Advent III - The Lord is Near so rejoice! Or at least shape up!

The readings for this coming Sunday are found:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/121309.shtml

Masses this weekend are: 5:30 Sat and 11:00am Sunday


As I have been preaching throughout this season, Advent is about the appearing or arriving of Christ in History, Mystery and Majesty. Week I was dealing with the majestic and final appearance of Christ at the end of time. Weeks II and III are about the Mysterious appearing of Christ in our midst. Week II was about faith and Week III is about charity. We have to know and believe that salvation is about Christ being present and appearing mysteriously in our "doing something".

If we believe by faith that the Lord is near (he has appeared) than we no longer need to live in defensive fear of life and others, we are free to live in kindness and joy - charity. Believing that the Lord is near sets us free to be loving. So when others ask John the Baptist "what are we to do?" he was able to answer "stop living out of self-justifying fear and aggression and demonstrate to others that you believe in Emmanuel. Show that He is near (advent) by living a joy-filled generous life.

When the pastor comes to the house for dinner everyone "is on their best behavior". Because the "religious one" is near we act more like the love of God. We must treat others as if the Lord were in our midst. It is advent - he has arrived, he is near, he is in our midst - so rejoice!

If you are not rejoicing is it because you do not believe the Lord is near? That's what I think. What do you think?

If you want to hear last Sunday's homily click on the link under "Estok Homily Library" to the right>>>>>>

My December Mass Schedule

I am posting the dates and times that I will be presiding and preaching at St. Albert Parish.

December 12/13: Saturday-5:30pm, Sunday-11:00am

December 19/20: Saturday-4:00pm, Sunday-12:30pm

December 24/Christmas Eve: 4:00pm(church) and 10:00pm (church),
December 25/Christmas Day: 9:30am

December 26/27: Saturday-4:00pm, Sunday-11:00am

December 31: New Year's Eve/Mary, Mother of God - 4:00pm

The Grand Opener

I arrived as pastor of St. Albert the Great on June 15, 2009. On the following weekend I preached at all the masses. As I listened to this homily I can hear how nervous I was. It was a big moment in the life of a new pastor...meeting the folks for the first time "in the ring".

Take a listen:

http://www.archive.org/details/June21Homily2009

My Plan for this Blog

As we go on, I will be adding my old homilies to the "archive.org". If you go to archive.org and put "Estok" in the search function and the homilies should appear. See if it works.

My first post - oops

This is the beginning of Advent and so I decided to try something new. Instead of emailing the homilies to everyone, I thought I'd try this blogging thing. So, you should be able to click on the link I have here and next to the title "November 29, 2009" click on the "6.09" thing there. It opens in your Media Player.

Good luck
http://www.archive.org/details/AdventIi-ASundayHomilyDecember62009

My second post

Well, the first post seemed to work. So here is Advent I:

http://www.archive.org/details/AdventI-HomilyNovember292009

just click on the link and you should be ready to go. Peace!