From Father Steven - December 13th

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This weekend we are all called to REJOICE! Our Salvation is near at hand!!! In this third Sunday of Advent, which is called Gaudete Sunday, the Church reminds us that the Savior is really coming. We need to make sure that we are ready to receive him with joy. Every day the Christians begin their day praying the “Office of Readings” or “Morning Prayer”, with invitatory Psalm, which is the first psalm read, invites us to come to the Lord rejoicing. Psalm 95 says “Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving and SING JOYFUL SONGS to the Lord. Psalm 100 invites us to “Serve the Lord with gladness. [To] come before him, SINGING FOR JOY.” Some of the Christmas Carols also invites us to be joyful, as we hear, “REJOICE! REJOICE! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel” or “JOY TO THE WORLD, the Lord is come, Let earth receive her King, Let every heart pre- pare Him room.”
Even though we are struggling and going through difficult times, the Lord comes to console and strengthen us so we can persevere through the challenging times. This year some of us will not be able to visit our families and our gatherings will be smaller than normal, but the Lord is coming to us!
As we gear up our preparation for the second coming of the Lord with joy, we also start making the preparation of the celebration of his first coming as a child in Bethlehem. On Wednesday, we begin the NOVENA FOR CHRISTMAS. So it’s time to start setting up all the Christmas decorations with the nativity scene (The kings are not there yet!), Christmas tree, etc. As a parish, we will be gath- ering on Sunday December 20th (snow date December 21st) at 6:30pm the parking lot for a beauti- ful CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION WITH SONGS AND MUCH MORE!!! We will be posting more online very soon about this breathtaking event.
Finally, below is the schedule for our Christmas. We will be doing two masses at 3:00pm and once the church is filled to its capacity, the overflow will be invited to attend the parking lot mass which will start at 3:30pm. ALL ARE WELCOME to the celebrations of the birth of our Savior! See you then.
God bless, Fr Steven