From the Pastor's Desk | November 26, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: 

Next weekend we enter into the season of Advent - the season of great hope and expectation. Not only are we entering into a new liturgical season we are also entering into a new liturgical year - a new beginning, if you will. Hope, expectation, and new beginnings are, I think, three privileged movements of the heart in which we long to look forward to the promises of God the Father fulfilled in God the Son and made present to us in God the Holy Spirit. 

One of the three theological virtues and one of the three portals of God’s grace, hope is future-oriented. It looks forward to our ultimate salvation in Jesus Christ which has already been achieved but also is yet to be realized as we continue to move through our earthly lives. In chapter 4 of his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul calls each one of us to put off the old self and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22-24). This should be the longing for our new beginning, but it can only be achieved with the grace poured forth from the wounded side of Christ as he hung upon the Cross. Christ’s grace is poured upon each one of us at every Mass as we consume His body and blood. Jesus Christ is our hope. Jesus Christ is our expectation. Jesus Christ is our new beginning. 

The author of the letter of Hebrews exhorts us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus…(Hebrews 12:2). 

In this season of Advent, it is my desire that we, both as individuals and as a parish community, rekindle and revive within ourselves a desire for, a love of, and worship of Jesus Christ our Lord who is really, truly, and substantially present among us in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Eucharist is the culmination of God's saving actions in Jesus Christ and of our worship and union with Him who leads us to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

As we enter this season of Advent, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus - our hope, our expectation, our new beginning - who longs to come close to each one of us. He comes so close to us that he actually becomes part of who we are as we consume His body, blood, soul, and divinity. In doing so we become all the more united to Him, giving Him our burdens and sins and allowing Him to consume us so that we can become all the more like Him. 

As we move into the great celebration of the incarnate God on Christmas, let us together keep our eyes fixed on Jesus present among us in the Eucharist. And, I think we do this in two ways: 
 
Let us, together, come and adore Him. Let us, together, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. 

I pray that you have a most blessed Advent season and that the Lord blesses you abundantly.

Fr. Ryan