Saint Elizabeth Church Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You! Advent Reflections 2015 So, what does Advent mean to me? It means God became flesh Dear Parishioners, in the form of Jesus with a face like us, and that when I look into Everyone is called to holiness, and I have come to see how someone’s face, I know I am looking into a face that reflects the many respond with incredible generosity, creativity and faith to image and likeness God. How we treat each other reflects how that call. One of the great riches of the Church these days is the we are treating God. lived faith of so many people who belong to Catholic parishes. There is so much good happening these days in the lives of so many. God and human beings walk in relationship, Paul Kies and to hear the ongoing stories of such relationship is a gift and a privilege. Within these pages, we receive the wisdom of God at work in the human journey. People of Saint Elizabeth Parish who have written these reflections share how God is present and active in our lives, how God is faithful, generous, insistent, powerful, wise, persistent, and at work in ways both ordinary and extraordinary. What a blessing for us to read such reflections, and to recognize our story in these stories, and the story of all God’s people through all time. “Advent” means “arrival.” This season is a call to alertness, to pay attention to God’s arrival in our lives now, and to prepare for God’s arrival at the end of time. Alertness can take many forms. We can resolve to be quieter, simpler or humbler; more generous, patient or trusting. We take time to prepare for the ultimate arrival, that of our Creator who chooses to make a home with us. Maybe you’ll hear something new in these stories. Or something familiar and consoling. Or something humorous or poignant. These are stories of faith. Advent stories. Our stories. Peace, Father Greg Christmas Day, 2015 Christmas and New Year Calendar Being a cradle Catholic means the word “advent” has been part of Tuesday, December 8 my vocabulary for as long as I can remember. I have used it to Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception describe the advent of this, that, or the other thing. I have to Holy Day of Obligation admit that until I was asked to write something about Advent, I 7:00 a.m. Mass, 11:30 a.m. Mass, 6:00 p.m. Mass never before took the time to sit down and explore what Advent truly means. That being said, the first thing I did was find the Thursday, December 10 correct definition of the word itself. Luckily, I found out I have Communal Penance Service been using it correctly as “the arrival of a notable person, thing, 7:00 p.m. or event.” What I also found is that disappearance is the antonym or opposite of advent. Thursday, December 24 Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m. Children’s Mass 10:00 p.m. Vigil Mass Where would we be if Jesus disappeared from our lives? I reflect upon the people of Noah’s day. God became so frustrated with Friday, December 25 Christmas Day them He decided to start over. Without Jesus’ coming, would we Holy Day of Obligation be any better than them? Look around…what do we see even 7:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Celebration of Mass with Jesus’ presence in our midst? If a third of the angels were cast out of heaven, I assume one out of every three people in this Thursday, December 31 Solemnity of Mary Vigil world will meet the same fate. Therefore, I try not to let their Mother of God actions misdirect me. It would be great to save everyone, but 5:30 p.m. Vigil Mass Hell is not just for fallen angels. Friday, January 1, 2016 Solemnity of Mary Mother of God Holy Day of Obligation Instead of focusing on what is wrong, I try to look at what is 10:00 a.m. Mass right. I see so many people acting with great kindness and respect toward each other that Jesus’ Golden Rule is alive. Who else but Jesus could get us to look outside our own family, and redefine who is our brother? For two thousand years, Jesus’ teachings have influenced us. Sunday of the First Week of Advent November 29, 2015 As our wedding date approached, we were in the midst of Advent, JER 33: 14-16, PS 25: 4-5, 8, 9, 10-14, 1 THES 3:12-4:2, and for the first time I started to realize that that process of LK 21:25-28, 34-36 preparing our wedding was similar and somewhat parallel to that of Advent. Every Mass, another candle was lit, and the readings “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars … foreshadowed the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Advent was methodical and organized. As each week passed, Paul and I nations will be in disarray, perplexed by the roaring of the sea ….” (Luke 21:25) were another week closer to the wedding date, and I would worry and wait. And wait and worry. I am organized and a planner. When my plans get botched, I panic, even though Paul If that doesn’t sound like a blood moon eclipse, vertical was doing most of the work. Upon reflection, I wonder how alignment of Mars and Venus, wars, terrorism, and global much Mary worried and had fears about travelling so late in her climate change, thrown together with tsunamis, earthquakes, and pregnancy, without the advantages of modern medicine, tornadoes, I don’t know what does. transportation, and other such amenities. I had it easy. Every Advent, I remember not only that God sent me the most wonderful husband, but His son Jesus Christ, who would It’s fascinating to me that Advent’s Sunday Gospels (all three ultimately die for my sins. cycles) start apocalyptically in week one and end with the tale of a child in a stable. But, maybe this addresses a basic human Leslie Kies tendency to look for the big and the bold in our experience of God. Perhaps the Advent cycle invites us to re-orient our thinking and our seeking. I’m a perfectionist – I want to know the correct answers, I want to read the signs correctly, I want to be right and to know I’m right. This Gospel – and the journey of Advent – is a huge smackdown to my smug supposed sagacity. Advent shows us, shows me, that the signs we expect don’t necessarily nor reliably point to the reality of God’s presence. Christmas Day, 2015 Celestial events, expiration dates on ancient calendars, dooms- day scenarios or prophecies (Y2K anyone?) don’t herald the We were getting married. Paul proposed to me the previous June, presence of Christ, of Emmanuel, of God-with-us-here-and- and we set a wedding date of January 5 when we would be now. As Advent unfolds, the Gospels highlight the small married at Saint Elizabeth Church. I was ashamed to admit that I signs, the unexpected moments, the subtle signals, appearing had been in a church less than a handful of times in the previous where and when we least expect them – these are the signs 19 years, until I started attending Mass with Paul before we that awaken us to Christ’s presence. became engaged. I thought the customs and traditions were fascinating. This year, I hear this reading call me to look for the subtle, Having been raised a fundamental Baptist, my family always simple, quiet signs of God’s presence, here and now; celebrated the Christmas season, but we did not acknowledge challenge me to quiet my mind and still my heart to recognize Advent. We didn’t attend church services on Christmas unless Christ-with-us; invite me to find the Spirit in the unexpected Christmas fell on a Sunday. Within a day or two after and unplanned and undirected moments and conversations and Thanksgiving, after we roused ourselves from a turkey coma, my experiences of life today in Waldo. parents would erect a Christmas tree. We children would decorate the tree while our mother would decorate the house and bake. She would hang a Christmas wreath, place her decorations The Gospels this Advent remind us – remind me – that Christ and candles throughout the house, and set out the Nativity set that arrives not in sound and fury and cataclysm, but in the birth of we weren’t allowed to play with. Over a period of several weeks, a child to peasant parents in an obscure town. wrapped packages would appear under the tree, and the waiting would begin. We would wait for snow. We would wait for school to end. We would wait for out-of-town company to arrive so that What’s your sign? we could eat the baked goods that mom had reserved. We would wait for Christmas day to unwrap our gifts. But we did not call Tim O’Connell, grateful to find God’s presence at this time Advent. My only concept of Advent was admiring a Saint Elizabeth, really wanted to add a Ghostbuster’s handmade felt Advent calendar our Presbyterian neighbor had reference to the examples of apocalypse . hanging on her kitchen wall. Monday of the First Week of Advent November 30, 2015 In September of 2011, I found out I was pregnant with my third ROM 10:9-18, PS 19:8-11, MT 4:18-22 child, and just before Christmas I found out I was expecting a boy.