December Thoughts

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

This coming Sunday, December 1st we begin a new church year and the beginning of the Season of Advent.

Unfortunately, in recent years  Advent has been lost in the preparation for Christmas. We are involved with shopping and much of our time is spent running from store to store. What will I get for Aunt Jane or Uncle Bill. Also, we can’t forget decorating our homes and all that our modern Christmas requires, don’t forget to put the trains under the tree.

Advent though is a time of preparation, getting ready for the coming of the Christ, not as a baby in Bethlehem but as King and Judge at the end of time. It is a season when we should look at our lives and lifestyle, the good parts and the not-so-good parts. We should be trying to put our sinful areas behind us and work on improving our good deeds. All this is to make us as ready as possible to meet Christ. Every one of us, someday, will meet Christ face to face,. This will occur at the end of time or the hour of our death. Will we be ready?

The end of Advent is the great Feast of Christ where we remember the Christ coming into the world. Christmas is the story of us, it is God presenting before us, in the Life of Jesus, what is to happen to us and how we are to be saved. Christ comes not as a superhuman but as a baby. Something and someone we can all see and understand. Christ is the gift above and beyond all gifts. Through God’s gift to us of His Son we learn of our salvation from sin and our way home to spend eternity with Christ in Heaven. 

Please have a Very Merry and Happy Christmas and a New Year filled with blessings...

Yours in Christ

Fr. Glenn