During the fall as students return to school, Bishop Edward K. Braxton begins to fill his calendar with pastoral visits to diocesan Catholic elementary and high schools. This year is no different.

“I can do this.” That’s what speaker ValLimar Jansen told the more than 250 people attending the first evening of the Nov. 6-8 regional parish mission hosted at St. Mary in Mt. Vernon.

The gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent in any of the three Cycles of Readings is always taken from the last discourse of Jesus in Matthew, or Mark, or Luke. The readings for the current liturgical year, YEAR A, are taken from the final sermon of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.