This weekend is two weeks until we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. At this point many people have decorated their houses, made their cookies, bought presents, listened to some Christmas music and drank some eggnog. In a lot of ways we have been celebrating Christmas, even though we are not there yet. The main event has not happened yet. We are anticipating it, but we are not there yet. The physical, psychological and emotional preparation is important. And yet, there is a really important preparation that many times gets overshadowed by everything else. We are to continue to do our spiritual prep because we are in the Season of Advent.
Here are some questions for our spiritual prep for Christmas. When is the last time you have gone and seen a priest for the Sacrament of Confession? If it over a year, we need to do that, and we should be doing it monthly. What extra prayers have we been doing for Advent? A decade or two of the Rosary would be good especially the first two Joyful Mysteries. Have we done anything this Advent to help someone outside of my family group? We could be helping at Community Café, or work at Servants of Shelter as a volunteer. We could even visit someone in a care facility. For those that have the time, when was the last time that you attended daily Mass? There are some many graces and blessings to receive. God wants to give each us so much more. And as these days of Advent come to an end, are we ready for the birth of Jesus? Have we made room for Him in our lives? God loves all of us and desires to give us much, much more. Please use the time that we have wisely.
Here is the Christmas Mass Schedule, I hope that you will be able to join us to pray with us.
Saturday, December 24th: Christmas Eve
4:00 pm at St. Thomas Aquinas
6:00 pm at St. Columban
Sunday, December 25th: Christmas Day
10:30 am at St. Thomas Aquinas
Fr. Thomas P. Galarneault