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Nota bene:
While the Friday in the Octave of Easter is raised to the rank of a Solemnity, the Friday in the Octave of Christmas is not. The normal Friday penance applies, whether you choose to abstain from meat or substitute another form of penance.
Click the image for updates from Corpus Christi Catholic Community for this week.
+JMJ+
Dear Friends,
The waiting is almost over and Christmas is almost here. On this fourth Sunday of Advent we will hear again of Our Lady's reaction to the Angel Gabriel's message, which is active love. She goes "in haste" to her kinswoman Elizabeth, bearing a child in her old age, to help and console her, and also to share her joy. In this Christmas season, let us also respond to the glad tidings of the Lord's nativity with active love, seeking out the poor, the sick, the lonely with help and comfort.
I hope by now your preparations are nearly complete for Christmas in your own homes, and that with at least some measure of peace and quietness you will be able to enter in to the mystery of this Child in the manger who is Emmanuel, God-with-us. You will see [here] a schedule of Christmas Masses for St. Mary's (Roman Missal) and Corpus Christi (Divine Worship). I want especially to encourage you to attend, if you are able, our own "Midnight Mass" on Christmas Eve, which will begin at 11PM and have us adoring our Eucharistic Emmanuel, God-with-us on the altar just at midnight. I know (trust me!) that Midnight Mass is difficult, but I believe you will find it more than worth the sacrifice as, with the shepherds of old to whom the angels first announced the birth of the Lord, we keep watch by night, and then rejoice to find "this most holy night to shine with the brightness of the Light of life," as we will pray in the collect. (By the way, as part of our candlelight adoration, we will sing "Silent Night"; did you know this Christmas marks the carol's 200th anniversary?)
Do you need further aesthetic or more mundane encouragement? Well, on the one hand, the music will be beautiful, and on the other, the parking will be easy. So come, let us adore him!
God bless you!
Fr. Allen
image: cstar55 / Getty Images
Lighting of Advent Wreath Candles: The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Click here to print (pdf) this week.
All make the Sign of the Cross as the leader begins:
℣ +Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟ Who hath made heaven and earth.
The following Scripture is read: Luke 1:26-33; Revelation 22:20
IN the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Light the first and second purple candles in order, then the rose candle, and then the final purple candle.. With hands joined, the leader prays:
RAISE UP we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us: that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sorely hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. ℟ Amen.
The devotion may conclude with a verse from "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel":
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.
Click here to print (pdf) all four weeks of devotions to pack away with your Advent wreath so it’s ready for next year.
a holy day of obligation
3.30 PM Children’s Pageant
4.00 PM Holy Mass with Children’s Choir, Roman Missal
6.00 PM Holy Mass with Choir, Roman Missal
11.00 PM Holy Mass with Choir, Divine Worship
11.00 AM Holy Mass, Roman Missal
a holy day of obligation
6.00 PM Holy Mass, Divine Worship
11.00 AM Holy Mass, Roman Missal
9.00 AM Holy Mass, Roman Missal
11.00 AM Holy Mass, Divine Worship, followed by a reception with King Cake
Evensong cancelled
Click the image for updates from Corpus Christi Catholic Community for this week.
+JMJ+
Dear Friends,
Advent is a season rich in symbols and in devotions for the faithful, both ancient and new. Let me highlight just two, one briefly and the other at more length. First, this Sunday we keep the more recent tradition of blessing the Christchild figurines from our home crèches. Please bring your own Christchild to Mass; they will be collected by children of the parish who will present them to be blessed at the conclusion of Mass.
Another Advent devotion, this one more ancient, is a series of anthems for the last seven days of the season (so always 17 - 23 December) known as the "Great O Antiphons." The earliest reference I know to the "O Antiphons" is from Boethius, writing about the year 500, and they have been part of the Daily Office/Liturgy of the Hours since at least that time. The anthems are now sung or said before and after the Magnificat at Evening Prayer, and they also form the verse for the Alleluia before the Gospel at Mass on their proper days.
Each of the anthems addresses the Lord with a Messianic title taken from the Hebrew Scriptures, and then beseeches the Lord to come and redeem us with imagery more or less appropriate to the title. So, to take just one example, "O Key of David... come and bring the prisoner out of the prison house" (cf Is 22.22). Another layer of meaning is added when, working backwards from the last antiphon, the initial letter of each title is taken to form an acrostic in Latin, ERO CRAS - or, "Tomorrow, I will come."
There is one more of these antiphons not included in the Roman Missal and peculiar to our patrimony in the Ordinariates; It shows up in our missal as the Alleluia verse for the morning Mass on Christmas Eve day, O Virgo virginum:
O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be? For neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? The thing which ye behold is a divine mystery.
This was an eighth "O Antiphon" in medieval England, when that green and pleasant land was known as "Mary's Dowery." With this antiphon, the reverse acrostic then becomes VERO CRAS - "Verily, I shall [come]."
All of the Great O Antiphons are provided for you [here]. I encourage you to meditate on them in these latter days of Advent and to enter more deeply into the mystery of redemption that is brought to us through this Child who comes to us. You might especially make them part of your family devotions, either as you say grace at meals, or at the lighting of your Advent Wreath, or as a devotion before your home crèche.
God bless you,
Fr Allen
P.S. An update for those of you who have ordered the Divine Worship Missal: People's Edition - the missals have been ordered and are expected to ship from England this Monday. There is just this slightest chance that they may be here by Christmas Day, but more likely they will arrive a couple days after Christmas. In any case, as soon as they arrive I will let you know, and we will have them available to be picked up at Mass. And yes, there will be extra copies available for purchase if you have not pre-ordered.
December 17
O Sapientia
O WISDOM, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come and teach us the way of prudence.
December 18
O Adonai
O ADONAI, and Leader of the house of Israel, who appearedst in the bush to Moses in flame of fire, and gavest him the Law in Sinai: come and deliver us with an outstretched arm.
December 19
O Radix Jesse
O ROOT OF JESSE, which standest for an ensign of the peoples, at whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the Gentiles shall seek: come and deliver us, and tarry not.
December 20
O Clavis David
O KEY OF DAVID, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no man shutteth, and shuttest, and no man openeth: come and bring the prisoner out of the prison-house, and him that sitteth in darkness and the shadow of death.
December 21
O Oriens
O DAY-SPRING, Brightness of the Light everlasting and Sun of righteousness: come and enlighten him that sitteth in darkness in the shadow of death.
December 22
O Rex gentium
O KING OF THE NATIONS, and their Desire; the Corner-stone, who makest both one: come and save mankind, whom thou formedst of clay.
December 23
O Emmanuel
O EMMANUEL, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations and their salvation: come and save us, O Lord our God.
Lighting of Advent Wreath Candles: The Third Sunday of Advent
All make the Sign of the Cross as the leader begins:
℣ +Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟ Who hath made heaven and earth.
The following Scripture is read: Isaiah 9.2, 6-7, 40.3-5, 52.7, 7.14-15
THE people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman′u-el.
Light the first and second purple candles in order, and then the rose candle. With hands joined, the leader prays:
INCLINE thine ear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to our petitions: and, by the grace of Thy visitation, enlighten the darkness of our minds. Who livest and reignest with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. ℟ Amen.
The devotion may conclude with a verse from "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel":
O come, thou Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing night;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadow put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.