R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Let us all go home for Christmas. Let me show you what I mean when I say, “Let us go home for Christmas …” Let me borrow from our recent experience of Thanksgiving Day. How many, many families make a special effort to be together in the home for the celebration of our American Thanksgiving! I spoke with one individual who was totally alienated and alone on Thanksgiving Day. Instead, on Thanksgiving Day, he went by himself to Bob Evan’s for his dinner … The restaurant was packed with families, but also, he noted, a number of people who were having dinner alone that day too, like him – widows and widowers, or whatever the case may be. The individual I spoke to felt that those around him are his family. And he felt at home on this past Thanksgiving.

Even more so, home – or coming home – for Christmas is essential. Isaiah recalls God’s people returning home after the Babylonian Exile of 800 years. They finally returned to their home in Jerusalem. “Here,” says the prophet, “is your God. Here He will shepherd His people, carry them securely in His bosom.” For Saint Peter, being at home in the presence of God, even for one day, is worth more than a thousand years living without the presence of God.

Coming home for Christmas is so important that I see how Saint John the Baptist comes out into public space, and tells God’s people, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” Straighten out everything and come home for Christmas!

How then can we prepare to come home at Christmas? First, use this time of Advent to practice the virtue of patience. Already we are in the Second Week … practice this virtue of patience in a world that is often very impatient, irritable, and angry. Second, let your coming home for Christmas help you to live more fully the virtue of hope. It’s good to have hope that everything will get better, but it is even more important that you are firmly grounded in the virtue of hope now at this moment of your life. Third, look carefully at your sins, at your failures, at your dark side, at your participation in godless and diabolical things. Go to Confession for Christmas so that no debris will prevent you from truly coming home at Christmas. To help us prepare the way, in addition to our usual Confession schedule on Saturdays at 11:00am, next weekend we will also have visiting confessor Father Joe Rudjak to help us prepare ourselves to go home for Christmas. He will be here at 3pm at Saint Anthony of Padua Church and following the 9am and 11am Masses at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica.

In other words, Christ the Lord Jesus, born in a manger – His first home on Earth – came down from His home in Heaven so that you and I could have a home too, now and for eternity. In this season of Advent, do all that you can this year, with the help of our Blessed Mother and Saint Anthony, to come home for Christmas.

Monsignor Michael J. Cariglio, Jr., Pastor & Rector, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica – Saint Anthony Parish

Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.

R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

It has long been a Catholic understanding that when circumstances prevent one from receiving Holy Communion, it is possible to make an Act of Spiritual Communion, which is a source of grace. Spiritual Communion is an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament and lovingly embrace him at a time or in circumstances when one cannot receive Him in sacramental Communion. The most common reason for making an Act of Spiritual Communion is when a person cannot attend Mass. Acts of Spiritual Communion increase our desire to receive sacramental Communion and help us avoid the sins that would make us unable to receive Holy Communion worthily.

Spiritual Communion Prayer

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.

I love you above all things and I desire to receive you in my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,

Come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace you as if you were already there

And unite myself wholly to you.

Never permit me to be separated from you.

Amen.