December 3, 2023

Dear Parishioners,

“Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands” (Isaiah 64:8).

Our first reading from Isaiah on this first Sunday of Advent is very moving. Isaiah, speaking for himself and for all the people, expresses his frustration to God. “Why do you make us wander, LORD, from your ways,” he asks, “and harden our hearts so that we do not fear you?”

There isn’t a sense of entitlement or selfishness in Isaiah’s plea to God. It’s very tender actually, and it’s very sacrificial. Isaiah, you see, is confronted with his own weakness and sinfulness. He wants to be faithful and to do good, but, like everyone, he struggles. He wishes God would just do it for him; that God would simply make Isaiah and the people holy. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you,” he says.

Isaiah so strongly desires to be one with God and right with God. It brings him pain that he can’t achieve that perfect union. It’s a pain all of us face on this earth. As much as we love God and do his will, while on this earth we are confronted with our limitations. It won’t be until heaven that the perfect union is established. Until then, we have to deal with our sins, our distractions, our impatience, our smallness, our blindness.

Pretty depressing, eh? Well, it doesn’t have to be. We go back to Isaiah’s concluding line, quoted above. We are clay in the potter’s hands. This is all part of God’s design. And his design is beautiful. Yes, God wants our limitations, our impatience, etc.

There used to be a place called “The Snoop Shop” we frequented as kids, going there for birthday parties and what not. I’m not sure if the studio still exists. It was so long ago and my memory is a little fuzzy, but I recall choosing a small ceramic object to paint, like an animal or a baseball glove, sitting on a bench, putting on a smock, and splashing paint on the statue. When finished, the statue was baked in an oven and ready to be taken home. We had these small ceramic works of art all over our house throughout the early years of our childhood.

Now, “works of art” is a stretch, but for us and my parents at the time, it truly was art. It’s like when I see homemade ornaments on some of your Christmas trees that were painted by your kindergartners. The colors might not be in the lines and there might be a little too much glitter concentrated in one spot on the Elmer’s glue while the rest is barren, but it is art to you. It is art because it is from your child, an emanation of your child’s heart. That’s what matters – not the object per se, but the person behind it.

We are the “ugly ornament.” God made us that way. And we are beautiful in his eyes.

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This Sunday is Donut Sunday and New Parishioner Registration. The Saint Nick’s Party will also be occurring in the gym throughout the morning, so be sure to stop by to meet Santa!

This Friday, December 8th is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation. Our Mass schedule that day will be: 6:25am, 8:30am, 10am (school), 12pm, and 7pm. The above painting is of the statue Our Lady of Combermere at the Madonna House in Canada. May the Blessed Mother pray for us and may we be holy like her.

I’ve once again written daily Advent reflections. Like I did for Lent last year, as well as the month of May, these reflections will be in our weekly bulletin andon our website (the whole season, both Advent and Christmas, is already uploaded online). I will be praying for you throughout your Advent journey. I pray Christ comes anew into your life.

There are many ways to give during this Advent season. Please be sure to check our bulletin for these service opportunities (e.g., Christmas Care Bag Project, Christmas Decorating, St. Nick’s Party, Wal-Mart Gift Cards for our Food Pantry). Thank you to all who are spearheading these efforts.

Yours in Christ,