Daily Advent Resolution
I will give up something today that diminishes the attention that I give to my spouse, family or friends. Regnum Christi Daily Meditation
Monday, November 30, 2009
EWTN - The Advent Season
If you’re still deciding what to do for the great season of Advent, which began yesterday, why not consider listening to a great EWTN homily each day? You can find it by going to our home page, EWTN, and looking down the right hand side for “Today’s Mass: Readings and Homily.” When you click on that, you will see an icon at the top of the page that says “Today’s Homily.” You can listen or watch on your computer or download the homily to your MP3 player. If you already go to Mass, you can drag the cursor along the bottom to get past the readings and go straight to the homily. If you can’t attend, then you may want to listen to the readings as well. What a great way to lift your mind and heart to God this Advent!
Today begins the traditional novena to St. Andrew, which begins Nov. 30 and runs until Christmas. EWTN’s Father Joseph gave an awesome homily about this novena today, . His great, great uncle, who had been declared legally blind, said the short novena prayer some years ago and received his sight back on Christmas Eve. Here is the prayer, which should be said 15 times a day from now until Christmas:
“Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.”
Michelle Laque Johnson
Director of Communications
EWTN Global Catholic Network
5817 Old Leeds Road
Irondale, Alabama 35210
(205) 795-5769 (office)
(205) 441-6248 (cell)
(205) 271-2920 (fax)
mjohnson@ewtn.com (email)
ACN News - Church and convent bombed in Iraq
ACN-USA News
11/30/2009
Church and convent bombed in Iraq
Christians in Iraq were lucky to escape with their lives after bomb attacks on a Catholic church and a convent of Sisters.
St. Ephrem’s Chaldean Church, in the northern city of Mosul, was reduced to a blackened shell when attackers walked in and detonated high explosives. The building, and the nearby presbytery which was also attacked, were both empty at the time of the attacks and no one was hurt.
Shortly after the explosions on Thursday morning, November 26th, a second bomb attack took place at St. Theresa’s Convent, a few minutes’ drive away, also in the Al Jadeda district of New Mosul, in the west of the city.
At least five Sisters were in the building when the attack took place but they were able to escape unharmed. They were not in the part of the convent damaged by the bomb which was thrown at the complex.
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Catholic charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, one of the Sisters described the attack. The Sister, who asked not to be named, said, “We are in total shock. The sheer noise of the bomb and the damage it caused terrified us.”
In a message to ACN, Archbishop-elect Amel Nona of Mosul wrote: “What has happened is a terrible thing. We do not know why or how this happened….We thank God that the parish priest [of St. Ephrem’s] was not in the building, otherwise he could have died.”
Senior Iraqi priest Father Bashar Warda, who has helped coordinate support after the attacks, said, “We are at a loss to explain why this should have happened.” He said the attack may have had political motives in the run-up to elections next year.
Fr. Warda went on to say that it had come as a great shock as St. Ephrem’s parish priest, Fr. Youhanna Jajeka, who had an excellent reputation in the neighborhood.
He added, “Fr. Youhanna is a quiet and honorable man. He is well known for his good relationship with all people in the area and for his service to those in need.”
The convent, which received less damage than St. Ephrem’s Church, was Mother House for the Dominicans in the region. Many of the Sisters there had moved to safety to another Dominican convent in the nearby village of Qaraqosh.
The attacks come after a period of new hope for Christians in Mosul, where the situation had improved since last autumn’s attacks which forced thousands of them to leave. Many soon returned, although life remained tense.
Father Bashar said: “The Christian people in Mosul were really surprised by these attacks that have just taken place. Things were gradually becoming normalized and many felt that security had improved. What has happened now has put a stop to the optimism.”
Support for the Christians in the Middle East is a priority for Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). In a message to the charity, Pope Benedict XVI lamented how the Church in the Middle East was “threatened in its very existence.”
Editor’s Notes:
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Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.
For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384. Church in Need
ADVENT - Season of Anticipation
Photo by Esther G.
By Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
The season of Advent has a twofold character, a double meaning. Advent prepares us for Christmas, the celebration of Christ’s first coming to us. And it also reminds us to direct our minds and hearts to be prepared for Christ’s second coming at the end of time.
In Christian usage the word “advent” (adventus) has a special liturgical significance, but the origin of the word is pagan.
At the time of Jesus’ birth the pagans observed a manifestation of their pagan divinity that came to dwell in its temple at a certain time each year. This pagan feast was called advent, and it marked an anniversary of the return of their pagan god to the temple. During this special time the temple was open. Ordinarily the temple was closed.
In the days of the Roman emperor, advent also celebrated the coming of the emperor.
The word “advent” was suitable to describe the coming of the Son of God in the temple of his flesh. Gradually the use of this word was limited to describe the coming of the Lord. This advent, the coming of the Lord and the anniversary of his birth, replaced the advent and birth of the unvanquished sun of the winter solstice. This use of the word “advent” gained prominence during the reign of the Emperor Constantine (306-337). To grant tolerance to all religions and to allow the open practice of Christianity, he issued the Edict of Milan in 313. As Christian feasts were adopted and celebrated, pagan festivals were soon replaced and forgotten.
The ancient idea of advent underlies the prayers of Advent that call forth the coming of the Lord, often with the same image of the temple.
Now Advent signals a time to prepare for Christmas, the celebration of the first coming of the Lord. But the prayer texts and Scripture readings of the Sunday Masses and the Liturgy of the Hours give ample attention to the second coming of the Lord to which we look forward.
In reality the three distinct accents of the Liturgy of the Advent season are defined by the three comings of the Lord: yesterday, at Bethlehem, when the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary; today, in our world, where he is incarnate in the Church, in the sacraments, and in the faithful baptized into grace; tomorrow, when he returns in glory.
This, then, is the rich meaning of Advent. From the beginning of the liturgical year we celebrate the whole panorama of the mystery of salvation history.
The variety of this season is not only desirable, it is truly appropriate because Advent is oriented toward the one who has come once for all, who is coming, and who will come.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Advent 2009 - Reminder from the Late Father Robert Fox
The following is from an older post I shared a while back which Father Fox had written for his blog:
Thanksgiving is Not the Beginning of the Christmas Season!
THANKSGIVING is a great family feast and time to thank God for His many blessings. But it is NOT the beginning of the liturgical Christmas season.
In fact the Christmas season for the Church and all devout Catholics does not begin until Christmas Eve. THEN IT CONTINUES THROUGH EPIPHANY, Jan. 6, 2008 this year, unto the Baptism of Christ; then back into Ordinary time for a few weeks - until Lent. Advent ( begins evening of Dec. 1 this year ) and is the time to prepare during 4 weeks for the CHRISTMAS SEASON, the birth of Jesus Christ; the Incarnation. A SPIRITUALLY AWESOME TIME.
Let us celebrate THE GREAT CHRISTIAN FEASTS AND SEASONS WITH THE CHURCH in our domestic churches, our families. Follow the Church; not the commercial world and consumerism. Prepare for Christ’s birthday during Advent, day by day FOR 4 WEEKS.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
ACN News - “Unimaginable suffering” for refugees in Angola
ACN-USA News
11/23/2009
“Unimaginable suffering” for refugees in Angola
“Unimaginable suffering" and "appalling conditions" have been reported by Father Andrzej Halemba and Ulrich Kny of the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), who traveled to Angola during the past two weeks and were able to visit some of the refugee camps in the town of Damba in northern Angola.
The governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and the neighboring Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) are currently expelling all Angolan citizens living in their two countries. The methods of the authorities are quite brutal, with police and civilian groups arriving unannounced and ordering the Angolans to leave the country immediately.
Angolan employees are being fired from their jobs and schoolchildren sent away from school. Thousands of people are being forced to set out immediately back to Angola without even being given the chance to gather up their few possessions. Families are being torn apart in the process and children have been left behind alone, unable to find their parents in the pitiless confusion. Angolans with a Congolese husband or wife are being forced to separate and leave their spouse behind.
The refugees are obliged to travel sometimes as much as 550-600 miles on foot, with no consideration being shown to the elderly, the sick, children and pregnant women, the two ACN staff report. They were told for example of a woman who, despite a recent operation wound on her back, was forced to walk some 65 miles on foot.
Other women have given birth to babies by the roadside. One fifteen-year-old boy arrived after a 50 mile walk, totally exhausted and with bleeding feet in a refugee camp, only to have his cooking utensils stolen from him. Many people, including the elderly and young children, arrive having eaten nothing for days.
The two Angolan Dioceses of Uíje and Mbanza Congo are now facing the challenge of helping thousands of starving, exhausted and in many cases gravely ill refugees. In the town of Damba, five reception camps have been set up, but heavy thunderstorms have so softened ground that conditions where the tents have been set up are quite catastrophic, with huge puddles forming inside some of the tents themselves.
Ulrich Kny reports: "Some of the refugees are attempting to continue walking straight on to their relatives in other villages. Others have no idea where to go – their villages were totally destroyed during the civil war and their relatives have long since fled. Others again have been turned away by their relatives and are returning, still more deeply wounded, to one of the reception camps."
In Damba, four Franciscan Capuchins and four Sisters of Mercy are caring for the flood of refugees. The sisters have opened up their convent to the refugees. Other refugees are seeking shelter in empty or unfinished buildings.
"The sisters are helping as much as they can. They are taking people in, distributing food, utensils, nappies, medicines and clothing; they are making sure that the refugees are vaccinated against tetanus, polio and other diseases and trying to provide spiritual and psychological support to the suffering," Father Halemba reports. Every day they care for hundreds of people, while dozens of volunteer helpers from the parish are also helping them. But the number of refugees is growing from day to day.
Estimates suggest that in the last few weeks as many as 40,000 Angolans have been expelled from the two Congos. It appears that this is a blatant act of "revenge" for the expulsion of illegal Congolese refugees in Angola, which began two years ago. Unlike that action, however, the expulsion from the two Congos is not limited to illegal immigrants but is directed against all Angolans, who have been living legally in the two countries, either as refugees from the Angolan civil war or for other reasons, the two ACN representatives explained.
The bishops of the Dioceses of Uíje and Mbanza Congo have appealed urgently to ACN for help for the refugees, and the charity is looking to its generous benefactors for donations.
With picture of refugees in Angola
Editor’s Notes:
Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.
For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384. Aid to the Church in Need
Resquiat in Pacem Father Robert J. Fox
Well known Marian priest Father Robert J. Fox sadly passed away on Thanksgiving Day. The following is from the Fatima Family Apostolate International website:
FATHER ROBERT J. FOX FOUNDER OF FATIMA FAMILY APOSTOLATE HAS PASSED AWAYEternal rest grant unto him O Lord
Father Robert J. Fox passed away at his home on Thanksgiving day at 12:45 P.M. He died a peaceful and happy death. He was anointed the night before and he also offered Mass. A wake service will be held at the Shrine of The Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville Alabama. The body will arrive at 3:00 P.M. and the rosary at 7:00 P.M. His burial will be in Alexandria South Dakota at St. Mary of Mercy Catholic Church. Please check this site for more information for more funeral details.
and may Your perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.
As far as I can remember, Father Fox has taken many groups of pilgrims, especially young people on pilgrimages to Fatima. Up to fairly recently, I was enjoying Father's writing on his blog.
Thanks to Betty and Therese for sharing the news with me yesterday.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Mark Your Calendars: Hawaii March for Life
March for Life
January 22, 2010, 3:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
37th annual March for Life
Come join hundreds of pastors, religious leaders, youth, church elders, friends and neighbors at this exciting event to show your respect for human life.
Music for the event will be provided by local musicians Malia Lee and Leon Siu
This year luminaries will be made available by the Pearson Foundation, A Place for Women and the Aloha Pregnancy Care and Counseling Centers. For a $5 donation, you can purchase a luminary that will be displayed in memory of someone whose life was touched by abortion - or for a child's life snuffed out by abortion.
To order luminaries, please contact:
Ruth Prinzivalli, Pearson Foundation, (808) 942-0328
Alana Ammons, Aloha Pregnancy Care and Counseling Centers, (808) 234-SAFE
Sue Skinner, A Place for Women, (808) 678-3991
We need volunteers! To assist with this event, contact Hawaii Right to Life. Mahalo!
March for Life sponsored by:
Hawaii Right to Life
81 S. Hotel St., Ste. 200B, Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 585-8205 | hrtlprolife@yahoo.com
Hawaii Family Forum / Hawaii Catholic Conference
6301 Pali Hwy, Kaneohe, HI 96744
(808) 203-6704 | info@hawaiifamilyforum.org
Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey and Home Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, was born in Peru to an English father and a Peruvian mother. He was a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the same order to which Saint Damien was a member. It is only recently that I am discovering the beautiful writings of Father Mateo which are really enriching my spiritual life, especially when it comes to love of Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
To those of you who have had your homes enthroned to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you have Father Mateo to thank for this devotion.
Animated by the desire to make the promises of the St Margaret Mary better known, Fr. Mateo conceived the idea of drawing families closer to Jesus, the king of love, by placing the image of His Sacred Heart in a place of honor in the home, thus bringing the family's life into intimate relation with Him.
September 25, 1914
Act of Consecration at Paray-le-Monial
Sacred Heart of Jesus, supreme love of my life, I consecrate myself today in a spirit of perfect abandonment to your divine love. Through the most pure hands of Mary, and little Therese, I return to you the treasures of nature and grace which in Your infinite mercy You have given me in such abundance. I give back to You, well beloved Spouse, the supernatural merits of my Masses, of my sacrifices and of my apostolate. I offer them to You for the triumph of Your adorable Heart. Even more: if my friends or relatives pray for me after death, well beloved Jesus, accept these prayers and suffrages as Your own treasure to be given to souls; I am willing to stay in your Purgatory until the end of time if by this You would be glorified in Your Eucharist and in families consecrated to You. Grant, Jesus, that I no longer live, that my life be the glorification of your victorious Heart.
In your great mercy, deign to accept me as an oblation of love in order to enkindle in priests the fire of Your love and zeal for Your divine Heart. At the same time I place in that wound which must be my paradise in eternity, the solemn promise to carry on in every way and in every place the apostolate of Your divine Heart. Oh yes, I consecrate myself to glorify Him, to extend His reign, to enthrone Him in souls, in families and in all movements: and this, at the price of my blood, were it necessary. May the Virgin Mary, Margaret Mary, St. John and the little Therese make my poor offering worthy of acceptance.
Adveniat Regnum Tuum!
The rest of the Enthronement details can be found here. I encourage you to print it out and read it with your family and if you have not already done so, make every effort to have your home enthroned.Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Home
Preliminary Steps before the Ceremony
1. Learn what it is and how important it is. See Founder of the Enthronement and Apostle of the Sacred Heart Father Mateo
2. Set a date for the Enthronement in agreement with the Pastor. It is desirable to have a priest preside at the ceremony, but it is not essential to gain the indulgences. For serious reasons, the father, or someone else may preside and lead the prayers. In any case, please consult the appropriate parish priest.
3. If possible, assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and offer it that morning for the reign of the Sacred Heart in your home, and as an act of love and reparation to the Sacred Heart. The entire family should try to receive Communion at this Mass, or at another Mass.
4. Obtain as beautiful a picture or statue of the Sacred Heart as possible. If you already have a picture, use that one. [Suitable pictures may be obtained reasonably at a local Catholic shop or on the web.]
5. Below the place of honor reserved for the statue or picture, prepare a "throne" or "altar," that is to say, a table [or perhaps the mantelpiece] covered with a white cloth, beautifully decorated with flowers and candles. The picture or statue should be placed on a small table near this "throne" before the ceremony.
6. Invite your relatives and friends to be present; thus you will already begin to be an "apostle of the Sacred Heart." Have a family party after the ceremony, with a special treat for the children, who, of, course, should be present at the ceremony ---- even the smallest.
7. Make this day one of the outstanding events of the family life ---- one long to be remembered. The greater the solemnity, the better and celebrate the anniversary of the Enthronement each year with a reaffirmation of your commitment to the Sacred Heart.
Note: Even though your home has been consecrated to the Sacred Heart, you may still have the Enthronement, as the two are not the same.
Lastly, to those of you who spend an hour in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, I highly recommend Father Mateo's books such as Holy Hour. You will surely gain much insight by using his meditations and reflections during Adoration.
To learn more about Father Mateo's life, please check out this Special Centennial Tribute to Father Mateo found here.
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