A Daily Dose of God

 

Homily Cycle B 12/20/2020 - 4^th Sunday of Advent

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

 

The “Story is called Mary vs. Eve.”

 

One week a Sunday school teacher told her class the Christmas story, about Mary and Joseph, their trip to Bethlehem, and how Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger.  After telling the story the teacher asked, "Who do you think the most important woman in the Bible is?"

 

Expecting one of the children to say, "Mary."   A little boy raised his hand and

said, "Eve."  The teacher asked him why he thought Eve was the most important woman in the Bible.  Not missing a beat, the little boy replied, "Well, they named two days of the year after Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve."  [Sermons.Com – Traditional]

 

In 1987 the philosopher Allan Bloom published, The Closing of the American Mind.  In it he “… suggests that part of our mind is darkening.  Our sophistication is making us smarter but less wise.”  [Sunday Website, Ron Rolheiser, In Exile, 12/20/2020]

 

We are not meant to be simply be “smarter”, being wiser is more important in our world today because information increases so rapidly, but wisdom is hard work.  It takes reflection on why we do what we do, and what God’s wants us to do.

What God wants us to do many times difficult and challenging, like Mary in today’s Gospel.

 

In the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Henry Ossawa Tanner’s oil painting of The Annunciation is housed.  You can see it below or you can go to the museum website.  It is a beautiful, powerful and provocative painting.

 

 

 

You will “… see a teenage girl, dressed in peasant robes, sitting on a rumpled bed in a room with bumpy, cobblestone floor.  She seems afraid and awed.”  [Philadelphia Museum of Art – website]

Mary wisely listened to God and did what God asked of her even though it was difficult.  St. Paul said that this mystery was kept secret since the beginning of time.  In our reading from 2 Samuel, we heard, “The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.”  That house was the womb of Mary, who was the “… the first human person who could say, ‘This is my body, this is my blood.’”  [Sunday website, 12/20/2020, John Kavanaugh]

 

In our second reading, St. Paul said we should be obedient to God through Jesus Christ.  Then, in our Gospel Mary is “greatly troubled” at the message the angel Gabriel announced to her.  [Sunday Website, Fr. John Foley, SJ]  Eventually she proclaims “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”

 

During the last few days of Advent, ask for “… the grace to listen and to hear.”  To listen and to hear what God wants you to do, follow Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Light.  Cardinal Dolan offered this insight on Advent.  “The focus of our Advent Waiting is Threefold, God comes to us in history [over 2000 years ago],

in mystery [now] and in majesty [the 2^nd Coming].

 

Advent teaches us to Hope and to Prepare so we can in Joy; love the Lord and others.  Advent is a gift that invites us more deeply into God’s life; God invites us to Wait, to Act, to be Aware.  Jesus comes in mystery [now] in the sacraments, in the Word/Bible, in loving others and in being loved by others.

 

With time remaining in Advent let’s focus on the Seven Salesian Virtues:

1. Endure Patiently,

2. See the Bright Side,

3. Show Good Humor,

4. Stay Cheerfully Excusing,

5. Put on a Good Face,

6. Be Appreciative,

7. Speak Gently and Show Courtesy

 

Take a few minutes to reflect on your Advent preparations and adopt the Seven Salesian Virtues to start or to complete them.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

                                                        O Antiphons

 

The O Antiphons refer to the seven antiphons that precede the Magnificat during Evening Prayer [Vespers] of the Liturgy of the Hours. They prayed during the Octave before Christmas, [December 17-23].  Here they are in the proper sequence:

 

O Wisdom,

O Lord,

O Root of Jesse,

O Key of David,

O Rising Sun,

O King of the Nations,

and O Emmanuel [God is with us].

 

1.    Titles of the Messiah

2.    Each one refers to a prophecy in Isaiah

 

The Magnificat

 

My soul magnifies the Lord

And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid;

For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed;

Because He who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is His name;

And His mercy is from generation to generation

on those who fear Him.

He has shown might with His arm,

He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has given help to Israel, his servant, mindful of His mercy

Even as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever. Amen.

 

 

For more information on the O Antiphons: https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/what-are-the.html

Pray them and then pray the Magnificat, your Advent will be enhanced.

May God Be Praised!

 

 

                                                           

Closing Prayer

 

Father in Heaven, You are our refuge and our hope, we turn to You during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession. 

 

In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” strength to the first responders, compassion and endurance to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders. 

 

End this coronavirus scourge. 

 

Send Your light to guide us as we wander in darkness and give us the solace of Your eternal love today.  Amen.  [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic Adopted by Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                              

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

Homily Cycle I 12/18/2020

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

 

 

In our first reading from Isaiah, we learned that we should do what is right and just.  Those who do so will be blessed.  Then, in the Gospel we heard about “… how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.”  We, also, learned that God is with us and St. Joseph listened to God and did what God wanted him to do.

 

St. Joseph was declared patron of the universal church by Pope Pius IX in 12/08/1870.  On 12/08/2020 Pope Francis declared a Year of St. Joseph with his Apostolic Letter [Patris Corde], “With a Father’s Heart”.  In the letter Pope mentions seven Characteristics that St. Joseph lived while here on earth:

1.    A beloved father

2.    A tender and loving father

3.    An obedient father

4.    An accepting father

5.    A creatively courageous father

6.    A working father

7.    A father in the shadows

 

Characteristics that ever parent should try to follow.  A characteristic that the Pope mentions (implicitly) is St. Joseph was a loving, trusting and devoted husband to Mary. 

 

The Pope offered us this prayer to St. Joseph:

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To you God entrusted his only Son;

in you Mary placed her trust;

with you Christ became man.

Blessed Joseph, to us too,

show yourself a father

and guide us in the path of life.

Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,

and defend us from every evil. Amen.

 

 

Pope Francis places his most difficult prayers on a piece of paper and puts them under his statue of St. Joseph.  We will conclude our celebration this morning by asking to St. Joseph help us.  We can do the same every night, pray to St. Joseph to intercede for us.  A good habit to begin this Advent and then continue for the rest of our life.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

- Advent teaches us to Watch … to Watch!

 

“It’s been a long year of waiting: waiting to determine the depth of the danger, waiting for a sense of how long, waiting for clear directions as to what to do next.

For some, the waiting has been especially excruciating waiting and hoping that our loved one will survive — for some families, that hope crashed into grief.

Many have lost hope that their jobs will ever return and are desperate for some sense of what to do next.

 

Winter is beginning, the COVID 19 vaccine is here, and we long for a return to normal, and that, hopeful, we will not face another major crisis in the near future. 

 

Yes, the waiting has been painful and distressing. But, for many of us, this pandemic Advent also been a time of change and conversion: We’ve grown closer to our families. We have a new appreciation of those who work hard — and mostly unnoticed — to keep open the services we need to function. We’ve realized that God has raised up many saints in our midst, courageous and brave prophets clad in PPE. And we understand as we’ve never understood before how much we need one another and can’t wait to re-connect with family and neighbors and friends and classmates live, in person, not on a screen via Zoom or Skype.  This year of 2020 has been one long Advent — and it’s not over. But it has been an Advent of discovery, of awareness, of insight; an Advent for seeing with new hearts and spirits God in our midst.

 

The late Father Henri Nouwen wrote that our lives are a continuing Advent, an Advent in which “the Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent.  Life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.” 

 

 

Waiting is often the cost of love: in waiting we realize our powerlessness; we realize our deepest hopes and wants, we realize the gift of those we love in our lives. As we struggle through this especially difficult Advent of 2020, may we open our homes and hearts to the light of God’s compassion and peace in these dark, difficult days.”  [Connections, December 2020]

 

 

 

Today take some time to enjoy Waiting, Waiting for the Lord, who “… is coming, always coming.”

 

May God Be Praised!

 

COVID PANDEMIC PRAYER

You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to You during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” strength to the first responders, compassion and endurance to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to guide me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me the solace of Your eternal love today.  Amen.   

[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic Adopted by Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

We live in (this) Advent to remember that we are pilgrims on a journey, a journey that takes place many times in darkness.

 

“The King of glory does not recompense his servants according to the functions they perform but according to the measure of the love and humility with which they exercise them.” (St. Francis de Sales Intro to the Devout Life, 3:2)

 

Advent means “coming”, “arrival”; the Advent season has three thrusts:

 

1.  yesterday at Bethlehem when the Son of God was born of Mary,

 

2.  today in our world, in our time- Jesus is always incarnate,

 

3.  tomorrow when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, returns in glory.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

 

                                                COVID PANDEMIC PRAYER

 

You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to You during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” strength to the first responders, compassion and endurance to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to guide me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me the solace of Your eternal love today.  Amen.  [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic Adopted by Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God

 

Advent is a call to deepen our love of Jesus, Lord and Savior.  Today open your eyes and your heart to the Lord’s presence among us.  Advent reminds us to celebrate His Incarnation of many years ago, His presence today and to look forward to His return in glory soon (BUT in God’s time)!

 

We pray, “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready, I will sing, I will sing your praise, Awake, my soul, awake, lyre and harp, I will awake the dawn.” (Psalm 57)

 

God “asks for your own heart.  Give it such as it is … everything that is remitted into His hands is converted into good.”  (Sermon in a Sentence, St. Francis de Sales, p. 103)

 

Isaiah’s vision is magnificent: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.”  St. Francis de Sales reminds us (in His Treatise) “To believe is to be drawn.” 

 

Advent is a time to be drawn ever closer to God, and into God’s hands, a wonderful goal for Advent.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

COVID PANDEMIC PRAYER

You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to You during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” strength to the first responders, compassion and endurance to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to guide me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me the solace of Your eternal love today.  Amen.  [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic Adopted by Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Daily Dose of God - Hope is the Antidote

 

Hope is the Antidote to COVID’s Pandemic and Advent’s Gift to each one of us.  Jesus is our life, our Hope; He is THE SEASON!

 

People in the O.T.  Hoped for big things:

the desert to become fertile,    

their scattered and divided people would be gathered again,

the blind would see,

the deaf would hear,

the lame would walk,

the blessings of everlasting peace.

 

Many of us are anxious about the pandemic and the holidays, we need to remember what Jesus told Martha “you are anxious about many things, Mary has chosen the better part.”  Hope is the perfect antidote to Anxiety, especially the anxiety produced by the COVID Pandemic.

 

To deal with anxiety we need to: put our mind at rest and be at peace, then do what we need to do, but do it gently, trade in Control for Hope and Trust in the Lord, He is with us on our journey.  Remembering that God is with us; what more can we ask for – our Hope is based on our Faith. 

 

Jesus calls you and me to Hope in Him and in His promises!  “In the end, we are really only what we are before almighty God.” (de Sales) 

 

Teilhard de Chardin prayed, “Above all, trust the slow work of God.  We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay ….  Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” (Patient Trust)

 

Our HOPE really lies knowing that the God of the Universe waits for our heart and so we pray: You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to You during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” strength to the first responders, compassion and endurance to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Send Your light to guide me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me the solace of Your eternal love today.  Amen.  [Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic Adopted by Dcn. George Kelly]

 

 

May God Be Praised!