LETTER AND ACTIVITY SHEET
JAN 7 - 26, 2020
Link to PDF document of Activity Sheet and Letter
Monday, January 6, 2020
Home Visit Letter & Activity Sheet @ St. Vincent
HOME VISIT
LETTER AND ACTIVITY SHEET
JAN 7 - 26, 2020
Link to PDF document of Activity Sheet and Letter
LETTER AND ACTIVITY SHEET
JAN 7 - 26, 2020
Link to PDF document of Activity Sheet and Letter
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Epiphany @ St. Vincent
HOMILY - EPIPHANY
JANUARY 5, 2020
7:30 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASS
Henry Van Dyke - a Presbyterian minister, author, and statesman - was born in 1830 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He taught English Literature at Princeton University and lectured at the University of Paris. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He also wrote the lyrics for the hymn “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee,” which many of us are familiar with.
Van Dyke wrote two Christmas stories: The First Christmas Tree - in 1897; and before that The Other Wise Man - in 1896.
In the story, The Other Wise Man, Van Dyke writes about a fictional fourth wise man who it would seem was always a little bit behind schedule.
On his way to rendezvous with the three magi, he stops to help a dying man - and so is late. By the time he arrives, the caravan has set out across the desert. He is forced to sell 1/3 of his treasure to finance his own journey to Bethlehem.
When he arrives in Bethlehem, it is in the midst of the slaughter of the innocents by King Herod - which we commemorated three days after Christmas. The Holy Family has already fled to Egypt; and this wise man again uses 1/3 of his treasure to save the life of a child by paying off the troops sent to kill the children.
For thirty-three years he travels around - always just a few steps behind Jesus - living his life as a pilgrim and as one seeking for Jesus. When he finally finds Jesus, it is in Jerusalem ... on Good Friday. He is again distracted, using the last 1/3 of his treasure to ransom a young woman from being sold into slavery.
At the death of Jesus, the earth shakes, and our wise man is trapped under a falling stone at the temple. He feels that he has failed in his life’s quest - never meeting Jesus ... and spending his treasure which was intended for the Christ Child so many years before.
As he is dying - besot with remorse - he hears a voice that tells him:
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; let us pray for the graces to truly be renewed by God’s presence among us. May we recognize Christ in our daily lives … in the people that we encounter … and may we be His hands and His feet … His mouth and His ears … in the world in which we live.
JANUARY 5, 2020
7:30 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASS
Henry Van Dyke - a Presbyterian minister, author, and statesman - was born in 1830 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He taught English Literature at Princeton University and lectured at the University of Paris. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He also wrote the lyrics for the hymn “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee,” which many of us are familiar with.
Van Dyke wrote two Christmas stories: The First Christmas Tree - in 1897; and before that The Other Wise Man - in 1896.
In the story, The Other Wise Man, Van Dyke writes about a fictional fourth wise man who it would seem was always a little bit behind schedule.
On his way to rendezvous with the three magi, he stops to help a dying man - and so is late. By the time he arrives, the caravan has set out across the desert. He is forced to sell 1/3 of his treasure to finance his own journey to Bethlehem.
When he arrives in Bethlehem, it is in the midst of the slaughter of the innocents by King Herod - which we commemorated three days after Christmas. The Holy Family has already fled to Egypt; and this wise man again uses 1/3 of his treasure to save the life of a child by paying off the troops sent to kill the children.
For thirty-three years he travels around - always just a few steps behind Jesus - living his life as a pilgrim and as one seeking for Jesus. When he finally finds Jesus, it is in Jerusalem ... on Good Friday. He is again distracted, using the last 1/3 of his treasure to ransom a young woman from being sold into slavery.
At the death of Jesus, the earth shakes, and our wise man is trapped under a falling stone at the temple. He feels that he has failed in his life’s quest - never meeting Jesus ... and spending his treasure which was intended for the Christ Child so many years before.
As he is dying - besot with remorse - he hears a voice that tells him:
Verily I say unto thee,That is, despite what appeared to be failures to achieve his own life’s goal, he had lived out the Beatitudes in his acts of mercy and charity. And in that sense, had not only met Jesus - but had served as the hands and feet of Christ in the world.
Inasmuch as thou hast done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren,
thou hast done it unto me.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; let us pray for the graces to truly be renewed by God’s presence among us. May we recognize Christ in our daily lives … in the people that we encounter … and may we be His hands and His feet … His mouth and His ears … in the world in which we live.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Octave Day of the Nativity @ St. Eugene Cathedral
HOMILY - THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD
JANUARY 1, 2020
5:30 PM (WED) EXTRAORDINARY FORM MASS
Leon Allatius was the librarian of the Vatican Library from 1661 until his death in 1669. He was a convert from Greek Orthodoxy, having been born on the island of Chios – a Greek territory situated off the coast of what is now Turkey. These days, it is famous for its production of “mastic gum,” a natural resin that is used in chewing gum and various other health care products.
Today is the Octave Day of the Nativity of Our Lord.
Several years ago, my sainted mother asked me, “What ever happened to the Feast of the Circumcision?”
And indeed, it remained on the Roman Calendar from the Council of Trent until 1962 – a period of 392 years. While it originally rose to prominence as a feast day in the 13th and 14th century.
One can presume from the writings of the council Fathers and the liturgists of the 1950s and 1960s that there was a desire to cast away anything that was not considered “modern” or “up to date.” In many cases, what ended up was the proverbial throwing out the baby with the bathwater. One need only view science fiction from that era and compare it to something the likes of Star Wars to realize that the perceived future from the midcentury point of the 20th century comes across as extremely dated.
So, in an effort to “update” things, after a venerable period of at most 600 years and at least just under 400 years, the name of the feast was changed; although the Gospel was not. Thus the one line in the entire Gospel is about naming of Our Lord on the eighth day following His Circumcision.
So much for updates.
And, in the calendar promulgated in 1969, in order to try to keep things tidier, the concilium chose to resurrect a feast dating from the 7th century – namely the revered title of Our Lady, Mother of God.
Oddly, it seemed to escape those esteemed fathers that this was one of the four Marian Dogma. And we all know that there’s nothing less controversial than Marian Theology, let alone dogma.
And for the record, as recently as 14 years ago, in the Italian town of Calcata in Viterbo, a relic of this feast was paraded through the streets on January 1st. Sadly, in 2006, the reliquary – and the enclosed relic – were stolen by thieves; and a 2013 National Geographic documentary was unable to find any remaining relics related to today’s feast.
And what about Leon Allatius, the Vatican librarian in the 17th century?
In his own efforts to be “up to date,” Allatius allegedly proposed the theory that at Our Blessed Lord’s Ascension, all of those cast away bits of His body – fingernail clippings, hair clippings, baby teeth, and indeed the after product of the feast we celebrate today – ascended with Him, and took orbit around the planet Saturn as its rings.
So much for being modern, or in Allatius’s case – a Renaissance man.
Nonetheless, the Fathers of the Church point out that Our Lord fulfilled every letter of the Mosaic Law. And here, eight days after Christmas we celebrate that fact.
The early fathers also point out that Our Lord, even as an infant, was not opposed to shedding His Most Precious Blood for our sins. And that this feast of His Circumcision was one of His first opportunities to do so.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us remember that what has been given to us in tradition and custom forms a logical whole. And while not all that glitters is gold, not all that seems modern to us will be so in the future.
May you have a blessed and happy New Year.
JANUARY 1, 2020
5:30 PM (WED) EXTRAORDINARY FORM MASS
Leon Allatius was the librarian of the Vatican Library from 1661 until his death in 1669. He was a convert from Greek Orthodoxy, having been born on the island of Chios – a Greek territory situated off the coast of what is now Turkey. These days, it is famous for its production of “mastic gum,” a natural resin that is used in chewing gum and various other health care products.
Today is the Octave Day of the Nativity of Our Lord.
Several years ago, my sainted mother asked me, “What ever happened to the Feast of the Circumcision?”
And indeed, it remained on the Roman Calendar from the Council of Trent until 1962 – a period of 392 years. While it originally rose to prominence as a feast day in the 13th and 14th century.
One can presume from the writings of the council Fathers and the liturgists of the 1950s and 1960s that there was a desire to cast away anything that was not considered “modern” or “up to date.” In many cases, what ended up was the proverbial throwing out the baby with the bathwater. One need only view science fiction from that era and compare it to something the likes of Star Wars to realize that the perceived future from the midcentury point of the 20th century comes across as extremely dated.
So, in an effort to “update” things, after a venerable period of at most 600 years and at least just under 400 years, the name of the feast was changed; although the Gospel was not. Thus the one line in the entire Gospel is about naming of Our Lord on the eighth day following His Circumcision.
So much for updates.
And, in the calendar promulgated in 1969, in order to try to keep things tidier, the concilium chose to resurrect a feast dating from the 7th century – namely the revered title of Our Lady, Mother of God.
Oddly, it seemed to escape those esteemed fathers that this was one of the four Marian Dogma. And we all know that there’s nothing less controversial than Marian Theology, let alone dogma.
And for the record, as recently as 14 years ago, in the Italian town of Calcata in Viterbo, a relic of this feast was paraded through the streets on January 1st. Sadly, in 2006, the reliquary – and the enclosed relic – were stolen by thieves; and a 2013 National Geographic documentary was unable to find any remaining relics related to today’s feast.
And what about Leon Allatius, the Vatican librarian in the 17th century?
In his own efforts to be “up to date,” Allatius allegedly proposed the theory that at Our Blessed Lord’s Ascension, all of those cast away bits of His body – fingernail clippings, hair clippings, baby teeth, and indeed the after product of the feast we celebrate today – ascended with Him, and took orbit around the planet Saturn as its rings.
So much for being modern, or in Allatius’s case – a Renaissance man.
Nonetheless, the Fathers of the Church point out that Our Lord fulfilled every letter of the Mosaic Law. And here, eight days after Christmas we celebrate that fact.
The early fathers also point out that Our Lord, even as an infant, was not opposed to shedding His Most Precious Blood for our sins. And that this feast of His Circumcision was one of His first opportunities to do so.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us remember that what has been given to us in tradition and custom forms a logical whole. And while not all that glitters is gold, not all that seems modern to us will be so in the future.
May you have a blessed and happy New Year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)