Communio – Page 245 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Mary, the Holy Mother of God

No better way to begin a new year of the Lord, on this beautiful 8th day of Christmastide, than to pray the Mass. The 8th day observance is the traditional Jewish practice of naming the child. Today, the Gospel recalls the babe receiving the name, Jesus. We might also call this day the “giving of the holy name.” A liturgical observance is held on January 2. Keeping our lives close to Mary, the holy Mother of God is essential. With the Church we pray,

O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation, grant, we pray, that we may experience the intercession of her, through whom we were found worthy to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

May Mary intercede before her Son for our families, friends, clergy and religious and civil leaders. Oh, for ourselves, too.

St Benedict’s Prologue to the Holy Rule: orienting 2013

The new year needs a proper orientation: may I propose that we need to listen, that is, to be silent (once in a while) and to attend to what the Lord, the Church, friends and family are saying. Here I think we would do well to hear what a master has to say about our work. A few years ago Pope Benedict spoke about an ancient form of the spiritual life, Benedictinism, that is often misunderstood, and yet it corresponds to the heart. Known as the Patriarch of Western monasticism, Benedict of Nursia, is the father of compassion, a man of blessing, a forthright teacher. The Pope said that,

St. Benedict’s spirituality was not an interiority removed from reality. In the anxiety and confusion of his day, he lived under God’s gaze and in this very way never lost sight of the duties of daily life and of man with his practical needs. Seeing God, he understood the reality of man and his mission” (April 9, 2008).

A tender word from Saint Benedict’s Holy Rule is important for all of us to reflect upon as we begin 2013. The saint is clear that the Rule is not for the holy people or for people who are well-versed in the spiritual life. On the contrary what we see here in the Prologue we read that our following (listening), our friendship with Christ is a work of which we ought to be diligent in doing if we are to reach our goal: heaven. Only in doing the hard work, some will say rightly so, doing battle, the distance between ourselves and God be lessened. Benedict is truly a father with an emphasis on mercy and honesty. His approach cultivates in all of us, I hope, a humane and reasonable way of living.

What distances the self from God? The truthful assessment of our life is our personal sin, the “slothful disobedience” we engage in. Overcoming sin, by Grace, is the work of each one of us, pope to peasant, PhD-holder to high school student. All we need to do is begin. Notice the emphasis I’ve placed for your concentration.

Saint Benedict of Nursia writing his Rule ~a 1929 portrait at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, Austria by Herman Nieg.

L I S T E N carefully, my child, to your master’s
precepts, and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20). Receive willingly and
carry out effectively your loving father’s advice, that by the labor of
obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of
disobedience.

To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may
be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the
true King, and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.

And first
of all, whatever good work you begin to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer
to perfect it, that He who has now deigned to count us among His children may
not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with
the good things He has given us, that He will never as an angry Father
disinherit His children, nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions,
deliver us to everlasting punishment as wicked servants who would not follow
Him to glory.

Pope Benedict’s prayer intentions for January 2013

The first day of each month I will publish Pope
Benedict XVI’s prayer intentions for the year 2013. You will notice that the
2013 intentions include prayers for praying for the Year of Faith, World
Youth Day, global respect for human life and the environment and a prayer
request for the protection of families.

The Apostleship of Prayer, founded in 1844 by the Jesuits, to draw the faithful’s attention to be united with missionaries spreading the Good News through the praying for the Morning Offering. Each day is given to God; all of the good we do assists in working out our salvation. Remember that essential prayer? It was Pope Leo XIII who gave a ministry of praying for specific intentions with the Morning Offering, The Apostleship also promotes the devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus.

So, join me in praying the Morning Offering and for Benedict’s January intentions
on a daily basis.

The general intention

That during this “Year of Faith”
Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and joyfully
bear witness to the gift of faith in Him.

The missionary intention

That the
Christian communities of the Middle East, which frequently suffer
discrimination, may receive the strength of fidelity and perseverance of the
Holy Spirit.

Go to Mass on New Year’s Day

Benedict XVI’s Year’s end Vespers homily

The Pope’s homily for Vespers at the Vatican basilica follows below. He sets out a very clear direction for Christian living and pastoral activity. Are we going to listen? The Pope preached:

I thank all of
you who have chosen to participate in this liturgy of the last hour of the year
of the Lord 2012. This “hour” bears a particular intensity and becomes, in a
sense, a synthesis of all the hours of the year that is about to come to an
end. I cordially greet the Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, consecrated persons and
lay faithful, and especially the many people from the ecclesial community of
Rome. In a special way I greet the Authorities present, beginning with the
Mayor of the City, and thank them for choosing to share with us this moment of prayer
and thanksgiving to God.

Continue reading Benedict XVI’s Year’s end Vespers homily

A Te Deum in thanksgiving for 2012 and for 2013

Sing the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the past year and the Veni Creator for new year, and gain a
plenary indulgence.

In the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th edition, 26:

§ 1. A plenary indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who, in a
church or in an oratory, are present [take part] in a recitation or solemn
chant of: …

1° the hymn Veni Creator … on the first day of the year, imploring divine assistance for the whole of the coming year…

2° the Te Deum hymn, on the last day of the year, in
thanksgiving to God for the favors received in the course of the entire year.

The Holy Family of Nazareth: an ‘incomparable gift from God’

English: Holy Family, Mary, Joseph, and child ...

Today is the
feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. In the liturgy the passage from Luke’s
Gospel presents the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph who, faithful to tradition, go
to Jerusalem for the Passover with the twelve-year-old Jesus. The first time
Jesus had entered the Temple of the Lord was forty days after his birth, when
his parents had offered “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons”
(Luke 2:24) on his behalf, which is the sacrifice of poor. “Luke, whose
Gospel is filled with a whole theology of the poor and poverty, makes it clear
… that Jesus’ family was counted among the poor of Israel; he helps us to
understand that it was there among them where the fulfillment of God’s promise
matured” ( The Infancy Narratives, 96). Today Jesus is in the Temple
again, but this time he has a different role, which involves him in the first
person. He undertakes the pilgrimage to Jerusalem as prescribed by the Law (Ex
23.17, 34.23 ff) together with Mary and Joseph, although he was not yet in his
thirteenth year: a sign of the deep religiosity of the Holy Family. But when
his parents return to Nazareth, something unexpected happens: he, without
saying anything, remains in the City. For three days, Mary and Joseph search
for him and find him in the Temple, speaking with the teachers of the Law (Lk
2: 46 ,47), and when they ask him for an explanation, Jesus tells them they
have no cause to wonder, because that is his place, that is his home, with the
Father, who is God (The Infancy Narratives 143). “He – Origen writes –
professes to be in the temple of his Father, the Father who has revealed
Himself to us and of which he says he is the Son” (Homilies on the Gospel
of Luke, 18, 5).

Continue reading The Holy Family of Nazareth: an ‘incomparable gift from God’

St Benedict’s Abbey elects Father James Albers 9th abbot

The monastic chapter of Saint Benedict’s Abbey (Atchison, KS) elected Father James Robert Albers, 41 as the 9th abbot earlier today. Until now, he’s served the monastic community as the Prior and vocation director.

Abbot James was born 19 October 1971, entered the abbey in 1996 and ordained in 2000.

The Benedictine community here was founded in 1857; it was given the rank of an abbey on 7 April 1876. Saint Benedict’s Abbey administers Benedictine College (1858), Maur Hill Prep School (1919); in 2003 the Prep merged with Mount Scholastica Academy (1863) to build a more dynamic and stronger school known as Maur Hill-Mount Academy. Saint Benedict’s Abbey is a member of the American Casinesse Congregation.

The monks also have a dependent Mosteiro São José in Goiás, Brazil.

The newly elected Abbot James succeeds Abbot Barnabas Senecal who was elected 8th abbot on 30 May 1994 and re-elected on 27 December 2002.

Forward, always forward.

May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Benedict, Saint Scholastica with all Benedictine saints pray for the abbey and for Abbot James before the Throne of Grace.

New NFP newsletter … Naturally

Virginia Corbett, the coordinator of the programming for Natural Family Planning for the Archdiocese of New York is now publishing a monthly newsletter, Naturally. The newsletter will concern itself with fertility, infertility, contraception, etc. To receive a copy of Naturally read the attached newsletter to get Virginia’s email.

The Family Life and Respect Life Office at the Archdiocese of New York does a terrific job.

On Sunday, December 30, 2012, there will be a Saint Gianna Mass at Saint Peter’s Church, Haverstraw, NY at 12:45 pm.

The Saint Gianna Mass is connected to the one held in NYC annually on May 16th at the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena (W. 68th Str).

Naturally may be read here: Naturally NFP Newsletter NY.pdf

The Holy Innocents

Today’s feast of The Holy Innocents has renewed meaning with the recent tragedy involving the death of 20 children in Newtown, CT on December 14. The entrance antiphon for Mass is rather startling (as is the Collect): “The innocents were slaughtered as infants for Christ; spotless, they follow the Lamb and sing for ever: Glory to you, O Lord.”

So many violations of human dignity come to mind. Most notable resonances of recent days are the Newtown children, but there are also the countless of children aborted daily, the merciless killing of the elderly, sick, immigrants, and the list can go on. There is much work to protect human life.

Christmastide is filled with opportunities to recall those who died for Christ: Saint Stephen, the Holy Innocents, Saint Thomas Becket, CT little ones. The 16th century Coventry Carol, was sung as part of a pageant demonstrating chapter 2 of Matthew’s Gospel where Herod kills male children under the age of two. The unknown author captures the scene perfectly, and even today it has a poignant message.

The Most Reverend Peter A. Rosazza published this editorial on his Facebook page:

On December 28th
our church commemorates the massacre of the Holy Innocents by King Herod
shortly after the birth of Jesus. The Magi disturbed Herod when they asked him
where they could find the new-born King since they had been led by his star to
Jerusalem. Herod, jealous of his power, sent soldiers to kill all baby boys two
years of age and younger in Bethlehem and its surroundings. Some scholars
estimate the number at approximately twenty-eight.

Just two weeks earlier, on
December 14th, another massacre of innocents occurred. As we know, eight boys
and twelve girls, between the ages of six and seven, along with six women, were
executed by twenty-year old Adam Lanza who had first killed his own mother. The
principal of the school another woman ran toward him and were killed in the
process.

Continue reading The Holy Innocents