present in the Crib of your home, be the concrete sign of a clear and sincere faith, which will enlighten, guide and direct your life and that of your dear ones.”
While this Sunday is December 8th, it is also the Second Sunday of Advent. So the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been moved to Monday, December 9th and is not a Holy Day of Obligation this year. Therefore, there is only the 7:30am Mass on Monday but I invite you to attend as we honor our parish patroness during this Advent Season.
Again I offer my sincere thanks to those parishioners who have been so generous in supporting the Our Faith, Our Future Campaign. We are over the $1 Million mark and moving towards our final goal. It can only happen if every parish family makes a sacrificial pledge over four years in support of this vital effort for our parish. Thank you for your support.
This week I am away on retreat at St. Joseph’s Trappist Monastery in Spencer, MA. I ask for your prayers during this time as I also pray for you and your intentions. Have a Blessed Advent, prepare the way!
Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats! Oremus pro invicem!