Advent 2023
Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus
“Advent” from the Latin, means “coming.” But the Advent we keep is not simply about anticipating the celebration of Christmas. As author and teacher Joan Chittister, OSB, suggests, Advent asks us to be attentive to three different comings of Christ: “The first is the remembrance of the birth of Jesus in Nazareth in the flesh, recalling God’s coming among us as one of us.” The liturgies of Advent invite us to recall God’s enormous desire for us: God so longs to draw near to us that God takes on our human condition in the person of Jesus. Then there is a second coming of God, now, in the “words of Scripture, in the Eucharist, in the community itself. This coming makes Jesus present in our own lives, eternally enlivening, eternally with us.”1 Our lives are an Advent – we look for the coming of Christ into our world today for Christ is born continually in our prayer, our relationships, our experience, our thoughts, the events of our world.
The final coming is rooted in our Christian belief that the Son will return in glory. “The reign of God for which we strive with every breath will come in all its fullness. This is the fullness for which we long. Thus, all three of these comings – past, present, and future – all live together in one long sigh of the soul.”2 These three comings of Christ run through our Advent liturgies like a woven thread.
As we seek to “prepare the way of the Lord,” we need, as Joan Chittister reminds us, to “do more than simply go through the Advent calendar. We must develop in us an Advent heart.”3
In all of the busyness and flurry that mark this time of year, we need to make time to become more deeply aware of our longing for God and our attentiveness to the ways in which Christ is continually born in our lives. We are helped, here, by the depth and richness of the rituals, rhythms, symbols, and stories that our liturgy provides to help us develop our Advent heart. In doing so, we come to realize more fully each year how great our blessings are, how beautiful is a life lived in concert with Jesus who came to show us the way. We learn the joy of anticipation, the joy of delighting in and cultivating a sense of the presence of God all around us, the joy of looking toward the final coming of Christ, the joy of living in the surety of even more life and possibilities in the future. Trusting that nothing is impossible with God.4
Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
COMMUNITY ADVENT PRAYER
O Christ, who came to share our humanity
and draw us to yourself:
as we prepare to celebrate the feast of your birth,
increase our longing for your coming into our world.
MARANATHA! COME, LORD JESUS!
O Christ, who came to share our human condition
in your taking flesh: help us to be attentive to the ways
in which you continually come into our lives,
in our prayer, in the Scriptures,
in our gathering at your table.
Give us the grace to be awake to the many
ways you come to us each day.
MARANATHA! COME, LORD JESUS!
O Christ, who is the Prince of Peace,
come to draw all peoples to Yourself:
Come, inspire us to put aside all enmity and division,
and to work for peace in our communities
and in our world.
MARANATHA! COME, LORD, JESUS!
O Christ, who is the Consolation of God:
move us in these Advent days to bring your
love to all who live in fear, danger, hunger, and poverty.
Inspire us to extend your love into our broken world.
MARANATHA! COME, LORD JESUS!
O, Christ who are both our journey and our journey’s end:
As we yearn for your final coming in glory,
fill us with hope and joy in your presence among us.
Assured in the knowledge
that you always surround us with your infinite love,
help us wait for you in Advent joy.
MARANATHA! COME, LORD JESUS!
1. Joan Chittister, OSB, “The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adveture of the Spiritual Life,”
(Thomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, TN), 64-65.
2. Ibid.
3. Chittister, The Liturgical Year, 68.
4. Ibid.
ADVENT DEVOTIONAL
Advent with St. Óscar Romero
by Cameron Bellm
Come and rest in the beauty of
St. Óscar Romero’s Advent and
Christmas homilies, based on the
same readings we will hear this year,
2023. Each homily is broken up into
five sections, with meditative prayer
suggestions offered for each.
Download the free devotional here.
Advent • Christmas Calendar
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday, December 2 – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 3 – 10:00 a.m. (Live stream)
Sunday, December 3 – 6:00 p.m.
SPIRITUALITY OF ADVENT
Thomas Ryan, CSP
Saturday, December 2 – 4-4:45 p.m. (3rd fl.)
LGBTQ+ Online Advent Prayer Service
The LGBTQ+ Ministry will once again host an online prayer service on the following Tuesdays in Advent at 7:00pm: December 5, 12, and 19. This is an online opportunity to come together in community for shared prayer, reflection, and song. ALL ARE WELCOME to this event, whether you identify as queer or not.
Tuesday, December 5 – 7-7:30 p.m. (on Zoom)
SOLEMNITY OF THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
MASS SCHEDULE
Friday, December 8
7:55 a.m.; 12:05 p.m. (with music)
7:00 p.m. (with music – Live stream)
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday, December 9 – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 10 – 10:00 a.m. (Live stream)
Sunday, December 10 – 6:00 p.m.
LOVE INCARNATE, LOVE DIVINE
Advent Christmas Concert
Saturday, December 9 – 8:00 p.m. (Live stream)
Sunday, December 10 – 2:00 p.m.
(with Children’s Pageant – Live stream)
LGBTQ+ Online Advent Prayer Service
Tuesday, December 12 – 7-7:30 p.m. (on Zoom)
ADVENT SERVICE OF RECONCILIATION
AND REFLECTION
Wednesday, December 13 – 7:00 p.m. (Live stream)
(Opportunities for individual confession)
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday, December 16 – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 17 – 10:00 a.m. (Live stream)
Sunday, December 17 – 6:00 p.m.
LGBTQ+ Online Advent Prayer Service
Tuesday, December 19 – 7-7:30 p.m. (on Zoom)
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday, December 23 – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 24 – 10:00 a.m. (Live stream)
CHRISTMAS EVE
MASS SCHEDULE
Sunday, December 24 – 5:00 p.m. (Live stream)
Sunday, December 24 – 8:00 p.m.
CHRISTMAS DAY
MASS SCHEDULE
Monday, December 25 – 10:00 a.m.