It is hard to believe I have been at the Winton Wyoming Pastoral Region for 5 months now. It feels like just yesterday we were preparing for Lent and Easter during this craziness. Now, all of a sudden, Advent is here, and Christmas is around the corner. We can definitely give thanks we are able to prepare and worship together during this Advent    season. We just need to be on guard that we do not let Advent become another month that quickly passes us by.

Part of the reason Lent was so difficult this past year was that we were separated and unable to           celebrate Mass together as a Parish. As people, we are meant to be relational, to live and worship as a            community, guided by the common mission of Jesus Christ. It is something that goes beyond our individual families, beyond our parishes, and even beyond our    Pastoral Region. The mandate from Christ to spread the Gospel to the corners of the world is something that binds all Christians together. Together we prepare     ourselves and the world for Jesus’ return. It is something that can not be done in isolation, but only when we are connected to the universal Church—the Mystical Body of Christ.
So, how do we prepare for the coming of Christ this Advent Season as a wider Church? It is helpful to remember that during Advent we prepare for the threefold coming of Jesus:
1) We remember God taking on human flesh      as He was born of the Virgin Mary in                             Bethlehem nearly 2,000 years ago.
2) We prepare our hearts to receive Jesus no
     and in a special way this Christmas.
3) We prepare for the coming of Christ at the
     second coming.
To prepare for Christmas I encourage all of us to do two things as the Mystical Body of Christ:
First, pick a prayer or sacrifice to do daily as an offering for our parishes, the Archdiocese, and the      Universal Church. This will help us to empty our hands so that we may hold the infant Christ on Christmas morning. When one Christian grows more united to Christ, it helps strengthen the entire Church.

Second, every week, I encourage us to ask someone new how we can pray for them. Then, both pray with them right after you ask and remember them in your daily private prayers. This will help us open our hearts and our minds to the generosity that Christ calls us towards—to pray for one another, to help each other grow in the love of Jesus Christ.
            
    Let us all do these two things and not allow this Advent to quickly pass us by—rather let us pray for one another that it may be a fruitful and blessed  Advent for all of us!

In Mary’s Immaculate Heart,
Fr. Jeff