Fr. Pfeiffer's Weekly Message--Culture of Encounter
December13,2019
Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Gaudete Sunday and “O” Antiphons The Third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete (Latin for “Rejoice”) Sunday. Today is a little liturgical oasis when we wear rose colored vestments pointing us to the joy that is soon to come. This day also functions as a hinge in our Advent focus. The first half has focused on Christ’s Second Coming, but now that switches a bit and more directly points us to the celebration of Christ’s First Coming as He was born unto us at Christmas. It is also at this time that in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours there are particular antiphons (like the ones chanted after the opening hymn at our Masses) like “O Wisdom,” “O Eastern Light”, “O King.” They are often called the “O” Antiphons as they call out different titles of the coming Messiah.
Faith Formation On the schedule we have a video and discussion on St. Francis de Sales, a true reformer in the Church and a great pastor of souls. Along with this we will get some more detail on the “O Antiphons” that help us prepare for the Messiah. Also we are starting to schedule our next few months of Faith Formation topics. Is there anything you have wondered about regarding faith, the Church or our Catholic teaching? Let us know.
Advent Decorations As we continue through this season of Advent you will notice the incremental changes of our decorations. It is important to allow Advent to be Advent and not celebrate Christmas too early, so our decor tries to reflect journeying toward Christ step by step. Thank you to our staff and also the many volunteers who continue to help prepare us to enter this season of expectation and hope. Our Nativity scene will soon be up in the Narthex as well as unlit trees in the sanctuary. You may have noticed the wise men in the north end of the narthex have been slowing moving each week as they get closer to their destination on the Feast of Epiphany. This Gaudete Sunday we rejoice because we are getting closer to the feasts of the Christmas season.