Second Sunday of Advent

Prayer Means Progress

Gospel of the Second Sunday of Advent:

hen John had heard in prison the words of Christ, sending two of his disciples he said to him:  Art thou He that is to come, or look we for another?  And Jesus answering said to them "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen.  the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them; and blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.  And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John:  What went ye out into the desert to see:  A reed shaken with the wind?  But what went ye out to see?  A man clothed in soft garments?  Behold, they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the house of kings.  But what went ye out to see?  A prophet?  Yeah, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  For this is he of whom it is written:  Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee (Mt. 11:2-10).

We have said that the Church, in her Advent story, tells us the most beautiful of all the stories of earth, the story of God becoming man.  Today and every Advent day, she continues the tale.  Just as a great artist uses many colors to bring out the beauty of his detail -- and yet there is always one dominant color -- and just as a tapestry weaver uses many colored skeins to beautify the design -- and yet there always remains a prominent hue in his texture -- so the greatest mother of them all, holy Mother the Church, paints for us today, by her liturgy of Advent, the picture of Christ's coming, and the dominant thread in the great detail of this tapestry of beauty which she is weaving is that of courage.  The Divine Office of the Church is filled with notes of joy, hope, and courage with which the soul awaiting Christ should be animated.

 Holy Mother the Church says today to every Catholic heart, "Come with me."  As loyal subjects, as children, we follow and in spirit we pass over the waters to a church in the City of Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Holy Cross.  In the language of Sacred Scripture, Jerusalem is the image of the faithful soul.  From the cross we are to take courage and hope.  Of old the cross was an instrument of crucifixion.  It was an object of horror and derision, but today, by virtue of the grace of God, the cross is an object of  veneration.  From the cross comes courage.  St. Thomas a Kempis says, "In the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is freedom from our enemies.  Take up your cross and follow Jesus and you shall enter into eternal life."

Our infallible teacher and guide now guides us gently into the liturgy of the Mass, and, in the Epistle and Gospel we hear again the dominant note of courage inspired by a strong faith, a lively hope, and an ardent charity.

In the Epistle, St. Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, says:  "Brethren, whatsoever things were written, were written for our learning; that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope."  Again the great Apostle exhorts us to rejoice.  In the Gospel of the day we are exhorted to have faith in Jesus, for "the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them."  Here is the groundwork of our courage, a deep faith in Jesus Christ.

Finally, the third of the three virtues must be manifest in our courage, namely, charity.  This greatest of the virtues makes us most like unto God, who is love, just as the lack of it makes us most like unto the devil, who hates fiercely!  The members of Christ's Mystical Body must be motivated by love if their courage is to have deep-rooted effects.  The members of anti-Christ have no place in their meetings for charity.  Their Gospel is one of hatred.  Red truly is the color of a heart inflamed, red is the color of martyrs, and red is the color of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love and charity.  We must revolutionize not bodies in rebellions of hate, but souls in rebellion against sin.  Members of Christ's Mystical Body must be motivated by love for God.  This battle of courage and love must be waged under our banner of red, which symbolizes the martyrs' blood and the holy Spirit, the Spirit of love.

Like Christian warriors of old,  panoplied in faith, hope, and charity, which constitute the armor of God, by Advent prayer and penance we will find our courage renewed!  Despite the hardships of life and the perversities of men, we "will take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them," for God is on our side.

Let us not think that this battle can be won except with the grace of God.  Holy Mother the Church takes us in the spirit of the liturgy to Jerusalem, the city typifying the faithful soul.  The Church in accents of liturgical chant and in colors of penitential purple shows us the holy cross and its reliquary, the Basilica at Jerusalem, in order to stir upon our courage motivated by faith, hope, and charity. The Church gives us a model in today's Gospel, St. John the Baptist, who was not a reed shaken by the wind, nor a man clothed in soft garments, but rather a prophet, of whom it was written, "I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee."

We can win this battle only with Christ!  Are we blind?  Then let us come to Him who is the Light of the world.  Are we lame?  He will cure us so that we can walk!  Do we suffer from the leprosy of sin?  He will cleanse us!  He will cleanse us! Are we deaf to the dangers of perversion corrupting even the very salt of the earth?  He will cause us to listen to the sweet inspiration of God's grace in our souls!  Are we dead in sin?  He will make us live the life of grace, the life of God.  Are we poor?  He will preach to us the Kingdom of Heaven, where "neither rust nor moth doth consume, nor thieves break through to steal."

 Come, Lord Jesus, we pray, come into our souls, renew our courage with deep sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, the world needs Your Advent! The world, as Isaias has said, is sickened and the whole body is sad,  yet, we have ardent hope, for, like the voice of the captain on the bridge in a story peril at sea, we can hear above the din and noise of the turbulent waves the voice of our Master, "Lo, I am with you all days even unto the consummation of the world."

Prayer

Dear Jesus, teach me to forgive even my enemies that I may be forgiven.  Show me the true motive of love which binds up the wounds and refuses to count the cost.  Calvary is our great lesson.  Help me to reflect upon it every day of my life.  Bethlehem and Calvary are cycles -- returning over and over again and teaching me of God's love and forgiveness.  The Babe at Bethlehem and the God-man on the cross both -- the one and same divinity -- extend arms of love and mercy.



I love this image of the Visitation by Jacopo da Pontormo, an Italian painter of the 16th century.  In many images of this famous meeting, the Blessed Mother is shown obviously expecting, but St. Elizabeth, who would have been farther along, doesn't look pregnant at all. But Pontormo shows St. Elizabeth's age, as well as the roundness of her figure.   Part of the great wonder of this visit was the fact that St. Elizabeth, who was thought to have been barren and well past the age of conceiving, was indeed with child -- and our Mother  Mary was thrilled  to visit with her cousin and celebrate this miracle, as well as to share with her the news of her own great blessing -- the greatest of all miracles.  In this painting, we see the natural feminine reaction of an embrace when the two holy women meet -- and in this painting, we see the two exchange such a tender, fond look of understanding.  We can imagine that baby St. John has just leapt within the womb of St. Elizabeth and she has just said the first words that pair her son, the great evangelist, with Jesus, our Redeemer:    “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”  (Lk. 1: 42-45)
~ Lisa

 

First Saturday of Advent

Promise of Peace

ur Lady of Fatima, appearing to three little shepherd children, Jacinta, aged seven, Francisco, aged nine, and Lucia, aged ten, on a plateau outside the village of Cova da Iria (in Fatima, a Portuguese town about sixty miles north of Lisbon), made some promises regarding the peace of the world that are particularly pertinent at this time.

With a smile of maternal tenderness, yet somewhat sad, she beckoned gently to the children to approach, saying:  "Have no fear; I will do you no harm.  I come from heaven.  I want you children to come here on the thirteenth of each month, until October.  Then I will tell you who I am."

On July13th, 1917, after the children had seen the apparition of our Lady again, as promised, they were permitted to behold the fires of hell, after which the following prophecy was delivered:

"You have seen the inferno where the souls of sinners end.  To save souls Our Lord desires that devotion to my Immaculate Heart be established in the world.

"If what I tell you is done, many wouls will be saved and there will be peace.  the war will end; but if they do not cease to offend the Lord, not much time will elapse, and precisely during the next Pontificate, another and more terrible war will commence.  When a night illumination by an unknown light is seen, know that is the signal that God gives you that the castigation of the world for its many transgressions is at hand, through war, famine, and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father.  To prevent this I ask the consecration of the world to my Immaculate Heart, and Communion in reparation on the first Saturday of each month."

August 13th found more than 15,000 people at the Cova da Iria.  More than 30, 000 people gathered there on September 13; and again on October 13, despite incessant rain, an enormous crowd of more than 70,000 assenbled from all corners of Portugal and far distant places in Europe.

On this latter occasion the beautiful Lady appeared to the children for the last time, more radiant than ever before.  "Her face was brighter than the sun,"  said Francisico, who was dazzled, but yet unable to withdraw his gaze.  To the question, "Who are you and what do you wish?"  placed by Lucia, the answer came:

"I am the Lady of the Rosary and I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins.  They must not continue to offend Our Lord, already so deeply offended.  They must say the Rosary."

Our Blessed Mother also declared that she wished a Church built at the Cova da Iria in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, and that if the people amended their lives the war would soon end.

The apparitions of Our Lady have received the seal of approval of the Church as worthy of our belief, and the devotion was authorized under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary.  Millions of pilgrims have visited Fatima; and in a five-year period 215 miraculous cures were claimed.  Fatima is fast becoming a world center of Mary's wonders and intercession.

Pope Pius XII asks all to pray to Ou Lady of Fatima.  He has dedicated the world to her Immaculate Heart.  During Advent, and, indeed, every first Saturday of the month, pray for peace.

Prayer

Queen of the Most Holy rosary, Refuge of the human race, Victress in all God's battles, we humbly prostrate ourselves before your throne, confident that we shall receive mercy, grace, and bountiful assistance and protection in the present calamity, not through our own inadequate merits, but solely through the great goodness of your maternal heart.  Amen.




The Immaculate Heart of Mary

~ C.B. Chambers

Msgr. Coogan's words ring as true today as they must have in the early 1950s, in the wake of WWII and in the midst of the Korean War.  Though it's true the calamities du jour may be different than the ones when the book Spiritual Steps to Christmas was published, our world has sunk to new lows in many respects and threats crowd around us from every direction.  The rosary, therefore, is more importnt now than ever, and the devotion of the Five First Saturdays is an antidote most desperately needed in our troubled times.  Though this seems a somber subject to discuss during Advent, it's a necessary one if we truly wish to honor the Babe of the Manger.  His Mother wishes to save us; she only asks that we do our part.  ~ Lisa



The First Friday of Advent

Going Home

he poet, John Howard Payne has memorialized for all times the ballad, "Home, Sweet home,"  of which the opening lines, so familiar to most of us are:

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Sometime ago there was shown in the newsreel theaters, under the sponsorship of "This Is America"  a film dealing with marriage and the home entitled, "Courtship and the Courthouse," in which there was dramatically portrayed the great danger that faces America today when almost one out of every four marriages ends in divorce.

From the watchtower of the eternal city, Pope Pius XII, surveying with a master's eye the subversive forces of anti-Christ and atheism, has sounded a warning to the world on the dangers that strike at the very foundations of human society.  He cautions us to beware of those who would destroy the sanctity of the home.

In the liturgy of the Church we read of the obedience of Christ to his Blessed Mother and to St. Joseph.  St. Paul tells us of the virtues that go to make up a good home when he says:  "Be ye all, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the soul of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience.  Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also...  Wives, be subject to your husbands as it behooveth in the Lord.  Husbands, love our wives and be not bitter towards them.  Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is pleasing to the Lord...  Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men.  Knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance.  Serve ye the Lord Christ" (Co. 3:12-24).

The universe is God's home, and if men would only look up to God they would be at home even in their adversities.  The United Nations is trying to build a home for the universality of mankind, but there can be no universality and there can be no home without god.  thus the Psalmist explains, "O Lord our God, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! ... What is man that thou art mindful of him?  or the son of man that thou visitest him?  Thou has made him a little less than the angels, thou has crowned him with glory and honour, and has set him over the works of thy hands...  O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the earth" (8:1-10).

The world is God's home and God is at home in the world.  There is nothing that man can do to expel God from the universe.  Foolishly -- for it is only the fool who would so act -- do men try to expel God from the world He has made

God is at home in the soul of man as often as man sets his will in accord with the will of God.  God is present in the houses of both rich and poor as often as a man and wife live in accordance with the moral laws of the
Creator.  Man can make houses, but only God can make a home.

Advent tells us of our going home to God.  Christmas means God with us.

Christmas reminds us of the great beneficence of God.  Of Him it was said, "Unto His own He came and his own received him not."  Into our hearts he would this Christmas come, if we would but open them to receive Him. Into our homes he will come, if we will but make them truly Christian,  for Christmas is the feast day of the home.  If we will make our hearts a tabernacle, He will come to dwell in them through His grace.  If we will but make our homes truly Christian, He will come to sanctify our homes and our nation.

Prayer

O Lady of Heaven, Mary, you were homeless at Bethlehem and had to travel a long journey to escape the wrath of a wicked King.  Joseph, your faithful spouse, never faltered, but worked humbly and incessantly to make a home for you and Jesus.

Heaven is our home and we are always truant children unless we direct our every step toward heaven and you.

Mother Mary, intercede with God for grace in our behalf that we may never wander from the path that leads to our heavenly home.

The heart of a God beat in the breast of a Child at Bethlehem.  That same heart was pierced on
Calvary -- the very heart of God.

Is it any wonder that the Sacred heart of God bleeds for us anew every time a sin is committed?  St. Paul tells us that sin crucifies Christ all over again.

To Margaret Mary Alacoque Christ confided that the world should make reparation.  He asks good souls, as it were, to repair the damage of sin.

If a mother can give the substance of her body to feed her child -- if a father can, under God, generate new life and sustain it by his toil, sweat, and very blood, why cannot the members of the Church which is Christ's Mystical Body give of prayers and sacrifices to make amends to the Heart of Christ for their fellow men who sin?

Soldiers on battlefields give their blood that we may live in freedom.  the least a good solder of Christ might do is bleed a little in a spiritual way by penance as an offering of reparation to the Sacred heart of Christ.

Home is where the heart is and our hearts ought to be at home only with God.  This is the meaning of First Friday reparation.

The Church canonized Margaret Mary, who is known to us by the Twelve Promises made by our Lord to her.  The Church encourages the faithful to make a Communion of Reparation on each First Friday because of the revelations and to make the Nine First Fridays because of the wonderful Twelfth Promise:  "I promise thee in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the Sacraments.  My divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment."



Sacred Heart of Jesus, be our salvation!



First Thursday of Advent

Happy New Year!

he world is old, but the Church -- ever ancient and ever new -- is  young.

No mortal ever looks forward to old age with joy or jubilation.  He may look forward to a day of accomplishment when he will be able to say, "I have finished,"  or to some long-cherished hope fulfilled.  But no one of us can honestly say we celebrate our birthday with joy and exultation because we are older by a year.  What, then, does age give us to occasion joy?  Does it not bring us closer to the portal of death?  Does it not separate us each year farther from the period of our youth?  True, all true -- but age brings us also closer to God.  Our bodies grow old, but our intellect and will, faculties of the soul, become keener and more disciplined, thanks to the great faith that we have inherited and for which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered and died, so that we might be children of God and heirs of heaven.

Thus, Advent is the dawn of a liturgically new year.  We grow older in age, but, please God, closer to our ambition and goal -- a good life, a greater devotion to duty and to our neighbor, and an assurance of eternal life.

The world grows old, but the Church is ever young.  Hence it is that though our bodies grow old and feeble, our souls, spurred on with the promise of immortality on the part of One who is faithful to His promises, grow not feeble in hope but advance in wisdom and grace before God and men.  Our wills, disciplined by prayer which makes them one with the divine will, and by sacrifice which curbs our lower nature, makes us more like unto Christ who came that we might have life in abundance.

Every new ecclesiastical year of the Advent season has meaning for the Catholic heart.  The new year reminds us to reflect upon the old, not for the sake of regrets, but for the purpose of greater progress for the future.  Each penitential season of Advent renews hope in the Christian heart and a promise that the Redeemer is near.

The new year can be a year of hope and Christian living or it can be one in which deeds are prompted not by the higher, moral law, but by the laws of the jungle.  Our task and resolution for Advent is to prepare for the possibilities ahead, for a better Christian life.  Every man and woman, born of Adam, is heir to all the faults of the human race.  "The corruption of the best is the worst,"  the old adage says.  The saints' accomplishment of reaching the heights is chiefly attributable to the fact that they were conscious of their human frailty and relied upon the strength of God's grace.

Prayer and the Christian life of sacrifice modeled after Christ and Mary will be the tool with which we may each day of the new year work away until we have formed in our souls the image and likeness of a real Catholic.  We have ideals.  We have memories.  We have a good mother, a kindly father, noble brothers and sisters.  We have gone ahead with the years, nourished by the life of the Church's sacraments.  The world may have tarnished our hopes, our aspirations, but it cannot destroy our faith!  We move on with the Church and with the assurance that age cannot destroy, but can only give fulfillment to our life with God.

Prayer

Blessed Saviour of men, help us to count our years in terms of acts of service for Your and for our fellow man, worthy of the reward of eternal life.  Were we a thousand times thankful, still would we be unworthy servants.  With Your grace, we resolve to watch and pray the new year that peace and justice may return to mankind.


[1] And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. [2] This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. [3] And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. [4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David, [5] To be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child. (Lk. 2:1-5)



First Wednesday in Advent

The Meaning of Advent

n our day there is need to place more emphasis upon the teaching of the Church and the meaning of Advent.  There is need for more prayer and penance.  There is need for a greater faith.  Advent is the season of preparation when by prayer and mortification we insure our hearts being better disposed for the coming of Christ on the holy and blessed day of Christmas.  The only way to gauge the future is to plan well the present.  A good preparation today is the best guarantee of a work to be accomplished well tomorrow.  Holy Mother Church knows that the only way to have security and peace of a spiritual nature tomorrow is to build well during the season of Advent, which is today.

Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever.  His Church, like any healthy organism, meets the needs of the present -- it has thrown off and survived the heresies of the past and it gives assurance of living in the future.

The Church knows something of the world of yesterday, for she has cherished its goodness and preserved its culture.  She has the right to speak of the world of tomorrow, for in her Advent blessings and in her divine assurance she knows that, "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against her."  She has plans for the present.  It is the blueprint and charter of the word of God and the eternal plan of Christ which can never grow old or out of date, for it is impossible for the eternal truths of God to change with the passing of time.

There is a story told of a strong virile soldier most grievously wounded in World War I.  He was dying.  When taken to a hospital it was discovered that a bullet lay lodged close to his heart.  To touch it would have meant almost certain death!  Three times the surgeon began his work, then desisted and laid down the scalpel.  After a few days the bullet moved, in a mysterious manner, to another position.  The operation was performed and the patient lived.  The soldier asked the doctor why he had three times prepared to operate, and yet three times hesitated.  The surgeon answered and said, "Because I saw a young girl before me who caught hold of my hand." 

"A young girl?"  asked the soldier.  "Would you recognize her from a photograph?"  A picture of St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus, was shown the doctor.  "Was it she?"  "Yes," replied the doctor, "it was certainly she!"  Ever since that day fresh roses are placed daily in that soldier's drawing room in the city of Paris in memory of this heavenly intervention in his behalf.

The Church during the holy season of Advent emphasizes for all Catholics the great need for prayer and faith if we are to succeed in establishing our close identity with Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body.  Our Alma Mater, our great nourishing Mother the Church, asks us to hearken to the words of the sweetest story ever told, the story of Christ's coming, the story of Bethlehem.  It can best be learned by prayer and meditation and hearkening to your Mother's voice.  She will lead you along the way she knows so well and which terminates at the feet of God, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

Prayer

Dear Mother of Christ, we love you and pledge to you our devotion.  As children upon our mother's knee we recall the blessings of childhood, the lullabies our loveliest of mothers used to sing.  When the years turned her lovely locks to gray, we cherished her the more, till god called her.  You, O Mary, are our mother in heaven and on earth.  We need this Christmastide and Advent season to hear a heavenly lullaby.  Sing to to us, O Mary, the songs of heaven that earth may not hold us in its grip.  We were made for God, and restless children are we, till we return through you to Him.

Et hoc vobis signum invenietis infantem pannis involutum et positum in praesepio.

" And she brought forth her first born son and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger."
(Lk. 2:7)

First Tuesday of Advent

God's Star

 soldier's best prayer is always one motivated  by hope, and not by fear. 

Strange, too -- or is it strange -- that the greatest act of love, an act of perfect contrition, is one motivated not by fear of punishment, but by deep and abiding love for God!  The expression "there are no atheists in foxholes" has grown old with World War II, but its meaning is read in a thousand different dispatches from the battlefront of life itself.  The soldier who goes bravely to his death is not alone!  He is mindful of Another who carried a cross to Calvary and who won the only victory that matters.  In this our day we must all be soldiers of Christ.  We are such by the sacrament of Confirmation.

It is told of Sir Harry Lauder that while he was in Melbourne, Australia, and had just sustained the loss of his only son, who had fallen at the front, he related the following beautiful incident:

 "A man came to my dressing room in a New York theater and told of an experience that had recently befallen him.  In American towns any household that had given a son to the war was entitled to place a star on the window pane.  Well, a few nights before he came to see me, this man was walking down a street in New York accompanied by his wee little boy.  The lad became very interested in the lighted windows of the houses, and clapped his hands when he saw a star.  As they passed house after house, he would say, "Oh, look, Daddy, there's another house that has given a son to the war.  And there's another.  There's one with two stars.  And look, there's a house with no star at all."  At last they came to a break in the houses.  Through the gap could be sen the evening star shining brightly in the sky.  The little fellow caught his breath.  "Oh, look, Daddy," he cried, "God must have given His Son, for He has a star in His window!"  God's star in heaven's window tells of Christmas when God gave His Son to the world.  This is the story of God's love in the Incarnation."

The soldier who prays before he goes into battle is the man who is conscious of the fact that he goes not alone.  He is acutely aware that God is with him and that the Son of God went into the darkness of Calvary when man warred upon divinity in the terrible crucifixion that led to the victory of Easter.  God foresaw his death even as he planned His birth at Bethlehem.  For Bethlehem and Calvary are cycles.  In His birth and in His death is our life and our redemption.

"Today every Christian is a soldier -- soldier of Christ.  The least among us is a soldier. Our fathers, like a flood of people, like a flood of armies, invaded the infidel continents.  Nowadays, on the contrary, it is a flood of infidelity that holds the seas, the high seas, and continuously assails us from all sides.  All our houses are fortresses, in danger of the mighty sea.  The holy war is everywhere.  It is ever being waged.  All of us stand on the breach today.  We are stationed at the frontier.  The frontier is everywhere..."  Thus spoke convert Charles Peguy.*

Prayer

Blessed Saviour, I know so well the meaning of grace and yet I permit its lesson to escape me.  I know full well that grace is best received by a heart humble and contrite and ready to welcome its God.  I know, too, that such readiness requires vigilance and prayer -- "watch and pray" are the words of Advent as well as Lent, for Bethlehem and Calvary and Easter are all one great event --  they are but stepping stones to heaven.  Teach me to prepare this Advent for an increase of grace and a fuller understanding of the Redemption and Incarnation.

Amen

----

*  Basic Verities (New york: Pantheon Books, Inc., 1943).


And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. (Matthew 2:10)



First Monday of Advent

Christmas is the Feast of the Home 
 

s Gilbert K. Chesterton has said, by a divine paradox Christmas, which is the Feast of the Homeless One who had to find shelter in a cave and to be warmed by the breath of oxen, is celebrated in every home.  For this reason it is good for us in this holy season of Advent to reflect on the importance of the home and Christian civilization.

One of the most historic shrines of France, attended annually by thousands of visitors, is Malmaison, the home of Napoleon and Josephine.  It was here that Napoleon came after his brilliant military victories.  Each room is arranged exactly in the same manner as when this great military leader occupied it.  There is the very chair in which sat this monarch of the world  empire, there is the desk at which he wrote, and there the pen with which he mapped out his great victories. 

As the visitor passes through these rooms exuding a martial atmosphere, he comes into the suite occupied by Josephine.  There is a marked contrast.  No martial note here.  Only the little incidentals that minister to the needs of womankind and echo forth the dominant note of her heart are present.  True, here in this room is a beautiful harp, a symbol of domestic peace and homely concord.  Upon further inspection, however, we note that its strings are broken.  It stands there mute and silent as an ironic reminder that discordant notes of domestic strife once filled this chamber.  To every informed visitor it is a symbol and a reminder that the great Napoleon who conquered Europe failed in the altogether crucial building of the most important empire of all -- the empire of his own home.  Indeed, the inspired writer has written the epitaph for this story when he said: "Greater is he who governs himself than he who rules cities."

With the authority of the Vicar of Christ and the kindly voice of a shepherd caring for his sheep, the pope reminds all peoples that the home is the foundation of human society.  He who undermines the home, the Father of Christendom points out, blasts at the solid bedrock upon which not only society but all stable government alike is built.  No expedient yet devised by the sociologist or political scientist constitutes so might a bulwark for the protection of human society and orderly government as the teaching of Christ's Church concerning the sanctity of marriage, the indissolubility of its bond, and the permanence of the Christian home.

The mother is the "heart," the father is the "head" of the home.  It is the plan of an all-wise and provident God that a child be reared in a home where the principles of proper thought and action are instilled by a loving mother and a kindly ruling father.  After years of study and research, experts in child psychology now assure us that impressions received during early childhood undoubtedly set up mental patterns and modes of conduct, in the light of which all the experiences of later life are interpreted and evaluated.  Indeed, this is merely an affirmation of a truth spoken thousands of years ago by the inspired writer of the Book of Proverbs, wherein we read: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

The home dominated by the mother and father occupies the all-important position in life.  A mother need not be learned, as measured by worldly standards.  She need only have a knowledge of God and a loving, kindly fear of the Lord in order successfully to train her child.  A father need not know the ways and means of ruling an empire!  Indeed, if he did, he, like the great Napoleon, might neglect the empire of his home.  A father need only have an understanding of the words,"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  Such a father placed in rule over a child, with his loving spouse at his side, is indeed the builder of nations and is beloved of God!

Our Holy Father Pope Pius XII reminds us in his encyclical letter on "Christian Education" that the home precedes both the church and the State in the matter of education.  For, since the mother is the first and most effective teacher of the child, the home becomes the first and most important school.  No lay teacher, sister, or priest can be an adequate substitute for the mother as a teacher.  These agencies are only meant to be complementary and supplementary to the training given the child in the home.

The Church for our edification and inspiration points to the model home of Nazareth, where Jesus dwelt in obedience to Mary and Joseph.  Thus did our divine Lord set up an example for youth everywhere, for Scripture tells us, "He was subject to them."

Great has been the example of good homes through the ages!  Look to the saintly influences of St. Monica in praying for her son, Augustine.  Look to the example of the queenly mother Blanche and hr influence over her son, St. Louis of France.  Look about the world today and wherever you see priests and sisters you will know the influence of the home that is good.  Look into your own heart today!  Remember the joys of your happy home life!  Is it any wonder that a ballad comes down through the years, sung by a thousand voices, a thousand times over, "Home, Sweet Home"?

Somewhere in heaven today there is a mother reaping the reward of a Christian home she founded upon earth.  To such noble women we pledge our loyalty to preserve these ideals for America, under God, and in filial devotion and prayer, we say:

Mother, upon me gaze tonight
From thy beautiful home above;
And tell me are the stars as bright
As the beacon of thy love?

Mother, does sometimes upon thy knee
While the angels stand and stare,
The Christ-child sit and tell thee of me,
And finger thy silvery hair?

Mother, when life's short years are run,
And the Gleaner beacons to me,
Oh, pray the God in that Little One
To bring me home to thee.




One of my all-time favorite paintings of Our Blessed Mother with the Child Jesus, this work, called "Kissing the Face of God" blesses the world through the hands of Morgan Wiestling.  You can read about her inspiration for this masterpiece here.

 ~ Lisa





First Sunday of Advent

Preparing For Christmas

The Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent:

esus said to this disciples:  There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars;  and on the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the sound of the sea and of the waves, men withering away for fear and expectation of the things which shall come upon the world; for the powers of heaven shall be moved.  And then they shall see the Son of man coming on a cloud with great power and majesty.  But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption is at hand.  And He spoke to them a similitude;  See the fig-tree, and all the trees;  when they now shoot forth their fruit, ye know that summer is nigh.  So also, when the kingdom of God is at hand.  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all things be fulfilled.  heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away  (Lk. 21;25-33).

The Catholic Church is the most interesting institution in the world.  Like her Founder, she is both human and divine.  She is human because her members are of human origin; she is divine because Christ, the Head of these members is divine.  The Catholic Church is the greatest true-story teller in the world.  She is the greatest of all narrators because, being human, she is like a great nourishing mother, Alma
Mater, sa she soothes her children with the happiest of tales in a most loving manner.  She is the most profound and interesting storyteller, for she tells the story of God in His relations with men, the "sweetest story ever told,"  the story of God becoming man, the Incarnation.

Now, how does holy Mother Church tell this story and where does she get her facts?  The Church tells the story by her liturgy, by her chant and, as it were, by painting liturgical word-pictures, thus arresting our attention, and by turning over the pages of the life of Christ for the perusal of the facts.

The first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the storytelling by narrating the anticipation of Christ's coming and by highlighting the story in the word-picture of the liturgy. The liturgy of the Catholic Church is most impressive and contains a world of meaning if we will but look beneath the surface and meditate reflectively.  Every movement of priest and people, every psalm, every prayer that is uttered has a meaning and contains a fund for spiritual enrichment.

It is our purpose in these thought pieces, in preparation for Christmas, to show the role that prayer and penance play in the life of each member of the Mystical Body of Christ.  Thus, by a close following of the Gospels for the Sundays and by our thinking with the Church in a liturgical sense, we shall listen to the story related by our fostering holy Mother Church concerning the greatest character of all history, Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

There is a pamphlet by Dom Gueranger entitled, "Advent, Its Meaning and Purpose," which tells of the preparation that should be made by Christian hearts before Christmas.

In such a spirit of prayer during these Advent days we come to the feet of our Holy Mother; we liste to the most interesting of all storytellers and to the sweetest story of them all.  In spirit we go to a church in the City of Rome, St. Mary Major's.  In this church we kneel before the Crib of Bethlehem.  On the first Sunday of Advent all Christians in the spirit of the liturgy of the Mass make their way to this station.  It is for this reason we find the prayers of the Mass centering around the birth of Christ and the Virgin Mother and the crib.

The story of the long awaiting for the coming of Christ is told in the words of Isaias the prophet, who of all the prophets has most directly and explicitly spoken of the Messias.  Each day of
Advent the priest reads in his Divine Office something from the writings of this great prophet.

In this prophecy Isaias speaks of the Lord, who exalted His children only to have them despise Him; He speaks of  Israel, "who hath not known the Lord and his people, who hath not understood."  And He says:  "They have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel; they have gone backwards."

The words of the Prophet should make a deep impression on our hearts at the beginning of the holy season of Advent.  Who of us can hear without trembling this voice of the Lord, who is despised and unknown even at the very time when He is to come and visit His people:  "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

The story is being retold.  The Church, in accents of solemnity, in colors of penitential purple vestments, in notes of solemn music is repeating for us the burden of her message.  Christ is coming to save the world, which, as Isaias says is sickened -- "the whole head is sick and the whole heart is sad."  Christ is coming to judge the world, for "the powers of heaven shall be moved, and then they shall see the Son of man coming on a cloud with great power and majesty.  When thee things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand."

Members of Christ's Mystical  Body, hearken to the words of the "sweetest story ever told" as recounted by the greatest mother of them all.  The story is Christ's coming, or Advent.  The mother is the Church.  Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep, to save the world from chaos, to rescue souls from the materialism of communism and to save them for the all-powerful dignity of incorporation in Christ's Mystical Body.  We shall do this by beginning to reform ourselves, by spending Advent prayerfully, by "casting off the works of darkness and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ."

Prayer

Blessed Saviour of men, You [prepared for long years by prophecies and symbols to foretell of the Coming of the Anointed One, the Messias, who would redeem the world and reopen for us the gates of Paradise.

This Advent we pray and beseech You to accept our humble offering of peparation.  Each day will be for us a step, each step a prayer, each prayer will be a pilgrimage toward Bethlehem with Jesus and Mary and Joseph.  Help us to pray fervently, to walk valiantly, and to persevere to the end.

And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said:

Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.

And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us?

And I said:

Lo, here am I, send me.

(Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Douay-Rheims Challoner)

Concerning Isaias, you might also recognize this passage from the prayer of the priest before the Holy Gospel of the Mass:

Cleanse my heart and my lips, O Almighty God, Who cleansed the lips of the Prophet Isaias with a burning coal.  In Your gracious mercy deign so to purify me that I may worthily proclaim your holy
Gospel.  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.