Today we begin the Advent season, a season of preparation, of waiting, and of contemplation on God’s reign in our lives and world.

Since during the American Revolution they overthrew their unjust king, Americans have had little use for kings except for our cultural fascination with gossip surrounding the current royal family in Buckingham Palace… people who have unimaginable wealth but no actual power. So, what are we to do with a Catholic feast of Christ the KING?

A second meaning of “Do this in memory of me” is thus “Gather up all your fleshly memories of table…”

A celebration of the reign of God that goes way beyond the tight, drab, rationalistic, verbose, pedagogical exercises we sometimes try to make of it…

The Church’s feasting today seems to center on a building far away, an ornate thing, something that would be an unaffordable luxury tourist destination for most members of the Church. But it’s not really about that at all.

When you are teaching, command and exhort the people to be faithful to the assembly of the Church.

I will forever cherish my time as a child being raised by my grandparents on a farm in Jalisco, Mexico.

The Sermon on the Mount is today’s Gospel, proclaiming the way of the Christian, “and all who have gone before us marked by the sign of faith.”

I invite you to rediscover the meaning of the liturgical year and of the Lord’s Day. Both of these were left us by the Council (Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, nn. 102—111).

In houses and apartments all through the neighborhood, the true entrance procession of this Mass has been in full swing, sometimes hectic.