St. Martin of Tours'
and St. Paul's Church
Holy Day Celebrations

 

Children's Masses

"...but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not forbid them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." NAB Mt 19:14

In this spirit we celebrate a children’s mass approximately every 1-2 months. This mass is often coordinated with the activities taking place in our religious education. Our homily is particularly directed to the children and children often participate by bringing up the gifts and delivering the readings.

For more information contact the rectory.

 

St. Martin of Tours Church at Advent Looking across Advent wreath to the Tabernacle and CrossLooking across Advent wreath to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Advent is the first season in the Christian calendar, a time of preparation for Christmas and the coming of the Christ Child. This season begins four Sundays prior to Christmas. At St. Martins, the Advent seen here has four candles lit, indicating this is the forth week of Advent.


St. Paul's Church at Advent

Looking across Advent wreath to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The color purple/violet represents expectation, purification or penance and is used during Advent and Lent. This is quite appropriate in the season of Advent, which is a time of preparation. Looking across the Advent wreath at St. Paul's we see the risen Lord in the background with his arms open wide welcoming all.

St. Martin of Tours Church at Christmas A closer look at the Holy Family in the manger

Looking down the aisle at the altar from the back of the church

Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Like all birthdays, we decorate the building. This decorating takes place after celebrating the mass for the forth Sunday of Advent.

The picture on the left shows the altar looking down the aisle from the back of the church. The lit red candles indicate that this picture was taken after Christmas Mass was celebrated. The manger scene on the right reinforces this timing. The presence of the baby Jesus indicates that it must be on or after Christmas Day and the absence of the Magi indicate that it is prior to the Epiphany.



St. Martin's Church at Easter

St. Martin of Tours Church's Easter Font on the Right Side of the Altar St. Martin of Tours Church Lectern

Even more important than our celebration of Christmas is our celebration of Easter.

We see our altar decorated with many flowers, the empty cross, the new Paschal candle and a small bath of water.



back up top