Dear Holy Trinity Family,

I hope you enjoyed sumptuous meals with your family on Thanksgiving Day. Our sense of gratitude now further continues with a new liturgical year. As we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent today, the new year of the Church for 2026 begins with “Year A” for Sunday cycle and “Year II” for weekday cycle of the lectionary readings. In addition, Year A of Sunday Gospel is from St. Matthew.

Our Advent wreath is already placed in the church, and each candle will be lit each Sunday during the Advent signifying that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. Traditionally Advent wreath is adorned with four candles – three purple and one pink – that are lit one by one each Sunday showing that His coming is getting closer each week. Sometimes a white candle, placed in the middle of the wreath, is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to symbolize that Jesus Christ Our Savior is with us. This white candle is referred to as the “Christ candle.” For some families put their Advent wreath on the door of house; anyone, who wants to bless your Advent wreath at home, may take a sheet of paper “Blessing of an Advent wreath at home” in the vestibule.

Advent Season has a two-fold aspect of Jesus’s coming as we prepare ourselves to celebrate His presence with us. The first is our preparation for His Nativity on the Solemnity of Christmas which He came 2,000 years ago and the second is our anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. So, we can say the Advent is a time to echo the early Christians’ cry: “Come, Lord Jesus!” Let us ask Jesus to come quickly to us with His Saving presence so that His Nativity may fill our hearts with luminous lights and abundant joy in the meanwhile we are waiting for Parousia, His second coming.

In preparing for the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is suitable to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation before the Christmas Day. There will be the Advent Penance Service and individual confession on Thursday, December 11, at 6:30pm in our parish. Along with three Holy Trinity priests – Msgr. Herres, Fr. Mike, and me – there will be four additional priests who will hear your confessions. Please do not miss this golden opportunity to confess your sins and to be reconciled with God and one another. Because of this Advent Penance Service that night, there will be no confessions on following Saturday, December 13, after 8:00am Mass.

As we begin our new liturgical year, let us ask God to give us a new purpose in this new year and a lot of blessings to fulfill that new purpose. May God the Father abundantly bless us in the Season of Advent through His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ!

In Christ,

Fr. Brian