HOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC CHURCH Washington, DC December 1, 2019 We Need a Little Advent By David Pennington You likely know the song from Jerry Herman’s musical, Mame. Mame has lost her fortune in the Wall Street crash of 1929. The mood in the family is hopeless and Mame’s nephew, Patrick, strikes up the household in song with “We need a little Christmas/ right this very minute…it’s one week past Thanksgiving now.” The house is bedecked for Christmas, and all is merry and bright. Christmas creep was a thing, even in 1929 (or 1966 when the show premiered). This weekend, while the rest of the world is bedecked with lights and ornaments, with candles in the windows and carols at the spinet, the Church enters the season of Advent – a season whose name means “coming” and whose spirit invites us to hope, anticipate, and create a quiet space for God in our lives. Liturgically, the season has very little to do with Christmas. The predominant focus of Advent has to do with Christ’s second coming, not the first. There is no glimmer of Baby Jesus in the Scripture readings until December 17 and the Fourth (last) Sunday of Advent. Before then, we get Isaiah’s beautiful images of God’s holy mountain where lion lies down with sheep, where valleys are filled in and mountains made low, and the glory of God is revealed. This perfection is the fulfillment of God’s reign when Christ comes again in glory. But, we’re not there yet. We wait in quiet hope of that day and make space for God’s coming to us today in hopes of Christ’s return at the end of time. Advent has everything to do with arrivals, but, interestingly enough, not the arrival itself. Instead, Advent names the in-between time. It names the tension of knowing what is, what is not yet, and existing right in the middle. So much of our everyday life takes place in the tension of not-yet-time. Ask spouses waiting to get married, a patient for a diagnosis, a job applicant waiting to hear from her future employer, a student studying for the test, a child preparing to leave home, a household preparing for dinner guests. And when those things come – the wedding day, the exam, the diagnosis, the new job, the dinner party – how often are the events themselves fleeting moments? Don’t we often learn, grow, and deepen our sense of what we’re capable of more by what we learned in the waiting and not in the event itself? The courtship, the studying and writing, the family and friend support, the endurance learned, the discipline gained are the lessons to be learned more often than the main event. It seems to me, most of our lives are lived in advent time. Living advent is to dive deeply into the tension of knowing what is to come, but engaging the right now. And so, we light the candles of our Advent Wreaths, welcoming the growing light despite the darkness around us. We create spaces in our homes and lives for quiet and prayer amid the ruckus of secular Christmas cheer. We notice the times in our own lives where we exist in the tension of the not yet and practice quiet joy, holy patience. It’s in these places, maybe, where we can notice God already at work in us, even if we feel like the end isn’t yet in sight. We need a little Advent to remind ourselves that, if most of our lives are spent in waiting, then it’s in the waiting that God comes to us. ▪ MAIN CHURCH PARISH CENTER 36th Street, NW 3513 N Street, NW Becoming Catholic between N and O Streets Washington, DC 20007 Anyone who wants to learn more about the Washington, DC 20007 (202) 337-2840 possibility of becoming Catholic is welcome to come to the RCIA Inquiry Meetings held every Tuesday evening at 7pm in the Faber Room. For more information, please contact Anne Koester at [email protected] or (202) 903-2825. www.trinity.org /HolyTrinity.DC @HolyTrinity.DC @HolyTrinityDC Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Washington, DC | www.trinity.org December 1, 2019 | page 2 MISSION STATEMENT We are a Jesuit Catholic parish that welcomes all to accompany one another in Christ, celebrate From the Pastor’s Desk God's love and transform lives. PARISH CENTER Phone: (202) 337-2840 Fax: (202) 337-9048 One of the aspirations in our parish’s Mission Statement is the Emergencies Only: (202) 903-2817 phrase “to transform lives.” I was transformed when I heard Hours: Mon-Thurs: 8:30am-7:30pm; Fri recently two authors offer presentations of their new books. The 8:30am-4:30pm; Sat & Sun: Closed first transformative moment occurred when I listened to Carolyn Forche, a poet and a Georgetown University professor. To a JESUIT STAFF packed audience at GU’s Riggs Library, Forche read from her Pastor Kevin Gillespie, S.J. kgillespie@ highly acclaimed work, What You Have Heard Is True: A (202) 903-2800 trinity.org Memoir of Witness and Resistance. The book tells graphically what it was like to live in El Salvador during the time of the death Associate Pastor Paul Campbell, S.J. pcampbell@ squads between 1978-80, shortly before the start of the 12 year El (202) 903-2832 trinity.org Salvadoran civil war. The text is at times frightful, yet hopeful in Associate Pastor Pat Earl, S.J. pearl@ the author’s spirit and style. Among the stories she related was trinity.org her having lunch with Archbishop Romero in March of 1980, a week before he was assassinated. In describing what it was like Associate Pastor Ben Hawley, S.J. bhawley@ (202) 903-2814 trinity.org to be in the presence of a man, whom she already sensed was a saint, Forsche related: “Monsenor now had his bible on the table Associate Pastor William Kelley, S.J. wkelley@ before him. He was tapping it with fingertips again, and I saw (202) 903-2833 trinity.org the same soft light that I saw during the interview, silvery, coming from even his fingernails, an emulsion of light, such as PARISH DEPARTMENTS sanctity bestows his eyes, his skin.” Communications Karelia Pallán kpallan@ (202) 903-2837 trinity.org Another transformative moment happened when, along with some 80 parishioners and guests in Trinity Hall, I heard Facilities Dino Campagnari dcampagnari@ acclaimed journalist Austen Ivereigh discuss his new and (202) 903-2813 trinity.org noteworthy book, Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and His Faith Formation/ Judith Brusseau jbrusseau@ Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church. Having earlier penned Religious Ed. (202) 903-2807 trinity.org perhaps the best biography of Pope Francis in 2014 titled The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope, Finance Chris Kehoe ckehoe@ Ivereigh expressed how in this latest book how he sought to (202) 903-2811 trinity.org describe the Holy Father not so much as a reformer but one Holy Trinity Kevin McShane principal@ calling for conversion. He spoke of his meeting with Pope Francis School (202) 337-2339 htsdc.org in which the Pope states that he seeks to put Jesus at the Center of the Church and when that happens the reforms will follow. Human Angela Grady agrady@ Resources (202) 903-2803 trinity.org One of the book’s most poignant passages occurs when Ivereigh summarizes his private meeting with the Pope: “Spending time Ignatian Retreats Martina O’Shea moshea@ with him, I found him to be smaller, older, more vulnerable, & Training (202) 903-2819 trinity.org more ordinary, than in the mind’s eye. I was meeting the Ignatian Catherine Heinhold cheinhold@ person, not the personality… I also met his holiness. I saw it in Spirituality (202) 903-2819 trinity.org the pauses, when he was listening to his heart, to those prompts of the Spirit that guide him. I saw it in his serenity, his peaceful Liturgy David Pennington dpennington@ freedom. It is his paradoxical quality: self effacing yet (202) 903-2804 trinity.org powerful; something you have but also give away (it left me Music Ministry Kathleen DeJardin kdejardin@ feeling loved, and free).” (202) 903-2805 trinity.org Yes, “feeling loved and free,” is a transformative grace to be Pastor’s Office/ Lisa Dittmeier parishlife@ prayed for, discerned and shared. The inspiring works of these Parish Life (202) 903-2801 trinity.org two authors offer an invitation to the reader to be transformed in love and freedom. I recommend these books as resources for Social Justice inspiration during the Advent Season. And yes one or both of them would be great Christmas gifts! Stewardship Rock Schuler rschuler@ (202) 903-2843 trinity.org Youth Ministry Rebecca Hoesterey rhoesterey@ (202) 903-2846 trinity.org Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Washington, DC | www.trinity.org December 1, 2019 | page 3 Daily Mass Intentions SACRAMENTS The parish community prays for all of the dead Mass Schedule (Check bulletin or website for Holy Days) Weekdays: 7am (Monday & Tuesday), 8am (Wednesday, every day at Mass. However, we encourage Thursday, Friday) & 5:30pm (in the Chapel on N St.) parishioners to mention specific persons by Note: Please see schedule for daily Mass times. name during the General Intercessions when Chapel is open on weekdays between Masses. Saturday: 8am — Chapel; 5:30pm Vigil — Church invited to do so by the presider. Sunday: 7:30am, 9:00am, 11:30am, 1:15pm & 5:30pm Parishioners may also request that a specific Sacrament of Reconciliation person be remembered by name at a particular Every Saturday from 4:30pm—5:15pm or by appointment weekday Mass by calling or visiting the Sacrament of the Sick receptionist’s desk in the Parish Center during Communal anointing is celebrated seasonally in the St.