Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

I came across an article written by Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. He has a great blog you can check out. Here is part of  his Advent reflection:

“Remember, Repent, Rehearse – All these reflections help to place Advent in proper perspective for us. We are called to remember, repent and rehearse. We remember that Christ has already come and that he has called us to the obedience of faith and promised he will return in glory. We repent of whatever hinders our readiness for that day. And we rehearse for his second coming in glory by anticipating its demands and celebrating the glory that comes to those whom he finds watchful and ready. In a sense every Mass is a dress rehearsal for the glory of the kingdom. At every Mass the following prayer is said, Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy, keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ. This beautiful prayer recalls that it is entirely God’s work that we be ready for his glorious return. Only he can deliver us, free us from our sin and remove anxiety about that day. Only he can give us joy and make us holy. We have but to yield to his saving work.”

New Confession Opportunities
Normally our cluster parishes have a penance service in Advent to provide a communal opportunity to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Due to Covid we are changing it up a bit.  We are simply spreading out between the parishes.  The next two opportunities are:

Dec 15 @ St. Paul, Akron   from 4-6pm

Dec. 22 @ St. Francis de Sales, Akron.   From 4-6pm

Our regular parish schedule for Confessions remains the same. 

Cancel Christmas?
The Canadian prime minister recently said due to covid, “there will be no Christmas this year.”  Umm, sorry, Christmas is not his (or ours) to cancel.  Christmas is God’s and He cannot be canceled.  Thankfully he is in Canada and has no power to lock us out of celebrations.  Earlier this year in our country, sadly, our celebration of Easter was wrongfully taken from us.  But we are able to safely gather to worship God. So, we are giving glory to God this Christmas.  The schedule of Masses will be posted this week. 

Advent Decorations
Every year we do our best to keep Advent a preparation season as it is meant to be.  This is why there are no Christmas trees up or even Nativity scenes yet.  For the same reason we do not put up Easter lilies or sing Alleluia or wear fancy vestments during Lent due to its preparatory aspect of waiting for Easter. It doesn’t make sense to light Christmas trees before Christmas is actually here.  With that being said, especially this year with covid making it difficult to conduct our usual routines, we are putting up our trees, lights, and other decorations little by little throughout Advent.  Also due to covid we are keeping things a little simpler.  Let Christmas be Christmas and Advent be Advent.  Don’t celebrate too early in order that when Christmas does come, we are not exhausted already and too tired to celebrate appropriately.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Pfr