The O Antiphons - O Clavis David

The O Antiphon for today, December 20, is O Clavis David (Key of David)

Come, and bring forth the captive from his prison.

O Key of David, and Scepter of the House of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens; Come and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israël, qui aperis, et nemo claudit, claudis, et nemo aperuit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

The key is the emblem of authority and power. Christ is the Key of the House of David who opens to us the full meaning of the scriptural prophecies, and reopens for all mankind the gate of Heaven.

The O Antiphons - O Radix Jesse

Today is the third day of the O Antiphons of Advent, O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse).

"Come to deliver us and tarry not." The world cries out for Christ its King, who shall cast out the prince of this world (John 12:31). The prince of this world established his power over men as a result of original sin. Even after we had been delivered from the servitude of Satan through the death of Christ on the cross, the prince of this world attempts to exercise his power over us. "The devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). In these trying times, when faith in Christ and in God has largely disappeared, when the propaganda of a pagan culture is broadcast everywhere, and the forces of evil and falsehood rise up to cast God from His throne, who does not feel the power of the devil? Does it not appear that we are approaching that time when Satan will be released from the depths of hell to work his wonders and mislead, if possible, even the elect? (Revelation 20:2; Matthew 24:24.)

"Come, tarry not." Observe how thoroughly the world of today has submitted to the reign of Satan. Mankind has abandoned the search for what is good and holy. Loyalty, justice, freedom, love, and mutual trust are no longer highly regarded. Establish, O God, Thy kingdom among us, a kingdom established upon truth, justice, and peace. "Come, tarry not." "Thy kingdom come."

~Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

Source: Catholic Culture.org

The O Antiphons -- O Adonai

Today is the second of the O Antiphons, O Adonai (O Almighty God). As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am." "Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption.

Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

Source: Catholic Culture.org

"The O Antiphons of Advent" Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic Culture.org

The O Antiphons -- O Sapienta

December 17 marks the beginning of the O Antiphons of Advent, so called because they all begin with the proclamaion "O." The O Antiphons continue on for the next seven days until Christmas Eve and they are exhortations as we continue to wait for Our Lord, celebrating His first coming and anticipating His second.

O Sapientia -- O Wisdom (Ecclesiates 24: 5), you came forth from the mouth of the Most High (Sirach 24: 30), and reaching from beginning to end, you ordered all things mightily and sweetly (Wisdom 8: 1). Come, and teach us the way of prudence (Isaiah 40: 14).


Source: Catholic Culture.org

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Yes, I know the date above this post says "Monday," but trust me, it still feels like Sunday since I am typing this at just after midnight. Advent always goes so fast, and it's at about this point in the season that I think, "Boy, I wish I'd thought to....." with about four different things I'd have liked to read or pray or whatever. Instead, I started this last week of the first liturgical season of the year with a desire to inflict physical harm on five fellow parishioners.

I hope to use this last week a little more effectively, such as in keeping myself away from all objects at Mass that might allow me to bludgeon someone from behind. Please hide the hymnals from me.

Third Week of Advent

Last week, on December 8, the Church celebrated the feast day of Mary as the Immaculate Conception. This belief has been one that is so misunderstood -- people often believe it refers to Jesus' conception instead of Mary's -- that Pope Pius IX solemnly defined it as dogma in 1854 in his Papal Bull titled Ineffabilis.

Now before I go on, let's us all remember that just because a dogma is defined at some given point in history doesn't mean that Roman Catholics just then started believing it. It simply means that the time had come for that belief to be formalized as an important teaching of the Church. Which is kind of funny, considering that the document the teaching is defined in is called a "bull." Some things just don't translate well from Latin to English, do they?


Anyway, Mary's immaculate conception is very important, considering who she was in God's plan for the salvation of mankind: she was the mother of Jesus. A big responsibility that required a special person, wouldn't you say? So special, in fact, that when God laid out His plan of salvation to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 ( "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." -NAB), that plan was already complete. That's how God does things, which is part of the whole omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient package.

Since Mary was chosen to be the one -- the woman -- and was never part of a short list of likely candidates, the time and place and circumstances of her birth were already decided. The foreshadowings of Mary and Jesus in the Old Testament are best illustrated by the accounts and descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant was a large chest made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The top part of the chest featured two kneeling cherubim, wings spread and facing inward; there were also gold rings cast at the four corners which held the long gold-covered poles used for transporting the Ark whenever it was moved from its place in the sanctum sanctorum.

The Ark held several articles relating to the Old Covenant: the stone tablets Moses received from God on Mt. Sinai, Aaron's staff that burst into bloom and a golden container of manna. Scholars believe that there was also a scroll of the Pentateuch contained inside, although that point is debatable. One point that isn't, though, is the holiness of this holy object.

Obviously, the contents of the ark were of enormous importance to the Hebrew people, not only symbolically, but in reality. But the actual chest itself was supposed to be a reminder of God's presence among His people. In fact, God spoke from the "propitiary", the place between the two cherubim's raised wings, during the time of Moses. God took this so seriously that only certain consecrated people were even allowed to move the ark and they had to follow some rather precise rules. During the reign of King David, the ark was brought back to Jerusalem after being captured by the Philistines (1 Samuel 5, 7: 2) by ox cart. While it was being transported, the oxen who were drawing the cart stumbled and a man named Uzzah reached out to steady it so that it wouldn't tip off the cart. He immediately fell dead (2 Samuel 6: 2-7).

So it wasn't just what was in the ark that was sacred and holy. The ark itself was to be treated with reverence and honor.

That brings us to the New Testament, to the archangel Gabriel who brought a message to Mary, the ordinary-but-extraordinary Hebrew girl, who learned that she would be who the Greeks later called "theotokos," the God-bearer, the Ark of the New Covenant. Only this time, instead of being a wooden chest overlaid with precious gold, the new "ark" would be a human being. Instead of a holy object designed to the exact specifications of God, this new ark was a holy person, also designed to God's exact specifications -- the stain of the sin of Adam (original sin) was removed from her soul before her birth. And instead of holding sacred objects -- stone tablets of the Law, manna, the staff of Aaron -- this ark was designed to hold the most sacred being of all, the Lamb of God. Not just the manna from the wilderness that the Hebrew people ate of yet died, but the very Bread of Life. ^{1, 2, 3}

Like the old ark, the new "ark" wasn't just designed to hold a sacred object - she herself was holy. Human, yes. Always human, never divine. A person, a woman, a girl. Never a goddess, never a second-string member of the Trinity, never an object of worship. But.....holy. When you consider it, it only makes sense. If two stone tablets, a walking stick and a container of manna were so important that they needed a sacred vessel to contain them, how could we believe any less of the woman who carried Jesus in her womb? Can you really imagine any less than a woman immaculately conceived in a one-time purposeful act of God as the mother of our Savior?

"Behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed": Those are Mary's prophetic words recorded in Luke 1: 46, the very words I am thinking about this Advent.






¹ So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. -John 6: 30-35 NAB

² I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father."

As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." -John 6: 48-69 NAB

³ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. -Matthew 26: 26-29 NAB

Second Sunday of Advent

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.

He went throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

He said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance; and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?"

He said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?"

He answered them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed."

Soldiers also asked him, "And what is it that we should do?" He told them, "Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages."

Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah.

John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.


The Gospel of St. Luke 3:1-18

First Sunday of Advent

It's Advent again already, the very beginning of the liturgical year, the time of waiting and preparing for the arrival of Jesus, both in His first and second comings.

The first one, we already know about, of course: Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem to be counted in the census commanded by Caesar Augustus; no room in the inn for an expectant mother; the stable that had to make do. Shepherds in the fields keeping their watch by night and angels in the sky singing gloria in excelsis Deo! The baby in the manger, the humble King of kings, the journeying wise men bringing rich gifts.

The second coming? That's the great mystery. No one knows when it will happen: we just know that He told us to be prepared. That's part of what Advent is about, as we devote ourselves to greater prayer and introspection during these four weeks so that we can be ready to receive Him at the Christ Mass.

So that's our big challenge every year, of course. What are we going to focus on? The real meaning of the Christmas season, or the cooking and baking, the shopping and partying, the quest for sales and the perfect gift for every person on our lists? Spiritual or secular? How to manage both so that the spiritual side weighs heavier than the other side is the greatest difficulty of our age, especially since the secular is WEEKS ahead of the spiritual: there have been Christmas displays in the stores of harried retailers since right after Halloween.

Here's our chance, beginning today, to pace ourselves a little more wisely as we wait for the coming King.

Advent craft

The front of our house is fortunate enough to have a very large picture window composed of a middle section that is about nine feet high and four feet wide.

The first year we lived in this house -- it's been nearly four years now -- the girls and I invented a craft involving our window and it's one that pleased us all so much, we have repeated it every year since.

Our craft is this: We turn the middle section of our picture window into an Advent wreath. We put this up on our front window a couple of days before Advent starts.

Here are the materials we use to accomplish this:

12 pieces of 8x11 purple cardstock

4 pieces of 8x11 rosy pink cardstock

8 pieces of 8x11 dark forest green cardstock, folded in half

8 pieces of 8x11 green cardstock in a slightly lighter shade, folded in half

1 piece of 8x11 yellow cardstock, folded into fourths

1 piece of 8x11 orange cardstock, folded into fourths

four four-inch strips of white paper to serve as wicks

scissors

tape



First, make the "wreath"

Take the green cardstock (already folded in half) and, on the fold, cut out an approximation of a "fir branch." I cut out something that is the basic shape of a loaf of French bread. When you've done that, use the scissors to snip-snippety-snip along the unfolded side, you're going for kind of a Frasier fir look with this. Don't be too meticulous, because you're just going for an approximation, remember. People passing by in cars or on foot are going to get the idea.

After you've snipped the green paper, open it up, cut it in half, and there you have it! Two fir branches. Carry on until you've cut up all your green paper. Tape all the fir branches to the bottom of your window, overlapping to make sure there are no holes. Tape the pieces on so that they'll stick up randomly, like you'd expect evergreen branches to do. Now you have your base.

Second, make the "candles"

Our window is very tall, so our candles are quite large. Each "candle" is four sheets of paper high. If your window is shorter, you might just want to make each candle two sheets of paper high, cutting your two sheets in half before taping them to the window (you'll see why cutting them in half is important later.) Tape the paper candles to your window in order from left to right as seen from the street, two purple candles, then the rosy-pink candle, then the last purple one.

Note: When you tape the candles together, just use SMALL PIECES of tape, because you're going to be taking them apart as the season progresses.

Third, add the "wicks"

Tape a white paper strip to the top of each candle to serve as a wick.


Fourth, make the "flames"

On the fold of your yellow paper, cut out the approximation of a candle flame. If you're uncertain you can do this with your scissors, then draw the shape you desire with a pencil first, then cut. You'll be making four flames, remember, since your paper has already been folded into fourths. When you've finished, open up the paper and cut your four flames apart.

With your orange paper (also previously folded into fourths), cut a smaller version of the flame you just created with the yellow paper. Open the paper and separate into four pieces, then take the smaller orange flames and tape them to the larger yellow flames. This gives you a two-toned flame that has a better visual depth and dimension to it than just a plain yellow flame. Or at least that's the way I see it.

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Now you're ready to light your first candle!

The first Sunday of Advent, take the white wick off the first purple candle and replace it with a flame.

The second Sunday of Advent, take the white wick off the second purple candle and replace it with a flame. Then take the first piece of purple paper off the FIRST candle and discard; place the flame on the first candle's second sheet of paper. The idea is to make the first candle look as if it has burned down a bit.

The third Sunday of Advent, take the white wick off the pink candle and replace it with a flame. Then take the first sheet of paper off the second candle and the third sheet of paper off the first candle. They've both burned down a bit by this third week, after all!

The fourth Sunday of Advent, take the white wick off the last purple candle and replace it with a flame. Then remove the first sheet of paper from the pink candle, the second sheet of paper from the second candle, and the third sheet of paper from the first candle and tape their wicks back on.

By the time you get to the fourth Sunday, the passage of time should be evident on your "wreath." The first candle is a mere stub, the second one definitely short, the third one has melted quite a bit, and the fourth one is there to lend its brightness to the approaching holy day.

When we get home from midnight Mass, we tear the whole shebang off the window and there's our Christmas tree shining through for all the people passing by to see.

We really enjoy doing this every year, and maybe your family will, too.

First Sunday of Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and a happy day it has been.

Yesterday, Aisling got out the Advent calendar, a wooden one shaped like a stable with little pegs inside where you can hang twenty-five little pressed pasteboard figures -- Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus are the last three to go on. This is a family rite that Aisling takes very seriously every year.

We also got out the Advent wreath, which we used for two years before we even became Catholic. I ordered it online from the grandaddy of all online Catholic gift shops, Catholic Supply of St. Louis, Missouri. It makes me laugh (in a wry kind of way) to think how nervous I was about ordering from them, not because I was afraid they'd mess up my order or steal my identity, but because it was a Catholic store and I was a Protestant. What if they found out?!?!

We said the prayer for the Advent wreath. There are lots of prayers like this, most of them centering around the idea that we are preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord Jesus, in awaiting Him at Christmas time, and also in His second coming. We wait. We prepare. We hope.

Aisling, as the youngest child, has the honor of being the one to light the first candle on the Advent wreath, but this year, the Aim-n-Flame ran completely dry and the only thing we had left to light was a match from one of those flimsy cardboard matchbooks. That is the LAST kind of match in the WORLD I would ever let Aisling light, short of a military ordnance flame-thrower. So I lit the candle this year, although Aisling hovered by my elbow.

The Advent candle burned while we prayed the rosary tonight, and it was very sweet to look at the burning flame while meditating on the events of Jesus' life.

Advent appears to be off to a wonderful start this year.