+ November 27, 2022 1st Sunday of Advent To My Spiritual Family of Holy Redeemer and St. Anthony, Advent Blessings: It’s a new Church year! It’s a new season of grace! It’s time to prepare our hearts for the birth of our Savior! We can and should rejoice and be glad! Now, many preachers and teachers begin Advent with reminders that Christmas doesn’t arrive until December 25. Therefore, they say, carols and trees and the like are not really appropriate until the Christmas season officially begins. Look, I get what they are saying: we don’t want to rush past Advent on our hurried way to Christmas. But here’s the deal: I really don’t care if you listen to carols and songs about reindeer - I love the music of this season, too. I really don’t care if you put up a tinseled tree – my Charlie Brown tree is already decorated and shining bright in my house. Here’s what I absolutely do care about though – that you pray! Advent should be for Christians a season of silence, recollection, anticipation, and intense prayer. Please make that a reality in your own life. If you are a parent, please make that a reality in the lives of your children. St. John the Baptist reminds us in this holy time of Advent to “prepare the way of the Lord!” To do that, prayer is essential. Take the time. Make the commitment. Receive the graces. The Gift of Forgiveness: The child Jesus entered our world to save us from our sins. He would grow up to die on a cross so that you and I could be reconciled to the Father. Please go to confession during this holy season of Advent. At NCYC in Long Beach, I went to confession myself and we priests collectively heard hours and hours of confessions. I’ve always been struck by how humble and sincere Catholic teenagers are when they enter into the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They do not carry the “Church baggage” that many of their parents and grandparents carry. Catholic teenagers simply go to confession, and with honesty, they admit their sins. The result? They walk away forgiven, healed, and restored! It’s beautiful! Us older folk can learn from these teens. Please, do not be afraid. Go to confession. Fr. Rick and I made the decision a few years ago to not hold communal penance services. Neither of us believe that they are the best way to approach God’s mercy. During these Advent days, simply find a priest and confess your sins. Go to Fr. Rick, or go to me, or go to Fr. Bill in Kane, or go to Fr. Matt in Corry, or go to Jamestown, or go to Tidioute, or go to wherever the sacrament is available. But go! Confess your sins with humility and honesty. And let Jesus – who came not to condemn but to heal – let Jesus bathe you with his compassion. His mercy is never ending! A Season of Life: In the Advent scriptures, we hear of virgins giving birth. We hear of an infant leaping in the womb and an infant being wrapped in swaddling clothes. We see the image of a pregnant woman on the tilma of Guadalupe. We see a pregnant Elizabeth greeting her younger cousin. We see a mother with child unable to find room at the inn. We set up manger scenes with the baby Jesus in the center. Advent is a season of life! But as if to prophecy the abortion genocide of our own day, we read in horror that Herod will attempt to kill the infant Jesus by killing the infant boys of Bethlehem. The evil one hates innocent life. The evil one is the prince of darkness and death. I know that many of you feel great pain and discouragement as our culture holds up abortion as a demented sacrament. I share that pain with you. But Advent is a season of hope. We must not give in to despair. Our God is the Lord of Life! The life he gives is eternal life. Indeed, you and I must continue to pray that our culture will be converted and that abortion will become unthinkable. And we must never lose hope. The infant of Bethlehem is the God of life! He is our Savior! Mary, Mother of the Holy Redeemer – Pray for us! St. Anthony – Pray for us! St. Joseph – Pray for us! Fr. Steve