Rejoice!
Dear Family,
We are ten days away. We pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” No wonder the Liturgy today says, “Rejoice.”

The color even changes and a rose color emerges from the bluish-purple that has been trying to invite us into a little introspection. (It is rose, not p--k. I don’t wear p--k.)

The new color seems as though it is responding to St. Paul’s call to the Philippians: “Rejoice” “Again, I say rejoice!” As he is finishing his letter to them, Paul tells the Philippians, “Have no anxiety!” If Paul had ever made a Marriage Encounter, maybe he would have heard the guideline that ‘You can’t tell someone how to feel.’ Maybe Paul was expressing his own attitude and state of mind. When he says, “Have no anxiety” was he really saying, “I feel no anxiety”?

"Watch the Road"
Dear Family,
That was the advice of the Oklahoma bus driver who drove 900,000 over 23 years without an accident. When asked how he did it, he replied, “Watch the Road.” Ever since I used that last week in the homily I’ve been thinking about roads, my road in particular. Stay with me now because I think it might get bumpy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR OF MERCY
Dear Family,
No, I didn’t flip December along with November on my calendar. Today is the Church’s “New Year.” With the First Sunday of Advent, today we begin our new cycle of retelling and reliving the saving story of Jesus. This year, for the most part, our story teller be Luke the Evangelist.

Of course we have heard these readings before, (some of us many times.) Yet the question remains, are we hearing anything different today? If the word of God is living and active, as Hebrews 4:12 tells us, then God’s word addresses the new situations in which we find ourselves.

Solemnity of Christ the King
A SOLEMN DAY OF THANKS - Msgr. Jim Fetscher
Dear Family,
Please come on Thursday to give Thanks with your parish family. We will celebrate the Eucharist, THE act of Thanksgiving, at 10:00 a.m. Then we will have some pumpkin pastelitos and a few other snacks that won’t ruin your dinner …too much.

As I write on the 16th- early deadlines - we are in the first days of the aftermath of the tragedy in Paris. Words do not come easily although many will be spoken...