The Great Antiphon for December 21
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.
O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
Zac 6:12; Habakkuk 3:4; Malachi 3:20; Psalm 19:6-7; 107:10; Luke 1:78.
Symbol: rising sun.
O God, Who did strengthen blessed Peter Thy Confessor, in virtue and learning for the defense of the Catholic faith: mercifully grant that through his examples and teaching, those who are in error may be brought back to salvation and that the faithful may persevere in the confession of the truth.
Jesuit Father John Hardon’s brief note on Saint Peter Canisius
On the third centenary of the death of the Saint Peter Canisius, Pope Leo XIII wrote to the Bishops of Austria, Germany and Switzerland:
7. This is not the place to recall in detail the life of this man, so eminent in sanctity; the zeal with which he labored to restore harmony and union to his country torn by dissension and revolt; the ardor of his public debates with the teachers of error; his inspiring sermons; the persecutions he suffered; the many countries he travelled through; and the difficult missions he undertook in the interest of the faith. However, to return to the weapons of knowledge which we have mentioned: how constantly, readily, wisely and fitly he employed them! Upon his return from Messana where he went as a teacher of rhetoric, he committed himself to the teaching of the sacred sciences in the academies of Cologne, Ingolstadt and Vienna. Here he followed the royal road of the most approved learned men of the Christian school and revealed to the Germans the treasures of scholastic philosophy. As this philosophy was shunned at that time by the enemies of the faith because it was a great support of Catholic truth, he had it taught publicly in the schools and colleges of the Society of Jesus for whose establishment he had worked so hard.
8. He did not hesitate to descend from the heights of wisdom to the basics of writing. He undertook the instruction of children and even composed elementary writing books and grammars for their use. Indeed, just as he often came back from preaching to the courts of kings to address the people, so, after learned writings on dogma or morals, he used to compose pamphlets destined either to strengthen the faith of the people or to
arouse and nourish their piety. He had wonderful success in preventing the inexperienced from getting caught in the nets of error. The Summa which he published for this purpose is a compact and tightly-knit work, written in beautiful Latin and not unworthy of the Fathers of the Church. This remarkable work was enthusiastically received by learned men in almost all the countries of Europe. Less voluminous, but no less useful, were the two famous catechisms which this blessed man wrote for less cultivated minds: one for the religious instruction of children, the other for young men already involved in the study of the arts. These two works had such a great success among Catholics immediately upon publication, that almost all professors charged with teaching the basics of the faith had them in hand. They were used not only in the schools as a spiritual milk for the children, but they were also explained publicly in the churches to the benefit of all. Thus, during three centuries Canisius has been regarded as the teacher of Catholics in Germany. In popular speech, “knowing Canisius” was synonymous with “preserving the Christian faith.“
Pope Leo XIII, Militantis Ecclesiae (On St. Peter Canisius), August 1, 1897.
Come forth from the holy place,
Sweet Child,
Come from the quiet dark
Where virginal heartbeats
Tick your moments.
Come away from the red music
Of Mary’s veins.
Come out from the Tower of David
Sweet Child,
From the House of Gold.
God has become man. He has become a child. Thus he fulfills the great and mysterious promise to be Emmanuel: God-with us. Now he is no longer unreachable for anybody. God is Emmanuel. By becoming a child, he offers us the possibility of being on familiar terms with him.
I am reminded here of a rabbinical tale recorded by Elie Wiesel. He tells of Jehel, a little boy, who comes running into the room of his grandfather, the famous Rabbi Baruch. Big tears are rolling down his cheeks. And he cries, My friend has totally given up on me. He is very unfair and very mean to me. Well, could you explain this a little more? asks the master.
Okay, responds the little boy. We were playing hide and seek. I was hiding so well that he could not find me. But then he simply gave up and went home. Isn’t that mean? The most exciting hiding place has lost its excitement because the other shops playing.
The master caresses the boy’s face. He himself now has tears in his eyes. And he says, Yes, this is not nice. But look, it is the same way with God. He is in hiding, and we do not seek him. Just imagine! God is hiding, and we people do not even look for him.
In this little story a Christian is able to find the key to the ancient mystery of Christmas. God is in hiding. He waits for his creation to set out toward him, he waits for a new and willing Yes to come about, for love to arise as a new reality out of his creation. He waits for man.
Benedictus
Pope Benedict XVI
The Great Antiphon for December 20
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 Israel; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
Revelation 3:7; Isaiah 22:22; Psalm 107:10. Symbols: key; broken chains.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Karaganda,
Kazakhstan, published a book, Dominus Est, dealing with the history, theology and pastoral practice of receiving Holy Communion. The book is reviewed by Dr. Alcuin Reid.
No doubt many of us receive Holy Communion without considering what the gesture of receiving means at the level of symbol, that is, at the level of deepest reality. We are given “a pledge of future glory,” says the prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas, so what does it mean to mean receive this pledge in the hand? Theologically, does it mean anything to receive the Lord in the hand versus on the tongue? Do we take a gift or do we receive a gift? I wonder if the hand is the most appropriate “tool” to receive the Eucharistic Lord. If we truly believe one’s reception of the Lord in Communion is an act of reception not an act of taking, then is receiving the Lord in the hand and picking Him up with our fingers the most appropriate act of worship? The question needs to be answered in terms of how Communion is received so that we know at the deepest places in the heart, that we are receiving the Lord Himself. How does our reception of Communion exhibit the deepest reverence for the Blessed Sacrament?
The liturgy establishment -and those who pretend to know the liturgical life of the Church–have argued that receiving Communion in the hand is rooted in the practice of apostolic times. The author argues that scholars, as well as bishops and priests, have misread the early church documents about the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand and therefore what we know today bears no resemblance to how our Christians received Holy Communion in apostolic period. The point, therefore, is that our scholars and priests have used an archeologistic argument to force the issue of receiving Communion in hand by saying that people didn’t receive communion on the tongue in the earlier periods of Church history.
This is not only a matter for the laity. The ordained need to reflect on how they receive the Eucharistic Lord, too. There is ample evidence that what the priests do today is also theologically suspect. In the earlier centuries of the Church no one, not even the pope and bishops, self-communicated Communion. Even though prayer the great Eucharistic prayer he would never presume to take Communion; It was administered to the pope, bishops and priests by the deacon. But I digress.
The book retails for $8.00, with 50% off for five or more copies to the same address ($2 each for shipping/handling). Send to: Newman House Press, 601 Buhler Court, Pine Beach, NJ 08741. Or visit: http://jhcnewman.org.
The Great Antiphon for December 19
O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: Come to deliver us, and tarry not.
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
Isaiah 11:1-3; 10; 52:15; Habakkuk 2:3.
Symbol: vine or plant in flower, especially a rose.
Catholics and other members of the Christian community gathered at the Cathedral of
Saint Patrick to pray the Mass of Christian Burial for Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. with Edward Michael Cardinal Egan as principal celebrant and homilist. Cardinal Dulles was buried in the Jesuit cemetery in Auriesville, NY. Cardinal Dulles died at 90 years old on Friday, 12 December 2008.
Those in attendance at the Mass included the children of his eldest brother, John W. F. Dulles, and sister-in-law, Eleanor Dulles: John Foster Dulles II, Edith Dulles Lawlis, Ellen Coelho and Robert Avery Dulles. Likewise, longtime friends John Murphy and his longtime assistant, Sister Anne-Marie Kirmse, O.P., both of whom read the Scriptures.
Cardinals Maida, Keeler, George, McCarrick and O’Malley along with the Nuncios to the USA and the UN and scores of bishops and priests concelebrated the Mass; Benedictine Abbot and longtime friend Gabriel Gibbs also concelebrated the Mass. The Jesuits littered the crowd.
In his homily, Cardinal Egan recalled a crucifix he prayed in front of 50 years ago in a small rural church outside of Orvieto, Italy, while on retreat with seminarians studying in Rome. Egan connected a suffering and triumphant vision of Christ’s face. For him, and thus for us, the crucified Christ is a potent reality of our Christian life’s journey. The motif of the cross was apropos when considering the life of Avery Dulles who suffered at various times in his life (in health, in his early relationships with family & friends over his conversion to Catholicism) but he also experienced a sense of Christian hope in his relationships, academic endeavors and service and in his life as a priest. In terms of worldly success, tt was noted that Dulles published 24 books, soon to be 25 and nearly 800 published papers and talks; this after physicians told him that he would never write again. Cardinal Dulles “proved them monumentally wrong.” In Egan’s judgment: “You have the example of a triumphant life story, never matched, to my knowledge, by any other American Catholic.”
Avery Cardinal Dulles was 62 years a Jesuit, nearly 53 years a priest and nearly 8 years a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. He was the first American priest to become a cardinal but was not ordained a bishop. (In recent years new cardinals of advanced age have asked to be dispensed from the obligation to be ordained a bishop, at least this is true for Jesuits.) Dulles held The Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham since 1988.
Even in his infirmity Cardinal Dulles published his McGinley lectures in a volume edited with Fr. Robert Imbelli called Church and Society. Stay tuned, his last manuscript was sent Paulist Press and will be published under the title of Evangelization for the Third Millennium (Spring 2009).
On Wednesday, the president of Fordham University, Jesuit Father Joesph McShane, announced the creation of the new chair of theology honoring Cardinal Dulles.
See the NYTimes article.
May the angels lead you into paradise; May the martyrs welcome you upon your arrival, and lead you into the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels welcome you, and with poor Lazarus of old, may you have eternal rest.
The Great Antiphon for December 18
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.
O Adonai, et dux domus Israël, qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.
Isaiah 11:4-5; Exodus 6:13; 3:2, 20:1; Jeremiah 32:21.
Symbols: burning bush, stone tablets.
The Great Antiphon for December 17
O Wisdom, who came from 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.
O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.
Ecclesiastes 24:5; Isaiah 11: 2-3; 40:14; Sirach 24:2, 30; Wisdom 8:1.
Symbols: oil lamp, open book.
The importance of the “Great O Antiphons” is twofold: each one is a title for the Messiah and each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah and other Old Testament Scripture passages foretelling the coming of the Messiah. These ancient texts from sacred Scripture sung as verses before and after the Magnificat at Vespers in the Divine Office. The Great O Antiphons are characteristically “Benedictine” in nature because they flourished in the monastic liturgy with great élan. One can’t think of the Advent observance without thinking of the Great O Antiphons.
