Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

Today we begin the season of Advent. In our sanctuaries of the two churches we have the Advent wreath with four candles, three purple and one rose colored. Advent prepares us for the joyous season of Christmas. This is my fourth season of Advent and it will be my fourth Christmas with you at Our Lady of Hope. These four years have gone by so quickly. Despite the season of hope, peace and joy, Advent and Christmas itself can also be a painful time for many people.

My Dear Friends,

There's been a lot of talk about kings lately, both real kings and pseudo kings. In 1776 the colonists overthrew King George III of England and we began a country of the United States under a political system that is known as a Constitutional Republic. It has survived for 249 years (next July is the 250th birthday of our country) under both good and bad presidents, good and bad congressmen and good and bad senators. It has survived through countless wars, including a civil war. It has had its fair share of good and bad governors as well. We have been blessed in this country despite some of its moral failings, both historical as well as current moral failings.

My Dear Friends,

We have two Sundays left before our first Sunday of Advent. Today is the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time and the following week will be Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. There is nothing ordinary about ordinary time. Since the reform of the Mass in 1970, instead of calling Sundays after Pentecost or Sundays after Epiphany, the reformers called them by the numerical order of the week, hence ordinary time means time in the order of time. It could never mean ordinary, as we understand ordinary in our English language because since the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, eschatological time (time that we live waiting for the Second Coming and end of the world as we know it) is living the resurrection every day of our lives.

My Dear Friends,

Today, as we celebrate the feast day of St. John Lateran Basilica, the cathedral Church of the diocese of Rome, we recall the sublime teaching of St. Paul in several of his letters. Church buildings are important. It is in the church building that the sacraments are to be celebrated, with exceptions permitted for some of the sacraments. The four major basilicas of Rome are all honored during the year on our liturgical calendar. Within each diocese, we are called to celebrate liturgically the date of our local cathedral, and in our own parishes, we are also called to celebrate the date of each local parish church.

My Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate All Souls' Day, which is only a memorial (not a feast or a solemnity) on the liturgical calendar. Even though it falls on a Sunday this year, because of the importance of praying for our deceased loved ones, Holy Mother Church does not bump All Souls' Day, like she does when other memorials fall on a Sunday. For centuries on this day, priests wore black vestments. Since the reform of the liturgy in 1970, the church rubrics state that the preferred color is purple, but black and white are other options that are allowed. Now this memorial of All Souls' follows immediately upon All Saints' Day. On All Saints', the color is white. I am opposed to wearing white on All Souls' for that very reason.