Rejoice in the Lord always

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near."

He is on the way.......are you ready?

This Sunday has been called Gaudete Sunday, after the Latin gaudere, to rejoice. And "rejoice" is a term that suits it well.

Collect

  O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the lord's Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The second reading is taken from Philippians 4:4-7:

  Brothers and sisters; rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your request known to God. Then the peace of God that surpassed all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The coming of Christ at Christmas is getting closer and the the Liturgy is expressing its joyful anticipation with its readings and antiphons. We even use the color rose instead of the violet giving us a visual sign of the expectant joy that is coming soon.

So prepare the way of the Lord. Rejoice in the anticipation of the coming of the Lord now and always.

Called by Name

Just as the Angel called the Shepherds to give witness to Christ, so too does God call you to give witness to Him.

To be Called by One's Very Own Name
    In Isaiah 43:1, it is significant that God does not call us generically but specifically. The Lord calls us by name; indeed, by our very own name. To be thus called is to be known eternally and to be chosen to exist in time. It is to be created as a unique individual. It is to be loved intimately, personally and faithfully by God. To be called by our own name is to be espoused to the Lord. It is to be drawn into a covenant with God. It is ultimately to be invited to become one with God in participant transformation, while at the same time attaining the pinnacle of self-identity.
   God's call creates each of us into a unique person with a particular way to reach full maturity in Christ. We receive a singular identity as well as the potential to attain maximum development of our personhood. We receive the power to experience, to know and to love the Lord. Integral to the Lord's calling us by name then is the mystery of our being and becoming in God. The Lord has implanted within us a thrust toward the fullness of being: eternal life in God. Our being has a dynamic propensity toward ever greater becoming. To be is to become God by participation. To be fully human is to become divinized.

Called by God, A Theology of Vocation and Lifelong Commitment  pg 51 ~ Frances Kelly Nemeck and Marie Theresa Coombs.

Well done good and faithful servant...

In to your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. ~Regis commended his spirit to the Lord on Sunday Dec. 9th 2012~ Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in his peace.

 Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you the nations and the glory of your people Israel.

God bless and may you rest in eternal happiness.

Regis Cherry

April 9, 1948~Dec 9, 2012

Following the way of Mary

Imaging the story:

  It is March 25, with in a few years of the year we call 1, and a 14-year old named Mary or Myriam in Hebrew goes out to graze a small flock of goats on a rocky hillside in Galilee. A typical Jewish girl of her time, she wears a straight sun-bleached dress, is deeply tanned, and has dark brown hair woven into a braid that swings across her back as she runs happily up the hill. She is thinking about Joseph, a local woodworker to whom she is engaged.
 Mary is as ordinary as her name and expectations. Marriage and motherhood lie ahead, and the hard life of the very poor. After the ceremony she will wear a long veil and move to a shabby one-room house just like her parents', made of stone with an earthen floor and high-placed air vents admitting a bit of light. Like her ancestors for may centuries, Mary will cook over an open fire, sit on the ground to eat, and sleep on a thin mat. Her mother and grandmother have trained her well in women's ways of nurturing a family, tending to the sick and dying with home-grown herbal medicines, and helping in childbirth.
  Picture Mary in you imagination as she finds a patch of dusty land with just enough grass to feed her small flock for the day. Already thirsty, she takes a small drink of water from her wineskin when something alarming happens, something too amazing to be real, and she is shaken to her core. An angel has appeared right in front of her. Imagine your self in her place. What would you be feeling and thinking?
  Mary is afraid, but the angel is beautiful, and he speaks to her in a soothing, tender voice. Quickly, she calms herself. The message is curious, inappropriate, as though it were meant for someone else, and she struggles with herself before she speaks. What is it like for you to be there with Mary, listing to her conversation with Gabriel? If you could speak to Mary, what would you say? What would she reply? Continue your conversation with her if you wish. What did you learn from your conversation with Mary?

The Way of Mary, Following Her footsteps Toward God ~ Mary Ford-Grabowsky, pg 51,52

Second Sunday of Advent, First Vespers

The Monastic Office at St. Emma Monastery

We combine our traditional Monastic Office with the "newer" Roman Office.

We chant the Antiphons and Psalms using simplified Gregorian Chant melodies, and use a different arraignment of Psalms.

First Vespers 2nd Sunday of Advent



Psalms of Saturday 

1st Ant:  Behold, the Lord shall come, in the clouds of heaven with great power, Alleluia

Psalm 144 - (145) vs. 10-21

~All your creatures shall thank you O Lord~

2nd Ant: Sion is the city of our strength, the savior will be its wall and bulwark: open the gates, for God is with us, alleluia.

Psalm 145 (146)

~My soul, give praise to the Lord~

3rd Ant: Behold, the Lord shall appear, and will not deceive us: though He tarry, wait for Him, for He will come and will not delay, alleluia.

Psalm 146 (147)

~Praise the Lord, for he is good~

4th Ant: Behold our Lord shall come with power, to enlighten the eyes of his servants, alleluia.

Psalm 147 (148)

~O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!~

READING 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body, irreproachable at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls us is trustworthy, therefore he will do it.

Short Responsory:

Show us, O Lord,  Your Mercy,

~Show us, O Lord, Your Mercy,

And grant us Your salvation.

~Your Mercy

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

~Show us, O Lord, Your Mercy,

Hymn,

V. Drop down dew, you heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

R. Let the earth be opened, and but forth the Savior.

I Magnificat Ant:   (Saturday)

Come, O Lord, visit us in peace, that we may rejoice before You with perfect heart.

Luke 1:46-55
The soul rejoices in the Lord

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

INTERCESSIONS
Jesus is Lord, born of the Virgin Mary. Let us pray to him with joyful hearts:
– Come, Lord Jesus!
Son of God, you will come again as the true messenger of the covenant,
help the world to recognize and accept you.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
Born in your Father’s heart, you became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
free us from the tyranny of change and decay.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
In your life on earth, you came to die as a man,
save us from everlasting death.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
When you come to judge, show us your loving mercy,
and forgive us our weaknesses.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
Lord Jesus, by your death you have given hope to those who have died,
be merciful to those for whom we now pray.
– Come, Lord Jesus!


Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.


Concluding Prayer
Almighty and merciful God,
may no earthly undertaking hinder those
who set out in haste to meet your Son,
but may our learning of heavenly wisdom
gain us admittance to his company.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

God's grace in the Immaculate Conception of Mary

It is only by God's grace that we can follow Mary the perfect disciple of Christ. May we strive to live the life that she lived, open to the will of God, that she felt in her heart from the very beginning of her life. 
 

The Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is the belief that God preserved Mary from any inclination to sin, the inheritance of original sin passed on to all mankind from our first parents, Adam and Eve. The belief of the Immaculate Conception of Mary says nothing about Mary and personal sin (Rom 3:23). Christian belief holds that every human being through faith and through baptism is freed from sin – original sin and personal sin – through the grace of Jesus Christ. Roman Catholic Christians simply claim that Mary was the first one to whom this was done. The basis for the belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary can be found in the Biblical revelation of holiness and the opposite of that state, sinfulness. God is revealed as perfect interior holiness. Is 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” they (the Seraphim) cried one to the other. No sin or anything tainted with sin can stand in the face of the holiness of God. “Enmity” is that mutual hatred between Mary and sin, between Christ and sin. Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you (the serpent, Satan) and the woman (Mary), and between your offspring (minions of Satan) and hers (Jesus); He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel. For the birth of God as a human being, God was interested in the condition of the mother’s womb. For even a great, but imperfect, judge of Israel, Samson, God was directive about the state of the mother during the pregnancy. The request for the mother to be pure is repeated for emphasis. Judges 13:3-4 An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink and to eat nothing unclean.” Judges 13:7 “But he (the angel) said to me, ‘You will be with child and will bear a son. So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb, until the day of his death.’ ” Judges 13:13-14 The angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to abstain from all the things of which I spoke to her. She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor take wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. Let her observe all that I have commanded her.” How much more would God be interested in the state of His own mother’s womb! The salutation of the Angel Gabriel is different from the usual angelic greeting. It indicates that Mary was exceptionally “highly favored with grace” (Greek: charitoo, used twice in the New Testament, in Lk 1:28 for Mary – before Christ’s redemption; and Eph 1:6 for Christ’s grace to us – after Christ’s redemption). Lk 1:28 And coming to her (Mary), he (the angel Gabriel) said, “Hail, favored one (kecharitomene)” Eph 1:4-6 (God) chose us in him (Jesus), before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace (echaritosen) that he granted us in the beloved. Note that the angel’s salutation preceded Mary’s acquiescence. Mary was already highly favored. God’s grace was not given in time after Mary accepted the angel’s word. The Church believes that this grace was given from the very beginning of Mary’s life. It is clearly grace because at the time of Mary’s conception she could have done nothing to earn it.

 

Taken from: http://www.catholicapologetics.org/ap080400.htm

Advent wreath????

Sr. Mary Advent Wreath?????

What did you do on Friday night??

----dress up as an advent wreath!