Catholic Taliban

 It annoys me when people rain on other people's parades.  There seems to be a push to spoil people's fun in getting ready for Christmas.  I've heard.  Christmas is December 25, this is Advent--a time of waiting for Christ.  Implicit in this criticism is that we shouldn't put up our Christmas trees, or go to Christmas parties.

So I looked it up.  Yes, we should prepare for Jesus' birthday.  We should go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and prepare interiorly.  But we don't live in a holy sanctuary, where happy, clappy, songs shouldn't be sung, we live in the secular world where we prepare to party for December 25.  Anyway, I looked it up on Catholic Answers:

Question:

Can a Catholic church have a celebration during Advent?

Answer:

Yes, a Catholic church can have a celebration during the Advent season.

The confusion arises because both Advent and Lent use the liturgical color purple and omit the Gloria at Mass. During Lent, parishes curtail and avoid celebrations due to the penitential nature of the season. People, therefore, assume that the same is true of Advent. However, Advent is not listed as a penitential season (canon 1250), and instead of prohibiting unaccompanied music and altar flowers as during Lent, the Church puts forth only that they should be done in moderation during Advent (GIRM 305).

Happy holy days

The Advent Wreath, With A Candle Marking Each Week Of The Season, Is A Traditional Symbol Of The Liturgical Period. (CNS Photo/Lisa A. Johnston, St. Louis Review)

Happy holy days: Is it my imagination, or has the Christmas shopping season (or “holiday shopping season”) extended itself by another few weeks?
What we used to call “Black Friday” sales, beginning the day after Thanksgiving carry on for days after.  For tips not to become overwhelmed and to stay focused on the 'reason for the season' click on the link for suggestions from Richard Doerflinger.

ERO CRAS

The O Antiphons are rich with meaning and make a truly wonderful Catholic tradition! All you do is sing or pray them.  Singing is praying, btw.

Why they are called the “O Antiphons”?

Each night for the octave (8 days) before Christmas, we ask Christ to come, and call him by a different name. Each of these names starts with “O”, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. An antiphon is a liturgical composition, and they are traditionally sung. Therefore, they are called the O Antiphons.

When do the O Antiphons start?

The O Antiphons start on Dec 17 and run through Dec 24. This time is known as the “second part of Advent” or “The Golden Nights.” The O Antiphons are taken from the Liturgy of the Hours (specifically, evening prayers, or “vespers”). So because they are traditionally said in the evening, there is not one for Dec 24 because the evening on Christmas Eve is already the vigil of Christmas, so we are no longer waiting.

What do the O Antiphons mean?

The O Antiphons get across 2 messages: each one highlights a different title for the Messiah (listed below), and each one refers to the prophecy of the Messiah from Isaiah.

§  Dec 17: O Sapientia (Wisdom)

§  Dec 18: O Adonai (Lord and Ruler)

§  Dec 19: O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse)

§  Dec 20: O Clavis David (Key of David)

§  Dec 21: O Oriens (Dawn of the East)

§  Dec 22: O Rex Gentium (King of the Gentiles)

§  Dec 23: O Emmanuel (God With Us)

§   

What’s with the “ERO CRAS”?

If you take the first letter of each name and write them backwards, you get “ERO CRAS.” This means “Tomorrow, I will Come” in Latin. So that’s why you see that written in a lot of places with the O Antiphons.

Blessed Advent

Advent is Waiting

Msgr. Peter Conley

Msgr. Peter reminisced about "waiting."  When he was a boy of eleven years, he loved his father most.  His father was the head of the family and always insisted upon the family eating supper together.  One day there was a blizzard.  He had no school.  It snowed all day.

Dinner time came and his father wasn't home yet.  The family waited half an hour.  They waited an hour.  No one voiced what they were thinking.

Peter worried that something had happened to his father.  After a couple of hours, he told his mother that he was going to wait at the bus stop.  His mother didn't stop him.  So Peter bundled up to walk in the snow and trudged out.  He walked up the side street.  He walked up the main street, crossed the railroad tracks, climbed the little hill, and stood at the bridge.

There were two busses his father could take.  One would stop at the bridge, and then cross over the bridge.  The other would stop at the bridge, and continue on straight.  Peter waited.  He saw bus headlights down the road.  He waited.  He watched the bus slowly, ever so slowly make its way to the bridge.  One person got off.

Peter held his breath.  He couldn't make out the face.  But the person that got off the bus was a man.  Then the man pulled down his hat, and Peter recognized his father's mannerisms and let out a sigh of relief.

That's waiting.  Advent is waiting for Christ to come.

The Holy Spirit and Fire Ignites Priest

We almost had a real live demonstration of Matt. 3: 11-12, and/or a catastrophic event.  Father Jerry Hogan, the circus priest, almost went up in flames.  No he wasn't performing, just giving a homily.  It wasn't boring before the fire, and it certainly wasn't after.

Father Jerry was talking about John the Baptist proclaiming:

 I indeed baptize you with water...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

When the people sitting on the side aisle starting exclaiming.  "Look out...the candles...your vestments...the flame...the chasuble...catching fire...Advent wreath..."

Father Jerry looked behind him.  Father Jerry jumped down three steps at once!!!!!

Whew!

Thanks be to God that he wasn't hurt.  Nothing happened.  The Advent Wreath is placed on the floor in front of the altar.  And that's where Father Jerry stands to give the homily.  The vestments weren't even scorched.

I think this is one homily I will never forget, (nor Father Hogan).

Condemning Then and Now

Waiting Too!

Yesterday's and today's Reading were both from the second letter of the apostle Peter.  I think he could have just as well be writing to us, today.  Are not these passages applicable to today?

...Recall the teaching delivered long ago by the holy prophets, as well as the new command of the Lord and Savior preached to you by the apostles.

...men pour abuse on things of which they are ignorant...Thinking daytime revelry a delight, they are stain and defilement as they share your feasts in a spirit of seduction.  Constantly on the lookout for
a woman, theirs is a never ending search for sin.  They lure the weaker types.  Their hearts are trained in greed.

What we await are new heavens and a new earth where, according to his promise, the justice of God will reside.
    So, beloved while waiting for this, make every effort to be found without stain or defilement, and at peace in his sight.  Consider that our Lord's patience is directed toward salvation.  Paul, our beloved brother, wrote you this in the spirit of wisdom that is his, dealing with these matters as he does in all his letters.  There are certain passages in them hard to understand.  The ignorant and the unstable distort them (just as they do the rest of Scripture) to their own ruin.

Peter could be preaching today.  Is there reason to place these Readings in the days before Advent?  Advent is the coming of Christ.  We wait.  Peter thought he was waiting!  Take heart, He came once, He said He would come again.  He promised; He will do it.  Amen.

Mary Morphs into Martha

Somewhere during Advent, I change from my Mary personality into Martha (Luke 10: 38-42).  No matter what I do, it happens.  I've tried going on retreat during Advent, but that caused a worse transformation.  Mary became a raving maniac, Martha.  I had too much to catch up on.

Baking Christmas cookies, writing Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping presents, social obligations, and feeling guilty because Advent should be one of the holiest times of the year.  I should be growing closer to God, not the opposite.

Every year, I more or less try to not let this happen.

Well, this year, I found an aid.  It's the rosary.  I've started praying the rosary, a bit differently.

In the second part, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for" _____________, I add what I'm praying for.

It can be a person, a situation, whatever.  Two people praying, are better than one, especially one that has some "pull."

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed are thou among women; and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray that I may grow closer to your Son, this Advent season.  Amen.

More Advent Haiku

Advent is waiting                            
Emmanuel in the womb
Born with angel’s song

Advent in Franklin, MA

Advent

December dresses the town common                           
in excitement with white and shiny

red, and green, and blue bright lights.                            
That’s the best!  No!

Across the sky! Reindeer—Rudolf
--red-nose, racing about the night

through yellow twinkles of light
reflected on crisp, crunchy snow,

where children once upon a time,
sang Christmas carols in the gazebo.

Who is ever too old to want to see
beyond what we first see, to recover

the story lit by the stately menorah,
and follow three aged wise-men

around, tall camels, and still lambs,
across to the church’s crèche,

and see Mary and Joseph waiting,
….waiting…waiting…

Advent in 2

h/t to Busted Halo http://bustedhalo.com/