This past week was a week full of devotion to Mary. The Church celebrated her Immaculate Conception and then celebrated her as Our Lady of Loretto and then as Our Lady of Guadalupe. Hail Mary full of Grace, pray for us sinners, Holy Mary Mother of God!
We are now in the third week of Advent, waiting for Jesus to come to us again. Sunday the 13th of December is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for Rejoice! Our liturgical color changes to Rose to emphasize the joy we feel as Christmas approached. We will all celebrate Christmas even with the pandemic still going strong. The vaccines will help us in a few months, but in the meantime we will still follow the protocols for the pandemic. We will continue our Sunday Masses at 8:15 and 10:30 AM, masked and socially distanced. Cheryl is still putting our 10:30 on line. There will be an Advent Service on zoom on Sunday at 1 PM. The Soup Kitchen is still open MWF and our St. Vincent de Paul folks are still delivering food to the needy. Deacon Mel has Bible Class each Tuesday on line, too. Our Faith in St. Joe County continues to zoom on Fridays at 4 PM. I have placed the Offertory Envelopes and our calendar for 2021 in the foyer as usual. If you can't stop by to pick them up, we will mail them to you after the New Year.
That brings us to Christmas. We will not be able to do all the things we've done in the past due to the virus. For Christmas we will have only two Masses, the same as Sundays. Christmas Masses will be on Christmas morning at 8:15 and 10:30 AM. We will be masked and socially distanced. The Bishop's dispensation is still in effect. You need not come and especially if you are sick. Cheryl will hold a zoom event on Christmas Eve for the children at 4 PM. Since choirs are not allowed, there will be no Choir Concert nor night time Mass. BUT Christmas is still Christmas! So plan to celebrate at home the joy of the season!
In the Mass for the Third Sunday of Advent, both the priest and the deacon wear Rose Vestments, a visible sign that we should celebrate. The first word in the Mass is Rejoice! and that is the theme of the Mass. Rejoice, Christmas is almost here! In our first reading, the Prophet Isaiah tells us that: " the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and release to prisoners." He goes on to tell us that "God will make justice and praise spring up before all the nations." Our second reading continues: "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing." The Gospel Acclamation should give us great hope because it tells each of us: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor." What a Christmas gift that is!
Our Gospel gives us St. John's take on John the Baptist. John the Baptist says clearly that he is not the Christ. "I am the voice of one crying in the desert, 'make straight the way of the Lord.'" He is preparing the way of the Lord. Like the Baptist, we, too, should be preparing the way of the Lord by getting ready for Christmas. It is good to give presents on Jesus' birthday in his honor. Rejoice then as we prepare for God's greatest gift to us his only begotten Son.