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The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means coming.
From the first Sunday of Advent to December 17, we await the second coming of Christ so that when he comes in glory, he will find us prepared to meet him. From December 17 to 24, we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ at Christmas.
During Advent’s graced moments, we also experience the comings of Christ in our daily life.
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Thanksgiving is a day when we gather with family and friends to share a meal, reconnect as family, and thank God for our cornucopias of blessings.
The roots of Thanksgiving Day began with the pilgrims. Despite a long, hard winter during which half of them died from scurvy and exposure to the elements, the pilgrims were so thankful some of them survived that they invited their Indian friends to share a three day feast of thanksgiving.
H.U. Westermayer wrote that the pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts during that first hard year, yet they set aside a day to thank God through prayer and through sharing their blessings with Indian friends.
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We begin November by celebrating the feast of All Saints.
On All Saints Day, we remember and we honor both the canonized and non-canonized saints of the Catholic Church. Both invite and inspire us to imitate their Christ-like lives.
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Pablo Casals, the great cellist and conductor, gazed at a baby and exclaimed, “You are unique. In the millions of years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. And look at your body; what a wonder it is! Your exquisite legs, your arms, your cunning little fingers. You may become another Shakespeare, Michelangelo, or Beethoven.”
St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, whose feast we celebrated on October 1, believed that people of her time feared God too much. She couldn’t understand how anyone could fear God, who came to us as a tiny helpless baby.
And yet, today there seem to be some who fear babies more than God.
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Bill Droel, a Labor Day historian, wrote that Labor Day began in 1882 when machinist Matthew Maguire and carpenter Peter Maguire organized a worker’s parade in New York City.
Both were Catholic laymen who were active in the Knights of Labor, the first successful national union in our country. In 1894, Congress voted that Labor Day be a national holiday.
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On August 15, we celebrate Mary’s Assumption into heaven.
In no. 966 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it says, “The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”
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Father’s Day was founded by Mrs. Sonora Louise Smart Dodd.
When Sonora was 16, her mother died while giving birth to Sonora’s youngest brother. With Sonora’s help, her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, raised Sonora’s five brothers.
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Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May.
On Memorial Day we honor military personnel who died while serving our country, particularly those who died in battle or from wounds sustained in battle.
On Veterans Day, we honor those who served honorably in military service during wartime or peacetime.
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Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) is recognized as the “mother of Mother’s Day.” She never married or had children, but as a child she heard her mother wish that there was a day to honor all mothers, living and dead.
She started the custom of wearing carnations on Mother’s Day. White carnations were her mother’s favorite flower because they symbolized a mother’s pure love. Today, red and pink carnations are given to honor a living mother and white carnations to honor a deceased mother.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, shocked by the Civil War’s bloodshed, organized a mother’s day for peace. This prepared the way for today’s Mother’s Day.
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On clear mornings from my apartment window which faces Platteville’s Mound, I enjoy watching the morning sun, like a huge orange-red host, rise majestically from earth’s chalice, inspiring me to offer a new day to God.
Beautiful sunrises deepen my respect for God’s gift of creation. Celebrating Earth Day on April 22 reminds me of my responsibility to care for this gift.
