New Year's Resolutions

I've never made New Year's Resolutions before. I want to put them in writing somewhere. I'm not sure why this has taken me 30 years but here goes ( in no particular order):

• Finally reach 1,000 posts on this blog (a little over a hundred to go)
• Read the books I have that I have never gotten around to reading
• Go to confession more regularly
• Go to Vespers more regularly
• Find a way to become less angry

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Feast of Stephen

I find it interesting that the day after we celebrate Jesus' birth, we commemorate the protomartyr St Stephen. I don't think its a coincidence. The day after we celebrate the divine baby, Jesus, coming into the world we remember and celebrate St Stephen's birth into Heaven.


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Nativity of Our Lord

An auto-post set back in January:

Wouldst that Thou should condescend
Born to bear all my sins upon the cross
Born that my separation from You should mend

A Baby Boy born to a carpenter and his wife
No visible sign that He is both God and man
No sign that this Child's flesh and blood are life

He was born to preach forgiveness and repentance to our race
He was born to die upon the cross, our sins' propitiation
He gave the fruit of the Tree of Life, that mystery of great grace

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7 Quick Takes 21DEC2012

1.Woo hoo! Christmas is just a few days away!

2. The sign of the cross explained in OT and NT


3.

4.I LOVE the Divine Liturgy for Christmas! Too bad its a vigil liturgy and Princess will be very cranky by the time its over.













5. If you are reading this the world is apparently still here.

6. Princess is sick with a cold. Its not a big deal, but her mom is one that worries about every little scratch and ailment that afflicts her little one. She seems about ready to take her to the doctor. Its rather tedious.

7. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.


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Snowflake

Snowflake glistening in the sun
Herald that winter has come
Sparkling speck falling from afar
Up close a beautiful, unique star

Brilliant white falling on a world still green
The first each year is unlike any before seen
Each year's first falling snowflake
Fleeting beauty of His make

Snowflake glittering in the moonlight
Frosty beauty of this night
Once this falling star lands aground
The lacy spark is never found

The winter's first snowflake
First this year of God's make
Its wondrous beauty does reflect
The glory of His creative effect

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East Gate

Jacob's ladder in human form
A crown of stars, her head adorns
The burning bush prefigured her
She gave her flesh to the Savior
More honorable than the Seraphim
And more glorious beyond compare than the Cherubim,
She is truly Theotokos
We magnify her who magnifies Him

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Work in progress

Many can see no good beyond this life
Unable to see beyond their current strife
Politics quickly become their creed
A faith based on worldly deed

To political ideals have many become a slave
Trust not in princes, who have no power to save
Dulce et decorum est pro Deo mori
Worse to live as a slave than to die for His glory

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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7 Quick Takes 14DEC2012

1. I have a job interview today. Please say a prayer for me.

2. Hands down, my favorite Christmas song of all time is O Come O Come Emmanuel.

3. This post makes 884 on this blog. I had a goal of 1,000 posts on this blog by the end of the year, but that appears to have fallen through. I just don't seem to have the time/inspiration of other people to post 3 or 4 times a day.

4. Somehow I still need to get presents for my parents and brother and get them sent across the country before Christmas. It'll work out somehow.

5. My favorite image thus far from Catholic Memes.



6. "O God and Lord of the Powers, and Maker of all creation, Who, because of Thy clemency and incomparable mercy, didst send Thine Only-Begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, and with His venerable Cross didst tear asunder the record of our sins, and thereby didst conquer the rulers and powers of darkness; receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master, these prayers of gratitude and supplication, and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression, and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us. Nail down our flesh with fear of Thee, and let not our hearts be inclined to words or thoughts of evil, but pierce our souls with Thy love, that ever contemplating Thee, being enlightened by Thee, and discerning Thee, the unapproachable and everlasting Light, we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to Thee: The eternal Father, with Thine Only-Begotten Son, and with Thine All-Holy, Gracious, and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen." -- prayer from Saint Basil the Great

7. "And we know that to them that love God all things work together unto good: to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints." -- Romans 8:28


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Ordinariate Deanery in Canada

The Holy See has approved the establishment of a deanery in Canada that will minister to groups of Anglicans and Anglican clergy in Canada who come into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, the Ordinary, or head, of the Ordinariate, which is based in Houston, TX, and Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, the ecclesiastical delegate for the Ordinariate in Canada, jointly announced the news on Friday. 

read more

There are apparently only three Anglican Ordinariate communities in all of Canada. I wonder what's different in Canada that more Anglicans didn't choose to join the Ordinariate?

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7 Quick Takes 07DEC2012

1. Catholic Memes is going strong, but I can't remember the last time LOLSaints had a new post. Its too bad LOLSaints was my favorite Catholic humor blog for quite a while. I also like that they didn't just post the meme, they also explained it and taught about the faith.

2. My neighbors across the street have set up their Christmas lights again. Its quite festive and the nativity scene is very prominent. I feel lazy since I haven't even gotten a Christmas tree or done any of my Christmas shopping. Heck, I even forgot to get an Advent calendar for my daughter.

3. Christmas is my second favorite holiday (Easter is my favorite) and it brings great joy to my heart that God deigned to become one of us and dwell among us. Not only that but He offers His human flesh and blood to us in the Eucharist, that most precious gift and intimate union of the faithful and God. Also, Christmas began the wonders that led to Easter! The Resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith and if not for Christmas there would be no body to resurrect.

4. Other reasons I like Christmas: Dr Who Christmas episodes, cooler weather, presents.

5. Life needs more guacamole.

6. Finals week next week. I can't wait for it to be over and go on Christmas break.

7. I had a random quote from Coneheads stuck in my head for the longest time: Narfle the garthok!


May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Presents and Punch

I found this on a friend's FB page
see also
May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Keep the Mass in Christmas

I think its important not just to keep a focus on Christ as the reason for the Christmas celebration, but to keep that celebration and worship of the incarnate God in its proper context, the Eucharistic celebration of the Mass/Divine Liturgy. After all, the "mas" in Christmas is a shortening of Mass. I've posted on this subject a twice before (2008, 2010), but it deserves repeating.
To keep from saying the same things again though I Googled "Keep the Mass in Christmas. The first result was a very poignant essay by a priest on the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit website. It was all very well written, but I think the following passage really got to the central point:

Christmas is not first of all a day, but a doing: it is the Eucharistic worship that Christians offer in honor of the birth of their Savior. For those who have linguistic curiosity, Christmas is not the only -mas in the English language: there is also Marymas (August 15), Candlemas (February 2), Michaelmas (September 29), Martinmas (November 11), and Allhallowmas (November 1).
But if we say “Keep the Mass in Christmas,” the point is this. Christmas isn't really Christ-mas without the Mass, without the Divine Liturgy. Christmas isn't Christmas if we don't make a point of coming together on the appointed day, with all the people of God, to observe the commandment that He gave, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Christmas isn't Christmas if we don't share the Eucharistic meal of His Body and Blood with one another in the Church. How is Christmas complete without receiving your most important gift?
Christ came to earth, not simply to be born in a lowly stable in Palestine, but to be born into the humble stable of the soul of each one of us. Through the sacraments He enters into our persons so that, as the Apostle Paul says, Christ is formed in you; and with Christ in you, you have the hope of glory.
Keep the Mass in your Christmas! Of course you should get together with family and friends. Of course you should open your presents around the tree. Of course you should enjoy your eggnog and mulled wine and ham and turkey and roast beast.
But don't forget the Mass! Don't skip the Liturgy! Don't leave out Holy Communion. If you do so, you are missing the real Christmas altogether. Come to church and worship the newborn King in the way that he Himself commands, by eating His Body and drinking His Blood. Keep the “Mass” in Christmas, and you will never lose “Christ” from your Christmas either.

Without the Eucharist the Christian celebration and worship fall short. I feel sad for our Protestant brothers and sisters who do not have this most precious Gift for the nourishment and salvation of our souls.
How much more of a personal relationship can you have with God than to receive Him, the Lover of mankind, physically and spiritually into your body and soul in the Eucharist? You are what you eat after all. We unite ourselves to Christ Jesus in the Eucharist and all the faithful through him.
Song of Songs describes our Creator seeking after us like a lover and in the Flesh and Blood He offers to us in the Eucharist, the Flesh and Blood that came into the world on Christmas Day, He consummates that love for mankind.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Nativity prefigures the Mass/Divine Liturgy?

I saw this picture and it got my mind going about connections between the Mass/Divine Liturgy and the Nativity of Christ:


I thought about incense brought to the Christ Child and that made a connection in my mind with the fact that a manger is where you place animal feed, which made me remember that Jesus in the manger prefigures the Eucharist. I thought about it, incense and Eucharist, and then it came to me that in the Mass and the Divine Liturgy one worships with the angels in Heaven. The shepherds worshiped alongside the angels as they adored God made flesh in the manger.
I know the first Divine Liturgy was on the road to Emmaus. It couldn't be the Nativity after all because there was no Eucharist before the sacrifice on the cross. However, it seems to me that the Nativity is a prefiguring of the Mass and the Divine Liturgy.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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Sunday Snippets 02DEC2012

I only had two posts this week:
Saints and Scripture Christ the King
7 Quick Takes

Check out the other Sunday Snippets at This That and the Other Thing

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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