Trinity Church Welcomes All through its "Big Red Doors" with Tibetan prayer flags flying in the wind. It would be hard to find a more diverse group of believers, used-to-be believers, and sort-of believers. Many of us were born into other religions and denominations, and have found ourselves to be part of the inclusiveness of God's love.

Advent

Advent means arrival. Ever since human beings have looked up to the starry skies, they have longed for the arrival of a child to bring us a better future. All of us share this deep longing. The four weeks of Advent give it a Christian expression.


Want to Get Into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness

How I fell in love with the season of Advent.
By Tish Harrison Warren

As darkness lengthens in late fall, we begin to see the signs of the season — advertisements with giant red bows atop new cars, Christmas music blasting everywhere, the heightened pace of holiday hustle and bustle, lights and garlands speckling every corner of the city.

But inside many church buildings, this time of year looks different. There, we find a countercultural sparseness. The altar is covered in purple, the color of both royalty and repentance. There’s a slowing down, a silent stillness. The music turns to minor keys and becomes contemplative, even mournful. The Scripture readings are apocalyptic and trippy, strikingly short on sweet tales of babies, little lambs and Christmas stars. In this small space, Christmas season has not yet begun. The church waits in Advent.

In the church calendar, every period of celebration is preceded by a time of preparation. Historically, Advent, the liturgical season that begins four Sundays before Christmas Day, is a way to prepare our hearts (and minds and souls) for Christmas. For Christians, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birth — that light has come into darkness and, as the Gospel of John says, “the darkness could not overcome it.” But Advent bids us first to pause and to look, with complete honesty, at that darkness.

To practice Advent is to lean into an almost cosmic ache: our deep, wordless desire for things to be made right and the incompleteness we find in the meantime. We dwell in a world still racked with conflict, violence, suffering, darkness. Advent holds space for our grief, and it reminds us that all of us, in one way or another, are not only wounded by the evil in the world but are also wielders of it, contributing our own moments of unkindness or impatience or selfishness.

Agree to disagree, or disagree better? We'll help you understand the sharpest arguments on the most pressing issues of the week, from new and familiar voices.

I’m well aware that for most Americans, Christmas has less to do with contemplating the incarnation of Jesus than celebrating friends, family, reindeer and Black Friday sales. Even among observant Christians, the holiday season has often been flattened into a sentimental call to warm religious feelings (if not a charged yet pointless argument over “Happy Holidays” versus “Merry Christmas”). Still, I think Advent offers wisdom to the wider world. It reminds us that joy is trivialized if we do not first intentionally acknowledge the pain and wreckage of the world.

G.K. Chesterton wrote that original sin is the “only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.” The believer and atheist alike can agree that there is an undeniable brokenness to the world, a sickness that needs remedy. Whether we assign blame to human sinfulness, a political party, corporate greed, ignorance, tribalism or nationalism (or some of each), we can admit that things are not as they should be — or at least, not as we wish they were.

I did not grow up observing Advent or, for that matter, knowing what it was. Like many Americans, my family began celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. When I started attending an Anglican church in my late 20s, Advent drew me in. With its quiet beauty and doleful hymns, this season made intuitive emotional sense to me.

American culture insists that we run at breathless pace from sugar-laced celebration to celebration — three months of Christmas to the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July, and on and on. We suffer from a collective consumerist mania that demands we remain optimistic, shiny, happy and having fun, fun, fun.

But life isn’t a Disney Cruise. The tyranny of relentless mandatory celebration leaves us exhausted and often, ironically, feeling emptier. Many of us suffer from “holiday blues,” and I wonder whether this phenomenon is made worse by the incessant demand for cheer — the collective lie that through enough work and positivity, we can perfect our lives and our world. anesthesia from pain as much as anything else. We need collective space, as a society, to grieve — to look long and hard at what is cracked and fractured in our world and in our lives. Only then can celebration become deep, rich and resonant, not as a saccharine act of delusion but as a defiant act of hope.-Ms. Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America and author of “Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life.”

Benediction

Blessed are the agnostics. Blessed are they who doubt. Blessed are those who have nothing to offer. Blessed are the preschoolers who cut in line at communion. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.

Blessed are those whom no one else notices. The kids who sit alone at middle-school lunch tables. The laundry guys at the hospital. The sex workers and the night-shift street sweepers. The closeted. The teens who have to figure out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms. Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.

Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like. Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried. Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.” Blessed are those who mourn. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.

I imagine Jesus standing here blessing us because that is our Lord’s nature. This Jesus cried at his friend’s tomb, turned the other cheek, and forgave those who hung him on a cross. He was God’s Beatitude— God’s blessing to the weak in a world that admires only the strong.

Jesus invites us into a story bigger than ourselves and our imaginations, yet we all get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of this moment and this place. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect that gift. May we never lose our love for telling the story. Amen

(Benediction delivered by Nadia Bolz-Weber at the funeral of Rachel Held Evans last year.)

Feasts and Commemorations

St. Andrew Christmas Novena

Begins on 30 November and continues through 8 December.

Dec 1, Rosa Parks Day

On this day in 1955, civil-rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, and the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott began.

Dec 1, World AIDS Day

This day was created by the United Nations to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in the world. There are 14,000 new infections every day. In the United States, minorities account for approximately 65% of all HIV/AIDS infections.



Dec 2, Jan Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)

On December 2, 1381 Jan Ruysbroeck, a canon regular of St. Gudula's church in Brussels and a monk of Groenendael, died at the age of eighty-eight. Born in the village of Ruysbroeck, near Brussels, Jan received an excellent education without attending any of the universities of his time. He had little interest in speculative scholastic theology, and preferred the inquiry proper to spiritual experience and the psychology of the inner life to abstract discussions on God and the human soul. His assiduous reading of Scripture and the Church fathers, together with his strong attachment to human realities, allowed him to produce mystical writings consonant with the Gospel.

Jan was ordained a priest in 1317 and spent twenty-six years as a canon in Brussels, encouraging his parishioners to deepen their spiritual lives and writing spiritual works of timeless value for them, such as his masterpiece The Spiritual Wedding.

When the exuberance of fanatical preachers and the growing decadence of the clergy made life in the city intolerable, Jan left Brussels and settled in Groenendael, in the Belgian countryside. There he pursued a life of poverty and prayer with five companions, carried out an intensive ministry of spiritual counsel, and wrote other valuable works. His experience of life on the outskirts of society, where he sought to meet God in prayer and welcome the constant newness that accompanies every believer's relationship of love with God, was one of the main sources of inspiration for the devotio moderna movement.


Dec 3, Francis Xavier (1506-1552) priest

Today the Catholic church and the churches of the Anglican Communion commemorate Francis Xavier, a priest and missionary in Asia. Born in 1506 in Xavier Castle in Navarre, Spain to a noble family, Francisco de Jassu y Xavier left his country and went to study in Paris. The course of his life changed when he found himself sharing his lodging with his classmate Ignatius of Loyola. For a long time, Francis resisted the strong appeal Ignatius exerted on him, but he eventually became one of the first Jesuits and made his vows at Montmartre.

Today the Catholic church and the churches of the Anglican Communion commemorate Francis Xavier, a priest and missionary in Asia. Born in 1506 in Xavier Castle in Navarre, Spain to a noble family, Francisco de Jassu y Xavier left his country and went to study in Paris. The course of his life changed when he found himself sharing his lodging with his classmate Ignatius of Loyola. For a long time, Francis resisted the strong appeal Ignatius exerted on him, but he eventually became one of the first Jesuits and made his vows at Montmartre.

Ordained a priest at the age of thirty-one, he placed himself entirely at the service of the Church, and was soon sent on a missionary voyage to the East Indies. Without hesitating, Francis disembarked first in Mozambique, and then in Goa, on India's West coast, in 1542. He went on to carry the Gospel to Sri Lanka, Malacca and the Moluccas. Convinced that he was called to bear Christ's joyful message even farther, he sailed to the south of Japan in 1548, and founded the first Christian communities there. From Japan he sailed towards China, but this was to be his last voyage. He caught a violent fever and was taken to the island of Sachnan, where he died during the night between December 2 and 3, 1552. Because of his enormous missionary activity, Francis Xavier was proclaimed patron saint of missions by the Catholic Church in 1927, together with Theresa of Lisieux.

Dec 5, Jews martyred during the black death (1348-1349)

Between 1348 and 1350 Europe experienced what may have been the most terrifying calamity in its history: the plague epidemic that historians say killed more than a fourth of the continent's population.

After an distraught search for possible causes of the scourge, in September 1348 Jews were forced under heavy torture to make false confessions, declaring that they had poisoned wells and aqueducts in several major cities.

Word of the false confessions spread throughout Europe, giving rise to an unprecedented wave of antisemitic hatred. More than three hundred Jewish communities were attacked, and large numbers of Jews were massacred or expelled from Europe.

Despite Clement VI's papal bull condemning the false accusations, popular revolts sent a a significant percentage of Europe's Jews to their death. Considered guilty of having committed deicide by killing Jesus, the children of Israel were thought to have attracted divine punishment upon themselves and the rest of Europe's population. Only the Jews of Poland and Lithuania escaped the tragedy.

On December 5, 1349 the last great act of antisemitic violence took place in Nuremberg, when a popular uprising turned into a massacre and about 500 Jews were tortured and dismembered, or burned alive on pyres hastily set up throughout the city.

Dec 6, Feast of St. Nicholas

Known as “wonder worker”; special patron of children, seafarers, travelers, brides, bankers, brewers, and even robbers. Though legends about him abound, St. Nicholas was a real person, the 4th century Bishop of Myra in Turkey, revered for his charity.





Dec 7, Ambrose (339-397) Church father and pastor

On Holy Saturday of the year 397, Ambrose, a Church father and one of the most beloved pastors in Christian antiquity, died in his bishop's residence in Milan. Born into a noble family, Ambrose began training for a political career at a young age. He served as governor of the Roman provinces of Liguria and Emilia, and in this capacity he became known for the integrity of his conduct. After the death of Aussenzius, Milan's Arian bishop, Ambrose was elected pastor of that city by popular acclaim, even though he was still a catechumen.

Aware of his lack of preparation, especially in theology, Ambrose came to terms with his poverty and set out in search of the one thing necessary, Christ's presence in the believer's soul. He delved into Scripture and the writings of the Eastern fathers, and in just a few years' time he had acquired an extraordinary sensus fidei. Having focused his gaze on the essentials of Christian faith, he invited the flock God had entrusted to him to do the same, and in this way he did much to draw together a society that was losing its cohesion.

Ambrose worked to regenerate the spirituality of the clergy, and he strongly encouraged the faithful to recognize the importance of their Christian witness. He promoted religious life, especially for women, seeing in it a possibility to renew eschatological tension in the Church at a time in which it was being weakened by the newly established Christian regime. A defender of the poor and weak, Ambrose spoke assertively against usury and the appropriation of the world's wealth in the hands of a few. In the name of evangelical parresia, he openly opposed bishops and emperors who had fallen into moral or doctrinal error, without ever letting his invective overshadow the message of God's unfailing mercy towards those who had erred. His example made a deep impression upon Augustine, who asked to be baptized by Ambrose on Easter night of the year 387.

Dec 8, Feast of The Immaculate Conception

This Roman Catholic feast day mirrors the deep truth about the call of love in our lives, as shown through the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like a "Prequel" in a series of movies the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary reflects a long held understanding in the Catholic tradition, that Mary, the mother of Christ, was gifted at the moment she was conceived with the fullness of grace and holiness. Mary fully accepted who she was and gratefully lived a life of love in the details of each day, be they days of joy or days of sorrow. The deep truth mirrored in this feast is that we also are "prepared" for the call of love in our lives. This great gift was lived in a very humble and hidden way thus Mary, All Beautiful, gives hope to all humanity that nothing is impossible for God.


Dec 9, Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting

Family and friends around the globe light candles for one hour to honor and remember children who have died at any age from any cause.

Dec 10, International Human Rights Day





Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations. The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V), inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.

Dec 10, Heavenly Birthday of Thomas Merton

On December 10, 1968, Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and spiritual writer, died in Bangkok. He had written: "The grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference."




December 12 Feast Day of our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1531, near Mexico City, an indigenous peasant named Juan Diego met a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light who identified herself as Mary. According to traditional account, on December 12th her image miraculously appeared on his cloak.






Dec 13, Feast Day of St. Lucia

In Sweden and Norway, this day honors the turning tide of winter and return of the light. Traditionally, a young woman in a white gown with red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles wakens her family with saffron rolls and coffee.

The Worldwide Candle Lighting started in the United States in 1997 as a small Internet observance but has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance. The United States Senate has joined in the remembrance by unanimously passing resolutions declaring the second Sunday in December of each year National Children’s Memorial Day to coincide with this event.

Dec 14, Saint John of the Cross

(Spanish: San Juan de la Cruz; 154214 December 1591), was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest who was born at Fontiveros, Old Castile. He was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez into a converso family (descendents of Muslim or Jewish converts to Christianity)

John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature.

Dec 16-24, Las Posadas

A wonderful Mexican Christmas tradition, las posadas literally translates in English as "the inns" or "the lodgings" and symbolizes the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph as they searched for shelter in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus. The nine-day celebration lasts from December 16 to Christmas Eve. The Beginning of the Christmas Novena, 9 Days of prayer for those who seeking shelter (Human/Animal, physical/ spiritual)





Dec 17-24, O Antiphons

The O Antiphons are antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions.

They are referred to as the “O Antiphons” because the title of each one begins with the interjection “O”. Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:

The first letters of the titles taken backwards form a Latin acrostic of "Ero Cras" which translates to "Tomorrow, I will be there", mirroring the theme of the antiphons.

Dec 18, 20, 21 - Ember Days

Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer. he Ember Days are known in Latin as the quattuor anni tempora (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the jejunia quattuor temporum ("fasts of the four seasons").

Dec 21, Winter Solstice

As winter begins in the North and summer in the South, we rejoice in the light: gratefully greeting the return of longer days or dancing around a bonfire to honor the longest day and shortest night.

Winter Solstice: The southern polar axis of the earth tilts towards the sun to mark the advent of winter and long starlit nights. Let us take our cue from the earth's orientation, as the world spirit prompts us to turn inwards away from extroverted activity, to search the mystical depths and find the heavenly star of Being within us.

Dec 21, St. Thomas

Poor Thomas has been saddled with the unhappy nickname, "the Doubter," since the earliest days of the church. This is due, of course, to the account of him in the twentieth chapter of John's Gospel. Countless sermons and many fruitful meditations have come out of the consideration of Thomas's doubts. It is significant that he was the namesake of Thomas Aquinas, the great questioner and teacher of the Middle Ages. Some have held that doubt is the antithesis of faith, others that it is the mother and nourisher of faith. Certainly there are many kinds and levels of doubting. Thomas's kind of doubting—his forthright, honest questioning—has made him an attractive and popular person to modern people who tend to see great virtue therein. It is interesting that "doubting" Thomas is the first of the apostles to proclaim our Lord's divinity after the resurrection. Thomas was a twin. He was the alleged author of an apocryphal gospel. We do not know where he went after the resurrection or where he died, but traditions of his missionary activities are in evidence from Iran to the Malabar coast of India.

Dec 22 - 30, Chanukah

This Jewish Festival of Light celebrates the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it was reclaimed from foreign powers. Priests lit the temple lamp using only the tiniest jug of oil. Miraculously, the flame remained alight for eight full days.


Dec 24, Christmas Eve - Christmas Day Observance

The Proclamation of the Birth of Jesus Christ

Throughout the season of Advent, the Church has reflected on God’s promises, so often spoken by the prophets, to send a savior to the people of Israel who would be Emmanuel, that is, God with us. In the fullness of time those promises were fulfilled. With hearts full of joy let us hear the proclamation of our Savior’s birth. The Twenty-fifth Day of December, when ages beyond number had run their course from the creation of the world, when God, in the beginning, created heaven and earth, and formed humankind in his own image and according to his own likeness; when century upon century had passed since the Almighty, as a sign of covenant and peace, set his bow in the clouds after the Great Flood; in the twenty-first century since Abraham, our father in faith, and his wife Sara came out of Ur of the Chaldees; in the thirteenth century since the People of Israel were led by Moses in the Exodus from Egypt; eleven hundred years from the time of Ruth and the Judges; around the thousandth year since David was anointed King; in the sixty-fifth week of the prophecy of Daniel; in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; in the year seven hundred and fifty-two since the foundation of the City of Rome; in the forty-second year of the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus, the whole world being at peace; Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming and loving presence, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and when nine months had passed since his conception, was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea, and was made man.

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. -Isaiah 9:6

A Christmas Prayer

By Robert Louis Stevenson


Dec 25 - Christmas

At Christmas, Christians celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace. Yet throughout history Christians and others have perpetuated war and violence. This day invites all of us to pledge anew to make peace in ourselves and in the world.



For unto us a child was born
The Messiah who saves the world
May your Christmas be great as ever in the light of the Savior’s love!

St. Stephen -December 26

A day to commemorate Saint Stephen the first Christian martyr. The day is also referred to as "Boxing Day"a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era, wherein metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen.

In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.

This custom is linked to an older English tradition: since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food.

In the midst of the assembly the Lord open his mouth and filled it with wisdom and understanding. Introit for St. Stephen Day

St. John the Evangelist- December 27

The Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed "beloved disciple" of Jesus who "bore witness to" (wrote) the gospel's message. The significant part of the traditional celebration was the blessing and drinking of wine, called the "Love of St. John" because, according to legend, the Saint once drank a cup of poisoned wine without suffering harm. In central Europe people still practice the custom of bringing wine and cider into the church to be blessed. Later, at home, some of it is poured into every barrel in their wine cellars.

People take Saint John's wine with their meals on December 27, expressing the mutual wish: "Drink the love of Saint John." It is also kept in the house throughout the rest of the year. At weddings, bride and bridegroom take some of it when they return from the church. It is also considered a great aid to travelers and drunk before a long journey as a token of protection and safe return. A sip of Saint John's wine is often used as a sacramental for dying people after they have received the sacraments. It is the last earthly drink to strengthen them for their departure from this world.


Holy Innocents- December 28

After we have all felt good about our generosity and best wishes for peace on earth around our Christmas trees, these texts wrench us back to reality like a winter wind, taking our breath away. We do not live in a peaceful snowglobe; we live in a world where children die and mothers grieve—not just occasionally, but every day, not just in hospitals but on city streets and in mud huts. We live in a world where the oppressed suffer and the oppressors get away, literally, with murder. We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Newtown and around the world. Receive them, we pray, into the arms of your mercy; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A voice is heard in Rama, crying and weeping.
Rachel weeping for her children. -Divine Office


Thomas Becket -December 29

For the witness and courage of the martyrs: Thomas Becket, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Janani Luwum, Oscar Romero, and thousands of others who names we do not know. GOD, WE THANK YOU.





Prophetess Hannah/Frances Joseph Gaudet- December 30

Blessed Frances Joseph Gaudet was an African American prison reformer, missionary, and seamstress. She was instrumental in starting the Juvenile Court in Louisiana and founded Gaudet School for Black Youth in 1902. She was born in Holmesville, Pike County, Mississippi, in 1861.

She is now venerated as a Saint in the Episcopal Church.

Hannah is one of the most poignant characters in the Old Testament. Like several other women in the Bible, she was barren. People in ancient Israel believed that a large family was a blessing from God. Infertility, therefore, was a source of humiliation and shame. To make matters worse, her husband's other wife not only bore children but taunted Hannah mercilessly.

Once, at the house of the Lord in Shiloh, Hannah was praying so intently that her lips moved silently with the words she spoke to God in her heart. Eli the priest saw her and accused her of being drunk. She answered that she was praying, pouring out her soul to the Lord.

Touched by her pain, Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." (1 Samuel 1:17, NIV)

After Hannah and her husband Elkanah returned from Shiloh to their home at Ramah, they slept together. Scripture says, "...and the Lord remembered her." (1 Samuel 1:19, NIV). She became pregnant, had a son, and named him Samuel, which means "God hears."

But Hannah had made a promise to God that if she bore a son, she would give him back for God's service. Hannah followed through on that promise. She handed her young child Samuel over to Eli for training as a priest.

God blessed Hannah further for honoring her pledge to him. She bore three more sons and two daughters. Samuel grew up to become the last of Israel's judges and its first prophet.

Samuel Ajayai Crowther/ Sylvester- December 31

was a linguist and the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria. He is remembered for translating the Bible into the Yoruba language and compiling a Yoruba dictionary. In 1843, a grammar book which he started working on during the Niger expedition was published; and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer followed later. He also began codifying other languages. Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Crowther produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, another for the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864.

This is the last day in the year and, accordingly, in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year's Eve is known as Silvester. In other countries too, the day is usually referred to as Saint Sylvester's Day or the Feast of Saint Sylvester. Sylvester was Pope who provided oversight of the Council of Nicea. The day is Vigil of the Holy Name of Jesus.

Returning thanks for life, I turn back and bow eastward. -Goshi, Japanese Haiku poet


The Liturgical Seasons

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** This prayer is offer for Victims of Violence throughout of the world. Victims of verbal, physical, emotional, of hunger and thirst,economic abuse,warfare (especially Ukraine, Venezuela, parts of Africa, South America Asia and the Middle East, terrorist action, the death penalty, suicide, shootings (in our cities and neighborhoods), and other guise of violence. May their souls rest in peace and their families experience the Comfort of God. The Church bells will toll on Wednesdays @ 6:10pm.

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