1st Sunday of Advent

PREPARE FOR HIS COMING

Today we begin our yearly pilgrimage through the events of history of salvation, starting with our preparation for the birthday celebration of Jesus and ending with our reflection on his glorious “second coming” as judge at the end of the world. We are entering the Advent season. Advent means coming. We are invited to meditate on Jesus’ first coming in history as a baby in Bethlehem, his daily coming into our lives in mystery through the Sacraments, through the Bible, and through the worshipping community, and finally his Second Coming (Parousia) at the end of the world to reward the just and to punish the wicked. We see the traditional signs of Advent in our Church: violet vestments and hangings, dried flowers or plain green plants and the Advent wreath. These signs remind us that we must prepare for the rebirth of Jesus in our hearts and lives, enabling him to radiate his love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness through and all around us.

Liturgical materials for the First Sunday of Advent.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1icL9-J4v-OLth3XPBYd5cov7XY0buoWH?usp=share_link

Solemnity of Christ the King

Pax Christi in regno Christi

In the Church’s calendar, Christ the King is the parallel of the Super Bowl trophy or the Final Four in college basketball or the last game of the World Series. The Church’s liturgical year concludes with this feast of Christ the King, instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to celebrate the Jubilee Year and the 16th centenary of the Council of Nicaea. Instituting this feast, Pope Pius XI proclaimed: “Pax Christi in regno Christi” (“The peace of Christ in the reign of Christ”). This feast was established and proclaimed by the Pope to reassert the sovereignty of Christ and the Church over all forms of government and to remind Christians of the fidelity and loyalty they owed to Christ, who by his Incarnation and sacrificial death on the cross had made them both adopted children of God and future citizens and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Feast was also a reminder to the totalitarian governments of Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin that Jesus Christ is the only Sovereign King. Christ is our spiritual King and Ruler who rules by truth and love. We declare our loyalty to him by the quality of our Christian commitment, expressed in our serving of others with sacrificial and forgiving love, and by our solidarity with the poor.

Liturgical materials for the Solemnity of Christ the King. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dk3boosOwbZXcMiRWMX325JAXbKAkGsN?usp=share_link

33rd Ordinary Sunday

THE DAY OF THE LORD

As the Church year comes to an end, the Sunday readings reflect on the final days of the world, our own death and the Final Judgment. Today’s theme is “The Day of the Lord” or the “Second Coming” of Jesus in glory as Judge at the end of the world. The readings underline the truth that the date of the end of the world is uncertain. Signs and portents will precede the end, and the Christians will be called upon to testify before kings and governors. The Good News is that those who persevere in faithfulness to the Lord will save their souls and enter God’s eternal kingdom. Christ’s Second Coming is something to celebrate because he is going to present all creation to his Heavenly Father.

Liturgical materials for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YoUwqy_HR6PMSClcXNu1mbnBRPBxOt2b?usp=share_link

32nd Ordinary Sunday

GOD OF THE LIVING

As we near the end of the Church’s liturgical year, the readings become more eschatological — having to do with the end times. The main theme of today’s readings is the reality of life after death, and of the relationship between our lives on earth and the life of glory or punishment that will follow. The readings invite us to consider the true meaning of the Resurrection in our lives.

Sharing with you the Liturgical materials for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Share it with your friends and spread the message of Christ.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hK8s-XrNFcD7R1zam7XvkSbJiAGD733i?usp=share_link

All Souls Day

 

PRAYERFUL REMEMBERING

Today, we are remembering those we have known and loved — family members and good friends. Indeed, the whole month of November is a time when we remember our dead in a special way. As Christians, our remembering of those who have died is always a prayerful remembering. We remember them before the Lord. Remembering our departed loved ones before the Lord, praying for them, is one of the ways we give expression to our ongoing communion with them in the Lord. We believe that they are with the Lord, and that the Lord is also with us in this life. It is that shared relationship with the Lord which keeps us in communion with our loved ones who have died. In praying for our loved one, we ask the Lord to bring them to the fullness of life, as he brought the widow’s son to life in today’s gospel. We also pray in thanksgiving for them, thanking God for the gift of their lives and for all the ways the Lord blessed us through them. Today, we entrust our loved ones who have died to God. As “God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us,” we pray that they would experience that love to the full.

All Souls Day Liturgical materials -

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OK0DlcIuFMVRHZ1MYeOwAYXzOkizTA-a?usp=sharing

All Saints Day

 

THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO HOLINESS

Today’s feast is not about the canonized saints, but about all the good and holy people who have ever lived. None of us, I feel sure, is expecting to be a canonized saint. We don’t fantasize that one day some pope will declare what saints we were. We don't expect that our picture is going to be revered on the walls of churches. Not for a moment do we imagine anyone saying prayers to us or preserving pieces of us as relics. But in its document on the Church, the Second Vatican Council wrote a chapter called The Universal Call to Holiness. So our Feast today is reminding us of our deep-down calling to become better people than we currently are! It is reminding us that Jesus Christ can and will empower us to practise what he preached and to live what we believe! Surely, then, we won't ever want to stop receiving him as our Bread of Life in Holy Communion!

All Saints Day Liturgical materials -

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1D0r6schex_n0FfZZOtWOlKYvtfGB496r?usp=sharing