Of all the treasured traditions in my family, the ones that surround our celebration of Christmas are probably my favorite. The pumpernickel and sausage “hanky-pank” appetizers on Christmas Eve, fighting with my cousins over the rarest pieces of beef tenderloin at Christmas dinner, making risotto with my mom; they’re all near the top of the list. I’m sure there are non-food related traditions as well, but since we’re talking about family, it’s safe to assume that if we’re together, we are probably eating. <>Click title for full column.

Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24 St. James of the Valley 3:00 pm & 5:00 pm Our Lady of the Rosary 4:00 pm St. Matthias the Apostle 4:30 pm & Midnight  Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25 St. Matthias 9:00 am Our Lady of the Rosary 10:00 am St. James of the Valley 11:00 am Mary, Mother of God, Monday, December 31 St. Matthias 4:30 pm Mary, Mother of God, Tuesday, January 1 Our Lady of the Rosary 9:00 am St. James of the Valley 11:00 am

Third Sunday of Advent Gaudete Sunday As years go by, I realize that at the beginning of the third Sunday of Advent there is a shift in my way of thinking and praying. I am now getting used to thinking that there is no Christmas without snow. At the middle of the month of December, I always remember a friend who came to me after Mass a couple of years ago and gave me an envelope with a stipend to pray for her intention that there might be snow at least on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. She said that without snow, there would be no joy for her family since all her children and grandchildren were coming home for Christmas. It seemed to make no sense to me, since where I grew up there was never snow at all, I never heard anyone worried about it, and I took snow as a sign of very bad weather. But I prayed for her intentions and, praise to God, there was so much snow. I don’t know if it is because of my prayers or not. That is not the point anyway. Click on title for full column

Celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a Mass entirely in Spanish. Wednesday, December 12 at 6:30 pm at OLR. Reception to follow.

Given my almost preternatural lack of mathematical skills, it probably surprises some that I have always loved statistics. Perhaps the only stats that I enjoy more than old baseball stats are the hypothetical stats that only God would know. How many times have I sneezed in my life, who scored more points in pickup basketball games between me and my dad; you know, the really important things. Towards the end of seminary, I started wondering how many vocation talks I must have given to high school and junior high classes. Conservatively, it must have been over a hundred. In virtually every one of those talks, we talked with the kids about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Whether they wanted to be star athletes, musicians, or business people, there was one thing that was universally true: no one wanted to be mediocre. CLICK TITLE FOR FULL COLUMN

Immaculate Conception Masses (Holy Day of Obligation) Friday, December 7 St. James of the Valley, 7:00 pm Saturday, December 8 St. Matthias, 8:00 am Our Lady of the Rosary, 9:00 am

The WWPR Advent Reconciliation Service is tonight, Wednesday, December 5 at7:00 pm at St. James of the Valley.

There are many great things that make me excited for Advent every year. The extra candles, the somewhat more somber, stripped down liturgy, and perhaps my personal favorite: the awesome purple chasuble that I don’t get to wear near often enough. But there’s another shift that happens every year in Advent, and that is the transition Gospels we hear from week to week. We have completed our trek through the Gospel of Mark, and we now begin a year with St. Luke. Click title for full column.