Thanksgiving for an Abundant Harvest This Advent

On this First Sunday of Advent, I am still lingering in the spirit of Thanksgiving Day. This national holiday fits well into the last week of our liturgical year, inviting us to be thankful for the blessings of the past year even as we begin a new season. I am so grateful for the graces God has been pouring out upon our parish. I do not have the space to mention them all, but I would like to mention one of them which we are celebrating this Sunday. In our second reading St. Paul prays: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…” (1 Thessalonians 3: 12). The Lord has been answering his prayer at IHM. 

This Sunday at the 12:30 pm Mass, we will celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. 5 children and 6 adults will receive 1, 2 or all 3 of these Sacraments. God just keeps sending people our way and our Parish Ministry Team has been receiving them throughout the year. Typically, we celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation during the Easter season for children and adults. (Infant Baptisms are celebrated year-round.) But for a number of pastoral reasons, the archbishop has given me permission to confer the Sacraments on these 11 on the First Sunday of Advent. 4 of them are becoming Catholic, and the other 7 are completing their initiation as Catholics.  

During the Easter Season of 2025, the Lord plans to make our parish increase all the more! We are preparing to celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation for 51 adults, 6 teenagers and 83 children! It amazes me how we are living out our mission: To proclaim the greatness of the Lord and accompany our neighbors to the heart of Jesus. God is calling all of us to partner with Him in pursuit of this mission. And I am grateful to God and to you for whatever you have done to support our parish mission.

As we begin this new year, let’s not be discouraged by any state, national or global statistics about the Church’s declining influence in society. Society is made up of individuals like you and me, like our friends and family members, like the 11 people receiving the Sacraments of Initiation this Sunday, and the 140 others who are preparing for these sacramental graces this Easter. 

In today’s gospel Jesus says, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay” (Luke 21: 25). In our time and place, perhaps these “signs” are like the converts to Catholicism, and those Catholics choosing to complete their initiation. Let the nations that are atheistic, Islamic or Jewish “be in dismay”—Christianity is on the rise in the U.S.A. Let the people of our state or town “be in dismay”—our Catholic parish family is growing. One of the core mission values of the Archdiocese of Denver is “To confound the world.” That’s what we are doing: Through our service to the poor at our Stewardship Center, through our ministries of healing and evangelization, through our support of families and faith formation we are making a difference—confounding the darkness of the world with the Love-Light of Jesus. 

So let the first candle of Advent burn brightly in our parish and in our homes. And as we light the other three, may the Advent candles symbolize each of us as we light a way for our world to journey to Christmas.