The high feast day of the Immaculate Conception is usually on the eighth of December. Every several years, however, the Second Sunday of Advent falls on the solemnity’s usual day, and so - showing the preeminence of Sunday - the Immaculate Conception is bumped to the ninth of December. This is the state of affairs this year.

In a couple more weeks, we will celebrate and commemorate the birth of the Christ in a human form. We rejoice because when God became incarnate, God affirmed our salvation and the goodness of humanity! I had a Jesuit professor in Fundamental Theology who said that heaven is here and now, where the beautiful relationships we build here are realized and heightened.

Our second collection is for the Retirement Fund for Religious. Thousands of senior Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests spent years working in Catholic schools, hospitals, and agencies—often for little or no pay. Now, their religious communities do not have enough savings for retirement and eldercare. Your gift to the Retirement Fund for Religious helps provide medications, nursing care, and more. Almost 94 percent of donations aid senior religious. Please be generous!

We are so grateful for the sacrifices you make so that the work of St. Francis of Assisi Parish may continue to impact the lives of so many. Parish Goal: $185,000; Pledges: $272,521 Paid: $253,561. Anticipated Refund: $88,514. The Diocese will close the books on the 2019 campaign on December 31. Our rebate will reduce parish debt and fund continuing improvements to our parish facilities. Thank you for your support of Bishop Cantú and our local Church.

In spite of the rain, the Parish had their Annual Christmas Tree Lighting last Saturday, November 30th. Various choir groups of the parish rendered Christmas songs in the Church. Immediately after that the weather cooperated to allow people to walk out to the courtyard and witnessed Fr. Matthew Stanley do the honor of lighting the 15 foot-Christmas Tree. Fr. Stanley started with a prayer of blessing before proceeding to the countdown. People took turns to have their pictures taken with Fr. Stanley with the Christmas tree in the background.

The liturgical ministers had their Advent recollection with John Michael Reyes, a team member of TeamRCIA last Saturday, November 30th. The liturgical ministers had a three-hour experience of reflection, talks, and prayer and peace.

“Beginning in childhood, and at every stage of our lives,” the Holy Father recalled, “it teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us…” Moreover, he continued, it teaches us “we are with Him, His children, brothers and sisters all, thanks to that Child who is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary."

When preparing for the great feast of Christmas, it’s easy to get distracted during Advent by all the festive decorations, parties and Christmas movies. We often forget to carve out time in our day to enjoy the beautiful season of Advent and foster a spirit of hopeful expectation for the coming of Jesus Christ.

So, after consulting with two shelter programs, your shelter program team is recommending that as a parish we respond by seeking and donating important and necessary items. If you are able to do so, please bring these donations either to the church gathering hall (and leave at the designated spot) before December 15th.  

For many years our Catholic parishes & schools have benefited from the charitable gifts of appreciated property from nay good and generous people. Year-end giving becomes an important consideration for many people in these last weeks of the year 2018. The knowledge that your gifts are assisting and advancing the mission of the Catholic Church can bring about tremendous good in our world. If you are able to make a gift of appreciated stock, properties, or cash, while reducing your tax liability, please contact Victor Espinoza (vespinoza@dsj.org) or (408) 223-1562.

We need your help in making our worship spaces look beautiful for the Christmas season. Won’t you consider donating toward a poinsettia plant in remembrance of a loved one or just as a gift from you? Special Christmas Flower Envelopes are available in the pews. All your gifts will be greatly appreciated.

The County Public Health Officer has requested that we make some temporary adaptions to our celebrations of the Eucharist, to foster the health of our worshiping communities. For the duration of the Flu and Cold season, Bishop Cantú has asked all parishes to adapt the following temporary liturgical adaptations: 1. The Blood of Christ will not be offered during Holy Communion; 2. Holy Communion will be distributed only into the hands of communicants: 3. We will not hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer; 4. The Sign of Peace should be adapted so as to allow for a greeting that does not involve shaking hands or touching.

The book of Matthew is the first  Gospel (an account of Jesus’ life and ministry) in the New Testament. In Matthew, Jesus teaches people what it means to be part of his kingdom, the “kingdom of heaven.” He is betrayed and crucified. He rises again and commissions His disciples to spread the good news.

This Sunday, December 1, the Church enters into a new season. Advent is a winter feast celebrated for the four darkest weeks of the year. The sun rises later and later and sets long before the day is complete. Christmas comes during the darkest of this dark time. It is the Feast of Light, the celebration of Him who is the Light of the World. And so, throughout these four Advent weeks, we light a candle for each of the weeks. As the advent of Christ overcame the d

Next Sunday, there will be a second collection to reduce our $2.3 million-dollar parish debt. At the conclusion of the prior fiscal year, due to the generous donors to the Shine the Light campaign, we made a $200,000 principal payment. he sooner we pay off this debt, the more funds we will have available to support other vital services in our growing parish. Thank you for your generosity.

Thank you to everyone who supported the mission and ministries of our parish during the month of October. Our average weekly collection was $20,310. You also generously donated to various important causes in our October (2nd Collections) in the amount of $13,748 ($3,437 a week.) This brings our October total to $23,747 a week

Do you long to have joy with your kids? Reduce stress of working & parenting? Sleep soundly at night without anxious dreams about your family? Savor the gift of your children and the treasure of yourself as a person and a parent? If so, you may be interested in completing Parent Effectiveness Training (PET), an eight-week course ; two hours per week, that we are considering offering at St. Francis of Assisi.

Today’s Gospel brings to mind a Letter of His Holiness, Pope Francis to Priests, delivered this past August on the 160th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney. He focused on three main points: gratitude for their service to Christ and to the People of God; encouragement to continue to work toward the mission of the Church; and a reminder to praise God even through the most difficult times. It is this third emphasis that reminds me of the profound words exchanged by St. Dismas and Jesus.

The 3 Gen + Ministry will be conducting a survey to see how well the committee is communicating our Mental Health ministry and events within the parish. Kindly take a few minutes to fill out the survey. Additional surveys can be found in the back of the Chapel, Gathering Hall. The 3 Gen + committee will use this information to evaluate our performance and see how we can be of better service to the Saint Francis of Assisi community. Thank You for your participation.

We want to thank all of you for your generous giving this past year. With your support we were able to share our faith and continue to share the Gospel message. We are pleased to provide a stewardship report which reflects just a few of the countless activities of our community of faith, including our financial operations for the fiscal year 2018-2019.