Happy New Year!
       Advent Wreath as a sign of our growing anticipation of the joy of Christmas.Today we bless our Advent Wreath
as a sign of our growing anticipation of the joy of Christmas. I hope many of you keep this custom also in your homes. There are Advent Wreath supplies available for purchase in the narthex of St. Charles Church. While God is timeless, we live in time. At every moment the story of human history is being written. The season of Advent is very much about the intermingling of the eternal and the temporal. God is both the author and goal of human history.
       The Advent season calls us to look forward as much as it invites us to look back. “Advent” comes from the Latin word advenire, which means “to come to” or “to arrive at.” This Sunday’s liturgy tells us to be vigilant (watchful) for the Lord is coming again. We look back to what God has spoken through the prophets; we see those words fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born into this world as the Word made flesh; and we trust in his promise to come again. He comes both as judge and savior. For the sinful, that is an event to be feared; for the faithful, it means vindication and deliverance from suffering and death. “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” (Gospel)
       The sacrament of penance is an important part of our Advent preparation for a worthy celebration of Christmas. There will be additional opportunities for confession as Christmas approaches. The priests of the Chippewa Falls Deanery will gather for a penance service at Notre Dame Church at 6:30 PM on Thursday, December 22. This will be the only communal penance service offered in the deanery this year. Times have also been scheduled for the students in our Catholic schools and in our religious education programs. 
      Next Sunday, December 4, we will enroll as candidates those young parishioners who plan to be confirmed in May. Those from St. Peter are to be present at the 9:00 Mass; those from St. Charles at the 10:30 Mass. This will give their fellow parishioners a chance to see them and pledge to pray for them.
      Having celebrated Thanksgiving Day, I want to thank all parishioners for your characteristic generosity this past year.
You have responded to appeals for disaster relief, Mission Sunday, the Mission Coop Appeal, Casa Hogar, and the upkeep of our Catholic cemeteries. You reach out to the needy in our community through the St. Francesca Resource Center, Agnes Table, Sojourner House, the Knights of Columbus and the Spirit of Christmas. One more national appeal is coming in two weeks, the Retirement Fund for Religious. At the same time please remember your regular parish support. Both parishes are behind in our subsidy for the McDonell Area Catholic Schools, so please consider an end-of-the-year gift to your parish to help us meet our financial obligations. May God bless you and reward your generosity.
    Pray the rosary this week for people in our community who are homeless, unemployed or needing health care. Pray for the safety of all travelling home on this holiday weekend. Pray for our military personnel serving in war zones and, as always, pray for peace.
 
May God bless his people with peace.
Monsignor Gorman