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  ADAM AND EVE
  December 1
  Symbols: Tree, Man and Woman
  Adam and Eve are the first ancestors of the human race. Christ is called the "second" or "new Adam" because He ushered in the new creation by forgiving sin and restoring humanity to the grace of God's friendship lost by original sin. Mary, because she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, is called the "new Eve," the "mother of the living" in the order of grace.
  Recommended Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 18-24
  
  
  http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/seasons/advent/jesse_tree_day1.cfm
  
  
  CREATION
  November 30
  Symbols: Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth
  During this Advent season we review our salvation history, meditating on God's promise of a Savior. We begin with Creation, the birth of life, beginning of time.
  In the creation of world and man, God gave the first and universal witness to His almighty love and His wisdom, the first proclamation of the "plan of His loving goodness," which finds its goal in the new creation of Christ.
  Recommended Readings: Genesis 1-2
  
  ADAM AND EVE
  December 1
  Symbols: Tree, Man and Woman
  Adam and Eve are the first ancestors of the human race. Christ is called the "second" or "new Adam" because He ushered in the new creation by forgiving sin and restoring humanity to the grace of God's friendship lost by original sin. Mary, because she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, is called the "new Eve," the "mother of the living" in the order of grace.
  Recommended Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 18-24
  
  

  FALL OF MAN  December 2 Symbols: Tree with Fruit or Apple The parents of the human race, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God's command in the Garden of Eden, thereby commiting the original sin, resulting in the closing of the gates of Heaven to mankind. Even after this sin, man was not abandoned by God. God promises a Messiah and Redeemer: "I will put emnity between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel (Gen 3:14)." He tells us of a "New Adam" who will have victory over sin. This victory of Christ has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken from us. God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good: "O Happy Fault, whereby we have merited so great a Redeemer (Exsultet)." Recommended Readings: Genesis 3:1-7, 9, 14-29, 23-24

  
  
  
  

  NOAH December 3 Symbols: Animals, Dove, Rainbow When Noah finally left the Ark and settled on dry land, he built an altar to worship the Lord who had saved him. God placed a rainbow in the sky as token of his resolve to never visit such a disaster over the face of the earth again. Noah was a savior, preserving the natural life of all within the Ark; Christ bring supernatural life to mankind and preserves that life within His Mystical Body, the Church. Recommended Readings: Genesis 6:5-8; 7:11-16; 8:15-16; 9:12-13

  December 4

  Symbols: Torch, Sword, Mountain, Tent, Stars   

  Abraham is our father in faith. He is the man of faith and patriarch of Israel with whom God made a covenant which promised him land in which to live and many descendants, a great people for whom the Lord would be their God. Through Abraham God formed the people to whom he would later give the law by revelation through Moses. With the advent of Christ, the people of Israel would serve as the root to which the Gentiles would be grafted by their coming to believe.

  Recommended Readings: Genesis 12:2-3; 17:4-6
  
  
  
  
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• Pope’s prayer intentions for January 2014 (12/31/2013)
  Catholic World News

Advent,

Jesse Tree-an Advent Tradition

The Jesse Tree: An Advent Tradition    http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/811/Jesse_Tree.html   The Jesse Tree is a centuries-old family Advent devotion that has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in recent years.  It has particular value since it helps both kids and adults a like to locate Jesus, the Messiah, within the lineage of the shepherd boy who became King of Israel--David, son of Jesse. The whole idea of the Jesse Tree comes right out of a classic Advent passage from the prophet Isaiah: "A shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit" (Isaiah 11:1).  The Jesse Tree is hung with ornaments representing Old Testament people and events and lead up to Jesus.  The traditional symbols hung on the tree are based on the genealogy of Jesus as reccounted by the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Set up a tree or branches with or without leaves.  For the ornaments, you can either buy a Jesse Tree kit or just craft them yourself (scroll to the bottom of this page for traditional ornament list).  Traditionally, there is one ornament for each day of Advent.  You start at the base of the tree with Adam and Eve.  At the top of the tree at the very end of the season comes a crib representing the baby Jesus.  There's a brief scripture reading for every symbol (see below).  If you read these readings and contemplate them and the symbols to which they are linked, by December 25th you and your family will have a much deeper understanding of the history of salvation and the meaning of Christmas! (the material for this page comes to you in large part thanks to Meredith Gould, author of The Catholic Home.  For more great ideas for celebrating Advent, Christmas, and other seasons and feasts in your home, get a copy of her wonderful book--Dr. D'Ambrosio) For more Advent readings be sure to check out the advent and Christmas Library, Click Here! Some special articles you will find there are: O Antiphons Blessing of a Christmas Tree Blessing of a Nativity Click here to download and print The Jesse Tree! For more Catholic resources to feed your faith, visit the Crossroads Initiative Homepage. If you would like to sign up for our free weekly e-mail with Dr. D'Ambrosio's commentary on the Sunday readings, updates on where Dr. D will be speaking, a chance to WIN a FREE CD and MORE, be sure to CLICK HERE! From a Catholic Home - this a chart for the Jesse Tree Symbols - The World is Created – Globe – Genesis 1:24-28 Adam and Eve – Snake and Apples – Genesis 3:1-24 Noah and the Flood – Rainbow – Genesis 6:11-22; 86-12; 9:11-17 Abraham – Camel – Genesis 12:1-7:13:2-18; 18:1 Sarah – Baby – Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 Isaac – Ram – Genesis 22:1-14 Jacob – Ladder – Genesis 27:41-28:22 Joseph – Multicolored Coat – Genesis37:1-36 Moses – Burning Bush – Exodus 3:1-10 Miriam – Tambourine – Exodus 15:19-21 Samuel – Lamp – 1 Samuel 3:1-21 Jesse – Branch – Isaiah 11:1 David – Harp – 1 Samuel 16:14-23 Solomon – Crown – 1 Kings 3:3-28 Isaiah – Throne – Isaiah 6:1-8 Jeremiah – Tablets of Law – Jeremiah 31:31-34 Angels – Angel – Hebrews 1:1-14 Malachi – Trumpet – Malachi 3:1-4 Zechariah and Elizabeth – Baby - Luke 1:39-45 Mary – Angel – Luke 1:29-35 John the Baptist – River – Matthew 3:1-6 Joseph of Nazareth – Hammer/Saw– Matthew 1:18-25 Bethlehem – Star – Matthew 2:1-12 Birth of Christ – Crib – Luke 2:1-7

Pope Francis: A humble heart knows God, theology is done on one’s knees - Independent Catholic News

Pope Francis: A humble heart knows God, theology is done on one’s knees - Independent Catholic News 

Pope Francis: A humble heart knows God, theology is done on one’s knees

Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 7:31 pm

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God reveals more to a humble heart,  Pope Francis said at morning Mass in Casa  Santa Marta today. Others who claim to fathom the mystery of God with the resources of intelligence must first get down on their knees, in an act of humility, otherwise "they will not understand anything," he said.  Focussing on the day's Gospel of St Luke, which reflects on Christ’s relationship to the Father, Pope Francis said: "He makes us know the Father, introduces us to this inner life that He has. And to whom does the Father reveal this?  To whom does he give this grace? 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little ones'. Only those whose hearts are like the young are capable of receiving this revelation, the humble of heart, the meek, who feel the need to pray, to open up to God, who feel poor; only he who goes forward with the first Beatitude: the poor in spirit."... "Many may know the science, theology well, so many! But if they do not practice this theology on their knees, humbly, like children, they will not understand anything. It will tell them many things, but they will not understand anything. Only with this poverty is one capable of receiving the revelation that the Father gives through Jesus, through Jesus. Jesus is, not like a captain, an army general, a powerful ruler, no, no. He is like a bud. Just like we heard in the First Reading: 'On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse'. He is a bud that is humble, mild, and came to the humble, and to the meek, to bring salvation to the sick, the poor, the oppressed.” Pope Francis continued by saying that the mystery Jesus is that of humbling oneself. It is a mystery that "brings salvation to the poor, brings comfort to those who are stricken by many diseases, sins and difficult situations." "Out of this context”, concluded Pope Francis you cannot understand the mystery of Jesus": "We ask the Lord, in this Advent season, to bring us nearer to his mystery and to do so the way that He wants us to do: the way of humility, the way of meekness, the way of poverty, the road where we feel sin. So that he can come to save us, to free us. May the Lord give us this grace. "  Source: Vatican Radio/VIS

Dec 03 - St. Francis Xavier, Wednesday of the First week of Advent

POZZO_Andrea_Saint_Francis_Xavier

Today is the memorial of St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

Born in the family castle of Xavier, near Pamplona in the Basque area of Spanish Navarre on Apr. 7, he was sent to the University of Paris in 1525. There he met St. Ignatius Loyola with whom he received Holy Orders in Venice in 1537. In 1540 he was sent to evangelize India. He labored in western India, the island of Ceylon, Malacca, Molucca Islands, island of Mindanao (Philippines), and Japan. In 1552 he started on a voyage to China but died on Sancian Island.   -catholicfire.blogspot.com
Ave Maria!

Published on 21 Jul 2012

SFX Exposition 1994-95, Goa India. Next Expo 2014-15
Death & Burials:
St. Francis died on December 3, 1552, at age of 46. He was first buried on Shangchuan Dao's beach (China). His intact body was taken from the island in February 1553. It was temporarily buried (2nd time) in St. Paul's church in Malacca on March 22, 1553. His body was once again removed shortly after April 15, 1553 by his friend Pereira and took it at a his place
On December 11, 1553 (after one year from death) the incorrupt body of Francis Xavier was shipped to Goa. The body is now in the Basilica of Bom Jésus in Goa, where it is placed into a glass / silver casket.

Exposition: (Once in 10 years)
The silver casket is lowered for public viewing only during the public exposition, which most recently took place in 1994-95, 2004-05. Next would be in 2014-15. The Exposition last about 6 weeks from Late Nov to Early Jan.
Some clips of 'St. Francis Exposition' available with You Tube.

The singing in the background clip: Locals singing a hymn of SFX at a roadside Holy Cross at Velsao, Goa

Commentary of the day :           

Wednesday of the First week of Advent

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 15:29-37. 

Baldwin of Ford (?-c.1190), Cistercian abbot 
The Sacrament of the altar, PL 204, 690 

The bread of eternal life

« Jesus said : I am the bread of life ; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst »… In this way he describes twice over the eternal repletion when nothing will be lacking any more.

However, Wisdom says : « He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more » (Sir 24,20). Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, is not eaten to satisfy our desire in the present moment but to make us long for that satisfaction. And the more we taste his sweetness, the more our desire for it is stimulated. That is why those who eat it hunger still until the satisfaction comes. But when their desire has been filled they will no longer have either hunger or thirst.

« Those who eat of me will hunger still. » This saying can also be understood of the world to come since in the eternal satisfaction there is as sort of hunger that comes, not from need but from happiness. There, satisfaction knows no satiety, desire knows no groaning. Christ, who is always wonderful in his beauty, is also always desirable: “he whom angels long to see” (1Pt 1,12). And so, even when possessing him, we desire him; even when holding him, we seek him, as it is written: “Earnestly seek his face” (Ps 104[105],4). Indeed, he is always sought who is loved in order to be possessed for ever. 

Miraculous Medal Catherine Laboure Part 1

Uploaded on 6 Dec 2011

This is the Story of Catherine Laboure born in France in 1806
Our Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Catherine a Daughter of Charity Nun in Paris in 1830. A Circle formed around the apparition with this message:
'O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you'
Have a medal struck; those who wear it with confidence will enjoy the very special protection of The Mother of God.

28th November - Saint Catherine Laboure - Independent Catholic News

The Miraculous Medal also bears the words, "O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!"   

28th November - Saint Catherine Laboure - Independent Catholic News

28th November - Saint Catherine Laboure

Posted: Friday, November 28, 2014 12:54 am

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Nun and visionary. Founder of the devotion of the Miraculous Medal. St Catherine came from a large farming family near Dijon in France. Born in 1806, she looked after her widowed father and later worked as a waitress in her uncle's cafe in Paris, before joining the Sisters of Charity at the age of 14. She lived in the community in Reuilly, caring for the elderly in a rest home and tending chickens. Her superiors wrote that she was a 'quiet and dull' person. Until her last years, few people realised that she led an extraordinary inner life. Through a series of dreams and visions, she accurately foresaw many historical events in France. In one dream she saw a picture of Mary standing on a globe with shafts of light coming from her hands with the inscription underneath reading: 'Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee.' On the reverse side was a capital M with the cross above and two hearts below. Catherine believed she was ordered to have this produced as a medal. She spoke with her superiors and, in 1832, the archbishop allowed 1,500 to be minted. Later an account of the medal's origins was published. A canonical review in 1836 declared them authentic. In 1842 a Jewish man from Alsace, Alphonsus Ratisbone, inspired by the devotion to the medal, became a Christian and founded the Fathers and Sisters of Sion. From that time onwards, the devotion to the Miraculous Medal spread around the world. Catherine died on 31 December 1876. Her body remains incorrupt in the convent chapel at Rue de Bac, Paris. She was canonised in 1947. Properties of the medal[edit] According to the verbal process of the investigation on February 16, 1836, the medal is supposed to be oval in shape. It also bears the words, "O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!"; these start at Mary's right hand, continue over her head, and end at her left hand.[8] According to an account written by Catherine's own hand, Mary was clothed in a robe of auroral light and her robe had a high neck and plain sleeves. According to Catherine's notes, the medal should also have half a globe upon which Mary's feet rest, hands raised up to her waist, fingers filled with diamond rings of different sizes giving off rays of light, and a frame slightly oval with golden letters saying, "O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!" Her fingers each had three rings and the largest stones emitted the most brilliant rays. She added that some of the diamonds did not give off rays

Apostolic Letter to all Consecrated people. The Year for Consecrated Life concerns not only consecrated persons, but the entire Church

“Consecrated life is a gift to the Church, it is born of the Church, it grows in the Church, and it is entirely directed to the Church”. [8] 

Apostolic Letter to all Consecrated people

Saturday, 29 November 2014 16:43

APOSTOLIC LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS

POPE FRANCIS

TO ALL CONSECRATED PEOPLE

ON THE OCCASION OF THE YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE

 Apostolic Letter.pdf

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Consecrated Life,

  

I am writing to you as the Successor of Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the task of confirming his brothers and sisters in faith (cf. Lk 22:32). But I am also writing to you as a brother who, like yourselves, is consecrated to God.

  

Together let us thank the Father, who called us to follow Jesus by fully embracing the Gospel and serving the Church, and poured into our hearts the Holy Spirit, the source of our joy and our witness to God's love and mercy before the world.

In response to requests from many of you and from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, I decided to proclaim a Year of Consecrated Life on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, which speaks of religious in its sixth chapter, and of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis on the renewal of religious life. The Year will begin on 30 November 2014, the First Sunday of Advent, and conclude with the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple on 2 February 2016. 

  

After consultation with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, I have chosen as the aims of this Year the same ones which Saint John Paul II proposed to the whole Church at the beginning of the third millennium, reiterating, in a certain sense, what he had earlier written in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata: “You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished! Look to the future, where the Spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things” (No. 110).

I. AIMS OF THE YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE

1. The first of these aims is to look to the past with gratitude. All our Institutes are heir to a history rich in charisms.    

C.S. Lewis Through The Shadowlands Trailer

Uploaded on 26 May 2011

Starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom. Winner of over a dozen prestigious awards including the International Emmy for Best Drama and two British Academy Awards. (RPI / Discount Christian Media is an Authorized Distributor of this title. For more information please visit www.Go2RPI.com )

St Andrew - Scotland's Patron Saint

Story of how St Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland

Advent, 1st Sunday. 'that definitive moment of our own personal lives' Fr. Raymond Homily

Mass, Advent 1. 

   

          

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 13:33-37.

Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man travelling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cock-crow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"

 Fr. Raymond ... 

"that definitive moment of our own personal lives" [emphasis. Edit]

For the Gospel of the very first Sunday of Advent we might expect the Church to choose a passage that turns our minds directly to the proximity of her annual celebration of the birth of Christ.
But we won't find anything of that in today's Gospel. Instead She chooses a Gospel that turns our minds to the consideration of the proximity of our personal death. The implication being made is surely that it is precisely, at the moment of our own personal death that we will first personally encounter the Christ face to face, and no matter how young we may be, that encounter is, for each of us, relatively proximate. "Stay awake!" says Jesus, "Stand ready! Because .... " No matter who we may be or what the times and seasons for anyone of us ... "The Son of Man is coming at an hour we do not expect".

Perhaps we could do well this Advent to make this theme the background to our preparation for Christmas. We could make it a preparation for; a looking forward to; that definitive moment of our own personal lives when we will come face to face with the living Christ; or rather, that definitive moment when He comes to us.

This will be the moment when we come face to face with Jesus: not as the sacramental Jesus of the Eucharist,
nor as the liturgically new-born Jesus of the Christmas season, nor as the Jesus whom we encounter in our prayer life;
but as the Risen and Living Christ of Glory. The Christ in all the splendour of his Godhead and of his glorified humanity.

This is surely the message of today's Gospel: that our death will not be a lonely journey into the next world. Jesus himself has described it for us very differently. He describes it, not as a going out of ourselves from this world to him in the next, but rather as an advent, a coming of Himself to us in this world to take us by the hand and lead us into the next. "I am going away to prepare a place for you" he says" .... and I will come back to take you to be with me where I am." And in case we should think of this final personal advent with fear, Jesus himself is careful to take away any sense of awe and fear we might have. This he does by portraying it for us in that homely post-resurrection scene where he stands on the shore of eternity, as it were, and invites the Apostles to "come and have breakfast".

Now is the time then to prepare ourselves to welcome this inevitable and utterly personal Advent of the Lord to us with a Faith and a Love that cry out "Come then, Lord Jesus, Come."

Cistercian ocso Missal.
First Sunday of Advent

Year of Consecrated Life set for 2015

http://www.news.va/en/news/year-of-consecrated-life-set-for-2015   

4-01-31 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Cardinal João Braz De Aviz held a press conference on Friday to announce the upcoming Year of Consecrated Life.
At the press conference, Cardinal Braz de Aviz told journalists that Pope Francis had announced the Year of Consecrated life in November at a meeting with the Union of Superiors General.
Noting that the Year will take place in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Braz de Aviz said, “We believe that the Council has been a breath of the Spirit not only for the whole Church but, perhaps especially, for the consecrated life. We are also convinced that in these 50 years consecrated life has undertaken a fruitful journey of renewal — not free, certainly, of difficulties and hardships — in the commitment to follow what the Council asked of the consecrated: fidelity to the Lord, to the Church, to their own charism and to the people of today.
For this reason, he said, the first objective of the Year of Consecrated Life would be to “make a grateful remembrance of the recent past.”
With this positive outlook on the past, he continued, “we want to ‘embrace the future with hope’— the second objective. Although the crises that affect the world and the Church are also felt within consecrated life, Cardinal Braz de Aviz said women and men religious remain full of hope, based not on their own powers, but on trust in the Lord. “In Him,” he said, “no one can rob us of our hope.”
This hope, though, he said, cannot keep us from “living the present with passion” — and this is the third objective of the coming Year. This passion, the Cardinal said, speaks of “being in love, of true friendship, of profound communion.” This is “the true beauty of the life of so many women who profess the evangelical counsels and follow Christ ‘more closely’ in this state of life.” In this regard, he said, the Year of Consecrated Life will have an evangelical focus, helping people to realize “the beauty of following Christ” in the various types of religious vocations.
The Year of Consecrated Life is expected to begin in October of this year, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of Lumen gentium(the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the Church), which has a specific chapter dealing with consecrated life. The anniversary of the Council’s decree Perfectae caritatis, will be the occasion of the close of the Year, in November 2015.

Prayer Vigil for the Year of Consecrated Life - 2014.11.29

Started on 29 Nov 2014

Starts at 7:00pm - Prayer Vigil in occasion of the beginning of the Year of Consecrated Life. Pope Francis addresse the participants trough a video message.

Gospel November 30, 2014

Faith, hope and love are virtues directed toward past, future and present. In Advent, we remind ourselves to be ever ready to meet and love the Lord who has come, who will come, who comes.  

CathoilicCulture.org Liturgical Year

Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)  
Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk 

On Wednesday, 26 November 2014, 22:02, Liturgical Year Preview <mailings@catholicculture.org> wrote:

Overview for November 26, 2014 to December 10, 2014 Ordinary Time November Nov. 26 Wednesday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Sylvester. He was the son of a lawyer and had also studied law before becoming a canon in his native town of ... Weekday Nov. 27 Thursday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time; Thanksgiving Many people assume that the United States has celebrated Thanksgiving Day since the time of the pilgrims as a sign of thanksgiving for the harvest season. This is not exactly true. President Abraham Lincoln instituted the ... Weekday Nov. 28 Friday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time Traditionally today is the feast of St. Catherine Laboure. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her, a member of the Daughters of Charity, three times in 1830 and commissioned her to have made the Miraculous Medal and to spread a ... Weekday Nov. 29 Saturday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time Today is the last day of the liturgical year. But the Church proposes no special liturgy to mark its close because already here on earth she lives an eternal life. One day follows another like the links of a chain; the end of ... Weekday Advent Begins: Nov. 30 First Sunday of Advent For us Catholics, the new Liturgical Year commences with the first Sunday of Advent. In this new liturgical year, the Church not only wishes to indicate the beginning of a period, but the beginning of a renewed commitment ... Sunday December Dec. 1 Monday of the First Week of Advent And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow ... Weekday Dec. 2 Tuesday of the First Week of Advent According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Bibiana who was martyred at Rome under Julian the Apostate in 363. Jesse Tree ~ Fall of ... Weekday Dec. 3 Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, priest St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) was born in the castle of Xavier in Navarre, Spain. In 1525 he went to Paris where he met St. Ignatius Loyola and with whom he received Holy Orders in Venice in 1537. In 1540 he was sent to ... Memorial Dec. 4 Optional Memorial of St. John Damascene, priest and doctor St. John Damascene was a learned theologian who carefully gathered together and transmitted to us the teaching of the Greek Fathers, and is thus one of the most trustworthy witnesses to oriental tradition. He also wrote many ... Weekday Dec. 5 Friday of the First Week of Advent St. Sabbas is pictured as an abbot with an apple. He was once tempted to eat an apple outside of the prescribed mealtime, whereupon he vowed never to eat apples again. The Martyrology says: "At Mutala in Cappadocia the holy ... Weekday Dec. 6 Optional Memorial of St. Nicholas, bishop St. Nicholas was born in Lycia, Asia Minor, and died as Bishop of Myra in 352. He performed many miracles and exercised a special power over flames. He practiced both the spiritual and temporal works of mercy, and fasted twice a ... Opt. Mem. Dec. 7 Second Sunday of Advent “As the journey of Advent continues, as we prepare to celebrate the nativity of Christ, John the Baptist's call to conversion sounds out in our communities. It is a pressing invitation to open our hearts and to welcome the Son ... Sunday Dec. 8 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patronal Feastday of the United States of America  Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the solemn dogma defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854. As Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America, this is a ... Solemnity Dec. 9 Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (USA) Today the Church in the United States celebrates the optional memorial of St. Juan Diego, an Indian convert, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared as he was going to Mass in Tlatlelolco, Mexico. Our Lady asked him to tell the Bishop ... Weekday Dec. 10 Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent St. Melchiades "who suffered much during the persecution of Maximianus; when at last peace was restored to the Church, died in the Lord." He was an African whom St. Augustine calls "the true child of the peace of Jesus Christ." ... Weekday The liturgical year resources on CatholicCulture.org are currently complete through Saturday, November 29, 2014.

www.CatholicCulture.org

There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing. –Bishop Fulton Sheen

-from Catholics, Wake Up!

Commentary of the day 
Aphrahat (?-c.345), monk and Bishop near Mosul 
The Demonstrations, no.4 (©Cistercian publications; SC 349, p. 316)

"Be vigilant at all times and pray"

My beloved, that a person should do the will of God is what constitutes prayer. That is how prayer seems to me to excel. Above all, be eager for prayer and do not weary in it, as it is written that our Lord said: “Pray and do not weary.” You should be eager in wakefulness and remove far from yourself drowsiness and sleep; you should be watchful both by day and by night and not be disheartened.
     
Now I shall show you the different occasions for prayer. There is petition, thanksgiving, and praise (Phil 4,6). In petition one asks for mercy for one's sins, in thanksgiving you give thanks to your Father who is in heaven, while in praise you praise him for his works. At a time when you are in trouble, offer up petition, and when you are well supplied with good things, you should give thanks to the Giver, and when your mind rejoices, offer up praise.

Make all these prayers of yours with discernment to God. See how David was always saying: “I have risen to give thanks to you for your judgments, O Just One.” (Ps 119[118],62). And in another psalm he said: “Praise the Lord in heaven, praise him in the heights” (Ps 149[148],1). Again he says: “I will bless the Lord at all times, and at all times his praises are in my mouth” (Ps 34[33],2). Do not pray using only one kind of prayer, but all separately according to circumstance.

I am convinced, my beloved, that everything people ask for with diligence, God will grant them. But he takes no pleasure in the person who offers up prayer in mockery. As it is written: “This is required of the person who prays, offering up prayer: that he turn over and inspect his offering well, lest some blemish be found on it; only then should he offer it” (cf Mt 5,23-24; Mk 11,25), so that your offering does not remain on earth. What is this offering if not prayer?... Of all offerings pure prayer is the best.

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