November 27th

​Dear Friends,
With Thanksgiving in our rear-view mirror, we find ourselves entering the Holiday Season. 
Culturally, most get Christmas out of their systems by the 25th. Those of us who work to keep the focus on the Incarnation of the Son of God use these weeks of Advent to prepare for several weeks of celebration, beginning with the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord; we start by celebrating Christ’s birth. Then we’ll move through the feast of the Holy Family; the feast of Mary, Mother of God; the feast of Epiphany; and then close it out with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This year, though, since Christmas falls on a Sunday, the Feasts of the Holy Family and the Baptism of the Lord are celebrated on weekdays. That also means our Christmas season is shorter and we have four full weeks of Advent. 
While Advent is not technically a penitential season (the way Lent is), we still use purple, and it is a good time to go to Confession. We will offer a couple of special evenings in Advent with 
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the opportunity to go to confession. We’ll do this at Saint Gabriel on Tuesday, December 6 from 6:30 – 8pm, and at Nativity of Our Lord on 
Monday December 19 from 6:30 – 8pm. Confessions will also be available at the regular times: Saturday evenings at St Gabriel before the 4:30 Mass (3:30-4:14) and the first Saturday of the month from 11 to Noon at Nativity of Our Lord.
If you’d like to get into the Christmas concert with a little music, VanderCook College of 
Music will be presenting a Christmas concert at Nativity this Thursday, December 1st at 7pm. 
Admission is free.
May your week reflect the encounter with Christ
we experienced at Mass today!