feast of the epiphany (Traditional)-
Sirach, Chapter 10, Verse 19-24
19 Whose offspring can be honorable? Human offspring. Those
who fear the LORD are honorable
offspring. Whose offspring can be disgraceful? Human offspring. Those who
transgress the commandment are disgraceful offspring. 20 Among relatives their leader is honored; but whoever fears God is honored among God’s people.
21 The beginning of acceptance is the fear of the Lord; the beginning of rejection, effrontery and pride.
22 Resident alien, stranger, foreigner, pauper—their glory is
the fear of the LORD. 23 It is not right to despise anyone wise but poor, nor
proper to honor the lawless. 24 The
prince, the ruler, the judge are in honor; but none is greater than the one who
fears God.
By the action of Jesus
Christ and the grace of the Eucharist we are no longer human offspring but the
very offspring of God. As His offspring we radiate a presence; it affects our
whole being. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is real. God’s Holy presence
changes us physically, mentally and in a deeper sense within the heart. We are
new people. In a similar way Moses face radiated this presence so much his face
had to be covered because its glowing terrified the Israelites. In earlier
postings we discussed how Sarah; Abraham’s wife was exquisitely beautiful at an
advanced age. Those who radiate the presence of God seek His will. They have
the right intention giving all things to God. They avoid mortal sin and obey
the laws of God. They cherish God in their hearts and seek to do those things
that please God. At times we find ourselves so engrossed with our day to day
activities and worry about the mundane; much like Saint Martha forgetting “the
better part”. If we are to radiate His presence we must be in His presence. Perhaps today would be a good day to
develop the practice of putting one item on your daily “To Do” list that you
know will please God.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
II. THE VOCATION TO CHASTITY
Chastity
and homosexuality
2357
Homosexuality refers to relations between
men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual
attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of
forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological
genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which
presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always
declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They
are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life.
They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under
no circumstances can they be approved.
2358
The number of men and women who have
deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination,
which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect,
compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their
regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in
their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the
Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359
Homosexual persons are called to
chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at
times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental
grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian
perfection.
There are a lot of
websites that deal with the subject of chastity. One such is Jason Evert’s
author of several books on the subject:
First Saturday[1]
The Five First Saturday’s devotion is one of the
principal points of the Fatima message. It centers on the urgent need for
mankind to offer reparation and expiate for the many injuries that the
Immaculate Heart of Mary suffers from the hands of both impious and indifferent
men.
On the
First Saturday during 5 Consecutive Months, the Devotion consists of:
1. Going to Confession,
2. Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
3. Saying five decades of the Rosary,
4. Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
2. Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
3. Saying five decades of the Rosary,
4. Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
All
this offered in REPARATION for the sins of blasphemy and ingratitude
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
During
the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that she would come to
ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for the
Communion of Reparation of the Five First Saturdays. Consequently, she asked
for the devotion in 1925 and the consecration in 1929. While staying at the
House of the Dorothean Sister in Pontevedra, Portugal, Sister Lucia received a
vision on December 10, 1925 where the Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy
who stood over a luminous cloud. Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder
while she held on the other hand a heart pierced with thorns around it. Sister
Lucia heard the Boy say, "Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother
which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment
with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out." Our Lady
expressed her request in the following words, "See, my daughter, My Heart
surrounded with thorns with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with
blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and
announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to
confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company
for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of
making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all
the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls." A few days
afterward, Sister Lucia detailed this vision in a letter addressed to Monsignor
Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor when she resided in the Asylum of Vilar in
the city of Oporto, Portugal.
Why Five Saturdays?
Sister
Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason for the five Saturdays asking
why not seven or nine. She answered him in a letter dated June 12, 1930. In it
she related about a vision she had of Our Lord while staying in the convent
chapel part of the night of the twenty-ninth to the thirtieth of the month of
May, 1930. The reasons Our Lord gave were as follows: The five first Saturdays
correspond to the five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:
1.
Blasphemies against the Immaculate
Conception
2.
Blasphemies against her
virginity
3.
Blasphemies against her divine
maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
4.
Instilling , indifference,
scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
5.
Direct insults against Her
sacred images
Let
us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds. Devotions have intentions
attached to them and knowing them adds merit and weight to the practice.
Modifications to the Five First Saturdays Devotion to facilitate its
observation
The
original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and receive Communion on five
consecutive first Saturdays; to say five decades of the Rosary; to meditate
during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary for the purpose of making
reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparations for the sins of men. In
subsequent private visions and apparitions however, Sister Lucia presented to
Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered in fulfilling some
conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude, Our Lord deigned to relax
the rules to make this devotion easy to observe:
·
Confession may be done on other days
other than the First Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and
has the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
·
Even if one forgets to make the
intention, it may be done on the next confession, taking advantage of the first
occasion to go to confession.
·
Sister Lucia also clarified that it
is not necessary to meditate on ALL mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays.
One or several suffice.
With
much latitude granted by Our Lord Himself, there is no reason for the faithful
to hesitate or delay this pious practice in the spirit of reparation which the
Immaculate Heart of Mary urgently asks.
This devotion is so necessary in our days
The
culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one reads this. Abortion,
blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad marriages, religious
indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and others are just some of
society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We must console Our Lady amidst all these
insults and injuries to her and her Divine Son. She asks for reparation, she
pleads for our prayers, she hopes for our amendment of life. Let us listen to
her maternal pleas and atone for the ingratitude of men. The First Five
Saturdays devotion stimulates the spirit of reparation; it instills a tender
love for the Holy Sacraments of Confession and the Blessed Eucharist. It
nurtures a holy affection for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary.
Above all, it is an excellent means to maintain one in the state of grace while
immersed in the daily spiritual battles and prosaic existence in the neo-pagan
world that we live in. Let us not delay in observing this devotion for it too
gives us hope for eternal salvation.
Now is the time to plan to attain a religious retreat or conference
before Easter. This book was conceived after attending a Marian conference.[2]
Traditionally today is
the Feast of the Epiphany or the day the three kings presented gifts to Christ.
They are an example of men who overcame great obstacles and their own fears to come and present gifts to our
Lord. They also being wise men knew that they could not trust Herod when he
asked them to return to him and tell him where Christ was. It is not always
possible to get to a win-win situation and we must also use our wisdom as the
three Kings did and know when we must fight, run, do nothing, compromise or
prepare for growth. Christ reveals Himself not just to the Jews, but to the
Gentiles, as the visitation of the Magi makes clear that the Light of Christ
did not come to illuminate one nation but all, and so on the Feast
of the Epiphany we celebrate His first manifestation (epiphaneia) to
the Gentiles, the three Magi who followed His star from the East. This
manifestation also leads us to consider other "firsts" -- the first
manifestation of His mission at His Baptism and the first manifestation of His
power at the wedding of Cana. Hence both are also remembered on the Feast of
the Epiphany. Epiphany is one of the greatest feasts of the liturgical year.
The twelfth day after Christmas, it concludes Christmastide proper by
celebrating the "manifestation," or epiphaneia, of Christ to
the Gentiles. To this day the Eastern churches consider Epiphany more important
than Christmas. The Holy Spirit's guidance of these wise men to the Holy Land
through the aid of a star signifies the calling of all nations, not just the
Jews, to the New Covenant. But this "manifestation" to non-Jews also
calls to mind other manifestations of our Lord's divinity. The Nativity
continues to be remembered as the first crucial manifestation, but so too does
the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan, since it affirms both His
divinity as well as His humanity. And the wedding of Cana comes to mind
because it was Christ's first public manifestation of His power with the
transubstantiation of water into wine. (It also comes to mind because the
Gospel uses the word "manifest" (ephanerosen) to describe this
event (Jn. 2.11).) Finally, the manifestations of Jesus Christ during His earthly
existence ineluctably lead us to consider His final manifestation in glory, a manifestation for which we have
longed throughout Advent and Christmastide. Hence St. John Chrysostom says in
his sermon on Epiphany:
There are two manifestations of Christ, not one.
The first is the one which has already happened, His epiphany in the present.
The second is the one of the future which will come at the end of time with
great splendor and glory. You have heard read today what St. Paul writes to
Titus about both of these epiphanies. Concerning the first he says, "The
grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men..." About the second he
writes, "We look for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God
and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2.11-13) (On the Baptism of Christ).
It is for these reasons that St. Gregory Nazianzus refers to Epiphany as the "the Holy light of the manifestations."
·
Epiphany Day is celebrated as a public holiday
in Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Denmark and Norway do not have the day off, but
do hold special mass and church services. The day is also a holiday throughout
much of Eastern Europe.
·
Frankincense, a perfume, and myrrh, anointing
oil, were traditional gifts for kings during the time of Christ. Bodies
were also prepared for burial with these items. These were the gifts that
the wise men brought to the baby Jesus.
·
In Latin American culture, Epiphany, which means
'manifestation', is celebrated with plays and special songs that celebrate the
coming of the three kings, or magi. Children
place boxes of hay under their beds for the magi' camels, and in return
they receive gifts.
·
In some Eastern Orthodox Christian communities,
Epiphany is celebrated by a procession to the nearest river, lake, or pond.
The priest blesses the water and he throws a cross in the waves.
People dive into the water to retrieve the cross, and the one who finds
it is thought to be particularly blessed in the New Year.
·
It’s a time to focus on the guiding star and the
three men who out of curiosity followed the star to Jesus, - Martin
Modeús of the Church of Sweden
Epiphany Top Events and Things to Do
·
Take down any decorations, you should have taken
these down on Knut’s Day, the day before Epiphany, but if you’ve been too busy
eating, today is the day to get them down.
·
Sing We Three Kings, a traditional
Epiphany hymn telling the story of the magi.
·
Go to an Orthodox service and witness a Epiphany
procession. This often includes pageantry of colorful robes and a large
bowl of water centered in the middle of the church. Churches are often
decorated with flowers and greenery.
·
In some Western churches, church members share
king cake, similar to the pastry served on Mardi Gras in New Orleans. A
coin or bean is cooked into the cake, and whoever receives them gets to wear a
crown for a day.
·
Watch a Christmas themed movie. Our favorites
include
1) Fanny and Alexander (1982), this film depicts a family in Uppsala, Sweden during the 1900s and is a national favorite.
2) Santa Claus (1990)
3) Elf (2003), Will Ferrell’s modern Christmas classic
1) Fanny and Alexander (1982), this film depicts a family in Uppsala, Sweden during the 1900s and is a national favorite.
2) Santa Claus (1990)
3) Elf (2003), Will Ferrell’s modern Christmas classic
Home Blessing for the Feast of Epiphany[5]
Today would also be a
good time to honor your Father in heaven by marking your home in chalk; publicly
stating who’s you are.
A traditional way of doing this is to use chalk to write above the home’s entrance, 20 + C + M + B + 18. The letters C, M, B have two meanings. They are the initials of the traditional names of the three magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless the house.” The “+” signs represent the cross and 2018 is the year.
Blessing
the Chalk
V. Our help is the name of the Lord:R. The maker of heaven and earth.
V. The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in:
R. From this time forth for evermore.
Let us pray.
Instructions
for Blessing the Home
20 + C + M + B + 18 while saying:
The three Wise Men, Caspar,
Melchior, and Balthazar followed the star of God’s Son who became human two
thousand and sixteen years ago. May Christ bless our home and remain with us
throughout the New Year. Amen.
Then offer the following prayer: Visit,
O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who
live or visit here with the gift of your love; and grant that we may manifest
your love to each other and to all whose lives we touch. May we grow in grace
and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen us in
peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen
“Chalking the door” is a way to
celebrate and literally mark the occasion of the Epiphany and God’s blessing of
our lives and home. With time the chalk will fade. As it does we let the
meaning of the symbols written sink into the depths of our heart and be
manifest in our words and actions the Latin words, Christus mansionem
benedictat, “May Christ bless the house.”
Whoever
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the
love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to
perfection among us, that we have confidence on the Day of Judgment because as
he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one
who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he
first loved us. (1 Jn 4:15-19)
49
Godly Character Traits[6]
During
this Christmas season let us take up the nature of God by reflecting on these
traits that make us a model for our children and our sisters and brothers in
Christ. Today reflect on:
Security vs.
Anxiety
Structuring my life around that which is eternal and cannot be destroyed or taken away (John 6:27)
2207 The
family is the original cell of
social life. It is the natural society in which
husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life.
Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute
the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The
family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values,
begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation
into life in society.
2310
Public authorities, in this case,
have the right and duty to impose on citizens the obligations necessary for
national defense.
Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed
forces are servants of the security and freedom of nations. If they carry out
their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation
and the maintenance of peace.
2547 The
Lord grieves over the rich, because they find their consolation in the
abundance of goods. "Let the proud seek and love earthly kingdoms, but
blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."
Abandonment to the providence of the Father in heaven frees us from anxiety
about tomorrow. Trust in God is a preparation for the blessedness of the poor.
They shall see God.
Daily
Devotions
·
Please pray for me and
this ministry
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