From Our Pastors
A – likely unusual - Thanksgiving is over. A new Advent season begins this Sunday, and with it, the preparation for Christmas is underway.
The start of Advent signals the end of the old liturgical year and the beginning of a new one. This annual cycle offers us an opportunity to let go of whatever has been holding us back and open ourselves to new possibilities.
This past year has challenged many of us in unprecedented ways. Our world, our country, the communities to which we belong, our families and friends, have all endured challenges and faced losses. And are likely to continue for a while. One of the greatest losses has been the lack of closeness, so much a part of this time from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
In many ways, we have been on an extended Advent: waiting and enduring, much like the quintessential Advent prophet John the Baptist preparing a way in the desert. The spirituality of Advent reminds us this time need not be one simply of survival. The waiting can be a time of preparation, as was the long and steady preparation for the birth of Jesus. The scripture readings over the next four weeks spell out that long and yet sure preparation for the birth of God among us.
The incarnation took place at a particular place and at a specific time in history. But our faith challenges us to recognize that it also took the cooperation of individuals, most assuredly Mary. The birth of Christ is renewed as each person says “yes”, in hope and with faith, to our God who wants to come close to us in our time and place.
Thank you to all of you who, in so many ways, keep saying “yes” to God through your volunteering, your generosity with your resources, through your fidelity to our shared mission, and in so many ways seen and unseen. Thank you. May this Advent, one unlike any most of us have ever undertaken, help us to prepare for the coming of Christ. Let us embrace the waiting with eager expectation, alert to the coming of Christ in a world in need of people of new life and renewed hope. Let this Advent be a fresh start.
Fr. Mark Lane, c.o. and Fr. Michael Callaghan, c.o.