Term Review
Octave of Christmas ( from Latin, feminine of octavus "eighth")
- an 8-day period of observances expanding Christmas Day(Dec. 25th) into an 8-day celebration; the octave begins on Christmas Day and ends on the Solemnity of the Mary, the Mother of God
 
 
Season of Christmas in the Church

 
SEASON OF CHRISTMAS IN THE CHURCH

Monday, December 25. Solemnity of Christmas

December 26. Feast of St. Stephen

December 27. Feast of St. John

December 28. Feast of Holy Innocents
December 29. Feast of St. Thomas Becket
December 30. Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Sunday, December 31. Feast of the Holy Family

Monday, January 1. OCTAVE DAY Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

January 2. Memorials of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen

January 3. Most Holy Name of Jesus
January 4. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
January 5. Feast of St. John Neuman
January 6. Optional Memorial of Blessed Andre Bessette

Sunday, January 7. Solemnity of Ephiphay

Monday, January 8. Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord
[Christmas ends and Ordinary Time begins on Tuesday, January

9th.]Explore the Season of Christmas 

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/seasons/Christmas/
 
 
 
 
 
"The 12 Days of Christmas"
~ Origins and Religious Meaning ~


C atholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829 were prohibited by law to practice their faith either in public or private. It was illegal to be Catholic until Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England in 1829.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the basics of their faith. In short, it was a coded-message, a memory aid. Since the song sounded like rhyming nonsense, young Catholics could sing the song without fear of imprisonment. The authorities would not know that it was a religious song.
"The 12 Days of Christmas" is in a sense an allegory. Each of the items in the song represents something significant to the teachings of the Catholic faith. The hidden meaning of each gift was designed to help Catholic children learn their faith. The better acquainted one is with the Bible, the more these interpretations have significance.
T he song goes, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…"
The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, but it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. i.e. the Church.

1st Day:
The partridge in a pear tree is Christ Jesus upon the Cross. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge because she would feign injury to decoy a predator away from her nestlings. She was even willing to die for them.
     The tree is the symbol of the fall of the human race through the sin of Adam and Eve. It is also the symbol of its redemption by Jesus Christ on the tree of the Cross.

2nd Day:
The "two turtle doves" refers to the Old and New Testaments.

3rd Day:
The "three French hens" stand for faith, hope and love—the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (1 Corinthians 13).

4th Day:
The "four calling birds" refers to the four evangelists who wrote the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.

5th Day:
The "five golden rings" represents the first five books of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

6th Day:
The "six geese a-laying" is the six days of creation.

7th Day:
The "seven swans a-swimming" refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

8th Day:
The "eight maids a milking " reminded children of the eight beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.

9th Day:
The "nine ladies dancing" were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

10th Day:
The "ten lords a-leaping" represents the Ten Commandments

11th Day:
The "eleven pipers piping" refers to the eleven faithful apostles.

12th Day:
The 'twelve drummers drumming" were the twelve points of belief expressed in the Apostles' Creed: belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.

S o the next time you hear "the Twelve Days of Christmas" consider how this otherwise non-religious sounding song had its origins in keeping alive the teaching of the Catholic faith.   ​

FOUR WAYS TO HAVE A MORE JOYFUL CHRISTMAS

1.  STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN:

If you discover yourself becoming dulled to the joys of  the season, STOP!  Slow the pace down and become still, taking time to LOOK and LISTEN.  Take a winter walk, curl up in a favorite chair or before the fireplace. Helen Keller once observed, "The seeing see little."  So feel the comfort of the glow of a candle, or the red of the poinsettias.  Listen with new ears to laughter and bells, and to the expression of love found in the story of the first Christmas.   LOOK UPON THE MANGER, the second home of Love after the womb of His Virgin Mother.

2.  BE WILLING TO BE SURPRISED:
     
Remember that God can come in the least likely ways - a Holy Child born in a village stable, a brightly shining star, an angel song in the night sky. Watch for Him to come in equally surprising ways to you, too.  When we live as if God is going to "surprise" us at any moment, in any way, in any place, then He usually does!

3.  FREE YOUR CHILDLIKE SPIRIT:
     
Jesus held up child-likeness as a quality to be cultivated (Mark 10:15 ).  Children are experts at dreaming up simple things as delights that adults don't, or have forgotten how to do.  Can't you picture a little boy singing "Jingle Bells" to a plastic Jesus in a store?  Christmas often comes in precious moments like this, when we spontaneously show our adoration for the Baby in the manger.

4.  SHARE THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS WITH SOMEONE ELSE:

Nothing multiplies the sense of wonder in your life like giving it away.  The more you share (not just things, but yourself) the brighter Christmas grows.

I hope that these simple steps will help you, or someone you can share these with, keep the wonder and excitement of Christmas alive during this blessed season. 

"Jesus is the reason for the season."
 
 
 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"As He was physically formed in her, so He wills to be spiritually formed in you.  If you knew He was seeing through your eyes, you would see in every fellowman a child of God.  If you knew that He worked through your hands, they would bless all the day through.  If you knew He spoke through your lips, then your speech, like Peter's, would betray that you had been with the Galilean.  If you knew that He wants to use your mind, your will, your fingers, and your heart, how different you would be.  If half the world did this there would be no war!"
(Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen)
  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
 
POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT SPEAKS ON NATIVITY SCENE AND TREE, SYMBOLS OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY

VATICAN CITY, (VIS) -  "This ancient fir," said the Pope Emeritus, "cut down without harming the life of the forest, ... will remain standing by the nativity scene until the end of the Christmas festivities. ... It is an important symbol of Christ's Nativity because with its evergreen leaves it recalls the life that does not die. The fir is also a symbol of the popular religiosity in your valleys, which finds particular expression in processions."
 
  "The tree and the nativity scene are elements of that typical Christmas atmosphere which is part of the spiritual heritage of our communities; an atmosphere suffused with religiosity and family intimacy which we must conserve even in our modern societies where the race to consumerism and the search for material goods sometimes seem to prevail.
 
  "Christmas is a Christian feast," added Benedict XVI in conclusion, "and its symbols, especially the nativity scene and the tree hung with gifts, are important references to the great mystery of the Incarnation and the Birth of Jesus, which are constantly evoked by the liturgy of Advent and Christmas."
AC/CHRISTMAS TREE/...                                                             VIS 071214 (240)

Greccio is the mountain village where Saint Francis of Assisi created the first crib scene in 1223 to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Pope Francis returned to the town on Sunday to deliver his Apostolic Letter entitled, “Admirabile signum”.
An enchanting imageThe Latin title of the Letter refers to the “enchanting image” of the Christmas crèche, one that “never ceases to arouse amazement and wonder”, writes the Pope. “The depiction of Jesus’ birth is itself a simple and joyful proclamation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God”, he says.
A living Gospel“The nativity scene is like a living Gospel rising up from the pages of sacred Scripture”, continues Pope Francis. Contemplating the Christmas story is like setting out on a spiritual journey, “drawn by the humility of the God who became man in order to encounter every man and woman.” So great is His love for us, writes the Pope, “that He became one of us, so that we in turn might become one with Him.”


A family tradition
The Pope hopes this Letter will encourage the family tradition of preparing the nativity scene, “but also the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares.” Praising the imagination and creativity that goes into these small masterpieces, Pope Francis says he hopes this custom will never be lost “and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be rediscovered and revived.”
The Gospel origin of the crèchePope Francis recalls the origin of the Christmas crèche as related in the Gospels. “Coming into this world, the Son of God was laid in the place where animals feed. Hay became the first bed of the One who would reveal Himself as ‘the bread come down from heaven’.” The nativity scene “evokes a number of the mysteries of Jesus’ life and brings them close to our own daily lives”, writes the Pope.
Saint Francis’ crèche in GreccioPope Francis takes us back to the Italian town of Greccio, which Saint Francis visited in the year 1223. The caves he saw there reminded him of the countryside of Bethlehem. On 25 December, friars and local people came together, bringing flowers and torches, writes the Pope. “When Francis arrived, he found a manger full of hay, an ox and a donkey.” A priest celebrated the Eucharist over the manger, “showing the bond between the Incarnation of the Son of God and the Eucharist.”
The start of the traditionThis is how our tradition began, continues Pope Francis, “with everyone gathered in joy around the cave, with no distance between the original event and those sharing in its mystery.” With the simplicity of that sign, Saint Francis carried out a great work of evangelization, he writes. His teaching continues today “to offer a simple yet authentic means of portraying the beauty of our faith.”
A sign of God’ tender lovePope Francis explains that the Christmas crèche moves us so deeply because it shows God’s tender love. From the time of its Franciscan origins, “the nativity scene has invited us to ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ the poverty that God’s Son took upon Himself in the Incarnation”, writes the Pope. “It asks us to meet Him and serve Him by showing mercy to those of our brothers and sisters in greatest need.”
The meaning of the crèche elements  Pope Francis reflects on the meaning behind the elements that make up the nativity scene. He begins with the background of “a starry sky wrapped in the darkness and silence of night.” We think of when we have experienced the darkness of night, he says, yet even then, God does not abandon us. “His closeness brings light where there is darkness and shows the way to those dwelling in the shadow of suffering.”
The landscapeThe Pope then writes about the landscapes that often include ancient ruins or buildings. He explains how these ruins are “the visible sign of fallen humanity, of everything that inevitably falls into ruin, decays and disappoints.” This scenic setting tells us that Jesus has come “to heal and rebuild, to restore the world and our lives to their original splendour.”
The shepherdsTurning to the shepherds, Pope Francis writes that, “unlike so many other people, busy about many things, the shepherds become the first to see the most essential thing of all: the gift of salvation. It is the humble and the poor who greet the event of the Incarnation.” The shepherds respond to God “who comes to meet us in the Infant Jesus by setting out to meet Him with love, gratitude and awe”, he adds.  
The poor and the lowlyThe presence of the poor and the lowly, continues the Pope, is a reminder that “God became man for the sake of those who feel most in need of His love and who ask Him to draw near to them.” From the manger, “Jesus proclaims, in a meek yet powerful way, the need for sharing with the poor as the path to a more human and fraternal world in which no one is excluded or marginalized.”
Everyday holinessThen there are the figures that have no apparent connection with the Gospel accounts. Yet, writes Pope Francis, “from the shepherd to the blacksmith, from the baker to the musicians, from the women carrying jugs of water to the children at play: all this speaks of everyday holiness, the joy of doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.”
Mary and JosephThe Pope then focuses on the figures of Mary and Joseph.
“Mary is a mother who contemplates her child and shows Him to every visitor”, he writes. “In her, we see the Mother of God who does not keep her Son only to herself, but invites everyone to obey His word and to put it into practice. Saint Joseph stands by her side, “protecting the Child and His Mother.” Joseph is the guardian, the just man, who “entrusted himself always to God’s will.”
The Infant JesusBut it is when we place the statue of the Infant Jesus in the manger, that the nativity scene comes alive, says Pope Francis. “It seems impossible, yet it is true: in Jesus, God was a child, and in this way He wished to reveal the greatness of His love: by smiling and opening His arms to all.” The crèche allows us to see and touch this unique and unparalleled event that changed the course of history, “but it also makes us reflect on how our life is part of God’s own life.” 
The Three KingsAs the Feast of Epiphany approaches, we add the Three Kings to the Christmas crèche. Their presence reminds us of every Christian’s responsibility to spread the Gospel, writes Pope Francis. “The Magi teach us that people can come to Christ by a very long route”, but returning home, they tell others of this amazing encounter with the Messiah, “thus initiating the spread of the Gospel among the nations.”
Transmitting the faithThe memories of standing before the Christmas crèche when we were children should remind us “of our duty to share this same experience with our children and our grandchildren”, says Pope Francis. It does not matter how the nativity scene is arranged, “what matters is that it speaks to our lives.”
The Christmas crèche is part of the precious yet demanding process of passing on the faith, concludes Pope Francis. “Beginning in childhood, and at every stage of our lives, it teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us and that we are with Him.”

 
 
This is a series of excerpts from the Diary of St. Faustina on the Infant Jesus and the Holy Eucharist:
 
After Holy Communion: "I suddenly saw the Infant Jesus standing by my kneeler and holding on to it with His two little hands. Although He was but a little Child, my soul was filled with awe and fear, for I see in Him my Judge, my Lord, and my Creator, before whose holiness the Angels tremble.  At the same time, my soul was flooded with such unspeakable love that I thought I would die under its influence" (Divine Mercy in My Soul, 566).
 
During Mass, "I saw the Infant Jesus near my kneeler. He appeared to be about one year old, and He asked me to take Him in my arms. When I did take Him in my arms, He cuddled up close to my bosom and said, 'It is good for Me to be close to your heart . . . . Because I want to teach you spiritual childhood. I want you to be very little, because when you are little, I carry you close to My Heart, just as you are holding Me close to your heart right now" (1481).
 
"I saw the Infant Jesus who, with hands outstretched toward us, was sitting in the chalice being used at Holy Mass. After gazing at me penetratingly, He spoke these words: 'As you see Me in this chalice, so I dwell in your heart" (1346). 
 
"When Mass began, a strange silence and joy filled my heart. Just then, I saw Our Lady with the Infant Jesus . . . . The most holy Mother said to me, 'Take my Dearest Treasure,' and she handed me the Infant Jesus. When I took the Infant Jesus in my arms, the Mother of God and Saint Joseph disappeared. I was left alone with the Infant Jesus" (608).
 
 "When I arrived at Midnight Mass, from the very beginning I steeped myself in deep recollection, during which time I saw the stable of Bethlehem filled with great radiance. The Blessed Virgin, all lost in the deepest of love, was wrapping Jesus in swaddling clothes, but Saint Joseph was still asleep. Only after the Mother of God put Jesus in the manger did the light of God awaken Joseph, who also prayed. But after awhile I was left alone with the Infant Jesus who stretched out His little hands to me, and I understood that I was to take Him in my arms. Jesus pressed His head against my heart and gave me to know, by His profound gaze, how good He found it to be next to my heart" (1442).

​

The manger scene has a special place near the Christmas tree or in another place where family members can reflect and pray during the Christmas season. It is blessed each year on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.   It is appropriate to have Holy Water available.
 
All make the sign of the cross. The leader begins:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
 
All respond:
Who made heaven and earth.
 
The leader may use these or similar words to introduce the blessing.
We are at the beginning of the days of Christmas. All through the season we will look on these images of sheep and cattle, of shepherds, of Mary and of Joseph and Jesus.
 
Then the Scripture is read by a reader:
Listen to the words of the holy gospel according to Luke:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea , to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.—Luke 2:1-7
 
The reader concludes:
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
 
All respond:
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
 
The figures may be placed in the manger. After a time of silence, all join in prayers of intercession and in the Lord's Prayer (the Our Father).
 
Then the leader invites:
Pray now for God's blessing as we look on these figures.
 
After a short silence, the leader prays the blessing:

O God of every nation and people,
from the very beginning of creation
you have made manifest your love:
when our need for a Savior was great
you sent your Son to be born of the Virgin Mary.
To our lives he brings joy and peace,
justice, mercy, and love.
 
Lord,
Bless this manger and all who look upon it.
Through all the days of Christmas
may these figures tell the story
of how humans, angels, and animals
found the Christ in this poor place.
 
Fill our house with hospitality, joy,
gentleness, and thanksgiving
and guide our steps in the way of peace.
May this manger remind us
of the humble birth of Jesus,
and raise our thoughts to him,
who is God-with-us and Savior of all,
and who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
 
R. Amen.

(Then sprinkle Holy Water on the Crèche or Manger.)
 
The leader says:
Let us bless the Lord.
 
All respond, making the sign of the cross:
And give Him thanks.
 
Then Christmas songs and carols are sung such as:

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
 
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven's all gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
 
Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.
 
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
 
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
 
For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Silent Night
 
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth "
 
Silent night, holy night
Wondrous star, lend thy light;
With the angels let us sing,
Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!
Feast of the Holy Family Of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Love is the power force of a Happy Marriage:
    In general , "love" is "to give"...  love is like a smile, we don't have it until we don't give it, if you don't give a smile, you will never have it.  We all expect "love", "to be given", but in marriage, the husband has to love his wife, to give all himself to her, and for the wife to give all herself to the husband. 
Time is essential for the Family:      We have to give "time, "our time" to the one we love, to our spouse and children, and this is very important.:
A child complained to his father, "you don't spend time with me", "I am very busy at work", reply the father. "How much do you make at work? asked the child, $10 per hour, reply the father. The next day the child gave the father a $10 bill, and "What is this for?,” asked the father. So you can give me one hour of your time, you can spend one hour talking with me."

 
 

A bit of humor…




Some Thoughts: 


-Chocolate is the best investment. You buy 100 g – you gain 2 kg!
-It’s all a matter of viewpoint. 250 lbs here on Earth is 94.5 lbs on Mercury. Fat? No. I’m just not on the right planet.


-The trouble with being punctual is that nobody’s there to appreciate it.  
-Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your kids.  
-If Wal-Mart is lowering prices every day, why isn’t anything in the store free yet?  
-Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: Fear of long words.  
-I’m in shape. Round is a shape isn’t it    


Profound Thoughts of Christmas
Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people once a year.” ~Victor Borge
Once again, we come to the Christmas Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes,
in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.  -Anonymous
Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.  ~Larry Wilde
Nothing's as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas.  ~Kin Hubbard
The office Christmas party is a great opportunity to catch up with people you haven’t seen for 20 minutes.


Office Holiday Memo
To: All Employees
From: Management
Subject: Office conduct during the Christmas season
Effective immediately, employees should keep in mind the following guidelines in compliance with FROLIC (the Federal Revelry Office and Leisure Industry Council).
1. Running aluminum foil through the paper shredder to make tinsel is discouraged.
2. Playing Jingle Bells on the push-button phone is forbidden (it runs up an incredible long distance bill)
3. Work requests are not to be filed under "Bah humbug."
4. Company cars are not to be used to go over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house.
5. All fruitcake is to be eaten BEFORE July 25.
6. Egg nog will NOT be dispensed in vending machines.
In spite of all this, the staff is encouraged to have a Happy Holiday.
 
Christmas Gifts
Some mice enter heaven on Christmas.  St. Peter asks them what they would like for Christmas.   They say some roller skates, so he equips them with some.
 
Next, a cat comes to heaven.  St. Peter asks what the cat would like for Christmas.   The cat looking around seeing the mice enjoying their gifts says, "Meals on wheels."


It is all about Communication

-As a little girl climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual, "And what would you like for Christmas?"
The child stared at him open mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped: "Didn't you get my text, social media post, and E-mail?"




+JMJ+
SUNDAY MASS READINGS AND QUESTIONS
for Self-Reflection, Couples or Family Discussion
The Octave Day of Christmas-Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God Sunday, January 1st, 2023

The First Reading- Numbers 6:22-27
The LORD said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!  The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Reflection
Here we see the priests being instructed on how to bless the people. They are to bless them in the name of the Lord - which communicates the “name”, which involves communicating the presence and holiness of God to them. It is not just a nice gesture - it is an act that brings about a reality - a reality that is invisible to the eye, but real all the same.  
Adults - We still receive this type of blessing today, for our priests, especially at the end of Mass. When the priest blesses us at the end of Mass it is a powerful moment that prepares us with grace - which is invisible but real - for the mission field of the world. Pay special attention to this blessing at the end of Mass.
Teens - Do you tend to zone out, or even leave, after Communion? Be sure to stay for the powerful final blessing - it’s an intricate part of the Mass!  
Kids - Do you have any special holy items? Ask your priest to bless them!

Responsorial- Psalm 67:2-3, 5,6,8
R.May God bless us in his mercy.
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. May God bless us in his mercy.
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. May God bless us in his mercy.
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. May God bless us in his mercy.
Reflection
Just as we saw a focus on blessing in the first reading, this Psalm is a prayer for the blessings of God. Remember to thank God for his blessings!

The Second Reading- Galatians 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.
Reflection
Saint Paul speaks here of Christians as adopted children of God, and therefore heirs. What is the inheritance of the children of God? To answer this we look at His Son, Jesus, through whom we are God’s children. Looking at Him shows us what is in store for us as God’s children - eternal life with God, ultimately in a new heavens and a new earth, in our same, though glorified, bodies.
 -Spend some time meditating on what eternal life will be like, especially after the resurrection of our bodies, in the new heavens and new earth, free from all suffering and sin.

The Holy Gospel according to Luke 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Reflection
Shepherds were not, regardless of what has been said, regarded as “lowest of the low.” It was a humble, but honest profession. The humble shepherds are the ones who were open to hearing the message the angels brought to them about the birth of Christ, and came in haste to worship Him. They are some of the first to “make known the message”, and they praise the Lord for what has been revealed to them. The humility of the shepherds is a good lesson for us - they were open to hearing the word of God and acting upon it. We also see an example in Mary, who reflected on all these things in her heart - meditation. The act of meditation and the virtue of humility are both instrumental in the life of a Christian.
Adults - Mediation and virtue work together. It is through meditating on Sacred Scripture that we are equipped to put in to action in our lives.
Teens  - Try to instill a habit of daily Scripture reading in your life. If you don’t already have this habit, it’s ok to build up slowly. When you read, make sure you leave time to meditate on what you are reading.
Kids - What is your favorite Bible passage?

The Church celebrates New Year’s Day in a special way too by honoring Mary as the Mother of God.  But Mary isn’t just the Mother of God; she is our mother as well.  And as the Catechism teaches us, because Mary is our mother, she is also our “Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix” (CCC 969).
So how does Mary fulfill all these roles? Let’s look at two key ways.  First, we know that Mary pondered and treasured everything that came from God. As today’s Gospel says, she dwelt on what the shepherds told her. She also pondered and treasured Gabriel’s visit at the annunciation. She pondered and treasured how the Magi were led to the manger by God’s star. She pondered and treasured what the young Jesus said when they found that he had stayed behind to teach the elders in the Temple.
Try to see how Mary is asking you to take time to ponder who Jesus is and what he has done for you. Imagine Mary asking you to treasure him above everything else.  Second, take a look at Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). This prayer shows how much Mary loved to praise and glorify God.  Right now, try to see how Mary is asking you to join her in praising God with all your heart. Imagine her inviting you to dedicate the first affections of your heart to Jesus by rejoicing in him, singing to him, and worshipping him.
Mary is not only your mother; she can be your prayer partner as well. So join her today, and pray your own Magnificat.   “Jesus, let my soul magnify you! Let my spirit rejoice in your salvation!”
Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)



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​The Proclamation of the Birth of Christ from the Roman Martyrology (Christmas Proclamation)
"The Roman Martyrology for Christmas day contains a formal announcement of the birth of Christ in the style of a proclamation. It begins with creation and relates the birth of the Lord to the major events and personages of sacred and secular history. The particular events contained in the proclamation help to situate the birth of Jesus in the ...
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by Georgette Bechara - Dec 17

​This powerful short film ‘The Veil Removed’ is currently trending online.
It perfectly captures the most extraordinary event in all of history: Christ’s sacrifice of Calvary. An endless, continual sacrifice that transcends time and space itself, blending the supernatural world with the natural world.
When we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Christ’s Sacrifice of the Cross is renewed, and we become present to that very same timeless sacrifice which occurred 2,000 years ago.
Through the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist by the miraculous process of transubstantiation, Christ offers himself for humankind in the same way he offered himself on the Cross as a Spotless Victim, Pure Victim and Holy Victim.
Just as though the Virgin Mary, the beloved disciple St. John, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. Mary of Clopas stood by the Cross of Jesus 2,000 years ago to witness the extraordinary moment where Christ conquered death by sacrificing Himself once and for all.
During the consecration of the bread and wine in the Mass, the entire congregation also become spiritually present at the foot of the Cross on Calvary.
Although not visible to us, according to Christian tradition, from the moment of the consecration, heaven opens, and a vast multitude of Angels, saints and the faithful departed are also present during the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar to adore Christ as the Sacrificial Lamb.
St. John Chrysostom said, “When Mass is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the divine victim immolated on the altar.”
https://theveilremoved.com/

'A Call From God' - Why These Catholic Couples Became Foster ParentsBy Mary Rezac
Denver, Colo., Dec 21, 2018 / 12:30 pm (EWTN News/CNA)It was a quiet Thanksgiving for Kerry.  She and her husband had just retired from the military, and they were home in Colorado Springs with Kerry’s mother-in-law, whom they were taking care of at the time. 

But the house, with two extra, empty bedrooms upstairs, felt just a little too quiet.  Kerry had no children of her own, but it was around that time that she felt God calling her to foster parenting.  “I just saw this article in the paper for a foster agency and it really spoke to me and I said ‘Ok God this is what you want me to do? Because I’m a little bit old for this.’ But...I felt I was just really made to do this and God said, you can do this!” 
It’s something that many Catholic foster parents have in common - the feeling that God called them to open their homes and hearts to foster parenting.

Kerry and her husband began fostering through a local Christian agency called Hope and Home, and after meeting the licensing requirements, embarked on a six-year foster care journey, in which they fostered a total of 10 kids, adopted two, and provided respite care for several other “kiddos,” as Kerry affectionately calls them. 
“Foster care is a learning experience, and is probably the hardest yet most rewarding thing I've ever done,” Kerry told CNA. 
For foster care awareness month, CNA spoke with four Catholic foster parents about their stories, and the faith that inspired them along the way. Only first names have been used to protect the children who have been or are still in their care. 
“The greatest of our foster-heartbreaks has become my life's work” - Kerry, Colorado Springs
Kerry’s family learned a lot, the hard way, from their first foster care placement, a two-year-old named Alex. 
“It was hard, as Alex had suffered abuse and neglect and was terrified of all things to do with bedtimes,” Kerry said. 

“We spent the first week sitting outside the door of his bedroom, because he was terrified to have us in there and yet terrified to be alone.” 
About seven months after Alex had been placed in their care, he was returned back to his biological father. Kerry strongly objected to that plan, telling their caseworker that she believed the father was not ready to take his son back.  
Kerry’s objections were overruled, and Alex went home with his biological dad. Nine months later, Kerry learned that Alex had died of severe head trauma while in the care of his dad’s girlfriend. 

It was because of Alex that she began to research and advocate for the prevention of child abuse. 
“The greatest of our foster-heartbreaks has become my life's work,” Kerry said. 

“I am part of our county's Not One More Child Coalition, the secretary for our local Safe Kids Colorado chapter, and the Chair of the Child Abuse Prevention Committee for our local chapter of the Exchange Club,” she said. 
“We are also working to establish a child abuse prevention nonprofit called Kyndra's Hope - named for another local foster girl who actually entered foster care in hospice, as she was not expected to live due to the severe physical abuse by her biological parents. Thanks to the prayers of her adopted mom, Kyndra is now a lively 10-year-old who, despite her disabilities, has beaten the odds.” 
Kerry has adopted two of the 10 of her foster children, and provided respite care for numerous others. 
Kerry said she felt relief and belonging in her local Catholic parish, because several other families have adopted children and blended families, “so to just go and sit and be a normal family with all the other people there was just really wonderful some days,” she said. 
One of the main patron saints she leaned on as a foster parent was St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. 
“I was always praying to him for myself and for my kiddos who were really lost, just to help us all find ourselves,” she said. 


“What do my pro-life duties entail?” - Scott; Lincoln, Nebraska 


Scott and his wife were newlywed “classic, orthodox Catholics” living in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

While they had no known medical issues, they tried for six years to get pregnant, but it just wasn’t happening. 
After mourning the loss possible biological children, the couple began to talk about adoption. While the idea of foster care surfaced at the time, “It scared us a little bit,” Scott told CNA. 


They knew that many of the children they would encounter would come from difficult situations, and as first-time parents, they weren’t sure they would be able to handle that. 
They adopted a son, Anthony, but they still felt the desire for more children. When they considered a second adoption, they were encouraged to look more seriously into foster care. 
They took the foster parent preparation class, but still felt some hesitation, and so they “kicked the can down the road” a little longer. 

But something happened at their city’s annual Walk for Life that stayed with Scott. 
“We go to the Walk for Life every year, and there’s a lady there every year, she had this sign and it basically said ‘Foster, adopt or shut up.’ That was what she was saying as a counter-protest to a pro-life group,” Scott recalled. 
“It’s something that stuck with me because I thought you know, what do my pro-life duties entail?” 
Soon after, he and his wife felt called by God to open up their home to foster children. They told the agency, thinking they would wait another year or two before getting a placement. 


Ten days later, a little two-year-old named Jonathan came to stay with them. Even though he was young, the family has had to work with him on some deep-seated anger issues and speech delay problems.  
“This is really pro-life,” Scott said of foster care and adoption. “This birth mom chose life, but she can’t raise this child, and so my wife and I are going to take the ball and we’re going to do the hard work and we’re going to get through this.” 
“I really feel like God called us to this, and called us to this little boy,” he added. “You can’t ignore the call - or you shouldn’t - it’s similar to a vocational call in my opinion.” 
Something else that struck Scott throughout the process was how much foster parenting is promoted in Evangelical churches, including those sponsoring their family’s agency- and how infrequently he heard it mentioned in Catholic ones. 
“I would say that [Evangelicals] do a fabulous job in their churches as far as promoting foster care and getting lots of families to participate,” Scott said. 

 “And we’ve got the one true faith, so I want our families and couples to learn about this and possibly participate in it,” he added. 

“I know it’s not for everybody, but there’s lots of different things other than taking a child that you can do,” he said, such as mentoring a child or offering support to other foster parents. 
“We’ve always had a special spot in our heart for kids in foster care” - Jami; Omaha, Nebraska
Jami’s family, like Scott’s family, experienced a time of infertility before deciding to look into foster care or adoption as a way to grow their family. 
But they were also drawn to it in other ways. Before they were married, Jami and her husband had volunteered at a summer camp that united foster care kids with siblings living in other foster homes.


“We volunteered for that as camp counselors, so we’ve always had a special spot in our heart for kids in foster care, so we wanted to try it out for that reason also,” Jami told CNA. 


Jami had also grown up in Omaha, Nebraska, the home of Boystown, a temporary home for troubled boys and youth founded in 1917 by Servant of God Father Edward Flanagan. 
“I have a special relationship with him, even when I was younger, I used to think he was so cool,” Jami said. “And all through us fostering, I would pray to him and through him because he knows, he helped these kids in trauma.”  


Jami and her husband took an infant, Bennett, into their home. His older sister was placed in a different foster home while they waited to see if the children could be reunited with their mother. 


It was an “emotional rollercoaster,” Jami said, because she knew she needed to bond with Bennett, while she also had to be prepared to let him go at any moment. 


“I would pray through Fr. Flanagan and tell him just ‘please.’ I trust God and his choice in whether this kid goes home or not, because that was also really hard - I was feeling guilty for wanting to keep the baby, because it’s not yours. We’re there to help the parents,” she said. 
“So I really believe that (Fr. Flanagan) was holding this whole situation, he just took care of it,” she said. 
“The most challenging thing is letting yourself go, letting yourself bond with the child and not trying to protect your own heart,” Jami said, “and then coping with the emotional roller coaster because that can put a lot of stress on yourself, your husband, the whole family.” 
“But the most rewarding part is helping these families, helping the parents have the time they need to overcome whatever challenges they’re facing,” she said. 
“And getting to bond with the (child) is such a gift because literally if you don’t give it who will? And that is such a gift to give a child.” 
“This is hardcore Gospel living” - Michaela; St. Louis, Missouri
Michaela’s foster parent journey differs from many others. She and her husband already had children - four of them, all in grade school or younger - when she felt God was calling her to consider adoption. 
When the topic of adoption was brought up during her bible study, “my heart just started burning for adoption, the Spirit was moving within me, but I knew that was not something I could just impose on my family or my marriage,” Michaela, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, told CNA. 

She decided to keep the inspiration quiet, and told God that if this is something he really wanted from her family, then her husband would have to voice the same desires first. 

So she never mentioned it to her husband. But one day, some time later, he came to breakfast and said out of the blue: “I think we’re being called to adoption.”
But as their research into adoption continued, they realized that they didn’t feel called to infant or international adoption - two of the most common routes. They realized that God was actually calling them to foster care. 
“It was exactly the desire of our heart, it was where God was calling,” Michaela said.   
The prerequisites for foster care include classes that prepare foster parents for worst-case scenarios - children who come from broken, traumatic situations who will exhibit difficult behaviors. 


But to Michaela’s surprise, “They come and they’re just the most innocent children, this pure innocence comes from a broken life, they don’t resemble the brokenness that they come from.” 
Michaela’s family is relatively new to fostering - in the first six months, they'd already had four children between the ages of one and seven placed with their family.
One of the most rewarding things about foster parenting has been the lessons her biological children are learning from the experience, Michaela said.  
“These aspects of the Gospel we cannot teach our children - I cannot teach you how to lay down your life for someone else. But I can show you with this,” Michaela said. 
“This is Gospel, this is hardcore Gospel living.” 
The hardest part about foster parenting can be letting go - the goal of foster parenting is not to keep the children, but to provide them a temporary home while their biological family can get back on their feet, Michaela said. 
Michaela said that’s a concern about foster parenting that she often hears: “What if I get too attached? Isn’t it too hard?” 


“These children deserve to be attached to, so they deserve us to love them so that it hurts us when they leave,” she said. 

For this reason, she asks case workers to let herself and her children accompany the foster child to their next home - whether that’s with their parents or with another foster or adoptive family. 


“It’s super hard for us, but it’s really good for the kids to see us cry, to know that they are loved that much, that someone would cry over them,” she said. 


Michaela said she found great support as a foster parent through the Catholic Church and also through other Christian denominations. 
“Our own church totally opened their arms to us, and brings over clothes and car seats and was just hugely supportive and welcoming when new kids come to church,” she said. 
“Other churches have provided meals - there’s just such a community within the church, within foster care. They’re all telling us they’re praying for us - so it’s the bigger body of Christ within the foster community,” she said. 


Michaela encouraged couples who are considering becoming foster parents to trust God and lean on their faith, even when it may seem like a difficult or impossible task. 


“When he calls us to those scary, unknown places he provides, he just shows up in ways that we could have never planned for or imagined,” she said. “He does, he makes a way.” 
Adoption and foster care programs for Catholic families can be found through local Catholic Charities or Catholic Social Service branches. 
This article was originally published on EWTN News May 18, 2018.
​

“There will be saints among the children.”
So said St. Pius X, when he lowered the age that children could receive their First Holy Communion. Previously, children had to be 10 or 12, now they are typically in second grade, or about seven or eight years old, though exceptions are made for some who are even younger.


Pope Francis canonized Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the child visionaries of the Fatima Marian apparitions, May 13. These shepherds are the first children who were not martyred to be canonized by the Church. Both died before age 12.
Austin Ruse, Catholic author and president of C-Fam, a family research institute, believes that Pope Francis may have just “opened the floodgates” to scores of saints from the littlest among us.


Several years ago, Ruse was struck by the stories of three children he knew - either personally or peripherally - that all seemed to have a common theme: “little children who died young, suffered greatly, and brought many people to Christ and his Church through their suffering.”


“They were just profound stories and they needed to be told,” he said in an interview with CNA.
In his recent book, “Littlest Suffering Souls,” Ruse tells of the short but significant lives of six children, three of them contemporary children whose families he has met.
 
Suffering, with ‘countless graces’
One of those children was Brendan Kelly, whose family went to Ruse’s parish, and whose funeral Ruse attended. While he had never met Brendan, Ruse had been praying for him.


Brendan was born to a devout Catholic family in Virginia. His parents, Frank and Maura, met while working in the George H.W. Bush White House in 1990.


Brendan was born with Down syndrome, and a seemingly innate love for Jesus. By the age of two, he loved to kiss crucifixes and statues of saints.


It was also at that age that a test confirmed Brendan had leukemia. He began a series of intense and painful treatments that would become an off-and-on part of the rest of his life.


“But along with the suffering would come countless graces,” Ruse noted.


One of the biggest graces was the “mystical” friendship that Brendan would develop with the pope at the time, Pope John Paul II.


Former senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a family friend, personally delivered a photo of Brendan to Pope John Paul II while on a state visit to the Vatican. Once Brendan found out the pope was praying for him personally, he started praying for the pope personally too - every night.


Some time later, Brendan was offered a wish from the Make a Wish Foundation, the group that grants wishes to very sick children - typically a visit to Disneyland, or something along those lines.
But Brendan wanted something different.


“Me meet pope!” the toddler exclaimed. The Make-a-Wish officials were not convinced that this request was coming from the little boy, and so they shooed his parents out of the room. After an hour of questioning, Brendan didn’t waiver.
And so he did meet the pope - at the age of four, Brendan was granted an audience with Pope John Paul II. Not satisfied with the standard brief meeting and shaking of hands, Brendan stood by Pope John Paul II as he greeted everyone in the audience that day. As the pope was leaving, Brendan shouted “Bye, Pope!” and was able to shake hands one last time with the spiritual giant and his personal hero.


Other incredible moments of grace and signs of God’s presence occurred throughout Brendan’s short life. On one occasion, one of Frank’s friends, Peter O’Malley, was in the midst of a terrorist attack at Taj Mahal Palace in 2008.
In his moment of crisis, O’Malley knew who to call for prayers. Brendan prayed, and O’Malley escaped unharmed that night, when 164 people were shot.


His parish priest, Father Drummond, said he was first struck by Brendan’s faith and “absolute joy” as he was preparing him for communion and confession. When Father told him he would get to wear the black and white vestments of an altar boy, “He got a faraway look in his eyes and said quietly, ‘I love those’.”
 
Throughout his short life, Brendan would suffer bouts of leukemia, and grueling treatments. Before each one, his parents would ask him for whom he would offer his suffering - and he always had an intention.


One of his most frequent intentions was Bella Santorum, Rick Santorum’s daughter, who was born with a rare genetic disorder, Trisomy 18. She was only supposed to live a few months, but Brendan offered his suffering for her throughout his entire life. “Bella, I love you,” he would repeat during moments of pain. She is still alive today, some nine years longer than she was expected to live.


“(Brendan) very early on grabbed onto the idea of offering up his suffering, and he always would do it cheerfully, even though it was unbelievably painful, or it made him incredibly sick, he just knew that throwing up for the tenth time, this time is going to be for somebody, and it was useful,” Frank told CNA.


At the same time, he was a normal boy. He didn’t want to be sick, he loved to play with his siblings and be the life of the party. And he could school anyone in trivia from his favorite T.V. show “The Office.” He could name the season and the episode of any quote from Michael Scott or Dwight Schrute that his family could lob at him.


And so, when sick from leukemia and quarantined for a bone marrow transplant as a teenager, Brendan and his family played office trivia through a small, grainy T.V. - the only way they could communicate during the sterile procedure. Soon a crowd of doctors and nurses joined in the fun.


But it was his profound faith and joyful personality that impacted almost everyone he met, and that drew people to him.
“He wasn’t just this always smiley, (disabled) little child,” Frank said. “He would have very profound conversations with people, and say things that would profoundly impact people.”


When he passed away in 2013, at the age of 16, the line at his wake had to be cut short after three hours of people filing past to pay their final respects to Brendan.


“We had to go outside and thank everybody because it was too long, and there was almost an equal number of people at the funeral Mass the next day,” Frank said.


Since that day, they’ve had hundreds of requests for prayer cards of Brendan.


Frank said it has been a “surreal” experience to have a child whose impact is so great that there are people asking for his prayers.


He said he hopes that people who read Brendan’s story and are experiencing suffering themselves understand that they are never alone.


“Brendan never felt alone, and he knew that people were praying for him, starting with Pope John Paul II to the builders who were working on our house, to people he never knew,” Frank said. Even people in other countries who had never met Brendan had offered their prayers. 


A witness amid the ‘culture of death’
Another suffering soul, Margaret Leo, also had a dad who worked in the Washington, D.C. political scene. Leonard Leo is the executive vice president of the Federalist Society - a law organization to which several federal and Supreme Court justices belong. He also worked for President George W. Bush’s administration at one time.


Though Margaret suffered throughout her life from spina bifida and related complications, she bore everything with a cheerful smile and a simple but profound faith. Her photo now sits on the desk of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Ruse names the people impacted by these suffering souls in his book intentionally.


These were not peasant children, like Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Ruse noted, and that’s important.


“They were born into influence and affluence, into a modern day (moral) desert, and they have a message for the modern day desert - all lives are worth living, there are no useless lives, even short, painful lives have a great deal of meaning,” Ruse said.
“We live in an age that people call the culture of death, aimed largely at the defenseless: children, the elderly, the disabled, the intellectually disabled, and these children are witnesses to the fact that all lives are worth living, even ones that are judged not to be worth living.”


It’s something that Margaret’s mom, Sally, hopes that people understand as they read her daughter’s story.


“Especially because such a high percentage of children with spina bifida and other disabilities are aborted these days, and we barely even ever see them,” she told CNA.


“If that wasn’t the case, we would see these kids walking around, we would see kids with braces or crutches or Down syndrome all the time, but 80-90 percent of them are killed, they’re not even given the chance.”


But in Sally’s experience, “It was a gift.”


Margaret taught them about faith and love in the simplest of ways. She gently pestered her dad until he became a daily Mass attendee. She would ask people when they were going to baptize their new baby, or if they had been confirmed.


“Her faith would invariably come up in any discussion that was more the perfunctory, and it would have an impact on people,” her father, Leonard, told CNA.


But she wasn’t a mystic, her parents insist. She just had a strong attraction to holy and beautiful things, and an intense but simple joy that was attractive to those around her. She loved coloring, and being involved in her siblings’ antics, and holding babies. 


“In other words, you wouldn’t necessarily go away thinking, ‘Oh wow, I just met a saint.’ But she would say to you, ‘Hi, how are you? How was your day? How was your birthday? When’s your confirmation?’ She wanted to know about you, which was really what touched people most about her, because you don’t necessarily find that among strangers,” Sally said.


“Charity and kindness and friendship, but at its most pure and most intense level,” Leonard added.


Margaret’s spina bifida meant that she had to have titanium rods placed in her back to straighten her spine. But instead, Margaret’s back bent the titanium rods - so much so that they ended up protruding from her neck. Despite it all, Margaret did not complain.


“It’s ok,” she would cheerfully say, even when it was clear that it was not.


Today, Leonard keeps the rods on his desk - “to remind me what a real bad day looks like.” 


After Margaret passed away and her story spread, the Leos were surprised at the impact their simple but faithful little girl was having on the people around them. When Ruse published an article about Margaret, they received hundreds of requests for a prayer card of her. 


What continues to draw people to Margaret is how she suffered with joy and trust in God, Leonard said.


“I think at some level that when we’re faced with adversity and suffering, we wish that we could be filled with joy, and we could be able to confront it in a way that brings us closer to God and closer to other people, and make the very best of it,” he said.


“And so when you saw her, it was impossible not to be reminded of the fact that we should be filled with joy, we should be thankful to God. As her tombstone says, we should be praying and thanking God without ceasing.”


Tears of inspiration
The third contemporary little suffering soul whose story Ruse tells is that of Audrey from France.
Although her parents were lukewarm Catholics when she was born, Audrey was “spiritually precocious” from a young age.


She practiced mortification by carrying home her school pencils in her shoe. She begged to receive Holy Communion at the age of five. Upon examining her, her priest found her ready to do so, because she understood that Holy Communion is Jesus, “And I want to receive Jesus.” She insisted that her family say grace before meals and a prayer for vocations every night.


She was also sure from a young age that she had a Carmelite vocation, “Caramel” as the little girl pronounced it.


This surprising faith scared Lillian, Audrey’s mom, who wasn’t sure where Audrey was getting her ideas.
“Follow her,” a priest told Lillian.


But she was also scared that her daughter’s spiritual maturity meant great trials were ahead - and they were. At a very young age, Audrey was diagnosed with leukemia.


When Lillian broke the news to Audrey, “She got this very wise, very gentle sort of look” and told her mother that they were “going to do what Jesus says. We’re going to be like the birds in the sky, and we’re just going to take one day at a time.”
“I can’t say that without weeping,” Ruse said.


And indeed, “Littlest Suffering Souls” is a book that will make you weep. But not in a sad way.


“We’re not crying out of sadness, we’re crying out of inspiration,” Ruse said.


“They’re neither tears of joy nor sadness, they’re some other kind of tear, that I don’t have the name for, but it’s just being moved by these inspiring stories.”


Audrey battled leukemia for several years, and, like Brendan, made it on the personal prayer list of Pope John Paul II after her dad was able to hand him a photo of her.


Audrey too offered her sufferings for specific intentions, and, like Brendan, people began flooding her with prayer requests. She had a special heart for vocations, and prayed especially for her Uncle Mick - who is now a priest today.


A bone marrow transplant for Audrey eventually proved ineffective. Knowing she was near death, her family took her to Lourdes, and then to Rome, where she was able to meet Pope John Paul II.  


They spoke together for several minutes, captured by a photo of Audrey’s swollen head next to the bent-down head of the now-Saint.


While no one knows what was said between the two of them, for the rest of the day, John Paul II could be heard around the Vatican muttering her name: “Audrey, Audrey, Audrey.”


She also asked to be confirmed, and insisted that the party be an “elegant” event - one of her favorite words, but one that she meant in beautiful simplicity, rather than extravagance.


In her final weeks, which she was able to spend at home, Audrey spent hours in the family’s chapel, where the bishop had allowed them to keep the blessed sacrament. She told her grandma that she spent her days praying and waiting.


She passed away at 3 p.m., the hour of mercy, on August 22, 1991, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. Her father Jerome had prayed she would pass away on a Marian feast day.


Audrey’s cause for canonization has been opened, and her story has spread throughout France and indeed throughout the world. Seminarians pray for her intercession for their vocations. A Carmelite convent in Spain has her First Communion dress on display, with permission of the family.


Lessons learned
The suffering of children is a difficult subject, but one that captures the attention of all, Ruse said.


“It seems to us to be profoundly unfair that children suffer, and that’s a common human reaction,” he reflected.


“Moreover, the reaction of these particular children to their suffering and maladies is confounding to those of us who cannot even handle the simple contradictions of the day very well,” he said.


“The simplest things can vex us, and yet these are kids who had bone marrow transplants and while they had them, Audrey was singing songs to Mary, and Brendan was offering his suffering for others - they’re just astounding.”


At the end of his book, Ruse offers what he believes are several lessons that can be learned from the stories of little suffering souls - forbearance, simplicity, a love for God, particularly in the Eucharist.


Moreover, he said, we learn that each life has dignity.


“Our modern man might see a child suffering from leukemia who has died young and see nothing but a misbegotten tragedy, a life with no meaning,” he wrote.


“In the simplest terms, modern man is wrong. The Littlest Suffering Souls stand as witnesses to the proposition that all human life has meaning and dignity, even and especially those lives we may not fully understand.”

​

A bit of humor…

Some Thoughts - 
-What is pointless?  To tell a bald guy a hair-raising story. 
- It’s cleaning day today. I’ve already polished off a whole chocolate bar.
-There are two kinds of friends : those who are around when you need them, and those who are around when they need you.  
-A celebrity is someone who works hard all his life to become known and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized. 
-What is the most important thing to learn in chemistry?  Never lick the spoon.  
-Lite: the new way to spell “Light,” now with 20% fewer letters!  
-I was such an ugly kid. When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up.

An I.Q. Too High To Buy
A Thought
I heard a report about a bad outbreak of the tummy bug, apparently 9 out of 10 people there suffered from diarrhea. I can’t stop thinking about that tenth person who apparently enjoyed it.


A scientist tells a pharmacist, “Give me some prepared tablets of acetylsalicylic acid.”
“Do you mean aspirin?” asks the pharmacist.
The scientist slaps his forehead. “That’s it!” he says. “I can never remember the name.” 
 
The Cost of Vinyl
  Most of our music store customers have a story about their old vinyl collection. Once, a man asked how much a record cost. My coworker quoted him the price, then added, “But there’s a surcharge if we have to listen to how your mother made you throw out all your old vinyl records.”
 
SOME THOUGHTS-My friends tell me that cooking is easy, but it’s not easier than not cooking.
-How can you ever be late for anything in London? They have a huge clock right in the middle of the town.
 
 
Christmas Gifts
Some mice enter heaven on Christmas.  St. Peter asks them what they would like for Christmas.  They say some roller skates, so he equips them with some.
 
Next, a cat comes to heaven.  St. Peter asks what the cat would like for Christmas.  The cat looking around seeing the mice enjoying their gifts says, “Meals on wheels.”


A Sign of the Times
As a little girl climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual, "And what would you like for Christmas?"
The child stared at him open mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped: "Didn't you get my E-mail?"
 
None of that Allowed Here 
A minister was completing a temperance (no drinking alcohol) sermon. With great emphasis he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." 
 
With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had 
All the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." 
 
And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." 
 
Sermon complete, he sat down. 
 
The song Leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, nearly laughing, "For our closing song, Let us sing Hymn #365, 'Shall We Gather at the River'."
 ​

+JMJ+
SUNDAY BIBLICAL MASS READINGS AND QUESTIONS
for Self-Reflection, Couples or Family Discussion
Fourth Sunday of Advent – Sunday, December 24, 2023

The First Reading - 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16
When King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side, he said  to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” Nathan answered the king, “Go, do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.” But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and  said: “Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?’“ "'It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth. I will fix a place for my people Israel; I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance. Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old, since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'”
Reflection
The First Reading is the basic account of God’s grant to David of a covenant of kingship.  This Davidic covenant is the last and climactic divine covenant recorded in the Old Testament.  Prior to David, covenants had been made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and all Israel (through Moses).  The Davidic covenant is, in a sense, a fulfillment of all of these: David is a successor of the Patriarchs Adam, Noah, and Abraham; and a sacred embodiment and representative (as king) of all Israel.  It is hard to overemphasize the importance of God’s covenant with David to the theology of the Old Testament: it’s influence is pervasive in the historical books, the psalms, and the prophets.  Essentially, outside the Pentateuch, the Old Testament is largely “the David channel.” Raymond Brown has a famous quote on the significance of the Davidic covenant and kingdom in Christian theology: The story of David brings out all the strengths and weaknesses of the beginnings of the religious institution of the kingdom for the people of God. . . .  The kingdom established by David . . . is the closest Old Testament parallel to the New Testament church. . . . To help Christians make up their mind on how the Bible speaks [to church issues] it would help if they knew about David and his kingdom, which was also God’s kingdom and whose kings, with all their imperfections, God promised to treat as “sons” (2 Sm. 6:14).
Adults - Are you familiar with the covenants of Salvation History? This is a great time of year to start studying the Bible more intently.
Teens - What are some similarities between the Kingdom of David and the Church?
Kids - What does it mean to be a part of God’s kingdom?

Responsorial- Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5 , 27, 29
R.For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
The promises of the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.”
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.”
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Reflection
The Responsorial Psalm is one of the most pivotal psalms in the entire psalter, the last psalm of Book III, which praises God for his covenant faithfulness to David.  Notice how both the Psalm and the First Reading emphasize the Father-Son relationship between David (and his heirs) and God.  A covenant establishes kinship—a family relationship.  Thereafter, the covenant partners may be called by familial terms: usually either Father-Son (for a non-reciprocal covenant) or Brother-Brother (for a parity covenant). The people of God are, in a very real way, family to each other. How does this change how you look at one another?

The Second Reading- Romans 16:25-27
Brothers and sisters: To him who can strengthen you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to  the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Reflection -  The Second Reading drives home the point that Christ’s birth was not an unexpected novum in the history of the world, but rather was the culmination of a divine plan “manifested through the prophetic writings.”
 -What are some of your favorite prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament? If you don’t have one, look up and read some of them.

The Holy Gospel according to Luke 1:26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will  overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Reflection  The Gospel is the account of the Annunciation, and there is no end of what we could say about this beautiful passage, especially if we began to unpack its Mariological significance.  Nonetheless, in the context of these Readings, we want to highlight the Davidic Covenant themes.  Note that Mary is espoused to Joseph “of the house of David.” Almost all the substance of Gabriel’s message to Our Blessed Mother in vv. 32-33 (“He will be great … and of his kingdom there will be no end”) is “taken” directly from 2 Samuel 7.  Gabriel is telling Mary that her child will fulfill all the promises made to David of old. There is even temple, or at least sanctuary, imagery in this Gospel reading, as Gabriel tells Our Mother that “the Power of the Most High will overshadow you,” using a rare Greek word episkiazo employed to describe the cloud of God’s presence which filled the Tabernacle in Ex. 40:35.  Mary is becoming a kind of new Tabernacle of the Presence of God.  We could say that the sanctuary-nature of Christ, who is both House of David and House of God, is being communicated to Mary by association.  As such, Our Mother is a type and icon of the Church, which also shares the sanctuary-nature of her Lord. Of course, the docile submission of Our Mother to God’s word—a word that will involve a share in her Son’s suffering (Luke 2:35), but also a share in his glory (Rom 8:17)—is held up as an example for us all.
Adults - Meditate on the many ways that Mary can be seen as an icon of the Church.
Teens - How is Mary an example to us?
Kids - How does Mary show us what true love for Jesus is?

LIVING THE WORD OF GOD THIS WEEK! – Our Response to God this Week
Could infinite love have gone any further? Our creation, the fact that we exist as human beings on earth, is a great gift to us on the part of God. Of what value could eighty, a hundred, even seven hundred years of a continuously happy life on this earth be for us if we learned that we had to depart life forever one day? In a world tormented by sin and its evil effects our normal span of life would be less satisfying. However, when God created us, he so planned that our stay here would be but a stage, a stepping stone in fact, toward our everlasting home. We are well aware indeed of the lengths to which God's love has gone in order to make us his children and heirs to his kingdom. Are we, however, grateful to him for the love he has shown us? Are we honestly and sincerely trying to make ourselves worthy of the great future he has in store for us?
Today is a suitable occasion to look right into our hearts, to see how we stand with God. During the week we shall be keeping the feast of Christmas. The Baby in the manger will remind us of what God has done and is still doing for us. What are we doing in return? Have we shown our gratitude by living as true followers of Christ? If most of us must answer: "no," this is the time to change our course and return to the right road once more. God is asking this of us today. Shall our answer be: "behold here I am Lord, your humble and grateful servant, let it be done to me according to your word"?  -Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.



15. To whom is the deposit of faith entrusted? a) the whole Church
The Apostles entrusted the deposit of faith to the whole of the Church. Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith the people of God as a whole, assisted by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Magisterium of the Church, never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine revelation.


16. To whom is given the task of authentically interpreting the deposit of faith? c) the living teaching office of the Church alone (Magisterium)
The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the deposit of faith has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone, that is, to the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, and to the bishops in communion with him. To this Magisterium, which in the service of the Word of God enjoys the certain charism of truth, belongs also the task of defining dogmas which are formulations of the truths contained in divine Revelation. This authority of the Magisterium also extends to those truths necessarily connected with Revelation.


17. What is the relationship between Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium? d) one of them cannot stand without the other
Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium are so closely united with each other that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.

​

✟✟✟✟✟✟ Catholic Questions and Catholic Answers✟✟✟✟✟✟ 
9. What is the full and definitive stage of God's Revelation? (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 65-66, 73) 
a) reached its height with King David 
b) it will only occur at the end of time 
c) Jesus Christ coming among us 
d) no one person or thing is the full and definite Revelation 

10. What is the value of private revelations? (CCC 67) 
a) there is no value 
b) valuable only to the easily confused 
c) these are tricks of the devil trying to confuse devout believers 
d) they may be helpful to individuals living out the Faith in particular times 
The Transmission of Divine Revelation 
​
11. Why and in what way is divine revelation transmitted?(CCC 74)  
a) through Jesus Christ 
b) the proclamation of the followers of Christ 
c) Apostolic Tradition (teaching of the apostles and their successors) is essential 
d) all of the above     (Answers on back) 
​

Catholic Term of the Week
Gaudete Sunday (from Latin gaudete “(you all) Rejoice!”)
- the Third Sunday of Advent marking with subdued joy that we are over half way in our waiting for Christmas; Rose-colored vestments may be worn while the rose candle is lit on the Advent wreath (Gaudete comes from the opening of the Mass: Gaudete in Domino semper –“Rejoice in the Lord always”)
 
 
Term Review
Laetare Sunday - the fourth Sunday of Lent marking that Lent is over half way completed;  (Laetare – Latin meaning “Rejoice” comes from the opening of the Mass "Laetare Jerusalem" -- "Rejoice, O Jerusalem") ​

Catholic Parents Online has as its mission "to build a network of faithful, dynamic, and informed parents, students, and alumni, committed to working with Catholic schools and other programs of education to ensure the authentic teaching and protection of the Catholic Faith." They recognize parents' role as the primary educators of their children.  All in all this is an excellent site and Catholic parents will find it most useful and informative. ​

Father Jarett Konrade, pastor of St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Beloit, Kansas, made an impressive basketball shot recently during a fundraiser, landing him on the “Images of the Week” for “EWTN News In Depth.”
Two years ago, his parish suffered a fire in one of its church towers, and parishioners are still raising money to pay for the repairs. On Nov. 7, Konrade announced a creative way to raise funds ahead of the #iGiveCatholic GivingTuesday on Nov. 28 — a “foosketball” challenge (a mix of foosball and basketball).
For several weeks ahead of GivingTuesday, Konrade and Father Andrew Rockers, associate pastor of the parish, took part in challenges to encourage donations while giving students at the school something to cheer for. The two went head to head in “foosketball” and a one-on-one basketball game. But it was a trick shot from Konrade that made this Catholic community’s record book.
In a video shared on the school’s Instagram, two high school students said that Konrade would be attempting to make “the longest [basketball] shot ever by a priest on a playground.”
After 85 attempts, standing from a fire escape 76.9 feet away, Konrade found the basket with his basketball and an eruption of cheers followed the impressive shot. 
Through their #iGiveCatholic campaign and a matching grant, St. John’s raised $45,822.24 for the parish and $274,882.21 for the school, bringing their grand total to $320,704.25.
Along the way, the school reached several milestones in terms of funds gathered. At $50,000, the students were treated to a movie sponsored by a small business in Beloit.
The milestone of $75,000 and $100,000 means several administrators and teachers will spin a “Wheel of Good/Bad Fortune” on Jan. 7, 2024. The wheel includes “good” items — such as gift cards to local restaurants — as well as some “not so good” items like the ice bucket challenge, eating cream pie with no hands, boiled or raw egg roulette, and milking a goat.
Since $125,000 was raised, Konrade will be going skydiving. 
Finally, Bishop Jerry Vincke of the Diocese of Salina, Kansas, promised to walk from Glasco, Kansas, to St. John’s Parish as part of the fundraiser. This walk will take him more than six hours. In a video shared on Instagram, he said he will complete it before St. John’s inauguration of their restored church on Jan. 7, 2024. ​

How the Blind Can 'see' Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico​

St. Lucy an Example of Courage for All Who Face Disabilities, Pope says

Vatican City, Dec 13,  (EWTN News/CNA) -- In an audience with people who are blind and visually impaired Pope Francis said that St. Lucy’s courage in facing martyrdom can teach them to live their disability without fear or isolation.

“Lucy suggests to us a value which for me seems very important also for you: courage,” the Pope told members of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired on Dec. 13.

“She was a young woman, helpless, but confronted torture and violent death with great courage, a courage which came from the risen Christ, with whom she was united, and from the Holy Spirit, who lived within her.”

In his speech the pontiff recognized how his audience with the group fell on the feast day of St. Lucy, who lived in Italy during the third century and is the patroness of the blind and visually impaired.

Although this might not be well-known to all members of the group since it is a non-denominational association, the Pope explained that it has great significance for each of them, particularly in terms of human values.

Lucy was able to live in an exemplary way due to her faith in Christ, he noted, but recognized that the values she espoused can be shared by all.

One of the key values St. Lucy teaches is courage, he said, observing how “all of us need courage to face life's trials. In particular people who are blind and visually impaired have the need not to close themselves, not to take on an attitude of victimization.”

Rather, persons with such disabilities need “to open themselves to reality, to others, to society; to learn to know and appreciate the capacity the Lord has placed in each one, in all, without exception! But this requires courage, strength of spirit,” he said.

Pope Francis then emphasized the importance of community, noting how Lucy was not alone, but was a member of the universal Church of which Christ is the head and foundation.

In being an association, the group also has this same quality of community, the Bishop of Rome said, explaining that an association is more than a mere collection of individuals.

“Today there is a great need to live with joy and commitment the associative dimension, because in this historic moment its ‘in decline,’ it’s not strongly felt,” he noted, observing how the ability to form a group, to be in solidarity with others and to pool each other’s resources are all part of a group’s civil heritage.

People living with disadvantages or disabilities can, often through their own personal experience, show the world that human beings are not “monads,” the Pope said.

“We are not made to be isolated, but to relate, to complement one another, to help each other, to accompany, sustain and support each other,” he observed, noting that the presence of people with disabilities “causes everyone to make a community, indeed to be a community” despite our limitations.

“Because we are all capable, but we all have limits too!” the Roman Pontiff noted.

He then returned to the life of St. Lucy, saying that another key value she teaches is that life is made to be given.

Although she lived this value to the “extreme” through martyrdom, it is a universal quality, the Pope explained, noting that it is also the key to true happiness.

“Man is not fully realized in having or even doing; he is realized in loving, that is, in giving,” he said, and pointed out how the name “Lucy” means “light.” Each person becomes light to the extent in which they are a gift to others, the Pope noted, observing that “each person, in reality, is this – is a precious gift.”

The pontiff noted how living according to these values can create certain misunderstandings because they go against the times in a culture that places a heavy emphasis on individual rights.

“So there is still a need to fight, with the example and intercession of St. Lucy! I hope that you to do so with courage, and with the joy of doing it together!”
When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: "He must increase, but I must decrease."  -Catechism of the Catholic Church #524​

A bit of humor…

Some Thoughts:
-Progress is made by lazy men looking for an easier way to do things. 
-I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and I think, “Well, that’s not going to happen.”  
-Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?  
-What if there were no hypothetical questions?  
-For every action, there is a corresponding over-reaction.  
-I’m a humble person, really. I’m actually much greater than I think I am.  
-A celebrity is someone who works hard all his life to become known and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.  
-I don’t have a solution, but I do admire the problem.
Kids Marry The Darnedest ThingsMy young son declared, “When 
I grow up, I’m going to marry you, Mommy.”
“You can’t marry your own mother,” said his older sister.
“Then I’ll marry you.”
“You can’t marry me either.”
He looked confused, so I explained, “You can’t marry someone in your own family.”
“You mean I have to marry a total stranger?!” he cried.
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


A woman went to the Post Office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.

"What denomination?" asked the clerk.

"Oh, good heavens! Have we come to this?" said the woman. "Well, give me 50 Catholic and 50 Baptist ones."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wife :       'Do you want dinner?'   
 
Husband:       'Sure! What are my choices?'   
 
Wife:          'Yes or no.'      
 
--------------------------------------------------------   
 Stress Reliever
Girl:       'When we get married, I want to share all your worries, troubles and lighten your burden.'   

Boy:       'It's very kind of you, darling, but I don't have any worries or troubles.'   
 
Girl:       'Well that's because we aren't married yet.' 
  ________________________________ 
 
A newly married man asked his wife, 'Would you have married me if my father hadn't left me a fortune?'   
 
'Honey,' the woman replied sweetly, 'I'd have married you, NO MATTER WHO LEFT YOU A FORTUNE!'   
​

+JMJ+
SUNDAY BIBLICAL MASS READINGS AND QUESTIONS
for Self-Reflection, Couples or Family Discussion
Gaudete Sunday
Third Sunday of Advent – Sunday, December 17, 2023

The First Reading - Isaiah 61:1-2A, 10-11
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.  I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.  As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.
Reflection
This very famous passage is one of the well-known “Servant Songs” of the prophet Isaiah.  In the second half of the Book of Isaiah (chs. 40-66), there are several extended poems that describe a mysterious “servant of the LORD” about whom wondrous things are said and predicted.  Most of the Servant Songs are third-person descriptions, but Isaiah 61 is one of a few that are phrased in the first-person: that is, the Servant himself speaks.
Adults - Is God the joy of your soul? How can you properly order your loves so that God is first?
Teens - How does putting God first among your loves help you to love others?
Kids - How do you show God that you love Him?

Responsorial- Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54
R.My soul rejoices in my God.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
Reflection
Here we see that Mary is adopting the attitude and posture of the Servant of the LORD in Isa 61:1-2.  How can she do this?  Isn’t the “Servant of the LORD” Jesus Himself?  Yes, but the Blessed Mother has Jesus in her womb.  She is the first Christian, the first person to be united as one flesh with Jesus.  So what is true of Jesus, is true of her by extension.  She is taken up into the Messianic mission of Christ, to “proclaim good news … and liberty,” and to find in God the “joy of her soul.” In what ways can you view Mary as a model for your own life? Spend some time with this question.

The Second Reading- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.  Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophetic utterances.  Test everything; retain what is good.  Refrain from every kind of evil. May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.  
Reflection -  Rejoice always.  That is the key reason this text was chosen for “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing” Sunday.  How is it possible to “rejoice always”?  Well, in order to do that, we have to develop some other habits: (1) praying; (2) always giving thanks, that is, trying to see the “silver lining” in everything that God sends our way; (3) not quenching the Spirit, (4) respecting “prophecy”, which would apply (among other things) to the teachings of the Church, and (5) refraining from evil.  Learning to “rejoice always” is part of a larger package of a life of virtue, in which everything is inter-related.  This is the “package” the Servant came to teach us, and this is the “package” that Mary lived out so well.
 -What is the difference between happiness and joy?

The Holy Gospel according to John 1:6-8, 19-28
A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent.  They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Reflection  John the Baptist figures prominently during the season of Advent, because he announced the coming of Jesus.  Weeks 2 and 3 of Advent often have Gospel texts reflecting on his ministry. John points to someone greater.  He is not the Servant of the LORD of Isaiah 61: Jesus will be that.  His job is to point to the Servant.  In a sense, that’s our job as Christians, too: to point to God’s Servant, Jesus. So what do we do this Sunday?  We rejoice!  God has seen our poverty, and he is sending (has sent!) us his Servant to feed our hungry souls with Himself, and to teach us that in God is joy!  Let’s stay humble, like the Blessed Virgin and John the Baptist, and keep our fingers pointed to Jesus, telling others about Him!
Adults - How does your life point to Christ?
Teens - Do people see Jesus in your words and actions?
Kids - How can you show the love of Jesus to others?

LIVING THE WORD OF GOD THIS WEEK! – “Christ Even Now on the Way to Bethlehem
Evidently, in the mind of holy Church, neither the prophecy concerning Bethlehem Ephrata nor its fulfillment in the day of Caesar Augustus is to be considered merely a glorious divine disposition and achievement. No, the prophecy of Micheus is still being verified every day, but predominantly during the annual Advent season; for the selfsame incarnate eternal Son of God who journeyed to Bethlehem to be born there physically, now to the end of time comes to human souls as to spiritual Bethlehems, there to be born anew, again and again.
But be sure to picture these merciful spiritual journeyings of Christ to the Bethlehem of souls as all too often sadly realistic spiritual repetitions of His first long journey over the rugged road from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Meditate long on the wanton and malicious opposition He encounters on His way to them from souls that leave their senses and heart and mind to be ruled by earthly vanities, and their whole selves to be willing victims of the sensual and selfish illusions and witcheries of the seven capital vices.
Can you still fail to see why Isaias and the Baptist compare the hardships of the way of the world's Messiah-King to souls with a rough, crooked, and almost impassable road up steep hills and down precipitous valleys and through dangerous mountain passes? Do you wonder that these prophets of His coming insist so strongly that merely sentimental longings and routine prayers, however multiplied, cannot prepare us worthily for the entrance He must expect and the welcome He craves?
Pray very honestly, therefore, that you may begin to see the practical reasons for the Church's crying out in the desert world, and even into your own interior soul and heart:
"Prepare ye the way of the Lord: Make straight in the wilderness His paths; Every valley shall be exalted; Every mountain and hill shall be made low; And the crooked shall be made straight; And the rough ways plain" (Is. 40:3, 4). Then shall you see the salvation of God!” -Excerpted from Our Way to the Father by Rev. Leo M. Krenz, S.J.



9. What is the full and definitive stage of God's Revelation? 
c) Jesus Christ coming among us
The full and definitive stage of God’s revelation is accomplished in his Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the mediator and fullness of Revelation. He, being the only-begotten Son of God made man, is the perfect and definitive Word of the Father. In the sending of the Son and the gift of the Spirit, Revelation is now fully complete, although the faith of the Church must gradually grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.   “In giving us his Son, his only and definitive Word, God spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word, and he has no more to say.” (Saint John of the Cross) 


10. What is the value of private revelations?
d) they may be helpful to individuals living out the Faith in particular times
While not belonging to the deposit of faith, private revelations may help a person to live the faith as long as they lead us to Christ. The Magisterium of the Church, which has the duty of evaluating such private revelations, cannot accept those which claim to surpass or correct that definitive Revelation which is Christ.           The Transmission of Divine Revelation 


11. Why and in what way is divine revelation transmitted?
d) all of the above
God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), that is, of Jesus Christ. For this reason, Christ must be proclaimed to all according to his own command, “Go forth and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). And this is brought about by Apostolic Tradition. 

​

+JMJ+
In this e-weekly:
-  For Your Marriage - US Bishops website (Catholic Website of the week-by the laptop computer)
- Benedictine Nuns in Missouri Honor Christ the King with New Album   (Diocesan News and BEYOND)
- Call Nursing Homes During This Time of Year; Reflection for Second Week of Advent (Helpful Hints for Life)
***Sunday Readings and Reflections at end of e-weekly***

9. What is the full and definitive stage of God's Revelation?(Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 65-66, 73)
a) reached its height with King David
b) it will only occur at the end of time
c) Jesus Christ coming among us
d) no one person or thing is the full and definite Revelation


10. What is the value of private revelations?(CCC 67)
a) there is no value
b) valuable only to the easily confused
c) these are tricks of the devil trying to confuse devout believers
d) they may be helpful to individuals living out the Faith in particular times


The Transmission of Divine Revelation
11. Why and in what way is divine revelation transmitted? (CCC 74)
a) through Jesus Christ
b) the proclamation of the followers of Christ
c) Apostolic Tradition (teaching of the apostles and their successors) is essential
d) all of the above     


(Answers at end)

​

Reflections For The Second Week of Advent
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Everyday Heroes: Army Officer Donates Part of Liver to Save Priest’s LifeCatholic News Service | Andrew Fowler | November 27, 2019 | 
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Father Dennis Callan’s health was rapidly declining. His situation was so dire that his dentist refused to even pull a tooth out of fear that the he would bleed to death. The cause? Advanced cirrhosis of the liver.

A Divine Word missionary, Father Callan was stationed in South Korea, serving as a military chaplain. He would have to leave Korea to return to the United States for treatment.
When he announced to his parishioners in November 2015 that he had to leave for “personal reasons,” one parishioner took notice: his friend U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Chris Moore.
Moore and his wife, Heidi, met Father Callan in 2014 at Camp Humphreys. The Moores and Father Callan would share meals together and socialize after Mass, particularly at Knights of Columbus council meetings — both men were members of Bishop John J. Kaising Council 14223 on the base. Father Callan was a spiritual guide as the Moores welcomed two children into their growing family.
“He was a support during our time in Korea because my wife was new to Catholicism,” said Moore, currently stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, while his two children and his wife live in Arizona. “Father Dennis was there to guide us and strengthen us in our relationship and help us to get to where we are today.”
When Father Callan returned to the U.S., his hepatologist in Chicago told him that he was lucky to have survived the trip from South Korea. His only chance of survival was a liver transplant.
Members of family were tested to see if they could donate, but no one was compatible. By the end of December 2016, Father Callan’s health began free-falling.
He began arranging his funeral.
“I decided I did not want to go on this (donor) list,” Father Callan said. “I figured, I’m a priest and I would accept whatever the Lord had in mind for me and I did not want to take the opportunity away from another to receive a liver.”
Throughout the process, Father Callan and the Moores kept in touch. When Father Callan told the Moores that every option seemed exhausted, they offered to be tested to see if one of them was a compatible donor.
Father Callan was completely shocked at the Moores’ offer. Especially because it would not be easy for Chris to donate, due to Army regulations regarding organ donations.
It turned out that navigating these regulations was worth it. Chris was a match.
In May 2017, Moore and Father Callan went in for surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
“We said our ‘goodbyes’ and I told (the Moores), ‘I’ll see you on the other side,'” Father Callan said. “The next morning I woke up and I said, ‘I feel 100% better already.'”
Father Callan was in surgery for 10 hours and received more than two-and-a-half pounds of his brother Knight’s liver. Moore noticed the immediate health differences in his friend when he visited him the day following the surgery.
“We call each other brothers now because we share something in common, our livers,” Moore said with a smile. “We share a special bond and he’s able to do what he does, continue to be able to do what he wants to do which is minister to people.”
The brotherhood between Father Callan and Moore is shown in “Everyday Heroes,” a video series produced by the Knights of Columbus. The series showcases ordinary men acting in extraordinary ways, who are strengthened by their Catholic faith and membership in the Knights of Columbus.
“One of the things that I felt very strongly about is that the brotherhood among the members of the Knights of Columbus is important because men need a lot of support in the faith,” Father Callan said.
Father Callan and the Moores attended the Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage — an international event co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus along with the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services to bring healing to military personnel and their families at the Marian shrine in France.
When reflecting on this period in his life, Father Callan sees God’s providence.
“What we have to realize is that God is present with us,” Father Callan said. “God is leading us, guiding us through the many, many things, many trials that we face. God is always present, caring and loving for us in ways that we don’t necessarily understand.”
Father Callan remains close with the Moores, visiting them at their home in Arizona.
But when apart, the brother Knights still contact each other to talk.
“For me, simply being with Chris or talking with him inspires me and encourages me,” Father Callan said. “We are brother Knights in every sense of the word.”
To see more Everyday Heroes videos go to kofc.org/heroes

How One Diocese is Inviting People Back to the Church This ChristmasBy Perry WestDetroit, Mich., Dec 6, 2018 / 02:54 am (EWTN News/CNA)
As part of a recent evangelization outreach, the Archdiocese of Detroit is launching a Christmas campaign to welcome Catholics who may have been away from the Church. 
“This is the way that we are responding to the invitation to share the Gospel with others. This is part of the transformation of being a mission-oriented diocese,” Edmundo Reyes, the archdiocese’s communication director, told EWTN News.
The campaign is called “Part of the Family.”  Its goal is to create a welcoming environment at Mass and encourage evangelization among the parishioners through virtual tools. 
Reyes said these efforts are an extension of the pastoral letter “Unleash the Gospel” released at Pentecost last year. The letter followed several years of preparation, including a year of prayer in 2014 and a synod meeting in 2016.
He said the campaign includes three parts: evangelization training, videos, and a newly published website, specifically focused on Christmas Mass times. 
“Our hope is that, with these combined efforts, people that attend Mass once a year or are there for the first time, they experience what we are calling radical hospitality,” he said. 
“We target at Christmas knowing there are people who come there for the first time or they haven’t been with us for a while,” he said. “One of the things is we want to be unusually gracious and hospitable for people that come to our churches.”
The first component of the campaign was a day-long evangelization event that included discussions, training, and resource material. More than 800 people from over 120 parishes in the archdiocese attended.
According to the Detroit Catholic, one of the speakers broke down the Gospel into four essential parts. Fr. John Riccardo, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth, said the Gospel’s message is on the goodness of God found in his creation, sin and its repercussions, God’s response to sin, and mankind’s response to God. 
Hospitality was another major focus of the event, which was held Nov. 16. Regular Mass-goers were presented with simple steps to make people feel welcome, like greeting strangers and sitting in the middle of the pews to allow room on the outsides. 
The second element of the campaign is a series of Christmas videos, focusing on the universal Catholic family and God’s incarnation, Reyes said.
“We are all part of the same family, and it’s hard to imagine, but we are celebrating God becoming part of our family. So let’s do it together,” says the narrator in the video. “This Christmas, we are thankful that you are one of us, a Catholic, part of the family.”
The first video was released on Saturday, Reyes said, and it has already received roughly 30,000 views. He said more videos will be released weekly. 
In addition, paid ads will be run on spotify, youtube, and social media, inviting people to attend Christmas Mass and bring their friends and family. The ads will use geoparameters to reach people in areas near churches in the archdiocese. 
The third aspect of the campaign, Reyes said, is a new website, massfinder.org, to help people navigate Christmas Mass times in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He said the website is accessible, giving people an easy way to discover Mass times and invite friends and family. 
“If we want to be truly hospitable, the first encounter the people have with us is going to be trying to find out what time Christmas Mass happens.”
The website includes “share buttons” for people to send links of a specific Mass time via social media, email, or text. When it is shared, the user has access to a virtual reminder of that Mass and a map to the parish. 
Especially during this season of giving, Reyes said, the most important gift that can be given is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of the Father. 
“This is a time we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, God becoming part of the family. And that's the theme - Part of the Family. We want make sure that people feel welcome and invited in the celebration of Jesus' birth.”

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Pope Francis Praises the 'hidden holiness' of Everyday Saints

Vatican City, Dec 4 / 11:57 am (EWTN News/CNA) - Pope Francis cautioned against the false appearances of those who are proud or vain, saying that true holiness is found in the silent, everyday witness of the poor and humble.

“We should think about so much hidden holiness there is in the Church; Christians who remain in Jesus,” the Pope told those present in the Vatican's Saint Martha guesthouse for his Dec. 4 Daily Mass.

While there are there are some Christians who put on appearances, many others are true saints, he said, noting that they are not necessarily “canonized saints, but saints (who) put the love of Jesus into practice.”

The Pope centered his reflections on the day's first reading from the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the importance of founding oneself on the rock of the Lord, and foretells the destruction of the high and “lofty” cities, who will be trampled by the poor and needy.

When it comes to being a true Christian, the Pope said, we should not be “Christians in appearance,” whose make-up comes off as soon as the rain begins.

“So many 'apparent Christians,' collapse at the first temptation (because) there is no substance there,” so it's not enough to simply belong to a Catholic family, an association or to be a benefactor if we don’t follow God’s will.

However, there are also many who do follow God’s will and put his love into practice every day, Pope Francis noted, pointing to those who are considered small but who offer their daily suffering to the Lord.

“Let us consider the sick who offer their sufferings for the Church, for others. Let us consider so many of the elderly who are alone, who pray and make offerings,” he said, also recognizing the many families who work hard to raise children and who don’t “strut about,” but bear their problems with hope.

These people are “the saints of daily life,” the Pope said. He also lauded the witness of the many parish priests who carry out their work with love, and without being seen.

Priests who work hard catechizing children, caring for the elderly and the sick, and preparing couples for marriage do the same thing every day, he said, but never get bored “because their foundation is the rock. It is Jesus, it this that gives holiness to the Church, it is this that gives hope!”

Even these hidden saints are still sinners, because we all are, he observed, saying that when a good Christian sometimes falls and commits a grave sin but is penitent and asks forgiveness, it is a good thing.

“Not confuse sin with virtue,” the Pope said, explaining that it’s good to “know well where virtue is, and where sin is, (but) these (people) are founded on rock, and the rock is Christ.”

The proud and the vain are those who have built their house on sand, the Pope said, noting that as the prophet Isaiah said in the first reading, they will be “demolished” while the poor and those who consider themselves nothing in the sight of God will triumph.

He concluded his reflections by encouraging all present to use the time of Advent, in which we prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, to place our foundation on the Lord, who is our rock and our hope.

“We are all sinners, we are weak, but if we place our hope in Him we can go forward. And this is the joy of a Christian: knowing that in Him there is hope, there is pardon, there is peace (and) there is joy.”
​

A bit of humor…

Some Thoughts:
-My dog is an awesome fashion adviser. Every time I ask him what I look like in my clothes, he says “WOW!” 
-Dentist: "You need a crown." Patient: "Finally someone who understands me"
-Isn’t it odd the way everyone automatically assumes that the goo in soap dispensers is always soap? I like to fill mine with mustard, just to teach people a lesson in trust.  
-The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.  
-Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give their vacuum one more chance?  -Only in America… do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

Confessions of a Store Santa
While I was working as a store Santa, a boy asked me for an electric train set. “If you get your train,” I told him, “your dad is going to want to play with it too. Is that all right?”
The boy became very quiet. So, moving the conversation along, 
I asked, “What else would you like Santa to bring you?”
He promptly replied, “Another train.”
 
4-Year OldA 4-year-old boy was asked to return thanks before a big dinner. The family members bowed their heads in expectation. He began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one. Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles. Then he began to thank God for the food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes, even the Cool Whip.
Then he paused, and everyone waited--and waited. After a long silence, the young fellow looked up at his mother and asked, "If I thank God for the broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"
 
I Don't Want to Go
Thanksgiving day was approaching and the family had received a Thanksgiving card with a painting of a pilgrim family on their way to church.
Grandma showed the card to her small grandchildren, observing: "The Pilgrim children liked to go to church with their mothers and fathers."
"Oh yeah?" her young grandson replied, "So why is their dad carrying that rifle?"
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Collects (Opening Prayers) for Advent
These prayers, faithful translations of the Latin Collects, or opening prayers, may be said every evening when the Advent wreath is lit.

First Week
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come, that by your protection we may be rescued from the dangers that beset us through our sins; and be a Redeemer to deliver us; Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
 
[In English-speaking countries, this Sunday was called "Stirrup Sunday", because the "stir-up" of the Collect was the signal to begin to "stir-up" the fruits for the baking of Christmas cakes and puddings.]
 
Second Week
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the paths of your Only-begotten Son: that we may worthily serve you with hearts purified by His coming: Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 Third Week
We beseech you to listen to our prayers, O Lord, and by the grace of your coming enlighten our darkened minds: You who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
 
 
[On the third Sunday in Advent, Gaudete Sunday, the Church can no longer contain her joyful longing for the coming of the Savior. We light the rose candle and rejoice that our redemption is so close at hand. Gaudete comes from the Latin Antiphon, which begins, "Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete.." [Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice...]. On this day, rose-colored vestments may be worn, and flowers may decorate the church. ]

 Fourth Week
Pour forth your power, O Lord, and come: Assist us by that mighty power, so that by your grace and merciful kindness we may swiftly receive the salvation that our sins impede: Who live and reign with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
 ​

+JMJ+
SUNDAY BIBLICAL MASS READINGS AND QUESTIONS
for Self-Reflection, Couples or Family Discussion
Second Sunday of Advent – Sunday, December 10, 2023

The First Reading - Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.  A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!  Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.  Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.  Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news!  Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!  Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.  Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Reflection
The Readings for this Sunday combine Isaiah’s prophecy of John’s ministry (Isa 40) with the account of the beginning of his ministry according to Mark.  Through the figure of John the Baptist, Holy Mother Church calls us, like John’s contemporaries, to repent of our sins and ready ourselves to face Jesus. Isaiah 40 is a pivotal text in the structure of the Book of Isaiah.  Isaiah 1-39, often dubbed “First Isaiah”, focuses predominantly on the lifetime of the prophet Isaiah and the spiritual issues of the people of Israel in the eighth century BC (700’s). Beginning in Isaiah 40, however, the focus of the prophecies shifts to the future, to a misty and ill-defined era to come, after Israel will have completed her punishments for the sins the prophet identified earlier in his book.  In fact, Isaiah 40-66 may be profitably read as a long, mystical description of the “Latter Days”, the eschatological and messianic age.  Chapter 40, then, serves as the introduction to the description of the messianic age.  The close association of John the Baptist with Isaiah 40 makes John into a kind of “prologue in a person”, a “foreword in the flesh,” an “introduction incarnate.”  John is to salvation history what Isaiah 40 is to the entire Book of Isaiah.
Adults - Do you ever take time to meditate on John the Baptist, his life, and his call?
Teens - What do the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus have in common?
Kids - How did John the Baptist get people ready for Jesus?

Responsorial- Psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14
R.Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Reflection
This Psalm is perhaps chosen because it speaks of the “nearness of salvation”, using the word for salvation (yeshua’) that gives us the name “Jesus.”  Our salvation, our Jesus, is near as we liturgically journey through the time of salvation history just before the birth of our Lord. He will be “glory dwelling in the land” during his earthly ministry.
Be on the lookout for the Lord’s kindness in your life this week. Take time to notice and be thankful for it.

The Second Reading- 2 Peter 3:8-14
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.  The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.  Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire.  But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
Reflection -  We have been pondering the Second Coming in the liturgy now for some time, since the final weeks of the last liturgical year and also strongly in the Readings for last week, the First Week of Advent.  Our Second Reading continues on this theme, and read in the context of Advent, this reading draws a comparison between the liturgical waiting for Christmas during Advent with the waiting that characterizes our whole lives: the waiting for the return of Jesus, the Second Coming. The long delay in the coming of the Lord is not due to forgetfulness, Peter exhorts us, but should be regarded as a privileged time allowing for conversion among people before the final judgment.  But that judgment will come, and the results will be both material and spiritual, the Apostle insists. The key question this reading raises in the context of today’s liturgy is “What sort of person ought you to be?” in light of all that we hear and ponder today.  The second is the only one of today’s readings explicitly to raise the practical question: “So what?  So what if John the Baptist is the fulfillment of ancient Isaianic prophecy?  So what if he spoke of the coming of Jesus?  What effect does this have on my life?” St. Peter specifies the effect: you should “all come to repentance,” you should “conduct yourselves in holiness and devotion,” “eager to be found without spot or blemish before him” when he comes in judgment.  Indeed, in this reading, St. Peter calls us to be like the crowds that heeded John the Baptist and submitted to his baptism so that they would be “without spot or blemish” when the Messiah John predicted would arrive in Israel.  During this Advent Season, we likewise should hurry to the “Second Baptism” of the confessional to be cleansed of every blemish, and spend our days in “holiness and devotion” as we await the coming of Christmas.
 -What effect does Jesus and Who He is have on your life?

The Holy Gospel according to Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.  A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.  John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.  He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me.  I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Reflection  When we hear this Gospel, we who know who that “mightier one” is and have already received from him the Holy Spirit through the sacraments.  During this Advent, let’s daily commit ourselves to repentance, to “holiness and devotion”, that we may appear “without spot or wrinkle.” John, even though he was cleansed from sin from the womb, nonetheless practiced asceticism to preserve himself on the path of holiness.  John wore a hair garment and lived on bugs and honey; let us make some personal sacrifices during this Advent.  Advent is not Lent, but it is a penitential period, and who of us is not in need of some purification and penance? Let’s not be like the Pharisees and Sadducees, too proud to admit their need and heed John’s preaching!
Adults - Can you add a sacrifice in your life during this time of Advent? How can you make more time for prayer?
Teens - How can you make more time for prayer during Advent?
Kids - How can you add some prayer time into your life this Advent?

LIVING THE WORD OF GOD THIS WEEK! – “As the journey of Advent continues, as we prepare to celebrate the nativity of Christ, John the Baptist's call to conversion sounds out in our communities.  It is a pressing invitation to open our hearts and to welcome the Son of God Who comes among us to make divine judgement manifest.  The Father, writes St. John the Evangelist, does not judge anyone, but has entrusted the power of judgement to the Son, because He is the Son of man.  “And it is today, in the present, that we decide our future destiny. It is with our concrete everyday behavior in this life that we determine our eternal fate.  At the end of our days on earth, at the moment of death, we will be evaluated on the basis of our likeness or otherwise to the Baby Who is about to be born in the poor grotto of Bethlehem, because He is the measure God has given humanity.   “Through the Gospel John the Baptist continues to speak down the centuries to each generation.  His hard clear words bring health to us, the men and women of this day in which even the experience and perception of Christmas often, unfortunately, reflects materialist attitudes.  The 'voice' of the great prophet asks us to prepare the way for the coming Lord in the deserts of today, internal and external deserts, thirsting for the water of life which is Christ.” — Benedict XVI
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