ICEMANforChrist

December We turn our attention indoors with Advent prayers and preparations for the birth of Christ; for most of us, the indoors makes up the part of our environment in which we spend the most time. It is also the most unregulated and can be the most polluted part of the total environment –due to new home cleaning products and tighter ventilation. Consider a simpler home environment, where houseplants purify the air, where fresh air is plentiful, and where chemical products are limited and controlled. The yearly cycle of twelve months can make us more aware of our human environment and should help us as individuals and as a community to conduct a monthly examination of conscience.

FIRST FRIDAY December 1
Sirach, Chapter 3, Verse 7 Those who fear the Lord honor their father, and serve their parents as masters.
Besides the virtues that must characterize our conduct toward God, special duties are enjoined, such as honor and respect toward parents, with corresponding blessings. By showing su…

FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW


Psalm, Chapter 19, Verse 10-11 10The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The statutes of the LORD are true, all of them just; 11More desirable than gold, than a hoard of purest gold, Sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb.
Fear of the Lord is pure; so one can deduce that a person that fears the Lord is pure. So what is purity?
Freedom from anything that weakness or impairs or changes the nature of a being or its activity. Purity of faith means the absence of error what is contrary to the revealed truth; purity of intention is the exclusion of self-will in the desire to perform the will of god; purity of morals commonly refers to the virtue of chastity and therefore freedom from wrongdoing in sexual activity, but on a broader level it means the absence of misbehavior, especially in one's external or publicly recognizable conduct. (etym. Latin puritas, clearness, cleanness, uprightness.)
Christ gave us his faith and his intent was to do the fat…