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December 5, 2017 Tuesday of the First Week of Advent Reading 1 Is 11:1-10 On that day,A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,and from his roots a bud shall blossom.The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,A Spirit of counsel and of strength,a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.Not by appearance shall he judge,nor by hearsay shall he decide,But he shall judge the poor with justice,and decide aright for the land's afflicted.He shall strike the ruthless with the...

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:1-2). The Old Testament is but a sample of what is revealed in the New Testament. When Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets [the Old Testament]; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill" (Matt. 5:17), He was affirming that Scripture progressed from promise to fulfillment, from partial to complete. We call that progressive revelation. For example, the Old...

“[Christ] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). Christ is equal with God but willingly yielded His divine privileges for our sake. At the time Christ lived, even His worst enemies, the apostate religious leaders, knew what Jesus claimed about Himself. John 5:18 says, “The Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but was also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” In Philippians 2:6 Paul affirms Christ’s claim of equality with God. The Greek word translated “equality” (isos) describes things...

On Friday night in France, a handful of young men disrupted an ecumenical service inside a Catholic church by praying the Rosary. It's the fourth such incident in the past three months. The recent incident occurred at St. Irénée Church in Lyon, France. (Irénée is French for Irenaeus; Saint Irenaeus of Lyon was a second-century bishop who helped bring the Faith to the Gauls.)  In a brief video, the young people can be heard chanting the "Hail Mary" in French. The footage shows armed police officers arriving at the church and getting ready to remove the Catholic protesters.    The local archbishop Cdl. Philippe Barbarin was present...

Prepare ye the way of the Ordo Sunday, 24 December 2017 may be a confusing day for diocesan priests who offer the TLM, a reminder that every priest and sacristy should have an Ordo.  On that Sunday, the Vigil of Christmas is the Mass to be offered all day, using the 1962 calendar, including Sunday morning. The Vigil of Christmas takes the place of the Fourth Sunday of Advent, as it has for centuries when landing on Sunday the 24th. As we mentioned last week, the novus ordo (of course) does the complete opposite. The photo above shows the FSSP...

Canceling Sunday Masses before Christmas December 4, 2017 Apparently this is a thing now: arch/bishops canceling all Sunday morning Masses in their arch/dioceses on Dec 24 (the Fourth Sunday of Advent) and directing priests to offer only the Christmas Mass of anticipation on Sunday evening. While the faithful could still attend Mass on Saturday evening, Dec 23, in anticipation of Sunday, those who usually attend Sunday Mass on Sunday morning will arrive to find locked doors and lights out.This is a bad idea.Sunday is “by apostolic tradition … the primordial holy day” and participation in Mass on Sunday is the signature...

Proverb 4 (NKJV) Security in Wisdom 01 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, 00 And give attention to know understanding; 02 For I give you good doctrine: 00 Do not forsake my law. 03 When I was my father's son, 00 Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, 04 He also taught me, and said to me: 00 "Let your heart retain my words; 00 Keep my commands, and live. 05 Get wisdom! Get understanding! 00 Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. 06 Do not forsake her,...

December 4, 2017 Monday of the First Week of Advent Reading 1 Is 2:1-5 This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come,The mountain of the LORD's houseshall be established as the highest mountainand raised above the hills.All nations shall stream toward it;many peoples shall come and say:"Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain,to the house of the God of Jacob,That he may instruct us in his ways,and we may walk in his paths."For from Zion shall go forth instruction,and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.He shall judge between the nations,and impose...

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate can't take postulants for 3 years (Discalced Carmelites benefit) The tragic story of Francis' all-but-suppression of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate is well known to our readers. The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, we have now learned, have been banned from accepting postulants for three years, on order of their commissioner.  One young lady who now cannot join those Sisters has found her new home as a Discalced Carmelite. Her story, published in the Huffington Post, of all places, is below. Kudos to the publication for giving this wonderful young woman a voice:  Young...

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:1-2). Man can’t discover God on his own; God must reveal Himself to man. Since the beginning of time, man has deceived himself by thinking he can discover God through various religions. But in reality, man lives in a box enclosed within the walls of time and space. God is outside the box, and man senses He's there but can't get to Him. Each new religion is but another...

“[Christ] existed in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6). Scripture makes clear that Christ is God. The deity of Christ is the heart of the Christian faith. Inevitably when people attack the Christian faith, they attack the deity of Christ. Scripture makes clear, however, that such attacks are unfounded. The apostle John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he began his Gospel by affirming the deity of Christ. John further declared Christ’s deity when he wrote, “All things came...

Proverb 3 (NKJV) Guidance for the Young 01 My son, do not forget my law, 00 But let your heart keep my commands; 02 For length of days and long life 00 And peace they will add to you. 03 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; 00 Bind them around your neck, 00 Write them on the tablet of your heart, 04 And so find favor and high esteem 00 In the sight of God and man. 05 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, 00 And lean not on your own understanding; 06 In all your...

December 3, 2017 First Sunday of Advent Reading 1 Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 You, LORD, are our father,our redeemer you are named forever.Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?Return for the sake of your servants,the tribes of your heritage.Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,with the mountains quaking before you,while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,such as they had not heard of from of old.No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but youdoing such deeds for...

"The point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb. 8:1). Since Jesus serves as our High Priest, we have access to God. Access to God was always a problem for the Jewish people. Exodus 33:20 declares that no man can see God and live. Once each year, on the great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the Jewish high priest entered into the Holy of Holies, where God's presence dwelt in a unique sense, to approach...

Proverb 2 (NKJV) The Value of Wisdom 01 My son, if you receive my words, 00 And treasure my commands within you, 02 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, 00 And apply your heart to understanding; 03 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, 00 And lift up your voice for understanding, 04 If you seek her as silver, 00 And search for her as for hidden treasures; 05 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, 00 And find the knowledge of God. 06 For the LORD gives wisdom; 00 From His mouth come knowledge...

December 2, 2017 Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Dn 7:15-27 I, Daniel, found my spirit anguished within its covering of flesh,and I was terrified by the visions of my mind.I approached one of those presentand asked him what all this meant in truth;in answer, he made known to me the meaning of the things:"These four great beasts stand for four kingdomswhich shall arise on the earth.But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingship,to possess it forever and ever." But I wished to make certain about the fourth beast,so very terrible...

"God . . . has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:1-3). Christ is superior to everyone and everything. The book of Hebrews was addressed to an audience composed of Jewish Christians, Jewish non-Christians who were intellectually convinced about Jesus but...

“Although [Christ] existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). Christ is the perfect example of humility. In his book Miracles, English scholar C.S. Lewis used this analogy to describe the incarnation of Christ: One may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing...

Proverb 1 (NKJV) The Beginning of Knowledge 01 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 02 To know wisdom and instruction, 00To perceive the words of understanding, 03 To receive the instruction of wisdom, 00 Justice, judgment, and equity; 04 To give prudence to the simple, 00 To the young man knowledge and discretion-- 05 A wise man will hear and increase learning, 00 And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, 06 To understand a proverb and an enigma, 00 The words of the wise and their riddles. 07 The fear of the...

December 1, 2017 Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Dn 7:2-14 In a vision I, Daniel, saw during the night,the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea,from which emerged four immense beasts,each different from the others.The first was like a lion, but with eagle's wings.While I watched, the wings were plucked;it was raised from the ground to stand on two feetlike a man, and given a human mind. The second was like a bear; it was raised up on one side,and among the teeth in its mouth were three tusks.It was given the...