A Season of Gratitude and a Time for Waiting

We gathered this past week to give thanks for the many blessings received. We find ourselves overflowing with thankfulness for our lives, our families, our freedom. In the process we recognize that we live in an imperfect world. There are many people who have little. We reached beyond the boundaries of our own families to help. Our Saint Vincent De Paul outreach ministry, through the efforts of our whole parish family, was able to assist 66 families with food for their Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving afternoon my family arrived, all sixteen of them, for our celebration. I prepared the dinner. Others brought salads, desserts, sodas etc. It was a community effort. We also reach beyond the boundary of our family to assist others.

God operates in just the same way. In these weeks ahead we find ourselves eagerly waiting for the birth of his Son. It is a journey from dark to light. Every day the daylight hours shrink. Nights get longer until December 21st when the trend begins to reverse. The winter months of darkness tend to be spent more indoors as we wait for longer and warmer days. So, too, it is with our advent season. It can be a time spent within our selves making some room for the Lord by removing some of the clutter and busyness of our lives.

Most of us are not very patient when we have to wait. We live in a time when everything is instant. We want it right now. We cannot stand being stuck in traffic. We get so angry when we have to wait because our doctor is running late. We want our pictures developed in one hour. We go to fast food restaurants. We use an overnight delivery rather than regular mail. It is just the way things are today.

But the joy of an event is intensified when we have to wait. The anticipation grows. The nine months a family waits for the birth a child is filled with mixed emotions. When the child is finally born there is a great rejoicing. The moment has arrived. For Joseph and Mary the moment arrived. Weary travelers they settled as Mary gave birth. The moment they had waited for was now here. The moment the world had been waiting for was now here. Following the light of the star, people made their way to pay homage. The wait was well worth it.

May this season of advent be one of patient waiting for the promise of God is once again going to be fulfilled. A child, our Messiah, is to be born. Let us make good use of this time of waiting. In the end the wait will be well worth it.

PLEASE NOTE

Feast of the Immaculate Conception
December 8th
Mass Schedule
6:30 a.m. 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

The Church Is Open

During the next few months if you begin to feel the craziness of the season remember you can always come to Church and visit with God to find some peace. You will find St. Robert's Church open from 6:30am Mass until 5pm. As you're going to or from work or school or on your way home from shopping why not come in and thank the Lord for the gift of life and the beauty of the Season.

For those of you who placed pictures or remembrances at Mary’s statue please pick them up after December 1st. Thank you for sharing them with us.

We are scheduled for the 2nd Wednesday of each month. If you can prepare a favorite cookie, snack or lunch item for 10 to 12 people, please drop it off at the Children's Chapel, in the back of Church, by 9 a.m. on December 8th. Please pack the items in a non-returnable container. Frozen items can be donated.

Once again this Christmas Season, we as a parish family will have an ADOPT-A-FAMILY GIVING TREE.

There are many people in San Mateo County who don’t have the means to celebrate Christmas as they might like. At the same time, many in our parish can celebrate with their families and share with those in need. An ADOPT-A-FAMILY program is a way to do this.

This weekend, November 27th and 28th, and next weekend, December 4th and 5th, we will have a “Giving Tree” set up in front of church after all of the masses. This tree will be “decorated” with paper ornaments containing a profile of a family you might be able to help.

If you have the means to share your Christmas spirit, stop by after any of the Masses on either of these weekends and pick an ornament. Gifts will be collected after Masses the weekend of December 11th and 12th, and 18th and 19th.

Get in the holiday mood by coming to the Grownups’ Christmas Party on Saturday, December 4th in Hennessy Hall. Enjoy a catered traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, the music of the Traversons, door prizes, and a raffle of table decorations. Proceeds of this event go to Sister Ita’s Christmas charities. No host cocktails at 6 p.m. dinner at 7 p.m.

A junior presidium of the Legion of Mary, the main purpose of which is the sanctification of its members through prayer and apostolic work, will be established here at St. Robert's for young people up to the age of 18. We are inviting all young people of the parish to join us for a one-a-week session of prayer, reflection, and various religious and spiritual activities/experiences to enhance our Catholic upbringing. Sessions will be held on Sundays, and will usually be for one hour. Please call Sister Patricia, our spiritual director, at 589-0104 for further inquiries or to leave your name for one of the junior praesidium of the Legion of Mary to contact you.

A thank you to all our parishioners who gave us so much food, store scrip and money for our Thanksgiving deliveries last Saturday. We visited 75 families. A very special thank you to Bruce Chester who put together our bags for St. Robert’s deliveries and to Mary Pleas and Zenaida Brion that handled the bags for St. Bruno conference. We feel it went very well! The St. Bruno Conference received most of their food from the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Carlos.

Team members that volunteered their time last Saturday were:

As we all catch our breath….we need to get ready for Christmas deliveries next month of FOOD-SCRIP-GIFTS.

This is the last week that the names below will appear in our Parish bulletin. In future weeks, we will be listing the names that we have been asked to pray for during the week. We will continue to ask each week that parishioners continue to pray for the chronically ill of our parish.

If you have a friend or loved one in need of our parish prayers please call the Rectory at 589-2800.

Also, remember our Emergency prayer network that continues to pray for specific intentions that require a concerted effort due to their critical nature. To facilitate the network, please call Michele Pipinich. The network then prays frequently for the next 72 hours. We would appreciate a return call with the outcome so we can praise God for His faithfulness.

Brother Lawrence, a 17th Century French Carmelite, was best known for his wonderful experience of God’s immediate presence. His advice to those eager to find similar vitality and certainty in their lives is: “...spend the remainder of your life worshipping God...a little adoration...You need not cry very loud: He is nearer to you than we think.”

A Joyous Advent to Us All! 

We’ve begun this holy, peaceful season of Advent in which the Church invites us to prepare our hearts and our homes for the great feast of Christmas. The church is ready with its purple reminders of “back to basics” and its powerful readings for the season. The first two weeks focus on Jesus’ second coming at the end of time; the last two on his coming as a human being. The first readings for every week are from the prophets and the beauty of their poetry will move us if we let it. The gospels focus us on the end of the world, then move to his being born of Mary.

The music will take us to that deeper place within. We’ll be called to worship with the three-fold ringing of our Tibetan bowl, then we’ll respond to the litany with “Come, Lord Jesus.” Someone will light the Advent wreath each week, a practice I hope you can do in your own home as well. The circle of greens represents God’s love for us, without beginning or end. We’ll be singing as our psalm “Patience, People” an apt refrain for us who run around more than ever during this month.

As we sing, “O come, O Come Emanuel, and ransom captive Israel” we might pray for Palestine/Israel to be set free from its decades of war, oppression and hopelessness. With Chairman Arafat’s death, peace seems to be a real possibility in the birthplace of the Prince of Peace. As you watch endless advertisements on television with your children, why not talk about the difference between what we want and what we need? Once they take an ornament from the Giving Tree, perhaps you could include a prayer for that child/family each evening. If they receive money for Christmas, might they want to share part of that gift with someone in need?

As you gather your family to light the two purple candles on your Advent wreath, take a moment to be quiet and then pray:

Dear Lord, Your love for us is as constant as these branches which stay green through every season. As the farmer longs for the harvest, so we are anxious for your coming. Open us and the world to your gift of peace that we may bear fruit in works of justice. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Welcome Home
Our sessions for those who’ve been away from the Church begin this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.in the convent chapel. Please come yourself if you’re interested, or extend an invitation to someone who might be wondering how the Church has changed since he/she left. Please call Fr. Joe or Sr. Sheral if you (or they) have questions.