Welcome to the Holy Family introduction to the season of Advent. Let us begin as we always do in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen.

This evening we have prepared for you some thoughts about the season of Advent; a meditation by Roger Lenertz, maybe 15- 20 minutes of adoration and some great music. We will end by 8 o'clock but hopefully the events of this evening will last well beyond tonight.

For many of us, Thanksgiving usually kicks off another season of "here we go again", dealing with the annual bombardment from advertisers and the temptation to measure Christmas in terms of presents. It's a months - long struggle to get all our holiday preparations finished and somehow keep Christ in Christmas too.

And the year 2020 has been very difficult for all of us. We have dealt with a pandemic, scandals in both our Church and in our government, wildfires, hurricanes and too many other things to mention. It seems that Advent is in danger this year of being relegated to the list of activities that have to be "endured" before we can mercifully end this calendar year.

In this season of Advent, which started today, I would like to propose that we really work to begin the new church year by forgetting the year that is now behind us an by reforming ourselves internally. This is going to take time, and this Advent is the perfect time to do it since we have four weeks of waiting before the Christ child arrives.

Starting right now, tonight, right here I would like to suggest we put all the events of 2020 in our rearview mirror and try to remove from our lives the anxiety and the worry we have dealt with and try to find a new peace - a peace that can only come from a settled heart and in an interior sense of well-being.

I would like to propose we do this in three ways:

1. Go to confession. Let us clean our own interior cave of the dirt, the spiderwebs and the foul smell of sin. Let's experience the sense of joy and freedom from making a good confession! If you're not comfortable going here I could recommend the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at KU which has scheduled many different confession times and so you should be able to find a time that suits you.
2. Find some quiet place and a good time of the day and read something from Scripture. Maybe just open up the Bible to the New Testament (near the end of the book) and randomly pick a sentence or a paragraph from Matthew, Mark, Luke, John or Acts of the Apostles. Think about what you read deeply. Meditate on it. Imagine you were there, a fly on the wall. What are your thoughts as you hear what you just read? Start with just five minutes and see if you can add five minutes at a time so that, when Christmas rolls around, you might be able to spend 15, 20 or even 30 minutes without mental distraction.
3. I would like to propose that you fast, but not from food or drink. I would like to propose that we fast verbally - to say a lot less - because most of our sins are sins of the tongue. We offend God, our family and our neighbors most frequently with off-thecuff expressions, bitter sarcasm, anger, white lies and gossip.

Let us follow the advice of St. Bernard who said we should open our mouths only on three occasions: to praise God, to accuse ourselves of our own faults, and to edify our neighbors. If this is lived out in the family, think of the many blessings will you have by Christmas…and these blessings will last forever, LONG after the Christmas presents! Thank you.

Let us bow our heads in prayer.

Lord Jesus, we know the celebration of the month of Advent as a time to perfect ourselves is possible only to those who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come. We have all had a difficult year and we ask you to help us start our new year right here, tonight in your presence. We give you thanks in all things, amen.

On behalf of Holy Family Parish, I want to wish you all a very blessed Advent. My hope and prayer for each of you is that you can find a way to prepare yourselves internally for the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas. I hope you can do this by removing from your lives some of the distractions, the anxieties, the worries, the addictions and the stresses that are present in our lives.

I ask that if there is any way either Father Mike or I can help you or your family this Advent, please let us know. I hope you find some time to pray or read the Scriptures and fast verbally. If we can do these three things I think each of us will be constantly aware of our preparing for the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas.

Please stay and enjoy the music as we prepare ourselves to go into the world proclaiming Advent by our actions. St. Augustine said that “He who sings, prays twice!” So, we have some excellent music to finish out the hour. Let’s all listen before we leave.

As a last offering, may I ask you to bow for a blessing: May Almighty God bless each of you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Go and have a blessed Advent.