Is it Christmas already?

     With the seasons being pushed forward by society to an earlier and earlier date, Christmas, in decorations, parties, shopping and gatherings is "old hat" by now.  Many are looking forward to the celebrations being over.  Even some of us purists at heart have given in and allowed the Christian Mothers Group to hold a Christmas Party pre-Christmas and given that Christmas Eve is Monday, allowed our crew to decorate the Church this past Thursday (the best day for their busy schedules).  Of course we did not turn the tree lights on tonight, nor was the Christ Child in the manger (oh, how I remember my younger days when I was more of a purist - church would never have been decorated before the Fourth Sunday of Advent!).

     But today I thought that I had misread my calendar and that tonight was Christmas Eve.  Our 4:00 pm Mass was super crowded with extra chairs being brought from our hall on the lower level.  Everyone seemed in a festive spirit, with many faces unfamiliar to me.  As I welcomed everyone, I wondered if they thought that it was Christmas Eve, or that they were just home early for the holidays, or maybe they were here because the world had not ended yesterday.  Whatever the reason, it was great seeing everyone and having such a crowd, and I welcomed them and invited them to join us often.

     I also shared a stat that I read on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops web site that remarked that there would be an estimated 33 million extra people at Mass during the Christmas Season that do not attend on a regular Sunday.  I said that if those attending tonight were in this group, we invite them to join our family weekly as we praise God.

     With the numbers tonight our celebration was right on.  Our Young Voices choir led us in song, and it was jubilant.  I reminded those present that our God is the God of the unexpected, that he is a God of surprises.  He takes the lowly and lifts them up, through the simple he bring about profound changes, he works wonders and miracles through the ordinary - an ordinary touched by the awesome love of God.  And we, expectant, awaiting, anticipating, are called to sing his praises and share his joy.  Christmas will come ... we will celebrate his birthday ... we will be grateful for that first incarnation ... we will live in his embrace ... and we will await his return in glory.   Tonight, at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, we had a glimpse of his glory.

A most excellent day

     The Diocese of Greensburg is giving thanks in a great way for the three men who were ordained to the transitional Diaconate last evening at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral.  These men will continue their studies and preparation for ordination to the priesthood set for June 1st of 2013.  While we have had a concerted effort to promote vocations in this diocese, these are the first ordinations in many years in our Cathedral for the diocese, except for the first two Permanent Deacons ordained by Bishop Lawrence Brandt, our Diocesan Bishop.

     The men ordained include Tyler Bandura of Ford City, Matthew Morelli of New Alexandria and Daniel Ulishney of Greensburg.  Tyler is studying at Saint Mary Seminary in Baltimore, and Matt and Daniel are presently finishing degrees in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America after attending North American College in Rome.  They are good men, excited about ministry as deacons and looking forward to priesthood.  We are blest by their commitment and service, and look forward to welcoming them as brothers in the priesthood.

     I was under the weather yesterday and unable to attend the ordination, but I got a first hand account from a parishioner who attended, saw a picture in the local paper and read the news article on the Diocesan Web Page.

     This "dry period" on the ordination front has been difficult on us, and I hope that the tide has turned.  We continue to pray for and encourage vocations daily, asking the Lord for Shepherds for the harvest.   Congratulations to Tyler, Matt and Daniel.  Pray for them.

A peace filled evening

     This evening we priests gathered at Immaculate Conception Church in Irwin for the second of our four regional Advent Penance Services.  We had gathered at the neighboring Saint Agnes Church last Thursday, and we are scheduled at our place on Wednesday and Saint Edward in Herminie on Thursday.  These regional opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation are a great way to make the sacrament available to the People of God.

     This evening there were ten priests available to hear confessions and share the Lord's forgiveness - five monks from Saint Vincent Archabbey and the five local guys.  We usually begin with a good meal and tonight was no exception.  Following the fellowship around the table we gathered in the church, and from 7:00 to 8:40 pm the ten of us heard confessions straight through.  It was a good crowd, and those acknowledging that they were sinners did so with a humble desire for the Lord's mercy.  I found the experience very prayerful and very peace filled tonight.   I know that I should not be, but I am continually amazed at the mercy of Christ, the necessity of the Sacrament in the life of the Church, the trust of the people, and the way in which the Lord uses those of us, though unworthy, to be his ministers. 

The difficulty of rejoicing today

     From what I am hearing, the news of Friday and the reaction to that news was part of the message in many if not most churches.  How could it not be.  The loss of live, so senselessly taken, and of twenty first and second graders, stops us in our tracks.

     I spoke this weekend of the difficult challenge of hearing and responding to the Church's invitation on this Third Sunday of Advent to "Rejoice!"  This Gaudete Sunday does not elicit a joyful, rejoicing response from our hearts.  While we readily acknowledge the presence in our lives of the One born in Bethlehem long ago and the desire of our hearts to eagerly await his Second Coming in glory and the preparation for the celebration of his birthday, our celebration is muted.  Instead of the joyful parade and celebration found in Oz when news of the death of the wicked witch  was heard which prompted song and all, we are more subdued today.

     I listened as the pastor of Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church, present with families in the firehall as the kids were brought in and reunited with families, was asked by the reporter what it was like and what he said to the families that remained, who had no child returning to them.  He spoke of the devastation and the agony.  The reporter asked "What did you say to those families?  What word of comfort did you give?"  He reported that he said nothing ... there are no words.  He was simply there as a presence.  He was an arm to lean on when knees grew weak, a shoulder to cry on when needed, a hand to hold, a sharing of tears.  That is what those families needed at that moment, a friend, a presence, reminder that they are not alone.  And he hoped that his presence would remind them that Christ stood with them.

     I shared today that maybe this is the quiet kind of rejoicing that we can do in this dark hour - to rejoice that we have a God so loving and so caring that even in our darkest hour he quietly stands with us.  He is the hand to hold, the arm to lean on, the shoulder for tears, the strong back for carrying us when we can no longer walk.  We have that confident assurance that just as the monsignor was for those families in Newtown so too Christ is for them and for us.  That is cause to rejoice, even if our rejoicing is a bit muted today.

     Please pray for those families and that community as they now prepare to bury their children and loves ones.  And please pray for that pastor and all of those who will have to speak words of comfort and of peace.

Tears and sadness

     I was not near a news report until mid afternoon.  That it when I first heard of the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that took place this morning, another gunman opening fire in the school, killing six adults/teachers and twenty youngsters, most if not all in the kindergarten.  Ever since hearing the news, I cannot stop tearing up, thinking of the anguish of those parents and the trauma of those surviving kids.  Please keep all of those involved and all of those affected by this senseless action in you special prayers.

      The soul of this nation is once again torn apart by brutality and violence.  This time it touched too many little innocent lives.  It leaves us empty (my first reaction) and sad (a natural response).  But it also leaves me angry, because it is an indication as to where this great nation is headed.  Aside from the guns in the hands of so many issue, we are a nation that has embraced the culture of death in so many varied aspects of life that tragedy and death has become normal and routine.  We do not hold life to be sacred ... we do not waste our time on respect of others ... and while promoting rights, we lessen our tolerance of the rights of others, especially those different from us or those defenseless or less powerful than us.  We are headed down a terrible path.  There is so much joking speculation about "the end of the world" taking place, but the truth is that our world is all too quickly disintegrating.  The world that I once knew and that helped formed me, though not perfect, is all too readily becoming a thing of the past.  Our values are shot, our morals are compromised, our radiance is now diminished.  I realize that I am sounding fairly negative at the moment, and that is because of the effect of today's news, but the truth persists.  The only hope, the only light at the end of the tunnel, is found in the message of Jesus and the strength that his family in the Church can provide.  We are not called to be transformed by the world but rather to transform our world by bring to her light and hope, rooted in love and peace.

May the sorrowful mother, Mary,

comfort those who mourn the loss of their loved ones and children.

And may the Good Shepherd embrace with love

the little sheep that are suffering.

An Advent Icon

     In our part of Southwestern Pennsylvania we are blessed to have as friends and neighbors many in the Eastern Rite Churches, with a strong Ruethenian Byzantine Catholic presence.  Thus we know the beauty and the meaning of an icon.  In the Eastern Churches there are few if any statues.  Most of the sacred images are in the form of an icon, a painting in stylized form that portrays the heavenly mysteries.

    Today the Church celebrates the feast of a primary icon of Advent, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Last Saturday we looked to her Immaculate Conception in the womb of Saint Anne, and embraced her as the patron of the United States of America.  Today we look at the patroness of all of the Americas in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This feast, celebrating the appearance of Mary as a young native girl with child to Juan Diego, a convert to Christianity, was an important moment in God's plan.  The fact that she appeared to a peasant, a native of the place and not to the ruling class or the upper crust was shocking.  The fact that her image was that of a native person rather than that of a Spanish maiden was even more shocking.  The fact that she appears to be carrying her child in the womb was unexpected.  All of this happened in the 1500's in Mexico.  And because of the shocking and unexpected nature of the apparition, countless people came to embrace Our Lady of Guadalupe and more importantly the Son that she brought into the world.

     An icon is an image.  This image of Mary presented to us is an Advent reminder that ALL are called to the Son of Mary, that ALL are equal in the eyes of God, that ALL are pregnant with hope and anticipation of salvation and new life, and that the message of the Christ is not reserved for a few but meant for ALL.  She is an invitation to life.

     The other primary icon of Advent is our friend, John, the son of Elizabeth and Zachariah, the one called the baptist.  He too points the way and makes known the savior.  He too calls us to repentance and a change of heart so that we might live in Christ.  He is an invitation to life.

     And that is what Advent is ... a time of realizing who we are in Christ, of realizing the need for repentance and conversion, and a time of hearing in our own lives and becoming for others "an invitation to life".  Thank God for these two tremendous icons of Advent.

The Highway of our God

     In the vision of Isaiah the prophet which we heard today in the first reading, hope is given, restoration is imminent, rejoicing echoes in the Universe.  The desert and parched land will bloom and rejoice.  The hands of the feeble will be strengthened and the knees of the weak made firm.  The blind will see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, the mute will sing when the glory of the Lord is revealed, when he comes with vindication. 

     He tells us that a highway will be there, called the holy way.  It is for those who have a journey to make, and the redeemed will walk in its way.  Those ransomed will return to the Lord and enter Zion singing with everlasting joy.  What a vision!  What excitement!  What an image!

     Those same words were part of song that I seem to remember from my days of involvement with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.  That hymn "Therefore the Redeemed of the Lord", a hymn of hand clapping and joy always roused the crowd and lifted the heart.  It spoke of light at the end of the tunnel, of strength and courage in moments of weakness, of hope in the most difficult of times.

     As I listened to the reading this morning, I felt those same feelings.  I wanted to start singing that old song (but then I realized that it was not Lent yet, and the people there did not need punishment that early in the morning, so I resisted).  But what we, who are on this JOURNEY to Christ, cannot fail to do is to rejoice in the Lord always as we take this highway to our God.