Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 12-24-05, Mass in the Morning

For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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

Advent 2005 – He Comes! The King of Glory

From: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

Nathan's Prophecy About the Dynasty

[1] Now when the king dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest
from all his enemies round about, [2] the king said to Nathan the prophet,
See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent."
[3] And Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart; for the
LORD is with you."

[4] But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, [5] "Go and
tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to
dwell in?

[8b] "'I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you
should be prince over my people Israel; [9] and I have been with you
wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I
will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the
earth. [10] And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant
them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more: and
violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, [11] from the time that
I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all
your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you
a house. [12] When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your
fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from
your body, and I will establish his kingdom. [14a] I will be his father, and
he shall be my son. [16] And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure
for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.'"

Commentary:

7:1-17. Nathan is a court prophet will also appear in later accounts
connected with Solomon and Bathsheba, his mother (cf. 2 Sam 12:1-25 and 1
Kings 1:11-40). As prophet he is God's spokesman (he twice uses the classic
formulation, "Thus says the Lord": vv. 5 and 8); here he has to oppose the
king's plans (vv. 5-7); he proclaims a message which cannot but have its
effect on the listener because the word of God is true and it always comes
to pass.

Nathan's prophecy is particularly important: it decides who will succeed
David, and it has to do with the Messiah, who will be a descendant of David.
What he says has all the formality of an oracular statement; it confirms the
dynastic succession and specifies the role of the temple among God's chosen
people.

For pagan peoples (Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian etc.) the temple was the
center of their world and the focus of their religious spirit; it was there
that they kept their gods. In Israel, on the other hand, the temple will
have quite a different role. It is based on the fact that the true God is
not content with a temple; he has no need of a house in which to dwell (cf.
1 Kings 8:27). If he allows there to be sanctuaries or shrines (cf. Gen
28:20-22), the desert tabernacle or tent (cf. Ex 33:7-11) and later the
temple of Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kings 8:1-66), these are only signs of his
presence among the people, not a habitation that he in any sense needs.
Nathan's prophecy shows that it is not so much the temple as the Davidic
dynasty that is the sign of divine presence and protection that God has set
up from the start. Hence the play on words between "house of God" (temple)
and "house of David" (dynasty).

The hereditary monarchy, then, is the center of Nathan's prophecy. If
Michal's sterility cut off the line of succession from Saul, the prophecy
assured that David's line would endure. From the central part of the
prophecy (vv. 13-16) we can see that every descendant of David, the figure
of the future Messiah, will have the following qualities:

a) He will be a son to God (v. 14a). This is not natural, human, sonship; it
refers to the closeness of the relationship between God and the king (cf. Ps
2:7; 89:26-27), so that the person and rule of the king will symbolize the
presence of God and the active role he plays in the life of the people. The
king's sonship to God, then, is an _expression of the covenant established
between God and David's line. God commits himself to act towards the king as
a good father to his son. Jesus will bring these words and this covenant to
full fruition, for he is the "eternal Son of God" made man (cf. Gal 4:4).
Whereas he is the Son of God by natural generation, all the baptized are
"sons in the Son": "For this is the very reason why the Word became flesh,
why the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into
communion with the Word and thereby partaking of divine filiation, might be
converted into a son of God" (St Irenaeus, "Adversus Haereses", 3, 19, 1;
cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church", 460).

b) He will be punished when necessary, but the punishment will be only
temporary (14b-15), that is, David's line will not be cut off as happened to
Saul, nor will any dethronement last, because the love of God will always
win out. In the light of this oracular statement, any misfortunes of the
people, even the exile in Babylon, despite being punishment for their sins,
will be above all a proof of God's
mercy. The death of Jesus on the cross, though caused by the sins of men, is
above all a proof of the love of God who gave up his Son (cf. Rom 8:32), and
of the love of Jesus who gave himself up on men's behalf (cf. Rom 4:25; Eph
5:25).

c) The Davidic dynasty will endure forever (vv. 12-13, 15-16). The title
"son of David" will refer not only to genealogical descent but also to the
fact that the holder is the beneficiary of this promise and of the Davidic
covenant (cf. 1 Kings 8:25; Ps 132:10-18; Jer 17:24-27; Ezek 34:23-24;
etc.). After the exile this is the title which is most often applied to the
Messiah, and the writers of the New Testament, of course, are at pains to
point out that Jesus is the "son of David" (cf. Mt 1:1; 9:27; Rom 1:3). The
liturgy of the Solemnity of St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin,
includes this text, because it is he who is the guarantor of the Davidic
descent of Jesus (Mt 1:20) through being "of the house of David" (Lk 1:27).

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.

From: Luke 1:67-79

The Benedictus

[67] And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and
prophesied, saying, [68] "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has
visited and redeemed his people, [69] and has raised up a horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David, [70] as he spoke by the mouth of
his holy prophets from of old, [71] that we should be saved from our
enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; [72] to perform the mercy
promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, [73] the oath
which he swore to our father Abraham, [74] to grant us that we, being
delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, [75]
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. [76] And
you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go
before the Lord to prepare his ways, [77] to give knowledge of salvation to
his people in the forgiveness of their sins, [78] through the tender mercy
of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high [79] to give light
to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet
into the way of peace."

Commentary:

67. Zechariah, who was a righteous man (cf. v. 6), received the special
grace of prophecy when his son was born--a gift which led him to pronounce
his canticle, called the "Benedictus", a prayer so full of faith, reverence
and piety that the Church has laid it down to be said daily in the Liturgy
of the Hours. Prophecy has not only to do with foretelling future events; it
also means being moved by the Holy Spirit to praise God. Both aspects of
prophecy are to be found in the "Benedictus".

68- 79. Two parts can be discerned in the "Benedictus": in the first (vv.
68-75) Zechariah thanks God for sending the Messiah, the Savior, as he
promised the patriarchs and prophets of Israel.

In the second (vv. 76-79) he prophesies that his son will have the mission
of being herald of the Most High and precursor of the Messiah, proclaiming
God's mercy which reveals itself in the coming of Christ.

72-75. Again and again God promised the patriarchs of the Old Testament that
he would take special care of Israel, giving them a land which they would
enjoy undisturbed and many descendants in whom all the peoples of the earth
would be blessed. This promise he ratified by means of a covenant or
alliance, of the kind commonly made between kings and their vassals in the
Near East. God, as Lord, would protect the patriarchs and their descendants,
and these would prove their attachment to him by offering him certain
sacrifices and by doing him service. See, for example, Genesis 12:13;
17:1-8; 22:16-18 (God's promise, covenant and pledge to Abraham); and
Genesis 5:11-12 (where he repeats these promises to Jacob). Zechariah
realizes that the events resulting from the birth of John his son, the
Precursor of the Messiah; constitute complete fulfillment of these divine
purposes.

78-79. The "dawning", the "dayspring", is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, coming
down from heaven to shed his light upon us: "the son of righteousness shall
rise, with healing on its wings" (Mal 4:2). Already in the Old Testament we
were told about the glory of the Lord, the reflection of his
presence--something intimately connected with light. For example, when Moses
returned to the encampment after talking with God, his face so shone that
the Israelites "were afraid to come near him" (Ex 34:30). St John is making
the same reference when he says that "God is light and in him there is no
darkness" (1 Jn 1:5) and that there will be no light in heaven "for the
glory of God is its light" (cf. Rev 21:23; 22:5).

The angels (cf. Rev 1:11) and the saints (cf. Wis 3:7; Dan 2:3) partake of
this divine splendor; our Lady does so in a special way. As a symbol of the
Church she is revealed to us in the Apocalypse as "clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feel, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (12:1).

Even when we live in this world, this divine light reaches us through Jesus
Christ who, because he is God, is "the true light that enlightens every man"
(Jn 1:9), as Christ himself tells us: "I am the light of the world; he who
follows me will not walk in darkness" (Jn 8:12).

Such is Christians' share in this light of God that Jesus tells us: "You are
the light of the world" (Mt 5:14). Therefore, we must live as children of
the light (cf. Lk 16:8), whose fruit takes the form of "all that is good and
right and true" (Eph 5:9); our lives should shine oul, thereby helping
people to know God and give him glory (cf. Mt 5:16).

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.

Saturday, December 24, 2005
Advent Weekday

First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16
Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Luke 1:67-79

This day you shall know that the Lord will come, and save us: and in the morning you shall see His glory.

-- Ps. xvi. 6,7

A blessed Christmas to all!

Sing praise to the Lord with the harp,

with the harp and melodious song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn,

sing joyfully before the King, the Lord.

Merry Christmas Salvation,thank you for all that you do:),fatima

The preeminent Advent Hymn summarizes the hopes of David and the Canticl of Zechariah. The link will take one to a tasteful folk arrangement of the tune.

"Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel"
by unknown author, c. 1100
Translated by John M. Neale, 1818-1866

1. Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

2. Oh, come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

3. Oh, come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

4. Oh, come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home:
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #62
Text: Is. 59:20
Author: unknown, c. 1100
Translated by: John M. Neale, 1851, 1859, ab.
Titled: "Veni, veni, Emmanuel"
Tune: "Veni,Emmanuel"
Tune: Plain-song melody, c. 1200

What many don't realize about that hymn is that it lists most of the "O" antiphons!

O come thou, Wisdom
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse's stem,
O come, Thou Key of David,
O come, Thou Dayspirng
o come, Desire (King) of nations
O come, O come, Emmanuel

Radiant Dawn seems to be missing.

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Come Lord Jesus, do not delay; give new courage to your people who trust in your love. By your coming, raise us to the joy of your kingdom, where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

Activities:

Prayers:

December 24, 2005

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Advent

Old Calendar: Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord

In the General Roman Calendar, this date is the last day of Advent, Christmas Eve, and also (beginning with the vigil Mass) is the first day of Christmas time. The liturgical texts express wholehearted confidence in the imminent coming of the Redeemer. There is much joyous expectation. Most families have their own observances, customs that should be preserved from generation to generation. Today is the last day of our Christmas Novena.

+Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

Christmas Eve at Church

The entire liturgy of Christmas Eve is consecrated to the anticipation of the certain and sure arrival of the Savior: "Today you shall know that the Lord shall come and tomorrow you shall see His glory" (Invitatory of Matins for the Vigil of the Nativity). Throughout Advent we have seen how the preparation for Jesus' coming became more and more precise. Isaiah, John the Baptist and the Virgin Mother appeared throughout the season announcing and foretelling the coming of the King. We learn today that Christ according to His human nature is born at Bethlehem of the House of David of the Virgin Mary, and that according to His divine nature He is conceived of the Spirit of holiness, the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity.

The certitude of His coming is made clear in two images. The first is that of the closed gate of paradise. Since our first parents were cast forth from the earthly paradise the gate has been closed and a cherubim stands guard with flaming sword. The Redeemer alone is able to open this door and enter in. On Christmas Eve we stand before the gate of paradise, and it is for this reason that Psalm 23 is the theme of the vigil:

Lift up your gates, O princes,
Open wide, eternal gates,
That the King of Glory may enter in. . . .

Christmas Eve at Home

It must be so that the grown-ups may devote themselves with a quiet mind, unhindered by any commotion, to these great mysteries of the Holy Night, that in most Catholic countries the giving of gifts has been advanced to Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is an appropriate time for the exchange of gifts, after the Christ-Child has been placed in the manger, and the special prayers before the crib — and a round of Christmas carols — are over. If the gifts are given out before the Midnight Mass, the children can concentrate more easily on the great mystery which is celebrated, when the Greatest Gift is given to all alike, even those who have received no material expression of Christmas love. And then, too, Christmas Day with its two additional Masses can be devoted more to the contemplation of the Christmas mystery and the demands of Christmas hospitality.

The opening of the eternal gates through which the King of Glory may enter is indicated by the wreath on the door of our homes at Christmastide. The Advent wreath, which accompanied the family throughout the season of preparation may be taken down. The violet ribbons are removed, and it is gloriously decorated with white and gold. It is then placed upon the door as a symbol of the welcome of Christ into our city, our home and our hearts. On Christmas Eve the whole house should be strewn with garlands and made ready for the Light of the World. The crib is set in a special place of honor, for tonight the central figure of the Nativity scene is to arrive.

Today is Day Nine of the Christmas Novena.

The best hymnals include all seven antiphons/verses.

"Blest dayspring" is the result of hymnwriters needing to condense the four syllables of "radiant dawn" into three.

Thanks for the links and commentaries. I went to the mass this morning. Probably 50 people went to confession before mass, including a lot of families. We will be going at midnight too. Hope you have a merry Christmas.

Lk 1:67-79
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
67	And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Ghost. And he prophesied, saying:	et Zaccharias pater eius impletus est Spiritu Sancto et prophetavit dicens
68	Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people.	benedictus Deus Israhel quia visitavit et fecit redemptionem plebi suae
69	And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant.	et erexit cornu salutis nobis in domo David pueri sui
70	As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning.	sicut locutus est per os sanctorum qui a saeculo sunt prophetarum eius
71	Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us.	salutem ex inimicis nostris et de manu omnium qui oderunt nos
72	To perform mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy testament.	ad faciendam misericordiam cum patribus nostris et memorari testamenti sui sancti
73	The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us.	iusiurandum quod iuravit ad Abraham patrem nostrum
74	That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear:	daturum se nobis ut sine timore de manu inimicorum nostrorum liberati serviamus illi
75	In holiness and justice before him, all our days.	in sanctitate et iustitia coram ipso omnibus diebus nostris
76	And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt, go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:	et tu puer propheta Altissimi vocaberis praeibis enim ante faciem Domini parare vias eius
77	To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins.	ad dandam scientiam salutis plebi eius in remissionem peccatorum eorum
78	Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:	per viscera misericordiae Dei nostri in quibus visitavit nos oriens ex alto
79	To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.	inluminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis

Scenes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist

Unknown Master

probably 1330-40
Tempera on panel, 49,1 x 40,8 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Here we see a sequence of three separate events from the Baptist's infancy. First, two women admire the new infant, while a child peers in from the doorway. Next, John's father, Zacharias, writes "his name is John" on a scroll. While writing he regains the power of speech, which had been taken from him because he was skeptical of God's announcement that his elderly wife would conceive. One witness looks right, leading our eye to the third scene, where the infant John struggles while being circumcised.
Source

Seeing so many people go to Confession really lifts my heart. We had six priests on Thursday and I would say that there were at least 20 to 30 in each line!

Wow!

Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 12-24-05, Nativity of the Lord, (Christmas) Vigil Mass