It's almost the new year!

This Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King, the final Sunday of our liturgical (church) year. That makes the following Sunday (Thanksgiving weekend), the FIRST Sunday of our new year (get out the noisemakers, pop the champagne corks!!)... also known as the first Sunday of Advent.

Does your family have any Advent traditions? Do you light an advent wreath at meal or prayer time? Do you have an Advent calendar?  Please send a comment-- how do you prepare, in a spiritual way, for Christmas?

Sharp listeners will notice a change during mass at the time for the Gospel. The Scripture readings we proclaim on Sunday follow a three year cycle. Each year focuses on one of the three 'synoptic' (means 'similar') Gospels, with John thrown in for good measure at particular times, like Easter season and some of Lent. During Year A, which we are about to begin, we read mainly from the Gospel of Matthew, Year B is Mark and Year C is, you guessed it, Luke. (An easy way to remember, should you EVER need to, is that the lectionary cycle goes in the same order of appearance in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke.)

And a 'lectionary' is the book that has all the Bible readings for those three years in order, so we don't have to keep flipping through the Bible to find our place!