The Christmas season will be busy at St. Thomas Aquinas Cath-olic Church with extra masses and activities highlighting the season.

“St. Thomas will have various collections of food for the local food pantry,” said Joy Carroll, campus minister for St. Thomas. “Also, toys will be collected for the giving tree.”

The celebration of Advent, waiting for the birth of Christ, is celebrated by lighting four candles. Starting Dec. 1, one will be lighted each week.

St. Thomas is also holding communal reconciliation. Reconciliation is a Catholic sacrament in which a person confesses and is obsolved of their sins.

“Anyone is welcome to come to the reconciliation,” Carroll said. “We get together in a large group, rather than by ourselves.”

An extra mass will be held for the Holy Day of obligation, the Immaculate Conception. This mass honors Mary, Jesus’ mother, as being conceived within the womb of her mother.

Other masses include the Feast of the Holy Family, Our Lady of Guadeloupe and the Epiphany.

“The Epiphany is on Jan. 6,” Carroll said. “It celebrates the three kings coming to see Jesus.”

Meggan Stone, member of the service team for St. Thomas, knows of other services the church provides for the holiday season.

“There will be some Christmas caroling for the elderly and throwing a Christmas party for a nursing home,” Stone said.