THE ADVENT SEASON OF PREPARATION BLOSSOMED OUT OF THE GROWTH OF THE CATHOLIC-CHRISTIAN CHURCH............

On this Wednesday of the 1st Week of Advent, the fourth day of the 2013 Liturgical Year, the anticipation for the Coming Christ during these December Days, this Christmas Season, and at His Second Coming in Glory at the end of Time, is encapsulated in a four week period of preparation and penance historically we know as, Advent, which means coming, or waiting for the arrival, of Jesus The Christ.  In about the 4th Century, A.D., as the number of Baptisms into the Christian abounded, the necessity of celebrating the Sacraments of Initiation increased beyond the annual Easter Vigil celebration.  With a penetential preparatory period before Easter established, we call Lent, a similar period of preparation, also penitential in nature before Christmas, the weeks we celebrate as Advent was developed.  But Advent is more than a time of penance in preparation for the Holy Birth of Humankind's Redeemer at Christmas.  It is also a focused period of longing and expectation for the arrival of the Messiah and the Salvation History stories of Mary and Joseph of Nazareth, John the Baptizer, and Isaiah, the Hebrew Prophet.  So as Advent People of Hope, all of us who Believe, Watch, and Wait, for Jesus three-fold Coming - "Today, Yesterday, and Forever", must embrace the signs and celebrations of this Sacred Season, The Advent Wreath, the Jesse Tree, Communal Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick sacramental services, The 'O' Antiphons, Posadas, Lessons and Carols concerts, and the Parish Giving Tree, to name some of them.  Determine how you and yours will make this Advent, by choosing one or more of the activities and events mentioned above and make this Advent a season of worthy anticipation for the holy and proper celebration of Christmas............Fr.  Troy