Beginning on the first Sunday of Advent (Nov 28), we will renew the desire of the Church to have members of the faithful bring bread and wine to the altar. We will also begin a new tradition, which we have done previously (All Souls Day, Thanksgiving), of inviting the faithful to bring their monetary gifts to be placed in baskets in the sanctuary.
There’s an adage that says you should work from your rest, not rest from your work. Like most adages, this is easy to say but hard to do. God commands us to keep holy the Lord’s day because he knows how easily humanity can slip into the undue self-reliance of constantly working. Sunday is not the culmination of the week, but the starting point.
The news was depressing, to say the least: A Pew Research Center poll generated headlines announcing that only 30% of American Catholics believe what the Church believes about the Eucharist — that it is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, and not merely a symbol. Who’s to blame for that? We all have our guesses, I’m sure — but I also know that, in a crisis, assigning blame isn’t the top priority. Stopping the crisis is.