Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
Already it is the Second Sunday of Advent and the crazy busy time has begun!
On Monday evening we had our Advent Penance Service.  It was so soon after Thanksgiving break that both college students and parishioners were caught off guard.  The attendance was very small.  So if you still want to take advantage of confession before Christmas, I will be in the church about 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.  That is a little earlier than what is typically scheduled.
Father Franklin and I celebrated reconciliation with the school children on Tuesday morning.  As I was hearing their confessions I asked them to try to remember why we  celebrate Christmas.  I told them it is so easy to get distracted by the things that we do to celebrate: parties, programs, decorating, gifts.  Especially the gifts. Do you remember that anticipation of Christmas morning when you were a child? So it is easy to forget about Jesus.  And He is the great gift that God gave to us!
The first one to recognize the presence of Jesus in our world was John the Baptist, while he was still an infant in the womb of his mother Elizabeth.  Once the infant John “leapt” in the woman and Elizabeth exclaimed, “Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”  So Elizabeth was also able to recognize the presence of the hidden Jesus.
So we pray that the things that we do to celebrate at this time of the year do not distract us from what we are celebrating.  God loved us enough to send His Son Jesus as our Savior!  May you be more and more aware of the presence of Jesus hidden all around you.
Msgr. Cox
The Visitation, Luca della Robbia (1445)