Epiphany 2014

In ancient times before calendars were common, most people did not know the dates for the upcoming Liturgical year. Therefore on Epiphany Sunday, the upcoming dates were announced. After the singing of the Gospel, the Deacon, in keeping with an ancient practice of Holy Church, would proclaim from the ambo the moveable feasts of the current year.

I will skip the singing and simply share with you, in the format prescribed, the dates for your calendar!

 

Know, my dear sisters and brothers that as we have rejoiced at the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, so by leave of God’s mercy we announce to you also the joy of his Resurrection, who is our Savior.

On the Fifth day of March will fall Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the fast of the most sacred Lenten season.

On the Twentieth day of April you will celebrate with joy Easter Day, the Paschal feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the Twenty-Ninth day of May will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the Eighth day of June the feast of Pentecost.

On the Twenty-Second day of June, the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

On the Thirtieth day of November the First Sunday of Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

p.s. – Christmas 2014, will fall on the 25thof December!

 

The New English Translation - A Year Later

The Lord be with you.  And with your Spirit

Consubstantial with the Father

…will be poured out for you and the many…

…was incarnate of the Virgin Mary…

For many of us, perhaps we have grown somewhat accustomed to these and other changes in the English text of the Roman Missal.  Or maybe not.

This Sunday we will begin a new liturgical year – Year C.  And as we do, it will be the one-year mark since the implementation of the new English translation.  Given birth after nine years of debate and arm wrestling and prayer, the new translation is one that is closest to the original Latin text.

Upon its launch we were told that, “one of the main goals of this new translation is to rediscover and represent the deep, rich and authentic meaning of the faith of our Church in our life of prayer.” 

Has it?

In reserving my comments, for now, I thought I would do a very quick survey as to what others think and feel after having been immersed in this new translation for a year.  So I am inviting you to click HERE – and take the very, very brief survey – but do feel free to fill in some of the comment boxes!!

If you would – please forward this post or cut and paste the following link to your friends, family and fellow parishioners:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TeachBelief1

Then just after Christmas I will post the results and blog a bit about the findings.

So please take a minute and let your voice be heard!

Advent peace to you and yours.

The Epiphany of Our Lord - 2012



Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

Comet Lovejoy as seen from Cape Schanck
Melbourne, Australia, Christmas Eve 2011.



"And behold, the star that the Magi had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."     Matt 2:9-11

The word Epiphany comes from two Greek words: the preposition “epi” and the verb “phainen” which means to shine upon, or to reveal. And so, on this feast day, we celebrate Christ first revealing himself to the magi as they arrive by the light of the star.

For some years in my parish we have had the tradition, on this feast day, to hand out a small baggie filled with blessed chalk, some incense and a blessing.  Once home, it allows each family to bless their home and mark the lintel of the front door, thereby blessing all those who enter…reminding us that while we celebrate the first epiphany of Christ this Sunday…Christ continues to manifest himself in all who enter our homes and our lives.

My friend and author, Meredith Gould, talks about this tradition of chalking the lintel in her book: The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day.  It is a book every home should have!

So take a few minutes today or this weekend...gather the family, grab a piece of chalk hanging around the house, click here to download a home blessing/ritual you can use...and make the connection of the sacredness of church to the sacredness of your home and family!

Mary, Mother of God



“Mother of God”

by Michael O’Neill McGrath, OSFS.  www.beestill.org



This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. In the past four weeks we have heard a number of times Luke's Gospel where Mary is told that she is to bear a son and name him Jesus and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The angel Gabriel tells Mary that the Lord is with her – literally and physically!  Thus Mary becomes the new Ark of the Lord. Did you ever notice that Mary does not say she’s “not worthy”?  She just asks for clarification.  She never asks if, whether or why!

Clearly this reveals her lack of ego.  She becomes the archetype of perfect receptivity – without a concern about whether she is worthy.  She does it alone, quietly, and with courage. This young teenage girl simply says, “Let it be!” 

Which brings us to this new day and New Year.  Take a moment to pause and remember that this same Jesus the Christ dwells within all of us, without exception – regardless of how worthy we may be!  This God loves us for who we are.  As the Franciscan Richard Rohr says, “God does not love you because you are good; you are good because God loves you.” 

Blessings to you and your families in this New Year!!

O Emmanuel



Immanuel - God With Us, by James Seward



O Emmanuel, our king and our Lord,
 The anointed for the nations and their Savior:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

"Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." (Isa 7:14)  Emmanuel: God with Us.  Jesus the Christ is present, here and now, dwelling within us, always present to us.

Let us pray, this day, that we be present to God's presence. May we pull back the shades that darken our lives and hold us captive so that the Light of Christ may come and renew us each day.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Rex Gentium

O King of all the nations,  and their desire, the cornerstone uniting all people: Come and save us all, whom you formed out of clay.

Clay is composed of many different materials of the earth, including impurities.  In the hands of God the Potter, we are the clay and only God knows how God is molding, kneading and shaping all of us, even with our imperfections, to serve God’s needs. Our challenge is to be clay that is moist and malleable, so that God can work through us, for us.

Let us pray, this day, that we accept the contents of our clay and to be open to the hands of God who is the cornerstone of our lives.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Oriens

Sunrise in Cape May, New Jersey

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of light everlasting: 
 Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

For us in the northern hemisphere, today marks the shortest and darkest day of the year.  For some that darkness pervades our lives in so many manifestations.  But there is something about a sunrise, especially at the shore, that signals a burst of energy and life into a new day, heralding a new beginning.

Let us pray, this day, to open our eyes in order to see a new light, a new idea, a new friend, a new love – to see the new dawns in our lives, all reflections of God’s love for us.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Clavis David

O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel, You open and no one can close, You close and no one can open: Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and in the shadow of death.

We can go through life building walls and locking doors that protect and defend who we think we are, becoming prisoners of our own ego.  Before long, we forget the person we really are, as God made us. Have we lost the keys that unlock those doors we hide behind?  Doors that lead to divided families, divided relationships, a divided world? 

Let us pray, this day, for the courage to unlock the doors, to break down the barriers of anything that stands between our true self and God.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Radix Jesse

O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign before the people,
Before whom kings are mute and to whom the gentiles shall seek: 
Come quickly to deliver us.

What do we sink our roots in?  How fertile is our soil? Have we severed the roots in our relationships with others?  We pray, this day, to make the time to nurture our spiritual growth and to amend the soil of our lives so that God is able to take root in us.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Adonai

O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai Mountain; Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.

Our secular world and all its distractions bind us and push us off center where we lose our spiritual focus.  We pray, this day, to be set free from our addictions as we are reminded that our life must be Christ-centered versus focused on what we want or what we think.

“I live not as I, but as Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20)

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Sapienta

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong, yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.

When we see the word "wisdom" we often think of knowledge and knowing. We think of wisdom as the ability to look at facts and situations and then make wise decisions. The power sits with us.

Today, let's take a moment to pause and look at creation with new vision. See the world, see your family, see your own life as God sees all things -- compassion, love, and forgiveness. For this is the wisdom of God for everything, without exception. 

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Launching My Blog!

Gaudete! Rejoice!

This Sunday will be the Third Sunday of Advent, commonly called Gaudete Sunday, from the first word of the Opening Prayer of today’s mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!”

We're now halfway through the Advent Season – a time of waiting and preparation to celebrate birth of Jesus. As the third (rose) candle of the Advent wreath is lit, you might notice that your priest and deacon are also wearing rose-colored rose vestments. And no, it is not pink…it's rose!

What better time of the liturgical year for me to rejoice (I think!) as I launch my blog, Teach What You Believe. These are the words I heard as I held the Book of Gospels during my ordination as a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Trenton.

Receive the Gospel of Christ,

whose herald you have become.

Believe what you read,

teach what you believe,

and practice what you teach.

So, indeed, Gaudete…Rejoice!

My hope is that this blog is different from others you read. I'm planning to share instances where the sacred and secular meet and examples of how the gospel is working in daily life. At times I'll provide the chuckle we all need.

If you've been connected to me on Facebook or are on my Homily Distribution List, I hope you'll to subscribe to get deacon-related content and conversation here. You'll find tools for doing so on the left sidebar. I look forward to hearing from you as we continue our journey of faith.