| Turning Around: We hear in this weekend’s Gospel on the Second Sunday of Advent from St. John the Baptist. He is admonishing us to repentance in preparation for the Lord’s coming. Repentance is to turn our minds and hearts away from sin toward Someone—Jesus—who brings us peace and joy.Rest: In the Office of Readings today, we find an inspirational letter from St. Anselm: “Insignificant man, escape from your everyday business for a short while, hide for a moment from your restless thoughts. Break off from your cares and troubles and be less concerned about your tasks and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in him. Enter into your mind’s inner chamber. Shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek him; and when you have shut the door, look for him. Speak now to God and say with your whole heart: I seek your face; your face, Lord, I desire.”Immaculate: I am looking forward to celebrating the vigil of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in Grinnell on Sunday evening. December 8 is the day that Pope Pius IX formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. Interestingly, when our Blessed Mother appeared in Lourdes, France, she told a young uneducated girl, St. Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”Feast: Our Blessed Mother is so present during Advent! I am celebrating with our Hispanic communities the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 in Hays and then on December 14 in Salina. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of the Americas.Go: I recently met with our Evangelization Committee and had a great discussion and was excited about possible future diocesan initiatives arising from this committee. The Church exists to evangelize.Radio: Speaking of evangelization, Divine Mercy Radio is a great evangelization tool. Yesterday, I was on their telethon. Thank you for supporting Divine Mercy Radio in our diocese.Blessings: Christmas is, first and foremost, about Love, God’s love for us. God gives us the most precious gift that we could ever imagine, his own Son. Jesus comes to rescue us from sin and death—thanks be to God. May your heart experience the love of God in a new way during the Christmas season.Blessings II: In a Christmas homily a few years ago, Pope Francis relayed a delightful legend, which holds that when the shepherds came in search of the baby Jesus, they each brought a gift. Their gifts came from their poverty; most were hand-made and simple. But one shepherd stood apart, embarrassed, because he had nothing to give. Needing to free her hands to receive the gifts that were being presented, Mary asked the empty-handed shepherd to draw near. Into his empty hands she placed the child Jesus.Reflecting on the legend, Pope Francis said: “That shepherd, in accepting him, became aware of having received what he did not deserve, of holding in his arms the greatest gift of all time. He looked at his hands, those hands that seemed to him always empty; they had become the cradle of God. We receive the Eucharist in our poverty, in our emptiness. It is then that the Father desires to fill us, to allow us to cradle, to hold his Son.”Please know of my love and prayers during this season of Advent as we journey together toward the coming of Christ at Christmas!Bishop Vincke |
| Some Christmas quotes:“The world might have expected the Son of God to be born—if He was to be born at all—in an inn. A stable would be the last place in the world where one would have looked for Him. Divinity is always where one least expects to find it.” ~ Venerable Fulton Sheen“My prayer for you is that when Christ comes to you in Christmas, He may find in you a warm home, warm love like that of a heartful of love, like that of a simple shepherd who was the first one chosen to see Christ.” ~ St. Teresa of Calcutta |
Bishop Vincke’s E-News to the Faithful | December 5, 2025
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