MADISON — The Office of Evangelization and Catechesis welcomes all the women of the diocese to join us for a Advent Women’s Evening of Joy on Friday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Bishop O’Connor Center.
Women who attend will have an opportunity to gather in celebration and reflection on the coming of Christ. The evening will include food, fellowship, Advent carols, and a presentation by author and speaker, Gina Loehr.
BARABOO — St. Joseph Parish, 304 East St., in Baraboo will hold an Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols entitled “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” on Sunday, Dec. 1.
All are invited to come and pray the prophetic promises of salvation using the ancient “O Antiphons.” These have been sung with the Canticle of Mary since the sixth century.
A good New Year’s resolution is to continue to work for peace. History has shown that helping to bring peace takes patience, prayer, and perseverance. Past human efforts to achieve peace have not been overly successful.
According to the June 1988 issue of Today in the Word, in 3,530 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace.
More than 8,000 peace treaties were made and then broken.
There are slightly different versions of the origin of the Christmas carol “Silent Night.”
My favorite version reveals that shortly before Christmas in 1818, Fr. Joseph Mohr discovered that the organ of St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria, was broken. He knew that his parishioners would be disappointed without Christmas music.
Advent is the liturgical season during which we await the Second Coming of Christ in glory. We also wait, pray, and listen for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.
The present economic crisis can provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, rather than on the materialistic spirit that often permeates our Western culture.
Since so many people are unemployed or under-employed and many family incomes are shrinking, a lot people will have to limit the type and number of gifts they give. This might be a blessing in disguise. It can provide us a chance to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.
Gift giving is a wonderful tradition but too many of us tend to go overboard and often measure another’s love and care by the gifts they give and receive. And some people give gifts out of a feeling of obligation or just because someone gives them one. Many feel embarrassed if a person gives them a gift and they have nothing to give in return.
The present economic crisis can provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, rather than on the materialistic spirit that often permeates our Western culture.
Since so many people are unemployed or under-employed and many family incomes are shrinking, a lot people will have to limit the type and number of gifts they give. This might be a blessing in disguise. It can provide us a chance to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.
Gift giving is a wonderful tradition but too many of us tend to go overboard and often measure another’s love and care by the gifts they give and receive. And some people give gifts out of a feeling of obligation or just because someone gives them one. Many feel embarrassed if a person gives them a gift and they have nothing to give in return.
Aging is all about changes. Some changes are in-evitable. Some are good. And some are plain difficult.
Changing seasons is welcome. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I stood sorting through my closet before dressing for church. The time for rusts and golds was past and it was too soon for Christmas colors. I picked purple.
An hour later as I walked into church, our sacristan grabbed my arm. “You remember that you’re a lector today, right?” I hadn’t, of course.
Dear Friends,
Gaudete Sunday this year was truly a Sunday of rejoicing for me. I thank God for that, and I pray that it was a great day of rejoicing for all of you, as well. It would have been enough had I simply been given the gift of our liturgy in anticipation of our celebration of Christ’s coming, but there were some additional gifts to be experienced.
Remember when we used to wait until after Thanksgiving for Christmas decorations to be put up in public places and most homes? Now we start seeing Christmas decorations in September!
I still wait until after Thanksgiving to start decorating our home and do most of my Christmas shopping. The first Sunday of Advent should be the sign for Christians to start preparing the way of the Lord. After all, it’s Christ’s birthday that we are supposed to be celebrating on December 25.
