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Saint Angela Merici A Stewardship Parish Rev. Michael-Dwight Pastor Rev. Loc Tran Parochial Vicar Deacon Benjamin Flores Deacon Mike Shaffer Deacons Rev. Dan Mc Sweeney Sunday Ministry Celebration of the Eucharist Monday-Friday 6:30 am & 8:00 am Saturday 8:00 am & 5:00 pm Vigil, Sunday 7:45 am, 9:30 am, 11:15 am 12:45 Spanish & 5:00 pm Adoration Chapel Monday-Saturday 9:00 am - 12:00 midnight Sacrament of Reconciliation Saturday 3:30 pm or by Appointment Office Hours Monday - Thursday 8:00 am - 2:00 pm 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Friday Second Sunday of Advent 8:00 am - 2:00 pm Parish Closing of the Year Saturday & Sunday 8:30 am - 12:00 Noon of Mercy and our Winter Wonderland Celebration December 4, 2016 Reflection I was riding with someone last week and we discussed how it just does not “feel” like Christmas. We recalled how when we were kids the excite- ment was tremendously heightened at this time of year. Maybe we are just getting old we said to ourselves ... this was the conclusion we arrived at! Have we really be- come “hardened, cynical, and suspicious” as the years past or have we just come to accept that ole cultural saying, “Christmas is for kids.” As we crossed over the Orange Freeway at Imperial Highway, we glanced at the shimmering of the car lights ... there was so much traffic. As we drove on, we too confronted a back-up ... then suddenly, almost like an “unexpected” miracle, we both turned to each other said, it is Christmas! We both felt the excitement of the holidays rekindled by merely noticing all cars and people that were “out and about” when normally the freeway and roads were not impacted. How strange that the “traffic” ignited the spirit of Christmas within us! Those lights simply pointed to something “more” of what this season is really all about. What a wonderful surprise to rediscover once again what we thought we lost and found again! John the Baptist seems to me is the “traffic that rekindles the spirit of Christmas.” He is that interest- ing personality that helps us ask questions we may never think of considering (like are getting “too old for the Christmas spirit???”). It is this imprudent personality who enables us to look at issues, be- haviors and ways of thinking in our lives that need our attention and reminds us that although the holidays “may be the happiest time of the year,” it can sometimes find us on edge, a little less pa- tient, pressed for time and perhaps even more stressed than usual which can divert our attention and dampen our spirits. John calls us to take a hard look at what is raw and run-down in our lives. He is the one who points the way for us to reflect on how we relate to things, people, family, and work. If we simply get drawn into thinking this time of year is no different than the rest of the year and that there is nothing special to take notice, then we are prone with each passing year to al- low Advent-Christmas to become some past holiday season. John the Baptist proclaims loudly this not the case: John.... is that voice of one crying out ... in the desert ... prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths (Matthew 3). He is above all who calls us out of the desert ... that we are not “getting too old” ... Christmas is not just for kids ... He is the one who rekindles what we may have lost or are longing to find. John is the one who proclaims boldly: .... there is one ... who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire ... clearing the threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn (Matthew 3). Truly, this voice in the desert screams loudly that we are not defeated and we are not dead yet! God wants to fill us with fire once again and clear out the clutter of our lives! Isaiah tells us that the ... lion will sleep with the lamb ... they will lay together ... (Isaiah 11). If we in- sist that there is nothing different emerging this time of the year then we will never ever experience the “ah ha moment” of this season in which the ... wolf shall be a guest of the lamb and the leop- ard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion browsing together ... (Isaiah 11). Our lives will forever remain in that circular cycle that repeats itself over and over and over again. I do not think that is what God intended Advent or his people to be all about. Advent is that time! It is the season to make the paths of our cynicism straight, to lay low every doubt, and level the atti- tude of defeat. We can look at all the “traffic” in our lives and simply become frustrated because the roads and freeways are impacted and with great consternation we fall back “on our old ways of seeing Christmas with a myopic perspective of our past or we can allow “all the traffic” in our lives transform the situations and people around us that we might become astonished, amazed and astounded in such a way which allows us to prepare a way for the Lord. Now is the Time! Father Michael-Dwight 2 Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths ... (Matthew 3). This has been the strident invi- tation of John the Baptist for over two thousand years and was evident as Pope Francis articulated that the celebration of God's mercy would be local: Have people experience God's love in their parishes and send them out into the world to commit random acts of mercy. The Pope had said he wanted the Holy Year to be a new step on the church's journey in her mission to bring the Gos- pel of mercy to each person. The Pope's constant refrain during the Year of Mercy was that no one is excluded from the mercy of God. All can be forgiven, the Pope taught over and over again, and once a person experiences just how loving and merciful God has been, they can in turn reach out to others with the same love and mercy. Pope Francis said: God is pleased by every act of mercy because in the brother or sister that we assist, we recognize the face of God which no one can see. Our encounter with John the Baptist year after year would not be necessary if our paths were made straight by mercy (Matthew 3). The Year of Mercy was an occasion to help peo- ple recognize how merciful God has been to them. In effect, Pope Francis was commissioning all Catholics to be missionaries of mercy. Preaching God's mercy has been a central focus of Pope Francis' ministry since his election in March 2013, and the closing of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basili- ca will not end that focus. Jesus is God’s demonstration of mercy to us, as we are God’s demonstration of mercy in our work, family, friends and those estranged or forgotten by others: ...welcome one another...as Christ wel- comed you ... (Romans 15). It is our hope that this Year of Mercy has enabled us to undertake the mission of a radical mercy which the Gospel beckoned us to enter. If, the spirit of the Lord has rest- ed on us this past year ... if we find ourselves not judging by appearance ... if justice is now the band on our waist ... if we are the avenue in which the wolf is the guest of the lamb (Isaiah 11), then be grateful. If we are just beginning to make our path straight, for after all it is the core of our life time journey of faith not a project or program, then be disciplined. May mercy that has been awakening in us in this special year continue to unfold fully within us. As we begin Advent and a New Year, our Parish and School theme is: Now is the Time! During the Holy Year we have engaged in many acts of mercy through prayer, confession, many special events, activities and gatherings and our monthly observance of Mercy Sunday as well as the invi- tation to journey to the designated churches of mercy of our diocese to walk through the Holy Doors. Pope Francis in this Holy Year has asked us to be the arms of mercy of God embracing oth- ers without regard, so that no one will ever experience being left on the fringes or forgotten or feel that the mercy of God is not reaching out to embrace them. The Holy Father invited us to become a People of Mercy not only in the doing, but in who we are. In other words, we are not to just do mercy we are to BE MERCY. This is not an easy commission. It is easy to “do” rather than to “be.” Our theme this year invites us to deepen mercy within ourselves so that we are transformed by mercy itself. The heart of mercy is born first within our hearts and minds. Doing mercy without being mercy cannot bring about a lasting transformation. Now is the Time ... is the invitation of our Faith Community to be Missionaries of Mercy ...to internalize what we have done this past year so even though the doors of the Holy Year have closed ..

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