Imagine this scene in a movie we may have seen in the not so distant past. A condemned criminal sitting on an electric chair in the last minutes of his life, an executioner just waiting for the signal to pull the lever to activate the electric chair, a police officer looking at the clock waiting nervously until the clock strikes 3pm, the time of the execution, another police officer waiting for the phone to ring. Then just a few seconds before the hour of three, the phone rings.
Today, as I celebrate this Thanksgiving Mass, I feel deeply grateful for the journey that brought me here.
As we begin the season of Advent we enter into a time of prayer, reflection, waiting and preparing for the arrival of Jesus at Christmas.
At the same time, people in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving this week. In our part of the world, Thanksgiving is not such a prevalent holiday, but it can prompt us to realise that we have much for which to give thanks, especially in the month of November when we remember in prayer those who have gone before us.
A Christmas quip goes: “Don’t get so preoccupied in what the world has to sell that you miss what God has to give."
Dear brothers and sisters, in the second and the third Sunday of Advent, the gospel talks about John the Baptist two times in row, calling us to prepare our heart, to make a straight way for the Lord.
In the Gospel according to St Luke, we listen to the voice of the one (John the Baptist) crying out in the wilderness and calling us to prepare the way of the Lord.
As we begin the season of Advent, I’m sure we are looking forward to many warm and congenial gatherings with colleagues, family and friends.
One of the pre-Christmas gatherings we always enjoy here at the SVD Marsfield community is the shared lunch with the staff and our SVD seniors. We are blessed to have the presence of these retired missionaries in our midst and it is always interesting to hear their stories from the past as well as their current plans and activities.
In Australia and New Zealand, we are familiar with the presence of people on TV using sign language. When an important announcement is made, the speaker is accompanied by an interpreter who uses sign language to speak to the deaf audience.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent. Today's Gospel invites us to concentrate on the figure of Mother Mary.
How many of us whenever Christmas comes around, can’t wait to open up our gifts? Whenever somebody hands us a gift, we try to shake it, press on it to feel what could this be.\
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