Pastor’s Pen
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Dear Church Family
A joyous Christmas season to all of you. I feel really good and at peace because it seems that all our gifting, under the dramatic and drastic measures of Covid-19, especially our own St. Vincent De Paul, Wellston Center, and our own Father Bob’s Outreach have all gone well. We were blessed to be able to touch so many people and you also touching lots of people. We are blessed to have one another to inspire and encourage each other under these circumstances. Please keep it up into the new year!
Now let us celebrate the Word. The first reading for this fourth Sunday of Advent says, “I Rejoice in the Lord and my God is the joy of my soul.” We should feel good and celebrate that the Lord is penetrating our lives with awesome feelings of love and concern for others. Enjoy in our faith as we come forward.
In the Book of Samuel, David is grateful for the feeling that he is finally at peace and safe on all sides from his enemies. He thinks of the Lord lying in a tent while he is in a house of cedar. David wants to build a house to the Lord for his grateful feelings. For our grateful feelings, we are rewarded by our closeness to the Lord. Humbly we would love to stay there even though it doesn’t seem like we are all the way there, but we are.
The second reading from St. Paul to the Romans proclaims that the mystery kept secret for long ages has now been manifested. Alleluia!
Finally, church, reflect on our Gospel from Luke that gives the story of Mary saying, “Yes” and calling us all the more to say, “yes” as we just live our spiritual lives as best, we can. It is proclaimed and Mary says, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your Word.” We are ready to be all the more alive in our faith by this Advent journey. We have celebrated our Lord in anointing, reconciliation and rejoicing and we are getting our houses in order. What is left is to enjoy the beautiful story of our Salvation History of the Lord coming into our lives as a human being in such an ordinary, but extraordinary way. Alleluia!
Love, Fr. Bob
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