We are blessed to be a parish whose situation allows its parishioners and guests a choice of when to participate in Mass on the weekends and holydays.  Over the past 20 years or so, I have been saddened by a trend of more and more people choosing to participate in the Christmas "Vigil" Mass on Christmas Eve, rather than the Midnight Mass or Mass on Christmas Day.  I, like many who are reading this pastor's corner, remember the time when the first Mass on Christmas was the Midnight Mass.  When you think about it, it was surely the case that those who participated in this Mass, or a Christmas morning Mass, were "Keeping Christ in Christmas" in the most beautiful and meaningful of ways, by firstly celebrating Mass with members of their faith family.  Everything else done to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day then found its proper and, rightly, secondary place.  With so many now participating in Mass on Christmas Eve, my concern is that Christmas Day for too many, is lacking or even devoid totally, of the "religious" aspect of the day in favor of secular activities.  I would, therefore invite you to reflect on this, and consider prioritizing your Christmas Day by coming to Mass either at Midnight or on Christmas Day at 9:00 a.m. if you are staying here for Christmas.  In case you're wondering, after reading this pastor's column so far, we will be offering a Christmas Vigil Mass at 4:00 p.m.  I will be happy to see you at whatever Mass you choose to attend for Christmas (maybe just a little happier if I see you at Midnight or on Christmas morning.)  Please note, however, that if you choose to participate in the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve, know that the prayers and readings that the Church provides for that Mass, and therefore the music that we will sing, indicates that we are "not fully there yet."  So don't be upset if you don't hear and sing at that Mass "O Come, All Ye Faithful" since the second verse says "Yea, Lord, we greet thee, BORN THIS HAPPY MORNING."

Oh, how time flies!  With the start of the Advent season this weekend, we mark the one year anniversary of the revised Roman Missal. The new wording of many of the prayers and responses at Mass has slowed us down as we were (and some still are) forced to use written aids that are in our pews to get it right.  Those of us, who have come to memorize some (or maybe all) of the new rite, may be tempted to speed up again and say the words thoughtlessly from the mind and not from the heart.  I pray that we will not give in to this temptation; but instead, during this year of faith, deepen our love for the Mass and our participation in it from start to finish.  I have to say that I have not been conscious of a change of volume in the spoken and sung responses in the Mass, and I certainly can't ever gauge where our hearts are turned during the celebration of Mass.  I can only pray that the new texts we are hearing and speaking, are penetrating our minds and hearts and are leading us into a deeper union with The Lord and one another.

I give thanks for The Lord for many blessings, including growth that I have experienced over the years.  Such growth is evident to me in my reluctance now to get involved in issues that in past years, I would have embraced heartily.  One of these is "Christmas Parties" at church and elsewhere that are regularly scheduled way before our Church begins the celebration of Christmas.  Unfortunately, (I say) we are victims of a secular and commercialistic society that now plays Christmas music and displays symbols of Christmas (both secular and religious) as early as the beginning of November.  The challenge for us as Catholics is to be able to enter into the Advent season (which begins on December 2) as a time of waiting, and preparing both for Christ's coming again in glory and the celebration of His first coming which BEGINS at the Masses of Christmas and lasts until the Baptism of the Lord on January 13.  I would truly be joy-filled and very complimentary if someone were to invite me to a "Christmas gathering" that is between December 25 and January 13.  Following the Church's (and not society's) calendar for me, means singing Advent songs during Advent and spending time in spiritual reading and prayer in preparation for the joy of the true Christmas Season.