This second week of Advent is a powerful one. In our Sunday Gospel, we meet St. John the Baptist and hear his preaching. On Monday, we celebrate St. Nicholas. On Tuesday, St. Ambrose. Then on Wednesday, Dec. 8th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—a holy day of obligation. But also on December 8th, we conclude the Year of St. Joseph.
How have you done with your year of St. Joseph? It’s not too late if you feel you could have done more (myself included). In these last few days, we can do some good works and get a plenary indulgence as well (under usual conditions). I’ll suggest a few things we can do:
- Meditate for 30 minutes on the Our Father. St. Jospeh reminds us of the importance of fathers, and we all need to remember that we are children of God the Father.
- Carry out a corporal or spiritual work of mercy. St. Joseph was a worker who did God’s will, so should we!
- Pray the Holy Rosary with your family. St. Joseph was guardian of the Holy Family which surely was a home of prayer.
I think doing one or more of these things would be a great way to finish strong our Year of St. Joseph.
What is next? We probably shouldn’t ask that question but instead live in the moment striving to do our best here and now. However, I just did ask the question, so here is what I see coming. In 2025, we will have a universal Church Jubilee Year. Ordinarily, the Church celebrates these every 25 years. However, we did have an extraordinary Jubilee Year in 2015-16 dedicated to mercy.
Speaking of 25 years, I totally missed that our Prince of Peace church was dedicated 25 years ago on Aug. 18, 1996. The parish was established years before the church was built and dedicated, but the church often focuses on celebrating anniversaries of churches. So we are in a sort of parish Jubilee Year as our building has turned 25. We will have to do something special!
But what is most immediately next, is that in the United States there will be a strong effort on Eucharistic revival in the next few years. The Eucharist is our greatest treasure as Catholics and has the power to transform us and the world! The bishops of the United States just published a 31-page document on the Eucharist titled, “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church”. I’d encourage everyone to google it and read it. I’m particularly excited about the effort to reflect more deeply on the Eucharist because we so desperately need it! I hope you have a great second week of Advent. May our Blessed Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas, and St. Ambrose pray for us.