Thanksgiving and Advent Message
Dear St. Augustine Parish Family,
As I approach five months as your pastor, I am filled with gratitude at the opportunity to serve in such a beautiful place among inspiring people. At the same time, I am saddened by the distance and separation that has kept us from being able to get to know one another and celebrate together. Knowing the joys that have been and will be shared gives me hope to continue each day, even if what unites us is not always visible.
The heaviness of the COVID pandemic became a little more real as we laid to rest the first member of our community to die from the virus on the same day I draft this letter. Given all that has happened in 2020, it may feel strange to focus on gratitude as we approach Thanksgiving. This is a time where our gratitude is often buried by disappointments, losses, uncertainties or even fears. Sometimes the absence of the very things and people we love help us to see with more clarity the gifts that have blessed our lives in the past. They inspire us to hope in what God has in store for the future. In fact, that is the very spirit of the season of Advent (beginning November 29), a time of longing, anticipation, and preparation.
Our ability to hope in what is to come is rooted in how we can find gratitude in what has been, and even in what we have now. I know we all wish we could just go back to how things were. The spiritual journey does not move backward. It moves forward toward God. All the struggles of our current time prepare us for something that is to come. Our fondness for what has been inspires us for what will be. It is there that we find freedom in our hope.
This year has been one of fasting, not feasting. We haven’t been able to share in each other’s joys, and we have been distant in one another’s sorrows. We have gone without many feasts, gatherings, traditions, and the moments that mark our life and form our identity. And yet, this time of fasting from what we enjoy purifies and clarifies our hearts—it helps us to see what we wish to cherish and carry into the future. Now is a time that helps us not only to see who we have been, but who we desire to become.
Now is also a time of trust. Although we are distant from our sacraments, traditions and time together—the things that form us as one—we are not apart from God. His Spirit unites us no matter what challenges we face. Right now every life is experiencing similar struggles. In our separation, God opens our heart to solidarity. Although it may not always be obvious, when we trust in the presence of God even in our darkness, we have hope in the light to come.
Where I find hope is not just in remembering beautiful things of the past, but is in so many of you who I see making real sacrifices of love to care for your families and community. Those of you caring for elders and those who are vulnerable, those of you turning life upside-down to support children in their ongoing education, those of you checking on neighbors or helping with the distribution of goods, services etc. Even though today may feel dark, there are abundant lights burning brightly in each of our homes.
As we come to celebrate the coming holidays, let us be grateful of all we have had so that we may trust in the future for which we hope.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for all of you. Let us hold one another in prayer.
Your brother in Christ and St. Augustine,
Fr. Graham
Staying Connected as a Family of Faith Communication
o Check out our new website! www.isletachurch.org
See detailed parish announcements and updates
Find links to our live streamed masses
Sign up for online giving
o Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/St.AugustineChurch.Isleta.Pueblo
See live stream mass at 9am on Sundays
Stay up-to-date on parish announcements
Spiritual Resources
o Advent Reflection Booklets and Missals
We have advent reflection booklets and the missal inserts in the parish office. If you would like one, please give us a call.
o Thanksgiving Day Mass (Thursday, November 26th)
10am live streamed on Facebook
o Virtual Advent Reflections
Our Norbertine Abbey is producing a series of virtual advent reflections. You will be able to find them, and participate in related activities, on our parish website and facebook page.
o Rosary Novena
Join us for a Rosary Novena to our Blessed Mother to pray for health, healing, and unity in our community.
Live streamed on Facebook
Daily at 3pm beginning December 4th and concluding on December 12th as we celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe. On the 12th, the Rosary will be followed by a mass in celebration of Our Lady.
o Immaculate Conception (Tuesday, December 8th)
3:30pm Mass (following the Rosary Novema at 3:00pm)
o Our Lady of Guadalupe (Saturday, December 12th)
3:30pm Mass (following the conclusion of the Rosary Novena at 3:00pm)
o Christmas Celebration Schedule to be determined
