“Grant your faithful, we pray almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming…..” with these words we begin our Advent walk with God and the new liturgical time is set. With the Advent season, there is a sense of urgency, of expectation because Christ is coming and we are to meet him with our prayers and great deeds. The Advent season is a time of waiting and anticipating, not just the celebration of Christmas, and the commemoration of Christ’s coming into the world incarnated in the flesh of an infant, but also the celebration of Christ’s Second Coming at the end of the world. We start Advent with looking forward to Christ’s Second Coming.
There will be an Advent prayer service here at STHY on Monday December 3rd. This is a time for all of us as a Church to prepare our hearts for the journey of the Advent Season. This will be a time of special Adoration , prayer and music for our parish.
STHY will have our annual Advent Penance Service on Tuesday December 4th at 7:00 pm in the Church. We will have multiple priest confessors available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation that night. I encourage you to come and experience this most powerful and healing sacrament. Especially if you haven’t been to confession in a long time, now would be an ideal time to come and be reconciled to God and the Church. It would be a great way to start off the new liturgical year and get yourself in the right frame of mind for the approaching holidays.
Now that the Holiday season is in full swing and there are several opportunities for our parish community to witness the love of Christ to those in need this season. The Angel Tree is up in our Church narthex and the angel tags are on the tree. The Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a coat drive and there is a constant need for donations for food in which SVDP will distribute. And we have out 2018 STHY Christmas item list in the bulletin. Thank you for your generosity. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception which is a Holy Day of obligation is Saturday December 8th. There will be only two scheduled Masses for Immaculate Conception on Friday (Vigil) December 7th at 7:00 pm and Saturday morning December 8th at 8:00 am in the main Church. (The Saturday evening Mass at 5:00pm does not cover for the obligation for Immaculate Conception.)
The Immaculate Conception teaches the faithful in the Catholic Church that from the moment when she was conceived in the womb, the Blessed Virgin Mary was kept free of original sin, so that she was from the start filled with the sanctifying grace normally conferred in baptism. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was dogmatically defined on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX in his papal decree Ineffabilis Deus.
FORMED is the revolutionary digital online platform that gives STHY unprecedented access to video-based study programs, feature films, audio presentations, and eBooks from the Church’s foremost presenters. With free access to FORMED, 24/7 on your television, smart phone, laptop, I-pad, or Kindle, you can: Prepare for Mass, study the scriptures, watch religious movies and programs as a family. Our parish Password to FORMED.org is 77GVZ3. The Bible is at the heart of our Catholic Faith, and our relationship with God. STHY will be offering a Bible study called The Bible Timeline, which will take everyone on a 24 week journey through the entire Bible. Classes begin January 8th, 2019. Go to Sthaycinth.org. for more information on the program. Finally, I send out my sincere thanks to all who made a pledge for our Building Faith, Family and Future…our Sanctuary… our Home… Capital Campaign. I truly appreciate your generosity and support. Envelopes are in the Narthex along with our collection box specifically designed for our Capital campaign or you can do so online through the parish website. When you complete your donation envelope, drop it in the collection box, offertory basket, or mail it or bring it by the office at any time. Remember, we ask every family to consider an equal sacrifice, not an equal size gift. We all need to do our part our part, and every pledge, of every size, is most needed and welcomed. Thank you for doing your part to help us reach our goal.