O Hope of the Patriarchs and longing of the Gentiles,
in Your Nativity You have granted us hope. The joy of this hope has called
together the Shepherds, the Magi and all believers in Your Holy Name, and led
them to adore You with all the acclaim of their hearts. We beseech You, through
Your Pure Nativity and through the intercession of Your Virgin Mother and Saint
Joseph, Your Chosen One, to keep us, by Your grace, from attachment to earthly
goods. Teach us not to depend only on ourselves and the weak ones of this
world, but to rely only on Your Fatherly direction and Your Divine Providence.
Attract our hearts and minds to reflect on Your heavenly riches and to aspire and
long for them above. Amen.
Author: Paul Zalonski
The Greater Antiphons (aka ‘O Antiphons’) of Advent
Advent slightly shifts its focus beginning tomorrow (December 17) when the antiphons for Vespers known
as the Greater Antiphons, but more commonly known as the O Antiphons, are sung.
These biblical texts are sung as the verse introducing the
Magnificat song at Vespers. Most people know these Great Antiphons as the hymn
called “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (Veni, Veni, Emmánuël). Each verse of the hymn is a reworded
version of the O Antiphons, with the last being the first verse. Rather unfortunately too many priests and church musicians/choir leaders have little understanding of why one would hold off from signing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” at Mass until this time of Advent, and even then, why one would spread the verses out over the days ahead. (I wonder if we can get our act together to respect the Liturgy and its history to allow the flourishing of the theology to dig more deeply into our hearts and minds.)
Each O Antiphon
addresses Jesus with a title which comes from the prophecies of Isaiah that
anticipate the coming of the Messiah. The first letters of the titles in the
original Latin in reverse order spell “Ero Cras,” meaning “Tomorrow, I will
come.”
December 17 – O Sapiéntia: O Wisdom Who camest out of the mouth of the
Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and
sweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.
December 18 – O Adonái: O
Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, Who didst appear to Moses in the
flame of the burning bush, and didst give unto him the law on Sinai: come and
with an outstretched arm redeem us.
December 19 – O Radix Jesse: O Root of
Jesse, Who standest for an ensign of the people, before Whom kings shall keep
silence, and unto Whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: come to
deliver us, and tarry not.
December 20 – O Clavis David: O Key of David, and
Sceptre of the house of Israel, Who openest and no man shutteth, Who shuttest
and no man openeth: come and bring forth from his prison-house, the captive
that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.
December 21 – O Óriens: O
Dawn of the East, Brightness of the light eternal, and Sun of justice: come and
enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
December 22 – O
Rex Gentium: O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of them, Thou Corner-stone
that makest both one: come and deliver man, whom Thou didst form out of the
dust of the earth.
December 23 – O Emmánuël: O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,
the Expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.
THE most significant Advent antiphon
In my opinion, the best antiphon beside the O Antiphons (which begin tomorrow at Vespers), and I am merely echoing the informed opinions of liturgical scholars, is the Rorate caeli (Rain down you heavens) antiphon in the Advent season. It is the expectation of Israel seen through the eyes of the prophet Isaiah (45:8). The whole purpose of the Incarnation is spoken of here:
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity: behold the city of Thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of Thy glory, where our fathers praised Thee.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
We have sinned, and we are as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
See, O Lord, the affliction of Thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come. Why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Christmas Novena, First Oration
O
Beautiful One in splendor, fairer than the children of this world, in Your
inexplicable love for us, You became a man to show us the invisible beauty of
Your Divinity in the splendor of Your visible body, which You have taken from
the Virgin Mary. By this, You have attracted us to Your Divine Love, You,
Beloved of the Father and Only Delight of His Heart.
We beseech You, through
Your Pure Nativity and through the intercession of Your Virgin Mother and Saint
Joseph, Your Chosen One, to enkindle Your love in our hearts and enlighten our
minds with the rays of Your heavenly grace, that we may love You with our whole
heart and mind. May we love everyone in You and for You, You, Who alone
are worthy of the love of all hearts. Amen.
Your Pure Nativity and through the intercession of Your Virgin Mother and Saint
Joseph, Your Chosen One, to enkindle Your love in our hearts and enlighten our
minds with the rays of Your heavenly grace, that we may love You with our whole
heart and mind. May we love everyone in You and for You, You, Who alone
are worthy of the love of all hearts. Amen.
Blessed Sebastian Maggi
Strengthened by holy intercession, O Sebastian, Confessor of
the Lord, those here present , that we who are burdened the weight of our
offenses. Maybe relieved by the glory of thy blessedness, and may thy guidance
attain eternal rewards.
God of faithfulness, you made Blessed Sebastian and
outstanding example of evangelical perfection and truth. By following his
example may we enter the path to perfect charity and deepen the life of the
spirit through penance and so obtain your glory and eternal life.
More on Blessed Sebastian Maggi may be found here.
Motu Proprio: Variations to the Code of Canon Law, canons canons 1008, 1009, 1086, 1117 & 1124 –Omnium in mentem
Vatican
City, 15 December 2009 (VIS) – Made public today was Benedict XVI’s Motu
Proprio, “Omnium in mentem”. The document is dated 26 October 2009
and contains two variations to the Code of Canon Law (CIC), variations which
have long been the object of study by dicasteries of the Roman Curia and by
national episcopal conferences.
The document published today contains five
articles modifying canons 1008, 1009, 1086, 1117 and 1124. According to an
explanatory note by Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the
Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, these variations “concern two
separate questions: adapting the text of the canons that define the ministerial
function of deacons to the relative text in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1581), and suppressing a subordinate clause in three canons concerning
marriage, which experience has shown to be inappropriate”.
The variation
to the text of canon 1008 will now limit itself to affirming that “those
who receive the Sacrament of Orders are destined to serve the People of God
with a new and specific title”, while canon 1009 “will be given an
additional third paragraph in which it is specified that the minister
constituted into the Order of the episcopate or the priesthood receives the mission
and power to act in the person of Christ the Head, while deacons receive the
faculty to serve the People of God in the diaconates of the liturgy, of the
Word and of charity”.
Archbishop Coccopalmerio’s note then goes on to
explain that the other changes contained in the Motu Proprio all concern the
elimination of the clause “actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia
Catholica” contained in canons 1086 para. 1, 1117 and 1124. This clause,
“following much study, was held to be unnecessary and inappropriate”,
he writes.
“From the time the Code of Canon Law came into effect in the
year 1983 until the moment of the coming into effect of this Motu Proprio,
Catholics who had abandoned the Catholic Church by means of a formal act were
not obliged to follow the canonical form of celebration for the validity of
marriage (canon 1117), nor were they bound by the impediment concerning
marriage to the non-baptised (canon 1086 para. 1), nor did they suffer the
prohibition on marrying non-Catholic Christians (canon 1124). The
abovementioned clause contained in these three canons represented an exception
… to another more general norm of ecclesiastical legislation according to
which all those baptised in the Catholic Church or received into her are bound
to observe ecclesiastical laws (canon 11).
“With the coming into effect of
the new Motu Proprio”, Archbishop Coccopalmerio adds, “canon 11 of
the Code of Canon Law reacquires its full force as concerns the contents of the
canons thus modified, even in cases were there has been a formal abandonment.
Hence, in order to regularise any unions that may have been made in the
non-observance of these rules it will be necessary to have recourse, if
possible, to the ordinary means Canon Law offers for such cases: dispensation
from the impediment, sanation, etc”.
The Latin and Italian texts are here.
Rose Hawthorne: Novena Prayer for the Canonization
Lord God, in your special love for the sick, the poor and the
lonely, you raised up Rose Hawthorne (Mother Alphonsa) to be the servant of
those afflicted with incurable cancer and with no one to care for them. In
serving the outcast and the abandoned she always strove to see in them the face
of your Son. In her eyes, those in need were always Christ’s poor.
Grant that
her example of selfless charity and her courage in the face of great obstacles
will inspire us to be generous in our service of neighbor. We humbly ask that
you glorify your servant Rose Hawthorne on earth according to the designs of
your holy will. Through her intercession, grant the favor that I now present
(here make your request).Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
her example of selfless charity and her courage in the face of great obstacles
will inspire us to be generous in our service of neighbor. We humbly ask that
you glorify your servant Rose Hawthorne on earth according to the designs of
your holy will. Through her intercession, grant the favor that I now present
(here make your request).Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus, have mercy on us. (3x)
Jesus, have mercy on us. (3x)
Our Father — Hail Mary– Glory Be
Saint John of the Cross
Father, You endowed John of the Cross with a spirit of
self-denial and a love of the cross. By following his example, may we come to
the eternal vision of Your glory.
A brief bio on Saint John of the Cross
The Catholic Encyclopedia article on Saint John of the Cross
The fundamental principle of
St. John’s theology is that God is All and the creature is nothing. Therefore,
in order to arrive at perfect union with God, in which sanctity consists, it is
necessary to undergo an intense and profound purification of all the faculties
and powers of soul and body. The Ascent–Dark Night traces
the entire process of purgation, from the active purification of the external
senses to the passive purification of the highest faculties; The Living
Flame and The Spiritual Canticle describe the perfection of the
spiritual life in the transforming union. The entire path to union is
“night” because the soul travels by faith. St. John of the Cross
presents his teaching in a systematic manner, with the result that it is
spiritual theology in the best sense of the word; not because it is systematic,
but because it uses as its sources Sacred Scripture, theology and personal
experience.
(from Fr. Jordan Auman, OP, Christian Spirituality in the
Catholic Tradition, 1985)
Catholic Tradition, 1985)
Remembering Avery Dulles before God
Yesterday, about 50 friends of Avery Cardinal Dulles met at
Fordham University Church to remember him before God on the occasion of his first anniversary of death.
Sister Anne-Marie Kirmse,
O.P., the Cardinal’s friend and administrative assistant, gathered us for Mass
celebrated by Jesuit Father Joseph McShane with the homily delivered by Jesuit
Father Joseph Leinhard. There were 17 concelebrants; three of whom were secular
priests (friends of Dulles’) and the balance were old Jesuits. Five of the
Cardinal’s Fairfield County Communio group (myself included) were present as the faithful remnant. As
was recognized, we all miss the Cardinal’s wisdom, affection and much
understated humor.
In his homily Father Leinhard focused our attention on the
moment by recalling Saint Augustine’s 9th book of the Confessions where Augustine tells us of his mother’s passing
unto eternal life. In between her various states of consciousness and
unconsciousness Monica came to a see life anew. She called her sons together
telling them when she died to bury her body anywhere but to remember her before the Lord, wherever they may be.
As for Monica, so for Avery.
Why remember? Our thinking of Cardinal Dulles
is, as Fr. Leinhard said, wholly different than what went before. Remembering
Avery before God is not quite the same as reminding God who Avery was, just in
case God may have forgotten. What is important about Avery is not his
prestigious family, his education, his conversion to Catholicism, his entrance
into the Society of Jesus nor his ordination to the priesthood, not even his
ministry as a theologian nor his acceptance of the dignity of the Cardinalate.
What is important about Avery is encapsulated in the motto he assumed with the
coat of arms when given the cardinal’s hat by Pope John Paul II, Scio
Cui Credidi, I know whom I have believed.
The
reading from 2 Timothy 1 can be taken as Saint Paul’s last will and testament
as it is his answer to a question of belief: Christ has resurrected from the
dead and I have preached his gospel. For both Saint Paul and Cardinal Dulles
their lives deeply changed in making an act of faith in Christ for Christ
became the key to all understanding.
In Dulles’ Craft of Theology,
the last sentence of chapter 1 speaks to his belief in Christ where he recounts
a vision of Christ in which we look past the “now” and look to Christ as the
center of all things.
At the altar of the Lord we pray for the dead following
the ancient Christian practice. In the Roman Canon of the Mass we pray that the
Lord will remember “those who have gone before us marked with the sign of
faith” granting them the blessedness (happiness) of light and peace. Our
liturgical prayer places hope in our hearts that those who sleep in the Lord
will have the victory over sin and death. Our confidence relies on the sign of
faith received in baptism, that which marks each person not with a pious sign but with indelible mark.
Our remembrance of Avery and of
every one of our beloved dead therefore, is brought home in the consideration
that not to remember is to consign our family and friends to oblivion is awful.
The Christian proposal is lux perpetua: light for the blind, peace for the will.
Eternal rest grant unto
Avery Cardinal Dulles, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his
soul and the souls of the faithful departed rest in rest. Amen.
A sentimental
remembrance of Cardinal Dulles was the hanging of a cardinal’s red hat and
tassels. No longer given by the Pope to cardinals, the red hat is occasionally
made for a cardinal and hung in his church by his family and friends. In New York’s Saint Patrick’s
Cathedral there are 4 cardinal hats hanging (but none since Cardinal Spellmen
are hanging there). The Archdiocese of Chicago did the same for Cardinal Joseph
Bernardin back in 1997.
How do you define faith?
Faith, whether by word or by sign, opens the eyes and
ears of the heart. Those who believe are said to see and to hear because faith
is a light and a word.
It is a light, in accordance with what the apostle says:
God, who told the light to shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ (2 Cor 4:6).
God, who told the light to shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ (2 Cor 4:6).
The time that God told the light to shine out of darkness
was when he called us from darkness to his own wonderful light (I Peter 2:9),
when he dispersed the darkness of ignorance and said: let there by light, and
there was light (Gen 1:3).
was when he called us from darkness to his own wonderful light (I Peter 2:9),
when he dispersed the darkness of ignorance and said: let there by light, and
there was light (Gen 1:3).
Faith is a word, in accordance with what the apostle
James says: Receive the inborn word with meekness. (James 1:21). The word inborn
because when God speaks within, it is implanted in our heart. The apostle
speaks of this when he says: But what does the scripture say? The word is near
you, in your mouth and in your heart (Rom 10-8; Deut 30:14).
James says: Receive the inborn word with meekness. (James 1:21). The word inborn
because when God speaks within, it is implanted in our heart. The apostle
speaks of this when he says: But what does the scripture say? The word is near
you, in your mouth and in your heart (Rom 10-8; Deut 30:14).
The Commendation of
Faith
Faith
Baldwin of Forde, a 12th century Cistercian Abbot