Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
It is so good to have the children back at school again here at Mary Immaculate. It is always good to see their eager faces, although now I can only see their eyes, but they still sparkle!  When the kids are here, there is joy around.
This week we had our school Mass on the feast of one of our Advent saints. Thursday, December 3rd was the feast of St. Francis Xavier. He was a great missionary in the 16th century. He spread the Catholic Faith to the Far East: India, Sri Lanka, Japan. He had his eyes set on China when he died.
This morning I had a funeral. This is first Friday and the children come over for Adoration. The first and second grades came over for their prayer time before the Blessed Sacrament. The teacher didn’t realize there was a funeral. The kids came in so quietly that I didn’t even hear them until I looked up and saw them. The funeral was nearly over so they just stayed and prayed. I went back and told them how proud I was that they were so quiet and prayerful. I asked them to pray for the lady who had died and for her family. The family was very moved to have the children praying for them.
This afternoon we will have Benediction with all the school children. We will pray especially for the health and healing of all of our parishioners during this time of covid.
I suppose this is really the message for all of us during Advent. We await the coming of the child Jesus. As we await this birth, we are called to bow down before God in prayer. We are to pray not only for ourselves, but also for our family, neighbors, and friends.
Just like Saint Francis Xavier went to far off places to tell people about Jesus, we are to make Jesus known right here in Kirksville. If we believe that we have been given something good and valuable in our faith, then we should want to share it with others, The Scripture reminds us that we are to become like little children. So we should follow the example of the children in our school and bow down and pray to our God who loves us so much.
In Advent we are reflecting on the mystery of the Incarnation, that God will make Himself small, poor, and vulnerable. He takes on our fragile humanity. Why would He do such a thing? Why would God, the creator of the universe, become a helpless baby? The only answer to this is because of His great love. He created us and He wants to save us. All we can do is stand before Him in awe and wonder and in our feeble, inadequate way try to offer Him our prayer, praise, and worship.
One of the best things that the smallest of our school kids do for me is when they are so excited when I see them, they run up to me shouting, laughing, and calling, “Monsignor!” They grab me around my knees and hug me. I feel a great warmth and love.  I think this must be what it is like for God when we go to Him in prayer.
Msgr. Cox
Vogel von Vogelstein Let the Children Come to Me (1805)