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Posted on 11/27/2004 1:53:03 PM PST by Salvation
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Week 3: Saturday But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of (the) Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers toward children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare people fit for the Lord." (Luke 1:13-17) Reflection Luke tells the beautiful story of John the Baptist who came to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Have I "prepared the way" in the heart of a loved one or acquaintance for Jesus’ coming? Have I been a "John?" Advent Action In a card or letter, tell someone how much you care for them. Let them know they are loved by you – and God. Prayer O come, O Rod of Jesse’s stem, From every foe deliver them That trust your mighty power to save: And give them victory o’er the grave. |
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Week 4: Sunday Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14) Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1) Prayer for the Advent Wreath Lord, our God, we praise You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, for He is Emmanuel, the Hope of all people. Advent Action Look around you for a sign of God’s presence. When you find it, share it with someone. Prayer O come, O Key of David, come And open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery. |
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Week 3: Monday When He had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached Him as He was teaching and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?" (Matthew 21:23) Reflection The question of authority always followed Jesus. Different groups and individuals would try to ask Him difficult questions to trick Him and make Him look stupid in front of the crowds who listened to His teaching. It is clear that Jesus derived His authority from an unshakable inner knowledge of His relationship to the Father. Do we have confidence in our relationship with God so that we can speak the truth as we see it? Or do we expect the Church or some other authority to speak for us? Advent Action Make something (bake a cake, draw a picture, cut out a cartoon) to cheer someone up or as a means of sharing the spirit of the season. Prayer Lord, make me confident anew of Your great gift of faith that I may tell others of Your goodness. |
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Sorry everyone, I was trying to catch up with this thread later last night (early this morning) and I just noticed that #104 has the wrong day. I'll fix it below.
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December 20 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, Reflection What should Christians look like to the world in which we live? How could other people know by our words and actions that we are followers of Christ? What should make us distinctive and stand out from non-Christians? How can we be the light of the world and the salt of the earth as our Lord says we should be? Advent Action If we are to teach by example, make plans to teach someone during the Holiday season. A child or friend could learn by your actions. Prayer Lord, clarify my vision that I may see You in others and sense You within my own soul. |
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December 21 The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty Savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in His love, He will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals. (Zephaniah 3:17) Reflection The reading from Zephaniah expresses in poetic language the boundless love God has for each of us. In some translations the words say "God will exult over you!" It is surely God’s desire that someday we will all be with Him in heaven. No matter what happened before, God is ready each moment to show us this love. The words of Zephaniah and our celebration of Christmas should bring us to a deeper awareness of how profound is God’s love for us. Advent Action Send a get-well card to someone in the hospital. Prayer O come, O Dayspring from on high And cheer us by your drawing nigh; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadow put to flight. |
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| A Blue Advent? |
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| 12/21/04 |
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The beauty of Advent is that it is, at once, a time of great joy and anticipation and a time of personal reflection and penance. Both involve preparation for the birth of Christ, and the latter complements the former. |
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December 22 And Mary said, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord: my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For He has looked upon His handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed." (Luke 1:46) Reflection Mary says that she is lowly, and also that all will call her blessed. How can both of these things be true? Mary’s lowliness was transformed by her faith in God’s promise as given to her by the angel. Through this faith she became the most exalted of God’s servants. Do we let God work with and transform our lives? Or, do we use our own "lowliness" as an excuse for inaction? Christmas is a beautiful time for re-inviting God into our lives and letting His power transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Advent Action Make a "mini-retreat" to prepare for Christmas. Read the first and second chapters of Luke’s Gospel and spend some time reflecting on the story of Jesus’ birth and early life. Prayer O come, Desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of humankind; O bid our sad divisions cease And be for us our King of Peace. |
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December 23 Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1) Reflection For children, these last days of waiting are probably the hardest. The goal is in sight now, but it is still far enough away to make the wait seem endless. Advent Action Find someone who is not anticipating the holiday with joy and attempt to brighten their outlook. Prayer O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appears. |
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A Heart of Gold!
What would you do if robbers stole everything but two gold coins? Naturally, you would call the police. But that is not what St. John of Kanty did. He chased after the robbers to give them the gold coins as well. The robbers were so stunned by what he did that they gave back everything they stole.
John was a priest and teacher in fifteenth century Poland. He was kind toward his students, even though he was very disciplined toward himself. He ate no meat and slept on the floor. He kept only the clothes that he needed, and gave everything else to the poor. He was known for his humility and generosity.
Generosity...
‘Tis the season to be generous. Advertisements tell us what to buy and where to buy it. Mailings tell us what to send and where to send it. Outreach projects tell us what to give and where to give it. During the holidays, generosity doesn’t need a lot of definition. But how about a little reflection?
Put some faces on generosity. How about Santa Claus? What does Santa give? Presents, of course—toys, games, clothes.
How about Jesus? What did Jesus give? Presence, of course. He visited people who were sick. He spoke to people who were poor. He forgave people who had sinned. Now look in the mirror and put your own face on generosity. How does it look? What do you give to others? What can you give?
December is a busy month. It’s tough to find the money and the time to give all the presents that we would like to give. This month, try to find a balance of both.
Remember, generosity isn’t seasonal. Throughout the year, there are generous amounts of opportunities to be generous. Look for them and be generous. Give your time, talent, and treasure to those in need.
Generous Gifts of Gold!
During this month, be generous with your time, talent, and treasure. For this activity, you will need some yellow construction paper, a Christmas stocking, a pen, and of course, a generous heart. Make some “gold coins” by tracing and cutting several 3-inch circles out of the yellow paper. Label one-third with “time,” one-third with “talent,” and one-third with “treasure.” Hang the stocking in a visible place, and put the coins and a pen near it.
As a family and as individuals, be aware of opportunities to be generous, and be generous in those opportunities. Whenever you give of your time, talent, or treasure, write what you have done on a coin, and put it in the stocking.
On the Feast of the Epiphany, empty the stocking and share what you have done. Generosity will be your family’s gift to the Christ-child.
Family Prayer for Generosity
Generous Lord, help us to be givers, not takers. Help us to experience the joy of giving. May we look for every opportunity to give of our time, our talents, our money, our possessions, our thanks, compliments, healing words, hugs, smiles, a helping hand, or a listening ear. Help us to give out of full hearts, and even nearly empty hearts if the need be. Bless us, that we may be wise stewards of your many gifts. We pray this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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December 24 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for He has visited and brought redemption to His people. (Luke 1:68) Reflection As soon as Jesus was born, visitors began to come. First it was the shepherds. Then the wise men. Then Simeon and Anna. Then even the soldiers of Herod were sent to find Him. Together these visitors represent the people of every nation, coming by every possible path and conveyance to see Christ. These words of Zechariah’s Canticle, cited above, remind us that it was impossible to contain God in heaven. Through Jesus, He "visited" and "brought redemption" to us. He continues through Jesus and through us to dwell in our world today. When people look at us, do they think of Jesus? Advent Action Thank God for the gift of His Son, Jesus. Prayer Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel. Lord, may we rejoice that Jesus Christ is born anew in our hearts and in our home. Amen. |
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 Christmas "The Word became Flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory: The glory of an only Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love." (John 1:14) The actual date of Christ’s birth is unknown. The Gospels do not record it and there is not any early tradition to identify it. Scholars identify the approximate year as sometime between 8 - 5 BC and the season as probably early spring. The feast day was placed where it was, in all likelihood, to supplant the practice of the winter solstice festival among pagan converts by pointing to Christ as the true light who comes into the world. The Western Church emphasizes the celebration of the Nativity or Birth of Jesus on December 25, while the Eastern Church celebrates His manifestation to the Magi on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. The word Christmas was derived from the Old English Cristes Maesse or "Mass of Christmas." Over the centuries it has become a comprehensive word including both the religious traditions and the secular traditions. In North America, the early immigrants brought their different Christmas traditions. The Germans brought the Christmas tree, the Irish contributed the lights in windows of homes, Catholic immigrants brought Midnight Mass and everyone had their own Christmas carols.
The Lights of Christmas The most obvious symbol of Christmas are lights – Christmas candles, window lights, luminaries, lights on the Advent Wreath and Christmas tree. All signifying that Jesus Christ is the Light of the world.
Christmas Candle The Christmas candle is an ancient tradition. It is usually placed in the center of the Advent Wreath to complete the removal of darkness and sin by the Coming of Christ.
Window Lights Lights placed inside window sills depict a beacon to light the way for Mary, Joseph, and the coming of the Christ Child.
Christmas Tree Christmas trees can be found almost anywhere, any size. For many people, the Christmas tree is only a seasonal decoration. To Christians it symbolizes the green of hope at a time of dying, the burning light of Christ at a time of spiritual darkness and the fruits of paradise. Its origin as a Christian symbol may trace to an historical event. When St. Boniface evangelized the Germanic tribes he chopped down their sacred oak to prove the impotence of their god. Just as Patrick used the shamrock as a symbol of the Trinity, Boniface used the evergreen as a symbol of the eternity of the true God. The Church provides a blessing ceremony in its Book of Blessings for use in the absence of a priest.
Holly The appearance of holly is representative of the burning bush of Moses and Mary’s burning love of for God. The red berries and prickly points are symbolic of the crown of thorns and the bloody death that the Christ Child would eventually suffer.
Poinsettia Poinsettias are associated with Christmas as the lily is with Easter. In Mexico it blooms at Christmas time and is called the "Flower of the Holy Night." Its name is from the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Dr. Joel Poinsett. |
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| CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY |
| Sigrid Undset |
| From our Lord's Birthday until Epiphany the Church keeps Christmas. The five joyful mysteries of the rosary, the antiphons and the prayers in the offices for Christmas, are the central point of our worship. Near the altar where He Himself lives clothed in the white garb of the Host, and where His mark, the crucifix, is placed over the tabernacle, there is now a crib—a little picture of the stable where the Word who became Flesh first opened His infant eyes. And round the little figure of the Christ Child stands the likeness of the first things and the first people who met His glance when He by whom all things were made came to His own in the form of a servant. The crib is not meant only to be a picture of a room where a Jewish carpenter and a young woman sought shelter for the night-a night nineteen hundred odd years ago. For so little did the world take account of what came to pass that night so long ago, in the outhouse of the caravanserai at Bethlehem, that no one definitely knows the year in which it happened or at what time of the year; and indeed during the first centuries after Christ's birth opinion is so divided that there is scarcely a month that has not been suggested as the actual Christmas month. Elegit eam Deus et pruelegit eam, "God hath chosen her and fore chosen her," it says in the Office. In God is all eternity, and from eternity was Mary destined to bear under her heart Him—quem terra, pontus, sidera colunt, adorant, praedicant —"whom earth and sea and sky honour, worship and preach." O gloriosa Domina excelsa supra sidera qui te creavit provide lactasti sacro ubere. "Oh, glorious lady, exalted over the stars, thou hast tended and nourished from thy holy breast Him who created thee." The angels bring tidings of the Child's birth to some shepherds who are out on the hills outside the village: a star rises up and beckons some astrologers from a land far away in the East to set out on a long journey. But the rest of the world—all those Mediterranean countries which Roman law and Roman peace had knit together into a single empire, where the people bowed under the yoke of Rome, proud to be her citizens or embittered by her oppression—the world which some hundreds of years later was to date its history from His birth, slept quietly through the night of this great happening. And St. Luke troubles himself so little with descriptions of places that, except by tradition, we know really nothing about the room where Mary brought forth her Son-only that it was outside the inn and that it was a stable. We hear that the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem to see what it was that the Lord had signified to them. But it does not tell us that they brought any gifts to the little family. When in representations of the crib we make the shepherds bring their presents to the Child Jesus it is perhaps something that we have imagined, for St. Matthew says most particularly that it was the Wise Men from the East who brought gifts. Or perhaps we are thinking of ourselves-that this is what we should have done if we had been the shepherds.... Yes, in that way—whispers the chilly, cautious person of the present day—in that way we also can join you in the stable. If the little Boy in the crib is a symbol of the longing in each one of us for something beyond the bounds of sense, of our presentiments of immortality, then we also can remain with the shepherds in the stable. We can worship Mary's child, we moderns, as a symbol or as a type, as the great Teacher, a genius, a superman. But as God in Man? "Genuisti eum qui te fecit?" Mary, could you have brought forth Him who created you? Can you expect us to believe this sort of thing in the twentieth century? Is it not a truth, which modern children cannot avoid, that human beings are blood-cousins of the apes, and that our earth is only a small. holding in the world of space? Can we be so pretentious as to believe that He by whom all was made should have become our brother in the arms of this poor young girl? How is it possible that the omnipotence which, through an immeasurable span of time, has planted a myriad of suns, should be one with the delicate, tiny infant in the arms of the maid from Nazareth, sheltered by her hair and shawl as they droop from her bending head? We know, of course, that it was anthropomorphism when the old people spoke of the heavens as the work of God's hands and of wisdom issuing from the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn of all created: "I alone have encompassed the circuit of Heaven and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea." . . . But is it possible that the anthropomorphism of any other era has been quite so coarse or so vulgar as our own-when we transfer to our vision of God our own stupid wretched respect for anything that is purely colossal in dimension, for records in magnitude and for enormous unwieldy numbers? As our knowledge of nature has widened our picture of the time and space which God encompasses we lose, more and more, our ability to believe that the strength of the Almighty to permeate all things is indeed all-powerful. And involuntarily we picture God as a sort of cosmic landlord: it is impossible for Him to interest Himself in and to love each individual life which crawls on this remote speck of earth amidst the dancing of the myriad stars. Or we look on Him as a sort of Director General for the great combine of the United Solar Systems. He cannot know personally each little functionary who works on a small planet rotating around a sun of quite insignificant size.... In the museums and monastic libraries of Europe there is volume after volume of illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. If ever artists have worked to give their best and most beautiful without a thought of winning glory or credit for themselves it is certainly these anonymous painters whose identity is only occasionally discovered, and whose reward went to the whole brotherhood. This is indeed art for art's sake, pure, clean passion for beauty-inspired by the mind's constant occupation with the loveliness of God, who has created us in His image so that we also can realise the joy of creation. Year in and year out the craftsman sat and painted borders with flowers shining like jewels, with playful birds and clinging vines on the smooth, yellowish-white parchment. The frames, which the capital letters required, he filled out with a polished gold ground and with delightful small pictures, the faces of saints, not so big as wood-anemones, drawn with lines as fine as the veins in the anemone petals. Not for a moment would the artist contemplate that anyone else except himself should suspect what an amount of care and love he had put into his work, but each little flower was painted in order that it should be perfect in itself, without thought whether anyone was ever going to study it carefully. Perhaps this maker of pictures can help us, not to understand, but to get a glimmering of God's great love for His creation, which caused Him to come to His own as a little child in a crib and to die upon the cross to save each soul He had created in His image-to perfect one tiny little forget-me-not in the eternal manuscript of the universe. "Genuit puerpera Regem, cui nomen aetemum, et gaudia matris habens cum virginitatis honore, nec primam similem visa est, nec habere sequentem." "She was in labour and brought forth the King whose name is eternal; she had the happiness of a mother together with the honour of virginity; she was seen to have no equal either before or since." But it is exactly this which is contrary to nature—that a woman can be both mother and virgin. (As a matter of fact, it is on this point that our laboratories seem to be threatening our conception of nature with a complete and terrible revolution, for they promise to show us generations of beings whose mothers, although they will not bear the garland of virginity, yet will not know man. ) But at the time when Christendom began, all races, both within and without the borders of the Roman Empire, worshipped a deity of motherhood and a mother of gods and supernaturally begotten gods and demi-gods. And the people of the Middle Ages, as all enlightened people know, fall into two groups; a smaller group of men and women of the Church who did not take much notice of the improbable or unnatural stories which the other group, all the other people, accepted in every detail without thinking. It is not, however, quite accurate to say that these stories of the birth of gods without an earthly father shadow forth a virgin mother, in the Christian sense. They suppose a god in a human home or in an animal's lair, or they imagine some other material contact-lightning, gold rain falling over the maiden, or she eats a magic fruit or swallows a pine-needle. But whatever legend or adventure the people of those days believed and related, it leaves no trace in Our Lady's own little book of hours—the lay-folk's book of hours which the Middle Ages produced and which we pray every day. Not for a moment have these legends either there or in the priest's breviary been incorporated in the story of Our Lady's mysterious preferment; Mother and Daughter, God's Mother and God's Daughter, she stands alone. "Genuisti qui te fecit: Thou hast borne Him who created Thee." "Sancta et immaculata virginitas, quibus te Zaudibus efferam nescio; quia quem caeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti: Holy and Immaculate virginity—I know not with what words of praise I can exalt Thee. For Him whom the Heavens could not contain, thou hast nursed in thy lap." "O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud? Quia primam similem visa est nec habere sequentem: O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be? (For she was seen to have no equal either before or since.)" "Filiae 1erusalem, quid me admiramini? Divinum est mysterium hoc, quod cernitis: Daughters of Jerusalem, why look ye so wonderingly upon me? The mystery which you see is of the Godhead." Oh! Mary, lift up the Child. Lift Him up that we may gaze upon Him! . . . Mary indeed was unstained by inherited sin—but that does not mean that here on earth she was omniscient or could see into the future. I wonder what she thought of the message of the angel to the Child she bore: "The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father: and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." When Joseph came and they had to travel to Bethlehem, to David's town, the time was drawing near when the Child was to see the light. We do not know; perhaps Mary had thought that everything would happen very differently-but the Son of the Most High was to be born in an outhouse. She wrapped Him up and laid Him in the manger and watched over His sleep, and when He was awake she warmed Him and fed Him at her breast. Some shepherds came and wished to see the Child, and they told of visions of angels and angels' words. And Mary hides all these things in her heart and meditates on them. Forty days later she and Joseph take the Child and go up to Jerusalem to fulfil the law of Moses, and to present the firstborn of a young mother to the Lord and buy him free from the temple service. As they enter the Temple bearing the infant and two young doves, the offering of the poor, they are met by an old man. He comes over to them, this old stranger, and wants to hold the Child that Mary carries. And when Simeon has Jesus in his arms he praises God and breaks into words: "Now Thou cost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word, in peace,"—Nunc Dimittis, we read in Compline, the evening prayer in the Book of Hours. If we realise the mystery of Christmas well enough, we should say the same for ourselves every evening. And Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph—a peculiar blessing, for he says that this Child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many, and he speaks of a sword which shall pierce the heart of the mother, the young heart which hides within itself so many wonderful words and has meditated on so many mysteries. |
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Luke 1 says Zechariah was performing priestly duty in the Temple when an angel told his wife Elizabeth she would bear John the Baptist. During the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, Mary learned about her conception of Jesus and visited Elizabeth "with haste."
The 24 classes of Jewish priests served one week in the Temple, and Zechariah was in the eighth class. Rabbinical tradition fixed the class on duty when the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 and, calculating backward from that, Zechariah's class would have been serving Oct. 2-9 in 5 B.C. So Mary's conception visit six months later might have occurred the following March and Jesus' birth nine months afterward.
"Though it is not a matter of faith, there is no good reason not to accept the tradition" of March 25 conception and Dec. 25 birth, the magazine contended.
*I'm visiting family in Georgia. Once I return home I will post the Christmas Sermon of St. John Chrysostom which cites the facts. As I recall, Zacharias served in the Temple during what was then called the month of Nisan.
In any event, the Acts of the Enrollment were kept in the public library in Rome and the early Christians used it as one source to catechize and convert others.
Rome has kept Dec 25 since the get go.
"We apply the name of Christmas to the forty days which begin with the Nativity of our Lord, December 25, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, February 2. It is a period which forms a distinct portion of the Liturgical Year..." He adds that nothing is "able to distract our Holy Mother the Church from the immense joy of which she received the good tidings from the Angels on that glorious Night for which the world had been longing four thousand years."
With regard to our Savior's Birth on December 25, we have St. John Chrysostom (d.407A.D.) telling us, in his Homily for this Feast, that the Western Churches had, from the very commencement of Christianity, kept it on this day. He is not satisfied with merely mentioning the tradition; he undertakes to show that it is well founded, inasmuch as the Church of Rome had every means of knowing the true day of our Savior's Birth, since the acts of the Enrolment, taken in Judea by command of Augustus, were kept in the public archives of Rome. The holy Doctor adduces a second argument, which he founds upon the Gospel of St. Luke, and he reasons thus: we know from the sacred Scriptures that it must have been in the fast of the seventh month that the priest Zachary had the vision in the Temple; after which Elizabeth, his wife, conceived St. John the Baptist: hence it follows that the Blessed Virgin Mary having, as the Evangelist St. Luke relates, received the Angel Gabriel's visit, and conceived the Savior of the world in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, that is to say, in March, the Birth of Jesus must have taken place in the month of December."
* I just found this online. Merry Christmas Christian Catholics
Bump for Christmas time dates!
Origin of the Twelve Days of Christmas [An Underground Catechism]
Advent BTTT
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