Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 12-13-05, Memorial, St. Lucy, virgin and martyr

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The Season of Advent -- 2005 -- Praying Each Day

Advent 2005 – He Comes! The King of Glory

Catholic Caucus: Advent Activity - The Jesse Tree

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Saint Lucy [Martyr]

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From: Matthew 21:28-32

The Parable of the Two Sons

(Jesus told the chief priests and the elders,) [28] "What do you think?
A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and
work in the vineyard today.' [29] And he answered, 'I will not'; but
afterwards he repented and went. [30] And he went to the second and
said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. [31] Which
of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus
said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you. [32] For John came to you in the
way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax
collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you
did not afterward repent and believe him.

Commentary:

32. St. John the Baptist had shown the way to sanctification by
proclaiming the imminence of the Kingdom of God and by preaching
conversion. The scribes and Pharisees would not believe him, yet they
boasted of their faithfulness to God's teaching. They were like the son
who says "I will go" and then does not go; the tax collectors and
prostitutes who repented and corrected the course of their lives will
enter the Kingdom before them: they are like the other son who says "I
will not", but then does go. Our Lord stresses that penance and
conversion can set people on the road to holiness even if they have
been living apart from God for a long time.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005
St. Lucy, Virgin, Martyr (Memorial)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13
Psalm 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-19, 23
Matthew 21:28-32

After her shall virgins be brought to the King: her neighbours shall be brought to Thee with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple to the Lord the King.

-- Ps. xliv. 15,16

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Lord, give us courage through the prayers of St. Lucy. As we celebrate her entrance into eternal glory, we ask to share her happiness in the life to come. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

Activities:

Prayers:

December 13, 2005

Memorial of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr

Old Calendar: St. Lucy

St. Lucy (283-304) was born in Syracuse, Sicily, where she also died. She was of a noble Greek family, and was brought up as a Christian by her mother, who was miraculously cured at the shrine of St. Agatha in Catania. Lucy made a vow of virginity and distributed her wealth to the poor. This generosity stirred the wrath of the unworthy youth to whom she had been unwillingly betrothed and who denounced her to Paschasius, the governor of Sicily. When it was decided to violate her virginity in a place of shame, Lucy, with the help of the Holy Spirit, stood immovable. A fire was then built around her, but again God protected her. She was finally put to death by the sword. Her name appears in the second list in the Canon.

Jesse Tree ~ Isaiah

St. Lucy
Today's feast can easily be harmonized with Advent themes. The very name Lucy pulsates with light, a living symbol amid the season's darkness (the days are now the shortest of the year). As a wise virgin Lucy advances with a burning lamp to meet the Bridegroom. She typifies the Church and the soul now preparing their bridal robes for a Christmas marriage.

That the famous Sicilian martyr really lived may be deduced from the great popular veneration accorded her since most ancient times. The Acts detailing her sufferings, however, merit little credence. According to these she made a pilgrimage to Catonia with her mother, who suffered from hemorrhage, to venerate the body of St. Agatha. After praying devoutly at the tomb, Agatha appeared to her in a dream and consoled her: "O virgin Lucy, why do you ask of me what you yourself can procure for your mother? For your faith too has come to her aid and therefore she has been cured. By your virginity you have indeed prepared for God a lovely dwelling." And her mother actually was healed.

Immediately Lucy asked permission to remain a virgin and to distribute her future dowry among Christ's poor. Child and mother returned to their native city of Syracuse, and Lucy proceeded to distribute the full proceeds from the sale of her property among the poor. When a young man, to whom Lucy's parents had promised the virgin's hand against her will, had heard of the development, he reported her to the city prefect as a Christian. "Your words will be silenced," the prefect said to her, "when the storm of blows falls upon you!" The virgin: "To God's servants the right words will not be wanting, for the Holy Spirit speaks in us." "Yes," she continued, "all who live piously and chastely are temples of the Holy Spirit." "Then," he replied, "I shall order you put with prostitutes and the Holy Spirit will depart from you." Lucy: "If I am dishonored against my will, my chastity will secure for me a double crown of victory."

Aflame with anger, the judge imposed the threatened order. But God made the virgin solidly firm in her place and no force could move her. "With such might did the Holy Spirit hold her firm that the virgin of Christ remained immovable." Thereupon they poured heated pitch and resin over her: "I have begged my Lord Jesus Christ that this fire have no power over me. And in testimony of Him I have asked a postponement of my death." When she had endured all this without the least injury, they pierced her throat with a sword. Thus she victoriously ended her martyrdom.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Patron: against hemorraghes; authors; blind people; blindness; cutlers; dysentery; eye disease; eye problems; glaziers; hemorraghes; laborers; martyrs; peasants; Perugia, Italy; saddlers; salesmen; stained glass workers; Syracuse, Sicily; throat infections; writers.

Symbols: Lamp; dagger; three crowns; cauldron; two oxen; stake and fagots; cup; sword through his neck; poniard; ropes; eye held in pincers; awl; cord; eyes on a dish or book; swords.
Often Portrayed As: Woman hitched to a yoke of oxen; woman in the company of Saint Agatha, Saint Agnes of Rome, Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Saint Thecla; woman kneeling before the tomb of Saint Agatha.

Things to Do:

Choose one of the customs for St. Lucy's feast and try it with your family. See Celebrating for the Feast of St. Lucy, Swedish Lucia Feast, and St. Lucia Devotions.
Select one of the recipes for this feast to prepare. Here is a recipe for cuccia, an Italian dish. This is another version.
Say a prayer to St. Lucy for those who are physically and spiritually blind.
Read the Life of St. Lucy taken from Ælfric’s Lives of the Saints written in the 10th century.
For St. Lucia Swedish resources, see Hemslöjd. Especially recommended are the St. Lucia's Crowns, either plastic to wear or brass for display, the books Lucia, Child of Light: The History and Traditions of Sweden's Lucia Celebration and Lucia Morning in Sweden.

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

December 13, 2005

St. Lucy

(d. 304)

Every little girl named Lucy must bite her tongue in disappointment when she first tries to find out what there is to know about her patron saint. The older books will have a lengthy paragraph detailing a small number of traditions. Newer books will have a lengthy paragraph showing that there is little basis in history for these traditions. The single fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian and she was executed in Syracuse (Sicily) in the year 304. But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as its title and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls have been proud of the name Lucy.

One can easily imagine what a young Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the year 300. If you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against leading a good Christian life.

Her friends must have wondered aloud about this hero of Lucy’s, an obscure itinerant preacher in a far-off captive nation that had been destroyed more than 200 years before. Once a carpenter, he had been crucified by the Roman soldiers after his own people turned him over to the Roman authorities. Lucy believed with her whole soul that this man had risen from the dead. Heaven had put a stamp on all he said and did. To give witness to her faith she had made a vow of virginity.

What a hubbub this caused among her pagan friends! The kindlier ones just thought her a little strange. To be pure before marriage was an ancient Roman ideal, rarely found but not to be condemned. To exclude marriage altogether, however, was too much. She must have something sinister to hide, the tongues wagged.

Lucy knew of the heroism of earlier virgin martyrs. She remained faithful to their example and to the example of the carpenter, whom she knew to be the Son of God.

Comment:

If you are a little girl named Lucy, you need not bite your tongue in disappointment. Your patron is a genuine, authentic heroine, first class, an abiding inspiration for you and for all Christians. The moral courage of the young Sicilian martyr shines forth as a guiding light, just as bright for today’s youth as it was in A.D. 304.

Quote:

“The Gospel tells us of all that Jesus suffered, of the insults that fell upon him. But, from Bethlehem to Calvary, the brilliance that radiates from his divine purity spread more and more and won over the crowds. So great was the austerity and the enchantment of his conduct.”
“So may it be with you, beloved daughters. Blessed be the discretion, the mortifications and the renouncements with which you seek to render this virtue more brilliant.... May your conduct prove to all that chastity is not only a possible virtue but a social virtue, which must be strongly defended through prayer, vigilance and the mortification of the senses” (Pope John XXIII, Letter to Women Religious).

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Are You Pleased with What You See?
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 / Matthew 21:28-32

The road we walk in this life is long and winding, with many odd turns and narrow places, and there is not one of us who has not taken our fair share of wrong turns into dead-end streets. Like the two sons in the Gospel, we've many times said "Yes" when we meant "No," and just as many times said "No" when we knew we ought to say "Yes." That's the truth, and there's no escaping our record.

That's why today's Gospel should be a source of encouragement to us. For Jesus is telling us that God is less interested in how we started out and where we stumbled than in how we ended up. As he said so emphatically to the Jewish elders and chief priests, "Let me make it clear that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!"

Let's take our cue from Jesus and stop looking backward. There's nothing we can do about the past, but we can change the present. We can, with God's help, take responsibility for creating a present that is worthy of people who know they are beloved children of God.

So take a look at your present, which as the name suggests, is God's personal gift to you. Are you really pleased with what you see? What would you like to do about it? Why not tell the Lord? More than anybody else, He'd like to help!

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This Santa Lucia thread is for keeps and study.

Merry Christmas

An Advent hymn well suited to Isaiah (the rebellious city) and to the Gospel (the disobedient son):

"Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come"
by Johann Gottfried Olearius
Translated by August Crull, 1845-1923

1. Come, Thou precious Ransom, come,
Only Hope for sinful mortals!
Come, O Savior of the world!
Open are to Thee all portals.
Come, Thy beauty let us see;
Anxiously we wait for Thee.

2. Enter now my waiting heart,
Glorious King and Lord most holy.
Dwell in me and ne'er depart,
Though I am but poor and lowly.
Ah, what riches will be mine
When Thou art my Guest Divine!

3. My hosannas and my palms
Graciously receive, I pray Thee;
Evermore, as best I can,
Savior, I will homage pay Thee,
And in faith I will embrace,
Lord, Thy merit through Thy grace.

4. Hail, hosanna, David's Son!
Help, Lord, hear our supplication!
Let Thy kingdom, scepter, crown,
Bring us blessing and salvation,
That forever we may sing:
Hail, hosanna! to our King.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #55
Text: Matt. 21: 5-9
Author: Johann Gottfried Olearius
Translated by: August Crull, Ý1923, alt.
Titled: Komm, du wertes Loesegeld
Tune: Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht
1st Published in: "Neuverfertigtes Gesangbuch"
Town: Darmstadt, 1699

A Voice in the Desert

Tuesday December 13, 2005 Third Week of Advent

Reading (Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13) Gospel (St. Matthew 21:28-32)

In the first reading today, the prophet Zephaniah talks about the rebellious, polluted, and tyrannical city, the city that hears no voice and accepts no correction, and has not trusted in the Lord or drawn near to her God. Well, this does not need to be only a city; this can be a country and it can be individuals. If we look throughout the world, we would have to say that this would be the vast majority of cities, states, countries, as well as people. Most do not want to draw near to God. Most do not want to do what is right. They are rebellious and tyrannical.

Yet the Lord talks about what is going to happen when He purifies things. He talks about how He is going to remove all of those who are braggarts, and He is going to leave a people who are humble and lowly. He says, There will not be found in their mouths a deceitful tongue. There will not be anyone there who lies. There is not going to be anyone who does what is wrong. And so if we want to be part of Our Lord’s flock, we see what we have to be about: humble, lowly, honest, not being deceitful, but being upright in the way that we live, striving to be like Jesus.

Now if we couple that with the Gospel reading, then, the Lord asked the question about who was the one who did the will of the father. We can ask ourselves that question. He tells us what He expects of us, and we say, “Oh, indeed, I’ll do it!” And then what do we do? We never go out in the field. We do not do the Will of our heavenly Father. Yet Jesus tells us that the tax collectors and prostitutes (and you can substitute anyone that you want into that), when they have a conversion–they have a conversion. They change their lives. They stop doing the things they were doing, not only just the horrendous kinds of actions, but even the way they speak and the way they act suddenly changes. If we look at ourselves in comparison, we say, “Well, why haven’t I done that? Why do I accept that it is okay for me to do these things that I know are wrong?” So we are the ones that are giving lip service to God, telling Him that, yes, we will go out in the field, we will go out and do the work, but then we refuse to do so because we want to do it our way. We think maybe God’s way is a little too restrictive, that maybe doing it God’s way just is not going to be very fun, or we are going to be rejected, or who knows what reason we might have to try to rationalize our way around doing God’s Will. We become just like the son who said, “Yes, I’ll go and do what you want me to do,” and never go and do it because we do not want to do it His way.

Are we not, then, the rebellious and tyrannical city, the ones who are supposed to be dedicated to the Lord in doing His Will and yet we do not? We do not draw near to the Lord. We do not want to do His Will. We give Him lots of lip service, but where are the hearts? That is what He is looking for. He is not just looking for the words; He is looking for the actions. We are to live what we profess, and that is what Jesus is wanting. When we see the way that He will work in the lives of a number of people who have extraordinary conversions, then we have to look at our own selves because this is why He condemned the Pharisees in the Gospel reading. They saw the conversions of the tax collectors and the prostitutes, and even when they saw that, they still did not convert. Consequently, we can only look at our own selves and say, “What about me?”

We have to stop trying to justify and rationalize and have all kinds of cheap excuses as to why it is okay for us not to do what we are supposed to do. We have to look and ask the question: “What does God want me to do? I am to be humble. I am to be honest. I am to be upright. I am to do no wrong.” These are the things that characterize the members of the flock of God. These are the things that He tells us that He Himself is going to do with the people who choose Him. If we want to be part of that flock, that is the way we have to live, to walk humbly with our God and to do always what is right in His sight.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

Beautiful as always Salvation and used it on the air today-Thank you,fatima

Mt 21:28-32
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
28	But what think you? A certain man had two sons: and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work to day in my vineyard.	quid autem vobis videtur homo habebat duos filios et accedens ad primum dixit fili vade hodie operare in vinea mea
29	And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went.	ille autem respondens ait nolo postea autem paenitentia motus abiit
30	And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering said: I go, Sir. And he went not.	accedens autem ad alterum dixit similiter at ille respondens ait eo domine et non ivit
31	Which of the two did the father's will? They say to him: The first. Jesus saith to them: Amen I say to you that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you.	quis ex duobus fecit voluntatem patris dicunt novissimus dicit illis Iesus amen dico vobis quia publicani et meretrices praecedunt vos in regno Dei
32	For John came to you in the way of justice: and you did not believe him. But the publicans and the harlots believed him: but you, seeing it, did not even afterwards repent, that you might believe him.	venit enim ad vos Iohannes in via iustitiae et non credidistis ei publicani autem et meretrices crediderunt ei vos autem videntes nec paenitentiam habuistis postea ut crederetis ei

Dominican teaching a prince Christ in majesty
Illuminated manuscript
14c.

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