The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday,” literally “Be Joyful Sunday.” What do we mean by joy? There is an important distinction to make between joy and happiness. Happiness is a mood and moods, like Mid-West weather, can change from one moment to the next. Joy is not a mood but rather it is a state of being and states of being and moods can both exist together. Of course, joy and happiness go together, but joy can also exist in grief and sorrow, in the face of adversity, and with any other mood or circumstance.
On this Third Sunday of Advent, we are invited, commanded actually (Gaudete is in the imperative form), to be joyful and I offer you three reasons for that. First, we are nearing the end of our Advent journey, which will give way to the joy of Christmas. Second, we can be confident in our Lord’s promise to return in glory. His return will be the total establishment of his kingdom and the final destruction of the reign of sin and death. Third, the Lord is already present. There is an old Latin saying that says vocatus atque non vocatus Deus aderit, meaning “called and not called, God is present.” The Lord is always in our midst. Sinners though we are, the Lord is never far; he never forsakes us and that is reason enough to be joyful today and everyday.
We are a people in progress. God is not finished with us. We face challenges & adversity and life does not always go the way we want it to; however, we have the love of God, and the Lord reminds us that his grace is sufficient and that the fullness of his glory has yet to be revealed. So be joyful, always!
Many Thanks
Thank you to the Men’s Club for hosting Breakfast with Santa last Sunday. It was wonderful to welcome the “jolly old elf” back to CTK. Also a tremendous thank you to everyone who donated to the Giving Tree. It gave me great joy to once again open the door to the large closet where the gifts are stored and have them actually fall out into the hallway due to them being stacked to overflowing.
4th Sunday of Advent/Christmas Schedule (Repeated)
This year Christmas falls on a Monday, meaning that the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve are the same day. Both the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas are days of obligatory Mass attendance where Catholics are obliged to attend a Mass for Sunday and a Mass for Christmas. With the two celebrations overlapping each other, we will have a modified Mass schedule on December 23, 24, and 25, owing that we only have so many musicians and minsters for Masses and that some folks will only come to Mass for Christmas that weekend on Sunday evening or Monday morning.
The Masses for that weekend are as follows: Masses for the 4th Sunday of Advent will be Saturday, December 23rd at 4:30PM and Sunday, December 24th at 9:00AM. Those may be large Masses but, with extra chairs out for Christmas, there will be room for all (our church can fit approximately 600 people and our most recent October count was just under 1200). The Masses for Christmas will be Sunday, December 24th at 4:00PM, 6:30PM, & 10:00PM and on Monday, December 25th, at 9:30AM.
To fulfill the obligation for both days, one needs to attend two Masses as follows: Saturday night/Sunday night, Saturday night/Monday morning, Sunday morning/Sunday night, Sunday morning/Monday morning, or Sunday night/Monday morning. One cannot attend Mass Saturday night for Sunday and Sunday morning for Christmas because the Mass of Christmas must be after 4:00PM.
January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, which is a holy day but the obligation is lifted this year due to it being on a Monday (Christmas is on a Monday too but its obligation to attend Mass is never lifted for falling on a Monday). I know that holy day schedules can be confusing so please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead!
Father Chris House