There is a Longing

This past weekend, we celebrated the First Sunday of Advent...a time of waiting with expectant hope for both Jesus' birth at Christmas & His Second Coming. It should begin a time of reflection & peace as we prepare our hearts for Jesus.  Unfortunately, our secularized world tends to skip right over Advent & jump right into the hustle & bustle of Christmas. For many, this can be a stressful time of planning, shopping, decorating, etc. And Christmas music has been played on the radio since Halloween. The two quotes below should help slow us down taking a step or two back to focus on the true meaning of the Advent season. *****   "Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself." (Bill McKibben) ***** "Let's approach Advent with an expectant hush, rather than a last-minute rush." (Anonymous)

  As we begin a new liturgical year and enter into the expectant season of Advent, we are urged to “stay awake!” These weeks preceding the joyous celebration of our Savior’s birth provide a chance for us to make the necessary preparations for such a mystery. Not, however, a preparation consisting of gift shopping, decorating, and making delectable treats in the kitchen.  In a way, we have to avoid jumping right into all of the “Christmas cheer.” Right after Thanksgiving (or sometimes even before), it seems that Christmas is being celebrated wherever you turn. But we can’t get caught up with the festivities. We need to first remind ourselves what it is we are celebrating, why we even have a cause to celebrate in the first place. This is what we do in Advent!  A dvent is a time of quiet and interior preparation for that moment when we commemorate the coming of God made man, when the Son of God took on our lowly human nature. How humble and how remarkably glorious is our lit...

Tomorrow, we in the United States of America will celebrate Thanksgiving. We thought it would be fitting to share quotes from saints on giving thanks to God, our Father. "In all created things discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks." (St. Teresa of Avila) "No duty is more urgent than that of giving thanks." (St. Ambrose) "Thank God ahead of time." (Bl. Solanus Casey) "A single 'Blessed be God' in adversity is worth more than a thousand acts of thanksgiving in prosperity." (St. John of Avila) "The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day." (St. Gianna Beretta Molla)  

And so, we’ve come to the end of another Liturgical year.  Next week, we begin the season of Advent – a time of waiting and preparing our hearts for the coming Messiah, the King of Heaven.  Today, we celebrate His Kingship! The Solemnity of Christ the King was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI to combat the growth secularism and atheistic views as governments threatened to push Jesus and Christianity out of the public life.  Governments will come and go, but this Feast reminds us that Christ and His Kingdom will live forever.  Pope Pius XI proclaimed, “Pax in Christi regno Christi,” (the peace of Christ in the reign of Christ), encouraging us to live in Christ’s peace when we do three things.  Daily, we must live and surrender our lives for Christ, acknowledge Him as our God, Savior, and King, and allow Him to rule our lives.  How peaceful and beautiful our world would be if everyone put these into practice! Sadly, though, we live in a fallen world. ...

As musicians, we would be remiss if we failed to recognize St. Cecilia in today's Saintly Saturday! St. Cecilia was believed to have been born sometime in the late 2nd century into a wealthy family. At a young age, she took a vow of virginity, yet her parents still gave her in marriage to a young man named Valerian. Prior to consummating their marriage, Cecilia informed Valerian of her vow & told him an angel was protecting her. He asked for proof, wanting to see the angel, & she replied that he must travel to be baptized by Pope Urbanus. Upon his return to his wife, he saw the angel & came to believe.  His brother, Tibertius, also came to believe. The two spent the rest of their lives burying those murdered during persecutions by the city's prefect, Turcius Almachius. They were eventually arrested & executed for their denial to offer sacrifice to the gods.  During their burying of the dead, Cecilia preached & brought over 400 to conversion. She, too, was a...

My apologies, dear readers...my days have been off a bit this week, so I forgot yesterday was Wisdom Wednesday. Since today is the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, I'm sharing a quote of hers.  *************** "How could I bear a crown of gold when the Lord bears a crown of thorns? And bears it for me?" (St. Elizabeth of Hungary)

Luke 21:5-19     In the themes and predictions of today’s Gospel, Jesus alludes to the destruction of the Temple, which would occur in the year 70 AD. He foretells of the persecutions, imprisonments, and calamities that would befall Jerusalem. “I myself will give you wisdom in speaking,” “not a hair on your head will be destroyed,” He consoles them. For “by your perseverance you will secure your lives.”     While the destruction of the Temple occurred two thousand years ago, we are still subject to persecution, imprisonment, and calamity in our modern day. War and hatred seem to have become our language, our means to resolve conflict and disagreement. While the evils that threaten us now have changed more or less from the evils that threatened Jerusalem, Christ’s offer of hope has still remained.      For the Jews, the Temple in Jerusalem was where God dwelt. When they prayed, they prayed facing east, towards Jerusalem. So we can imagine...

St. Elizabeth of Hungary was born in 1207, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary & Gertrude of Merania. Her mother was murdered by a Hungarian nobleman when Elizabeth was just six years old.   In 1221, at the age of 14, she was married to a German nobleman, Ludwig IV (or Louis IV, depending on which source you look to) of Thuringia. This marriage had been arranged by her parents when she was only four years old. They had three children, one of whom became an abbess in Germany. Elizabeth used her royal position to help others in need, often in secret. Two miracles are said to have occurred years before her death. Upon delivering bread to the poor, her husband stopped her in an effort to ease suspicions she was stealing from the castle. He asked her to reveal the contents under her cloak & when she did, there appeared roses instead of bread. The other miracle occurred when she had placed a leper in the bed she shared with her husband. Her mother in law informed Ludwi...

  Today we celebrate The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Did you know that St. Peter's at the Vatican is not our pope's main church? Many people believe it is, but in actuality, his main church is the Basilica of St. John Lateran. This is where Pope Francis (& former pope's) presides over the Diocese of Rome.  There are four major basilicas in Rome with St. John Lateran being the oldest & highest ranking. It was first built in the 4th century on land donated by Emperor Constantine. It was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324. Over the centuries, the structure suffered much (earthquakes, fire, war, invasion), yet it has remained a place of consecration for the popes.  In the 14th century, thanks to the efforts of St. Catherine of Siena, the papacy returned to Rome. The church was found in ruins. The current structure was comissioned in 1646 by Pope Innocent X.  Highlights of the Basilica include 15 statues representing Christ, St. John the Baptist, St. Joh...

                                                               11/06/2022     W.H.R.,     (Whoever Happens to be Reading)     Praised be Jesus Christ! Due to unrelated circumstances, I went to Mass last night rather than this morning. I sat a few rows back from a beautiful family (whom I’ve met before, though I’m ashamed to admit I don’t remember their names). All of the children were well behaved, and a few were even enthusiastic! One of their little boys was sitting at the very end of the pew, closest to the center aisle. Every time one of the songs to the Mass setting (the Gloria , Holy , etc.) started, he’d start pretending to play the piano on the rail. He was careful not to actually touch or pound on the rail, but if he was at a real piano, he could have played quite the tune!...

Luke 20:27-38      Ne aring the close of the liturgical year, the readings tend once more towards the “end.”  But indeed, the end is only the beginning. The beginning of Eternity.  Thanks to the unbelief of the Sadducces, who rejected the teaching of the resurrection, our Lord gives us a glimpse of what life after death will be like for those who remained faithful throughout their pilgrimage on earth. In addressing the Sadducces’ question, Jesus reveals of the blessed in Heaven that they “neither marry nor are given in marriage.”  W hy? Does that mean we lose our spouses? Couldn’t we preserve our marriages from this life and carry them to the next? I think Jesus gives us a good answer when He tells us that His Father “is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive .” In Heaven, we will be wholly united to God, our One and All, in Whom we will find the fullness of joy, the Treasure of our soul. In Him, we will be more ...

Today is the we commemorate All Souls' Day, a day when we remember those who've already gone before us, but still haven't attained the Beautific Vision of Heaven due to remaining venial sins that need washed away in Purgatory.  Our quote for the day comes from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I think this explains well why we need Purgatory before meeting our Lord in Heaven. "I would go so far as to say that if there was not purgatory, then we would have to invent it, for who would dare say of himself that he was able to stand directly before God. And  yet we don't want to be, to use an image from scripture, 'a pot that turned out wrong', that has to be thrown away; we want to be able to be put right. Purgatory basically means that God can put the pieces back together again. That He can cleanse us in such a way that we are able to be with Him and can stand there in the fullness of life. Purgatory strips off from one person what is unbearable and from another the...