First Sunday of Advent

This first Sunday of Advent or the fourth before Christmas, is the first day of the Liturgical Year. The Mass prepares us this day for the double coming (adventus) of mercy and justice. That is way St. Paul tells us, in the Epistle, to cast off sin in order that, being ready for the coming of Christ as our Savior, we may also be ready for His coming as our Judge, of which we learn in the Gospel. Let us prepare ourselves, by pious aspirations and by the reformation of our lives, for this twofold coming. Jesus our Lord will reward those who yearn for Him and await Him: "Those who trust in Him shall not be confounded."

This morning after Divine Liturgy we had brunch at the home of the Sinitsin's who have a little girl, Amalia, just a few months younger than Maria. Amalia's mother Marlene is the German teacher and we are hoping that we will pick up some more German. Below is a picture of the Adventmarkt in the Kartause before it opened this morning.

Also, I uploaded a couple of new photo albums that you can view. One is pictures of Thankgiving and the other is pictures of Maria from November. In general you can always find my photo albums linked on the sidebar (mostly pictures of Maria); John's albums are linked there too (mostly pictures of our travels).