As we continue this journey towards Christmas, may we use the opportunities for reconciliation and recommitment it provides.

As we enter into this most sacred time of waiting and preparation, let us pray that our hearts will be filled with the Holy Spirit, giving us the courage to persevere in patient hope.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., seats about 3,000 people, but pilgrims from our Diocese were standing in every available open space possible. As you can imagine, the spirit of God was very much alive in the faithful who travelled hours from Brooklyn & Queens.

Each of our Scripture passages for Mass this Sunday speaks to us of the importance of preparation.

Our churches are meant to be places of welcome for God’s children, that they may encounter the Lord who loves them unconditionally.

My very last summer job in the seminary before I was ordained a transitional deacon was at St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, New York. St. John’s Cemetery is truly one of the most beautiful and ornate cemeteries in our city. It is a place of serenity and prayer where the faithful can pray for the souls of their loved ones. I worked in the office of the cemetery, mostly filing, computer data entry, answering phones, and helping with grave locations. 

We rarely stop to think about how amazing it is that we can talk to the creator of the stars. Worse still, we sometimes reduce prayer to a simple mental activity. To the contrary, prayer is not simply thinking about God, but a moment of actual contact with the one who is beyond all of our categories and concepts.

The prayerful support of the mystical body of Christ is of vital importance, since we, though individuals, never approach God alone.We are part of something much bigger, and though we might like the idea of being independent in our relationship with God, nothing could be more damaging to it.