Dear Parishioners:
Christmas is here already! Or is it? If you look around you see the signs of Christmas everywhere. But by the time December 25 arrives, most people are "Christmased" out — too many parties, too much rich food and stretched budgets. We Catholics don't need to sit idly by while the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas in advance. Instead, we are called to celebrate two seasons: Advent and Christmas.
The Church began a new Liturgical Year last week on the First Sunday of Advent. During the subsequent four weeks, She prepares with mounting expectation and joyful anticipation for the coming of Christ in a spirit of waiting, conversion and hope. There are always four Sundays in Advent, though not necessarily four full weeks. This year the Feast of Christmas falls on a Sunday so there are four full weeks of Advent for us to truly prepare the way with prayer, charity and alms giving.
Throughout the Season of Advent the prophesies of Isaiah are read
often. Some biblical scholars have described Isaiah as the “fifth gospel” as so many of the themes of the gospels have their scriptural beginnings in Isaiah. The writings of Isaiah are distinguished among the Old Testament writings for their extraordinary literary quality. Isaiah is a prophet of hope and new beginnings. In particular, he speaks of the birth of a new king who will be a “Wonderful Counselor” and “Prince of Peace.” Christians have seen in his words a foretelling of the birth of Jesus. He is a prophet of the compassion of God. Isaiah’s God is a God of mercy, comfort and consolation, much like the Father of whom Jesus spoke.
Isaiah was the first to speak of the God of the Jews is also the God of all people. God’s mercy was to reach beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem and Judah to extend to all peoples in every corner of the earth. Jesus, who brought the gospel to Jew and Gentile alike, exercised his ministry in the spirit of Isaiah. Isaiah is a prophet of peace and justice. Harmony among all peoples and compassion for the poor are the hallmarks of God’s presence. In these matters Jesus spoke out of a prophetic tradition that truly began with Isaiah.
Clearly Isaiah is the Prophet of Advent and should be part of our Advent reflection this season. In between
Christmas shopping, card writing, cookie baking, and all the other assorted tasks that take our time and sap our energy this time of year, why not take a little time to read Isaiah and pray and reflect on the real reason of the season. Another Advent practice that the whole family can do is that of having an empty crib or manger, which each family member softens with straw earned by a sacrifice, a prayer or a work of mercy. After Christmas, the family gathers before the Infant Savior, in his now-padded crib, to pray with joy and perhaps read a verse from Isaiah.
Advent is here, don’t let it pass without acknowledging it with prayer and reflection, confession and sacrifice, charity and mercy. With joyful hope and eager anticipation, let us prepare for the coming of the Son of God, praying with the entire Church: Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay!
This Thursday, December 8th, we mark the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America, and it is a 
holy day of obligation for all Catholics in the United States. On this feast the Church celebrates the solemn dogma defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us: “Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace’ through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed on December 8, 1854: ‘The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.’ " I hope you join us in celebrating our National Patroness at Mass. There is a Vigil Mass on Wednesday at 5:00pm and three Masses on the holy day at 7:30am, 9:00am and 7:00pm. Come and celebrate Immaculate Mary this week!
I am away this week attending the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors meeting in Washington, DC. I am grateful to Bishop Evans for helping out during my time away. Advent is here! Prepare the way! Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!
I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Does it seem to you, as it does to me, that Thanksgiving snuck up on us this year, taking us by surprise? And here we are now with leftover turkey and cranberry and it’s the First Sunday of Advent already! The change to the color purple and the addition of the Advent wreath and candles in Church and our homes remind us that we’ve entered a new season on the church calendar. A season for preparing to ready the way for Jesus to enter our hearts.
prepare a way for the Lord to enter. As Jeremiah reminds us: “the days are coming when the Lord will fulfill his promise to keep us safe and secure.” As St. Paul tell us, the Lord’s desire is “to strengthen our hearts in love, to help us lead lives pleasing to God.” Advent is a season to keep vigil for signs of Jesus’ coming, not so much in the sun, the moon and the stars, but in our hearts in the midst of all our troubles and joys. Advent is a season meant to prepare us to welcome with joy the Lord more fully into our hearts and lives. The so-called “holiday season” is all around us, the “commercial season” taps our bank accounts, and the “social season” of decorations, cookies, gifts and parties distracts us. None of these are particularly beneficial in helping us welcome Jesus into our hearts or our lives.
blessed to have a Church that is open all day long. So stop by before or after work or school and spend just a few minutes away from the noisy and hectic pace of the season around us to be with the Lord. What is helpful for us is to prepare ourselves by seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness in Confession. Take some time this season to prepare yourself for Christmas through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Come to Confession on a Monday night at 6pm or Saturday afternoon at 3pm. Receive Gods’ mercy and forgiveness this season. What’s helpful is not
buying, consuming and filling up on everything but rather emptying ourselves out to make room, for Jesus to come in to our hearts and make Himself at home there. That’s what the great feast we anticipate, Christmas is truly all about: Jesus coming to make His home among us and within us.
What’s helpful is doing whatever we can to avoid extravagance and over-indulgence in giving to those who already have so much and perhaps even too much, but rather doing whatever we can to reach out to those who have so little and need so much. Will we welcome in the season of Advent? Will we prepare to welcome the presence of Jesus within us? Will we try to spend at least part of the next four weeks focusing not so much on things whose shelf-life is so short but on those realities that can and do last forever?
found in His Gospel, in His passion, death and resurrection, and in the Eucharist that we celebrate. As we enter into this time of joyful anticipation and prayerful preparation may it change our hearts to welcome Christ who comes to bring us healing, forgiveness, hope, peace, joy and love!
We celebrate this Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King. It was added to the Church Calendar by Pope Pius XI in 1925. He created this feast as a reaction against the prevailing attitudes of his day as a way to refute the growing threats of communism and secularism. These ideologies sought to make man, not God, the most powerful force in the world. Within a few years, of course, the world would have to also face totalitarianism and the rise of Nazism.
Advent and a new Church Year. As we ponder this week how Christ rules our lives, Advent gives us an opportunity to pray, reflect and prepare ourselves. The Church teaches that: “Advent has a two-fold character, for it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered and likewise a time when, by remembrance of this, minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. For these two reasons, Advent is a period of devout and expectant delight.” 
Pope Francis in his homily for the Jubilee of Mercy Mass last Sunday reminds us with his timely wisdom: “Let us open our eyes to our neighbor, especially to our brothers and sisters who are forgotten and excluded, to the “Lazarus” at our door. That is where the Church’s magnifying glass is pointed. May the Lord free us from turning it towards ourselves. May he turn us away from the trappings that distract us, from interests and privileges, from attachment to power and glory, from being seduced by the spirit of the world.” 
Holiday of Thanksgiving. President Lincoln established that the final Thursday of each November should be observed nationally as a “day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” He was mindful of the fact that, even in the midst of the tragedy and bloodshed of the Civil War, God had still been generous in bestowing His blessings upon this country. In his proclamation, after recounting several of those blessings he wrote that: “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God.”
Many in our nation are deeply upset with the results of elections. Protests and riots across the nation are a cause for concern for all. Unity and peace not rancor and division should be what all people work for in our country. President Lincoln saw the nation spilt in two culturally and politically and witnessed the resulting Civil War. Yet he knew there was much about America to be proud of and also many things for which to give thanks to God. May we do so on Thanksgiving Day and truly give thanks to God for all the freedom, beauty and bounty we enjoy in the USA.
On Tuesday after the 7:30am Mass, Fr. Barrow and I made our way to the Swift Community Center to cast our votes. Little did we know that we would be up until the wee hours of the morning awaiting the results of the Presidential Election. Like most of America and most likely many of you we watched all night as election results came in slowly. We learned who the 45th President was to be at around 3:00am! Now we must pray for President-Elect Donald J Trump and the Congress-Elect. I hope and
pray that our nation can accept the election results without rancor and work for national unity. Let us pray for the President-Elect that God might guide and protect him and our nation. May he serve the common good of all people and lead our nation to peace and prosperity. May God truly bless America!
On last Saturday night at 4:00PM Mass the OLM Basketball Teams kicked off their new Catholic Athletic League Season . They received their uniforms and a also a special blessing at the Mass. We wish all the coaches and players another great season! Last Sunday following the 5:00pm Mass Fr. Barrow and I attended the OLM School Cross Country Banquet. The Boys and Girls Teams were made up of fifty-three of our Middle School students, the largest team in the Diocese. The OLM Boys Team were State Champions! We congratulate the coaches and the teams on a great year.
the Mass we processed to St. Patrick’s Cemetery to pray for the dead who rest in that sacred ground. Many of the souls there have been there since the 19th century and have no one left to pray for them. Please pray for their souls. Visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead is an ancient and venerable tradition of our Catholic Faith.
him from the dead. After death, even though separated from our earthly body, we yet continue a personal existence. It is as living persons that God invites us into a relationship whose life transcends death. Our prayers for the dead begin at the moment of death. When a friend or family member dies, we immediately pray for them. This prayer continues with Vigil Prayers at the Wake and then the offering of the greatest prayer, the Mass of Christian Burial. The continued prayer of our beloved dead is also why families have Masses offered for their loved ones on the anniversary of their death.
Purgatory, the faithful departed depend on our prayers and sacrifices to aid them in this process, and so we gladly offer our prayers for them in various ways individually and collectively. It is an unfortunate
mistake that many people in our culture today dismiss this important practice of our faith.
Many would like to just assume that their loved ones have gone to Heaven and therefore see no need to pray for the repose of their souls. To offer prayers for the dead is in no way a lack of hope on our part, but rather, an expression of true love for them and a firm trust in God’s infinite mercy. Holy Mass, of course, is the absolute best prayer for the dead. It makes the redemptive sacrifice of Christ present again on the altar and, in God’s gracious providence, allows us to ask that this redemptive power be applied to the one for whom we pray.
We remember during this All Souls Month of November our beloved dead. We commend them to God’s mercy in our payers, light candles for them and we have Holy Mass offered for the repose of their souls. It is the ancient and venerable tradition of our Church to pray for the dead. In special way at Sunday’s 10:30am
Mass we remember our beloved OLM Parishioners who died this past year and we continue to commend them to God with our prayers. We also pray for the consolation of their grieving families. We are to process to St. Patrick’s Cemetery to pray for all the many souls at rest in that sacred ground. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them.
Jose Sanchez del Rio joined these Catholic fighters, called “Cristeros” for their distinctive battle cry: “Long live Christ the King!” 
On Tuesday our nation elects a new President and Congress, our state a new General Assembly and our Town a new Council. Contrary to what the media and some in so-called polite society say, there is a deep
connection between faith and politics. We must recognize our call and responsibility to be faithful citizens, not just citizens. This is part of our Catholic identity.
Mother the Church. When we go into the voting booth on Tuesday, we shouldn’t leave our faith outside. We must not renounce our citizenship in heaven or our citizenship in the Church when we exercise our American citizenship. We don’t cease to be citizens of heaven, members of the city of God, when we exercise our right to vote as American citizens, as citizens of the earthly city.
The teachings of our Lord and His Church are not optional for Catholics – they are part of our faith. Be brave in the public square, do not to be afraid to stand up for the truth of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. We are citizens of two worlds, of two cities. Let’s not lose sight of our responsibilities in either. We should be active in political life, but not more Republican or Democrat than Catholic.
We had a wonderful celebration of Confirmation last Sunday. The newly confirmed were well prepared and prayerful, the music was outstanding, the servers were superb, and Bishop Matano offered a great message to the conformandi. In your name, I thank the many people who helped to make this important day in the life our parish such a great occasion of faith, hope and joy.
Program and the many good people who help him in this important work. We also thank OLM Organist and Choir Director, Henri St. Louis, OLM Soloist, Deirdre Donovan and our OLM Choir for their great gift of music. We must thank the many ushers who helped to see the Mass went so smoothly along with the sacristans, Altar Servers, Reception and Decorating Committees, and the many other volunteers who helped make it a great occasion.
parish.
We celebrate All Saints Day on Tuesday and it is a holy day of obligation for all Catholics. Please plan on attending one of the four Masses offered for the holy-day as together we celebrate All the Saints.
so please join us in praying for All Souls. Next Sunday at the 10:30am Mass we remember our fellow OLM Parishioners who have died this past year. Their names are listed in this week’s bulletin, please keep them and their families in your prayers. May the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
particular, the U.S. bishops stress that “Catholic teaching challenges voters and candidates, citizens and elected officials, to consider the moral and ethical dimensions of public policy issues.” The bishops also remind us that: “Not all issues are equal.”
approved,” such as the grave attacks on human life presented by abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide.