Second Sunday of Advent, Sunday, December 6th, 2015
It seems as though one week can not pass for me without someone pointing to all the tragic events happening in the world and making some sort of comment about how we are close to the end of the world. Certainly, when you think of the past tragic events such as the killings in Paris and now the killings in California; when you think about events such as plane crashes, earthquakes, floods, etc. that you hear about in the news. When you hear about things such as mentioned above, it is certainly understandable that people would think about Our Lord's words: "AND there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity . . . " (St. Luke, Chapter 21) Now, in all fairness, there have been tragic events in ALL the eras of human history. There have been earthquakes . .. . famines . . . death . . . . sickness . . . . wars . . . etc. throughout all of history at one point or another. And the fact that there have always been tragedies, both global and personal, makes it obvious that we should always be prepared for the Second Coming of Our Blessed Saviour.
Advent reminds us of that fact. Advent provides us a time to remember and to prepare our hearts. Advent is the season of preparation . . . . it is the season of waiting . . . it is the season of hope. The "spirit of Christmas" has sort of taken over Advent. In other words, we spend the weeks before Christmas going to "Black Friday" sales and buying the latest doo-dads. We "shop til' we drop" and focus all our energy on getting the best deals. All the while we fight traffic, fight the crowds, fight the other shoppers, fight the sales-clerks to use coupons for our purchases. We run from one place to the next place and try to fit in errands in between. We wrap presents and put the tree up and decorate the tree. Now, don't get me wrong, all of what I just mentioned is wonderful . . . all except fighting the traffic, that is . . . . but as Christians we are always called to put everything into perspective and for us, God always takes priority. He is the true reason for the season. And the reason for the season of Advent is to await the coming of the Christ-Child into the world on Christmas morning. Anything that takes our attention away from focusing on God needs to take "second place." God should always take the top priority in our life.
Let us spend the next three weeks placing special emphasis on our relationship with God. Let us spend the next three weeks waiting for the Christ-Child. Let us spend the next three weeks preparing a special place in our hearts for the Divine Child Jesus. Let us try to focus less on the shopping and the wrapping and the Christmas parties these next few weeks. Let us focus more on awaiting the Coming of the Saviour into the world. Let us prepare our hearts for His arrival.
Two opportunities to celebrate Mass on Sunday, December 6th, 2015:
At St. Margaret of Scotland, Mass is celebrated each Sunday at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel located at Marquette Manor, 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.
At Holy Spirit Church, Mass is celebrated each and every Sunday at 1:00 PM. We celebrate Mass at the beautiful, historic First Presbyterian Church, located at 116 W. South Street, at the corner of South and Pennsylvania Streets, in Greenfield, Indiana.
Come join us as we hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Worship Our Heavenly Father with us as we receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Christ at Communion time. And after Mass is over, please stay for some delicious refreshments at our coffee hour.
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