Bulletin: First Sunday of Advent 12/1/24
SAINT CHRITOPHER’S CATHOLIC CHURCH
39 West 200 South, Kanab UT 84741
Office: (435) 644-3414 [Please leave a message and we will respond as quickly as possible]
parishinfo@kanabcatholicchurch.org
WEBSITE: kanabcatholicchurch.org
Sacramental Minister: Rev. Richard T. Sherman, Kanab, UT
SATURDAY VIGIL MASS: 5:30 PM (Suspended Indefinitely)
SUNDAY MASS: 9:00 AM
MASS DURING THE WEEK: MONDAY – SATURDAY 8:00 AM
CONFESSIONS BY APPOINTMENT
NOTE: If you have a sacramental emergency after parish office hours, please call 435-673-2604 for assistance.
Social Hour after Sunday Mass – Coffee, juice and bagels or muffins are served up along with some fabulous conversation.
Our next OPEN-DOOR SATURDAY is December 7, 2024 from 10:00 AM-Noon. If you have friends or relatives that are interested in the Catholic faith, or are thinking of returning to the Church, please tell them about us and have them stop by. We would love to meet with them! OPEN DOOR is scheduled every first and third Saturday of the month.
FINANCIAL REPORT: November 24, 2024: Offertory: $1465; Donations Mail: $25; R&I: $25. Thank you!
You can also donate on-line at kanabcatholicchurch.org
Diocesan Development Drive (DDD) for 2024. We are over!! Our goal this year is once again $8800. We have $300 in unpaid pledges with $9965 paid in!! Fourteen households have participated. Thank you all who have already given so generosity.
PRAY FOR HEALING: Eva Montelongo, Michael Neptune, Sergio Olvera, Stan Tuczakov, Hannah Mays, Our Wounded Veterans. If you have specific prayer requests, please leave us a phone message or send us an email. We will get your intentions on the list. We also remember all the sick and infirm at our daily Masses.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Thursday from 4 to 5:00 PM.
Community Rosary: After the Monday morning Mass
Religious Items: While enjoying the fabulous conversation and refreshments during our social hour, take some time and browse our extensive selection of religious gifts including some amazing. New items on the way!
Journey through Advent: Encounter the Newborn Christ in Scripture
This Advent, join Scott Hahn, John Bergsma, and other respected Catholic scholars on a free Advent journey from promise to fulfillment. 32 Brief video reflections exploring the Scriptures and the Church’s mystical and liturgical tradition.
In Walking with the Holy Family—a free 32-day Advent series from the St. Paul Center—you’ll explore the key messianic promises of the Old Testament, and their typological fulfillment in Christ and His Church. Register at this link. Just a click away on our website bulletin.
https://stpaulcenter.com/advent
Broken and Blessed: Listen to Anna Carter from Eden Invitation present her reflection at the 2024 Annual Eucharistic Conference: Sex, Gender and a Sacramental Worldview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wEGIxIPiyU.
This is a great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding about what it means to live in the transcendent realm for which we are created. Those who joined us for Men and Women are from Eden might find this presentation particularly helpful.
Gospel of Life messages for December
December 1 “The Gospel of Life recognizes the full range of threats against human life, from poverty and malnutrition to murder and war. Particular emphasis, however, is placed on threats to life at its beginning and end—precisely when it is most in need of protection. In modern times, children in their mothers’ wombs and those approaching the end of their lives are certainly among the ‘least of these’ in our world’s estimation.” USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities
Wreaths Across America Ceremony: Saturday, December 14, 11:00 AM at the Kanab Cemetery. Members of the local American Legion Post #69 are inviting us to join them in honoring the 455 veterans in the Kanab Cemetery. Veterans will be remembered with prayer, song and a reading of each veteran’s name. Also, attendees will be welcome to place one of the available wreaths on a grave. See the color poster in the social hall bulletin board.
Advent Scriptural Reflection Booklets
Two versions are available in the gathering space. Please pick one up and make the daily Mass readings part of your Advent preparation for the new beginning at Christmas.
Homily Reflection
Notice the purple vestments and altar cloths which we began using again today. Purple is a sign of penance and cleansing. Advent is a time of reconciliation, fasting, interior examination. It’s a time of waiting, expectancy and anticipation.
Waiting for what? Anticipating what? The gospel today states at the end times “People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.” What could be so dreadful that would cause us to die of fright just anticipating some event?
Anticipating holiday visitors that are usually antagonistic or disruptive in some way? Anxieties of daily life of making our dollars last at the grocery stores, getting to appointments on time, awaiting the next lab reports from the hospital? Depending on our emotional and spiritual state, these seemingly routine activities and events can be overwhelming.
We might dread hearing the world news in anticipation of more violence and likely disruption of the familiar routines in our lives. I talk to a lot of people who say they just don’t listen to the news. Granted we should listen selectively, but we should be able to face the world we’re passing on to our grandchildren. Maybe others need to fast from TOO MUCH media and news and the endless COMMENTARY.
The last line of the Gospel today is, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent.”
Sometimes the good news is wrapped in the worst news. It can seem counter intuitive, but Jesus is often working in the most surprising ways. Our Advent reflections and journey into the heart can prepare us for the unexpected joy of Christ in our world.
—————————————————————————
“Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be – and becoming that person.”
St. Therese of Lisieux