Day: December 20, 2020

Posted in ADVENT REFLECTIONS, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SILENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The DIVINE INFANT, The NATIVITY of JESUS

Thought for the Day – 20 December – The Swaddling Clothes of the Divine Infant

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Thought for the Day – 20 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Swaddling Clothes of the Divine Infant

“Mary, like other mothers in those days, wrapped the Infant Jesus in swaddling clothes.
The Divine Child quietly offered this new humiliation to His heavenly Father.
He saw prefigured in these bands, the ropes with which He would be bound in the garden of Gethsemane, even after He had given sinful humanity, His celestial teaching, example and miracles and finally, His own Body inthe Sacrament of the Eucharist.
He saw in them too, the chains with which He would be secured to the pillar, in order to be scourged in the Praetorium of Pilate among the jeers and insults of the onlookers.
He saw in them, finally, the cords with which, after having been condemned to the ignominious death of the Cross, He would be tied, while being led to the place of execution on Mount Calvary.
Filled with infinite love for stricken humanity, the Heart of the Divine Infant offered all this, in advance, to His Father in heaven.

Are we making any effort to return such great love?
Like Jesus, we are often obliged to endure, both physical and moral anguish.
Have we the resignation to offer it all to Jesus, or do we squander our opportunities in useless complaining or in acts of impatience and rebellion?
We shall have to go on suffering anyway but, in the latter case, we may have to suffer even more and shall lose all merit in the sight of God.

Let us kneel down before the Holy Infant wrapped in His swaddling clothes and, let us promise to endure everything for His sake and in reparation for our sins.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Hail MARY!, MARIAN QUOTES, QUOTES of the SAINTS, St Louis-Marie Grignion de MONTFORT, The ANNUNCIATION, The INCARNATION

Quote/s of the Day – 20 December – “Hail, full of grace,”

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Quote/s of the Day – 20 December – The Fourth Sunday of Advent – O Clavis David/O Key of David – Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12, 14, 16, Psalms 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

“[Jesus] became man by the Virgin
so that the course, which was taken
by disobedience in the beginning,
through the agency of the serpent,
might be also, the very course
by which it would be put down.
Eve, a virgin and undefiled,
conceived the word of the serpent
and bore disobedience and death.
But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy
when the Angel Gabriel announced to her,
the glad tidings, that the Spirit of the Lord
would come upon her
and the power of the Most High would overshadow her,
for which reason, the Holy One being born of her,
is the Son of God.
And she replied
‘Be it done unto me according to your word’
[Luke 1:38]”

St Justin Martyr (c 100- c 165)
Apologist, Theologian, Philosopher,
Father of the Church and Martyr

“The angel greeted Mary with a new address,
which I could not find anywhere else in Scripture.
I ought to explain this expression briefly.
The angel says, “Hail, full of grace.” …
I do not remember having read these words elsewhere in Scripture.
An expression of this kind, “Hail, full of grace,”
is not addressed to a male.
This greeting was reserved for Mary alone.”

Origen (c 185-253)
Priest, Theologian, Father

“The whole universe was created by God
and God was born of Mary.
God created all things
and Mary gave birth to God.
The God who made all things,
gave Himself form through Mary
and thus, He made His own creation.
He who could create all things from nothing,
would not remake His ruined creation without Mary.
God, then, is the Father of the created world
and Mary the mother of the re-created world.
God is the Father, by whom all things were given life
and Mary the mother,
through whom all things were given new life.
For God begot the Son,
through whom all things were made
and Mary gave birth to Him as the Saviour of the world.
Without God’s Son, nothing could exist;
without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.
Truly the Lord is with you,
to whom the Lord granted,
that all nature should owe,
as much to you as to Himself.”

St Anselm (1033-1109)
Magnificent Doctor
Marian Doctor

“Mary is the great mould of God …
He who is cast in this divine mould
is soon formed and moulded in Jesus Christ
and Jesus Christ in him.
With little effort and in a short time,
he will become divine,
since he is cast in the same mould
which formed a God.”

St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716)

Posted in ADVENT REFLECTIONS, CHRIST the KING, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The ANNUNCIATION, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The INCARNATION, The O ANTIPHONS, The WORD

Advent Reflection – 20 December – O Clavis David/O Key of David

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Advent Reflection – 20 December – The Fourth Sunday of Advent, Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12, 14, 16, Psalms 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

The Lord is at hand, come let us adore Him.

O KEY OF DAVID,
and Sceptre of the House of Israel,
who opens and no-one shuts,
who shuts and no-one opens.
Come and bring forth the captive from his prison,
he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

“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 forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.” – Luke 1:32-33

REFLECTION – “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.” What is said of the house of David applies not only to Joseph but also to Mary. It was a precept of the law that each man should marry a wife from his own tribe and kindred. Saint Paul also bears testimony to this when he writes to Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, as preached in my Gospel” (2 Tm 2:8) …

“He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.” The angel refers to the kingdom of the Israelite nation as the throne of David because, in his time, by the Lord’s command and assistance, David governed it with a spirit of faithful service … As David had once ruled the people with temporal authority, so Christ would now lead them to the eternal kingdom by His spiritual grace …

“He will reign over the house of Jacob forever..” The house of Jacob here refers to the universal Church which, through its faith in and witness to Christ, shares the heritage of the patriarchs. This may apply either to those who are physical descendants of the patriarchal families, or to those who come from gentile nations and are reborn in Christ by the waters of baptism. In this house Christ shall reign forever and “of his kingdom there will be no end.”
During this present life, Christ rules in the Church. By faith and love He dwells in the hearts of His elect and guides them by His unceasing care toward their heavenly reward. In the life to come, when their period of exile on earth is ended, He will exercise His Kingship, by leading the faithful to their heavenly country. There, forever inspired by the vision of His presence, their one delight will be, to praise and glorify Him.” – St Bede the Venerable (673-735) Priest and Monk, Father and Doctor of the Church – Homilies for Advent, no 3

PRAYER – Lord, at the angel’s message, Mary, the immaculate Virgin became the temple of God and was filled with the light of the Holy Spirit, when she received Your divine Word. Grant that, after her example, we may humbly and steadfastly follow Your will. Through Christ the Incarnate Word, our Lord and Saviour, with the Holy Spirit, one God for all ages, amen.

Posted in ADVENT PRAYERS, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, HYMNS, MARIAN PRAYERS, Our MORNING Offering, The ANNUNCIATION, The INCARNATION

Our Morning Offering – 20 December – Blessed Shall be Her Name

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Our Morning Offering – 20 December – The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Blessed Shall be Her Name
Anonymous

Praise we the Lord this day,
This day so long foretold,
Whose promise shone with cheering ray
On waiting saints of old.

The prophet gave the sign
That those with faith might read;
A virgin, born of David’s line
Shall bear the promised seed.

Ask not how this should be,
But worship and adore;
Like her whom heaven’s majesty
Came down to shadow o’er.

She meekly bowed her head
To hear the gracious word,
Mary, the pure and lowly maid,
The favoured of the Lord.

Blessed shall be her name
In all the Church on earth,
Through whom that wondrous mercy came,
The incarnate Saviour’s birth.

Jesus, the virgin’s son,
We praise you and adore,
Who are with God the Father one
And Spirit evermore.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 20 December – Saint Pope Zephyrinus (Died 217)

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Saint of the Day – 20 December – Saint Pope Zephyrinus (Died 217) Bishop of Rome, Confessor, Defender of the Faith especially of the Doctrine of the Trinity. He is known for combatting heresies and defending the divinity of Christ. Although he was not physically martyred for the faith, his suffering – both mental and spiritual – during his Pontificate have earned him the title of martyr, a title that was repealed 132 years after his death. Born in Rome and died on 20 December 217 also in Rome.

Saint Zephyrinus, a native of Rome, succeeded Victor I in the Pontificate in the year 199.

Immediately after his elevation to the Roman See, Zephyrinus called to Rome the confessor Callistus, who lived at Antium and who had received a monthly pension from Pope Victor and entrusted him with the oversight of the coemeterium. It is evident that shortly before this, the Roman Christian community had, under Victor, become the owner of a common place of burial on the Via Appia and Zephyrinus now, placed Callistus over this cemetery, which was given the name of Callistus. Undoubtedly Callistus was also made a Deacon of the Roman Church by Zephyrinus. He was the confidential counsellor of the Pope, whom he succeeded.

In 202 Septimus Severus, a military despot, raised the fifth and most bloody persecution against the Church, which continued for nine years until the death of the Emperor in 211. Until this furious storm ended, the Holy Father remained concealed for the sake of his flock, supporting and comforting the distressed disciples of Christ.

He suffered by charity and compassion what every confessor underwent. The triumphs of the martyrs were indeed his joy but his heart received many deep wounds from the fall of apostates and heretics. Nor did this latter affliction cease, when peace was restored to the Church. The holy Pope had the affliction of witnessing the fall of Tertullian. He saw to his joy, however, the conversion of Natalis, who had become a heretical Bishop when he lapsed into the Theodotian heresy. God, wishing to bring him back to the Church, sent him a solid correction which opened his eyes and he came to kneel at the feet of the Vicar of Christ, wearing a hair shirt and humbly asking pardon for his revolt.

Eusebius tells us that this holy Pope exerted his zeal so strenuously against the blasphemies of the heretics, that they treated him with the utmost contempt. To his glory, however, they also called him the principal defender of Christ’s divinity.

Saint Zephyrinus governed the Church for eighteen years, dying in 217.

He was buried in his own cemetery on the 26th of August, which date was celebrated as his feast day until 1969 when it was changed to today which is the actual day of his birthday into heaven.

Posted in MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

The Fourth Sunday of Advent +2020 and Memorials of the Saints – 20 December

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The Fourth Sunday of Advent +2020

DAY FIVE – Christmas Novena to the Christ Child:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/20/christmas-novena-to-the-christ-child-day-five-20-december-3/

St Attala of Strasbourg
St Bajulus of Rome
St Crescentius of Africa
St Dominic of Brescia
St Dominic de Silos OSB (1000-1073)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-st-dominic-de-silos-o-s-b-c1000-1073/

St Eugene of Arabia
St Gabriel Olivares Roda
St Hoger of Hamburg-Bremen
Bl John de Molina
St Julius of Gelduba
Bl Lorenzo Company
St Liberatus of Rome
St Macarius of Arabia
St Malou of Hautvillers
Blessed Michal Piaszczynski (1885-1940) Priest and Martyr
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-blessed-michal-piaszczynski-1885-1940-priest-and-martyr/
St Paul of Latra
Bl Peter de la Cadireta
Bl Peter Massalenus
Philogonius of Antioch
St Thomas of Dover
St Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne
St Vincenzo Romano (1751-1831)
His story:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-st-vincenzo-romano-1751-1831-a-priest-of-the-people/

St Pope Zephyrinus (Died 217) Bishop of Rome