This past Tuesday, the First Reading for Mass was drawn from Isaiah 40 which speaks poetically about the joyful anticipation of the coming of salvation.  We hear the following words: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” (Is. 40:3) These are the very words that John the Baptist used in Matthew 3:3 when preaching in the desert to prepare for the coming of Jesus.  It is interesting to note that before quoting this Old Testament passage, John indicates how to prepare the way, using one word: “Repent!” (Mt. 3:2)

Repentance is therefore one of the most necessary things for us to do in order to truly prepare for the coming of Jesus.  The season of Advent is not just about preparing to celebrate the historical event of the birth of our Savior.  There is nothing terribly urgent as it relates to repentance for our celebration of that event.  Advent is also about preparing us for when Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead.  The date and time of that is not known, and since it can be any moment, there is urgency for us to repent from anything that would leave us unprepared for His coming at the end of our lives.  This is the more substantial reason that we are encouraged to make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation before Christmas.  To some extent this practice of going to Confession during Advent is tied to the fact that Catholics did not receive Holy Communion as frequently as we do now, so in order to receive Holy Communion on Christmas (which is highly encouraged), going to confession was necessary in order to ensure being in the state of grace.  To be sure, this reasoning is still sound, but our awareness of the unknown day and hour of His Second Coming is the grater reason for our repenting by going to confession.

For the past few years, the priests of the Cathedral have offered extended times for confessions in the latter part of Advent so as to give plenty of opportunities for the faithful to “prepare the way for the Lord.”  We will be offering these extra hours this coming Friday, December 20 from Noon until 6:00 pm, then on Saturday, December 21 from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm.  It would fill my heart with great joy if we had a constant line of people waiting to go to confession, eagerly preparing their hearts to welcome Christ.  Not only will it be a gift to the priests who have the privilege of sharing God’s mercy with you, it will be a gift that you will be giving yourself, one far more valuable than anything you will unwrap on Christmas Day.

I know that there are people that are reading this that might be terrified of the thought of going to confession.  With that in mind, I want to issue a challenge to all of us, that when we pray our three daily Hail Mary’s this week, we offer them for the following intentions:

1. The people in our parish who are most afraid of going to confession
2. The people in our parish who are most in need of going to confession
3. Ourselves, that we might have the humility and strength to go to confession

As is often the case, doing something alone can be difficult, so invite somebody to go with you to confession.  It could be a family member, a friend, or a co-worker.  Perhaps all that is holding them back is having somebody join them.  What a gift you can offer to another by accompanying them to experience this great gift of mercy.

Father Alford     

Feast Day: December 15^th 

The year was 1848, and revolution was threatening all over Europe. You probably know of the Irish Potato Famine which was then in its third or fourth year – with a million dead, and two million having fled the country – but various bad harvest led to famines across the continent leaving countless multitudes destitute and starving. This came alongside of a cataclysmic shift in industry from subsistence farming to mechanized factory production. This, mixed with ideas of independence, and national pride, led groups in (ununified) Italy to rise up and demand national unity (which was unsuccessful as the neighboring countries of France and Austria quickly put a stop to anything that could sway their power in the region.) But then a related rebellion began in France with impoverished factory workers rising up against their rich owners, only to be brutally suppressed by soldiers, but not before bitter disunity was born between them and farmers still happily farming out in the countryside. That news made its way to Berlin where different cohorts began their own riots, there arguing for German unification. That country still hopeless split between different princes, the Prussian King actually refused to accept the crown offered him by the pressured German princes, and so the whole thing was eventually put down and all the little princedoms intact for now. Then this tale repeated itself in Poland, with the upper-class in Krakow revolting against their Austrian government, whereas the peasants there refused to join them because Austria was their only way out of basically being serfs under those landowners… and then the peasants revolted against the landowners killing thousands of them. And then it repeated with different particulars in Austria, with 100,000 dead in the aftermath… It was an age when everyone was fighting everyone to increase their slice of the pie.

Just for context, 1848 was also when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote their famous pamphlet “The Communist Manifesto.” I think you know why.

Communism, of course, would in the end only multiply beyond comprehension the violence and deaths seen from the economic and cultural turmoil of those “hungry forties.” But when the world is crazy, God always provides saints to renew the message of the Gospel, and such was St. Maria Crocifissa di Rosa. 

She was born in an affluent family, one of nine children, and given a wonderful education by sisters in Brescia, Italy up until she was 17. That being the year her mother died, she returned to her home and began to run her family’s household and manage one of her father’s textile mills. Already she was moved by the struggles of the girls who worked there and began caring for them both materially and spiritually, eventually expanding her efforts to house and help other young women, and then the mute or deaf. In 1836, she learned nursing to aid those afflicted by a cholera epidemic, and afterwards turned her newly found nursing skills to the care of the elderly. Notice what the Lord is doing here: As economic unrest, alongside of hunger and disease, begin to build around Europe, here in Italy is a young woman with the education, experience, and empathy to directly confront it. Instead of violence and anger, here is someone addressing suffering with love and compassion and prayer and Christlike love.

And so we get back to 1848. War is ramping up all around her, and her compassion rises to meet it. She argues with those who operated the hospitals to allow her, and her group of followers, to help in the hospitals and makeshift shelters for the wounded and dying. Then her best friend dies, and shortly after also the priest that had helped her all these years to discern and protect her unique vocation. And then on one famous day in 1848, enemy soldiers hammered on the door of that hospital They would break the door down and tear everyone to shreds if need be. 

What would you do? What would a saint do? Sister Paula di Rosa – she would get her name a few years later when her band of followers were officially instituted as the Handmaids of Charity – but perhaps her action this day set the stage for her being named after the crucifix. Because Saint Paula di Rosa calmly opened the door, and stood before the raging mob holding a giant crucifix, flanked by two of her other sisters holding candles. She had once said “”I suffer from seeing suffering”, and so again she had plunged right into the hurt of her world, even if that meant staring down soldiers holding fast to the cross.

But stare she did. And the mob turned around. And she just kept loving the suffering until illness came for her as well. She died on December 15^th, 1855. 

– Fr. Dominic is taking away two truths from St. Maria Crocifissa di Rosa: First, that God can work in each of us, in precisely the way He has raised us up. He gives us our families, our story, our experiences, and our hearts to fit His plan for us perfectly. And secondly, that His plan also fits with the hunger and hurt of our particular time in history as well. We do not face cholera and hunger and mob-rule as did she, but our world has its own hurts, and we are the ones God has given to it to be saints.

For several decades, when the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) fell on a Sunday, the feast was transferred to the following day, Monday, December 9.  While the Solemnity was still observed, the obligation to attend Mass on that day was abrogated, or removed.  As it turns out, that practice was actually incorrect.  The Holy See recently clarified that in a case like this, even though the feast day is moved, the obligation still remains, thus having this coming Monday, December 9, be a Holy Day of Obligation.

Before I comment on the importance of this feast day, especially for us here at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, let me give you some specifics on how you might approach fulfilling two Mass obligations – one for the Second Sunday of Advent, and one for the Immaculate Conception:

• Attending any Mass from 4:00 pm on Saturday, December 7, through midnight on Sunday, December 8, fulfills the obligation for the Second Sunday of Advent.
• Attending any Mass from 4:00 pm on Sunday, December 8, through midnight on Monday, December 9, fulfills the obligation for the Immaculate Conception.
• Attending ONLY the 5:00 PM Mass on Sunday, December 8 does NOT fulfill both obligations, it would only fulfill the Sunday obligation, so you would need to attend one of the three Masses on Monday, December 9 (7:00 am, 12:05 pm, or 5:15 pm)

Admittedly, this can be a little confusing, but the main point is we are to go to Mass two times between Saturday evening and Monday evening.  The interesting thing is that at the Sunday 5:00 pm Mass, the prayers and readings will all be for the Second Sunday of Advent, but if you already went to Mass on Saturday evening or on Sunday morning, that 5:00 pm Mass would still count for your Immaculate Conception obligation.  And to anticipate a possible question, it is permissible to receive Holy Communion twice on the same day, so long as the second time is in the context of attending Mass (which this would be).

Since our Cathedral is under the patronage of Mary as the Immaculate Conception, we have an additional blessing available to us.  The Handbook of Indulgences states that a “A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who visit, and there devoutly recite and Our Father and the Creed, the cathedral church on the solemnity of its Titular.” (no. 33, pg. 101) Titular is a fancy name for the patronal feast day.  What an opportunity we have!  Not only do we get to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist twice in two days, but we can also gain a plenary indulgence, either for ourselves or for the faithful departed.  The other normal conditions apply for gaining a plenary indulgence, namely, praying for the intentions of the Holy Father (one Our Father and one Hail Mary can suffice), going to confessions within 20 days before or after, and a detachment from sin.

Let us see this not so much with the somewhat negative view that is carried with the word “obligation”, but see it through the positive lens of being an amazing “opportunity” for us to celebrate this feast in honor of Our Blessed Mother who has a special care for us here in the church under her patronage.  Let us ask her to intercede for us that the remainder of our Advent journey will be filled with an eager longing for the celebration of her Son’s birth at Christmas.

Father Alford