An Advent Reflection
We prepare for the story of the birth of Jesus,
by waking up to the truth
that we, like him, are called to be fully human.
To get this means to be startled
by the coming of God into our lives.
It turns out that what we are called to prepare for
is the birth of the True Human in us,
in our community,
and in the world.

This is not secular humanism,
for the human, we know intuitively,
is participating in a repair/co-creation
that is part of a divine plan or intention.
We understand that the gospel story is an externalization
of our own story told through the life, death, and resurrection
of one who was Human and that we are to become that!
This carries with it an immense responsibility,
to consciously participate in our own evolution.

We are anticipating,
in other words, our own recreation,
rendering us active agents
in the repair and recreation of the world.
The practice of the Advent season
is to purge ourselves of everything in our lives
that is not love,
that is not freedom,
that is not truth.

Needless to say, this is not an easy path.
It certainly is not a passive path.
You and I are completing or perfecting the love
that was known in Jesus of Nazareth,
and in all courageous souls,
willing to join the lineage of the heart-broken ones.
But over a lifetime
we may discover that
we too will be lifted up,
with Jesus, to the Home of God where Love reigns eternally.
And the Human One will have once again
disrupted the way of greed and fear.
Through us, and the body of Christ,
by God’s grace, the cosmogenesis,
the Birth of the Universe occurs, again and again.

  BLESSED ARE YOU,LORD OUR GOD,
BEFORE WHO ALL THE TREES OF THE FOREST SING FOR JOY,
FOR YOU HAVE COME TO RULE THE EARTH AND ALL OF IT’S PEOPLES
IN YOUR BELOVED SON, JESUS CHRIST, THE PRINCE OF PEACE.
BY HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS AND HIS RISING TO GLORY, THE TREE OF
DEFEAT HAS BECOME OUR TREE OF VICTORY, AND THE PUR LIGHT OF CHRIST FOREVER
GLADDENS OUR WAITING WORLD.

WE ASK YOU TO SEND YOUR BLESSING UPON THIS TREE
WHICH WE HAVE DECORATED IN HONOR OF YOUR SON’S BIRTH.
LET IT HELP US TO CELEBRATE THIS HOLY SEASON AS LIVING BRANCHES OF HIM,
AND BEAR THE FRUIT OF GOOD WORKS FOR YOUR GLORY,
THIS DAY AND EVERY DAY,
BOTH NOW AND FOREVER…..AMEN

  LOVING GOD, YOUR CHURCH JOYFULLY AWAITS THE COMING OF ITS SAVIOR.
   CHRIST, JESUS WHO ENLIGHTENS OUR HEARTS AND DISPELS THE DARKNESS OF
   IGNORANCE AND SIN.  POUR FORTH YOUR BLESSINGS UPON US AS WE LIGHT THE
  CANDLES OF THIS WREATH;  MAY THEIR LIGHT REFLECT THE SPLENDOR OF CHRIST
  WHO LIVES AMONG US AND WHO IS LORD, FOREVER AND EVER.  AMEN

SAINT ANTHONY’S ADVENT 2020
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT:  ” BE Watchful! BE Alert!”
Beginning Cycle B in the Revised Common Lectionary
First Reading:  Isaiah 63-64  Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9  Gospel:  Mark:  13:33-37

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT: “Prepare the way for our God, make straight every path.”
First Reading:  Isaiah 40:  1-111  Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14  Gospel:  Mark 1: 1-8

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT:  John the Baptist:  “I am the voice of one crying in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord.”
First Reading  Isaiah 61:  1-11  Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 Gospel: John 1: 6-8, 19-28

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT:  The Annunciation” Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”  First Reading: 2 Samuel 7: 1-16 
Second Reading:  Romans 16:  25-27  Gospel  Luke 1:26-38

 
CHRISTMAS Nativity of the Lord MASS WILL BE HELD AT 3:00 PM. ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 24