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.
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’
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.
Kansas monks set to elect new abbot
Later today the monks of Saint Benedict’s Abbey
(Atchison, KS) enter into a special chapter (the group of solemnly processed)
to begin the process of electing a new Abbot.
Abbot Barnabas Senecal, 75, is leaving the abbatial office. The Constitutions of the American Casinesse Congregation of monks has the abbot submitting a resignation on his 75th birthday. Abbot Barnabas has served for the last 18 1/2 years.
Please keep the monks in your
thoughts and prayers as they gather to elect a new Father in Christ.
thoughts and prayers as they gather to elect a new Father in Christ.
The abbey recently saw two monks profess temporary vows and three men enter the novitiate.
May the
Holy Spirit guide the hands of the monks. Saint Benedict, pray for the monks.
Holy Spirit guide the hands of the monks. Saint Benedict, pray for the monks.
Saint John the Evangelist
Today we honor the Apostle who likely knew the Lord’s
mind and heart the best. Typically, Holy Church uses Scripture to bring us into
the sacred Liturgy but today the entrance antiphon is taken from the other leg
of the Magisterium, that of tradition to orient our prayer and belief. We are
told,
This is John, who reclined on the Lord’s breast at supper, the blessed
Apostle, to whom celestial secrets were revealed and who spread the words of life through all the
world.
Apostle, to whom celestial secrets were revealed and who spread the words of life through all the
world.
With the Church we pray,
O God, who through the blessed Apostle John
have unlocked for us the secrets of your Word, grant, we pray, that we may
grasp with proper understanding what he has so marvelously brought to our
ears.
have unlocked for us the secrets of your Word, grant, we pray, that we may
grasp with proper understanding what he has so marvelously brought to our
ears.
Christ is present in His Church today
The beautiful sections of Pope Paul VI’s encylical Mysterium Fidei (1965), are the ones dealing with the manner in which Our Lord is present in the Church today. Christmastide is nothing if not about the Presence of Someone who makes a difference in our lives, who redeems us from sin, who gives Himself completely, par excellence, to us in the Eucharist. The Presence is not about the doing of nice things, but offering us concretely eternal life. As Saint Ignatius of Antioch famously said of the Eucharist, the Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is given to us as the “medicine of immortality.”
The full text of Mysterium Fidei is obligatory reading for those who want to be well-educated in the Faith. Emphasis added.
Glory of the New Born Christ Child in presence of God Father and the Holy Spirit (Annakirche, Vienna) Adam and Eve are represented bellow Jesus Christ Ceiling painted by Daniel Gran (1694-1757).
35. All of us realize that there is more than one way
in which Christ is present in His Church. We want to go into this very joyful
subject, which the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy presented briefly, at
somewhat greater length. Christ is present in His Church when she prays, since
He is the one who “prays for us and prays in us and to whom we pray: He
prays for us as our priest, He prays in us as our head, He is prayed to by us
as our God”; and He is the one who has promised, “Where two or three
are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” He is
present in the Church as she performs her works of mercy, not just because
whatever good we do to one of His least brethren we do to Christ Himself, but
also because Christ is the one who performs these works through the Church and
who continually helps men with His divine love. He is present in the Church as
she moves along on her pilgrimage with a longing to reach the portals of
eternal life, for He is the one who dwells in our hearts through faith, and who
instills charity in them through the Holy Spirit whom He gives to us.