Dear Sisters and Brothers:

On this Second Sunday of Advent, Church presents before us St. John the Baptist as a model to prepare for the coming of the Savior. St. John invited people by his message as he said: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” (Luke 3:4-5)

Following our family tradition, we have already started to decorate our homes immediately following Thanksgiving. The amount of time, money, and energy we spend in preparing for Christmas indicates how important and joyful this feast is for us. However, this call for preparation is far deeper and personal for each of us. We are celebrating the birth of the Son of God in human history. But it goes beyond history and it affects all of us. So how do we prepare ourselves for such a great event of our salvation? First of all each of us has to realize that Jesus incarnated for ME, and to save me from sin. Everything starts with faith and we all realize that as we go through our daily lives, our faith weakens. The way to strengthen our faith is nothing but prayer. Therefore, besides the weekend Mass, I invite you to attend an extra Mass during the week, and you may also want to spend an hour with the Lord in the Adoration Chapel. Pray the Rosary every day for the members of your family who are lapsed Catholics and donate something to the poor. May God bless you and your Advent preparation!

Father Birendra Soreng,
Pastor