This first weekend in December also marks the beginning of Advent and the countdown to Christmas.  Join us for Mass as we set off on the path together, following the light of a star, that will lead us to the Christ child’s crib and to Christmas glory!  

There are copies of the Magnifcat Advent Companion available in Church this weekend.  Take one copy per family as you leave Mass and pray with these daily devotions as a family.  

Each parish will have a penance service in December.  Queens’ Advent Penance Service is scheduled for 7pm on Tuesday December 19th.  The dates and times at other local parishes are listed in the bulletin.  Please take advantage of one of these opportunities to be cleansed of fault and failing before the coming of Jesus.  If you’re having trouble working up the courage to go, or can’t remember the last time you did, consider reading this brief article on what confession is and what it isn’t.  

Advent 2024 is one of the shortest Advents you will ever experience.  This is because the 4th Sunday of Advent IS Christmas Eve!  Yes, the Church expects us to attend Mass for BOTH the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas.  Being that I am the lone ranger at Queens, I need to streamline the number of Masses that will occur between the morning of the 24th and the afternoon of the 25th.  With that in mind, Queens will NOT have a regular Mass schedule for the 4th Sunday of Advent.  Here is what will be offered:

DECEMBER 23 – 25 QUEENS MASS SCHEDULE:

4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

SATURDAY DECEMBER 23:  5PM MASS

SUNDAY DECEMBER 24:  9AM AND 11AM ONLY

CHRISTMAS 

SUNDAY DECEMBER 24:

4PM CHILDREN’S MASS

4:15PM OVERFLOW MASS IN THE GYM

6:30PM MASS

MONDAY DECEMBER 25

MIDNIGHT MASS

9:00AM

11:00AM

We will repeat this schedule often and in different formats to help everyone remember the change in the schedule.  

If you are a lector at weekend Mass you can stop by the Work Sacristy after church this weekend and pick up your copy of the 2024 Lector Workbook from Liturgy Training Publications.   

The Community Wide Christmas Dinner celebrates its 25th year in 2023.  Be a part of it!

Help is needed December 23, 24, 25 and 26.  If you’re not available Christmas Eve or Christmas Day you can help with the set up before or clean up the day after.  

Christmas is the season of giving, and it especially blesses the Lord and others when we can make a merrier Christmas for those who are struggling.  This dinner brings together those who have no one to celebrate with and those who lack the resources to celebrate with food and gifts.  

The Queens Social Justice Commission is sponsoring the Toys for Tots collection at all Masses THIS weekend, December 2-3.  We will make time during the offertory for you to bring your gifts up the altar.  There will be a basket up by the altar for donations of cash and check also. The needy children all around Jackson County will have a much merrier Christmas thankful to your generosity.  

Tickets go on sale today, December 1st, for the The Great 50/50 Raffle to benefit Jackson Catholic Schools.  I will be selling them after each Mass this weekend so come and see me.  Cash, check, credit and debit card accepted.  Each ticket is $100 and enrolls you in 11 drawings in 2024.  There are two winners per month who each stand to walk away with more than $2,000!  Tickets will be available after all weekend Masses at Queens until the 1st drawing.  You can get them during the week from any local parish or Catholic school office. 

These make great stocking stuffers or a gift to send with a card to someone who lives far away.  

You can’t win if you don’t play!   

THIS Friday December 8th is the Patronal Feast Day of the Catholic Church in the United States and the Diocese of Lansing. This is also a holy day of obligation. The Immaculate Conception is a reminder to us that God was planning to send His son to save us long before Mary became pregnant at the Annunciation.  God made Mary to be without sin precisely so that she might become the stainless vessel of devotion in which Jesus the Word Made Flesh could dwell.

Queens will have a vigil Mass for the holy day at 5:30pm on Thursday December 7th with Masses on Friday December 8th happening at 6:45am, 9am and 5:30pm.  

The Christian families from Bethlehem are once again caught in the middle of a desperate and existential struggle for survival.  They will be here at Queens next weekend, December 9 and 10 with their fine, hand crafted religious items made of olive wood from the Holy Land.  Please come and support them.  If you don’t want to shop, they also accept donations.  These items make beautiful gifts for Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries, baptism, 1st Communion, weddings, Confirmation and graduation.

The Parish Life Commission will sponsor Coffee and Donuts that morning to feed the kids while you browse their collection in Vincentian Hall.  They will continue serving after noon Mass to entice more people to come down and shop, though at that point they will switch from donuts to cookies!

We can’t begin to imagine the hardships these families experience just to get by.  Please help them.  They are the guardians of the holiest sites from the Bible and the numbers of Christians brave enough to live in an ever-hostile area continues to plummet.  

The Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a speed dating event for Catholic singles ages 21-35 in the Queens School Social Center on the evening of Saturday December 9^th.  These events are becoming more and more popular all across the country.  Why?  With fewer people marrying and many more inter-faith marriages, it is so hard for people of faith to connect with other young Catholics who are looking for someone who shares their values.  If you have a single child in this age group at home encourage them to attend.  This is a worry free, no strings attached event allowing young people who are unattached to meet other young people in the same situation.  If nothing else, it builds community among an often overlooked age group in the church.

For $10, you get substantial appetizers and two tickets for drinks (beer, seltzer, soft drinks).  There will be ice breaker questions to get the conversation going.  Even if you don’t make a connection, you might make a new friend at Church.  

If the dating scene is not what you’re looking for, the Knights are sponsoring a good old fashioned game night on the evening of Thursday December 14th in Vincentian Hall.  You can find out more in our bulletin.   These will be the board games we used to love but seldom make the time to sit down and play anymore.  

Beer & Hymns is only a week away – Saturday December 9th at 7pm at the Roadhouse on Lansing Ave.  Get your $12 ticket from Carol Hatch, at the parish office or by using link below.  Come early as tables fill up fast.  

Monday 2am.  We need someone willing to sacrifice some sleep every week and sign up to cover this.  Nothing we give up for God will ever come close to what we’ve been given by God!  Contact the parish office if you can fill this gap.  

‘PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM’ (Ps. 122:6).

Fr. Tim MacDonald

Pastor

Coach Herb Brogan is the longest serving head coach of a high school football team in the state of Michigan.  He is such a great mentor for our young people as he coaches them to victory both on and off the field.

We couldn’t be happier for the coach and his team as they celebrate back-to-back Division 7 MHSAA State Football Championships!  To all of the players – those who play every game and those who stand at the ready whenever they might be called into the action, to the coaches and trainers, the parents, the band, the cheerleaders, and everyone at Lumen Christi – congratulations!  What a way to cap another historic season!

Queen of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church

606 S. Wisner St.  Jackson, Michigan 49203

(517) 783-2748  www.queenschurch.com