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What you say of me does not come from yourselves;
it is the Spirit of my Father speaking in you.

We end the calendar year with the feast of Saint Sylvester I, who in God’s providence was elected Bishop of Rome just after Constantine issued the Edict of Milan.  With Christianity thus legalized throughout the Roman Empire, Sylvester was charged with bringing the Church out from the catacombs and into the public square.  His efforts at preserving and purifying the faith, as well as developing the Church into a cultural and political force, bore much fruit.  Within 60 years of Sylvester’s death, Christianity became the official state religion of the Empire.

From Defending the Faith:

Sylvester was a Roman, the son of Rufinus. He was ordained a priest by Marcellinus. Chosen Pope in 314, he continued the work of organizing the peacetime Church so well begun by St. Miltiades. Sylvester saw the building of famous churches, notably the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. John Lateran, built near the former imperial palace of that name. It is quite probable too that the first martyrology or list of Roman martyrs was drawn up in his reign.

Towering over all other events of his pontificate, however, was the first ecumenical or general council of the Church. An ecumenical council represents the entire teaching Church as opposed to a diocesan synod or a metropolitan or a national council. The ecumenical council, like the pope, is infallible in matters of faith and morals because it is the voice of the teaching Church.

A heresy had arisen in Alexandria and at that time was making great headway throughout the East, the heresy of Arius, a priest of Alexandria. Arius taught that Jesus Christ was not truly divine, that His nature was not the same as that of the Father but only similar. It was to study this question and to pronounce the true teaching of the Church that bishops from all parts of the empire made their way to Nicaea in 325. The Emperor Constantine, still a catechumen, had at first made light of the matter, but when his eyes were opened to the danger of Arian doctrine by Hosius of Cordova, he became so interested that he went to Nicaea himself.

Pope Sylvester sent two legates to represent him Vitus and Vincentius, and it seems that it was the Pope who suggested the term consubstantial to describe the relation of Christ’s nature to the Father. The Council condemned Arius and drew up the famous Nicene Creed. This creed, said in all the Catholic Churches throughout the world, proclaims that Jesus is true God of true God consubstantial with the Father.

St. Sylvester died in 335. He was buried in a church which he himself had built over the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. His feast is kept on December 31.

Lord,
help and sustain your people
by the prayers of Pope Sylvester.
Guide us always in this present life
and bring us to the joy that never ends.

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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THE SATIN SLIPPER

by Paul Claudel
directed by Peter Dobbins

January 8th through February 6th
Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM
Saturday matinees at 2:00 PM
Special additional performance on Monday, January 11th at 7:30 PM

THE SATIN SLIPPER (or: The Worst is Not the Surest), one of Paul Claudel’s epic masterpieces, is an account of love and destiny set against 16th-century Spain’s imperial ambitions. The action takes place over four non-consecutive days, spanning three continents. It is a drama of epic dimensions which critics have compared to Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Click here for ticket information.

The Storm Theatre
405 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10025
(Morningside Drive)

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We sing your praises, holy Mother of God:
you gave birth to our Savior, Jesus Christ;
watch over all who honor you.

“Our faith is not founded upon empty words; nor are we carried away by mere caprice or beguiled by specious arguments.  On the contrary, we put our faith in words spoken by the power of God spoken by the Word himself at God’s command.  God wished to win men back from disobedience, not by using force to reduce him to slavery but by addressing to his free will a call to liberty.

“The Word spoke first of all through the prophets, but because the message was couched in such obscure language that it could be only dimly apprehended, in the last days the Father sent the Word in person, commanding him to show himself openly so that the world could see him and be saved.

“We know that by taking a body from the Virgin he refashioned our fallen nature. We know that his manhood was of the same clay as our own; if this were not so, he would hardly have been a teacher who could expect to be imitated.  If he were of a different substance from me, he would surely not have ordered me to do as he did, when by my very nature I am so weak.  Such a demand could not be reconciled with his goodness and justice.

“No.  He wanted us to consider him as no different from ourselves, and so he worked, he was hungry and thirsty, he slept.  Without protest he endured his passion, he submitted to death and revealed his resurrection.  In all these ways he offered his own manhood as the firstfuits of our race to keep us from losing heart when suffering comes our way, and to make us look forward to receiving the same reward as he did, since we know that we possess the same humanity.”

— St. Hippolytus
On the Refutation of All Heresies, 10

All-powerful God,
may the human birth of your Son
free us from our former slavery to sin
and bring us new life.

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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Whoever hates his life in this world keeps it safe for life everlasting.

On the fifth day of the Christmas Octave, the Church commemorates one of the most revered saints of the Middle Ages, Thomas Becket.  The heroic Archbishop of Canterbury was martyred on this day in 1170 by henchmen of the English king, Henry II.  The circumstances surrounding Thomas’s martyrdom—a tragic fruit of his troubled friendship with Henry—have been dramatized in our own day in T. S. Eliot’s 1938 play Murder in the Cathedral, and in Peter Glenville’s 1964 film Becket.  Both are worth your time.  Becket’s biography displays for us in full color how one life, transformed by grace, can become a force that shapes history.

When Christ said that he came not to bring peace but the sword (Mt 10:34), he highlighted for his disciples the resistance their preaching and witness would encounter, especially from unconverted friends and relatives. As the experience of the early martyrs soon revealed, more turbulent could be those Christian lives in which conversion occurs in a disciple’s later years.  These noble souls learned that drastic changes in conviction are not well received in families and friendships marked by complacency and comfort.  When such change occurs, life for the old group becomes disturbed, and challenge is given to accepted ways of living and acting.  The reaction against this disruption can be fierce, even violent.  For the converted, therefore, the sword tends to hover more often than the olive branch over old relationships.  It is fitting that we ponder this effect of grace just days after Christmas.

The depth of Thomas’s rather late conversion can been seen in the ways that he, as archbishop, opposed the political maneuvers of his old friend, Henry.  Against Henry’s attempts to control certain aspects of the Church’s inner life, Thomas became a staunch defender of the rights of the bishops and the clergy.  Thomas read the resulting tensions between cathedra and crown through the lens of the Church’s spiritual tradition, wherein struggle and difficulty are seen as necessary for one’s growth in holiness.  Becket reflected on this truth in one of his letters, which we examine in today’s Office of Readings:

If we who are called bishops desire to understand the meaning of our calling and to be worthy of it, we must strive to keep our eyes on him whom God appointed hight priest for ever, and to follow in his footsteps.  For our sake he offered himself to the Father upon the altar of the cross.  He now looks down from heaven on our actions and secret thoughts, and one day he will give each of us the reward his deeds deserve.

As successors of the apostles, we hold the highest rank in our churches; we have accepted the responsibility of acting as Christ’s representatives on earth; we receive the honor belonging to that office, and enjoy the temporal benefits of our spiritual labors.  It must therefore be our endeavor to destroy the reign of sin and death, and by nurturing faith and uprightness of life, to build up the Church of Christ into a holy temple in the Lord.

Remember then how our fathers worked out their salvation; remember the sufferings through which the Church has grown, and the storms the ship of Peter has weathered because it has Christ on board.  Remember how the crown was attained by those whose sufferings gave new radiance to their faith.  The whole company of saints bears witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown.

Struck down by the cowardly decree of an earthly crown, St. Thomas won for himself the heavenly crown of everlasting life.

For more on St. Thomas’s life and death, click here and here.

Almighty God,
you granted the martyr Thomas
the grace to give his life for the cause of justice.
By his prayers
make us willing to renounce for Christ
our life in this world
so that we may find it in heaven.

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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At the king’s command these innocent babies
and little children were put to death; they died for Christ,
and now in the glory of heaven as they follow him, the sinless Lamb,
they sing forever: Glory to you, O Lord!

“Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king?  He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil.  But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.

“You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children.  You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart.  You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.

“Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace—so small, yet so great—who is lying in the manger.  He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil.  He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God’s adopted children.

“The children die for Christ, though they do not know it.  The parents mourn for the death of martyrs.  The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself.  See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king.  See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the savior already working salvation.

“But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious.  While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.”

— Saint Quodvultdeus
Sermo 2 de Symbolo
(“Second Sermon on the Creed”)

Father,
the Holy Innocents offered you praise
by the death they suffered for Christ.
May our lives bear witness
to the faith we profess with our lips.

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. Keitz's Homily - December 27, 2009 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Guilbeau's Homily - December 27, 2009 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph
were filled with wonder at all that was said of the child.

“Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ’s life was like and even to understand his Gospel.  Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God’s Son came to be known, profound yet full of hidden meaning.  And gradually we may even learn to imitate him.

“Here we can learn to realize who Christ really is.  And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief everything which Jesus used to make himself known in the world.  Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning.  Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discupline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel.”

— Pope Paul VI
From an address delivered in Nazareth on January 5, 1964

Father,
help us to live as the holy family,
united in respect and love.
Bring us to the joy and peace of your eternal home.

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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CHRISTMAS “URBI ET ORBI” BLESSING
December 24, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world, and all men and women, whom the Lord loves!

“Lux fulgebit hodie super nos,
quia natus est nobis Dominus.”

“A light will shine on us this day,
the Lord is born for us.”

(Roman Missal, Christmas, Entrance Antiphon for the Mass at Dawn)

The liturgy of the Mass at Dawn reminded us that the night is now past, the day has begun; the light radiating from the cave of Bethlehem shines upon us.

The Bible and the Liturgy do not, however, speak to us about a natural light, but a different, special light, which is somehow directed to and focused upon “us”, the same “us” for whom the Child of Bethlehem “is born”. This “us” is the Church, the great universal family of those who believe in Christ, who have awaited in hope the new birth of the Saviour, and who today celebrate in mystery the perennial significance of this event.

At first, beside the manger in Bethlehem, that “us” was almost imperceptible to human eyes. As the Gospel of Saint Luke recounts, it included, in addition to Mary and Joseph, a few lowly shepherds who came to the cave after hearing the message of the Angels. The light of that first Christmas was like a fire kindled in the night. All about there was darkness, while in the cave there shone the true light “that enlightens every man” (Jn 1:9). And yet all this took place in simplicity and hiddenness, in the way that God works in all of salvation history. God loves to light little lights, so as then to illuminate vast spaces. Truth, and Love, which are its content, are kindled wherever the light is welcomed; they then radiate in concentric circles, as if by contact, in the hearts and minds of all those who, by opening themselves freely to its splendour, themselves become sources of light. Such is the history of the Church: she began her journey in the lowly cave of Bethlehem, and down the centuries she has become a People and a source of light for humanity. Today too, in those who encounter that Child, God still kindles fires in the night of the world, calling men and women everywhere to acknowledge in Jesus the “sign” of his saving and liberating presence and to extend the “us” of those who believe in Christ to the whole of mankind.

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HOMILY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
Christmas Vigil
December 24, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

“A child is born for us, a son is given to us” (Is 9:5). What Isaiah prophesied as he gazed into the future from afar, consoling Israel amid its trials and its darkness, is now proclaimed to the shepherds as a present reality by the Angel, from whom a cloud of light streams forth: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:11). The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly “God with us”. No longer is he the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world. He is close to us. The words of the risen Christ to his followers are addressed also to us: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent. If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then, I too must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there. The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received. What is it that these first witnesses of God’s incarnation have to tell us?

The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch — they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean? The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His “self” is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one’s own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people. Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world. Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another.

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On December 23, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his General Audience address to exploring the historical origin of the Solemnity of Christmas.

GENERAL AUDIENCE ADDRESS
December 23, 2009

Dear brothers and sisters,

With the Christmas novena that we are celebrating in these days, the Church invites us to live intensely and profoundly the preparation for the birth of the Savior, which is nearly upon us.

The desire that all of us have in our hearts is that, in the midst of the frenetic activity of our days, the coming feast of Christmas gives us serene and profound joy to enable us to touch the goodness of our God with our hands and to fill us with new energy.

To better understand the meaning of the birth of the Lord, I would like to briefly refer to the historical origin of this solemnity. In fact, the liturgical year of the Church did not initially develop beginning with the birth of Christ, but rather from faith in the Resurrection. Because of this the most ancient feast of Christianity is not Christmas, but Easter: The resurrection of Christ is at the base of Christian faith; it is at the base of the proclamation of the Gospel and gives birth to the Church. Therefore to be Christians means to live in the mode of Easter, connecting ourselves to the dynamic that comes from baptism, which brings death to sin to live with God (cf. Romans 6:4).

The first one to clearly affirm that Jesus was born on Dec. 25 was Hippolytus of Rome in his commentary on the Book of the prophet Daniel, written around 204. One exegete observes, moreover, that on this day was celebrated the Dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem, instituted by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C.. The concurrence of dates would come to mean that with Jesus, appearing as light of God in the night, advent of God to this earth, the consecration of the temple is truly fulfilled.

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The gates of heaven opened out to blessed Stephen,
and he was crowned first of martyrs.

Just a day after celebrating Christmas, the Church observes the feast of St. Stephen, the first of Christ’s disciples to sacrifice everything in witness to him.  In addition to warning Christians of the hostility awaiting them in the world, this feast highlights for the faithful the degree to which they can conform their lives to that of Christ.  Considered in it fullness, this conformity pertains not only to the pattern of Christ’s life but also to the manner of his death.

To be sure, St. Stephen’s imitation of Christ did not culminate simply in his violent death.  Rather, its particularly Christian mode is found in the way in which he suffered that death.  In recording the event of Stephen’s martyrdom, St. Luke is careful to relate the last words that parted Stephen’s lips before dying.  They were those of Christ on the cross—a prayer for forgiveness and a self-surrender to the Father.  In this, we all can follow St. Stephen.  Desiring to die like Christ does not mean wishing for oneself a violent death, but rather a death which is good, meaning one shaped by the spiritual aspirations of a forgiving and obedient heart.

Today’s Office of Readings contains one of my favorite lessons of the entire year. It is taken from a homily written by St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, a disciple of St. Augustine.  In it, Fulgentius describes the communion enjoyed by St. Paul and St. Stephen in heaven.  Remember, St. Luke tells us that Paul was present and complicit in Stephen’s martyrdom.

And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name.  His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbor made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reporve those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven.  In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition.

Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exults, with Stephen he reigns.  Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul, but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer of Stephen.  This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen’s death, and Stephen delights in Paul’s companionship, for love fills them both with joy.  It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven.

Lord,
today we celebrate the entrance of Saint Stephen into eternal glory.
He died praying for those who killed him.
Help us to imitate his goodness
and to love our enemies.

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. Guilbeau's Homily - Christmas Vigil Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Christ the Lord is born today; today, the Savior has appeared.
Earth echoes songs of angel choirs, archangels’ joyful praise.
Today on earth his friends exult: Glory to God in the highest, alleluia.

“Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice.  Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life.  The fear of death has been swallowed up; llife brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.

“No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing.  Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand.  Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness.  Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.”

St. Leo the Great
Sermo 1 in Nativitate Domini, 1

Lord God,
we praise you for creating man,
and still more for restoring him in Christ.
Your Son shared our weakness:
may we share his glory,
for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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The time has come for Mary to give birth to her firstborn Son.

Come, Lord Jesus,
do not delay;
give new courage to your people who trust in your love.
By your coming, raise us to the joys of your kingdom,
where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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O Emmanuel,
Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.

O Emmanuel,
our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come to save us, O Lord our God.

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“We regret to say that in all the areas of our moral concern, the Senate health care reform bill is deficient.”

In a letter sent yesterday to members of the US Senate, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops called on the legislative body to delay passage of its health care reform bill until it better guarantees the rights to life and to the free exercise of conscience.  Click here to read the letter on the Bishops’ website.

December 22, 2009

United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), we strongly urge the Senate not to move its current health care reform bill forward without incorporating essential changes to ensure that needed health care reform legislation truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all.

The Catholic bishops of the United States have long supported adequate and affordable health care for all, and insisted that providing health care that clearly reflects these fundamental principles is a public good, moral imperative and urgent national priority. In our letter of November 20 we urged the Senate to act as the House has in the following respects:

• keep in place current federal law on abortion funding and conscience protections on abortion;

• protect the access to health care that immigrants currently have and remove current barriers to access; and

• include strong provisions for adequate affordability and coverage standards.

Disappointingly, the legislative proposal now advancing to final approval in the Senate does not meet these moral criteria. Specifically, it violates the longstanding federal policy against the use of federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions — a policy upheld in all health programs covered by the Hyde Amendment as well as in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program — and now in the House-passed “Affordable Health Care for America Act.” We believe legislation that fails to comply with this policy and precedent is not true health care reform and should be opposed until this fundamental problem is remedied.

Protecting Human Life and Conscience

Despite claims to the contrary, the House-passed provision on abortion keeps in place the longstanding and widely supported federal policy against government funding of elective abortions and plans that include elective abortions. It does not restrict abortion, or prevent people from buying insurance covering abortion with their own funds. It simply ensures that where federal funds are involved, people are not required to pay for other people’s abortions. The public consensus on this point is borne out by many opinion surveys, including the new Quinnipiac University survey of December 22 showing 72 percent opposed to public funding of abortion in health care reform legislation.

The abortion provisions in the Manager’s Amendment to the Senate bill do not maintain this commitment to the legal status quo on abortion funding. Federal funds will help subsidize, and in some cases a federal agency will facilitate and promote, health plans that cover elective abortions. All purchasers of such plans will be required to pay for other people’s abortions in a very direct and explicit way, through a separate premium payment designed solely to pay for abortion. There is no provision for individuals to opt out of this abortion payment in federally subsidized plans, so people will be required by law to pay for other people’s abortions. States may opt out of this system only by passing legislation to prohibit abortion coverage. In this way the longstanding and current federal policy universally reflected in all federal health programs, including the program for providing health coverage to Senators and other federal employees, will be reversed. That policy will only prevail in states that take the initiative of passing their own legislation to maintain it.

This bill also continues to fall short of the House-passed bill in preventing governmental discrimination against health care providers that decline involvement in abortion (Sec. 259 of H.R. 3962), and includes no conscience protection allowing Catholic and other institutions to provide and purchase health coverage consistent with their moral and religious convictions on other procedures.

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CHRISTMAS EVE

Confessions: 4:30 – 5:30 PM
Christmas Vigil Mass: 5:30 PM
Confessions: 8:45 – 9:30 PM
Hour of Festival Prelude Music: 9:30 PM
Solemn High Christmas Mass: 10:30 PM

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas Mass: 8:00 AM
Christmas Mass: 10:00 AM
Prelude Music: 11:30 AM
Solemn High Christmas Mass: 12:00 PM

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Fr. Guilbeau's Homily - December 20, 2009 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Jones's Homily - December 20, 2009 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fr. Keitz's Homily - December 20, 2009 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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O Rex Gentium,
et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis,
qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

O King of the nations,
and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

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Seven hundred ninety-three years ago today, Pope Honorius III gave official ecclesiastical recognition to the Order of Preachers.  In the bull of confirmation, the pope expressed the great hope he put in St. Dominic and his small band of disciples: “Expecting the brethren of your Order to be the champions of the Faith and the true lights of the world, we confirm your Order.” A firm supporter of St. Dominic’s project, Honorius would issue in the subsequent five years over 60 bulls, letters, and documents granting certain privileges of the Order, which helped it to spread quickly all over Europe.

Click below for a brief description of the Order’s approval by Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, OP, the current Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.  This audio was recorded in 1992 when (then) Fr. Di Noia taught theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington.

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Before the recent liturgical reforms, the Order celebrated today the Feast of the Patronage of Our Lady.  We now observe the usual Advent weekday, the Marian feast being transferred to May 8.  Still, Dominicans around the world today thank God, Our Lady, and St. Dominic for providing the Church such a sure and certain way of living close to and serving the Grace of the Word.  Please join us today in offering this prayer of gratitude.

O God,
who for the salvation of souls
didst place the Order of Preachers
under the special protection of the most Blessed Virgin Mary,
and wast please to pour out upon it her constant benefits:
grant unto thy suppliants
that we may be led unto the joy of heaven
through the aid of that same protectress
whose memory we revere today.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

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Ross Douthat’s op-ed piece in today’s New York Times contains an excellent appraisal of our culture’s predilection for pantheism. Be sure to read the whole column. Just days before Christmas, Douthat explains one very important reason why the Baby Jesus makes a difference.

Douthat summarizes his point in the column’s final paragraphs.

“Indeed, [pantheism] represents a form of religion that even atheists can support. Richard Dawkins has called pantheism “a sexed-up atheism.” (He means that as a compliment.) Sam Harris concluded his polemic “The End of Faith” by rhapsodizing about the mystical experiences available from immersion in “the roiling mystery of the world.” Citing Albert Einstein’s expression of religious awe at the “beauty and sublimity” of the universe, Dawkins allows, “In this sense I too am religious.”

The question is whether Nature actually deserves a religious response. Traditional theism has to wrestle with the problem of evil: if God is good, why does he allow suffering and death? But Nature is suffering and death. Its harmonies require violence. Its “circle of life” is really a cycle of mortality. And the human societies that hew closest to the natural order aren’t the shining Edens of James Cameron’s fond imaginings. They’re places where existence tends to be nasty, brutish and short.

Religion exists, in part, precisely because humans aren’t at home amid these cruel rhythms. We stand half inside the natural world and half outside it. We’re beasts with self-consciousness, predators with ethics, mortal creatures who yearn for immortality.

This is an agonized position, and if there’s no escape upward – or no God to take on flesh and come among us, as the Christmas story has it – a deeply tragic one.

Pantheism offers a different sort of solution: a downward exit, an abandonment of our tragic self-consciousness, a re-merger with the natural world our ancestors half-escaped millennia ago.

But except as dust and ashes, Nature cannot take us back.”

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In a statement released on December 19, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops continued to express its grief and disappointment that the health care reform bill currently advancing through the US Senate allocates taxpayer monies to fund abortion.  Despite the attempts of several senators to remove or restrict this allocation of funds, the bill will undoubtedly overturn established legal precedent and—for the first time—establish the US Government as a provider of abortion within our borders.   In its statement, the Conference also mentions other areas of concern regarding the overall bill.

HEALTH REFORM BILL NEEDS MORE WORK DESPITE NEW LANGUAGE ON ABORTION, SAY CATHOLIC BISHOPS

Federal government must not expand its role enabling abortions
Bill should not go forward unless and until problems remedied
Protection of life, conscience rights; fairness to legal immigrants; affordability top issues

WASHINGTON–The Senate health reform bill should not move forward in its current form, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City said December 19, as senators proceeded closer to a vote. Cardinal DiNardo chairs the bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities. Bishop Murphy chairs the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. Bishop Wester chairs the bishops’ Committee on Migration.

“Yesterday the bishops commented on good-faith efforts by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) to improve the pending Senate health care reform bill on the issues of abortion and conscience rights,” Cardinal DiNardo, Bishop Murphy and Bishop Wester said. “Today a Manager’s Amendment was proposed to make final changes in that bill. The amendment includes some improvements from Senator Casey’s proposal, including adoption tax credits and assistance for pregnant women, but differs from that proposal in other ways: It does not seem to allow purchasers who exercise freedom of choice or of conscience to “opt out” of abortion coverage in federally subsidized health plans that include such coverage. Instead it will require purchasers of such plans to pay a distinct fee or surcharge which is extracted solely to help pay for other people’s abortions. Further the government agency that currently manages health coverage for federal employees will promote and help subsidize multi-state health plans that include elective abortions, contrary to longstanding law governing this agency.

Therefore, while we appreciate the good-faith efforts made by Senators Robert Casey and Ben Nelson (D-NE) to improve the bill, our judgment is the same as it was yesterday: This legislation should not move forward in its current form. It should be opposed unless and until such serious concerns have been addressed. The bishops’ conference continues to study that 383-page amendment’s implications from the perspective of all the bishops’ moral concerns — protection of life and conscience, affordable access to health care, and fairness to immigrants. We will continue to work vigorously for authentic health care reform that clearly reflects these fundamental principles because such reform is a public good, moral imperative and urgent national priority.”

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An invitation from the Sisters of Life:

Dear Friends,

Monday, Dec. 28th marks the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Each year the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal and all of the Sisters of Life gather to commemorate this day by prayer and witness – please join us!

Mass 8:00 am – Fr. Benedict Groeschel main celebrant joined by Msgr. Phillip Reilly and other priests:

Church of the Holy Innocents / 128 West 37th Street (btn B’dway and 7th Ave.)

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows Mass, then people can either remain in the Church to adore our Lord or attend the rosary procession to the local abortion clinic. Upon return from the clinic there will be a special luncheon. Please promote this to your friends and keep the spiritual success of this effort for Life in your prayers.

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MUSIC FOR THE CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 2009

Hour of Festival Prelude Music for choir, brass, organ, and timpani at 9:30 P.M.:

Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella – Chapman
From Heaven Above To Earth I Come (Orgelbüchlein), BWV 606 – Bach
O Magnum Mysterium – Victoria
All My Heart This Night Rejoices – Ebeling
I Wonder As I Wander – arr. Niles
Greensleeves – arr. Purvis
Noel no. 10, Grand Jeu et Duo – Daquin
Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance Flowing – arr. Willcocks
I Sing Of A Maiden – Hadley
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly – arr. Willcocks
Sonata in F Major for Trumpet – Baldassare
Three Chorale Preludes on In Dulci Jubilo – Bach: BWV 608 (Orgelbüchlein), BWV 751 (Trio), BWV 729 (Fantasia)
O Holy Night – Adam
Congregational Carols

Solemn High Mass at 10:30 P.M.:

Introit: Dominus dixit (Plainchant)
O Come, All ye Faithful
Mass in F Major – Darke
Star Carol – Rutter
In The Bleak Midwinter – Darke
Silent Night – arr. Bani
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – arr. Ban
Praise The Lord With Drums And Cymbals – Karg-Elert

Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2009

Prelude Music at 11:30 A.M.:

O Little One Sweet – harm. Bach
Canonic Varation II on Vom Himmel hoch, BWV 679 – Bach
Up! Good Christen Folk, And Listen – harm. Woodward
Berceuse – Vierne; What Child Is This – Manz
Noel no. 4, En duo, sur les Jeux d’anches – Daquin

Solemn High Mass at 12:00 Noon:

Introit: Puer natus (Plainchant)
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Missa de Angelis
Sequence: Jubilemus Salvatori (Plainchant)
Christmas Song – Holst
Nativity Carol – Rutter
Silent night – arr. Bani
Joy To The World – arr. Bani
Dieu Parmi Nous (La Nativité du Seigneur) – Messiaen

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O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Key of David
and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

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The US Conference of Catholic Bishops released the following statement on Friday, December 18, urging the US Senate to reject any “compromise” or change to the nation’s current abortion laws that would, through using taxpayer monies to fund the morally objectionable procedure, coerce citizens to pay for others’ abortions.

‘ABORTION COMPROMISE’ DOES NOT ADDRESS CORE PROBLEM IN SENATE HEALTH BILL, SAYS CARDINAL DINARDO, BISHOPS’ PRO-LIFE CHAIR

‘Compromise’ would make citizens pay for others’ abortions
Senate should mirror House of Representative’s Hyde amendment language
Bill doesn’t meet goals of affordability, fairness to legal immigrants, protection of life

WASHINGTON—Responding to reports of a new “compromise” proposal on abortion in the U.S. Senate’s health care reform bill, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo today reaffirmed the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that the legislation will be morally unacceptable “unless and until” it complies with longstanding current laws on abortion funding such as the Hyde amendment. Cardinal DiNardo is Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and Chairman of the Conference’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

The Cardinal commented on efforts by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) to improve the Senate bill’s treatment of abortion.

“Senator Casey’s good-faith effort to allow individuals to ‘opt out’ of abortion coverage actually underscores how radically the underlying Senate bill would change abortion policy. Excluding elective abortions from overall health plans is not a privilege that individuals should have to seek as the exception to the norm. In all other federal health programs, excluding abortion coverage is the norm. And numerous opinion polls show that the great majority of Americans do not want abortion coverage.”

“I welcome Senator Casey’s good-faith effort to improve this bill,” said Cardinal DiNardo. “In particular he has sought to improve protection for conscience rights, and to include programs of support for pregnant women and adoptive parents that we favor in their own right. However, these improvements do not change the fundamental problem with the Senate bill: Despite repeated claims to the contrary, it does not comply with longstanding Hyde restrictions on federal funding of elective abortions and health plans that include them.”

Cardinal DiNardo had written to the Senate on December 14, saying that “the Catholic bishops of the United States strongly support authentic reform of our ailing health care system.” His letter cited “three moral criteria for reform: respect for life and conscience; affordability for the poor; and access to much-needed basic health care for immigrants,” noting that so far the Senate bill “has fallen short of the example set by the House version of this legislation in each of these areas.”

On abortion funding, the Cardinal urged the Senate to “incorporate into this bill the longstanding and widely supported policies of current law, acknowledged and reaffirmed by the Senate itself” when it approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act for the new fiscal year on December 13. This Act reaffirmed the Hyde amendment and other laws that exclude elective abortions from health plans receiving federal funds — including the plans that cover the Senators themselves and all other federal employees. The Senate so far has failed to reflect this same policy in its health care bill as the House has done, he said [see www.usccb.org/healthcare/DiNardo_1214_letter.pdf].

Cardinal DiNardo said December 18: “We continue to oppose and urge others to oppose the Senate bill unless and until this fundamental failure is remedied. And whatever the immediate outcome in the Senate, we will continue to work for health care reform which truly protects the life, dignity, conscience and health of all. As the bishops have said many times, ‘providing affordable and accessible health care that clearly reflects these fundamental principles is a public good, moral imperative and urgent national priority.’ In particular we will work vigorously to ensure that the substance of the House’s provision on abortion funding is included in final legislation. A special debt of gratitude is owed to House and Senate members, especially Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who have placed their votes and reputation on the line to stand up for unborn children. Making this legislation consistent with longstanding federal law on abortion will not threaten needed authentic reform, but will help ensure its passage.”

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