In the heart of Haughville on the corner of North Holmes Avenue & West St. Clair Street on the near westside of Indianapolis, Indiana.

For many of us we are entering our favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving is the one civil holiday that embraces an important Christian trait, that of gratitude.  We are reminded of the many blessings we have received and are called to give thanks to God for them.  Many of us are already looking forward to the celebration of the birth of Christ with our Christmas celebrations that include many delicious sweets and decorations that seem to make our homes especially warm and cozy.  While Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful times of the year it is important that we not overlook the importance of Advent.

The First Sunday of Advent begins a new liturgical year in the Church.  While we will celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, the first coming, Advent reminds us to look ahead to the second coming of Christ.  As we sing the ancient song of our Ancestors and the prophets, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel” we are mindful that we are living in the in between time.   On journeys we are called to embrace the themes of Advent:   Love, peace, joy, and hope.  Authentic love, peace, joy, and hope cannot be found in the things of the world, but only our relationship with God.  Through God we can experience authentic love with others, work for peace with others, be joyful people, and find the source of all hope.

May each of us enter into this spiritually rich season of Advent to better understand the truth of authentic sacrificial love, to recognize how we are being called to be God’s instrument of peace, to be a person of joy, and to be filled with hope in Emmanuel who has paid our ransom.

Love,

Fr. John