From the Desk of Father Tharp
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Next Week Sunday Morning Masses December 15, 2019 Celebrant: Fr. Schmitz
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Advent Penance Servicve for St. Ann/Sacred Heart Pastoral Region
The Advent penance Service for our Pastoral Region is Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart. We will have multiple priests to hear Confessions, so any wait in line should be brief. There will be very few scheduled times for personal Confessions after the Fourth Sunday of Advent and before Christmas. For convenience and avoiding long lines, I recommend participation at the December 18 Penance Service.
Job Description for Custodian/Janitor position at St. Ann
We have received a number of applications for this position at St. Ann. We are in the process of reviewing applications and conducting interviews. At this time, we are refusing to consider any new applications received after 12:00 a.m. December 10, 2019.
Reflection on Scripture
“His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." These words are spoken by John the Baptist to the Scribes and Pharisees in today’s gospel. His words seem harsh, but he feels them necessary to be blunt in the face of the moral decay he faces. What would John the Baptist say about our contemporary moral decay? Do you think he would be loud in his condemnation? Sometimes I think a contemporary John the Baptist would simply scratch his head and comment that the level of degradation has exceeded his capacity to even try to understand it. It is inexplicable.
Our contemporary world does not want to hear about a Judeo-Christian interpretation of appropriate moral behavior. They do not want anyone else’s moral sensitivities to be articulated to them. In fact the mere suggestion of moral absolutes is often condemned by the celebrities of our society as “hate speech.”
Sometimes being honest is the same as being unyielding. This is a harsh approach, but necessary in a world of hypocritical false politeness. Jesus Christ is the truth, and nothing but the truth! All else is chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Next Weekend: Third Sunday of Advent
Is 35:1-6a, 10
Jas 5:7-10
Mt 11:2-11
Theme: Proclaim the Messiah