An Advent call to prepare, be light in darkness
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Dozens of flickering candles clashed with the darkness in Immaculate Conception Church in Loose Creek the evening of Dec. 3.
“These candles we have tonight, they’re a reminder that the world is still in darkness,” said Father Anthony Rinaldo, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish and of St. Louis of France Parish in Bonnots Mill.
The Loose Creek parish moved its 10 a.m. Sunday Mass to 4:30 p.m., close to sunset, for the First Sunday of Advent.
The candles, especially those on the reredos below the crucifix and above the tabernacle, cast the people and everything in the 1877-vintage church in warm, golden light.
“You and I are the light of the world,” the priest proclaimed in his homily as the sun’s rays steadily withdrew through the stained glass.
“We may be the only light that the people of the world ever see, as we present to them the Good News that God has sent his Son into the world to forgive us of our sins and bring us to everlasting life,” he said.
The people prayed the Rosary together in church and sang carols before Mass as part of the parish’s annual St. Nick Night observance.
Advent is the season of preparation for Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ.
“It’s a time of watchfulness and waiting,” said Fr. Rinaldo. “Jesus gives us a one-word command: ‘Watch!’”
Not unlike dozens of generations of God’s people who eagerly awaited the coming of the promised Messiah, but also in anticipation of his Second Coming at the end of the age, along with his arrival in the heart of each individual.
Fr. Rinaldo cautioned against the all-too-human tendency to stay busy and get drawn into the hoopla of the season without settling down and properly preparing.
“We need to enter into the season of Advent,” he said, “to ask ourselves, ‘Are we just phoning it in’ or is our faith something that we live fully every day?”
He spoke of preparing for Christmas in the same way Catholics are obliged to prepare to receive Christ fully present in the Eucharist, which in itself is Jesus’s perfect act of thanksgiving to the Father.
“Recently,” Fr. Rinaldo recounted, “when we were having some priests over to the rectory for a meeting, some parishioners said, ‘We need to come over and tidy up.’
“Because that’s what you do when you’ve got company coming,” he said. “You clean and you polish and you make everything right, and you put some things away.
“Are we ready, spiritually for the coming of Christ?” he inquired on the people’s behalf. “Can he enter into my house, the house of my heart, and there find a warm, loving welcome? Or do I need to do some cleanin’ up first?”
The priest urged everyone to go to Confession during Advent “in order to prepare our hearts for Jesus.”
“God is not in charge of keeping us on the straight and narrow; that’s for us to do,” Fr. Rinaldo noted. “He will give us every grace and blessing. When we choose the right, when we choose to follow him, the Good Shepherd will lead us where we need to go.”
Fr. Rinaldo repeated the call to stay joyfully alert in anticipation of the Lord’s triumphant return.
“When will he come? Jesus said it’s not up to us to worry about it,” he said.
“So, we live our lives in constant readiness, always aware that this may be the day that either I or you are personally called home to the Lord, or he comes back for all of us at the end of time.
“In this holy season of Advent, may our hearts be ever-watchful,” the priest stated. “May our eyes be watchful. May our ears be open to hear his voice calling us.”
After Mass, the people adjourned to Immaculate Conception School, where a pasta meal was being served and Advent activities for children were taking place.
Proceeds from the dinner will benefit the parish’s Catholic Youth Organization activities and community-service projects.
Fr. Rinaldo thanked everyone, especially the young people, for helping to prepare for the Candlelight Mass and the other observances.
“I always say, we have some of the best kids in Osage County,” he said.
