St. Elizabeth House—Members of the St. Catherine's community will be preparing and serving dinner for the residents of St. Elizabeth House in Hartford on Sunday, January 13th. If you would like to help by preparing or providing part of the meal or by joining us in serving it, please sign up in the atrium. Donated items and those serving should be at the church by 3:45 pm on Sunday, 10/21. We will leave our parking lot by 4 pm and will return by about 6:15 pm. Please contact Pat or Bill Walsh with questions at patwalsh@comcast.net or 860-658-2606.

After last Friday’s horrible events in Newtown we are trying to attempt to return, albeit with great difficulty, to Advent this weekend and to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of the Lord’s Incarnation into humanity. As I mentioned last weekend, while we continue to reflect on God’s call to each person to seek goodness and charity, to be people of hope and compassion—those things that help us to avoid the darker side of humanity—we do recognize that even God Himself suffered evil in the human world—His Only Son, innocent among men, was also put to death in a supreme act of injustice. As we continue to pray for the innocent souls taken on December 14, 2012, we must look to the future and focus our attention on why God entered into our world; so that our very being would be transformed and for those who follow Christ, all will be made well and all will share in His Eternal and Divine Life.

I know you'll join me in welcoming Matthew Gworeck, a first year theologian for the Archdiocese of Hartford, who will be with us for the Christmas liturgies. Matthew has completed his two-year Pre-Theology Courses—the study of classical philosophy—and has now begun his four-year studies of Theology in Washington, D.C. at the Theological College, a national Roman Catholic Seminary for priestly formation affiliated with Catholic University. Matthew and his family reside in Southington and he is studying along with 40-plus other seminarians for the Archdiocese of Hartford.

This Sunday we see some more changes in the liturgical setting. The candles and the vestments have gone from purple to rose in color, and the third Advent Wreath on the back wall is hung higher than the other three week’s wreaths as sign of the Joy which we are called to feel and understand this week: The Christ Child that Isaiah foretold shall soon enter the human world. Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, calls us to bespeak of the Joy which the love of God and the gift of His Only Son, the Christ, means for our eternal salvation. We should be thrilled with Joy!

the Knights of Malta Mobile House of Care and Simsbury Neighbors in Need are the two charities we are supporting this Advent-into-Christmas season. CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS!!!

Have you ever noticed that the color purple in Advent and Lent are different shades of purple? In Lent it is a deep and dark purple, in Advent it has more of a red hue to it, a lighter purple. The reason, liturgi-cally speaking, is that in Lent we are focused on sins and repentance as we approach the Great Easter celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. It is a time of piety. In Advent, the focus is more on our relationship with the Lord, and a desire to repair and strengthen that relationship vis -à-vis our fam-ily, friends and neighbors.

Simsbury Neighbors in Need may be our parents, our neighbors down the lane, or even our fellow parishioners who are finding it difficult to manage their household budgets due to the skyrocketing costs of fuel, medicine and food. In combination with our very own Pantry Partners of Saint Catherine of Siena, which provides monthly food baskets to a growing list each month, created by SavMore Market of Bloomfield and through the generos-ity of the Marandino family, we are able to offer a selection of meats and poultry, seasonal vegetables and fruits, and much needed staples to support local families with help for their food budgets.

The Malta Mobile House of Care brings diagnostic and follow-up health care to those in need in the Greater Hartford area: from the immigrant with nothing to those who find themselves without insurance coverage due to unemployment or the economic crises in our nation. In combination with your financial donations, volunteers in the healthcare field—doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists and more—offer their gifts to care for those who have nowhere else to turn.

A warm welcome to our newest Altar Servers Molly Gibbons, Michael Doyle, Quinn Bailey, Ana Rooney, Alex Bourque, Daelan Mangiafico, Maeve Wright, Tyler Coiro, Claire & Erin Harper, Liam Tagliatela and Olivia Coutinho who, over the last few weekends have done a fantastic job as altar servers and I, shamefully, forgot to welcome them at the Masses they served. They not only did a great job but are very enthusiastic about serving God and our community. Service is contagious. Welcome aboard!

Advent is a season of reflection and preparation. A time to take stock of one’s faith life and assess how one lives out their faith—not just in the crises of the day or in the touchstones of life, but rather in the ordinariness of everyday living: in our work, our play, our worship, our family and our interpersonal relationships—and even in our “public life.” Faith, which is based upon religion and not “spirituality,” cannot be separated from who we are—the totality of our being—otherwise it is inauthentic and will never flourish. CLICK TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE!