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Second Sunday of Advent
3 December 2011
Dear Friends in Christ,
Last Tuesday, our Bishop Robert came to St. Mary’s and administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 75 young men and women who renewed the promises of their Baptism before receiving the Chrismation that strengthens them to be witnesses to Christ. In RCIA each week, a group of about 40 adults are searching for (in Father Longenecker’s fine phrase) more Christianity in the Catholic Church. They come from many Christian communities and some come without any previous experience of religion, and they are all drawn by the same Spirit given to the newly confirmed to seek the Lord Jesus and walk with him in the Way of the Cross.
In weekly Bible studies and prayer groups; in Thursday night’s Program of Catholic Studies; in the ministry of taking Holy Communion to those who cannot join us at the altar because of illness; in volunteer service of many kinds around our community; in the groups organized for women, men, high school students, and young adults; in our choirs and scholas; in Wednesday evening religious education classes; in our parish school; in the lines that form for Confession on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons; in Holy Hours and Vespers; and above all in Holy Mass — in all of these ways and more, we are all seeking by the same Spirit given to the newly confirmed to seek the Lord Jesus and walk with him in the Way of the Cross.
This week, the sacred liturgy lifts up three extraordinary Christians who did exactly this, each in a wondrous way. On Tuesday we keep the feast of St. Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra and Father of the Council of Nicaea who is the man of history behind the myth of Santa Claus. On Wednesday we remember at the altar St. Ambrose, the 4th century Bishop of Milan who baptized St. Augustine and exercised one of the most remarkable teaching and liturgical ministries in the long history of our Church. And on Thursday we celebrate the Immaculate Conception, the sacred mystery and singular privilege by which the Mother of God was conceived without sin by her parents in order that the Son of God could take flesh and come into the world through a vessel purified by his own grace.
Under the title of the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the patroness of the United States, and so it is fitting that we seek her intercession for the needs of our nation. In preparation, then, for the great feast we keep on Thursday, let us pray for all who hold public office in our nation, that they may govern in accord with the law of God. Let us pray for our citizens, that they have the prudence to choose wisely and well in the elections of the coming year. Let us pray for those without work or home, that they may know again the dignity of work and the blessings of home and hearth. And let us pray for the most vulnerable of all, the unborn and those nearing the end of life, that they may be protected from all harm and know the grace of being loved. Immaculate Mary, pray for us!
Father Newman