This week we celebrate both Thanksgiving and the First Sunday of Advent. I hope you all get to spend time with your family and take a moment to remember those who are no longer with us; To give thanks to Christ for everything He has given to us. And with Advent beginning on Sunday, to allow us to start preparing for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Let us start this Flocknote with a prayer of Thanksgiving:
Holy Father in Heaven,
Creator of everything and source of all goodness and love,
please look favorably upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude
in this period of thanksgiving.
Lord thank you for all Your graces and blessings.
Father, You have bestowed upon us,
spiritual and temporal; our faith and religious beliefs.
Our food and shelter, our health,
the affection we have for one another,
our family and friends.
Dear Father, in Your boundless generosity,
please grant us continued graces
and blessings throughout the coming year.
This we ask in the Name of Jesus,
Your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
First Sunday of Advent
Today we being the beautiful season of Advent - a season of preparation. For what are we preparing? The celebration of the birth of our Savior, and the anticipation of His second coming. These are weightly tasks with eternal consequences.
So, let us as Christian stewards make the words of the Prophet Isaiah our motto for the season: "Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths."
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, it seems everywhere we turn we are pushed to spend more, do more, entertain more, and generally rush around at a frantic pace - all to create a "perfect" Christmas day. In contrast to his worldly pressure, the Church's guidance to use these weeks as a time to focus on our spiritual lives can indeed seem like a mountain climb.
But the intentional and wise use of the gift of time is exactly what a disciple of Jesus is called to do, and with even greater intensity during Advent. How can we use our time to prepare for a holy celebration of Jesus' birth on Dec. 25th and for his second coming at a date we do not know? We can push back against the world's pressure to have the "perfect Christmas."
Scale back on the material kind of gift-giving, the complicated menus, the unessential trappings of the season so that we have more time for the spiritual preparations: Confession, weekday Mass, adoration, family prayer time, lighting the Advent wreath, and acts of kindness. In the end, we will be prepared to celebrate a truly meaningful Christmas, we will have become more like our Savior, and we will be ready for Him to come again.
Youth Ministry
Just an update on the search for a youth minister. It has been a slow process and not many applications. We are continuing to evaluate the candidates and working on a plan for the right person. We do not want to rush it and fill the position with just anyone. Our youth are too important for that, so we are praying that Jesus will send us the youth minister He wants. Please continue to pray that God will provide. In the meantime, Father Auer, Alyson (Director of Evangelization) and our core teams are doing and amazing job ministering to the teens and the middle schoolers. Thank you for your prayers and financial support of this important ministry. I would ask your special prayers for next weekend as we put on a retreat for the teens. It will be on campus, so if you see the teens around, they are spending some time in prayer, reflection, and community. We are so blessed with a vibrant youth ministry program, and we want that to continue.