O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel •
First Sunday of Advent (Cycle B)
An essential part of the ministry of a parish priest is to care for people in hospitals. There is one room that is really important: the critical care waiting room. This is the room where family and friends wait while the doctor’s care for their loved ones who have suffered a devastating stroke, a serious heart attack, a horrible car accident or some other catastrophic event. I hope you have never had occasion to be in that waiting room, but if you have, you know that it is a place very different from any other place in the world. The people who wait there are bound together like no other people in the world. Family members and friends can’t do enough for each other. No one is proud. No one stands on ceremony or protocol. Petty disputes and hurts are nowhere to be found. Perhaps there are several patients whose family and friends are waiting in that room. These complete strangers feel bound in their shared hope for their loved ones. Class and race melt away. Each person in that room is a parent or spouse or child or close friend of the suffering one first. He or she is a white, black or Asian, a blue collar or white collar worker second. Everyone in the waiting room pulls for each other. If one family receives good news, there is hope and joy for all. If another family hears sad news, everyone in the room feels their grief. In the critical care waiting room, the world changes. Vanity and pretense vanish. The entire universe is focused on the doctor’s next report. All eyes continually glance at the door. The critical care waiting room is a place of hoping. It is a place of anticipating, a place of expecting. It is a place of Advent. We live in this waiting room. We keep an eye out for the doctor, the Divine Healer, to come. We hope to experience his good news. We long for him to say, “the patient, your loved one, is fine. He or she is going to recover, is going to live.” Who is this Loved One about whom we are so concerned? The Loved One is not another person. The Loved One is that part of each of us and all of us that is right when all else seems wrong. The Loved One is that which is good when all else seems malicious. The Loved One is that within us that is spiritual in a materialistic world. The Loved One is our sharing in the Life of Jesus Christ himself. The Loved One is our soul. But the Loved One is in critical care. Evil forces are trying to destroy this presence. We sit in the waiting room of life, longing for the Divine Doctor to come and tell us that the presence of the Lord is well and strong within us and among us. We call out, “Come! Rend the heavens and come! We are the clay. You are the potter. Mold us back into your own. Come!” And so we watch. We watch for the Divine Healer to come and lead us into His Love. We watch for the times, more than we could imagine, when God extends His Love to us. We watch for the times when we can serve His Love by serving others. We watch for the opportunities to unite ourselves closer to His Love through prayer and sacrifice. We wait. We watch. We watch for opportunities to grow. Advent, the time of watching, reminds us that our entire lives must be a watching for ways that we can grow more spiritual, grow closer to Christ. We have to watch • AE
Music to feed the soul
The Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. The autograph manuscript of the oratorio is preserved in the British Library •
St. Dominic Catholic Church
Weekend Schedule
Saturday, December 2, 2023
Rehearsal for RCIA Rite of Welcoming and Acceptance, 9.00 a.m. – Fr. Agustin E.
3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation – Fr. Jaime P.
5.00 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.
Sunday, December 3, 2023
7.30 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.
10.00 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.
12.30 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Agustin E.
3.00 p.m. Santa Misa – Fr. Agustin E.
Primer Domingo de Adviento (Ciclo B)
Hay un grito que se repite en el mensaje evangélico y se condensa en una sola palabra: «Vigilad!». Es una llamada a vivir de manera lúcida, sin dejarnos arrastrar en medio del torrente de esta sociedad liquida, como nos ha advertido el Santo Padre Francisco. Una invitación a mantener despierta nuestra resistencia y rebeldía, a no actuar como todo el mundo, a ser diferentes, a no identificamos con tal mediocridad. ¿Es posible?
Lo primero, tal vez, es aprender a mirar la realidad con ojos nuevos. Las cosas no son sólo como aparecen en los medios de comunicación. En el corazón de las personas hay más bondad y ternura que lo que captamos a primera vista. Hemos de reeducar nuestra mirada, hacerla más positiva y benévola. Todo cambia cuando miramos a las personas con más simpatía, tratando de comprender sus limitaciones y sus posibilidades.
Es importante, además, no dejar que se apague en nosotros el gusto por la vida y por la bondad. Aprender a vivir con corazón y querer a las personas buscando su bien. No ceder a la indiferencia. Vivir con pasión la pequeña aventura de cada día. No desentendernos de los problemas de la gente: sufrir con los que sufren y gozar con los que gozan, como animaba san pablo a los cristianos de Roma. También es importante dar su verdadera importancia a esos pequeños gestos que aparentemente no sirven para nada, pero que sostienen la vida de las personas. Yo no puedo cambiar el mundo pero puedo hacer que junto a mí la vida sea más amable y llevadera, que las personas respiren y se sientan menos solas y más acompañadas.
¿Es tan difícil abrirse al misterio de Dios? La Iglesia nos pone delante un tiempo precioso. Tiempo de búsqueda serena, de oración, de silencio y contemplación; un tiempo para decirle al Señor ¡Ven; no tardes más! Con esa disposición interior se puede alcanzar mucho. Según pasan los años, tengo la impresión de que uno se va haciendo más hondamente creyente y, al mismo tiempo, tiene cada vez menos creencias • AE
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LA MEDITACION DE LA ESPOSA 