Some hints about how to Celebrate Advent

Advent is the season in which we prepare for the great celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.  During these four weeks, we:

- Wait.   We wait and pray for the “ Second Coming” of Jesus as our Lord and Judge.
- Convert.  We listen to the call of John the Baptist and we examine our lives.
- Hope.  We remember how what God has done for us in the past and we look with confidence to the future.

It seems very simply, but in reality, our “Advent journey” to hope, can be overshadowed by repeated journeys to shopping malls! Pressure to "celebrate" Christmas according to the norms of the secular culture can be enormous. All around us seem to push more important things into the background.

It's important to do whatever we can to live out Advent as fully as we can otherwise Christmas will come and leave a sense of sadness in our hearts: we have missed an opportunity.

To help us remain focus we mark the time leading up to Christmas with an Advent wreath. Its circle of evergreen symbolizes God’s eternal love for us. The color violet of three candles on it is the traditional penitential color of Advent and Lent. The one pink candle symbolizes a brief respite in this journey. It is lit on “Gaudete”or “Joyful” Sunday, which is always the third Sunday of the season.

Little by little the wreath becomes bright with light. As we light the four candles one by one, we’re reminded of how God’s light has gradually illumined the world’s darkness through history, culminating in Jesus, the Light of the World and the Sun of Justice.

Before Christmas we can celebrate a “Novena” which means nine day of special prayers. To introduce us into the Spirit of Christmas we shall have the “Annual Christmas Concert” on Monday Dec.17th, 6:00PM-7:30PM at St. Therese Church where the school children will entertain us. On Sun. Dec. 23rd our CCD Children will stage for us the Traditional Christmas Pageant during the 9:30AM Mass.