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One of our parishioners agrees to search for an appropriate tree. It needs to be a young tree with plenty of branches that people can reach fairly easily, but it can't be too tall or bushy so that it looks tacky. The tree's trunk needs to fit into a bucket of rocks that hold it in place. I've provided the rocks and bucket.
Next, someone needs to cut out leaves from construction paper, or as I did this year, buy some garlands of Fall leaves from the craft store. I simply cut the leaves from the garland and tied ribbon through each one and then stuck a strip of adhesive tape on each leaf so that parishioners could write on it, the names of the people they were holding in prayer this Advent.
Because we are a small parish, I only prepared about 125 of these leaves. They were placed in a basket on a table in the rear of the church so the hospitality ministers could pass them out as people came in for Mass. In the days before the First Sunday of Advent, the family that usually decorates the church, set the tree up in the sanctuary.
Last year, we had used construction paper leaves that had the names of children in need of prayer written on them. We had used the leaves in other ways during the past year so we were hesitant to throw them away. So, the old leaves were placed on the highest branches of the tree so that those children could continue to be prayed for during this Advent as well.
On the First Sunday of Advent, our priest spoke about the meaning of our tree during his homily and said he had written the names of his elderly parents on his leaf and when he ended his homily, he attached his leaf to the tree. Our parishioners then left the pews and did the same. The basket still has unused leaves in it so that parishioners who could not attend the First Sunday will still be able to place their names on the tree when they return.
This prayer for our people has become a meaningful tradition at my parish and I hope it will continue..
~ Bare Tree II by Norman Wyatt, Jr.
