Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake:

During the 4 Sundays of Advent we are invited to reflect on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love! For our Third week of Advent we are to reflect on JOY.

As you know, the Third Sunday of Advent has traditionally been called Rejoice Sunday (or Lat. ‘Gaudete’ Sunday). Even though Covid-19 has changed our lifestyle a great deal, a joyful atmosphere, with joyful music & eye-catching decorations, is still there. With Joy, we are sending & receiving cards, emails, texts..., With Rejoice Sunday, however, the Church wants to remind us not to focus simply on the external. Rather, we are called to see all the external joy-filled events as an expression of our inner JOY –i.e. the only Son of God came to us in flesh to be the Emmanuel (God-with-us). St. Mother Teresa has been known to say: True JOY comes to us when we truly focus on J-O-Y: J stands for Jesus, O for Others, and Y for Yourselves (or Ourselves). Let us apply this wise advice to our Advent and Christmas:

◆ J-esus: The first element of Joy comes when we learn more about Jesus and love Him a little bit more! Among what you want to learn more about Jesus, may I suggest that you analyze the song ‘O Come, O come Emmanuel.’ This song has seven verses. Each verse contains a special ‘Messianic Title’ applied to Jesus, based on the Bible: Emmanuel (Is 7:14) Wisdom from on high (Sirach 24:3); Lord of Might (Ex 3:14); Root of Jesse (Is (11:1); Key of David ( Is 22:22); Dayspring (Wis 7:26); Desire of Nations (Jer 10:7).  Also: Each of these 7 verses begins with letter ‘O’, and is referred to as ‘O Antiphons’ and are used in the Alleluia Verses before the Gospel from Dec 17 to 23.
◆ O-thers: The second element of Joy comes when we share Jesus with others. One special figure during Advent is St. John the Baptist, who pointed Jesus to people, as he clearly said: ‘I am the voice crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord!’  St. John proclaimed Jesus to others, as he told them to prepare for the coming of Jesus. May each one of us imitate St. John to talk about Jesus, maybe teaching your children and grandchildren something about Jesus), so that we all may have a meaningful Advent and blessed Christmas with Jesus as the center.
◆  Y-ourself: The third element of Joy comes when you do not forget yourself. What have you done for Yourselves this Advent? Can you slow down and take some time just for yourselves to read, to pray and to reflect on the ‘reasons for the season’? You may want to go to weekday Mass a few times. You may decide to take time for the Reconciliation Service (Dec 15 in Wabeno & Dec 17 in Lakewood),
Fr. Philip

 

CONVERSION
[The] Gospel passage (Mk 1:1-8) introduces the person and work of John the Baptist. He reveals to his contemporaries an itinerary of faith similar to the one that Advent proposes to us: that we prepare ourselves to receive the Lord at Christmas. This itinerary of faith is an itinerary of conversion. What does the word 'conversion' mean? In the Bible it means, first and foremost, to change direction and orientation; and thus also to change one’s way of thinking. In the moral and spiritual life, to convert means to turn oneself from evil to good, from sin to love of God. And this is what the Baptist was teaching, who in the desert of Judea was ‘preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.’ (v. 4).
From Pope Francis’ Message at the Angelus Dec 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake:

During the 4 Sundays of Advent we are invited to reflect on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love! For our Third week of Advent we are to reflect on JOY. As you know, the Third Sunday of Advent has traditionally been called Rejoice Sunday (or Lat. ‘Gaudete’ Sunday). Even though Covid-19 has changed our lifestyle a great deal, a joyful atmosphere, with joyful music & eye-catching decorations, is still there. With Joy, we are sending & receiving cards, emails, texts..., With Rejoice Sunday, however, the Church wants to remind us not to focus simply on the external. Rather, we are called to see all the external joy-filled events as an expression of our inner JOY –i.e. the only Son of God came to us in flesh to be the Emmanuel (God-with-us). St. Mother Teresa has been known to say: True JOY comes to us when we truly focus on J-O-Y: J stands for Jesus, O for Others, and Y for Yourselves (or Ourselves). Let us apply this wise advice to our Advent and Christmas:

◆ J-esus: The first element of Joy comes when we learn more about Jesus and love Him a little bit more! Among what you want to learn more about Jesus, may I suggest that you analyze the song ‘O Come, O come Emmanuel.’ This song has seven verses. Each verse contains a special ‘Messianic Title’ applied to Jesus, based on the Bible: Emmanuel (Is 7:14) Wisdom from on high (Sirach 24:3); Lord of Might (Ex 3:14); Root of Jesse (Is (11:1); Key of David ( Is 22:22); Dayspring (Wis 7:26); Desire of Nations (Jer 10:7).  Also: Each of these 7 verses begins with letter ‘O’, and is referred to as ‘O Antiphons’ and are used in the Alleluia Verses before the Gospel from Dec 17 to 23.
◆ O-thers: The second element of Joy comes when we share Jesus with others. One special figure during Advent is St. John the Baptist, who pointed Jesus to people, as he clearly said: ‘I am the voice crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord!’  St. John proclaimed Jesus to others, as he told them to prepare for the coming of Jesus. May each one of us imitate St. John to talk about Jesus, maybe teaching your children and grandchildren something about Jesus), so that we all may have a meaningful Advent and blessed Christmas with Jesus as the center.

◆  Y-ourself: The third element of Joy comes when you do not forget yourself. What have you done for Yourselves this Advent? Can you slow down and take some time just for yourselves to read, to pray and to reflect on the ‘reasons for the season’? You may want to go to weekday Mass a few times. You may decide to take time for the Reconciliation Service (Dec 15 in Wabeno & Dec 17 in Lakewood),
Fr. Philip

 

CONVERSION

[The] Gospel passage (Mk 1:1-8) introduces the person and work of John the Baptist. He reveals to his contemporaries an itinerary of faith similar to the one that Advent proposes to us: that we prepare ourselves to receive the Lord at Christmas. This itinerary of faith is an itinerary of conversion. What does the word 'conversion' mean? In the Bible it means, first and foremost, to change direction and orientation; and thus also to change one’s way of thinking. In the moral and spiritual life, to convert means to turn oneself from evil to good, from sin to love of God. And this is what the Baptist was teaching, who in the desert of Judea was ‘preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.’ (v. 4).
From Pope Francis’ Message at the Angelus Dec 6