This Sunday is a wonderful feast of Christ the King. It sums up our worship in all the liturgies we’ve had since last Advent. It also addresses all the allegiances the nations—or we ourselves—make that may be before, or in the way of, our allegiance to Christ as our King. It’s a good life-check in this way. It ends the existing year of Liturgies, and starts us off to the new year in Advent.
These days just before Thanksgiving are a great mini-season—we prepare for the feast and after, after the riches and fun of the fall. The spirit of GRATITUDE must grow in our hearts at all times, and this beloved holiday brings us to that.
In the parish we continue an overlapping series of meetings for the parish and the Archdiocese, including our 150th Anniversary, the priests’ Deanery of parishes, Confirmation, School Board and Worship Committee, which is preparing for Christmas. A special joy was the weekend visit of Fr. Jose Lagos, Benedictine from the Netherlands, who grew up in the parish here and came to help celebrate our Anniversary. He celebrated a special Saturday morning Mass and then preached the homily at a Sunday Mass. His simple but profound joy and hope as a monk was evident, and I appreciate him thanking me for my “witness to Christ”.
Fr. Sebastian