Theotokos-The Mother of God

January 1st.

"The Word was made flesh," can mean nothing else but that He [The Eternal Word] partook of flesh and blood like to us; He made our body His own, and came forth man from a woman, not casting off His existence as God, or His generation of God the Father, but even in taking to Himself flesh remaining what He was. This the declaration of the correct faith proclaims everywhere. This was the sentiment of the holy Fathers; therefore they ventured to call the holy Virgin, the Mother of God, not as if the nature of the Word or His divinity had its beginning from the holy Virgin, but because of her was born that holy body with a rational soul, to which the Word being personally united is said to be born according to the flesh.
___The Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius.

The Circumcision of the Lord

January 1st

This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male-kind of you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you. An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every manchild in your generations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant, shall be circumcised.
___Genesis 17:10-12

The Holy Family

In 1643 Louis and Barbe d'Ailleboust came to Canada in order to devote their lives to the welfare of the natives there. After her husband had passed away, Barbe, with the assistance of the Jesuit Father Chaumonot, founded the Confraternity of the Holy Family. The confraternity and devotion to the Holy Family spread all over Canada and had the effect of promoting good morals. Monsignor François de Laval invited her to Quebec, and gave her the general management if the confraternity, which still exists today. In 1675, the now Bishop de Laval had a little book printed in Paris instructing the members of the confraternity as to virtuous practices. Bishop de Laval also established the feast of the Holy Family, and had a mass and office drawn up which are proper to the Diocese of Québec. The feast was later added in 1921 to the General calendar of the Western Rite as a way to counteract the breakdown of the family.

___Prayer___

Lord Jesus Christ, Who, being made subject to Mary and Joseph, didst consecrate domestic life by Thine ineffable virtues; grant that we, with the assistance of both, may be taught by the example of Thy Holy Family and may attain to its everlasting fellowship. Who livest and reignest forever. Amen.

St. Thomas Becket, (of Canterbury)

December 29th

St. Thomas was Archbishop of the now defunct Archdiocese of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. He became involved in a conflict with King Henry II over the rights of the clergy and the independence of the Church. He was martyred as a consequence of this political division by followers of the king with in his own Cathedral. Following his death the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a martyr, and in 1173—barely three years after his death—he was canonized by Pope Alexander and King Henry humbled himself at Becket's tomb by accepting penance for his part in the assassination of St. Thomas. Canterbury soon became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe. In 1220, Becket's remains were relocated from his tomb to a shrine in the recently completed Trinity Chapel where it stood until it was destroyed in 1538, at the start of the English Reformation. This was done on orders from King Henry VIII, who separated the Church in England from the Holy See, as vengeance for the humiliation of Henry II. In addition Henry VIII also ordered the destroyed Becket's relics and ordered that all mention of his name be obliterated even from the liturgical books.

"LUX MAGNA"

DECEMBER 25

Dear Brothers and Sisters! "A holy day has dawned upon us." A day of great hope: today the Saviour of mankind is born. The birth of a child normally brings a light of hope to those who are waiting anxiously. When Jesus was born in the stable at Bethlehem, a "great light" appeared on earth; a great hope entered the hearts of those who awaited him: in the words of today’s Christmas liturgy, "lux magna". Admittedly it was not "great" in the manner of this world, because the first to see it were only Mary, Joseph and some shepherds, then the Magi, the old man Simeon, the prophetess Anna: those whom God had chosen. Yet, in the shadows and silence of that holy night, a great and inextinguishable light shone forth for every man; the great hope that brings happiness entered into the world: "the Word was made flesh and we saw his glory" (Jn 1:14).

___H.H. Pope Benedict XVI (Urbi et Orbi 2007)

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news"

Adoration of the Shepperd's

There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

SAINT ANASTASIA

December 25th

This martyr enjoys the distinction, unique in the Roman liturgy, of having a special commemoration in the second Mass on Christmas day. This Mass was originally celebrated not in honour of the birth of Christ, but in commemoration of this martyr, and towards the end of the fifth century her name was also inserted in the Roman canon of the Mass. Nevertheless, she is not a Roman saint, for she suffered martyrdom at Sirmium (near the modern town of Mitrovitz in Slavonia), and was not venerated at Rome until almost the end of the fifth century. All that is certain about her life and passion is that she was martyred for the faith in Sirmium, that her name was Anastasia, and that her memory was kept sacred in that church.

The relics of the martyr were translated to Constantinople, to a church which had hitherto been known as "Anastasis" Greek for the. Resurrection, thereafter that particular church took the name of the St. Anastasia. The devotion and “cultus” of St. Anastasia was similarly introduced into Roman from Sirmium by means of an already existing church. There existed in Rome from the fourth century, at the foot of the Palatine hill and above the Circus Maximus, a church which had been adorned by Pope St. Damasus (366-384) with a large mosaic. It was known as the "titulus Anastasix", and is mentioned as such in the Acts of the Roman Council of 499. Due to the already existing celebrity of this church, it brought the feast of the saint into especial prominence.

The insertion of St. Anastasias name into the Roman Canon of the Mass occurred toward the end of the fifth century, and shows that she had by that time already occupied a unique position among the saints publicly venerated at Rome. The church on the Palatine has since this time been known as the "titulus sanctx Anastasix", and the martyr of Sirmium became the titular saint of the old fourth-century basilica. Evidently because of its position as the titular church of the district of the Palatine hill (at the center of Rome) which included the imperial dwellings this church long maintained an eminent rank among the churches of Rome; only two churches preceded it in honor: St. John Lateran, the mother-church, and Cathedral of Rome, and the Basilica of St. Mary Major. This ancient sanctuary stands today quite isolated amid the ruins of Rome. The commemoration of St. Anastasia in the second Mass on Christmas day is the last remnant of the former prominence enjoyed by this saint and her church in the life of Christian Rome.

Being an accessory to sin

The serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals… He said to the woman, “Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman said “God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’.” "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. The woman saw, that the fruit was pleasing to the eye. She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. … Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. __(Genesis)

“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” __(Romans)

Nine ways of being an accessory to the sins of another:

By counsel.

By command.

By consent.

By provocation.

By praise or flattery.

By concealment.

By partaking.

By silence.

By defense of the ill done.

R.I.P.

H.E. Alfons Maria Card. STICKLER SDB
Cardinal Priest of S Giorgio in Velabro

August 23, 1910-December 12, 2007

May everlasting light shine upon him, O Lord, with Your saints in eternity, for You are merciful. Grant him eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon him.

Gaudete Sunday

December 16th., 2007

Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent.

At that time the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and levites to John, to ask him: Who art thou? And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ. And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the Prophet? And he answered: No. They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Isaias. And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet? John answered them, saying: I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you whom you know not. The same is He that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose. These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

___John 1: 19-28

Feast of Saint Lucy

The Thirteenth Day of December:

At Syracuse in Sicily, the birthday of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, in the persecution of Diocletian. By order of the proconsul Paschasius, she was delivered to profligates, that her chastity might be insulted by the people; but when they attempted to lead her away they were not able to move her, either with ropes or by means of many yoke of oxen. Then having hot pitch, resin, and burning oil applied to her body without being injured, she finally had a sword driven through her throat, and thus completed her martyrdom.

V. And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

R. Thanks be to God.

__(From the Roman Martyrology).

THE NINE WAYS OF PRAYER

The Sixth way

Saint Dominic, was also seen to pray standing erect with his hands and arms outstretched forcefully in the form of a cross. He prayed in this way when God, through his supplications, raised to life the boy Napoleon in the sacristy of the Church of Saint Sixtus in Rome, and when he was raised from the ground at the celebration of Mass, as the good and holy Sister Cecilia, who was present with many other people and saw him, narrates. He was like Elias who stretched himself out and lay upon the widow's son when he raised him to life.

In a similar manner he prayed near Toulouse when he delivered the group of English pilgrims from danger of drowning in the river. Our Lord prayed thus while hanging on the cross, that is, with his hands and arms extended and "with a loud cry and tears ... he was heard because of his reverent submission" [Heb. 5:7].

In a grave and mature manner, he would slowly pronounce the words in the Psalter which mention this way of prayer. He used to say attentively: "O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day and in the night before thee, all the day I have cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee" (Ps. 87:2-10). Then he would add: "Hear, O Lord, my prayer give ear to my supplication in thy truth . . ." He would continue "I stretched forth my hands to thee . . . Hear me speedily, O Lord" (Ps. 142:1-7).

This manner of prayer would help devout souls to appreciate more easily his great zeal and wisdom in praying thus. This is true whether, in doing so, he wished to move God in some wonderful manner through his prayer or whether he felt through some interior inspiration that God was to move him to seek some singular grace for himself or his neighbor.