Fr. ChasDear Parish Family,

I was able to visit my folks in Missouri for Thanksgiving and thus able to tell them all about parish life.  There is much for which to be thankful, the greatest of which is the gift of God giving his very own self to us in Jesus Christ.  All gifts come from that one Gift, and Advent is the season of preparation to receive him who is the Source of All Gifts.  

Lest we take the gift of Jesus for granted, we need this time of preparation that Advent gives us to increase our longing and desire for our Savior to come into our lives anew.  My homily last Sunday gave two specific suggestions on how to do just that.  Should you happen to miss it, you can go to our website, www.stjohnjackson.org, and have a listen.   

One sure shot way to draw closer to Jesus this month is by coming to our Advent Night of Adoration on Friday, December 19, called “O Come, Let Us Adore Him,” because the Eucharist is the gift of Jesus himself.  It will be a powerful evening by which we may come to know a closeness with God that we may have never before experienced.  Before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, I will lead an Advent meditation, and we will worship together his real presence among us.  

Finally, a few people asked for that prayer or act of enthronement that we prayed at the end of my homily from the feast of Christ the King two Sundays ago.  I promised them that I would print it in the bulletin.  If you haven’t crowned Jesus as the King of your life, please take some prayer time to listen to that homily via our website and, if it is the desire of your heart, make this prayer your own:

Lord Jesus, I crown you as my king.
I crown you as King over my greatest worries and fears.
I crown you as King over my blessings and accomplishments.
I crown you as King over any addictions or vice.
I crown you as King over my work and my play.
I crown you as King over my relationships.
And, I crown you as King over my life and my eternal destiny.  Amen.