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I'll be Home for Christmas
As mentioned above, in a few weeks a number of inactive and unchurched people will walk through the doors of your Church. The regular attendees are often less than excited as they grumble about the lack of parking spaces, someone taking "their" seat, the noise and confusion. Prepare your congregation now! Recommit all the parishioners to be “Missionary Disciples”. Sprinkle them with holy water and remind them that “By virtue of Baptism we become ‘missionary disciples,’ called to bring the Gospel to the world.” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 120).
Therefore:
- Be civil in the parking lot both coming and going
- Extend a warm welcome when seeing new faces
- Sit in the middle of the pew, encouraging others to join you
- Be sensitive to anyone who may not know what books to use, when to sit, stand, etc
- Invite people to come back
- Welcome the late comers and the babies crying.
Away in a Manger, no crib for his bed
Support Sleep in Heavenly Peace
In Buffalo, there may be as many as 10,000 children who don’t have a decent bed to sleep in each night. Sleep in Heavenly Peace is a non-profit organization with a chapter right here in Buffalo, NY. The local chapter president said that he receives over 90 requests a month. When you visit the site, be sure to scroll down and watch the 1-minute video. There are many ways to be involved. Besides donating time, you can donate mattresses, quilts, sheets, money. Their motto is: “no child sleeps on the floor (or in a manger) in our town.”
Chapter president: Jerry Sheldon 716-570-3449. Also watch Channel 2 news coverage from last year.
Other Christmas ideas to share with parishioners
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Christmas Cards - Send religious Christmas cards with religious stamps.
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Christmas letter - Don’t just fill it with news on how special your life has been this past year but remind everyone how special they are in the eyes of God. “For God so loved the world that he sent his Son.”
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Crèche: Give your nativity scene a place of honor in the home and gather around it to pray.
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Learn about St. Nicholas (feast day Dec. 6) Nicholas is an Advent saint. His job is to remind people of God’s generosity. God doesn’t just pass around toys or video games; God gave the ultimate gift. God gave Jesus. Click on this page and find various plays, skits and scripts on God, Santa and St. Nicholas.
Advent Pilgrimage:
Come to Our Lady of Victory Basilica to see St. John’s Bible
What is St. John’s Bible? In 1998, the Benedictine Abbey and St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, commissioned the creation of a hand-written, hand-illuminated, and hand-bound Bible. The finished masterwork included 7 volumes, 160 major illuminations, and 1,165 hand-written pages. Later, the original St. John’s Bible was replicated for the purposes of sharing it with people all over the world. One of these “traveling” editions – Volume Six: Gospels and Acts – will be featured at OLV. All are welcome to come to the Basilica this Advent to be inspired and enriched. The bible will be on display during regular Masses starting on Dec. 3 and at various times within the lower level of the Basilica. For more information click here.
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