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December 21, 2011   Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent   Reading 1 Sg 2:8-14 Hark! my lover--here he comesspringing across the mountains,leaping across the hills.My lover is like a gazelleor a young stag.Here he stands behind our wall,gazing through the windows,peering through the lattices.My lover speaks; he says to me,"Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,and come!"For see, the winter is past,the rains are over and gone.The flowers appear on the earth,the time of pruning the vines has come,and the song of the dove is heard in our land.The fig tree puts forth its figs,and the vines,...

December 20, 2011   Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent     Reading 1 Is 7:10-14 The LORD spoke to Ahaz:Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!But Ahaz answered,"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!" Then Isaiah said:Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men,must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and shall name him Emmanuel. Responsorial Psalm Ps 24:1-2, 3-4ab,...

December 19, 2011   Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent   Reading 1 Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children. An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,"Though you are barren and have had no children,yet you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drinkand to eat nothing unclean.As for the son you will conceive and bear,no razor shall touch his head,for this...

It’s always interesting to track down the origins of holiday traditions. Now that Christmas is upon us, many are putting out their Nativity scenes with the usual stable, wise men and donkey. Some interesting facts:

“Good News Comes in Strange Packages” (Luke 1:26-38)How’d you like to have a really scary guy come up to you unexpectedly and tell you: “Hey, I’ve got good news for you! You’re about to have a life-changing experience that will cause the person closest to you to think you have betrayed him, an experience that will make you into something of a social outcast and that will rearrange your whole life and plans from anything you expected. Yeah, this is some really good news I have for you!” How would you feel, and what would you say to such a...

December 18, 2011   Fourth Sunday of Advent   Reading 1 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 When King David was settled in his palace,and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,he said to Nathan the prophet,"Here I am living in a house of cedar,while the ark of God dwells in a tent!"Nathan answered the king,"Go, do whatever you have in mind,for the LORD is with you."But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:"Go, tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD:Should you build me a house to dwell in?' "'It was I...

While the world has already been celebrating a very secular "christmas" since before the Thanksgiving holiday, Christians ought not get caught up in the emptiness of it all.  Easter is now about bunnies and Christmas about buying and giving extravagant, and sometimes mountains of gifts for others.  Some will give to God what little time is left over, and other believers will give Him virtually not time at all.  Wtihin moderation, there is nothing wrong with gift giving.  But that should come secondary to something else.....  We must all ask ourselves if the practice of our faith revolves around our lives or...

December 17, 2011 Saturday of the Third Week of Advent   Reading 1 Gn 49:2, 8-10 Jacob called his sons and said to them:"Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,listen to Israel, your father. "You, Judah, shall your brothers praise--your hand on the neck of your enemies;the sons of your father shall bow down to you.Judah, like a lion's whelp,you have grown up on prey, my son.He crouches like a lion recumbent,the king of beasts--who would dare rouse him?The scepter shall never depart from Judah,or the mace from between his legs,While tribute is brought to him,and he receives the people's...

An Advent Challenge: Love Your Enemies! Dec 13th, 2011by Gary Zimak. Dear Lord,So far today I’ve done all right.I haven’t gossiped, cursed, or lost my temper.I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or overindulgent.I am really glad about these things.But, in a few minutes Lord,I am going to get out of bed,and from then on,I’m probably going to need a lot more help.Thank You,In Jesus’ Name. Amen.  (Author unknown)Most of us will chuckle when reading this prayer, but isn’t the message really true?  One of the most difficult aspects of being a Christian is dealing with people.  Especially challenging is...

December 16, 2011 Friday of the Third Week of Advent   Reading 1 Is 56:1-3a, 6-8 Thus says the LORD:Observe what is right, do what is just;for my salvation is about to come,my justice, about to be revealed.Blessed is the man who does this,the son of man who holds to it;Who keeps the sabbath free from profanation,and his hand from any evildoing.Let not the foreigner say,when he would join himself to the LORD,"The LORD will surely exclude me from his people." The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,ministering to him,Loving the name of the LORD,and becoming his servants--All...

"O Antiphons" for the Week before ChristmasIntroduction: Most familiar today from the Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," the seven traditional "O Antiphons" are actually more than a thousand years old. They have long been used at the very end of Advent (Dec. 17-23) in the liturgical prayer of the Church, as Antiphons for the "Magnificat" sung or recited during Vespers (the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours). Since the Second Vatican Council, they have also been adapted (slightly reworded and rearranged) for the "Alleluia Verse" of the Mass (the short scriptural text or paraphrase that immediately...

The Journey To Bethlehem is Not Comfortable! December 21st, 2009 by Gary Zimak During the season of Advent, we are all invited to travel our own personal “road to Bethlehem”. When we arrive at our destination on Christmas Day, we will hopefully be closer to the Lord than when we began the journey.  Over the course of these few weeks, we have the opportunity to look at our lives and attempt to find ways of becoming closer to Christ.  One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to “take the easy way out” and do nothing or choose only those...

“Blameless at the Coming of Our Lord” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24)In this three-part Advent series, we have been looking at, and looking forward to, the coming of our Lord. And by that, I mean his Second Coming, the Last Day, the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns on clouds of glory to render judgment on the earth. Accordingly, we have been speaking of the need to be “Awake until, Waiting for, and Blameless at the Coming of our Lord.” This has been our series theme. We began two weeks ago by hearing Jesus’ parable from Mark 13, about the servants...

December 15, 2011   Thursday of the Third Week of Advent   Reading 1 Is 54:1-10 Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,For more numerous are the children of the deserted wifethan the children of her who has a husband,says the LORD.Enlarge the space for your tent,spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;your descendants shall dispossess the nationsand shall people the desolate cities. Fear not, you shall not...

December 14, 2011 Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church   Reading 1 Is 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25 I am the LORD, there is no other;I form the light, and create the darkness,I make well-being and create woe;I, the LORD, do all these things.Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;let justice also spring up!I, the LORD, have created this. For thus says the LORD,The creator of the heavens,who is God,The designer and maker of the earthwho established...

December 13, 2011 Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr   Reading 1 Zep 3:1-2, 9-13 Thus says the LORD:Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted,to the tyrannical city!She hears no voice,accepts no correction;In the LORD she has not trusted,to her God she has not drawn near. For then I will change and purifythe lips of the peoples,That they all may call upon the name of the LORD,to serve him with one accord;From beyond the rivers of Ethiopiaand as far as the recesses of the North,they shall bring me offerings. On that dayYou need not be ashamed of all...

December 12, 2011   Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe   Reading 1 Zec 2:14-17 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,and they shall be his people,and he will dwell among you,and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.The LORD will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land,and he will again choose Jerusalem.Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD!For he stirs forth from his holy dwelling. Or Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab God's...

“The Messiah’s Job Description” (Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)As we just heard in the Gospel reading and sang in the hymn, St. John the Baptist came, proclaiming the arrival of the Savior and preparing the way before him. In doing this, John fulfilled the job description set forth for him in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40, as John himself says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” John came to proclaim the coming of the one coming after him. But what about that one coming after...

December 11, 2011   Third Sunday of Advent   Reading 1 Is 61:1-2a, 10-11 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me;he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,to heal the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the captivesand release to the prisoners,to announce a year of favor from the LORDand a day of vindication by our God. I rejoice heartily in the LORD,in my God is the joy of my soul;for he has clothed me with a robe of salvationand wrapped me in a mantle of justice,like a bridegroom adorned with...

December 10, 2011   Saturday of the Second Week of Advent   Reading 1 Sir 48:1-4, 9-11 In those days,like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijahwhose words were as a flaming furnace.Their staff of bread he shattered,in his zeal he reduced them to straits;By the Lord's word he shut up the heavensand three times brought down fire.How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!Whose glory is equal to yours?You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,in a chariot with fiery horses.You were destined, it is written, in time to cometo put an end to wrath before...