Together We Wait
- Written by randyfronek
This year we are back to our format of an Advent Retreat before Christmas, and our Retreat is called: Together We Wait.
Last year, you may recall that we had our retreat after Christmas and for the most part it was a Virtual Retreat, with the talks being recorded and the YouTube videos posted on our website.
We will record the talks again and publish them on our Website, but the talks will take place during our 40-hours Devotion.
The U.S. Bishops continue to draw our attention to the Eucharist, and so to kick-off our retreat we (for the first time) had an all-night Eucharistic Vigil. In anticipation of the Supreme Court Justices getting together to potentially overturn Roe vs. Wade legislation, we had exposition at 8:00 pm on the Feast of St. Andrew, and then solemn Benediction just before the 8:00 am Mass on Wednesday morning, December 1st.
We were praying to our Lord for wisdom to be given to the Justices.
Our 2nd week of Retreat centers around the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and then during our 3rd week of Retreat, each of our parishes will host the 40-hours Devotion.
For two days (December 15th and 16th) we will be in Sublette, then move to Maytown on December 17th, and finally finish the forty hours in West Brooklyn on the 18th of December.
St. John Neumann promoted the 40-hours Devotion in our country – the good Bishop believed that people “want to hear that Jesus loves them, and then they want our Lord to show them His love in the Eucharist.”
Of course, we never take our Lord for granted in our reception of Holy Communion (the Pandemic shutdown, last year, taught us that), but we seek, like all good Catholics before us, to spend more time in the presence of our Lord Jesus – the 40-hours Devotion allows us to do just that.
We will book-end our adoration each day with a retreat talk, and the sacrament of confession will be made available.
Yes, you will be able to participate through the YouTube videos on our Website, but try to come with your family, a close friend, or your Church Ministry group to one of the hours of adoration.
Sign-up sheets are available at the back of the Church, or you can just show up for a few minutes of quiet adoration.
I can think of no better wat to wait together with you for Christmas than to just put ourselves in the presence of the Lord and allow Him to love us.
Yours on the Path
Fr. Randy
