PASTOR'S COMMENTS

Dear Parishioners,

       This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving.  After Mass that day I will go to celebrate with my family.  This very old custom of celebrating with family is a precious gift from the past!  Customs are what make us who we are.  I hope everyone will be with someone they love on that day.   

       The feast of family needs to take precedence if at all possible.  Watching games on TV or going hunting should all take second place to being together for the 'big meal'!  We will pray for those who will spend Thanksgiving alone.  I can remember in '06 I flew to Spokane, Washington to celebrate with my sister.  On coming back I saw a monster of a snow storm in Denver and landing in Springfield, it was wet and warm for that time of year.  Then we got the same big snow storm and in the next January we got that terrible ice storm.  Who can forget that?  Speaking of unforgettable happenings, can you remember the Thanksgiving that was your most cherished memory?  I remember lots of them.  I most especially remember the rice/sausage dressing my mother made.......  I have never had any better since! 

       The First Sunday of Advent falls immediately after Thanksgiving.  When we hang the Advent Wreath we enter into that wonderful season of the church when we celebrate the waiting and anticipation of the world for its Savior.  Much of the world doesn't know that the Savior has come and those who should know often forget - God's plan of love and redemption was set into action almost 2000 years ago.  As people who live in what some call a 'post-modern' world, it is up to us to see the connectedness of all world events and recall that the Messiah is for all times - ever ancient and ever new!

       Let us enter the New Church Year with eagerness and yearning for the Lord to be reborn in our midst and to rule over sin and death and bring healing 'in his wings'.

Blessings!
Fr Pat