I wish you all a happy and prayerful Advent season. Let's pray we all take the time during these short 4 weeks to prepare well for Christmas but also to prepare well for Christ's second coming as we know not the time. Will we be sleeping or awake when the Bridegroom returns ?
Today's homily at mass was all about the 2 comings of Jesus that are really important to remember most during advent. I am quite sure not too many in the world think of Christmas as not only the birth of our Lord but to prepare and look for His return at any moment! Rejoice this Holiday season but also repent and ask for mercy and forgiveness. We must always be praying and preparing to meet our Lord. O come O come Emmanuel!
This Advent season seems like a very crucial time to me. I feel called to deep prayer - truly meditative rosaries, the prayer of quiet, lectio divina, and the chaplet of divine mercy, prayed face down at the feet of the Lord. This is the time of mercy - I don't want to waste this time on distractions and trifles. Let's pray for each other, that we will be strong in prayer during this season. I'm thinking of it as regret prevention. When the great tribulations are upon us, we'll be glad of every prayer and sacrifice we made during this time of relative peace...
Prayers going up for all! I feel bright eyed and bushy tailed this year paying attention to all going on to meet and greet the Lord. At mass yesterday I was distracted and I am afraid the mass readings went over my head. However at the Eucharist I had an overwhelming experience of the love of Jesus. It was like making my first communion all over again. It humbled me because I had not expected or deserved it in any way, a reminder that God is Master in His own house and can do as he pleases . That it is not a matter of earning grace, it is all free gift. Very humbling. The Deacon at mass spoke of the necessity of making good confessions during Advent so we can be ready for the Christ Child. So of course I am off to confession this morning at ten o' clock mass with the Passionists. I have found it useful to keep using th same priest if possible and have a very old priest I go to on Saturday in the City Centre. I missed him this week and have grown very fond of him. A couple of weeks ago, as a penance he asked me to pray for the souls of my parents. This threw me a little as I wondered how on Earth he knew my parents were dead.
I was distracted and I am afraid the mass readings went over my head. However at the Eucharist I had an overwhelming experience of the love of Jesus. It was like making my first communion all over again. It humbled me because I had not expected or deserved it in any way, a reminder that God is Master in His own house and can do as he pleases . That it is not a matter of earning grace, it is all free gift. Very humbling. Strange, same thing happened to me today, I have no reason why.
I went to my Kindle this morning to borrow an Advent book from their library. They all looked very devotional and the same so I borrowed on that looked a little different from a Vietnam Vet and his wife who muse on peace at Christmas.It is called, 'God's Story My Story' . The author is Alan Cutter. Alan was a Pastor in Vietnam who has come down with Parkinsons Disease, {possiblly as a side effect of Agent Orange). Here hey share his struggle with coming to terms with this. I am not sure what this has to do with Advent but it was in the Advent section and there is a star in front ,so we will see. You know I have no idea why I picked this book. I hope the Holy Spirit is tapping me on the shoulder trying to tell me something.
Perhaps the nicest thing of all Paul is that it is pure free gift right out of the blue. An Early Christmas box?
I think when we admit our own limitations we open the door to Grace. I also suspect, at least these days, a person who doesn't wrestle with their Faith has not got a living faith. Wrestling with angels as Jacob did is pretty well par for the course. View attachment 1555
This song made me cry, and I'm not prone to crying. (I was out last night with a patient, so I had a pretty good fast from sleep, which, I've noticed, softens my heart...)
Aww I am a fool for Christmas; love that song. I am still reading away at my Advent book. Apparently the guy who wrote it was a naval attache in Da Nang during the war. Reading between the lines I suspect he was involved in deep intelligence work, though he doesn't come out and say. He suffers quite severely from Post Traumatic Stress even all these years later. He mentions St Joe hearing Mary was pregnant and that by the rules he should have turned her in to be stoned for adultery. He says Joseph not doing this reminds him of his time in Da Dang and how he had to break a lot of rules himself. An interesting an unusual approach comparing Joseph to an intelligence officer. But I kinda like it. I feel so sorry for this guy I feel he has undergone agony since 1971 in Da Nang , looking forward to reading more. Most unusual. Glad I found it. View attachment 1558
I love Christmas Carol 'flashmobs' but this is very good, keep watching until they bring the 'Infant Jesus' into the Mall. Makes me teary (not a frequent thing!)
Your "regret prevention" statement really resonates with me. I've often thought of that, that I would regret not praying enough or fasting enough. This could be our last "normal" advent and holiday season so I'm going to try to make it the best. I hope to finally succeed a bit in fasting as a gift to Jesus and I will try to read a bit of scripture each night. and of course nightly prayer...a rosary on a good night or a corona when real tired...but something every night! It's tough working in retail since I'm so very tired this time of year...but no excuses or I may regret having chosen sleep over prayer! So my prayers are with my fellow forum members for deeper prayer and fasting this advent and my prayers are with people who may just read this forum and may be at the spiritual stage where making it to mass every Sunday during advent would be a big thing (I've been there!!)...either way my prayers are with you!
Silent night has always been my favorite, but the first video brings up an important subject,..that of the birth of Our Lord, so I'm glad you posted this Andy because of the heretical views on this subject...many times Mary is depicted as being in pain as shown in the 1st video and giving birth other than the manner in which Our Lord was conceived,..divinely, and according to; The Catechism of the Council of Trent: THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST TRANSCENDS THE ORDER OF NATURE But as the Conception itself transcends the order of nature, so the birth of our Lord presents to our contemplation nothing but what is divine. Besides, what is admirable beyond the power of thoughts or words to express, He is born of His Mother without any diminution of her maternal virginity, just as He afterwards went forth from the sepulchre while it was closed and sealed, and entered the room in which His disciples were assembled, the doors being shut;13 or not to depart from every-day examples, just as the rays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solid substance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christ come forth from His mother's womb without injury to her maternal virginity. This immaculate and perpetual virginity forms, therefore, the just theme of our eulogy. Such was the work of the Holy Spirit, who at the Conception and birth of the Son so favored the Virgin Mother as to impart to her fecundity while preserving inviolate her perpetual virginity.* Christ Compared to Adam, Mary to Eve The Apostle sometimes calls Jesus Christ the second Adam, and compares Him to the first Adam; for as in the first all men die, so in the second all are made alive:14 and as in the natural order Adam was the father of the human race, so in the supernatural order Christ is the author of grace and of glory.15 The Virgin Mother we may also compare to Eve, making the second Eve, that is, Mary, correspond to the first, as we have already shown that the second Adam, that is, Christ, corresponds to the first Adam. By believing the serpent, Eve brought malediction and death on mankind, and Mary, by believing the Angel became the instrument of the divine goodness in bringing life and benediction to the human race. From Eve we are born children of wrath;16 from Mary we have received Jesus Christ, and through Him are regenerated children of grace. To Eve it was said: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.17 Mary was exempt from this law, for preserving her virginal integrity inviolate she brought forth Jesus the Son of God without experiencing, as we have already said, any sense of pain For more on virginity during birth, (virginitas in partu) I would highly recommend this article,..a little long but worth reading. this article also speaks of Fr. Feeney (may he rest in peace) one the founding fathers at the St. Benedict Abbey here in Massachusetts, who courageously defended Our Lady from the attacks against her perpetual virginity, and publicly stood on the Boston Common when the media tried to silence him and how the Archdiocese of Boston did nothing to defend the Blessed Mother http://www.marycoredemptrix.com/perpetual_virginity.html
I had no idea. I don't feel so glad posting something heretical and now wonder if I should take it off. I am glad that you let me know though.
Many Catholics have no idea Andy,and you shouldn't feel bad about posting it,..in fact it's a good thing because we need to understand the attacks against the Blessed Mothers purity, not that the way in which women give birth is not a beautiful thing, but Our Lady is set apart from any other creature. So thank you very much Andy for posting because this needs to be brought into the light.
