Pastor's Weekly Message

First SUnday of Advent, 29-30 Nov 2025

My Beloved Fellow Saints-in-the-Making,

Greetings in Jesus Christ for Whom we are waiting!

A Blessed First Sunday of Advent. We begin a new liturgical year and take the first steps in our Advent journey to the manger where the Savior will greet us on Christmas.

And while we might be tempted to watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music and be so focused on preparing for Christmas Day in a secular way—that is, by being attentive only to the material elements of what society has made this holy day to be—we might overlook the spiritual richness of waiting and how these days of anticipation of the Savior’s Birth point to the even more eager anticipation of His Return.

So that we might pace ourselves and truly enter into this sacred Season of Advent, the Pastor’s Notes will focus on one of the newest canonized saints—Carlo Acutis—and his five steps to being a saint. Carlo is the first millennial saint, a “saint in jeans and sneakers,” as Pope Francis described him. He died from an aggressive form of leukemia at the age of 15 and denied himself any medication, giving up his suffering for the Pope, the Church, and the souls in Purgatory.

A first step to being a saint: Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints.  Carlo said that “the Virgin Mother is the only woman in my life…I never fail to keep the most gracious appointment of the day—recitation of the Holy Rosary.” Many saints have shared this love of Our Lady. St. Maximilian Kolbe counseled, “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin Mary too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” St. Augustine: “It means more for Mary to have been a disciple of Christ than to have been the mother of Christ...That is why Mary was blessed, because even before she gave him birth, she bore her teacher in her womb.” St. Carlo knew that by loving Mary, he would love Jesus more.

Therefore, this Advent, we will draw closer to Jesus by drawing closer to Mary through a parish-wide Consecration to the Immaculata with guidance from some of the greatest spiritual masters in the Church and insights from the great Mariologist Saints Louis de Montfort and Maxmilian Kolbe coming directly to your inbox each day. We will walk with Mary and learn how to say to God with her, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to your word.” And in so doing, we will truly be Saints-in-the-Making.

God love you! I do.

Fr. Lewis