I don't have to tell any of you that the calendar really fills up quickly in December. Firstly, I pray that all of us will make it a priority to include God in our day-to-day trek to Christmas as Advent begins next Sunday, November 27, and runs until Christmas. We will offer new reflection booklets for each day of Advent, and hope you will not miss many or any days reading them during the Advent season.
Please mark the following special dates on your December calendar, and try to make it a priority to join your fellow parishioners for our Advent Day of Recollection with the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Tuesday, December 13) and the Diaconate Ordination Mass for Nelson Rubio, our adopted seminarian (Saturday, December 17).
The Day of Recollection will be led by Father Jerome Kodell, the former long-time Abbot of the Benedictines at Subiaco, Arkansas, and a noted speaker and scripture study author. It will start with 9:00 a.m. Mass and end with our Advent Reconciliation and opportunity for individual reception of the sacrament at 1:00 p.m. More details will follow in the next few weeks.
The Diaconate Ordination of Nelson Rubio will happen at Sacred Heart Church on Saturday, December 17, at 10:00 a.m., followed by a nice reception with food and drink in our lower hall. As you, the parishioners of Sacred Heart Church, have been so supportive of our seminarians in prayer and in financial help for their formation, especially in recent years, this Ordination mass is a great opportunity for us to share in an important step in Nelson's journey to the priesthood as he makes his vow of celibacy and is ordained a transitional deacon which will enable him to serve the Lord in new days like preaching and presiding over sacraments like Baptism and Matrimony when they are celebrated outside of Mass. As Bishop Taylor presides at Nelson's Diaconate Ordination Mass with priests con-celebrating, and most of our Arkansas seminarians serving the Mass or joining you in the pews, it will be a joy-filled, special liturgy which, I pray, many of us will participate in, and will be blessed by, as well as be, a blessing to Nelson who is very excited about this Mass with his "Parish Family."
Please mark the following special dates on your December calendar, and try to make it a priority to join your fellow parishioners for our Advent Day of Recollection with the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Tuesday, December 13) and the Diaconate Ordination Mass for Nelson Rubio, our adopted seminarian (Saturday, December 17).
The Day of Recollection will be led by Father Jerome Kodell, the former long-time Abbot of the Benedictines at Subiaco, Arkansas, and a noted speaker and scripture study author. It will start with 9:00 a.m. Mass and end with our Advent Reconciliation and opportunity for individual reception of the sacrament at 1:00 p.m. More details will follow in the next few weeks.
The Diaconate Ordination of Nelson Rubio will happen at Sacred Heart Church on Saturday, December 17, at 10:00 a.m., followed by a nice reception with food and drink in our lower hall. As you, the parishioners of Sacred Heart Church, have been so supportive of our seminarians in prayer and in financial help for their formation, especially in recent years, this Ordination mass is a great opportunity for us to share in an important step in Nelson's journey to the priesthood as he makes his vow of celibacy and is ordained a transitional deacon which will enable him to serve the Lord in new days like preaching and presiding over sacraments like Baptism and Matrimony when they are celebrated outside of Mass. As Bishop Taylor presides at Nelson's Diaconate Ordination Mass with priests con-celebrating, and most of our Arkansas seminarians serving the Mass or joining you in the pews, it will be a joy-filled, special liturgy which, I pray, many of us will participate in, and will be blessed by, as well as be, a blessing to Nelson who is very excited about this Mass with his "Parish Family."