Saturday, December 26th, 2009
Daily Archive
Pope Benedict’s Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” Blessing
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 26 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Liturgical Feasts
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.
Pope Benedict’s Christmas Homily
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 26 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Homilies, Liturgical Feasts
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.
Pope Benedict on the Meaning of Christmas
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 26 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Miscellaneous
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.
Saint Stephen the Protomartyr
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 26 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Liturgical Feasts
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.
