Where will YOU be…

On November 27th (the Saturday after thanksgiving)?

The Holy Father is leading a “Vigil for All Nascent Human Life” on November 27th, the day before the First Sunday of Advent. Why just as Advent dawns?

“Advent calls to mind the centuries of expectation for the Messiah, but also focuses on the expectant Blessed Virgin Mary.

In its observance of the days leading up to Christmas, the Church implicitly recognizes that an unborn child is a human being, a person with the same dignity as anyone who has already been born. Christ once was an embryo, a fetus, an unborn child. He who died on the cross to save mankind is the same person who was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

As Christ is in our midst from the moment of the Annunciation, a woman who is pregnant for the first time is already a mother.”

The Pope has asked all Bishops of the world to join him as he celebrates this vigil.

“It’s the first of its kind, and the symbolism could hardly be more meaningful, the need hardly more significant.

Pope Benedict will lead the main celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica. The vigil will include Eucharistic adoration to “thank the Lord for his total self-giving to the world and for his incarnation which gave every human life its real worth and dignity.” That’s according to a letter from Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.”

You can read more about it here.

We were initially planning on getting a lot (read most) of our Christmas shopping done on that Saturday, so we can be more relaxed as the final weeks of this pregnancy are upon us. We‘ll still get some shopping done, but in the midst of fluttering from store to store, hunting for bargains, we’ll take some time out of our day to attend the Vigil that will be hosted in our Diocese, and pray that this time of Advent’s joyful anticipation will also increase in our hearts a respect for all human life and dignity.

Will your diocese have a vigil on November 27th? If they do, will you be there?