Our Lady of the Expectation, Lady of ‘O’

Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Expectation. This Marian feast is sadly no longer on the universal liturgical calendar but it is retained in some places like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland plus with a few religious orders. Yet, “Our Lady of Expectation” educates all of us, especially the Christian family.

With Our Lady of the Expectation we have a view at Divine Motherhood which takes the opportunity to contemplate the great longing and anticipation of Advent, in which “all creation is groaning in labor pains” oriented toward the promise of the Messiah. Divine Motherhood puts our attention to the meaning of new life brought about by mothers who ought to find in Mary the great model: “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42).

The Church prays, “O God who wished that your Word would take the flesh from the womb of the Virgin as announced by the Angel and whom we confess to be the true Mother of God, may we be helped by her intercession.”

In Spain, the place where this feast day originated, (cf. the Tenth Council of Toledo, AD 656), this feast day is Nuestra Senora de la O: Our Lady of the O, the “O” coming from the expression of longing said in the office of the Mozarabic Liturgy. In the Latin Rite, today’s feast comes in the middle of the “O” Antiphons (where we get the words for the hymn Veni, Veni, Emmanuel — in English O Come, O Come Emmanuel).

Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception has this as its sole significance: that no human being can set in motion salvation by their own powers alone, but that their Yes is wrapped around and supported by that divine love which comes first and before all else.

Joseph Ratzinger

May  Our Lady intercede for the United States of America!

Holy Mother of God, pray for us.

St Nicholas

An illustration of St. Nicholas, the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia whose feast we celebrate today.

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the United States, and protector of our children. Traditionally, before bed the prior night, children would leave their shoes out and upon waking on December 6th they would find them filled with treats left by the saint from the night before. This is a custom observed by many East Slavs throughout the world.

In the illustration St. Nicholas is depicted feeding the poor while wearing the vestments of a Byzantine bishop, notably the omophorion, epigonation, and mitre. The mitre which is topped by a cross, and resembling an imperial crown, was not worn by bishops until after the fall of Constantinople; however, this is how the saint is traditionally depicted in Byzantine iconography.

(Artwork by Yosyf Bokshai, 1922; h/t MW)

Advent is to proclaim salvation

Tonight, the Latin Church begins her preparation for the Nativity of the Lord. Pope Benedict said at one of his addresses at the Sunday Angelus:

… we have been experiencing the liturgical season of Advent: a time of openness to God’s future, a time of preparation for Christmas, when he, the Lord, who is the absolute novelty, came to dwell in the midst of this fallen humanity to renew it from within. In the Advent liturgy there resounds a message full of hope, which invites us to lift up our gaze to the ultimate horizon, but at the same time to recognize the signs of God-with-us in the present. The Lord wants to do in Advent: to speak to the heart of his people and, through them, to the whole of humanity, to proclaim salvation.

 

As a Benedictine Oblate, I have to myself:

How has my Oblation lifted my gaze to my ultimate horizon? That is, in what ways does my Oblate life lead me closer to my destiny with God? In what ways does my Oblate life open my heart to hear the Lord speaking to me and open my hands in putting my faith into action?

St Andrew

A later tradition … tells of Andrew’s death at Patras, where he too suffered the torture of crucifixion. At that supreme moment, however, like his brother Peter, he asked to be nailed to a cross different from the Cross of Jesus. In his case it was a diagonal or X-shaped cross, which has thus come to be known as “St Andrew’s cross”.

This is what the Apostle is claimed to have said on that occasion, according to an ancient story (which dates back to the beginning of the sixth century), entitled The Passion of Andrew:

“Hail, O Cross, inaugurated by the Body of Christ and adorned with his limbs as though they were precious pearls. Before the Lord mounted you, you inspired an earthly fear. Now, instead, endowed with heavenly love, you are accepted as a gift.

“Believers know of the great joy that you possess, and of the multitude of gifts you have prepared. I come to you, therefore, confident and joyful, so that you too may receive me exultant as a disciple of the One who was hung upon you…. O blessed Cross, clothed in the majesty and beauty of the Lord’s limbs!… Take me, carry me far from men, and restore me to my Teacher, so that, through you, the one who redeemed me by you, may receive me. Hail, O Cross; yes, hail indeed!”.

Here, as can be seen, is a very profound Christian spirituality. It does not view the Cross as an instrument of torture but rather as the incomparable means for perfect configuration to the Redeemer, to the grain of wheat that fell into the earth.

Here we have a very important lesson to learn:  our own crosses acquire value if we consider them and accept them as a part of the Cross of Christ, if a reflection of his light illuminates them.

It is by that Cross alone that our sufferings too are ennobled and acquire their true meaning.

The Apostle Andrew, therefore, teaches us to follow Jesus with promptness (cf. Mt 4: 20; Mk 1: 18), to speak enthusiastically about him to those we meet, and especially, to cultivate a relationship of true familiarity with him, acutely aware that in him alone can we find the ultimate meaning of our life and death.

Benedict XVI
Audience, June 14, 2006

Image: Fr. Kevin Kim’s

Byzantine Prayers for Persecuted Christians

This coming week is dedicated to the welfare, physical and spiritual, of our sisters and brothers who are persecuted for their faith. Here are the texts for the Litanies to be used during the Divine Liturgy.

Byzantine Litanies for Persecuted Christians

O Lord, hear our supplicating voices for the servants of God, those who are suffering persecution for our Christian faith, that the Holy Spirit may strengthen them with the courage to persevere in faith, hope and charity and for the grace to forgive their unjust persecutors, we pray you hear and have mercy. (Lord have mercy 3x)

Again and again we cry aloud for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are fleeing persecution at the hands of both the unjust heathen and the godless unbelievers throughout the world, that they may find safe haven and protection and that they rebuild their lives in safety and dignity, we pray you hear and have mercy. (Lord have mercy 3x)

We pray, O Lord, for those who provide charitable assistance to Christians fleeing persecution and violence that they may be blessed in their generosity and may continue to see the face of Christ in those who suffer and are in need, we pray you hear and have mercy. (Lord have mercy 3x)

We pray, O Lord, for all those in our Armed Forces who seek to thwart the evildoers in their plans and to protect the innocent. Look down with mercy and compassion upon every soldier who is facing a daily struggle with war, aggression and terrorism. Protect them by your Right Hand and preserve them and watch over them at every given hour. Guide their steps, give wisdom and discernment to all who are in leadership, that your holy will may prevail, and that they may return safely to their homes and loved ones. We pray you hear and have mercy. (Lord have mercy 3x)

We also pray for the unjust heathen and godless unbelievers who persecute Christians and other religious minorities throughout the world, that the light and truth of Jesus Christ and His Gospel of mercy may penetrate the hardness of their hearts so that they might come to believe in the true path of righteousness and peace, we pray you hear and have mercy. (Lord have mercy 3x)

St Catherine of Alexandria

 

“Let all of us who love to honor the martyrs form a great choir and praise the most wise Catherine, for she preached Christ in the stadium and trampled the serpent, despising the art of orators.”

-Kontakion for the feast of Great-Martyr Catherine of Alexandria

 

Are we preaching Christ Jesus everywhere we go?

Celebrating Thanksgiving today 2017

Celebrating this day of Thanksgiving with loved ones and friends, I thought this morning at Divine Liturgy that what is crucial is diving into what really matters, what we’ve been given by the Lord —the most holy of giving thanks. It is the Holy Eucharist, instituted by the Lord Jesus “on the night he was betrayed and entered willingly into his passion.”

Here we see the root of our life: The Lord in His Life-Giving sacrifice shows us the relationship between His infinite mercy, justice and His love. We participate in Lord’s kenosis inviting us to assent to deification in the Life of the Trinity in a synergistic way. This is our sacred, divine Liturgy.

“I give thanks to you, my sweetness, my honor,
my confidence;
to you, my God, I give thanks for your gifts.
Do you preserve them for me.
So will you preserve me too,
and what you have given me will grow and reach perfection,
and I will be with you; because this too is your gift to me
—that I exist.”

-Saint Augustine, Confessions

St Clement of Rome

Clement was a disciple of Ss. Peter and Paul from whom he learned about Jesus and the new Way. Much of what we know about Clement comes from his epistle to the Church at Corinth (an example of pastoral concern and paternal prudence). Yet, our knowledge of Clement comes through the witness of St. Irenaeus spent significant time with the Church at Rome, before serving as bishop of Lyon from approximately AD 177. Irenaeus was a pupil of Polycarp. The Roman Christians chose him as their bishop to succeed Linus and Cletus who briefly held that office before being martyred.

Its antiquity ranks Clement as the first of the great Apostolic Fathers. Tradition holds that after being tried for his faith Clement was exiled to hard labor in the Crimea, where he was believed to have been martyred. His relics were returned to Rome by St. Cyril, who reportedly discovered them on one of his early missionary journeys to the region. The relics were placed in what is now called St. Clement’s church in Rome (now under the direction of the Order of Preachers), where Cyril himself was buried when he died while he and Methodius were in Rome preparing for their mission among the Slavs.

The importance of St. Clement is his understanding of ecclesial authority and the life of the Christian in the face of said authority. As St. Irenaeus says, Clement had “the preaching of the apostles … echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes.” Is this true for us today? Do we have the preaching of the apostles echoing in my ears, and the traditions of the apostles before my eyes?