November 26 - 27, 2011
Dear Cathedral Community,
A Blessed and Hope filled Advent to you! This is a wonderful opportunity for deepening our relationship with God. Regarding the Sacred Scriptures during this holy season, the first two weeks will focus on the coming of the Lord in the mystery of the Incarnation. The third and fourth weeks of Advent focus on the return of the Lord at the end of time. Our Christian task is to live our lives of discipleship between these two points in time in the life of Christ. We live in celebration of the Christ Jesus’ presence among us, and keep vigil for His return in glory. We dwell in this interim period of grace with the Lord Jesus as our companion on the journey.
I’ve become famous or possibly infamous as the case may be for encouraging folks to take Advent seriously. This calls for some degree of “counter culturalism” as the rest of the commercial world has already begun observing “Christmas without Christ”. One way of observing Advent is to decorate for the season.
1.``Arrange an Advent Wreath someplace in your home preferably where you
will encounter it frequently like your kitchen table. Light the candles of the wreath as part of your meal time grace using a prayer like the following:
As I (we) light this Advent Candle, bless us with the
grace of this holy season. Bless, too, the food and drink
before us. May it make us strong in keeping watch for
your Son’s return in glory. We make our prayer in the name
of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
2. Display an Advent Wreath on your front door with three violet ribbons and
and one rose colored ribbon. It will, at least, keep your neighbors guessing!
Then, you can change the color of the ribbons for Christmas. It will be a good
reminder to you as well as you come and go from your home.
3. Save a quarter each day of Advent to give to St. Vincent de Paul or the
Cathedral Kitchen at Christmas time.
4. In the past, I have put up my Christmas Tree at the beginning of Advent, and wove a bright purple ribbon through its branches for the Advent Season, and
then decorated it for Christmas later.
These are just a few suggestions for your Advent observance. It will build your
expectation throughout the four weeks of the season supported by the beautiful Scriptural readings and hymns we will be using.
Mark your Advent calendars now for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, a Holy Day of Obligation. Note that with our new daily evening Mass schedule, there will be a Holy Day Anticipation Mass on December 7 at 5:15 PM in addition to the three regular Holy Dad Masses on December 8 at 8:00 AM, 12 Noon, and 5:15 PM.
There are several other important feast days to note in December:
December 3, St. Francis Xavier, Patron of the Archdiocese, and Patron
of our first Cathedral in Vincennes;
December 6, St. Nicholas (Leave candy and not coal in shoes)
December 7, St. Ambrose
December 8, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the
United States;
December 9, St. Juan Diego, recipient of the apparition of Our Lady of
Guadalupe;
December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas;
Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
Father Noah
