My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to Advent! This is such a special time in the Church’s liturgical calendar, a time in which we count down the day until the coming of the Lord. Of course for a lot of kids this means counting down until Christmas, often doing so by opening a little door on a calendar and getting a little piece of chocolate each day until finally the day arrives when they get presents galore on Dec. 25th. Of course, hopefully we all know that Christmas is about more than that and that Advent is a countdown to more than that as well. During this season of Advent we reflect on the fact that yes there is a countdown until we get to celebrate the fact that Jesus loves us so much that He came down from heaven to earth so that he could teach us how to live, how to love, and so that He could bring us redemption and salvation by dying on the cross for our sins - but there is also a countdown until Jesus comes again to take us with Him to heaven – and we’ll take this journey with Him if and only if we’re prepared! This season of preparation isn’t about preparing gifts and food for parties, rather it is about preparing our souls for the coming of Jesus which could honestly happen before you even have time to finish reading this letter! What we all have to humbly accept and admit (even though I’ll admit it is NOT fun to do) is that none of us are perfect, that we all have weaknesses, and that we all fall sometimes. Think about it this way, if this wasn’t the case, then Jesus never would have come in the first place because He wouldn’t have needed to because we wouldn’t have needed a Savior! But JESUS CAME BECAUSE WE NEEDED A SAVOIR AND HE DESIRED TO SAVE US WITHOUT COUNTING THE COST!!! If we say that we don’t need a savior because we aren’t willing to humbly admit our sinfulness – if we say that we’re all good – then we essentially spit in His face as He hangs upon the cross. I don’t mean to be overdramatic here – but our sinfulness and our need of His salvation cannot be overstressed! Jesus came to save us, and He will come again at which time He wants for us to be prepared. Thankfully, He helps us to be prepared by giving His priests the power to forgive sins (through His power) in the confessional.

I want to make Jesus’ help SO available to you so that you’ll be ready when Jesus comes (and so that He can’t yell at ME for not helping YOU to be ready!) Because of this I invite you to receive God’s loving mercy in the sacrament of confession during this season of Advent – this season of preparation. There will even be 2 great additional opportunities above and beyond what is offered each week. The first is a joint-parish penance service that will be held at St. Anne’s on Tuesday Dec. 4th at 6:00 pm. The second is my own version of the Diocese’s “Be Reconciled” day, in which I’ll be in the confessional here at St. Pat’s from 9am-7pm on Dec. 12th. I’ll be there all day and I don’t want to be bored, so for my sake please come to keep me company and in exchange for your help I’ll be happy to absolve your sins! If it’s been a while (5,10,20,30,40, or ever 150 years!!!) since your last confession I’ll be happy to help walk you through the process. So I hope to see you in the confessional soon (or at least hear you if you go behind the screen!)

God Bless, Fr. Romke

As I mentioned last weekend at Mass, in order to help focus your prayer each day as you speak with the Lord for a minimum of five minutes, I'm going to provide you with questions to reflect on that stem from the Sunday homily. Here they are:

Sunday December 2: What is the most obvious thing that sticks out to me that I ought to work on as this New year comes around? What concrete things can I do to achieve growth in this area so that I can be closer with God?

Monday December 3: Who are the people in my life that I struggle with the most that I can sense God desires for me to assist through prayer? When I pray to see them through God's eyes, as He sees them, do I begin to see them differently?

Tuesday December 4: What things in my life am I attached to, to the point that I miss out on what God is call me to? What first step might God be calling me to take so that I can follow in the footsteps of St. Francis?

Wednesday December 5: When I look at the Nativity Scene, what emotions do I feel? How does it speak to me? Most importantly: What is God trying to say to me through this scene in which the Baby Jesus is laying humbly in a manger, preparing t one day teach me about love, first through His words, but, finally by His actions on the Cross?

Thursday December 6: Do I fear death? Do I believe in the Resurrection and Eternal Life? Does it make sense to me that if God created me for the sake of loving me that He would continue to love me forever? Why would he create us only to love us for a limited time? Answer: He wouldn't!!!

Friday December 7: Do I find that I'm preoccupied with gains in the world? Spend time thinking about the legacies (or lack thereof) of St. Francis his brother Angelo. How do I want to live and how do I want to be remembered?

Saturday December 8: Now that I'm a full week into Advent (with only 17 days to go) how can I enter more deeply into my preparation for the Lord's coming?