The Bishop’s Note
The winter Ember Days are past, and the final Sunday of the Advent season will be completed today. Only three days remain before the temporal birth of Our Messias, Whom we hail today as the “King of Nations, and their Desired One.” May Our Lady, our Queen, make the final preparations in your heart that her Son may find room; and may He reign there as King and Savior. If you ask her to, she will!
Don’t forget the Christmas Vigil this week! It often happens that this day gets forgotten in the busy shuffle of last minute giftwrapping and secular preparations. The morning is filled with beautiful ceremonies which are meant to help us complete our spiritual preparations. The Vigil Mass fills us with the greatest hope and expectancy. The poinsettias are already adorning the altar at that point, the manger will be ready, and the Church sings so hopefully, “This day you will know that the Lord will come, and save us: and in the morning you will see His glory!” In the Communion verse, our hearts are lifted with gladness once more by the words of Isaias, “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed: and all flesh shall see the salvation of our God.”
Christmas is so busy for the clergy and religious, in particular. Fr. McKenna will make his usual early morning trip to North Dakota, while Fr. Simpson will head south to Dallas…all that after a very late night in church the night before. Fr. Lehtoranta is once again in Milwaukee, while Fr. Brueggemann and I take care of things here at St. Gertrude’s. There is a lot of coming and going, but all to bring Christ to others! I hope our priests and oblates find the time to rest a little and, in general, to slow down and recall the sacred mysteries of the season. The Divine Office and the feasts of Christmas week are filled with readings that are some of the most edifying of the entire liturgical year. Hopefully, each one of you may find the time to do the same!
I almost forgot to mention the St. Lucia procession! Fr. Lehtoranta pointed out that this year was the fifth annual procession, the first one being in 2020. Perhaps, it is better to just quote Father: “The Lucia Maiden for this year was Claire Smith, her attendant was Lucia McConnell, and the girl carrying the Lucia eyes platter was Clara Young. I thank especially Renee Arlinghaus and Claire McConnell for their help in preparing the procession, and Lucia McConnell for supervising it. I could not have done this without the help of these three. I was especially moved that the organizers really wanted to have this procession because they see it as a tradition. These kinds of things make the young people see the parish as their home. Lucia McConnell and Tanya Kolenich were the only two “originals” left this year, namely girls who have taken part in all five Lucia processions. Besides having been the MC this year, Lucia McConnell was the first Lucia Maiden in 2020. She is the only girl who has been both the Lucia Maiden and the Lucia Maiden’s attendant. (Tanya Kolenich was the first girl with the Lucia eyes platter in 2020.) Gaudete Sunday has become the stabilized day for the Lucia procession, since it’s the closest Sunday to St. Lucy’s feast on December 13. Therefore, at St. Gertrude’s, the second Sunday of Advent is for St. Nicholas, and the third Sunday of Advent for St. Lucy, a nice Gertrudian tradition.” I could not have said it better!
May you all have a blessed Christmas!
– Bishop McGuire
P.S. Our school children did a fantastic job at the musicale on Thursday afternoon. How wonderful it was to see and to hear them! God bless their teachers and parents for passing on to this next generation the beauties of our Catholic culture.