 Fr.
Tom's Tomes December 17, 2006
What is on your calendar for this week? Have you placed the Advent Penance Service on your schedule? This Monday evening, December 18, 2006, at 7:00 pm at St. Columban we will be having the Advent Penance Service. This is a time when all parishioners of St Columban should come together to ask God’s forgiveness for our sins. We come together to pray and listen to readings from the Scriptures. The readings from the Bible will remind us of God’s mercy and love. The readings will encourage us to turn to God to seek forgiveness and assistance from God. Following the readings and homily there will be an examination of conscience. After the examination of conscience there will be time for individual confession and individual absolution. I have always found the Sacrament of Penance, Confession, Reconciliation to be a great time of peace in my personal life and in the lives of others. When we turn to God and ask for God’s forgiveness we are given the peace and love of God. Peoples lives become so busy and at times so filled with being uneasy or at odds with others and just life in general, we need an opportunity to return to peace. I believe by receiving the Sacrament of Penance we are able to do this. This sacrament allows us time to reflect and also to center our lives closer to God. Peace is something we search for in our lives. The sacrament of penance allows us to discover and find the peace we need in our lives. If you have not been to the Sacrament of Penance for a while please make a special effort to come on Monday. There is a need for all of us to attend the Penance Service. The priests are here to share the forgiveness and love of God through this sacrament. It is a time of healing, letting go and inviting the peace and love of God into our lives. There is no greater gift we can give to ourselves at Christmas than to receive the Sacrament of Penance and then to receive the Eucharist at Mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Our Christmas schedule will be as follows: Mass at 5:00 pm on Christmas Eve; Mass at Midnight on Christmas Eve, and Mass at 9:00 am on Christmas Day. It is important to remember we are to attend Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent next weekend also. I like to say that there is no such thing as a two for one. We are to attend for both Sunday and then again for Christmas. After our Sunday morning Masses, the evening Masses on the 24th of December is for Christmas. Bishop Hogan school would also like to invite parishioners to come to the live Nativity on the grassy area on the south side of the rectory on Thursday evening, December 21, 2006 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The 5th through 8th graders will be the persons portraying the first Nativity. There will also be hot chocolate and cookies available. As we enter the last week of Advent may our time draw us closer to Christ and his incarnation. |