The First Sunday of Advent
|
|
THE OLD ROMAN Vol. II Issue XIII W/C 29th November 2020
|
|
|
WELCOME to this thirteenth edition of Volume II of “The Old Roman” a weekly dissemination of news, views and information for and from around the world reflecting the experience and life of 21C “Old Romans” i.e. western Orthodox Catholics across the globe.
CONTRIBUTIONS… news items, magazine, devotional or theological articles, prayer requests, features about apostolates and parish mission life are ALL welcome and may be submitted via email. Submissions should be sent by Friday for publication the following Sunday.
|
|
The Old Roman is now on Facebook as a centralising online presence to facilitate unity and fellowship among Old Romans across the globe! There's also an Old Romans Group for people to meet each other, share prayer requests, events, news and information! Daily Mass and other broadcasts are now also broadcast live through The Old Roman page and posts from various other Old Roman pages can be shared on it also, so that a "one stop shop" is available for people to easily find the broadcasts and other information. A new logo (above) is also proving popular and instantly recognisable. Just click on the links to see for yourself and if you've a Facebook profile it couldn't be easier to sign up for updates to your newsfeed and join the Old Romans group!
|
|
|
|
LIVE every Wednesday at Old Roman TV 6pm GMT+1
An opportunity to spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration and intercession. Offered in reparation for the sins of the Church, for the apathy of Christians, for the lack of faith and the sacrileges and blasphemies committed daily against the Holy Name and the Gospel and abuses against the Blessed Sacrament and the holy Mass. Rosary and reflections on the Sunday themes.
|
|
IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION...
A Pastoral Epistle for Advent - Bishop Nioclás Kelly OSF
Contra Mundum: Sinae - latest episode
The First Sunday of Advent
THE LITURGY
- ORDO w/c Sunday 29th November 2020
- RITUAL NOTES...
- THE LITURGICAL YEAR Sunday Advent I
- TODAY's FEAST St Cecilia
- SUNDAY MASS PROPERS Advent I
- On the means we all have to become saints - Bishop Richard Challoner
- A SERMON FOR St Cecilia & Sunday XXIV & Ultimate Post Pentecost - Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
- THIS WEEK'S FEASTS... St Andrew, St Bibiana, St Francis Xavier, St Peter Chrysologus, St Nicholas of Myra
CORONAVIRUS
- Update Info Links
- Policy Document
- Supporting those in isolation
- Staying in touch
- Advice for those self-isolating
- Practical advice for staying at home
- VIDEO Bi-vocation and COVID19
VOX POPULI
- Blessings in the Philippines
- How to worship online - Metropolitan Jerome of Selsey
- Schedule of Old Roman worship broadcasts
- Old Roman TV Broadcast Schedule
OLD ROMAN CULTURE
- ARTICLE Martinmas - Advent fast
- VIDEO Crisis Series #7 with Fr. Loop: Why Americanism is a Heresy
- VIDEO Catholic Family News; Weekly News Roundup (Nov. 27, 2020)
- ARTICLE Rosary Guild taking orders...
- ARTICLE How to pray the Rosary
- VIDEO TR Media: Fr Anthony Cekada: 1968 Rite of Episcopal Consecration
- VIDEO The Man Who Knew Communism Best | Bishop Fulton J.Sheen
- ARTICLE Old Roman Catholicism in the history of the Church Chapter XIV
- VIDEO Contra Mundum
- VIDEO Old Romans Unscripted
- VIDEO Late Night Catechism
- VIDEO "Wondering bishop"
- VIDEO Old Roman Vocations
- VIDEO Catholic Unscripted
Of your charity... prayer requests
Old Roman Mass Directory
Old Roman Clerical Directory
Vocations Info
The Old Roman Subscription Form
|
|
|
Get YOUR Old Roman hoodie! Become an Old Roman Patron TODAY!
www.patreon.com/OldRomanTV
|
|
|
|
HE The Most Reverend +Nioclás Kelly OSF
Titular Bishop of Movilla
Ordinary of Chicago
|
|
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It is my privilege and honor to address you all as we enter into the holy season for Advent.
This year, perhaps more than others, we are acutely aware (or indeed expectant) of the closing of one year and the beginning of another. This is precisely what we are encountering as we bring to an end one liturgical year and embark upon another. Just like life, our liturgical reality is based on cycles, and like all cycles, one must come to an end in order for another to begin.
Here in the United States, we have just celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving. It has been a very different experience for most of us this year but nevertheless it has afforded us the opportunity to give thanks for the many blessings we have received over the past year despite it’s many challenges. We are indeed a people of hope and it is with this hope we enter into a new year with faith and hope in order to experience the reality of love incarnate which is the Christ Child this Christmas.
Therefore my brothers and sisters, let us make good this Advent season. Let us stir up within us that attitude of repentant expectancy to make ready within our hearts that manger in which the hope of the world will find rest.
May I take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you a blessed and and prayerful Advent and a joyous and hope filled Christmas.
Your brother in the risen Christ,
+Nioclás
|
|
|
Chinese Christians in their profound recognition of how God meets us in suffering, provide an example of grace under oppression...
Broadcast on Fridays, "Contra Mundum" looks at the issues affecting 21C Christians today and proposes how to overcome them through faith, hope and charity. Treating contemporary issues frankly, using inspiring testimonies from around the world, Divine Revelation, traditional piety and praxis to encourage, equip and enable Christians to respond to them.
|
|
|
Old Roman TV needs YOUR help!
|
|
|
JUST PRESS PLAY TO WATCH ORtv LIVE!
|
|
ORDO w/c Sunday 29th November 2020
|
|
|
|
|
OFFICE |
|
N.B. |
29.11 |
S |
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
(V) Missa “Ad te levavi” |
priv |
2a) BVM
3a) Ecclesiae
noGl.Cr.Pref.Trinity.BD |
30.11 |
M |
ST ANDREW Prōtoklētos
(R) Missa “Mihi autem nimis” |
dii |
Gl.Cr.Pref.Apostles. |
01.12 |
T |
Feria II of Advent I
(V) Missa “Ad te levavi” |
sd |
2a) BVM
3a) Ecclesiae
Gl.Cr.Pref.Common. |
02.12 |
W |
St Bibiana V&M
Com. Feria III of Advent I
(R) Missa “Me expectaverunt” |
d |
Gl.Pref.Common. |
03.12 |
T |
St Francis Xavier C.
Com. Feria IV of Advent I
(W) Missa “Loquebar” |
d |
2a) Advent I
Gl. Pref.Common. |
04.12 |
F |
St Peter Chrysologus BDr
Com. St Barbara the Great V&M
Com. Feria V of Advent I
(W) Missa “In medio” |
d |
2a) St Barbara
3a) Advent I
Gl.Cr.Pref.Common. |
05.12 |
S |
St Nicholas of Myra BC
Com. St Sabbas Abbot
UK Com. St Birinus of Dorchester
Com. Feria Sabbato of Advent I
(W) Missa “Statuit ei Dominus” |
d
|
2a) St Sabbas/Birinus
3a) Advent I
Gl.Pref.Common. |
06.12 |
S |
THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
(V) Missa “Ad te levavi” |
priv |
2a) BVM
3a) Ecclesiae
noGl.Cr.Pref.Trinity.BD |
|
|
Nota Bene
a) the feast of St Nicholas of Myra (Dec 6) is transferred to Saturday 5th December; in the UK commemoration is made of St Birinus of Dorchester.
b) traditionally in Advent as in Lent, it was customary to only commemorate feast days i.e. the liturgy of the preceding Sunday would be repeated and the saint's day commemorated by the collect. This is certainly a commendable praxis and an option for feasts of double rank or lower at the priest's discretion.
RITUAL NOTES
- The colour of the season in Advent is purple. (Unbleached candles should be used on the altar.)
- The Gloria in excelsis at Mass and Te Deum at Matins are not said, except on feasts. (According to the general rule, when Gloria in excelsis is not said at Mass, Benedicamus Domino instead of Ite missa est concludes Mass.) But Alleluia is said in the office, as usual, and on Sundays at Mass.
- At Mass of the season the ministers do not wear dalmatic and tunicle, but folded chasubles, except on the third Sunday and Christmas Eve. From 17 December (O Sapientia) to Christmas, votive offices and Masses or Requiems are not allowed.
- During Advent the altar is not to be decorated with flowers or other such ornaments; nor is the organ played at liturgical offices. But the organ may be played at non-liturgical services, such as Benediction; and it is tolerated, even at Mass, if the singers cannot sing correctly without it. In this case it should be played only to accompany the voices, not as an ornament between the singing.
- The exceptions to this rule are the third Sunday of Advent (mid-Advent, "Gaudete") and the fourth Sunday of Lent (mid-Lent, "Laetare"). On these two days alone in the year the liturgical colour is rosy (color rosaceus).' On both the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, the altar is decorated as for feasts, 4 and the organ is played. On the week-days after the third Sunday (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday), when the Mass is that of Sunday, repeated, the colour is purple, the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, the organ is played. The same rule applies to Christmas Eve.
|
|
KEY: A=Abbot A cunctis=of the Saints B=Bishop BD=Benedicamus Domino BVM=Blessed Virgin Mary C=Confessor Com=Commemoration Cr=Creed D=Doctor d=double d.i/ii=double of the 1st/2nd Class E=Evangelist F=Feria Gl=Gloria gr.d=greater-double (G)=Green H=Holy Heb.=Hedomadam (week) K=King M=Martyr mpal=missae pro aliquibus locis Mm=Martyrs Pent=Pentecost P=Priest PP/PostPent=Post Pentecost PLG=Proper Last Gospel Pref=Preface ProEccl=for the Church (R)=Red (Rc)=Rose-coloured s=simple s-d=semi-double Co=Companions V1=1st Vespers V=Virgin v=votive (V)=violet W=Widow (W)=white *Ob.=Obligation 2a=second oration 3a=third oration |
|
|
Watch our NEW format show airing at 6.30pm British Summer Time via Facebook on Saturday evenings offering comment and observations on topical issues and apologetics for Old Roman Catholicism. See below for this week's episode!
|
|
The First Sunday of Advent
At Christmas Jesus will be born in our hearts, for at that time the anniversary of His birth will be celebrated. He refuses nothing, to the prayer of the Church, His spouse, and thus He will grant to our souls the same graces which He gave the shepherds and the wise Kings.
Christ will come again also, at the end of all time, to “condemn the guilty to the flames, and to call the just with a loving voice to heaven” (hymn for Mattins).
The whole of today’s Mass is a preparation for this double Advent of mercy and justice. Some parts of it can be applied equally to either (e.g. the Introit, Collect, Gradual, Alleluia), while others refer to our Divine Redeemer’s lowly birth, and others again, (e.g. the Epistle and Gospel), to His coming i the splendour of His power and majesty. The same welcome will be given to us by Our Lord when He comes to judge us, as we give to Him now when coming to redeem us.
Let us prepare for the Christmas feast by holy prayers and aspirations and by reforming our lives, that we may be ready for that last great assize upon which depends the fate of our soul for all eternity. And all this with confidence, for those “who wait upon the Lord will never be confounded” (Introit, Gradual, Offertory).
In former times, on this First Sunday of Advent, all the people of Rome made the station at the Basilica of St Mary Major, to assist at the solemn Mass which the Pope celebrated, surrounded by his clergy. This particular church was chosen because it is Mary who gave us Jesus and because relics of the crib in which the Blessed Mother placed her Divine Child are preserved in this church.
Every parish priest says Mass for the people of his parish.
|
|
Old Roman TV are delighted to announce that The Daily Mass is now available to watch LIVE both on Facebook AND YouTube!
|
|
The First Sunday of Advent: Missa "Ad te levavi"
This first Sunday of Advent or The Fourth before Christmas is the first day of the Liturgical Year. The Mass prepares us this day for the double coming (adventus) of mercy and justice. That is why St. Paul tells us, in the Epistle, to cast off sin in order that being ready for the coming of Christ as our Savior, we may also be ready for His coming as our Judge, of which we learn in the Gospel. Let us prepare ourselves, by pious aspirations and by the reformation of our life for this twofold coming. Jesus Our Lord will reward those who yearn for Him and await Him: “Those who trust in Him shall not be confounded.”
The Advent liturgy opens with that great yearning cry of the prophets of Israel to the Messiah and Redeemer whose advent they awaited. “Come!” God is not deaf to His people’s cry. Fulfilling the promise of salvation made to our first parents at their fall He sent His Son into the world.
And the application to all generations of mankind of the redemption that the Son of God made Man obtained for us by His passion continues until the end of time: it will conclude with the end of the world when the Messiah comes to complete His work and lead us into His kingdom. The history of the Church occupies the period between these two great events.
In the Mass of this Sunday the whole work of redemption is set before us, from its preparation in Israel’s expectancy and its effect on our present lives down to its final fulfillment. The Church, in preparing us to celebrate at Christmas the birth of Him who came to snatch our souls from sin and transform them into the likeness of His own, invokes upon us and on all men the complete accomplishment of the mission of salvation that He came to perform upon this earth.
On the first Sunday of Advent, the traditional opening prayer (or Collect) prayed: “Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come.” With this request to God to “stir up” His might, this day was traditionally called Stir-Up Sunday. Many families create a traditional plum pudding or fruit cake or some other recipe that all the family and guests can “stir-up.” This activity of stirring-up the ingredients symbolizes our hearts that must be stirred in preparation for Christ’s birth.
INTROIT Psalm 24:1-3
To Thee have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed: neither let my enemies laugh at me; for none of them that wait on Thee shall be confounded. (Ps. 24: 4) Show, O Lord, Thy ways to me: and teach me Thy paths. v. Glory be to the Father…
COLLECT
Put forth Your power, O Lord, we beseech You, and come, that with You as our protector we may be rescued from the impending danger of our sins; and with You as our deliverer, may we obtain our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.
R. Amen.
Collect for the Blessed Mother
O God, Who didst will that at the message of an angel Thy word should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary: grant that we, Thy suppliants, who believe her to be truly the mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee.
Collect for God’s Holy Church
Graciously hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy Church that, having overcome all adversity and every error, she may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R. Amen.
EPISTLE Rom 13:11-14
Lesson from the letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Romans: Brethren: Understand, for it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we came to believe. The night is far advanced; the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. Let us walk becomingly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
R. Thanks be to God.
GRADUAL/ALLELUIA Psalm 24:3-4
No one who waits for You shall be put to shame. V. Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me Your paths. Alleluia, alleluia. Ps 84:8 V. Show us, O Lord, Your kindness, and grant us Your salvation. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Luke 21:25-33
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations bewildered by the roaring of sea and waves; men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things that are coming on the world; for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the son of Man coming upon 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 parable. Behold the fig tree, and all the trees. When they now put forth their buds, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things coming to pass, know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all things have been accomplished. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
R. Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Psalm 24:1-3
To You I lift up my soul: in You, O my God, I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. No one who waits for You shall be put to shame.
SECRET
May these offerings, O Lord, cleanse us by their mighty power and thus make us come purer before You Who are their author. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever. R. Amen.
Secret for the Blessed Virgin Mary
Strengthen in our minds, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the mysteries of the true faith, that, confessing Him Who was conceived of the Virgin to be true God and true man, we may deserve, through the power of His saving resurrection, to attain everlasting joy.
Secret for God’s Holy Church
Protect us, O Lord, who assist at Thy mysteries, that, cleaving to things divine, we may serve Thee both in body and in mind. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R.Amen.
PREFACE of the Most Holy Trinity
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, ever-lasting God: Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, are one God, one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we believe of Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim also and Seraphim do praise: who cease not daily to cry out with one voice saying:
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Psalm 84:13
The Lord will give His benefits: and our land shall yield its increase.
POSTCOMMUNION
May we receive Your mercy, O Lord, in the midst of Your temple, and thus prepare with due observance for the coming festal season of our redemption. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God For ever and ever. R. Amen.
Postcommunion for the Blessed Virgin Mary
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of His resurrection.
Postcommunion for God’s Holy Church
O Lord our God, we pray Thee that Thou suffer not to succumb to human hazards those whom Thou hast been pleased to make sharers of divine mysteries. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever. R. Amen.
|
|
|
How are Old Roman vocations to the Sacred Ministry discerned, formed and realised? If you are discerning a vocation to the Sacred Ministry and are considering exploring the possibility of realising your vocation as an Old Roman or transferring your discernment, this is the programme for you!
Questions are welcome and may be sent in advance to vocations@secret.fyi anonymity is assured.
|
|
MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR
BY BISHOP CHALLONER
|
|
|
Richard Challoner (1691–1781) was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. The titular Bishop of Doberus, he is perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay–Rheims translation of the Bible.
|
|
ON THE TIME OF ADVENT
Consider first, that the time of Advent, (so called from being set aside by the church for worthily celebrating the advent, that is, the coming of Christ,) is a penitential time, and a time of devotion, in which we are every day called upon by the church of God to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight his paths; to enter into the like dispositions of those which St. John the Baptist required of the people when he was sent to preach to them conversion and penance, in order to prepare them for their Messias; that so we also, by turning away from our sins, by sorrow and repentance, and turning ourselves to the Lord our God with our whole heart, by love and affection, may dispose our souls to welcome our Saviour whose birth we are about to celebrate, and to embrace in such manner the mercy and grace which he brings with him at his first coming as to escape hereafter those dreadful judgments which his justice shall execute upon impenitent sinners at his second coming. See then, my soul that thou dedicate this holy time to suitable exercise of devotion and penance, that thou mayest answer the end of this institution.
Consider 2ndly, in what manner we are all summoned by the church, at the beginning of this holy time, (in the words of St. Paul, Rom xiii. 11, read in the epistle of the First Sunday in Advent,) to dispose ourselves now for Christ. 'Knowing the time,' says the apostle, 'that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is passed, (or far spent,) the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light; let us walk decently, as in the day,' &c. O! my soul, let us consider these words as particularly addressed to us, in order to awaken us, and to stir us up to begin now a new life. Alas! have we not hitherto been quite asleep as to the greatest of all our concerns? Are not far the greatest part of Christians quite asleep by their unaccountable indolence in the great business of the salvation of their souls and of a happy eternity? Are they not sleeping too, which is worse, in the very midst of dangers and of mortal enemies, who are continually plotting their destruction, an even upon the very brink of a precipice, which if they fall down will let them in a moment into hell? O let us then all hearken seriously to this summons, and rouse ourselves now, whilst we have time, out of this unhappy lethargy, and from this hour begin to apply ourselves in good earnest to that only business for which we came into this world. O let us cast off now and for ever the works of darkness, and put on Jesus Christ.
Consider 3rdly, that on the First Sunday of Advent, the terrors also of God's justice are set before our eyes, in the description given in the gospel of the great accounting day; to the end, that they that will not correspond with the sweet invitations of God's mercy, and awake from sleep at the summons addressed to them in the epistle, may be roused at least by the thunder of his justice, denounced in the gospel; and be induced by the wholesome fear of the dreadful judgments that are continually hanging over the heads of impenitent sinners, to make good use of this present time of mercy, lest hereafter there should be neither time nor mercy for them. Ah! sinners, if this day you hear the voice of the Lord, either sweetly inviting you with the allurements of his mercy, or terrifying you with the threats of his judgments, see you harden not your hearts. For now is your time. Sleep on no longer, lest you come to sleep in death, as it happened to them of old, who by refusing to hearken to God's voice, provoked him so far, that he swore to them in his wrath, that they should never enter into his rest. O remember that 'the day of the Lord and his judgments shall come as a snare upon all them that will not watch,' Luke xxi. 55.
Conclude to enter now into the true spirit of this holy time - which is a penitential spirit - and to prepare the way of the Lord, by putting away all thy sins, and purifying thy soul for him; thus shalt thou welcome him at his coming, and shalt be welcome to him.
|
|
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
|
|
|
First Sunday in Advent
“There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon and in the stars; and upon earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves: men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty.”
Today is the First Sunday in the great season of Advent, in which we prepare for the coming of Christ into the world in great humility at Christmas, as well for his final coming in glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead at the end of the age. Today’s Gospel from St. Luke summons us to prepare for that final coming of Christ. It is from the so called “Little Apocalypse” in which Jesus warns his followers that as he met with persecution and hatred in this world so to would they. His followers were warned of a coming crisis in which they would meet with persecution and in some cases death, opposition from their own families and the civil authorities and that there would be judgment on the nation that repudiated him at the hands of the pagan Roman Empire and the ruin of the temple. The nation that had repudiated his message of peace would be judged, but his followers would be vindicated. They needed to be warned of the tribulations and sufferings that they would face. Beyond the coming historical crisis that would bring an end to the Jewish nation and temple he spoke of the day of the Son of Man (his final coming in glory to judge the living and the dead) and the final consummation of all things, when God’s Kingdom would finally come on earth as it is in heaven, in that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
In speaking in this manner Jesus followed in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, whose message he came not to destroy but to fulfil. The prophets were those who spoke truth to power, whether they would hear or whether they would forbear, as Ezekiel put it. The prophets spoke the Word of God to their generation, a message of judgment on a sinful nation, but mercy for the faithful remnant of Israel who repented. The nation looked to a future Day of the Lord, but the prophet Amos said it would be a day of darkness rather than light. The nation should repent before it was too late. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed God’s judgment on a sinful nation, on those who call evil good and good evil, but yet promised salvation to a faithful remnant. He looked forward to a coming age when the wolf would finally dwell with the lamb and the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. For Jeremiah and Ezekiel the situation was so far gone into apostasy that they could only see total destruction for the nation at the hands of the Babylonians, the ruin of the nation and temple, yet there was still hope in the mercy of God beyond that. Jeremiah looked forward to a new covenant when the law would finally be written on the hearts of men. For Ezekiel it would be like a valley of dry bones coming alive. The present conflict between what is and what ought to be would be finally overcome.
As time passed, and the conflict between the Kingdom of God and the suffering of his people in the present world only became more apparent, a new form of literature called apocalyptic developed. The word apocalypse means unveiling, and it refers to the unveiling of the ultimate significance of the events in this world, when seen from the perspective of the heavenly world (the world which is disclosed in symbolic visions to the seer). In the short term the conflict between good and evil will be brought to a head and there will be increased persecution and suffering for the faithful. The faithful are exhorted to endure under persecution and are given the assurance that, despite present appearances to the contrary, the truth will ultimately prevail. For example, in the Book of Daniel, the reign of the beasts (the pagan rulers of this world) will eventually be replaced by the kingdom of the saints of the most high (the faithful remnant of the people of God) who will inherit the kingdom and possess it for ever.
The Book of Revelation is a Christian apocalypse. It clearly belongs to the apocalyptic genre of literature. However, it not only looks forward to the final triumph of good over evil at the end of this present age. It also proclaims the good news that in the coming of Christ into this world, and especially through his death and resurrection, the decisive victory in the battle between good and evil has already been won. The saints do not only cry “How long” for the final coming of the kingdom. They already belong to the new Jerusalem that will finally be revealed in God’s new heaven and new earth at the end of the age. They already share in the victory of the Saviour over sin and death. Their victory comes not through their own strength, but through the blood of the Lamb.
Confident in this faith we can join in the words of St. Paul in today’s epistle, “Brethren, knowing that it is the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put upon the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Stir up thy power, we beseech thee, O Lord, and come: that from the threatening dangers of our sins, by thy protection we may deserve to be rescued, and be saved by thy deliverance: who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
|
|
THIS WEEK'S FEASTS
& COMMEMORATIONS
|
|
|
St Andrew Prōtoklētos
November 30 Apostle and Martyr († First Century)
|
|
|
Saint Andrew was one of the fishermen of Bethsaida, and was the brother of Saint Peter. He became a disciple of Saint John the Baptist. When called himself by Christ on the banks of the Jordan, his first thought was to go in search of his brother, and he said to Peter, We have found the Messiah! and brought him to Jesus.
It was Saint Andrew who, when Christ wished to feed the five thousand in the desert, pointed out a little lad with five loaves and a few fishes. After Pentecost, Saint Andrew went forth upon his mission to plant the Faith in Scythia and Greece and, at the end of years of toil, to win a martyr's crown at Patrae in Achaia. When Saint Andrew first caught sight of the gibbet on which he was to die, he greeted the precious wood with joy. O good cross! he cried, made beautiful by the limbs of Christ, so long desired, now so happily found! Receive me into thy arms and present me to my Master, that He who redeemed me through thee may now accept me from thee! After suffering a cruel scourging he was left, bound by cords, to die upon this diagonal cross. For two whole days the martyr remained hanging on it, alive, preaching with outstretched arms from this chair of truth, to all who came near, and entreating them not to hinder his passion.
Reflection: If we would do good to others, we must, like Saint Andrew, receive our cross with loving gratitude and not desire to be separated from it, until God so wills. To take up our cross is Jesus' command; are we perhaps dragging ours?
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
|
|
Saint Bibiana
December 2nd Virgin and Martyr († 363)
|
|
|
Saint Bibiana was a native of Rome, born in the fourth century, the daughter and sister of martyrs. Flavian, her Christian father, was apprehended during the reign of Julian the Apostate, branded on the face as a slave, and banished to Toscany, where he died of his wounds a few days later. Her mother, Dafrosa, was beheaded two weeks later. Their two daughters, Bibiana and Demetria, after the death of their parents were stripped of all they had in the world, and then imprisoned with orders to give them no food. The Roman praetorian offered them rewards if they would abandon their faith, and threatened a cruel death if they would not conform, but they replied courageously that the goods and advantages of this world had no attraction for them, and that they would endure a thousand deaths rather than betray their faith and their Saviour. Demetria, after having pronounced this ardent defense, fell to the ground and expired at her sister's side; she is inscribed in the Roman martyrology on June 21st.
The officer gave orders that Bibiana be placed in the custody of a woman named Rufina, who was commanded to corrupt her or mistreat her. But the martyr made prayer her shield and remained invincible. Enraged at the courage and perseverance of the young virgin, the persecutor ordered her to be tied to a pillar and whipped until she expired, with scourges tipped with leaden plummets. The Saint underwent this punishment cheerfully, and died at the hands of the executioners. She was buried by a holy priest at a site where afterwards a chapel and then a church were built above her tomb. In 1628 the church was splendidly rebuilt by Pope Urban VIII, and in it he placed the relics of the two sisters and of Saint Dafrosa, their mother.
Reflection: Pray for fidelity and patience like Bibiana's under all trials, that neither convenience nor any worldly advantage may ever prevail upon you to transgress the laws of God.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
|
|
Saint Francis Xavier
December 3 Jesuit Missionary to the Orient (1506-1552)
|
|
|
A young Spanish gentleman, in the dangerous days of the Reformation, was making a name for himself as a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris. He was aspiring, apparently, to a high dignity, until Saint Ignatius of Loyola decided to undertake the spiritual conquest of this ardent soul. What does it profit a man to gain the entire world, if he suffers the loss of his soul? Ignatius often repeated to the brilliant teacher. The words of Christ, joined to the example of Ignatius and his disciples, prevailed. It was not long before his gifted friend decided to labor for the glory of God, by adopting the evangelical life of an apostle, to which he was indeed called. He was among the first five members of the Society of Jesus, those who with Ignatius made their religious vows in the church of Montmartre in Paris, on the feast of the Assumption in 1534.
On his way to Rome with the others, handicapped by severe penances he had imposed on himself, he remained in Venice and exercised a brief apostolate by caring for the sick in the city hospital. The others waited for him to regain his ability to walk. These first fervent Jesuits were intending to embark for the Holy Land, but were prevented by a war. In Rome, Francis again went to a hospital to serve the sick; he also visited the prisons to encourage and console the poor inmates, while preparing for ordination with the others, according to the desire of the pope.
Saint Ignatius having remained in Venice, the other five returned there afterwards. Francis was sent by Saint Ignatius to the Orient in 1534, where for twelve years he labored unceasingly to win souls, sleeping only three hours a night, eating very little, and bearing the Gospel to Hindustan, to Malacca, and as far as Japan. At all times thwarted by jealousy, covetousness, and the carelessness of those who should have helped and encouraged him, he did not slacken in his apostolic endeavors despite opposition and the difficulties of every sort which he encountered. The gift of tongues and miracles accompanied him everywhere; he resurrected several dead persons. And his inexhaustible kindness was not the least of his assets in winning thousands of pagans to the Faith. He baptized so many that his arm became virtually disabled, ten thousand in a single month in the kingdom of Trevancor, where in the same space of time he saw to the building of forty-five churches. At Meliapour, site of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas, he found the marble on which the Apostle was sacrificed, and which exuded blood the first time Mass was said upon it. Passing through various islands, cities and provinces of India, he strengthened his first conquests by additional preaching. He planted crosses in the public squares and overcame all obstacles.
From India he went to Japan; Saint Francis is called Apostle of Japan as well as of India. There the pagan priests opposed and calumniated him, and tried without success to outwit him in debates. Humiliated, they used subtle means to instill dislike for him in the minds of the court authorities. But he won the love as well as the respect of those he evangelized, blessing them with such miracles as filling the hitherto sterile sea of Cangoxima with inexhaustible reserves of fish. The vast kingdom of China appealed to his charity, and he was resolved to risk his life to force an entry, when God took him to Himself. It was on December 2, 1552, that the Apostle of the Indies died on Sancian, an island facing the city of Canton in China, like Moses, in sight of the land of promise.
Reflection: Some are specially called to work for souls; but there is no one who cannot help greatly to win their salvation. Holy example, earnest intercession, the offerings of our sacrifices and works on their behalf, are within the reach of all. What is needed is the spirit which animated Saint Francis Xavier — the desire to make some return to God for His bounties, with much confidence in His paternal love.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
|
|
Saint Barbara the Great
December 4th Virgin and Martyr († 235)
|
|
|
Saint Barbara was brought up by a pagan father, Dioscorus. With the intention of protecting her beauty, he kept her jealously secluded in a lonely but very luxurious tower which he built for that purpose; for in his own way he loved her. In her forced solitude, this very gifted young girl undertook to study religion, and soon saw clearly all the vices and absurdities of paganism; her clear mind realized that there could be only one supreme Creator-God, and that He is entitled to the worship of His reasonable creatures. Divine Providence by its wonderful ways contrived to obtain for her the means to send a message to Origen, the famous exegete, asking for knowledge of the Christian faith. That teacher of Alexandria immediately sent to her, at Nicomedia, a disciple named Valentinian. Soon she was baptized, and Our Lord appeared to her, as He would appear to others such as Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Teresa of Avila, to tell her He had chosen her to be His spouse. Saint Barbara, rejoicing, hoped to be able to communicate her precious new faith to her father, but would soon discover that hope was vain.
When she was of an age to marry, many requests for her hand came to her wealthy father. She was his only heiress, and he rejected her expressed wish not to accept any such offer, although she said she wished to remain his consolation for his declining years. When she continued to refuse every suitor's demands, and when Dioscorus returned from a journey to find all the idols he had placed in her tower broken in pieces and scattered about, he was furious. Discovering his daughter's conversion, he was beside himself with rage. She escaped and dwelt for a time in a cavern, where she was concealed by the vegetation growing at the entrance. But finally her father's threats of chastisement, which he made known during his searches, for anyone who might be concealing her, caused some local shepherds who knew of her whereabouts, to reveal her retreat.
Her father denounced her to the civil tribunal, and Barbara was horribly tortured twice, and finally beheaded. Her own father, merciless to the last, asked to deal her the fatal blow himself. God, however, speedily punished her persecutors. While her soul was being borne by the Angels to Paradise, a flash of lightning struck Dioscorus and Marcian, the civil prefect, and both were summoned in haste to the judgment-seat of God.
Saint Barbara is beloved of the Spanish-speaking peoples. She is the special protectress of the region of Metz in France, where a magnificent church, later destroyed, was built in her honor in the 1500's. She is invoked against sudden and unprovided death, and invariably answers all requests for the favor of receiving the Last Sacraments. A famous instance of her intervention on behalf of a Saint who was on the verge of death, can be read in the life of Saint Stanislaus Kostka.
Reflection: Pray often to be protected from a sudden and unprovided death; and, above all, that you may be strengthened by the Holy Viaticum against the dangers of your final hour.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894)
|
|
Saint Saba
December 5th Patriarchal Abbot in Palestine
(439-531)
|
|
|
Saint Sabas, one of the most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine, was born in the year 439, near Caesarea. At the age of fifteen, in the absence of his parents, he suffered under the conduct of an uncle, and weary of the world's problems decided to forsake the world and enter a monastery not far from his family home. After he had spent ten years in religious life, his two uncles and his parents attempted to persuade him to leave the monastery to which he had migrated in Palestine. He replied: Do you want me to be a deserter, leaving God after placing myself in His service? If those who abandon the militia of earthly kings are severely punished, what chastisement would I not deserve if I abandoned that of the King of heaven?
When he was thirty years old, desiring greater solitude, he began to live an angelic life so far above nature that he seemed no longer to have a body. The young sage, as he was called by Saint Euthymius, Abbot of a nearby monastery, dwelt in a cavern on a mountain near Jerusalem, where he prayed, sang Psalms and wove baskets of palm branches. He was forty-five years old when he began to direct those who came to live as hermits, as he did, and he gave each of them a place to build a cell; soon this was the largest monastery of Palestine. He left the region when certain agitators complained of him, for he considered himself incapable of maintaining good discipline. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sallustus, did not easily credit the complaints, and instead ordained Sabas a priest, that he might say Mass for his disciples — for they had been displeased by his lack of desire for that honor. He was at that time fifty-three years old. The Patriarch presented him to them as their father, whom they should obey and honor, and made him Superior of all the Palestine monasteries. But several monks remained obstinate, and Saint Sabas again went elsewhere, to a cavern near Scythopolis.
As the years passed, he was in charge of seven monasteries; but his influence was not limited to Palestine. The heresies afflicting religion were being sustained by the emperor of Constantinople, who had exiled the Catholic Patriarch of that city, Elias. Saint Sabas converted the one who had replaced Elias, and wrote to the emperor that he should cease to persecute the Church of Jerusalem, and to impose taxes on the cities of Palestine which they were unable to pay. In effect, the people were reduced to extreme misery. The emperor died soon afterwards, and the pious Justin replaced him. Justin restored the true faith by an edict and recalled the exiles, re-establishing the exiled prelates in their sees.
When Saint Sabas was ninety-one years old, he made the long journey to Constantinople to ask Justinian, successor to Justin, not to act with severity against the province of Palestine, where a revolt had occurred by the non-submission of a group of Samaritans. The emperor honored him highly and wished to endow his monasteries with wealth, but the holy Patriarch asked him to use the riches he was offering to build a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem, to decorate the unfinished Church of the Blessed Virgin, to build a fortress where the monks could take refuge when barbarians invaded the land, and finally, to re-establish preaching of the true Faith, by edicts proscribing the various errors being propagated. The holy Abbot lived to be ninety-two years old, and died in 531, in the arms of the monks of his first monastery.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
|
|
Saint Nicholas of Myra
December 6th Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
(† 342)
|
|
|
Saint Nicholas, the patron Saint of Russia, has won the warmest of praises from other Saints such as Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Peter Damian, who called him the glory of young men, the honor of the elderly, the splendor of priests and the light of Pontiffs. All the world was filled with his praises, Saint Peter added. The universal Church, in the Collect of his office, claims that God made known his nobility by an infinite number of miracles.
He was born during the third century, nephew of the Archbishop of Myra. He had lost his parents while still very young, and he desired not to conserve his rich heritage. Gradually he gave away everything of which he could dispose, establishing dowries for poor maidens and seeking out the needy wherever they could be found. The Archbishop, his uncle, already aware of his vocation to sanctity, ordained Saint Nicholas priest and appointed him Abbot of the monastery of Holy Sion near Myra. He undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, resurrecting a sailor who fell from a mast during the voyage; he prayed for the frightened passengers in a near-fatal tempest and calmed it. He visited Saint Anthony of the Desert and healed many sick persons in Alexandria during a stopover in Egypt.
On the death of the Archbishop of Myra, he was elected to the vacant see. Immediately after the pontifical Mass, he resurrected an infant who had fallen into a fire.
A persecution broke out under the emperor Licinius; Saint Nicholas was banished and kept in chains. He suffered from severe mistreatment but returned to his church when Constantine the Great defeated Licinius, and in 313 then put a definitive end to the persecutions. Saint Nicholas labored in his domains to stop the worship of false gods, still practiced there as elsewhere. With his own hands he cut down a huge tree, site of a sacrilegious cult of the goddess Diana. During a famine his prayers multiplied the provisions of wheat which he had ordered for the port of Myra, to such an extent that what would have sufficed for his people for only a few days, was found to be sufficient for more than two years. He rescued from death, just before they were hanged, three innocents condemned by a judge who had been corrupted by money, reprehended the latter for his crime and sent these liberated ones home, entirely exonerated.
Throughout his life he retained the bright and simple manners of his early years; no one could converse with him without finding himself spiritually renewed. Saint Nicholas was the special protector of the innocent and the wronged. He is usually represented at the side of a container in which a cruel butcher had concealed the bodies of three young persons, whom he had killed and was intending to use in his commerce, but who were restored to life by the Saint. This miracle was reported by Saint Bonaventure in a sermon.
Saint Nicholas rejoiced when God made known to him that the end of his pilgrimage was near. He retired to his Monastery of Holy Sion, and after a short but intense episode of fever, died in the year 342. He is the patron of schoolchildren, sailors, travelers and pilgrims, prisoners and many others. His relics were translated in 1087 to Bari, Italy, where a church was built in their honor. And there, after fifteen centuries, the manna of Saint Nicholas still flows from his bones and heals all kinds of illnesses.
Reflection: Those who would enter heaven must become like little children, whose greatest glory is their innocence. Two duties impose themselves on Christians: first, either to preserve our innocence by sage precautions or regain it by penance; secondly, to love and shield it in others.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
|
|
UPDATE INFO LINKS
Links to Government websites; remember these are being updated regularly as new information and changes in statuses develop:
|
|
|
|