Our Lady Queen of Martyrs will celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent with more than a rose candle this year. On this day which is for “rejoicing” (according to the Entrance Antiphon, “Rejoice: the Lord is nigh”), we are also adopting the Vatican tradition of blessing Nativity scene figures of the baby Jesus (“Bambinelli” in Italian). The tradition was started by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and ever since, the Bambinelli blessing has been given by the pope during the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on the Third Sunday of Advent. It’s a teachable moment for families to refocus children on the true meaning of the Advent season.
We ask every household in our parish, young and old, to unpack your creche and bring the baby Jesus from your family’s Nativity scene to church to be blessed at any Sunday Mass on the weekend of December 16-17, 2017, the Third Sunday of Advent.