Surprisingly, many people think that the Immaculate Conception has something to do with the birth of Christ. It doesn’t; well, sort of! The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is about Mary being born without original sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches: CCC #488: “’God sent forth his Son,’ but to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free cooperation of a creature. For this, from all eternity God chose for the mother of his Son a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, ‘a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary’… The Father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life.”

With the celebration of the Immaculate Conception, “we recall that Mary, free from original sin, remained free of all sin throughout her life. This means that she always chose to be faithful to God’s will, even in the most difficult times. Mary was a human being who, as the Second Vatican Council taught, was on a ‘pilgrimage of faith.’ Even when her faith was tested, she remained steadfast. As the Council also affirmed, she freely cooperated ‘in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience.’ She shows us what it means to be a follower of her Son. As we participate in the Eucharist on this December 8, we thank God for giving us the Blessed Virgin Mary as the pre-eminent model of discipleship and holiness (from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website: www.usccb.org).”

Father Andrew and I will be available for reconciliation during the following times in one of the conference rooms in the Sr. Carol Center. Chairs will be set up in the Gathering Place and will serve as a “line” for confession; you’ll be getting some exercise moving from one chair to another as the line moves. If you wanted to wait for a specific confessor, you could do so.

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, December 5: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m

Tuesday, December 6: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 10: 11 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Monday, December 12: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m

Monday, December 12: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 17: 11 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Monday, December 19: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday, December 20: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 24: 11 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

You would be amazed how many times I welcome people back who haven’t celebrated the sacrament in years or even decades. Don’t be afraid if you’re one of these people and are worried about going to confession. Tell the confessor it’s been a while since you’ve gone to confession; he will walk you through the ritual. Don’t worry if you can’t remember the Act of Contrition; we have cards in the confessionals with the prayers. Your act of contrition could be as simple as: “Lord Jesus, Son of God have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Another excuse I often hear about why people don’t go to confession is: “Father, you don’t have the time to hear all that I need to confess.” Nice try, we’ll make the time! Another excuse: “Father, I wouldn’t have the time to do the penance you would give me. By the way, what kinds of penances do they give out these days?” The penances given out these days are often in the form of a prayer or some act of kindness. It’s not difficult, people! I encourage you to give it a try.

* tangible gift cards please, no electronic vouchers. Please make sure cards have been activated at the retailer that issued the card.

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WHERE TO BUY: At the named retailer, at most drug & grocery stores or online.

LET US PURCHASE THE GIFT CARDS FOR YOU: You may also donate this year via our online giving platform by going to givingtree.stjoan.church and indicating the amount you would like to donate. We will take care of the rest.

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Our CSA goal this year is $211,447. Anything raised above the goal will return to the parish, while any shortfalls must be covered by the parish. Thus, your support is greatly needed and appreciated.

You can also easily give by visiting: sja.aodcsa.org or by clicking on the button below.

I am grateful to those who have already contributed to CSA 2022. As of today, we have $190,705 in pledges and gifts toward our $211,447 goal ($189,945 has been paid thus far toward our total pledged amount). This amount represents gifts from 603 families (we have 3,334 families registered). We have thus achieved 90% of our goal!

Jeff Cavins shares how St. John the Baptist’s message for the Second Sunday of Advent can help us prepare for the coming of Christ. The readings are:

First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

Second Reading – Romans 15:4-9

Alleluia – Luke 3:4, 6

Gospel – Matthew 3:1-12

Friends, on the second Sunday of Advent, the Church invites us to go meet the great Advent figure of John the Baptist. All the details of our Gospel—where the Baptist makes his appearance, why people come to him, his great theme, the images he uses—are important to enter into a spirituality of Advent.

The Great Turkey Experiment: My family is always leery when I do any type of food experiment, ESPECIALLY on Thanksgiving Day. They don’t mind if I experiment on other days of the year, but the constant mantra is: “Uncle Mike, don’t mess up our Thanksgiving Day Dinner.” The concern comes from the ONE time, yes only ONE time, that I decided to provide them with a “healthy low salt low fat” Thanksgiving Day dinner that was worse than even the turkey meal Clark and Ellen Griswold prepared in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

This year, I was talked into getting very special turkeys from a local butcher. I remember calling in my order and choking when they said the turkeys cost $4 per pound. I hung up and thought about it for a moment but then called back and placed an order for two 15-17 pound turkeys. By then, I had convinced myself that these would be the BEST turkeys I would ever prepare, considering where they were coming from and the fact they were freshly processed and not frozen. I was ready for the feast of feasts!

I placed the order so that I would pick up the turkeys on Wednesday. When I arrived, I shelled out my $125 and placed the bags in my car. They looked like regular turkeys (I guess I was expecting them to look different at that price). The only difference was that the turkey bags were filled with some blood. I figured since they were freshly processed, it wasn’t too uncommon to see that amount of blood in the bag.

After mass on Thanksgiving morning, I preheated both ovens and began my work on the birds. Based on some lunchtime table talk at the Parish Center, I also decided that I would try using a mayo and herb rub on one turkey and then my usual butter and herb rub on the other. I suited myself up as if I was going into surgery (because I know how much of a mess I still create when I cook). With appropriate food-handling latex gloves, I started coating one turkey under the skin and on the skin with the mayo and herb rub I had prepared ahead of time. With this turkey, I was going to “sit” it on celery sticks and carrots while also putting celery and carrots inside the turkey cavity along with some fresh herbs I picked up. As I picked up the mayo and herb-rubbed turkey and carefully tried to put it in the turkey bag, the bag collapsed on me, and I had to handle the turkey with one hand as I tried to reopen the bag with my other hand. Well, I had a little fumble experience with the turkey in my hand, but thankfully it never completely dropped. I finally got this one nestled in its bag, tied up, and ready for the oven.

I was a bit more careful with the other turkey, which got a butter and herb rub (thank God there are no cameras in my kitchen … my family would fire me). This turkey got to sit on a bed of apples. I figured the butter and apple combination was more appropriate than a mayo and apple combination!

Once both turkeys were ready, I took the mayo and veggie turkey over to the Parish Center, and the butter and apple turkey got to stay at my house.

For what I paid for these turkeys, I was expecting the greatest of smells in the house and Parish Center and the most tender and flavored of turkeys. Well, only my house had a slight whiff of that nostalgic aroma of Thanksgiving Day dinner cooking in the kitchen. The Parish Center was void of any of the familiar smells. Even Father Andrew walked through the Parish Center and talked about how disappointed he was that you couldn’t smell that familiar smell of a turkey cooking in the oven. Maybe the $125 turkeys don’t smell. I don’t know!

When all was done, I packed up my turkeys and put them in my car. I leave them intact and travel to my mom’s condo with the turkeys in their bag and roasting pan. Once at the condo, our usual game plan is to unwrap and carve the turkeys. I couldn’t wait to taste the two versions I prepared. As we were carving away and meticulously keeping the turkeys on separate platters, I took a quick bite of both. I was so disappointed because you couldn’t taste the difference between the two. They were both good, but you couldn’t tell the difference between the mayo and butter-rubbed turkeys. They tasted the same. And then, even more disappointing, I couldn’t taste the difference between these $4-a-pound super dupper turkeys versus the $1-a-pound on-sale variety. I was so bummed out at this point because I was expecting the king of kings turkey experience. But then again, I had to count my blessings! I didn’t drop either one of them on the floor (okay, it was a close call with one turkey), nor did either explode in the oven.

The Nitty-Gritty of Advent: From the evidence in today’s Gospel, I hope I never get a Christmas card from John the Baptist: “Merry Christmas… you Brood of Vipers!” While Isaiah in the first reading is telling us of a time when all will have knowledge of God and their lives will give evidence to that by the peace and harmony around them, John the Baptist is dealing with messiness of conversion. Not all are onboard. Matthew’s Gospel names John as the prophet, the voice in the wilderness that Isaiah had spoken of, announcing the glorious arrival of the Messiah, calling his followers to repent and to change their lives.

But John has to get down to the nitty-gritty of it, because not everyone coming to hear him has come to repent and be baptized. The Pharisees and Sadducees had only “come” to the baptism, Matthew writes. They weren’t asking for baptism, they weren’t about to repent. They were just scoping things out. “Who is this guy? Is he a threat to us, to our authority?”

It’s been said that “nothing is more perilous than getting used to what is magnificent.” - that it’s very dangerous for us to lose our sense of awe – for the incredible to become run-of-the-mill; that whatever is beautiful to becomes just so-so and whatever is gifted to be claimed as entitlement.

While there’s truth to this, I’d propose, there’s nothing more perilous than getting used to what is evil – being unconcerned about things that are offensive to God. If we’re unconcerned about it, we soon lose the ability to even see it when it happens. And then repentance is out of the question. Familiarity breeds contempt. It’s hard to notice your brakes going bad until you get them replaced…. or you hit something…..

We’ve gotten used to the magnificent. Maybe we don’t even recognize the miracle happening on our altar every Sunday. And maybe we come to Mass every Sunday, but have no sense of a need for repentance.

Committing a serious sin, knowing it was serious, intentionally doing it anyway and then receiving the Eucharist puts the soul in great peril. Sin severs, partially or fully, our relationship with God. And sin ruptures our communion with each other as the Body of Christ that is the Church. Receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin is a sacrilege – the unworthy treatment of something sacred, which is a grave sin in itself. And the one in mortal sin is unable to receive the grace offered by the Eucharist, so receiving communion in that state does you more harm than good.

If we were very sick, we’d tell our family not to come to visit us at Christmas because we love them enough to keep them away from our germs. All the more so we should show Jesus the love He deserves and want Him to not have to come into the unclean environment of our body and soul in mortal sin.

Now here’s the good news…G.K. Chesterton, author of the Fr. Brown series of books said that “the real difference between the Church and State is huge and plain. The State, in all lands and ages, has created a machinery of punishment, more bloody and brutal in some places than in others, but bloody and brutal everywhere. The Church is the only institution that ever created a machinery of pardon. The Church is the only thing that ever attempted by system to pursue and discover crimes, not in order to avenge, but in order to forgive them…”

The “system”, as Chesterton called it, confession, is not a judgment upon us. God doesn’t need to hear from us to judge us. He already knows our sins before we do—think about that one! Our sins are great, but His love is greater. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is simply the means He chose to offer forgiveness – to rid us of the burden of sin that weighs us down. Confessing our sins stops us from being overly generous to ourselves and allowing sin to grow by being our own lenient judge. Our own conscience needs the therapeutic effect of verbalizing our guilt to another. Repentance is for our own sake.

The confessional is the place of victory for God, a means to win His people back. God is not attempting to take our dignity from us and humiliate us – He’s offering something – He's offering the gifts of His mercy, freedom, grace, peace.

If it’s been a while, you don’t have to wonder where to start, just start! Not sure how? Tell the priest, “I’m not sure how.” He’ll walk you through it. Then just tell the priest your sins, not someone else’s, not the reasons, not the rationalization, not the stories. God doesn’t need the story. The priest doesn’t need the story – we can’t absolve the story, only the sin at the end of it. The other people waiting in line don’t need us to hear the story behind your sins. We just need to deal with the reality of the sin. As I tell people frequently, a sin is a verb – it’s something you either did or didn’t do. Just say it, especially all serious sins, be freed of them, be forgiven of them, and let them go.

When people say they are embarrassed to go to confession, it’s a sign that they are building-up their sin into something it doesn’t need to be. It’s real; we’re all sinners. But don’t give it so much credit as to think it’s worth allowing it to control you or to stop you from confessing it, just because you’re embarrassed. NEWS FLASH!!!.... your sin is boring! It’s junk. The priest is not interested in it and he won’t spend any time after your confession thinking about it and what you did. He won’t think worse of you. He’s just glad you got rid of the junk burdening your soul. He’s glad you are reconciled to God.

Just listen to these incredible words the priest says: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace….”

And then you walk out of confession with a small penance and a huge sense of peace.

Every day of our lives is a new Advent, an opportunity to accept Jesus coming into the daily activity of our lives. We’re not perfect people, but God’s mercy has made provision for that through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And we never have to wait until Advent or Lent! If you typically wait for Advent or Lent to “do your Advent or Lenten duty” and come to confession, try putting the focus on your need for forgiveness rather than on the calendar.

But either way, make it a goal this Advent. Come to confession. As I mentioned last week, Advent shares with Lent the character of being a penitential time. Don’t let that get lost in the rush toward Christmas. It’s not penitential to make us feel bad, but to care for us and for our souls, that we may be truly ready to welcome the Lord in a new and deeper way this Christmas.

We will have expanded weekday opportunities in addition to the regular Saturday 11am time. Confession is an act of honesty and courage - an act of seeing beyond the sin, and entrusting ourselves, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.

adawson@sjascs.org 

Are you feeling the call to virtuous manhood? Are you needing a change?

Today Fr. Mike encourages all men watching to consider taking the 90-day journey of Exodus 90.

Learn more about Exodus 90 at www.Exodus90.com

A prominent retailer of coffee – perhaps the world’s most prominent retailer of coffee – found itself in a bit of a difficult situation a few weeks ago.

On the day of this retailer’s most well-known customer event, during which drinks are served in re-usable red cups, employees at a number of stores across the country, including some local stores, went on strike. In explaining their decision to the media, some employees discussed the difficulties of their jobs, the economic and non-economic concerns they have, and the problems they have had in negotiations with management. 

The company’s management countered with its own explanations about the specific concerns related to that day’s promotions and the overall issues of the employees.

Labor disputes, to be sure, have been around as long as there have been employers and employees. And while it’s easy for people uninvolved with the situation to offer their opinions as to who’s right and who’s wrong, those answers are best left to those directly involved.

The good news is that these situations can serve as a reminder of the importance of working respectfully and in good faith and with “the other side,” whomever that may happen to be.

“Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them,” we hear in today’s first reading from the Prophet Isaiah.

“The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.”

Christmas is three weeks away. What steps are we taking to conduct our day-to-day lives more peacefully?

That’s it! You’re in. Now you can get the free FORMED app for your phone by searching FORMED Catholic in your app store.

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7:00 a.m., Jerry Brennan and Irene Mack

(Purple/White)

7:00 a.m., Virginia Robinette

7:00 a.m., George J. Bugarin

7:00 p.m., John Finn Sr., John Finn Jr., and Steven Finn

7:00 a.m., Danuta Siwik

8:30 a.m., Special Intention for Nick Di Cresce

12:00 p.m., George J. Bugarin

7:00 p.m., For the Intentions of St. Joan of Arc Parishioners

7:00 a.m., Wally Gray

4:00 p.m., Salvadore & Cindy Urso, Sara Ventimiglia, Bonnie Batche, Alfred Blind, Anthony Schulkey, Therese Issa, Richard Torina, Rose Ferreri, Sandra Guitar and Special Intentions for the J. Champine Family and the Thomas Family

6:00 p.m., George J. Bugarin

8:00 a.m., For the Intentions of Saint Joan of Arc Parishioners

10:00 a.m., Leon Winn

12:00 p.m., Sr. Marie Gregory, SSJ, Joseph Paluzzi Jr., Sicilia Grego, Jose R. Medina, Emael L. Sarmiento, Rosario O. Medina, Jeffrey A. Hardy, Daisy Marie Buenavista, Anna Semaan and a Special Intention for Brian Mara

10:00 AM - Funeral for Elizabeth Howard (Read Obituary HERE)

Wednesday (December 7):

Thursday (December 8):

Friday (December 9):

Saturday (December 10):

8:30 AM - Baptism of Nora Cook, Luke Frontczak, and Logan J. Fontczak

12:30 PM - Baptism of Theo James Hentrich

Sunday (December 11):