From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear St. Mary’s Parishioners:

With Christmas Day five days away, we make more immediate preparations for the celebration of the anniversary of the Incarnation. The Gospel readings for the Masses of December 17th through 24th recount the events leading up to the birth of the Savior. We ponder the genealogy of Jesus and reflect upon the account of Jesus’s birth according to St. Matthew. We are introduced to the parents of John the Baptist and we reflect with Mary as she experiences the Annunciation and the Visitation.

You may recall that, in past years, I have written about the “O Antiphons” which are prayed at Vespers (Evening Prayer) over the last seven days of Advent. The“O Antiphons” are also used for the Gospel acclamation each day from December 17th to 23rd. They are called “O Antiphons” because the title of each antiphon begins with“O”. Each of the “O Antiphons” represents a title for Our Lord Jesus Christ. The “O Antiphons,” which were in Latin originally, are prayed on the following days with the following wording:

• Dec 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

• Dec 18: O Adonai (O Lord)

• Dec 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

• Dec 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)

• Dec 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)

• Dec 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)

• Dec 23: O Emmanuel (O With Us is God)

  If you put together the first letter of the second word of each antiphon, the letters spell “SARCORE”. Read backwards, the letters form the sentence in Latin, “Ero cras,” meaning “I will be present tomorrow.”

  No doubt, you recognize the “O Antiphon” titles and not just because I have written about them before. The well-known Advent hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”was composed using the “O Antiphons”. Thus, on Dec 21st, the antiphon for Vespers is the following: “O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong gentle care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.” Compare that to the corresponding verse from “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”: “O come, O Wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go.”

  Please note our schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses elsewhere in the bulletin. Bishop Soto has given us permission to offer Christmas Eve Masses as early as 2p on December 24th. We do not plan to offer in-person Masses after dark on Christmas Eve. However, in order to respect the curfew and to obey the order to only have outdoor in-person services, on Christmas Eve, we will offer a 10p Spanish and 12p English Mass live-stream only from inside St. Mary’s Church. On Christmas Day itself, we will have our usual full schedule of in-person Masses in our parking lot as well as our live-stream Masses. Please consult the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Mass schedule.

  Finally, I express my gratitude to all those who worked so hard to make our celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe so wonderful. Understandably, the celebration was scaled down this year. Nonetheless, we honored the Guadalupana with a “novenario” by offering Masses each evening for nine days leading up to December 12th. And, on December 12th itself, Fr. Steven and I celebrated four Guadalupe Masses, three in Spanish and one in English. Thank you to all those who set up the altar for the liturgies, led the Rosaries, constructed the beautiful Guadalupe shrine and to everyone who gave of their time, energy and financial resources for our Guadalupe celebration.

  Blessed Advent!

  Father Berg