News - November 2024 RSS Feed

On this First Sunday of Advent, I am still lingering in the spirit of Thanksgiving Day. This national holiday fits well into the last week of our liturgical year, inviting us to be thankful for the blessings of the past year even as we begin a new season. I am so grateful for the graces God has been pouring out upon our parish. I do not have the space to mention them all, but I would like to mention one of them which we are celebrating this Sunday. In our second reading St. Paul prays: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…” (1 Thessalonians 3: 12). The Lord has been answering his prayer at IHM.

Today we begin the last week of Ordinary Time with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe; and next weekend we will begin a new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent. As autumn fades into winter, the Church draws our attention to endings and new beginnings.

There are just two more weeks of Ordinary Time before we begin the season of Advent. It seems appropriate to observe the end and the beginning of the church year when autumn is fading into winter (in the northern hemisphere). This weekend’s readings focus our attention on apocalyptic images of end-time distress, the rise of Michael the Archangel, people rising from the dead to glory or disgrace, stars falling from the sky, and “the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13: 26, cf. Daniel 12: 1-3). That sounds so exciting!

This weekend we observe Stewardship of Vocations. While everyone has a unique vocation, we are focusing particularly on vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and religious life. And we are asking all our parishioners to help nurture these vocations from our parish.

“Vocation” comes from the Latin word vocare which means “to call.” In the Catholic context, God is the one who calls people into a certain lifestyle, career or ministry. One who hears the call and freely embraces it is said to have “found their vocation.” Since God is the Creator of all people, He is calling everyone in a particular way. Over the centuries, the Church has developed special esteem for some vocations because of their service to the Church. Among these are marriage, priesthood, diaconate and consecrated religious life.