Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: December 01, 2019
This weekend a new liturgical year begins, as does the holy season of Advent. By all means, I recommend that every Parish household try to anticipate the Christmas season properly. This will not only mean by extra shopping for gifts and partying with friends – although neither of those things are bad, by any means! – but also by doing some extra prayer and Christian witness.
“Once upon a time” Advent was considered principally as a penitential time of preparation for Christmas. That’s not wrong, since the “extra effort” we should be making in our spiritual preparations for Christmas ought to be somewhat challenging and hard – “mortification” in classic terminology – but there is also an underlying joy to the Christmas event that more properly cannot be ignored. The Scriptures of Christmas – and here I include not just the stories of Jesus’ birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but also the wonderfully rich Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament that foretold the Savior’s coming – should be at the center of our extra prayer. Participation at daily Mass would be a great way to do this. Putting up an Advent wreath on your dining room table would also be a worthwhile project.
What should be the center of our extra Christian witness? Well, generosity in matters of time and treasure are the most traditional ways to express a giving heart. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul always needs extra hands to serve their daily meals over on 16th Street. And they also welcome your extra donations of toys and money for their annual outreach to the poor: the Advent Giving Tree sponsored by our Parish’s Social Responsibility Committee is part of that effort. Donations to our parochial Charity Fund and indeed to the other works of St. Joseph Cathedral Parish are always welcome and very much needed.
The most enjoyable part of Advent often is the special music of the season. This begins this week, with something new on our calendar: on Sunday evening, December 1, at 7 pm, the Catholic High School presents “A Swinging Christmas Concert.” The CHS Jazz Ensemble and other musicians have promised a unique concert! On Tuesday, December 3, at 7 pm, the Baton Rouge Magnet High School Department of Choral Studies will once again stage their annual Winter Concert here at 7 pm. I really recommend both events! And check out the full list of music on p. 5 of The Carpenter this week!
Oh, one thing that I do need to mention happens next week. This year, because the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception cannot be celebrated on its “original” date due to the Advent Sunday, the feast but not the obligation to attend Mass transfers to Monday, December 9. Again, it’s not a holy day of obligation this year. But you are certainly welcome to celebrate Mary’s feast with me at noon that day: she remains, after all, the patroness of our United States of America. I think we can all agree that as a nation we are in rather obvious need of the guidance of the Lord, and Mary’s intercession is a powerful way to obtain not only insights into what He asks of us but also the courage to be prophets of God’s truth in the world of today.
In the coming Christ,
Very Rev Paul D. Counce
