Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 23, 2025 Bulletin Column Father De Celles
“Christmas is Coming.” There are just three days of Advent left, the final time to prepare our hearts for Christmas. I know there’s an awful lot going on in the next few days, like wrapping presents, preparing delicious foods, and travelling. But, please, don’t let all that distract you from the most important thing: preparing to celebrate the day awaited from almost the beginning of the creation of man, when God first promised that “the woman” would bring forth a son who would crush the serpent’s head. The day when God the Son, Creator of the Universe, to whom all angels bowed in worship, having been conceived in the womb of His mother Mary, entered the world as a poor, defenseless, vulnerable baby, to save mankind from sin and to offer us a share in his eternal life and love.
The day of which the Gospel tells us: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.’”
Listen to the angels this week, and accept the grace of Jesus, and His “peace to men of good will.” And rather than allowing all the busyness and troubles to distract you in the next few days, focus on Jesus. Avoid all sin. Try to show charity and compassion to your neighbor, especially your family members, at every moment—be the one to promote family peace. And love God above everything and with everything you have.
Pray, and in your prayer place yourself in the company and care of Mary and Joseph. Imagine them travelling on the treacherous roads of Galilee and Judea, from Nazareth down to Bethlehem. Think of the cold and even freezing December weather over the several days’ journey. Think of their struggle, but also their joy. For they were not traveling alone: their Savior was with them in Mary’s womb.
Travel with Mary and Joseph, and the unborn Baby Jesus, all this week.
Eve and Mary. An excerpt from “Against Heresies,” by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons:
The Lord, coming into his own creation in visible form, was sustained by his own creation which he himself sustains in being. His obedience on the tree of the cross reversed the disobedience at the tree in Eden; the good news of the truth announced by an angel to Mary, a virgin subject to a husband, undid the evil lie that seduced Eve, a virgin espoused to a husband.
As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve.
Christ gathered all things into one, by gathering them into himself. He declared war against our enemy, crushed him who at the beginning had taken us captive in Adam, and trampled on his head, in accordance with God’s words to the serpent in Genesis: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall lie in wait for your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel.
The one lying in wait for the serpent’s head is the one who was born in the likeness of Adam from the woman, the Virgin. This is the seed spoken of by Paul in the letter to the Galatians: The law of works was in force until the seed should come to whom the promise was made.
He shows this even more clearly in the same letter when he says: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman. The enemy would not have been defeated fairly if his vanquisher had not been born of a woman, because it was through a woman that he had gained mastery over man in the beginning, and set himself up as man’s adversary.
That is why the Lord proclaims himself the Son of Man, the one who renews in himself that first man from whom the race born of woman was formed; as by a man’s defeat our race fell into the bondage of death, so by a man’s victory we were to rise again to life.
Giving Tree. Thanks to all of you who gave so generously to the “Giving Tree.” Because of your kindness over 25 families and 140 people, will have a little merrier Christmas this year.
Christmas Schedule: Please take time today to revisit our schedule for this week—found below in this bulletin. The Christmas Eve and Christmas Day schedules are very different than other Holy Days or Sundays.
Let me extend a particular invitation to Christmas Midnight Mass. I have preached several times about how such a Midnight Mass many years ago was the occasion of an important moment in my own personal spiritual life. There is something very special about that Mass, which begins with the placing of the “Baby Jesus” in the Manger, as we remember that Christ was born in the “Holy Night.” The choir sings so beautifully, all the altar servers are so reverent, and we usually get a large (not too large, though) and devout crowd. Think about joining us this year.
But… a fatherly word of caution: it can be a little tough on the very little ones, that late; so parents, please be prudent.
Beggars after Mass. This time of year we often find people begging in our parking lot after Mass. Sometimes they come with little children, even babies, and with very sad stories. Please do not give to them. I know that sounds harsh, but these folks are almost always professional panhandlers, scam-artists, who know they could come to the parish office during the week for help, but they don’t because they know we would spot them as pros. Please trust me on this. If you want to help the poor, give to the parish “family/emergency assistance” fund. And please pray for the poor, and for the scam artists.
New Poll. Interesting numbers in a new Poll reported in the National Catholic Register:
Regarding the President’s policy on deporting illegal immigrants: “Yet a majority of Catholic voters (54%) say they support Trump’s policies calling for the detention and deportation of unauthorized immigrants on a broad scale; 30% are opposed, and 17% neither favor nor oppose. …60% of white Catholic voters …favor detentions and deportations on a broad scale…Notably, Latinos …are split on the issue: 41% say they support it, while 39% are opposed.”
Other issues: “Catholic voters expressed a clear consensus (65%) in favor of states giving parents tax-funded vouchers they can use to help pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools of their choice…
“A majority of Catholic voters, 55%, are in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder, while 20% are opposed and 25% are unsure.”
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles