1st Sunday of Advent

Dear Parishioners, 

Last year, in 2023, Christmas Day was on a Monday, making the Fourth Week of Advent lasting only 24 hours, and this year, 2024, because it is a leap year, Christmas Day is on a Wednesday, cutting the Fourth Week of Advent down to 72 hours. That’s what happens when December 25 is at the beginning of the week, and we have no control over this as we all know. But what we do have control over is the liturgical season of Advent as a whole, whether it lasts only three weeks, instead of four, like in 2023, or whether Christmas falls on a Saturday, when we actually have four full weeks of Advent anticipation and preparation. And that is the key to our observing the preparatory seasons of Advent and Lent: we prepare and anticipate the glorious feasts to come and not “bypass” the season of Advent with full Christmas decorations in place on “Black Friday” or have Easter baskets and lilies as our decorations on Palm Sunday. Advent and Lent are part of our faith life as Catholics for a reason – to benefit us to grow spiritually by using these seasons to prepare through prayer and reflection on the feast that is coming and not “jumping the gun,” so to speak, and celebrating prematurely. It’s not easy to do this in our world where Christmas carols start on Thanksgiving afternoon, or possibly before, and the Easter Bunny comes out the day after Valentine’s Day. If we are to be authentic members of the Church, true disciples of Jesus, then we cannot be “pulled into the ways of the world” and/or “go with the flow,” because we will not experience the full impact of the great celebrations of our faith. Let’s not shorten this Advent of 2024 any more than we have to, and for that matter, not only for 2024 but for every Advent that we observe as God’s people.