Advent


Dear Friends in Christ,

Advent

The season of Advent is already here. With that in mind, I want to take this time to mention the strange happenings on the weekend of December 24. As some of you may already be aware, Christmas is on a Saturday this year. As a result, there will be a lot of Masses in a short period of time!

On Christmas Eve (Friday, December 24), we will have our normally scheduled 5:30pm and 10:30pm Vigil Masses. On Christmas Day (Saturday) Mass will be celebrated at 9:30am. However, Saturday after-

noon on Christmas Day there will not be Confessions and no Mass that evening. At the 5:30pm Mass on December 24, we will probably be unable to adhere to social distancing guidelines and masks are highly recommended. We will also use Danner Hall as overflow for the 5:30pm Mass.

Sunday, December 26, we celebrate The Holy Family and return to our normal Sunday schedule with Masses at 8:30am and 10:30am. I hope this helps us all plan as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas, family gatherings, and time for God.

My hope in communicating this now, is to help all of us plan accordingly, so that each of us can celebrate both Christmas on December 24 & 25 and The Holy Family on December 26.

Additional times for Reconciliation

Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Jesus. Not only as a passed event when Christ became one of us through the incarnation, but in the future tense as well. One day, we believe Christ will return and establish the Kingdom of Heaven. In light of this, advent is an appropriate time to examen our hearts and minds to prepare for Jesus to come again.

For many of us, preparing our hearts and minds means participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For those of you who are looking to take advantage of this opportunity, here are the times confession will be offered during Advent:

  • Saturdays: 4-4:45pm
  • Thursday December 9 & 16: 4-5pm
  • Sunday December 12: Penance Service with opportunity forindividual confession starting at 3pm atĀ Holy RedeemerĀ in Jenison
  • Tuesday December 21: 6-8pm

In Christ’s love and friendship,

Fr. Stephen