Homily: 4th Sunday of Advent

 

With the calendar only providing us 3 full weeks of Advent, how have you been spending your time? What, perhaps have you been seeing…or feeling or doing differently? For Advent calls us to be conscious, awake, alert.  Advent calls us to be open to how Christ comes to us every day.  Advent calls for our participation by opening our eyes to our own brokenness and that of humanity.  For Christ is there…just waiting and wanting our active participation. This week’s Gospel provides us three points which may lead us to a better understanding of what we are called to do moving from this briefest 4^th week of Advent into Christmas and the New Year.  What are they? Check it out….

Click here for a podcast of the homily

Click here for the text of the homily

Click here for the readings of the day

Feast of the Assumption

Normally the Feast of the Assumption is a ‘work day’ for me in my parish.  But being in Cape May afforded me the opportunity to attend liturgy with my wife (a rarity) and to partake in the annual celebration of the “Wedding of the Sea.”

According to legend, in 1445 the Bishop of Cervia, Paul Barbo, who later became Pope Paul II, was returning to Venice on the Feast of the Assumption, when the ship got caught in a storm.  After the bishop prayed, he threw his pastoral ring into the sea from the ship — and the waters were calmed.

So this morning, right after the Mass for the Feast Day, the celebration in Cape May continued as a procession took place three blocks to the ocean and the pastor, Fr. Frank Danella, OSFS, led the crowd in prayer and song as the local lifeguards rowed out into the ocean to throw a wreath of flowers and a ring from a boat into the water, symbolizing the union of the city and the sea.

Here is the prayer that Fr. Frank offered:

Greetings, Mother Ocean, I come to bless You in the name of the triune God.  I pray that you be restored to your original health, beauty and protected from all damaging hazardous chemical: oil, gas, spills, dangerous wastes, plastics and all that harm and retard your well-being.

I pray for protection, health and growth for all marine and plant life that you birth and sustain – mammal, fish, plants, tress, mountain, rock and all marine creatures in your loving care.

I pray for all who depend on the oceans for their livelihood.  Bless all boats and ships that travel on this ocean, take care of then and protect them.

I pray for all who care for and protect this beach and those who come to these waters.  Watch over all who enjoy the beauties and the refreshment of the cool waters.  Keep them safe and unharmed.

May we grow in gratitude, love and respect for these primordial seas.  And may almighty God continue to bless these waters: in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. - Amen

It was a beautiful way to celebrate our Lady on her Feast Day and as we listened to everyone singing  Thus it was a blessed way to remember that we are all community…all connected to creation….all connected to Mother Ocean…all connected the God who dwells within.

 

Bring Flowers of the Fairest

One of the advantages of being a permanent deacon is being married!  My wife, Teresa is a Spiritual Director, a Master Gardener, mother of four and whose life is a beautiful balance of action and contemplation.  Please enjoy the following piece that she wrote for my blog…

 

As a young girl growing up in a small Pennsylvania town and sharing a room with my many sisters , every May we made elaborate altars to the Blessed Mother when the lilacs bloomed and we sang the hymn we were taught in our catholic grade school (Saint Mary's, of course) “Bring Flowers of the Fairest.”

The nostalgia and quaintness of this activity may mask its deeper importance for us as Catholics today as we are awash with scandal and the ennui that may perhaps come after a long time in any spiritual practice. We can become more jaded and as a result deny ourselves some rituals that are both sustaining and rich.

Catholicism taught me the wisdom of sacramental, bodily celebration of our inner movements.  This simple ritual consecrates beauty and femininity and gives us a portal right now to enter even more deeply into the mystery of Easter.  We can immerse ourselves in the death and resurrection that are so evident to any gardener or nature lover at this time of the year when “as long as the bowers are radiant with flowers, as long as the azure shall keep its bright hue.” (An azure, by the way, is a type of butterfly!!)

Perhaps this is the week to resurrect this sacred ritual and make a small altar to honor Mary and her beautiful and bountiful femininity.  Below is the list of symbols from my altar and click here to listen to this lovely hymn (lyrics below).

 

Symbols:
Flowers : consecration, beauty
Shells: the spiraling wisdom of the feminine
Candles: passion, enlightenment
Icon of Mary

Lyrics

Bring flowers of the rarest
Bring blossoms the fairest,
From garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
Our full hearts are swelling,
Our glad voices telling
The praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!

Refrain: O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!

Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.

Our voices ascending, in harmony blending,

Oh! thus may our hearts turn, dear Mother, to thee;
Oh! thus shall we prove thee how truly we love thee,
How dark without Mary, life's journey would be.
Refrain

O Virgin most tender, our homage we render,

Thy love and protection, sweet Mother, to win;
In danger defend us, in sorrow befriend us,
As pure as the lilies we lay at your feet.
Refrain

Their lady they name thee, their mistress proclaim thee,

Ah, grant that thy children on earth be as true
as long as the bowers are radiant with flowers,
as long as the azure shall keep its bright hue.
Refrain

Sing gaily in chorus; the bright angels o'er us

re-echo the strains we begin upon earth;
their harps are repeating the notes of our greeting,
for Mary herself is the cause of our mirth
Refrain