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Listen in to today’s show to hear my guests and I discuss the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

First, Dr. David Franks, a professor of theology at St. John’s Seminary in Boston, shares his thoughts on the special significance Christmas possesses for marriage and family life.  This is a topic in which Dr. Franks is well versed.  He and his wife, Angela, chair the Marriage Initiative sponsored by the Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts, which seeks to promote and defend traditional marriage among Catholics and in the public square.  Together they also host “The Future Depends on Love,” a series on marriage and family broadcast on CatholicTV.

Then toward the end of the show, Fr. Joseph Johnson, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, MN, joins me to outline the homily he’s prepared for this last Sunday before Christmas.  As always, Fr. Johnson gives us much to think and pray about.

Enjoy!

Word to Life - December 19, 2008 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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O Radix Jesse,
qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

O Flower of Jesse’s stem,
you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples,
kings stand silent in your presence,
the nations bow down in worship before you:
come to deliver us, do not tarry.

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O Adonai,
et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
and Ruler of the house of Israel,
Who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush,
and gavest him the law in Sinai:
come to redeem us with an outstretched arm!

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GENERAL AUDIENCE ADDRESS
December 17, 2008

Dear brothers and sisters:

Precisely today, we begin the days of Advent that immediately prepare us for the nativity of the Lord: We are in the Christmas novena, which in many Christian communities is celebrated with liturgies rich in biblical texts, all oriented toward nourishing hope for the birth of the Savior. The entire Church, in effect, turns its gaze of faith toward this approaching feast, readying itself, like each year, to unite to the joyful song of the angels, who in the heart of the night will announce to the shepherds the extraordinary event of the birth of the Redeemer, inviting them to draw close to the cave of Bethlehem. There lies Emanuel, the Creator made creature, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a poor manger (cf. Luke 2:13-14).

Because of the environment that characterizes it, Christmas is a universal feast. Even those who do not profess to be believers, in fact, can perceive in this annual Christian celebration something extraordinary and transcendent, something intimate that speaks to the heart. It is the feast that sings of the gift of life. The birth of a child moves us and causes tenderness. Christmas is the encounter with a newborn who cries in a miserable cave. Contemplating him in the manger, how can we not think of so many children who even today see the light from within a great poverty in many regions of the world? How can we not think of the newborns who are not welcomed and are rejected, of those who do not survive because of a lack of care and attention? How can we not think, too, of the families who desire the joy of a child and do not see this hope fulfilled?

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Today the Church’s Advent prayer takes a sharp turn toward Christmas.  The texts of the Divine Office and Mass now point us specifically to the mystery of the Nativity.  The Gospel readings we’ll hear over the next week are especially worth noting in this regard.  Listen well to them.  Pray with them.  Allow them to gather you with Mary and Joseph while on their way to Bethlehem.

Every year around this time, the Church’s “O Antiphons” receive a lot of attention. We began using them this evening.  Include these too in your prayer.  Each calls out to Christ with one of his Messianic titles.  All together they summarize the content of Israel’s waiting and the wonders wrought by Christ’s birth.

For a brief history and listing of the O Antiphons, click here.  

In 2006, the student brothers of the English province recorded their singing of the O Antiphons to the traditional Dominican tones.  Over the next week, I’ll post each of their videos on the appropriate day.  First up, “O Sapientia.”

O Sapientia,
quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiæ.

O Wisdom,
coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other mightily,
and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

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Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!
The Lord is near.

Fr. Jones's Homily - Advent III Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Keitz's Homily - Advent III Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Guilbeau's Homily - Advent III Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Our student brothers in Washington invite you to join them in offering a novena for vocations December 17-25.  During this holy days before Christmas, please offer your prayers and sacrfices for the men and women God is calling to the Order of Preachers.

The Lord has been very good to the Province of St. Joseph in recent years.  We owe him our gratitude and continued trust.

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The deadline for early registration has come and gone!   All who are interested in joining the parish pilgrimage to France next April should submit their deposits as soon as possible.  

As with all pilgrimages, the tour company will decide to confirm the trip based on the number of early registrations.

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Lucy, bride of Christ, by your suffering you have gained the mastery of your soul.  You have despised worldly values and now you are glorious among the angels.  With your own blood you have triumphed over the enemy.

From the Catholic Enyclopedia:

According to the traditional story, she was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283. Her father was of Roman origin, but his early death left her dependent upon her mother, whose name, Eutychia, seems to indicate that she came of Greek stock.

Like so many of the early martyrs, Lucy had consecrated her virginity to God, and she hoped to devote all her worldly goods to the service of the poor. Her mother was not so single-minded, but an occasion offered itself when Lucy could carry out her generous resolutions. The fame of the virgin-martyr Agatha, who had been executed fifty-two years before in the Decian persecution, was attracting numerous visitors to her relics at Catania, not fifty miles from Syracuse, and many miracles had been wrought through her intercession. Eutychia was therefore persuaded to make a pilgrimage to Catania, in the hope of being cured of a hæmorrhage, from which she had been suffering for several years. There she was in fact cured, and Lucy, availing herself of the opportunity, persuaded her mother to allow her to distribute a great part of her riches among the poor.

The largess stirred the greed of the unworthy youth to whom Lucy had been unwillingly betrothed, and he denounced her to Paschasius, the Governor of Sicily. It was in the year 303, during the fierce persecution of Diocletian. She was first of all condemned to suffer the shame of prostitution; but in the strength of God she stood immovable, so that they could not drag her away to the place of shame. Bundles of wood were then heaped about her and set on fire, and again God saved her. Finally, she met her death by the sword. But before she died she foretold the punishment of Paschasius and the speedy termination of the persecution, adding that Diocletian would reign no more, and Maximian would meet his end. So, strengthened with the Bread of Life, she won her crown of virginity and martyrdom.

Lord,
give us courage through the prayers of Saint Lucy.
As we celebrate her entrance into eternal glory,
we ask to share her happiness in the life to come.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Word has spread throughout the United States and beyond of the death of Avery Cardinal Dulles, the Jesuit scholar and convert son of John Foster Dulles, President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State.  Young Avery’s reception into the Church and subsequent entrance into the Society of Jesus caught the attention of many in the eastern political and social establishment.  His ordination in 1956 merited this coverage in a Universal-International newsreel.

After a long career of teaching and writing, Cardinal Dulles passed away Thursday evening at Fordham University.

Click here for an online archive of Cardinal Dulles’s publications.

Below are the condolences sent today from Pope Benedict XVI:

TO MY VENERABLE BROTHER

CARDINAL EDWARD EGAN

ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK

HAVING LEARNED WITH SADNESS OF THE DEATH OF CARDINAL AVERY DULLES, I OFFER YOU MY HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES, WHICH I ASK YOU KINDLY TO CONVEY TO HIS FAMILY, HIS CONFRERES IN THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AND THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY OF FORDHAM UNIVERSITY. I JOIN YOU IN COMMENDING THE LATE CARDINAL’S NOBLE SOUL TO GOD, THE FATHER OF MERCIES, WITH IMMENSE GRATITUDE FOR THE DEEP LEARNING, SERENE JUDGMENT AND UNFAILING LOVE OF THE LORD AND HIS CHURCH WHICH MARKED HIS ENTIRE PRIESTLY MINISTRY AND HIS LONG YEARS OF TEACHING AND THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH. AT THE SAME TIME I PRAY THAT HIS CONVINCING PERSONAL TESTIMONY TO THE HARMONY OF FAITH AND REASON WILL CONTINUE TO BEAR FRUIT FOR THE CONVERSION OF MINDS AND HEARTS AND THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL FOR MANY YEARS TO COME. TO ALL WHO MOURN HIM IN THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION I CORDIALLY IMPART MY APOSTOLIC BLESSING AS A PLEDGE OF CONSOLATION AND PEACE IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Requiescat in pace.

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This past Wednesday Pope Benedict continued his catechesis on the life and preaching of St. Paul.  

If in the previous few weeks the Holy Father has returned the Preacher to the Gentiles to his rightful place in the Catholic pulpit, then this week he has reinstalled St. Paul behind the altar of sacrifice, where of course he has always belonged.

GENERAL AUDIENCE
December 10, 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Following St. Paul, we saw two things in last Wednesday’s catechesis. The first is that our human history is contaminated from the beginning by the abuse of created freedom, which attempts to emancipate itself from the Divine Will. And true freedom is not found like this, but is opposed to truth and, consequently, falsifies our human realities. Above all it falsifies fundamental relationships: the relationship with God, the relationship between man and woman, and the relationship between man and the earth. We have said that this contamination of our history is spread throughout its fabric, and that this inherited defect has increased and is now visible everywhere. This is the first thing. The second is this: from St. Paul we have learned that there is a new beginning in history and of history in Jesus Christ, he who is man and God. With Jesus, who comes from God, a new history begins formed by his “yes” to the Father, and because of this, no longer founded on the pride of a false emancipation, but on love and truth.

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Joining me on today’s show to discuss the readings for Gaudete Sunday were Fr. Gabriel Gillen, OP, of the Church of St. Catherine of Siena here in New York City, and Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, OP, of the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, Ohio.  

Enjoy!  And don’t forget . . . Rejoice!

Word to Life - December 12 2008 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This morning the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released its most significant document treating biomedical issues in over 20 years.  Dignitatis Personae updates the Congregation’s previous statements in Donum Vitae by taking into account new scientific advances that have further threatened the life and dignity of the human embryo.  In 1987, the year of Donum Vitae‘s publication, major concerns included in vitro fertilization and surrogate motherhood.  Today, questions surrounding cloning, the creation of hybrids, embryonic stem cell research, and the status of frozen embryos have taken center stage and require clear moral consideration.

Dignitatis Personae begins:

The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death. This fundamental principle expresses a great “yes” to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research, which has an ever greater importance in today’s world. The Church’s Magisterium has frequently intervened to clarify and resolve moral questions in this area. The Instruction Donum vitae was particularly significant. And now, twenty years after its publication, it is appropriate to bring it up to date.

The teaching of Donum vitae remains completely valid, both with regard to the principles on which it is based and the moral evaluations which it expresses. However, new biomedical technologies which have been introduced in the critical area of human life and the family have given rise to further questions, in particular in the field of research on human embryos, the use of stem cells for therapeutic purposes, as well as in other areas of experimental medicine. These new questions require answers. The pace of scientific developments in this area and the publicity they have received have raised expectations and concerns in large sectors of public opinion. Legislative assemblies have been asked to make decisions on these questions in order to regulate them by law; at times, wider popular consultation has also taken place.

These developments have led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to prepare a new doctrinal Instruction which addresses some recent questions in the light of the criteria expressed in the Instruction Donum vitae and which also examines some issues that were treated earlier, but are in need of additional clarification.

For the entire text, click here.

The Congregation has also published this brief Q & A pamphlet to help readers place Dignitatis Personae in its proper context.

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Who is this that comes forth like the dawn,
as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun?

The beloved story of our land’s patroness (taken from Catholic Online):

The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religous preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:

“My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”

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O Christ, Good Shepherd, I thank you for leading me to glory; I pray that the flock you have entrusted to my care will share with me in our glory forever.

Pope Damasus’ life spanned perhaps the greatest of Christian centuries—the fourth.  He was born in 304 during the Diocletian persecution, the last and greatest of the Empire’s attempts to kill the faith, and he died just a few years shy of Christianity’s establishment as the imperial state religion.  These two events couldn’t be greater polar opposites, and yet they are separated by a mere 85 years.  Between these two events, Damasus served 20 years as Bishop of Rome. The following biography indicates just a few of the momentous developments he helped shape.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

His father, Antonius, was probably a Spaniard; the name of his mother, Laurentia, was not known until quite recently. Damasus seems to have been born at Rome; it is certain that he grew up there in the service of the church of the martyr St. Laurence. He was elected pope in October, 366, by a large majority, but a number of over-zealous adherents of the deceased Liberius rejected him, chose the deacon Ursinus (or Ursicinus), had the latter irregularly consecrated, and resorted to much violence and bloodshed in order to seat him in the Chair of Peter. Many details of this scandalous conflict are related in the highly prejudiced “Libellus Precum” (P.L., XIII, 83-107), a petition to the civil authority on the part of Faustinus and Marcellinus, two anti-Damasan presbyters (cf. also Ammianus Marcellinus, Rer. Gest., XXVII, c. iii). Valentinian recognized Damasus and banished (367) Ursinus to Cologne, whence he was later allowed to return to Milan, but was forbidden to come to Rome or its vicinity. The party of the antipope (later at Milan an adherent of the Arians and to the end a contentious pretender) did not cease to persecute Damasus. An accusation of adultery was laid against him (378) in the imperial court, but he was exonerated by Emperor Gratian himself (Mansi, Coll. Conc., III, 628) and soon after by a Roman synod of forty-four bishops (Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, s.v.; Mansi, op. cit., III, 419) which also excommunicated his accusers.

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For everything Catholic in Manhattan, check out the updated CatholicNYC website.

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From the archdiocesan communications office:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 8, 2008

STATEMENT OF EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN AND BISHOP NICHOLAS DIMARZIO ON PROPOSED CLINIC ACCESS BILL

Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn, have released a joint statement of opposition to Intro. 826, the so-called Clinic Access Bill, which is currently before the New York City Council. The statement was released by the Catholic Community Relations Council, a not-for-profit corporation founded to represent the policy interests of the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York City.

The text of their statement follows:

“A bill is now pending before the New York City Council, Intro. 826, which will violate the Constitutional rights of those who give pro-life witness outside abortion clinics here in New York City.

“We urgently call upon all members of the City Council to oppose this unjust bill.

“Intro. 826 is premised upon the false assumption that there is a significant problem with disorder outside of abortion clinics. Actually, law-abiding citizens give peaceful and prayerful pro-life witness on a regular basis, offering valuable information to women approaching the clinics. Despite such a clear record of respect for the law, this legislation is designed to prevent pro-life advocates from speaking freely merely because their speech is considered unwelcome by some powerful interest groups that favor and profit from abortion.

“This legislation is fundamentally unfair to ordinary citizens who wish to express their Constitutional rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. It is vague and ambiguous so that persons of ordinary intelligence could not possibly know that kinds of behavior or speech are prohibited. Ultimately, it is unfair to women who have a right to information before they make their decision as to whether or not to have an abortion.

“This legislation does a disservice to these women, to their unborn children, and to society as a whole, and should therefore be rejected.”

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Ross Douthat’s editorial in Saturday’s New York Times is worth a careful read. Granted, it’s a partisan piece.  In his essay, the conservative editor of The Atlantic argues in defense of the Republican Party’s platform regarding Roe vs. Wade.  That’s not why I call the piece to your attention.  What’s interesting about Douthat’s essay is not his take on the GOP, but rather what he says about the pro-life movement in general.  In essence, Douthat makes the same legal and political argument the US Bishops were making in the run-up to last month’s election.

Here are the key paragraphs:

In theory, there are many middle grounds imaginable in America’s abortion wars, from bans that make exceptions for rape and fetal deformities to legal systems modeled on the French system, in which abortion is available but discouraged in the first 10 weeks and sharply restricted thereafter.

The public is amenable to compromise: majorities support keeping abortion legal in some cases, but polling by CBS News and The Times during the presidential campaign showed that more Americans supported new restrictions on abortion than said it should be available on demand. And while some pro-lifers would reject any bargain, many more would be delighted to strike a deal that extends legal protection to more of the unborn, even if it stopped short of achieving the movement’s ultimate goals.

But no such compromise is possible so long as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey remain on the books. These decisions are monuments to pro-choice absolutism, and for pro-lifers to accept them means accepting that no serious legal restrictions on abortion will ever be possible — no matter what the polls say, and no matter how many hearts and minds pro-lifers change.

Overturning Roe and Casey has never been an easy task, and the election of Barack Obama will make it that much more difficult. Facing a hostile governing majority, pro-lifers can and should talk more about the possibility of compromise: They should explain, more often and more cogently, that if Americans want laws that better reflect their muddled sentiments on abortion, it is pro-choice maximalism, not the pro-life movement, that’s really standing in the way.

But so long as the Supreme Court remains closely divided, and a post-Roe world remains in reach, the movement’s basic political task must remain the same. Not because pro-lifers are absolutists who reject compromise, but because any real compromise will always depend on overturning Roe. Giving up on this goal would mean giving up the movement’s very purpose, while gaining nothing in return.

Click here for the entire editorial.

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Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.

Because we are most familiar with Marian apparitions occurring within the past 200 years, we often associate expressions of Mary’s maternal care for the Church with children.  In modern times, little ones especially have been her chosen messengers peace and prayer.  How can we forget Bernadette at Lourdes, and Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta at Fatima.  We also remember Maximin and Melanie at La Salette.

In our own part of the world, however, and further back in the past, Our Lady revealed a different design for aiding the spread of the Gospel in the Americas.  In 1531, she chose to reveal herself to an older man, Juan Diego, who at 57 was closer to his death than his birth.  Juan, however, was a recent convert and a man of some standing in the Indian community.  These no doubt were important factors in convincing his Spanish bishop to believe his claims and accede to Mary’s commands.

Just as her appearance as an Aztec princess was meant to endear her to the local people, so too was her choice of Juan Diego as her messenger.  God and his saints always work in the way best suited to our needs.  Which might prompt us to ask the question: why lately has Our Lady been appearing to children?

In his few remaining years after the apparitions, Juan Diego lived as a hermit and became a model of holiness to the millions who converted in response to his witness.

In the video below, our province’s own Fr. Juan-Diego Brunetta, OP, shares his discovery and experience of Dominican life through his devotion to St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For his canonization in 2002, the Vatican published this biography of St. Juan Diego.

St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548). Little is known about the life of Juan Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaelogical and iconographical sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the event of Guadalupe, “El Nican Mopohua” (written in Náhuatl with Latin characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some information on the life of the saint and the apparitions.

Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name “Cuauhtlatoatzin” (“the talking eagle”) in Cuautlitlán, today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anáhuac Valley.

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The Lord God said to the serpent: I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring; she will crush your head, alleluia.

The definition in Blessed Pius IX’s apostolic constitution Ineffabilies Deus:

Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”

It remains commonplace today to slight the doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas for his failure to recognize the mystery of the Immaculate Conception.  The issue is complicated, and grasping it adequately requires a thoroughgoing knowledge of medieval theology.  But simply stated, Aquinas was careful in his Marian doctrines to assure that Our Lady needed redeeming and was in fact redeemed by the merits of her Son’s cross.  Otherwise, her salvation would have been the fruit of another divine action of which we have no knowledge.  Saved by another action, Mary would belong to a different order of grace and thereby not be a member of the Church.  Therefore, to safeguard the universality of man’s redemption in Christ, which must include Mary, Aquinas believed it important to maintain in her life even the slightest moment of sin that could be healed by Christ’s cross.

Although Aquinas himself failed to speak of a preventative grace preserving Mary from original sin at the moment of her conception, the Church later did by employing Aquinas’s concerns about her redemption.  Blessed Pius delared in 1854: “. . . the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin . . .”  ”In view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race” is Aquinas’s important contribution to the definition.  Therefore, by initially denying the doctrine as it was presented in his day, St. Thomas prepared the Church for a more careful and accurate definition of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception later on.

For an edgy defense of St. Thomas’s Marian teachings, click here.

To help celebrate today’s solemnity, take a moment to listen to Robert Fayrfax’s Maria Plena Virtute.  Click here for the text and translation.  This beautiful piece reminds us that the grace of Mary’s Immaculate Conception was given not only in view of her divine motherhood but also as the foundation of her perfect discipleship, which she fulfilled at Calvary.  There, Mary’s immaculate heart too was pierced, not with a lance like her Son’s, but by perfect obedient love.

Robert Fayrfax's Maria Plena Virtute Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Father,
you prepared the Virgin Mary
to be the worthy mother of your Son.
You let her share beforehand
in the salvation Christ would bring by his death,
and kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception.
Help us by her prayers
to live in your presence without sin.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Fr. Jones's Homily - Advent II Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Keitz's Homily - Advent II Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Guilbeau's Homily - Advent II Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Just how a fourth-century bishop noted for his charity and doctrinal purity morphed culturally into a Nordic magician, we may never know.  But how have we fared since the exchange?

It’s often lamented that the saints are too far removed from everyday life to be actual models for imitation.  In their stead, cultural heroes emerge whose “earthiness” more easily fixes them within our sphere of reference.  It’s ironic then that America’s Santa Claus, the father of our cultural Christmas celebrations, is more mystically removed from everyday life than his saintly predecessor, Nicholas of Myra. 

Santa lives far away, he’s attended to by a seemingly different species of homo sapiens, and flying reindeer pull his always stocked, never depleted sled of goodies.  Outside of living far from home, Santa and I have little in common.  St. Nicholas, on the other hand, was a real person, who lived with real people, some of whom he clothed and fed, but to all of whom he preached the Gospel.  Most importantly, he celebrated the Eucharist for them.  These things we can understand. These remain familiar realities.

So how have we benefited from the exchange of St. Nicholas for Santa Claus? Even culturally, what’s the advantage?  

Again, experience teaches us that nature cannot improve upon grace.  By removing St. Nicholas from the altar and making him a jolly humanitarian, our culture has created for itself a folk hero who, by making promises based on fantastic powers, eventually disappoints his adoring fans.  Contrast this to the Church’s veneration of the communion of saints.  When we allow the saints simply to be themselves, they remain real and reliable.  As such, they can become our friends, something Santa, sadly enough, can never be.

Father,
hear our prayers for mercy,
and by the help of Saint Nicholas
keep us safe from all danger,
and guide us on the way of salvation.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Click below to hear my conversation with Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, and Fr. Gabriel Gillen, OP, about the scripture readings for the Second Sunday of Advent. Both guests gave great insights into the mysteries of this shortest of liturgical seasons.  They also suggested several ways of entering deeply into the peculiar rhythm of Advent prayer.

Word to Life - December 5, 2008 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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From the Crossroads Initiative:

The life of St. John Damascene (also known as Saint John of Damascus) began around 675 AD, already a generation after the area had been conquered by Muslim armies. Saint John Damascene was born into a rich family and spent the early years of his adult life serving as the official representative of the Christian community to the Muslim Caliph. He later abandoned this political task to join the monastery of St. Sabas near Jerusalem where he became a priest and ultimately bishop.

St. John Damascene is known as one of the last of the Fathers of the Church. He was a strong defender of the use of images (icons) in Christian worship against the iconoclasts and wrote a book “On the Orthodox Faith” that sums up the doctrinal heritage of the earlier Greek Fathers. In this great synthesis we find a systematic treatment of the central Christian doctrines, especially the Trinity, Creation, and the Incarnation. St. John Damascene’s treatment of the Sacraments is also extensive, and his emphasis on the real bodily presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is very strong. Notable too in his teaching is a fully developed doctrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary including her perpetual virginity, her freedom from sin throughout the whole of her life, and her bodily assumption into heaven.

St. John Damascene’s influence on later theology was considerable indeed. In the Latin Middle Ages, he was known to Peter Lombard and St. Thomas Aquinas. All throughout the Middle Ages his works were known and widely used by Eastern Christian Theologians, especially the Slavs. He died around the year 749 AD and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.

Click here for access to St. John Damascene’s famous text, On the Orthodox Faith. (In St. John’s time, the word “orthodox” simply meant “true” and did not yet designate churches in the East separated from Rome.)

Lord,
may the prayers of Saint John Damascene help us,
and may the true faith he taught so well
always be our light and our strength.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Exciting news from the archdiocesan Family Life – Respect Life Office:

Dear Friends – Please forward this exciting news to women in NYC that would want to know. I have been working closely with Dr. Mielnik – and she’s a gem. This is so exciting! Thanks – Sr. Mary Elizabeth

My name is Anne Mielnik. I am a family physician, with special training in an authentically Catholic approach to women’s reproductive and gynecological healthcare called NaProTechnology. In July 2009, working in collaboration with the Archdiocese of New York, I will be opening an authentically Catholic healthcare center for women in downtown Manhattan — the John Paul II Center for Women.

We will be offering healthcare services for women which are completely in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church, with a vision of the human person and human sexuality that has been shaped by the theological thought of John Paul II.

Details about the John Paul II Center for Women can be found at www.jpiicenterforwomen.org, as well as on our blog www.johnpaul2centerforwomen.blogspot.com.

At this time, we are finalizing our plans regarding what specific types of healthcare services we will offer at the John Paul II Center for Women. Your input at this critical time would be invaluable.

Please feel free to share this email with anyone you feel may be interested in the work of the John Paul II Center for Women. Thank you for your consideration and support.

Sincerely,
Anne Mielnik, MD

Click here for more information about NaPro Technology.  

Why is NaPro so important to Catholic health care?  Consistently recognized as excellent pro-life, pro-family medicine, NaPro offers couples an alternative to the expensive, degrading, and often unsuccessful practice of in vitro fertilization. Today’s New York Times contains this article describing the guilt and conflict couples can experience even years after using IVF.  

There is a healthier way to treat infertility, and it’s coming to New York City.

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Three weeks before Christmas, Pope Benedict reminds us what the Church’s annual celebration is all about.  The Nativity grows in importance, he explains, once we understand the purpose of the Incarnation.  The Word became flesh to remedy Adam’s fall and his progeny’s share in original sin. As a result, Christ arrives in Bethlehem first and foremost as a physician and healer.  The baby in the crib is God’s answer to the world’s evil.  

Now that’s something worth celebrating.  What’s more, it’s a truth worth living.

GENERAL AUDIENCE ADDRESS
December 3, 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In today’s catechesis we reflect on the relationship between Adam and Christ, delineated by St. Paul in the well-known page of the Letter to the Romans (5:12-21), in which he instructs the Church on the essential lines of the doctrine of original sin. In fact, already in the First Letter to the Corinthians, referring to faith in the resurrection, Paul introduced the encounter between our forefather and Christ: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive … The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:22.45). With Romans 5:12-21, the encounter between Christ and Adam is more articulated and illuminating: Paul reviews the history of salvation from Adam to the Law and from the latter to Christ. Adam is not at the center of the scene with the consequences of sin on humanity, but Jesus Christ and grace that, through him, was poured in abundance on humanity. The repetition of “all the more” in regard to Christ underlines how the gift received in Him surpasses by far Adam’s sin and the consequences brought on mankind, so that Paul can add at the end: “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). Hence, the encounter Paul traces between Adam and Christ brings to light the inferiority of the first man vis-à-vis the prevalence of the second.

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