Last Sunday’s patronal celebration for the Feast of St. Cecilia was a blast! As usual, David McBride did a terrific job in “emcee-ing” the whole celebration. Thanks, Dave! It was truly a parish celebration in every sense of the word because it brought different groups to work together, to have fun together and to share our unique heritage. Aside from the fabulous food and fun entertainment, it manifested our common identity as sons and daughters of one Father in the midst of a very diverse parish family under the protection of our courageous martyr, St. Cecilia. I am profoundly grateful to the various
ministry groups in our parish that took active roles in making this event a success—the list would be long if I mentioned each of them here. To the various cultural groups who prepared and served food and provided entertainment, including our students from our
parochial school, thank you for all your hard work, love and dedication to our parish. I would be remiss if I didn’t single out the two people who worked tirelessly to
coordinate everything for this event: Michelle Hallett and Cora Franklin. We are immensely grateful to them for pulling this together.
After a very busy weekend, we slow down a little bit this weekend as we enter into the season of Advent. If in the secular world there is already pressure to get busy for the Christmas season, our faith is asking us to slow down as we anticipate the birth of Christ. We begin the liturgical year with a somber anticipation for the coming of the Messiah. Somber anticipation does not mean passivity but, rather, it is an active form of waiting – which means actively searching for ways to make our own lives, our own hearts, truly a worthy manger of Jesus. Why did it take God so long to send his Son Jesus to redeem humanity? It took thousands of years and, in that time, God was slowly preparing his people to receive the most important revelation or gift that he was willing to give, his very Son. There was a hiddenness about the incredible plan of God in Jesus Christ. The revelation of salvation in Christ did not allow for anything hurried, rushed or premature. Our sinful and weak human nature, however, trends to the opposite. The more advances we seem to make in the various facets of human life, the shorter span of
tolerance we have for patience, mystery and God’s hiddenness. We want our things yesterday. Just looking at the way that so many people celebrate Christmas itself reveals an impatience and a great desire to reach the destination before the journey even starts. I know that it’s hard not to be pulled in different directions as the days gets busier these coming days, but let’s seize every moment in this season of Advent, journeying with Mary in her active, yet non-rushed anticipation of her Son. Let me close with our opening prayer for this First Sunday of Advent:
“Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the
resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.” – Fr. Cary