Dear Parishioners,

As we light the second candle of the Advent wreath marking our journey to the Christmas feast,   we hear from St. John the Baptist—the Precursor of the Lord—who “talks tough” in the Gospel passage of the Mass.  Repentance is his message and it makes sense to hear it in Advent.  In order to receive the Lord, we must start with a “clean up.”  Professor Helen Alvaré says that this means “we have to face the things we have buried, things we know we should not have done, or really ought to start doing.  Day to day, these things ‘live’ in us.  They swim up to the surface of our minds now and again before we firmly shove them back in mental files marked ‘too embarrassing, ’’too hard to change,’ or too upsetting to the people I love.” The alternative is to leave them there, but this signals defeat.    

The Baptist invites us to let the hard work, and our new life in Christ, begin!   It begins most powerfully in the Confessional.   Peter Kreeft tells us that “What St. Paul calls the ‘old man’ walks in and what he calls the ‘new man’ walks out.  The devil hates and fears that place more than any other place in the world, except the altar…
 
Make this Advent the season of true repentance.   Take advantage of the confessional times on our schedule.  We shall also have additional time on Wednesday, December 17 at 6:00 pm at Our Lady of Sorrows.
 

Chè pawasyen,

Jodia, nou ap limen dezyèm bouji kouwòn Lavan an, sa ki make mache nou ap mache pou nou ale nan fèt Nwèl la. Nan Levanjil Lamès jodia nou tande, Jan-Batis, sila ki te vini prepare wout Granmèt la, ki ap « pale san li pa pran chemen kwochi » Li pale sou koze repanti, e li lojik pou n tande sa pandan tan Lavan an. Pou nou resevwa Granmèt la, nou dwe kòmanse « netwye ». Daprè pwofesè Helen Alvaré, sa vle di « nou dwe fè fas ak bagay nou te kache, sa nou te konnen nou pa te dwe fè oubyen nou pa te dwe vrèman kòmanse fè ». Chak jou, bagay sa yo ap « viv » nan nou. Yo monte nan lespri nou tanzantan, avan nou voye yo nan dosye ki « twò anbarasan », « twò difisil pou chanje » oubyen « twò boulvèsan pou moun mwen renmen yo » Altènatif la se ta kite yo la, men sa vle di defèt.  

Batèm lan envite nou kite travay ki difisil la e lavi tou nèf la nan Kris la kòmanse. Sa kòmanse ak anpil pwisans nan konfesyonal la. Peter Kreeft di nou « Sa sen Pòl rele « moun ansyen an » antre e sa li rele « moun nouvo a » soti. Dyab la pa vle wè kote sa a pase tout lòt kote nan mond lan, exsepte lotèl la…
 
Se pou fè tan Lavan sa a tounen yon bon tan pou nou repanti. Pwofite orè konfesyon yo. Nou ap genyen yon tan anplis mèkredi 17 desanm a 6 :00 nan Notre-Dame-des-Douleurs a. 
 

Religion cannot be separated from life, either in theory or in daily reality.
∼St. Jose Maria Escriva