Among Women ReadHER 12.17.11 Adventing,Christmas poems and blessings...

Among Women ReadHER

12.17.11

Alphabet for Christmas (a poem)
By Misty Nagel at her blog, Misty's Morning
Love-i-ly!


Celebrating Advent: An Advent Wreath Carnival Link Up
By Sarah Reinhard at Snoring Scholar
Simply sharing the advent wreaths from readers. It's nice to see what other folks do at their family table, or putting their wreaths at other focal points in their homes. Go check out Sarah's most recent visit to Among Women 116 where she shares her Advent book, Welcome Baby Jesus.


Why Religion is Not About Being Good
By Marc Cardaronella at Evangelizing Catechesis
Marc's spot on with this post.... especially in the season of 'bein' naughty or nice'.


Why Are the No Catholic Mom Bloggers in this Top 100 List
By Jennifer Fulwiler at the National Catholic Register
Things to think about in terms of the new evangelization...


A Mom's Holiday Playbook
By Erika Higgins at CatholicMom.com
I missed this article from a few weeks back. This idea may be too late to implement this year, but you might still get started. It's a simple way to "plan" to get through the holidays. I'm sure you could design your productivity apps on a phone to do similar things for you.


A Blessed Christmas!
By +Archbishop Timothy Dolan at his blog at the Archdiocese of New York
This is Bible and Catholic trivia that I've known for years, but I'm pleased that His Excellency pulled it all together in one handy article... making connections like this: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Hebrew word for 'house of bread.' Thus, on His birthday, we approach the Eucharist to receive this “bread of life” in Holy Communion." (I love learning stuff like that!)


It's All About the "O"
By Daria Sockey at her blog, Coffee and Canticles (The Divine Office in your Life)
The "O Antiphons" that is! They start today! 

Why Did the Magi Cross...

By Meredith Gould

That Meredith, such a kidder! A giggle.

image credit

Feeling better, but I need to simplify...the next Among Women podcast comes next week.

Nothing like a couple of sick days over the last two weeks to put a hiccup into ye ol' makin' of the list and a-checking it twice. I am feeling better, but now I have a slightly elevated fear of "lost time" from a productivity standpoint. Now I wish I could hire a few elves to help me dig out of the hole that I am in. But at least I still have my sense of humor! (Fortified by green and red M&Ms among other goodies.)

My list is becoming radically simplified, and I'm just doing what I can.

To wit, simplifying means the last podcast for the year will be delayed till early next week. Simplifying may include sending Christmas cards deeper into the Christmas season, and baking a whole lot less, just to name a few things. In the meantime, I've just had the blessing of a little year-end work that needs my attention, as well as a few busy chores needing Momma's coordination skills. I am one woman, taking one step, and one prayer at a time.

So, until we talk again, let's continue to pray for one another as we zip and zoom along. Oh sure, we all have good intentions about keep a good and calm Advent. I know. I just came from adoration. But I also know that many of the folks who listen to Among Women, or read this blog have obligations to meet for their families and their jobs as we prepare for a Christmas weekend that will follow this long fourth week of Advent. It is not often that we get a full fourth week, so let's try to embrace it, and all its expectations and demands.

So let's just be mindful and remember each other... somewhere we are all lifting a prayer for one another. If you are reading this. Take a brief moment and take a deep breath. Then say a "Hail Mary" for the last person who read this and the next person reading this. There. You see? In 30 seconds, you just performed a spiritual act of mercy for someone else.

Here's another little something I'm trying to keep in mind: I love Psalm 89 that we will pray this Sunday: "For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord."


That would be "for ever" I will sing of the Lord's goodness. Not just when I feel like it -- when everything is going great. Not just when I've "got my act together", or gotten through the "to do"list. No, it is very good counsel to sing of the goodness of the Lord wherever we are.

Singing frees the soul, and singing to God allows me understand that everything we are and everything we have is from God's Providence. The to-do is a gift. The people I'm going to see this Christmas are a gift. The unexpected work I've encountered can be a gift. Even the sickness and difficulties can be gifts that slow us down and bring us to him. Everything in our lives passes through His hands... and it is a gift.

"For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord."


"Sing Forever" --St Philip Choir on youtube.  

The F.U.N. Quotient... Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Some Advent Humor.

O Come O Come Emmanuel / Second Sunday of Advent

The Advent of our Attentiveness - my latest at Patheos

In this, my final column in the series on the new Roman Missal, I pick up on the themes of the early Gospels in Advent, and the response of the Centurion, whose words we make our own as we respond to the invitation to partake of the Eucharist. Here's the heart of it:

The Gospel, echoing the Prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist, speaks ofthe raising of the voice -- proclaiming -- not just watching. For Advent isalso about speaking and doing… of reacting to what one knows to be true. 

These words beckon a holy disposition… not only watchful waiting, butof solemn preparations and vocal proclamations telling of our love for the OneWho is to come. The One who is soon to arrive in our midst bringing his powerand his glory. 

In this, the final article in this column’s series on the people’sresponses in the updated Roman Missal,we discover at the words we utter as we prepare to receive Jesus in theEucharist. 

They have everything to dowith a careful watchfulness and a proper preparation for a divine encounterwith the Lord. The same Lord, who, remarkably, comes via the Incarnation as oneof us, just as surely as he surpasses us in wisdom, power, and glory… comes tocure us, forgive us, and save us.  

He is Jesus: the One God recognized even by a pagan Centurion (See Mt 8: 5-13) … Whose beloved servant wasparalyzed and suffering, yet whose faith anticipated the touch of Jesus to cometo the rescue.  

Indeed, it is the Lord who comes to us in this holy visitation at Massin word and sacrament. 

In the old translation we prayed: Lord, I am notworthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. 

In the new translation we pray: 

Lord, I am notworthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soulshall be healed. 

The Centurion’s watchful eye had taught him everything he needed toknow about Jesus, whose very words contained the power. And so he petitionedJesus to heal his servant. As Jesus acquiesced, prepared to come directly toperform the healing, the words of the Centurion’s faith and humility admitsomething profound. Jesus’ great power and authority is so potent that he needonly speak it, and the healing will be manifested. 

And so, our new prayer at this point in the Mass is this directiteration from Matthew 8:8, theCenturion’s response to Jesus: Lord, I amnot worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and myservant shall be healed. Only we will not pray for a servant’s healing, wewill be praying for our own. 

What more appropriate prayer might we make during this holy season ofAdvent? 

Here's the whole thing.

If you enjoy this weekly column, consider subscribing so it comes right to your email or your Reader or RSS inbox. Thank you.

Among Women Podcast # 118 features Teresa Tomeo

Among Women 118 challenges us to take time this Advent to go deeper with Christ and the Church. This week, we'll draw inspiration from two women whose lives were transformed by doing just that. The program presents a profile of Dorothy Day, whose 20th century conversion and convictions regarding service to the homeless, poor, and disenfranchised inspired countless Americans through the Catholic Worker Movement. Her cause for canonization is underway.

We also visit with media expert and radio/TV host, Teresa Tomeo, as she unpacks themes from her latest book, Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, not Conformed to the Culture. (View trailer below.)

Together we talk about a woman's relationship with the media, plus evaluate media's potentially toxic effects on a woman's wellbeing. Don't miss taking a media "reality check"in light of your relationship with Christ on Among Women today!

Subscribe to Among Women via iTunes.

The trailer for Teresa Tomeo's Extreme Makeover...


image credit

Video and Audio Resources the First Sunday of Advent

Fr. Robert Barron on Advent Spirituality


Fr. Robert Barron on the new Roman Missal -- I've posted this before, but perhaps you've yet to see it.


Among Women 116- The advent of Advent with Sarah Reinhard, discussing her new booklet, Welcome Baby Jesus.

Among Women 114- Prepping for the New Roman Missal with Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, with a lively discussion of translations changes and our life with Christ. Also featured, a booklet called The Mass Explained for Kids.

Among Women ReadHER 11.19.11

Among Women ReadHer

11.19.11

Lesson One in Prayer
By Dr. Peter Kreeft at The Integrated Life
This is the first installment in a larger series. Definitely worth a read, and there is a recorded talk (podcast) with Kreeft also at this link.

Making Room
By Simcha Fisher at her blog at the National Catholic Register
Writer lesson one: write what you know. This is a home run. For parents, for families, for advent.

The Calm Before The Storm

By William O'Leary of Catechists in the Third Millennium

The calm before the Christmas "storm" that is... three ways to make your Advent more meaningful... and consider clicking through to the article mentioned at the end of #3. (It is an archived piece by Mary Beth Bonacci and well worth the trouble.) Need more Advent prep help?  Check out this week's AW 116 with Sarah Reinhard with ideas for lowering the stress levels.

Teen Girls Twice as Likely as Boys to Tweet
By eMarketer
Not surprised. Other stats listed too. (One of my son's once complained about a former girlfriend who chronically texted him with suffocating frequency.) 


The Catechism Demystified
By Julie Davis at Happy Catholic
Simple, direct, with illustrations. Go see. Julie is a wise and wonderful Catholic blogger and podcaster; hear a delight and fun conversation about her Happy Catholic book on AW 99, or find her conversion story and blog story on AW 49.

The King's Speech
Posted by Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia
A transcription of Archbishop Timothy Dolan's opening speech at the Plenary meeting of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops. (+Dolan is the president.) For me the speech captures the heart and mission of the new evangelization.


Mississippi Didn't Need Personhood Amendment to Ban Abortion
By Steven Ertelt on LifeSite News
I still think we need discussions about personhood as part of the overall discussion regarding the dignity of the human person. However, having personal discussions about this issue, and the necessity for specificity of language regarding the law are two different things. I think the legal counsel on this --from a Catholic standpoint -- was that this was not the legal battle that would help end abortion in Mississippi, and therefore it did not garner the support from the major Catholic voices in the public square, most specifically the US Catholic Bishops, among others. Honestly, I should have done my homework better on that score; I think I was a bit too quick in my own support of it, as I saw supporting it as a way of standing with other Christians (non-Catholics that I know) in trying to promote a culture of life. In retrospect, I need to take the wider long term view. 


Christ the King and the 'Net Positive
By Elizabeth Scalia at her Tuesday column on First Things
You never know who is listening, watching or reading.


How to Restore a Culture in One Easy Step
By Joe Carter at First Things
Yes, another selection from First Things, but worth it! You know I always try to promote bible reading and bible study... Carter makes a case for it as we've witnessed the shift away from a once-Judeo-Christian ethic that figured prominently in recent centuries and has been abandoned in our secular age.


Buying Locally Catholic
By Sarah Reinhard at SnoringScholar.com
Good advice. Try this as you prepare for the Christmas holidays. And hey -- if you're preparing for Advent, not to be redundant, but take a listen to Sarah Reinhard's appearance on the latest episode of Among Women! 

Wasted for Love
By Sr. Lisa Marie at Virtuous Pla.net
A look at discerning God's will in life and in our vocations.

Bishops Add 2 New Memorials to our Liturgical Calendar
By Deacon Greg Kandra at The Deacon's Bench
And the two are 1) Oct. 22 for Blessed John Paul II and 2) Jan. 23 Blessed Marianne Cope (who we recently profiled on AW 115.)


And again, thanks to The Deacon, who posted this totally amazing TED talk (about 10 minutes) complete with video on new technologies that see inside the body -- a short film from conception to birth -- splendidly done.

And speaking of videos, Matt Warner at National Catholic Register posted 10 short previews of all the films in the landmark Catholicism series produced by Fr. Robert Barron. 

Among Women Podcast #116 - The advent of Advent

Among Women 116 is the "advent of Advent" show where we gently want to remind you about the upcoming season of Advent... but try NOT send you into panic mode. Of course, Advent is a wonderful time of preparation for the Christmas holiday, but its arrival so close after the Thanksgiving weekend, and such, well... sometimes the holidays just get a little cramped and busy, we don't feel very festive.

Today we welcome blogger and author Sarah Reinhard to discuss her new book, Welcome Baby Jesus. And we welcome Sarah's suggestions for making this season one of recollection and receptivity of the baby Jesus.

And I'll also be talking about St Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro of Spain... one of the newest canonized women, and a little bit about walking with Jesus through unmet expectations and disappointments. Listen in to Among Women! 

If you like what we do here on Among Women, kindly consider leaving favorable review and rating on iTunes.

This makes me think... incarnationally

The truth is 
that only in the mystery
of the incarnate Word
does the mystery of man take on light.

For Adam, the first man,
was a figure of Him Who was to come,
namely Christ the Lord.

Christ, the final Adam,
by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love,
fully reveals man to man himself 
and makes his supreme calling clear.
It is not surprising, then, that in Him
all the aforementioned truths
find their root and attain their crown.

He Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15),
is Himself the perfect man. 


To the sons of Adam 
He restores the divine likeness 
which had been disfigured from the first sin onward.
Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled,
by that very fact
it has been raised up
to a divine dignity in our respect too.

For by His incarnation 
the Son of God has united Himself 
in some fashion 
                             with 
                                      every 
                                                 man. 


He worked with human hands,
                       He thought with a human mind,
                                    acted by human choice and
                                             loved with a human heart. 


Born of the Virgin Mary,
He has truly been made one of us, 
like us 
in all things except sin.

--Gaudium et Spes, par. 22, from the Documents of Vatican II.


(Um, emphasis and crazy poetic form mine.)

This struck me in today's Scripture...

Readings: Is 7:10-14; Rom 1:1-7; Mt 1:18-24.

This week we hear the word of "Emmanuel" ("God with us") foretold in Isaiah and echoed in the Matthew's Gospel, that was geared for a Jewish audience that was familiar with the prophecies of Isaiah.

This truth of God-with-us is something we Catholics really understand, especially through the grace of the sacraments... most poignantly through Baptism, where we are baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, as well as in the Eucharist.

To my mind, our lives are to be lived as a holy echo of that presence of God in our lives. I pray that we may truly reflect the light of God-with-us. What a privilege! And what a responsibility. Therefore, we understand the need we have for the ongoing grace that we receive from the sacraments.

From Benedict XVI:

Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to

bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name,

among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are

called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in

Rome, called to be holy.

Rm 1:6-7a

The world needs God— 

not just any god 

but the God of Jesus Christ, 

the God who made himself flesh and blood,

who loved us to the point of dying for us, 

who rose and created

within himself room for man.

~Homily at Chrism Mass, Holy Thursday

April 13, 2006

The Presence of Another... wonder regarding Advent, Maternity, and the Eucharist

Inspired by the Christmas cards I bought this year, my weekly column at Patheos discusses the mysteries of life in the womb, the incarnation of Christ, and the dynamism of the Real Presence of the Eucharist.  Here's an excerpt:

Mothers come to know their biological children in a way that defies proper explanation. This heartbeat and these first stirrings are an advent of that first encounter face to face.

And mothers expectantly await the meeting of this tiny one they know somewhat dimly, and yet intimately.

Presence. Heartbeat. Blood. Life. Relationship.

These are not just the proximities of maternity; they are the stuff of the once-invisible and inexpressible God entering our humanity and cleaving to us in ways unimaginable yet tangible. They hail Immanuel, “God-with-us”, (Is 7: 14, Mt 1: 23.)

And Mary gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths,                            and laid him in a manger… (Lk 2: 7.)

What started with Mary’s maternity has ramifications for all of us.

Mary’s precious womb contained the Body of Christ.

Two millennia later, Christians still recognize the Eucharist as becoming the true Body and Blood of Jesus. (Jn 6:53-56)

Eucharist is the sublime privilege of receiving Jesus inside our very selves bodily. 

Read the rest over here.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Did you know that you can subscribe to the Catholic Newsletter from Patheos? Just click here and then follow the prompts. (Be sure to check the Christian-Catholic box in order to receive the Catholic Newsletter, and save your changes at the bottom of the page.)

Then your newsletter will arrive in your email inbox, looking like this sample photo.  

Among Women #82 - Joining with Mary in Advent

Among Women 82 celebrates the Advent season as we walk it and try to understand it through Mary's role in our life.  To do that, Pat shares a beautiful Advent poem, and some reflections about Mary's maternity and mothering of Jesus, and how that intersects with the mystery of the Eucharist and with our own lives.

We also welcome back Karen Edmisten who shares about her spiritual life and her mothering. She also reads seasonal excerpts from her new book, Through the Year with Mary. (A great gift for the new year!)

Find Karen's books here, and her blog here.

Among Women takes a break next week during Christmas, and returns on December 28 with a new episode.

This makes me think.... Advent music break!

I love every single verse of this hymn...



First heard this on what-is-now an ancient album song known as "The Painter" where brother Terry and John Michael teamed up, over 20 years ago. I still have to hear it during Advent.
(This one is for all the guitarists out there.)

This struck me in today's Scripture...

My take on the Third Sunday of Advent is here. But, here is a snippet that discusses the First Reading from Isaiah: 

The imagery in Sunday's First Reading from Isaiah, recorded centuries before the first coming Christ, hints at this coming joy.

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God . . .

Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you . . .

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; 
they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee (Is. 35:1-2, 4, 10).

As always, there is much to meditate on, but the simple phrase that captures my attention as we come to this Sunday with joy is that once-and-future hope that the prophet gives about one day coming back to our true homeland, "crowned with everlasting glory."

And I wonder if we could envision ourselves on that special Day, would we live any differently than we do now?

After all, rejoicing, as a verb, means it is something that we do.

Read the whole thing here. 


A beautiful hymn that shares the meaning of Gaudete= "Rejoice!"

Translation of the Hymn "Gaudete! Gaudete!"


Gaudete! / Rejoice!
Gaudete! Christus est natus / Rejoice! Christ is born
Ex Maria virgine / Of the Virgin Mary
Gaudete! / Rejoice!
[Christus est natus] / [Christ is born] ..........[x3]

Tempus adest gratiae, / The time of grace has come
Hoc quod optabamus; / That we have desired;
Carmina laetitiae / Let us devoutly return
Devote reddamus. / Joyful verses.

Gaudete! .......... [x2]

Ergo nostra contio, / Therefore let our song
Psallat iam in lustro /; Now be sung in brightness
Benedicat Domino: / Let it give praise to the Lord:
Salus Regi nostro. / Greeting to our King.

Gaudete! .......... [x2]

Tempus adest gratiae, / The time of grace has come
Hoc quod optabamus; / That we have desired;
Carmina laetitiae / Let us devoutly return
Devote reddamus. / Joyful verses.

Gaudete! .......... [x2]


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Words from Pope Benedict:

Here is your God,

he comes with vindication;

with divine recompense

he comes to save you.

Is 35:4

Christian joy thus springs from this certainty: God is close,

he is with me, he is with us, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness

and in health, as a friend and faithful spouse.

--Angelus, December 16, 2007

Third Week of Advent: that pink candle! And more!

My column, "A Word in Season", gives my musings about the pink candle and some of the context for Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent, (or Joy Sunday as we call it in our house -- the Sunday we begin to decorate our home and look a bit more Christmas-y as we continue our Advent devotions.)  

Here's a snippet:

A common sight in Advent, the pink or rose candle lit on the Third Sunday is a harbinger, a signpost, a little light that stirs the imagination. Something is a little bit different this week . . .

And what are we paying attention to? A respite from purple candles?  Um, in a way, yes.  But there is a much bigger picture, a broader context than ambience and church décor.  Like so many visuals in the Mass, color is just one of the things that corresponds to the liturgical season, always pointing to a deeper truth.

If the purple candles are to remind us of the penitential and preparatory season of Advent, then the pink or rose candle is there to remind us of the soon coming joy of Christmas and the future joy of Christ's coming again. Therefore, the object of our love and devotion should animate our penance, prayer, and service.

 You'll find the rest here. And you'll find earlier columns here.  Interested in subscribing to this column? Do so here. I'd be much obliged to have you as a regular reader.

This makes me think.... about St Nick

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

O good holy Nicholas, 

you who brought joy to children, 

put in my heart the spirit of childhood

about which the Gospel speaks. 

Teach me how to sow

happiness around me.

Amen.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent:

(Also called NICHOLAS OF BARI).

Bishop of Myra in Lycia; died 6 December, 345 or 352. Though he is one of the most popular saints in the Greek as well as the Latin Church, there is scarcely anything historically certain about him except that he was Bishop of Myra in the fourth century....

The following places honour him as patron: Greece, Russia, the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Lorraine, the Diocese of Liège; many cities in Italy, Germany, Austria, andBelgium; Campen in the Netherlands; Corfu in Greece; Freiburg in Switzerland; and Moscow in Russia. He is patron of mariners, merchants, bakers, travellers, children, etc. His representations in art are as various as his alleged miracles. In Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, they have the custom of making him the secret purveyor of gifts to children on 6 December, the day on which the Church celebrates his feast; in the United States and some other countries St. Nicholas has become identified with Santa Claus who distributes gifts to children on Christmas eve. 

His relics are still preserved in the church of San Nicola in Bari; up to the present day an oily substance, known as Manna di S. Nicola, which is highly valued for its medicinal powers, is said to flow from them.

image credit

This struck me in today's Scripture...

Readings: Is 11:1-10; Ps. 72:1-2,7-8,12-13,17. Rom 15:4-9; Mt 3:1-12

You could say that the power of the Holy Spirit acts as the bookends that the four Sunday readings rest between.

The First Reading opens thus from Isaiah11:

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.


The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:


a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,


a spirit of counsel and of strength,


a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,


and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.

These verses are where the Church classically lists as the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Strength (also known as Fortitude), Knowledge, and Fear of the Lord.  And the Church adds Piety, as it is implied by a life of faith.

These are the Gifts we received in Baptism and were completed in us in Confirmation. We cannot advance in the spiritual life without these gifts.  They come straight from God. We did not earn them. We did not win them.

These seven gifts from God put us in touch most profoundly with the Holy Spirit…which means these graces are meant to sanctify us.

Sanctifying graces are those that are aimed at making the recipient holy.  So, stop and read this:  “Sanctifying grace gives the soul the radical ability to take in the face to face vision of God in the next life.”- Fr. William Most

When we live those gifts well, we grow closer to our Lord and to his people.

Lets’s review the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. What are they?  Wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.

The first four gifts are for the mind: aiding the mind by the intellectual growth of the faith of the person: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, understanding.  When these gifts are working well, they are efficacious in our lives -- battling the forces of ignorance, distractions, false idols, or inner blindness…

The other three gifts deal with the heart: fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord enrich the soul's affectivity – that means your emotional life. They enable us to stand faithful and firm.

When all these gifts of the spirit are operational  in some measure in our life, the whole person, in mind and heart, is drawn to beatitude and fullness of life with, in, and for God.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit enables us to live the Christian life. With them we can reflect the life of Christ in us. Through them, we mirror Christ.

Now, in the Gospel, there is much to ponder in a strong sermon from John the Baptist… but what caught my attention was, again, this mention of the Spirit, from Matthew 3:

I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, 
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.  I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

With Jesus comes the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit empowers us, or more specifically, when we allow the Holy Spirit to empower us, and we don’t thwart his leadings, we can lead lives of virtue and service, peace and justice, and great faith, hope and love.  We see all of these things extolled in the Sunday readings… if you read them in full.

Some thoughts from Pope Benedict:

Justice shall be the band around his waist,

and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

the calf and the young lion shall browse together,

with a little child to guide them.

-Is 11:5-6

Advent is particularly suited to being a season lived in communion

with all those who—and thanks be to God they

are numerous—hope for a more just and a more fraternal world.

In this commitment to justice, people of every nationality and

culture, believers and non-believers, can to a certain extent

meet. Indeed, they are all inspired by a common desire, even if

their motivations are different, for a future of justice and peace.

-Homily in Celebration of the First Vespers

of the First Sunday of Advent, December 2, 2006

I'm over at Catholic Exchange today... "His Name is John,"

Writing about St. John the Baptist, the forerunner to Christ, in this latest entry in the Catechism series.

This might also be good background material as you prepare to hear this Sunday's Gospel,

The Father Loved Us... And Then Exalted Her...in Order to Love Us Even More... in Jesus

The entire Bible, end to end, is a love story of God's relentless, and passionate love for us. And God stops at nothing to accomplish that which is our end: Our total union with him.


And God used creation and theophanies and covenants and miracles, and even his own stooping low -- to become one of us -- in order to make sure we did not miss the point.


And what's more, God chose to come through one of us in order to be born.  Think about that for one moment. The Savior of the World could have arrived without having to go through the bother of being born of flesh and blood. And yet... that's exactly the overwhelming sublime choice that the Lord of All made.


And so there was one more amazing and specific preparation that had to be made on our behalf... a woman was lovingly chosen to be the Savior's mother, and ultimately, ours. 


My guess is that if we were to really understand the reality of what it means to have a Heavenly Father who is Divine, besides sending his Son, God thought it might help us mere mortals to have a human Mother traveling alongside of us during our terrestrial journey until we meet Him in heaven. 


There's a line from the Catechism of the Catholic Church that is both wise and wonderfully tender when it describes Mary's Immaculate Conception... and it's place in the Father's plan. 


In order to bring us Jesus "the Father blessed Mary more than any other created person.... with every spiritual blessing... and chose her... to be holy and blameless before him in love. (CCC 492)"


My latest at Patheos unpacks the mystery that is the Immaculate Conception, and the careful, grace-filled, and loving preparation that God brought about in Mary's life:

Mary was the first person redeemed by Jesus by an application of the grace, from his victory over sin and death on the Cross. This requires us to think expansively – or bigger – beyond our own sensibilities, as it were, to consider the mysteries of God’s plan for salvation.

Christian scholar Blessed Duns Scotus (d. 1308) gives a name to this: preservative redemption. Preservative redemption addresses this question of Mary’s redemption taking place before her Son Jesus was even born. 

Mary’s conception and sanctification were simultaneous.

Theologically, it is this:  the unlimited God, the Creator of time, is also Lord over time. In other words, God can work outside of time.  And God applies his graces throughout history (time) as He deems fit.  Therefore, God, in his divine plan of salvation, willed that Mary would be saved first, in her humanity, by the application of the graces won for humanity by her Son, Jesus on the Cross.

Mary’s lifetime of preparation, living with a sinless, loving heart, equipped her to make the perfect response to the Angel when he announced God’s call on her life. (Read the rest here.)

What I love about Mary is that her immaculate heart is always at the service of the love of the Father and the Son, for it is wedded to the Holy Spirit... her heart is a human heart that fully trusts God in a way that is profoundly unique. For she is full of grace (cf. Luke 1:28), and her being proclaims the greatness of the Lord (cf Luke 1:46-47).  


What I also love about Mary is that she helps me to do the same... little by little, moment by moment... for I am an impossibly stubborn and silly child at times... and yet, even my feeble heart can stumble along enough to trust the One who loves me from all eternity... 


It's a crazy idea, really... that the Lord of All would be head over heels in love with us...


But writer-blogger-extraordinaire Elizabeth Scalia gets a great handle on what this really means:

What sort of God is this? A God who yields to a people who do not understand, and who -- like spoiled adolescents -- tell Him time and time again that they're not patient enough, not mature enough, just too darned human to put up with doing things His way, which is the way of wisdom?

This is remarkable, almost reckless love. This is a love so all-in-all, so unconditional, that it is willing to be not just vulnerable, but by human standards almost foolish in its boundless unconditional reality.

...

He makes the spousal promise: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

It is a promise, from a God who always keeps His promises, from a loving spouse who cannot do enough for us. And still, we find it so difficult to engage, and nearly impossible to trust.

This is the Greatest Paradox in a God who Is many paradoxes: It is only by surrendering what is broken within us, and that is trust, can we once again have trust.

Whole trust, unreserved trust is what resides within His Majesty, but we do not trust Him back. We did not trust in Eden, which is why we fell, and why we hid ourselves. But we cannot be whole, or wholly His, unless we give him that broken trust, by trusting Him.

Be sure to read the rest of Elizabeth's stirring article here.

Indeed, Advent is all about the great lengths that Our God goes to in order love us. Don't miss that. It should arrest and subdue our yearning hearts.