† Christmastide Greetings † 26 December 2007 Anno Domini

Robert Drobot | 26 December 2007 Anno Domini | The Most Holy Trinity

[Robert Drobot]

The Story of Christmas

by Abbe Dom Prosper Gueranger

By God's design the number 40 is most significant in holy Mother Church's liturgical year, especially in this particular liturgical year. After four weeks of Advent, we follow with 40 days of Christmas called Christmastide, with the main emphasis on the time between the Nativity of our Lord and the Epiphany. This year within four days of the Feast of the Purification, we follow Christmastide with the 40 Days of Lent, then 40 glorious days before Christ's Ascension into Heaven. Alleluia, indeed!

"There is scarcely a prayer, or a rite, in the Liturgy of this glad Season, which does not imply these two grand Mysteries: an Infant-God, and a Virgin-Mother. The Liturgy never loses sight of the Divine Babe and his incomparable Mother, and never tires in their praises, during the whole period from the Nativity to the day when Mary comes to the Temple to present [ our heavenly Savior ]."

The Feast of Christmas

We apply the name 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, as distinct, by its own special spirit, from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost. One same Mystery is celebrated and kept in view during the whole forty days. Neither the Feasts of the Saints, which so abound during this Season; nor the time of Septuagesima, with its mournful Purple, which often begins before Christmastide is over, seem 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. The Faithful will remember that the Liturgy commemorates this long expectation by the four penitential weeks of Advent.

The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of our Savior's Nativity by a feast or commemoration of forty days' duration is founded on the Holy Gospel itself; for it tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending forty days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfill, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel, when they became mothers.

A Roman Feast

The Feast of Mary's Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus' Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of forty days as one continued Festival has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church.

And firstly, with regard to our Savior's Birth on December 25, we have Saint John Chrysostom [ whose feast is during Christmastide on January 27 ] 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 Judaea 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.

Christmas and Epiphany

But it was not till the fourth century that the Churches of the East began to keep the Feast of our Savior's Birth in the month of December. Up to that period they had kept it at one time on the sixth of January, thus uniting it, under the generic term of Epiphany, with the Manifestation of our Savior made to the Magi, and in them to the Gentiles; at another time, as Saint Clement of Alexandria tells us, they kept it on the 25th of the month Pachon ( May 15 ) , or on the 25th of the month Pharmuth ( April 20 ).

Saint John Chrysostom, in the Homily we have just cited, which he gave in 386, tells us that the Roman custom of celebrating the Birth of our Savior on December 25 had then only been observed ten years in the Church of Antioch.

It is probable that this change had been introduced in obedience to the wishes of the Apostolic See, wishes which received additional weight by the edict of the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, which appeared towards the close of the fourth century, and decreed that the Nativity and Epiphany of our Lord should be made two distinct Festivals.

The only Church that has maintained the custom of celebrating the two mysteries on January 6 is that of Armenia; owing, no doubt, to the circumstance of that country not being under the authority of the Emperors; as also because it was withdrawn at an early period from the influence of Rome by schism and heresy.

An Infant-God and a Virgin-Mother

But what is the characteristic of Christmas in the Latin Liturgy? It is twofold: it is joy, which the whole Church feels at the coming of the Divine Word in the Flesh; and it is admiration of that glorious Virgin, who was made the Mother of God. There is scarcely a prayer, or a rite, in the Liturgy of this glad Season, which does not imply these two grand Mysteries: an Infant-God, and a Virgin-Mother. The Liturgy never loses sight of the Divine Babe and his incomparable Mother, and never tires in their praises, during the whole period from the Nativity to the day when Mary comes to the Temple to present her Jesus.

The Greeks, too, make frequent commemorations of the Maternity of Mary in their Offices of this Season: but they have a special veneration for the twelve days between Christmas Day and the Epiphany, which, in their Liturgy, are called the Dodecameron.

During this time they observe no days of Abstinence from flesh-meat; and the Emperors of the East had, out of respect for the great Mystery, decreed that no servile work should be done, and that the Courts of Law should be closed, until after 6 January.

Christmastide Greetings

"....A Child is born to us, unto us a Son is given...."

May the His boundless and merciful love fill your homes and workplaces throughout this new liturgical year, and may each of us prove ourselves worthy of His forgiveness by our thought, word and deed in the months ahead.

Praise be the grace and glory of the Most Holy Trinity, through our Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; praise be His Holy Name.

Robert Drobot
robertdrobot@att.net

[Robert Drobot]

When Mary, the mother of Jesus, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.
But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying:
Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

"Let Mary's spirit be in each to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith." ~~ Saint Ambrose.

"For while peaceful silence enwrapped all things, And night was in mid course, Thine all-powerful Word leaped from heaven out of thy royal throne." ~~ Wisdom 18.14-5.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA

O Divine Savior,
O King of immortal glory,
Who, in Thy great mercy, didst come into the world to redeem us and to make us holy.
O grant that, denying all ungodliness and love of this world, we may live soberly in ourselves, justly toward our neighbor, and piously before Thee,
that so we may be happy with Thee for all eternity.

[Robert Drobot]

Saint Michael, the Archangel

Defend us in battle against the pagan terrorists

Be our protection against the wickedness

And snares of the devil;

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,

And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,

By the power of God,

Thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits

Who wander through the world

Seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

[Robert Drobot]

SOLDIERS OF CHRIST

I wonder when do we truly become soldiers of Christ?
At what point can we stand up and say we were soldiers for the gospel?
Is it because we are sitting in the pew every time the doors of the church are open?
Is it when we are so active in ministry and doing for those in the church that we have no time for anything else?
Do we not become soldiers for Christ when we step onto the battle field which is to confront sin and Satan in defending Holy Mother Church from those evil hordes and enmities who plot to destroy true believers who inhabit every darkened corner of this world?
Christ calls us to convert those who are blind to His Love and Forgiveness; especially those who have strayed from Him through worldly temptations and heretical teachings.
He calls upon us to actually do this each and everyday of our lives is the day we can honestly say we are soldiers for Christ.
Upon my arrival in Heaven I pray I can say to my heavenly Father, I was a soldier for You all the days of my walk with You on earth.
Are you a soldier today or just someone who wants to stand on the sidelines and let everyone think you are a soldier?
Do you reach out to those who do not know Christ Jesus, so that He can touch their lives in a way only He can?
Or do you stand there and tell yourself you have nothing to offer non-Catholics and false god believers dying in a world of sin?
Become a soldier today and touch those who need Him!
Start with your on family and friends; bless them with a gift of His Holy Word - the Bible - during this new beginning in the Church calendar. Let this be a time of evangelistic conversion; a time for giving the Little Child of Bethlehem the most precious thing you have - yourself.

[Robert Drobot]

Ecclesia Militans

We are in a spiritual and physical war against the army of Satan. Put on the armor of Faith.

Consecrate yourselves totally to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Wear the Brown Scapular. Pray the Rosary everyday.

[Robert Drobot]

The Miracle of Transubstantiation,
in the presence of, and for, the many,
everywhere in the world,
wherever the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated.

Praise be the grace and glory of the Most Holy Trinity, through our Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

[NewCenturions]

Bookmarking. (this is a comfort to read when I see neighbors taking down their Christmas trees TODAY!)

[Robert Drobot]

I just received a FreepMail complaining to me that I should not make use of the 'Orthodox' Index Key. He wrote:

"I notice that you’ve included the Orthodox Christian keyword on this thread although it doesn't’t have anything to do with the Orthodox Christian Church directly.
While I appreciate that you are attempting to flag items that you believe will be of interest to other Christians, the keywords function much like index terms and help call attention to articles that deal with certain subjects.
Several of us use some of the tools available on Free Republic to alert us to articles containing certain keywords so that we can keep up to date on certain topics, such as news about the Orthodox Christian Church in this particular example.
Whenever someone uses a keyword in a different manner, it disrupts the indexing function that we’ve put to use.
I realize that this might not seem to be a big deal to you, but, for us who use Free Republic to share news stories about our Church with other like-minded posters, it would be a courtesy if you didn’t use the keywords for threads which area’t directly related to that keyword.
Thanks."

As a Traditionalist member of the Roman Rite Catholic Church, I am seeking to inform those within the Orthodox Catholic faith that there exist am active force within the Western Catholic faith attempting to move Holy Mother Church away from its dangerous modernist direction, while also attempting to provide the traditional faithful the an accurate account of the arrogant actions of the modernists in the Vatican and the dioceses within the United States.

Am I abusing the use of the 'Orthodox' keyword?

[Robert Drobot]

I posted #7 intending to get your views on this matter, and find I didn’t list you as a recipient. Please ponder Post # 7 and give me your thoughtful opinion. Is Freeper X right?

[Tax-chick]

Am I abusing the use of the 'Orthodox' keyword?

My understanding of the use of keywords is that they identify not only precise topics, but content "of interest" to the mentioned parties. Their use is free. Someone else could use my secret keyword ("Penguinhumor"), which would bring up articles, other than those I've marked, when I do a search. Oh, well.

Perhaps the person who FReepmailed you is on a dialup connection and is working with slow processing. If you wish to please the person (dealer's choice, imo) you could use "orthodoxinterest" as a key word on your posts, so that they wouldn't come up on a search for "orthodox."

[TAdams8591]

Tax-chick's suggestion is a good solution which will permit you to honor the poster's request.

Personally, in my humble opinion, it is a petty issue. : )

[Tax-chick]

People get in a fluff over all kinds of stuff.

[ELS]

From your FReepmail: "I notice that you’ve included the Orthodox Christian keyword ..."

When I viewed this thread the Topic and Keyword lists appeared as follows:

TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Orthodox Christian; Worship;
KEYWORDS: apologetics; catholic; orthodox; worship;

The FReepmail message you received referred to the phrase "Orthodox Christian" which is in the TOPICS list. They did not seem to be concerned with the use of "orthodox" in the KEYWORDS list. I would suggest not using "Orthodox Christian" in the TOPICS list as the traditional Catholic liturgy is not directly an Orthodox Christian topic. When I post the transcripts of the Pope's weekly general audiences, I do not use the "Orthodox Christian" topic, yet there are Orthodox Christians who are on my ping list who are interested in the Pope's catecheses.

[Robert Drobot]

Thank for your thoughtful responses. After rethinking my motives for inclusion of 'orthodordox' as a keyword in many years of its inclusion within my threads, I have concluded to continue the use of it as a 'keyword' is a very small in the direction of uniting the Western/Eastern Catholic Church into a truly inseperable universal church.

I view my linking the word 'orthodox' as a keywoord is not unlike the humble action taken by a few in Boston......

Greek Orthodox, Catholics gather before pilgrimage

Blessing given; unity sought By Ryan Haggerty, Globe Correspondent | September 7, 2007

In an effort to promote unity between their faiths, about 100 clergy and lay members of local Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches were blessed yesterday as they prepared to embark on a 10-day pilgrimage next week to Rome, Istanbul, and St. Petersburg.

Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts The trip is only the third of its kind. It will be led by Metropolitan Methodios, leader of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston, and Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston.

"It's significant for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church because it's an opportunity for us to travel to the centers of our churches in Rome and Constantinople," Methodios said after the prayer service at the metropolis's campus in Brookline. "It's an opportunity to further our quest for the unity of our churches. . . . What a tremendous witness Christianity could give to the world if we were united."

The first such pilgrimage of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox parishioners left from Boston in 1996, said Vito Nicastro, associate director of the office for ecumenical and interreligious affairs at the Archdiocese of Boston.A similar pilgrimage departed from Chicago a few years later, he said.

The schism between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church developed about 1,000 years ago, in part because of disputes over papal authority and doctrinal disagreements. Attempts to reunite the churches in the first few centuries after the spilt proved unsuccessful.

"Our two churches have so much in common, and we look forward to sharing this pilgrimage together to deepen our sense of friendship," O'Malley said. "We want to strengthen our unity. We believe that is God's will."
Christians, Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox all have the same 27 books in the New Testament and the same 39 books in the Old Testament.
The only difference is the apocrypha, a collection of uninspired writings written during the "silent centuries" (400 BC - 27 AD)
Christians reject the Apocrypha as inspired and view all these books as secular uninspired history written by men without the aid of God. Click here for reasons why the apocrypha is uninspired.
The New Testament never quotes from the any of the apocryphal books written between 400 - 200 BC. What is significant here is that NONE of the books within the "apocryphal collection" are every quoted. So the Catholic argument that "the apocryphal books cannot be rejected as uninspired on the basis that they are never quoted from in the New Testament because Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon are also never quoted in the New Testament, and we all accept them as inspired." The rebuttal to this Catholic argument is that "Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther" were always included in the "history collection" of Jewish books and "Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" were always included in the "poetry collection". By quoting one book from the collection, it verifies the entire collection. None of the apocryphal books were ever quoted in the New Testament. Not even once! This proves the Catholic and Orthodox apologists wrong when they try to defend the apocrypha in the Bible.
The group of about 10 clergy and 90 parishioners leaves Boston for Rome on Sept. 16 and returns from St. Petersburg on Sept. 26. Highlights of the trip include an audience in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI; dinner in Istanbul with Patriarch Bartholomew, the honorary spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians; a visit in St. Petersburg with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest Orthodox church in the world; and visits to sites considered sacred by both religions, such as the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome.
Dean Stamoulis, one of the Greek Orthodox parishioners who will be making the trip, said he joined the pilgrimage because he believes in its mission..
"The biggest thing for me is the unity and the ecumenical outreach of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church," he said during a reception after yesterday's prayer service. "Oftentimes, I've heard that we're like two lungs of the same body. . . . When Christ died, he left one united church. Orthodox and Christians are still part of that same church
Ryan Haggerty can be reached at rhaggerty@globe.com.

[Tax-chick]

Good story, but the author reveals himself to be an informed dinglebob, bless his heart:

Christians, Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox all have the same 27 books in the New Testament and the same 39 books in the Old Testament. The only difference is the apocrypha, a collection of uninspired writings written during the "silent centuries" (400 BC - 27 AD) Christians reject the Apocrypha as inspired and view all these books as secular uninspired history written by men without the aid of God. Click here for reasons why the apocrypha is uninspired.

[Tax-chick]

Snert. “Uninformed.”

More coffee.

[FormerLib]

People get in a fluff over all kinds of stuff.

While some seem incapable of extending what others consider a mere courtesy.