Essays and Messages

The word “advent” comes from the Latin term adventus, literally meaning “coming to.”  The four weeks of the season of Advent before Christmas create a unique season of hope-filled preparation for all of us in the Catholic Christian community – although it can easily be missed by society at large as simply an extended, early celebration of Christmas.  True enough, Christ has come, and we should rejoice in his Incarnation every day of our lives.  But Advent gives us all time for a prayerful “retelling” of the story of the “Hope of Israel.”  We prepare ourselves for the commemoration of Christ’s coming in history in Bethlehem, his coming in mystery each day in the Church and the Sacraments, and his coming in majesty at the end of time.

A century before Christ was born, the Roman statesman and orator Cicero (106-43 BC) wrote, “There is nothing that I can esteem more highly than appearing or being grateful. For this one virtue is not only the greatest but is also the parent of all virtues.”

The proposed New Jersey “Reproductive Freedom Act” (S3030 / A4848) is another legislative attempt to advance and expand the state’s “abortion agenda” in service to the widespread “culture of death” by eliminating the few remaining state regulations intended to protect the life and health of pregnant mothers. 

“We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a noble cause (Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States).”

Whatever our politics may be, whatever side we may have taken, whatever vote we may have cast, we are all called anew to pray for our country and its leaders, that Almighty God may continue to bless the United States of America and its people with his grace, wisdom, guidance and protection as He has throughout our history.

There are virtues and then there are virtues. Here's one you don't see a lot of today: civility. In a world in which instant information, instant messages, instant solutions and instant gratification are not only expected but presumed – and, indeed, required – precious little room and time are left for the virtue of civility.

Beginning with the Feast of All Saints (November 1) and the Commemoration of All Souls ((November 2), the entire month of November has long been dedicated to the faithful departed, “those who have gone before us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace (Eucharistic Prayer 1).”  The “sign of faith” is that “indelible mark” that the Catholic Church teaches comes with Baptism.  St. Teresa of Calcutta once reflected “during this whole month we give them extra love and care by praying to them and for them.”

The COVID pandemic will not take away Christmas 2020!  It will, however, change the way we celebrate it, especially in our churches and parishes, if current circumstances continue as they are or worsen.  Because COVID is a highly contagious airborne virus, the prospect of large (or larger than usual) crowds gathering  indoors this winter for long periods of time without ample ventilation and proper social distancing, as well as the necessity to sanitize churches between Masses, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Mass schedules will be affected, especially in parishes where there is only a single pastor or priest assigned.  The COVID pandemic’s maximum one-third occupancy restrictions in churches coupled with the need for social distancing will limit the space available for parishioners to attend Christmas Mass as usual.  Church schedules will also have to accommodate required cleaning.

The annual worldwide Eucharistic celebration of World Mission Sunday, which emphasizes our shared baptismal call to mission, is celebrated on October 18th this year.

Currently in the Diocese of Trenton, the worldwide religious missionary order Society of the Divine Word (SVD) serves three parishes with wonderful priests from its Chicago-based province: