Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome back to another edition of Big City Catholics. Here in this beautiful season of Advent, we are gathered with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and myself, father Christopher, hen you as our opening prayer. I'd like to just take a verse from the beautiful advent hymn, O Emanuel, any Veni, uh, Emmanuel, and it's one of my favorite songs during the season of Advent and one of my favorite reflections. We'll Begin Fathers Son and Holy Spirit, amen. O come O' bright and morning star, and bring us comfort from afar, dispel the shadows of the night, and turn our darkness into light. In the name of the Father, son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Bishop, how you doing?
Speaker 2 00:00:51 Doing well. It's been, uh, great couple of days as we, uh, really go deeper into advent. This has been quite the advent season. It's a long advent season. We have four full, full weeks. Weeks of advent. Yeah. The other thing is, I have to tell you, being here, this is my second advent here, but big city, being in the big city, living in the big city, there really is something about Advent and Christmas in the big city. I'm seeing some of the buildings decorated. Oh, sure. Seeing some of the Christmas trees stands. These are all images that bring me back to my childhood when I was in the Bronx. And to see those things emerging again, and there's something amongst people, it brings about a certain feeling, and we can't let it stop at the level of feelings. Feelings have to draw us deeper into contemplation, into prayer, but it really is nice to
Speaker 1 00:01:42 See it. Yeah. Down Fifth Avenue, they decorate the stores and of course the lights and the trees shops. I'd say the price of trees have gone up since, uh, you remember them in the times of
Speaker 2 00:01:52 The Rush <laugh>, I'm sure they have <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:01:54 They're quite expensive. This year, my family were always real tree people. We never, my father would never get an artificial tree. We always wants a real
Speaker 2 00:02:03 Tree. We had artificial trees, but there were a couple of years we did something rather interesting. There were a few years, I guess they were in the eighties. It was a, I dunno if it was a move or, but just something my parents came upon. But they would buy these live trees small Mm. Live trees still in the ball. Wow. So they would be wrapped in the ball and we would put it into like a tub of sorts and keep it very, very well watered. And then after the season, it would go back outside. You kind of gradually you bring it into the garage and then eventually bring in the house. You put it back out in the garage, but eventually come springtime, you plant it. Oh, wow. This one tree in particular, a few of them grew, but one of them in the front of the yard for several years. I mean, this was huge. This thing grew very, very important. This was a smart idea. I thought of the parable with the birds of the air <laugh>, because that was what was happening. Eventually it got to a point where it had to come down. But yeah, that was something we had done for a couple of years. The live tree still in the ball. I guess we were a little bit ahead of our, our times. That to me, that's sort of, uh, ecological.
Speaker 1 00:03:01 Yes, exactly. Very lata, sea <laugh>. No, that's a, that's a great idea. It's a, it's multiuse. You know, you're, you're really getting the best of it.
Speaker 2 00:03:10 That's right. That's right. The other thing that my parents would do even until recent years as to visit the cemeteries and le wreath at the cemeteries. So we'll try to keep those Sure. Traditions going in one way or another. Even, even if I go myself, my one grandfather, even going to one of St. Brooklyn's own, uh, we've been going to St. Charles for many years Sure. But my other grandparents are up in Westchester and Valhalla,
Speaker 1 00:03:34 You know, as you're mentioning this season of Advent, it, it's a long one this year, but it seems like it's been flying by. I mean, we're nearing the third week of Advent, the third Sunday of Advent Gal Sunday. Uh, you know, we've had here at the co Cathedral Sunday Vespers this year, which have been really quite beautiful. I've been inviting different bishops in each and every week and a different theme and a different invitation. But it just seems like we've had one event after another. Of course, we had our pastor's meeting, which we had earlier this week. The Christmas luncheon for the diocese at Russ was on the Bay, where 800 people gathered of our closest friends for our Christmas luncheon. The concerts, the different themes that we do each and every advent. It's been really flying by. I don't know if you've figured that yourself in
Speaker 2 00:04:19 Some ways Yes. But it's kind of nice to know there's still like some time ahead of us and hopefully time for prayer and reflection. You, you know, when I meant said it was a long advent, we actually have a full fourth week of advent. Sure. Sometimes the fourth week of advent is one day. Exactly.
Speaker 1 00:04:34 I
Speaker 2 00:04:35 Think that'll happen next year.
Speaker 1 00:04:36 Wow. Fourth Sunday. Yeah. Imagine it's gonna
Speaker 2 00:04:38 Be Saturday decorated Sunday mass and then Sunday afternoon and Monday. Oh, this year we lose two Sundays.
Speaker 1 00:04:45 Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:04:46 Uh, but we have a full week, full fourth week of advent. That's true. So, uh, great time to go into the prayer mode part of it. I always find that on the secular side, and I don't say this in a critical way, but the secular, it's the early days of December that are quite packed. That makes sense. Everybody's celebrating, everybody's celebrating Christmas. They all have their holiday parties and all that kind of stuff. So when we have a little bit of a longer advent, hopefully that second part gives us the chance to do what we should be doing all along.
Speaker 1 00:05:14 That's
Speaker 2 00:05:15 True. To pray and to focus, you know, we were talking about decorations before. We have, one of the things we did over by where I live, we have a nativity scene outside this year. Very nice. And it's kind of, it's, it's an interesting thing. The yacht is covered in trees, but there's sort of like a little hollow. Right. Right in front of the, in front. The cemetery folks have given us the figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. So it's, it's very nicely tucked away inside that hollow with the spotlights on the Holy family. So it'll be nice, uh, you know, as people go up and down around by St. Joseph's College to see the image of the nativity.
Speaker 1 00:05:53 That's wonderful. Yeah. Well, maybe we'll make that a, a new driving destination will be the new Dyker Heights.
Speaker 2 00:05:58 <laugh> <laugh>. I don't think we can hold up to candle the Dyker Heights. I did that last year after Christmas. Yes. Yes. Um, and that was, that was amazing. You mentioned the pastors meeting. So earlier in the week we had the meeting of all the pastors. It's something we do, it's a long tradition here, quarterly, and it's usually informative. In the last two, we had a chance for some discussion. Mm. I value those so much me who says, sometimes you say, oh, enough of meetings. But this particular meeting, it's first of all, good to connect with everybody. So good to see everybody, we've, everybody all scattered all around. Yeah. And I think the priests are pretty happy about that, especially given the years when we weren't able to do that. That's right. I really value these conversations. It's important for me to hear from them. But I think it's great that we can talk to one another, and this is part of my admiration of this presbyterate here.
Speaker 2 00:06:49 Sometimes we deal, like the last meeting, we were able to talk out a problem we were trying to address from the outside. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, how do we meet some of the needs, some parishes are facing and not others because of the location of the shelters. But with our most recently arrived immigrants and boy did the pastors, they took that among the deanaries. They went back and took it in their local areas Yep. And really coordinated such great efforts, worked with Catholic Charities, but it was that gathering, that conversation, listening to each other that was so impressive. And then this week more of internal things facing some of the bills that we have to face ma meeting our obligations, um, and the impact. And, and even when we have to face tough things together, I'm always struck that it's with great love for their parishes. Yeah. The priests come with just tremendous love for their parish and concern for their parishes, concern for the people they serve, concern for the people who work with them and serve with them and have served with them. Having those opportunities to talk is extremely
Speaker 1 00:07:55 Valuable. I often say to parishioners, you know, this is your parish. I'm here for extended period of time or a particular period of time, but while I'm here, this is my home and I will make this, I will do all I can for the parish. And you could see in the meeting that there were priests that were really, as you said, with filled with great love for their parish, real concern for their parish, as if they were, you know, the quote, longtime parishioners, you know, this has been my parish for years. You know, they really do have a great love.
Speaker 2 00:08:24 And we know, you know, when we talk about the love for parish, that has a broader meaning than it used to, because many of, like yourself, many of our priests are caring for multiple parishes. Sure. And trying to bring about a sense of unity. So there's this sense of the, the unity of the church. It's not just the four walls that form the church building and then all that's inside, but it really is the people of God, the unity of the bishops, the priest, the deacons and religious and people and laypeople, the leaders and people of the parish. Just all kind of being in a sense of unity in mission. Yeah. Unity in, in discipleship. Unity in, in listening to the words of Jesus and unity in mission bearing witness to him out in the world all over. So even when we talk about the priest's love for their parishes, it's a broad concept. Sure. Because the, the idea of parish is changing very, very significantly. We have multiple parishes, we have academies, we have high schools. That sense of responsibility extends far beyond just the geographical boundaries of one parish. And
Speaker 1 00:09:32 I guess if we could maybe make just a quick plug in connection with this is sort of Yeah. The theme, a lot of the topic of that pastor's meeting was about the bills, et cetera, of the, of the parishes. But the pastors realize, and we all realize that our support U United is also what helps fund, uh, scholarships for Catholic education fund the care for our senior priests.
Speaker 2 00:09:54 The formation of the new generation priest. End of deacons. Yeah. Um, one of the key takeaways from the Senate was care for the youth, and another was the ongoing formation, the need for greater formation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And there are things that parishes can't do alone, but we can do together. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:10:13 On your Facebook page, they posted a beautiful video about the annual Catholic appeal. Right. And that's really what our parishioners and our parishes help support. They help support the,
Speaker 2 00:10:22 The parish came seminar United Mission. A parish can't run in seminar, but together all of us, we do a great job forming our priest in anti Deakins. Yeah. So real
Speaker 1 00:10:30 Proud of that. Last week in our podcast, we were talking about the character, the person of John the Baptist in Advent, and we were mentioning the, the other main players, if you would. That's right. Uh, in the season of Advent.
Speaker 2 00:10:42 Exactly. John the Baptist comes up again this Sunday. So it's the middle two Sundays that John the Baptist comes up. But we also focus on Mary. And one of the ways that Mary appears to us during this time, certainly she's a key figure of advent, I mean, all the way through. But we celebrate two great feasts. The magnificent feast of the Immaculate conception of Mary. And here significant for a lot of our people is the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe. Absolutely. And you know, this week just passed, we've celebrated Mary's immaculate conception in itself. That's an important thing to celebrate, but there's also a local kind of feel to it. So Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception is the Patronist of the United States. Sure. We have the shrine dedicated to her in, um, Washington DC in Washington DC We had our big pilgrimage there.
Speaker 2 00:11:36 And of all the Holy days, this is one that we really give great prominence to. Sure. I know that causes confusion sometimes, but this is a, this is a holy day that we always give great prominence to. Also, in a sense, she's a patronist for us in Queens and in Brooklyn. Brooklyn because our seminary, the seminary that Archbishop Malloy built back, which is out in Huntington, where I was formed the seminary of the Immaculate Conception. Many of our priests came from there. But Cathedral College and now the Immaculate Conception Center, all of that is under the patronage into the care of our lady through the title of Immaculate Conception. So Mary's immaculate conception is something that's locally very, very meaningful to
Speaker 1 00:12:20 Us. Yes. Yeah. I remember in high school, cathedral Prep High School Seminary, we, uh, on December 8th, we, we had school, even though most at the time, most Catholic schools didn't have, but there was always a brunch afterwards. It was a special day for us as students. And it was meant to stand out as she was our patronist as well of the school. Beautiful image of, of the immaculate conception in our chapel and praying, uh, singing the salve Regina every day, uh, at mass. And so there was a great love and devotion to her.
Speaker 2 00:12:51 You know, it's good to reflect on what we actually do celebrate in the immaculate conception, because I think that kind sometimes gets a little bit lost. It gets a little confusing. And, and I guess it doesn't help we proclaim the gospel of the enunciation.
Speaker 1 00:13:05 Yes, exactly. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:13:07 But, but when we speak of the Immaculate conception, we are talking about the fact that from the very, very first moment of her existence at her conception, Mary was without any stain of sin. Yeah. Her own sin, or even original sin. Yeah. That in a sense, it's a hard concept to grasp. But while Mary had the same human freedom that any of us had, God also knew Mary from the very beginning. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, he knew that Mary would be special, that she would be open. And so God gave her this gift so that even before she was born
Speaker 1 00:13:45 That's right.
Speaker 2 00:13:46 You know, we all bear the consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. Yeah. We call it original sin. And that Mary was preserved. It was a gift. You might say, well, how can that be? Well, God can do what he wants, <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:13:59 <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:14:00 And, and so God gave this gift to this woman whom he knew would be such a cooperative in his redemptive plan,
Speaker 1 00:14:09 She would make the most perfect vessel for bringing
Speaker 2 00:14:12 Forth vessel tabernacle.
Speaker 1 00:14:14 Tabernacle.
Speaker 2 00:14:14 Yeah. Carrying within her the very body of Jesus Christ. Yeah. You know? So indeed we do believe in what we call the virginal birth. Then that's what's proclaimed in the gospel on the feast of the American conception. When we celebrate annunciation, when we're talking about the conception of Jesus, or the, you know, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit that we celebrated March on March 25th.
Speaker 1 00:14:38 That's right. Yeah. Nine months prior.
Speaker 2 00:14:40 Nine months prior to Christmas. So that's really the feast of Jesus', human beginnings, you would say, to put it simply. But on December 8th, we look actually nine months prior to the birth of Mary. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we remember that, that God preserved her from the very, very beginning. In some ways, Mary's very much like us, but there is something amazingly different.
Speaker 1 00:15:02 Yeah. And I, you know, fact to our seminary days when we think about Mary was protected from the stain of sin. So what did that mean? Well, you know, the word that was like our s a t word was the Prader natural gifts that existed. That she, of course, if she did not experience sin, she would not have experienced death, because death is a consequence of sin. And so that's why we also celebrate then her assumption, Mary's assumption into heaven that she did not die, but that she was assumed it all kind of, the whole role of Mary in all of this. And of course, throughout the centuries, how the various popes have, have declared her as the mother of God and have declared her as all of these theological understandings that we, that we continue to build on today.
Speaker 2 00:15:45 Exactly. Exactly. It comes nicely in this mid part of Advent where I think we take a little bit of a turn now too. I find that, that it sort of, for me at least, it awakens me that in that spirit of, you know, we are really in it, we're really in advent now. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's not early anymore. And it builds a certain excitement, a certain readiness. Now, the other feast we celebrate this week coming up is the, uh, feast about Lady of Guadalupe. And last week we talked about your event, the blessing of the Mariachis and the image that had been visiting here. But now we have our own event, and that was soon after I came last year. Wow. What a moment. So this year we've had
Speaker 1 00:16:33 To double it up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:16:35 Right. We have so many people who want to do this, who take part in this, that we have two masses and people have been preparing for this. We have a special custom here in the diocese. I had never seen anything like this before. Uh, people will do the morning prayers in their own parishes, the Manita. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. People come very early, and they That's right. They welcome the morning, they welcome the morning of the Feast of our lady, but then they'll come here to the co cathedral and then they'll go forth from here. This is what's new. So
Speaker 1 00:17:09 This is, yeah. Well, what, what we, what really requires a lot of planning, but what's so absolutely a beautiful sense of their faith and a showing of their faith is that the thousands of people that come to the co cathedral from their various parishes spread through Brooklyn and Queens, you know, they receive a light like a torch, almost like an Olympic kind of right torch, and you light it at the end of mass of the steps of the cathedral, and they begin to run. They're the corridors, they're the runners. They run that light to their parishes. And, you know, we are a small diocese, I guess in terms of geographic geographically, what a, you know, an act of, of faith to say, you know, it's not easy to run from here to Bay Ridge or from here to, uh, ozone Park from the middle of Brooklyn all over. And yet they, they do it in great.
Speaker 2 00:17:59 We want these queens. Yeah. I mean, you know, in Douglaston.
Speaker 1 00:18:03 Yeah. Yeah. And so this year, uh, because we, we really filled the co cathedral last year. I mean, we've been filling it and it's been growing, but
Speaker 2 00:18:12 This year we actually had people standing outside on the street. We did for the whole mass
Speaker 1 00:18:16 Televisions outside for them, and Yeah. You know, that wasn't,
Speaker 2 00:18:20 Uh, and that, and we're talking about December.
Speaker 1 00:18:21 So we're able to do this year a a mass for parishes in Queens, uh, and a mass for parishes, uh, in Brooklyn. And we're expecting 1700 people for each of these masses. Yeah. And you know, the, so the, the upper church seats 12 to 1300 will have another 400 people or so in the lower church in the, in the under craft. So that, again, thankfully now people won't have to wait outside either.
Speaker 2 00:18:48 Exactly. It's, it, it, do
Speaker 1 00:18:51 You have a hom ready bishop?
Speaker 2 00:18:53 I, I think I do. Good. I mean, I at least have, I know what, what I wanna say. Yeah. Uh, now in the, in, in the weekend, I wanna be able to kind of get it all down. But last year I talked about our responsibility, you know, bearing Christ pointing That's right. To, to Jesus this year. I wanna pick up a little bit on the idea of vocation. Bishop DeMaio said something to me beforehand. He said, look around. They're all young people. Were here. That's right. Yeah. And he said, you know, so he, he made a pitch about vocations. So I think I want to do something along those lines. That's great idea. You know, like with Juan Diego, you know, Mary came to bring comfort to a nation in a terrible time. And as a result of Angela is the nation. But Mary did that by calling and sending Juan Diego.
Speaker 2 00:19:39 We have very good, talented people. Juan Diego was on a mission of love. His uncle was dying, and he had a mission of faith because he knew that the right thing to do was to bring somebody for the sacraments, because he knew that in this moment it would be important to have the sacraments, that this would help him on his journey. As it turned out, his uncle would be healed, but he was going to seek help for his uncle who was dying. So it was a mission of love, of mercy, but it was also a mission of faith, believing that God gives us what we need. So he starts with that openness. But he encounters Mary. She interrupts, she interrupts his journey. Even something that he perceives as being good and being important and important. Yeah. And it was mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but she interrupts it. And in a sense, Jesus says, Jesus says something else for you to do, Jesus is counting on you, and Jesus will take care of everything. Wow. Right. Said Beautiful. Wait a minute. I can't do what you're asking. I got my uncle. Jesus will take care of everything. Um, he's asking you to do something. And so in a sense, Juan Diego became a missionary to a nation, to a continent. Really? Yeah. And through hundreds of years, so, so yeah. In the sense, I don't think I gave it all away yet, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:20:58 <laugh>. But I think it's
Speaker 2 00:20:59 Really, it's something to do with vocation, man. Yeah. And Mary, you know, kind of stepping into our lives, interrupting and what these younger people are doing now with carrying the light, isn't that what we are supposed to do with our faith? We're supposed to have this encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, in our parishes, in our church, and then carry it out as a witness in the street. I mean, imagine it's not one long procession. I mean, that has a powerful impact. But imagine seeing bands of 12 people just going through the street carrying a torch that's gotta turn heads, right?
Speaker 1 00:21:33 It does. Yeah. With a beautiful image of our blessed mother
Speaker 2 00:21:36 That Right. They're all wearing, they're all wearing hoodies.
Speaker 1 00:21:38 Hoodies, yeah. They're
Speaker 2 00:21:38 All wearing these hoodies. Yeah. Um, I think this year's color is orange every year. It's a different color. I got my little backpack <laugh>. Um, so they're all wearing hoodies and that doesn't end there. So they're bringing witness out to the streets, but then they reconvene. So now those 34, 3500 people who gathered here at the cathedral, and what a beautiful image gathering the church gathered, Bishop gathered with the church, we gathered together, they carry the torch pack, and then they reconvene with the rest of the parish. And very often it's either Vespers or another mass. Yes. I mean, isn't that
Speaker 1 00:22:16 Amazing? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:22:17 Yeah. That's who we are. We're a communion of communis. We're
Speaker 1 00:22:21 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:22:22 A family of families. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> without intending to be all that sophisticated, they're doing very sophisticated things.
Speaker 1 00:22:28 It is. And again, this is called Big City Catholics running the, first of all, with the help of, and we have to acknowledge the help of the N Y P D, uh, and the teams that help to direct these processions, these runners down Atlantic Avenue <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:22:44 Right. And again, how hard it is, because they're not just going in to one place.
Speaker 1 00:22:48 That's right. Yeah. They break off in different routes. You know, father Baltazar, who's the coordinator of the Mexican apostolate, you know, December 13th, the next day he starts working on next year's
Speaker 2 00:23:00 Plan. Oh, don't I know it? I was getting, I don't think it was Christmas before Father Baltazar was calling to say, this year was great, but we can't do one mass at the cathedral. We have to look at other alternatives. Yeah. And they studied a bunch. They said, could we go somewhere else? You know, uh, is there a different venue? But they came up with this and fine's.
Speaker 1 00:23:19 Great. We may need to fill the Barclay Center one day. Who knows?
Speaker 2 00:23:22 Who knows?
Speaker 1 00:23:23 <laugh> Carne Seca Arena or something. That would be a little bit difficult for the runners to Bay Ridge from St. John's University. But it would be, uh, it's an option. It's a possibility. That's right. If we keep growing, preparing for this podcast, knowing that we were gonna be talking a little bit about our blessed mother and, and the season of Advent, I've come across beautiful reflections written by women who happen to be pregnant during advent. They write in a way in which it helps to connect their pregnancies and the joy that they're expecting in the birth of their child. How they've had to slow down during their pregnancies to, to actually take care of their body, take care of their, their unborn child. Uh, and how they relate that and unite that in prayer to our blessed mother. It's just been really beautiful reading for me. And I think even for those who may be listening on the podcast to say, how am I journeying through this season of Advent? Do I pick John the Baptist? Do I read through the prophet Isaiah? Do I reflect on our blessed mother? There's so many different ways that we can continue to make this a advent season, A prayerful one.
Speaker 2 00:24:32 You know, there are two councils that I always, always give for prayer. You can't go wrong with the Bible, with the gospels. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if you look at those opening chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, and look at the opening chapters of the Gospel of Luke mm-hmm. <affirmative> and see the different figures, these different people who emerge, and even though it's jumping the gun into Christmas, it's still a good advent preparation. Look at the opening, the first chapter of the Gospel of John. John. Yeah. Let the individuals speak to you and let them open the word, if you will, to you. Um, the other is the rosary. And maybe if you just focus on the joyful mysteries, and if, again, if you can do the rosary, do the rosary. If you can only do a mystery, maybe take us the joyful mysteries and do one of the mysteries each day.
Speaker 2 00:25:19 If that's all you can do, then do that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, especially the joyful mysteries, if you go through the Gospel of Luke, those first two chapters in the Joyful Mysteries, he kind of jumps back and forth between John the Baptist and Jesus goes, the enunciation of John the Baptist, the enunciation of the birth of Jesus. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, one of the mysteries, the visitation, the birth of John the Baptist, the birth of Jesus, the presentation, and then the, the finding in the temple, all from that Gospel of Luke. So it's a very biblical exercise. So I would encourage that. And, you know, let this be a fruitful time of prayer for you this time of advent.
Speaker 1 00:25:54 Amen. Thank you, Bishop. You know, we have, uh, a few more weeks left as we continue through this season of Advent, uh,
Speaker 2 00:26:00 Next, next week. Yeah. And, and you know, this fourth Sunday, I believe this year we'll be looking at Matthew and we'll see the figure of St. Joseph emergence. So who knows, maybe we could talk a little bit about St. Joseph. Sounds
Speaker 1 00:26:11 Good, sounds
Speaker 2 00:26:11 Good. Speak among other things. All right, good. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Loving mother of the Redeemer, gate of Heaven, star of the Sea. Assist your people who have fallen yet strive to rise again to the wonderment of nature. You bore your creator, yet remain divergent after, as before you who received Gabriel's joyful greeting. Have pity on us, poor sinners and male mighty God bless you, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 00:26:42 Amen. Thank you, Bishop. And thanks to everyone who's been listening with us here on Big City Catholics. We continue to wish you a very blessed advent, and we ask you to tune in again next week. God bless.
