This weekend’s short story is Nick Ripatrazone’s “Advent,” first published in the Blue Mesa Review in December 2012. Here’s how it begins:
People said that Father Mark was working at Macy’s. It all started with his sermon during the last Mass of Thanksgiving weekend. Evening services drew two crowds: those who slept-in, and others who enjoyed the nearly empty church, silent from music. Father Mark was a traditionalist: no female altar servers, no Eucharistic ministers, no deacons, and he always delivered his sermons from behind the pulpit. No roaming the aisles like a motivational speaker.
Most of that particular sermon was usual Thanksgiving fare: this is the time of year to bring families together, whether we like them or not, because to like is lower than to love. We can dislike, we can perhaps even hate, but we must love. Fair enough. Easy for you to say, some thought, you without a wife and in-laws and needy cousins. But what Father Mark said next passed most by, stomachs still full, Christmas shopping and decorating already on their minds.
He said that during this time of year, we should think of those beyond our families. We should include our friends, our coworkers and colleagues, and others in the community. This was the time of year for sadness and depression, and that some groups were more inclined toward such malaise. He said the Catholic Church is really a place of inclusivity. And that it needed to start acting like that when it came to those with alternate lifestyles. It needed to recognize those differences and rejoice in them. Amen.
Read the rest here. The story also can be found in Ripatrazone’s just-published collection, Good People. Check out our previous SSFSs here.
The Dish 