December 15, 2024

Dear Parish Family,

It’s the Third Sunday of Advent.  It’s the Sunday of Joy.  The readings call us to rejoice and not have anxiety at all … Why? Because Jesus is coming!  We rejoice because we are halfway through Advent. But is anyone panicking because we are just eight days away from Christmas?

We are beginning a week that can easily be chaotic… and, often, for all the wrong reasons — the 11th-hour frenzy over gifts, cards, worried if things we ordered online will arrive in time, planning and attending parties, travels, and menus.  Even here at church we will be squaring away the decorations and music and lining everything up for the Masses.  It’s crunch time.

And instead of the Joy that this Sunday calls us to, we might be exhausted and spent with lots more to do.

That’s why the call to Joy is so important this week.  And that’s why we planned our theme for this Third Week of Advent to be The Journey from Complexity to Simplicity because Christmas can become very complicated.  Does it have to be?

But when we look at that first Christmas, we see simplicity.  The Incarnation—God becoming one of us—is not simple to understand.  It is a complex mystery.  But when we look at the reason behind it … it is simple to embrace.  God sent His Son  because God LOVES us.   Pure and simple.   That is what we believe and that is what we need to focus on.

This week while I was driving in my car making visits, running errands, and trying to get everything done that needs to get done, I was listening to Christmas music on the radio and Josh Groban’s song, Believe, was playing.   The last line of the refrain struck me: You have all you need if you just believe.   It’s so true.  May what Christmas is really all about— believing that God is with us—help us journey from complexity to simplicity this week.

Continued GOOD ADVENT, everyone! 

Father Neil Sullivan