First Sunday after Christmas
HOLY FAMILY-ST.
THOMAS BECKET-PEPPER POT DAY
Matthew, Chapter 2, Verse 21-22
21 He rose, took the child and his
mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus
was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there. And
because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee.
To Joseph the gift of dreams and visions was given but
to some is giving the gift of tongues. To which many years ago (40 to be exact
February 1975) at the birth of my first-born daughter I had gone to the
Gunpowder Inn, in Bermuda, to celebrate her birth, with a couple
of Native American friends. At the time I was in the Navy Seabees and we worked
together.
When I had got there, all of the sudden, I got an
overwhelming feeling that I needed to speak in tongues to P. Graves and I did. I
felt stupid and fearful, but I spoke to him in languages I knew not and used
sign, too. He told me I used 800-year-old languages that only a handful
of people knew. The simple message from Christ was that he (P. Graves) who was
the last living war chief of the Blackfoot tribe was not to assume his
chieftainship and to let his son become chief or otherwise there would be much
blood.
I never heard from P. Graves again after 1974 but as
far as I know; no Blackfoot, has participated in any Wounded Knee violence.
Wounded
Knee: Trouble Continues at Pine Ridge
“The
troubles at Wounded Knee were not over after the siege. A virtual civil war
broke out between the opposing Indian factions on the Pine Ridge reservation,
and a series of beatings, shootings and murders left more than 100 Indians
dead. When two FBI agents were killed in a 1975 gunfight, the agency raided the
reservation and arrested AIM leader Leonard Peltier for the crime. The FBI
crackdown coupled with AIM’s own excesses ended its influence at Pine Ridge. In
1977, Peltier was convicted of killing the two FBI agents and sentenced to life
in prison. To this day, Peltier’s supporters continue to maintain his innocence
and seek a presidential pardon for him.”[1]
The annual Holy
Childhood procession, on the feast of the Holy Family, is one of the most
attractive ceremonies. In former years this procession was called the
"Shepherds' Procession" as the children marched through the church
dressed as shepherds and shepherdesses -- a lovely relic of popular medieval
piety (Holy Trinity Parish, 1844-1944, p. 37).
This feast is also an
ideal time to pray any of the devotions to the Holy Family that are given in
the Raccolta, the Church's old official list of indulgences. The
fact that many of these prayers are no longer indulgenced does not make them
any less meaningful or worthy of use. Let
us reflect that the Holy family was holy because of how they interacted with
each other and the world. A good practice during the twelve nights of Christmas would be to turn off the TV and to rest and have joyful prayer with the family. It is good to remember that Christ’s primary teachers in the faith were Joseph and Mary. We also should remember to not rely on schools to bring up our children in devotion to the Lord and that we are the primary teachers of Faith, Hope and Love in our families.
Things to
Do[3]
·
Let
us imitate the Holy Family in our Christian families, and our family will be a
stronghold and a prefiguration of the heavenly family. Say a prayer dedicating
your family to the Holy Family. Also pray for all families and for our country
to uphold the sanctity of the marriage bond which is under attack.
·
Read
more about Pope
Leo XIII
who instituted the Feast of the Holy Family and read his encyclical On
Christian Marriage.
You can also check out the Vatican's page of Papal
documents on the Family.
·
Read
the explanation of Jesus' knowledge in the activities section. Read Pope Pius X's
Syllabus of Errors which condemns
the modernist assertion that Christ did not always possess the consciousness of
His Messianic dignity.
·
Have
the whole family participate in cooking dinner. You might try a Lebanese meal.
Some suggestions: stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage rolls, lentils and
rice, spinach and meat pies, chicken and dumplings, hummus, Lebanese bread,
tabbouleh — a Lebanese salad and kibbi, a traditional Lebanese dish of
specially ground meat mixed with spices and cracked wheat. This is the same
kind of food that Mary served Jesus and St. Joseph. It's healthy and delicious.
Read: Today, we honor the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and
Joseph. Take time to read Pope
Francis's homily on the Feast of the Holy Family in 2014. The ideas and
messages he presented are still relevant today.
Reflect: "Christmas celebrates the fruit of Mary
and Joseph's trust in God. The long-awaited Messiah, sent to save us from our
sins and win back the eternal blessedness lost by Adam's sin, is born. The Son
of God is like us in all things but sin. We learn from the Incarnation that our
success is in God's hands. Without the Father's love, we would be lost for all
eternity. Mary and Joseph sacrificed greatly to make the arduous journey to
Bethlehem, to obey God's directive to flee into Egypt, and to go to Nazareth to
raise Jesus. Ambiguity, uncertainty, and brokenness touched the Holy Family.
Their lives teach us that we cannot understand God's designs. This wonderful
lesson urges parents to put their families in God's hands and trust that their
efforts will bear fruit. Faithful parents are examples for us, single or
married. We, too, are to put ourselves in God's hands. In so doing, God's grace
helps us realize better the depths of who we are and what we are called to
become."
Pray: Pray for families.
Act: "A few minutes can be found each day to come
together before the living God, to tell him our worries, to ask for the needs
of our family, to pray for someone experiencing difficulty, to ask for help in
showing love, to give thanks for life and for its blessings, and to ask Our
Lady to protect us beneath her maternal mantle." —Pope Francis,
Amoris Laetitia, no. 318
At the start of this
New Year, make a commitment to pray together as a family every day.
St. Thomas
Becket
St. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, suffered martyrdom by the king's men in 1170 on this day.
There is an excellent movie about his life “Becket” if you have time to watch
tonight which stars Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. Becket was a man of
strength.
Things to
Do[5]
·
Read
more about this historical event. For some web sources see The Murder of
Thomas Becket, 1170,
and more information on Henry II. Watch this You
Tube video of Canterbury
Cathedral.
·
Some
wonderful literature is based on this saint. Canterbury Tales by
Geoffrey Chaucer (1342 - 1400) follows a group of 30 pilgrims traveling to the
Canterbury Cathedral, the pilgrimage spot of St. Thomas Becket. T. S. Eliot
wrote a play called Murder in the Cathedral based on St. Thomas' murder.
·
Today
would be a good time to gather with family and friends enjoy some Christmas
goodies and spend an evening singing Christmas carols.
o
The
saints who are assigned immediately following Christmas are honored because of
their special connection with Christ. December 29, the Feast of Saint Thomas
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was martyred in his cathedral by the
soldiers of Henry II in 1170, is the true anniversary date of his death.
Because of the great shock and sensation that this martyrdom caused at a time
when all of Europe was Catholic, the Roman authorities, in the thirteenth
century, deemed it appropriate to assign the celebration of his feast within
the privileged days of Christmas week, thus adding him to the group of
"Christ's nobility."
o
In
the Middle Ages, Christmas week also assumed the note of a hallowed time within
the homes of the faithful. Many observances of a religious character were
introduced locally and spread over large sections of the Christian population
of Europe. For the farmers and their animals, it was a time of rest and
relaxation from laborious work; only the necessary chores were done in stable
and barn. Thus, the whole week became a series of holidays. More time than
usual was spent on prayer and religious exercises. It is still the custom in
many sections of Europe to light the candles of the Christmas tree every night
while the whole family says the rosary or performs some other devotion,
followed by the singing of carols.
o
Carol
singing from house to house is an ancient tradition in central Europe on the
twelve nights between Christmas and Epiphany. The Poles call these nights the
"Holy Evenings" (Stoiete Wieczory). Another widespread
practice is the performance of religious plays portraying events of the
Christmas story (such as the Nativity, the visit of the Magi, the flight into
Egypt, and the massacre of Bethlehem). In southern Germany and Austria many
such plays are still performed in rural communities. Among the northern Slavs
(Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks) a puppet theater (szopka) is in
vogue; its religious scenes alternate with secular dramatic exhibits. In the
cities of Poland children put on Christmas dramas (jaselka). A similar
performance (Bethlehemes jatek) is done by children in Hungary; a
representation of the manger is carried from house to house, little dramatic
plays are enacted, and carols sung.
Read about St. Thomas Becket, once a royal chancellor of England. He
was slain in his own cathedral for defending the Church from interference by
King Henry II.
Reflect: Christ's kingdom is already present, but it is
not yet fulfilled. The destruction of the last enemy, death, is still to come,
and then, says St. Paul, God will "be all in all." This is why we
pray "Thy kingdom come." When we pray "Thy kingdom come,"
we are praying for a kingdom of truth, life, holiness, grace, justice, love,
and peace. Yet, let us also remember that for the sake of this kingdom many of
our sisters and brothers are suffering persecution.
Pray: Becket gave up his life for the sake of justice.
Pray today for the many Christians who still face persecution and death because
of their faith.
Act: Take time to pray the Rosary for justice and peace today.
Pepper Pot, a thick and spicy soup that is an American staple dish, especially in the southern regions of the United States. What is Pepper Pot? Well, it’s a soup that contains twelve different ingredients. Now that we know the ingredients for the Pepper Pot, let us look into the history of the day named for it, Pepper Pot Day, shall we? In the modern world of today, Pepper Pot Soup has many, many variations to it. But the soups true origins began on December 29th of 1777 during the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army had been experiencing an exceptionally harsh winter during the battle of Valley Forge. The soldiers were low on food because the farmers in the area had gone and sold all their supplies to the British Army for cash rather than the weak currency that the Continental soldiers could offer them for their crops. Christopher Ludwick, a baker general of the Continental Army, gathered whatever food he could scrounge together to feed the cold and frail soldiers. The chef was able to find scraps of tripe, meat, and some peppercorn. He then mixed the ingredients together with some other seasonings and created the hot, thick, and spicy soup we now know as pepper pot soup. It quickly became known as “the soup that won the war.” The soup gave the soldiers the warmth and strength that they needed to push the enemies back through the harsh winter weather.
How
to celebrate Pepper Pot Day
Five
Golden Rings
Today is the 5th day of
Christmas the Five Golden Rings represent the five books of the
"Pentateuch" [Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy].
Daily
Devotions
·
Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving
your day to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after SUNSET ON SATURDAY till
Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
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