Today would normally be our celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation for us in the United States since she is the patroness of our country under that title, but the 2nd Sunday of Advent takes precedence over all other feasts. It has been transferred to this Monday, December 9th, but while it is still a holy day, it is not a day of obligation so we will have our usual Monday morning Mass at 7:30 but there is no obligation to attend Mass.
We have some other special celebrations taking place in the next week too. First, Fr. Vesely will be here for Mass next Saturday, December 14th. Thursday, December 18th is his 65th Anniversary of Ordination and on Monday, December 16th, Bishop Perez will celebrate Mass at Mount Alverna for Fr. Vesely and his classmates so please remember him in your prayers.
Secondly, December 12th is the 100th birthday of my step mother, Mildred. We will be celebrating with a luncheon in her honor this weekend. My dad is a mere 92 1⁄2 years old. It’s nice to have a centenarian in the family, though it would be nicer if she was my own flesh & blood so that I could have inherited her genetic makeup for longevity. The scripture says, “Our life is 70 years, 80 if one is strong.” Well Mildred far exceeded that so we are grateful for how strong she is and pray she may continue to bring great happiness to my dad in the years to come. By the way, prayers for my dad would be appreciated as he is in the hospital as I write this with some internal bleeding, possibly from an ulcer. So thank you in advance for that.
Just a reminder that there are little Advent meditation books called “The Little Blue Book” available at the doors of the church. Please be sure to take one (or more) as they contain a short reflection for each day of Advent.
This is also the week when we make homemade ravioli’s and noodles for our chicken soup, both of which are the highlights of our Christmas dinner. Last year my cousin Fr. Dan Schlegel helped but I think he ate more than he actually made, and now has the secret family recipe. So I’m not inviting him to help this year and will be curious to see if he posts pictures of these on his Facebook wall. If I see them there, I’ll have to take legal action to have them removed for copyright infringement. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. For now I have to concentrate on the family duty to provide for a great Christmas dinner.
While you’re doing your Christmas shopping, make it easy on yourself and buy someone a great gift while helping out your parish at the same time. You can purchase a Sweepstakes ticket or gift cards from us by seeing the receptionist at the Information Desk in the vestibule of the church after Mass or by coming to the rectory office today or during the week.