Father Joseph Writes But it’s also been a year with a spotlight on our Lord in the Eucharist, as thousands traversed the country with Him from coast to coast and border to border, culminating in an astonishing National Eucharistic Congress and the sending forth of a new generation of Eucharistic disciples. Talk about the unexpected! Now, it’s time to offer thanksgiving to God for His many gifts and blessings; to entrust to Him all these urgent, important, but ultimately passing troubles, tragedies, and emergencies; to gather with our families, set aside our differences, and remember that love of God and neighbor demands of us relationships that are stronger than the controversies of our times. It’s time to regain our perspective on what’s really important. We celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, or Christ the King, on Nov. 24 this year, right before the blessed holiday of Thanksgiving. What a great reminder that we put our trust in Jesus, not in worldly wealth, strength, or wisdom! What a great reorientation after the fervor and confusion of a Presidential election year (see Ps 146:3)! Take the time to really sit with the meaning of these feasts. If you can, go to Mass with your loved ones on Thanksgiving Day, and unite your personal thanksgiving to God with the transcendent thanksgiving of the Most Blessed Sacrament. That sets us on the right course to prayerfully make Advent a truly penitential season — one filled with parties and family get togethers, sure, but also a time to grab whatever silent moments we can to read a bit of Scripture and talk to God about His love for us, our love for Him, and the needs of our neighbors, many of whom have been suffering as a result of the emergencies of this year, especially in Florida, North Carolina, and the Southeast. Let us be the face of the Father’s mercy to our neighbors, something only really possible if we’re plugged into the grace of God through regular reception of the Sacraments, regular prayer and spiritual reading, and regular works of mercy. Then Christmas can be at its best for us and for all our neighbors, all our family, friends, and communities. And then we can enter the Jubilee Year as true “Pilgrims of Hope,” witnesses to hope, in imitation of St. John Paul II, the Great Mercy Pope. Last time, it was the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015-16. This time, it’s 25 years after the Great Jubilee Year 2000, when the Church marked 2,000 years since the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Faustina was canonized, and Divine Mercy Sunday was made a universal feast. So this Advent isn’t just the start of a new liturgical year. It’s the preparation for a Jubilee Year, a time for the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation between enemies, and restored relationships between people who had been at odds. Let’s take the lead as servants and friends of Jesus, the Divine Mercy Incarnate; as children of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculata, and of St. Joseph, Universal Patron of the Church. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and fear nothing! May God bless you! ‘PILGRIMS OF HOPE’ “Father Joseph, MIC,” is the honorary title of the director of the Association of Marian Helpers, currently Fr. Mark Baron, MIC. Marian Helper • Winter 2024-25 • Marian.org 3 After a year dedicated to the urgent and the temporary, it’s time to turn our attention to the perennial, the traditional, and the eternal. What do I mean? We’ve been immersed in a year like few others: an exhausting Presidential election, natural disasters, war, disease, and so many other urgent, important, but ultimately passing things.
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