Today's celebration of the Third Sunday of Advent continues to prepare us for the coming of the Lord Jesus among us. During this special time of Advent, we are called to embrace a holy mind so that we may perceive for the benefit of our spiritual growth the true spiritual meaning of the Words of God.

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we continue to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. We are told to " Prepare the way of the Lord and to make His Paths straight". Last Sunday we learned that Advent serves the purpose of preparing us for the coming of the Lord as the Judge, either at death or at the end of this world, whichever may come first. It also taught us to prepare ourselves to receive the Real Physical Presence of our Redeemer through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. And it taught us to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christmas, the birthday anniversary of the Lord's coming into this world as God incarnate.

Today, we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday of the new liturgical year. Advent is an important time for us as we prepare for the coming of the Lord. We prepare not only for the nativity of the Lord at Christmas, but we also prepare for the coming of the Lord in glory at the end of time.

This Sunday, The Feast of Christ the King, marks the closing of Year C of the Liturgical Calendar. This special Feast reminds us that over and above being the Universal King, Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church. His Divine reign stretches out from the alpha of time to the omega. There is no other true King, for God is One. Today's First Reading from the Second Book of Samuel spoke of the elders anointing David as the king of Israel. King David was an image of things to come. At the same time, we must keep in mind that there were two distinct differences. Both Jesus and king David were anointed as kings. Both Jesus and king David ruled over a twofold kingdom.

As we come to the end of the liturgical year, which happens next weekend with the celebration of Christ the King, we always have a Gospel passage which talks about the end times. When we look at the end times in the context of our faith, we are reminded that it is the closing of one age and the beginning of another age.

Today, we recall the Basilica Saint John of Lateran, the Pope's own church, the Cathedral of Rome. The Lateran was chosen as the Cathedral Rome long before Saint Peter's was built. It is where the Papacy was housed for centuries before moving across the Tiber to where Vatican City now stands. The Gospel about the purification of the temple of Jerusalem is apt for today's feast. The Jerusalem temple serves as a symbol of the church of today. in the twenty-first century. It conveys both the idea of the temple's Sacredness and also the need for constant purification of the structures of our church.

This weekend we celebrate All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. These two commemorations begin the month of November, the month of remembrance in our Catholic faith. All Saint's Day is a solemn Holy day of our Catholic faith celebrated annually on November 1. It is a day dedicated to all the deceased faithful who have ended their lives here one earth and who have entered heaven, including the saints who are recognized by the church and those who are not.