Dear Friends:
Our short season of Advent is progressing quickly. This Third Sunday in Advent is known traditionally as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing. The season of Advent is focused on hope-filled, joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord. Now, with just little over a week to go, our hope is uplifted at how close the Lord is to us.
The words of St. Paul in the second reading for today’s Mass, two simple words, sum it all up so well. “ Rejoice always.” The words are one thing. The reality, alas, for many of us, can be quite another. We live in a world where there are daily threats to peace, especially in the Middle East and in the ongoing aggression against the Ukraine by Russia. Issues on the national level, ranging from the economy and inflation, to open borders, to the ongoing dysfunction in Washington, fill many with concern. What is there to rejoice about? While I am not so naive as to suggest that we outrightly ignore the major issues of our time, we should keep everything in perspective. The world is from the hand of God, is in the hands of God, and in the end, will return to God. Our task in the meantime is to live the message of Jesus, following the commandments, especially the commandment to love, doing our very best to be faithful disciples, and then leave the rest to God. If that is the task we embrace, then we have every reason to rejoice. “Rejoice always.”
This Wednesday, December 20, marks the 37th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. That fact makes me marvel at the sheer passage of time. Thirty-seven years have passed so quickly. Where has the time gone? Many of you perhaps have wondered the same thing with regard to your marriages or other aspects of your life. For my part, I am grateful for the years I have been blessed to serve the people of the Archdiocese of Hartford as a priest, and especially grateful for the years I have been the pastor, first of St. Mary Parish, and now of Precious Blood Parish. I ask for your prayers for me and for my remaining twelve classmates from the ordination class of 1986. There were fifteen of us. Two have died and one left the priesthood within a year or two of ordination.
Please take good note of my message regarding Mass attendance obligations for next weekend, as the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord [Christmas] on Monday comes so quickly upon the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
Have a good, final full week of Advent!