DAY 40 - MARY, QUEEN OF APOSTLES, PRAY FOR US
DIVINE CONNECTION
PRAY A ROSARY
- Rosary of the Day: Sorrowful Mysteries
- Traditional 54 Day Rotation: Joyful Mysteries
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Ember Friday of the Third Week of Advent
FEAST OF THE EXPECTENCY
And
by FAITH in his name, this man, whom
you see and know, his name has made strong, and the FAITH that comes through it has given him this perfect health, in
the presence of all of you.
Peter
at the beginning of Christ’s approach to him said Lord Leave me for I am a
sinful man-and he was. Notice that after the resurrection Peter was changed and
now took on the work of Christ. We are all sinners we are all lame as the man
in this verse but by faith we can do the work of Christ and He will change us.
Demonstration
+ Proclamation = Credibility[1]
After
Pentecost when the apostle received the Holy Spirit, they started to build the
church: The Kingdom of God. Peter and John encountered a lame man on their way
to temple. Using only the name of Jesus they healed the man and they gained
credibility because they did what they said, “they walked the talk.” As their
credibility grew so did the church. Note how Acts 3 (Acts 3:1-26) describes
these leaders:
1.
They
faithfully did what they knew to do.
2.
They
stopped and sensitively addressed needs.
3.
They
had courage to face problems.
4.
Others
anticipated receiving solutions from them.
5.
They
realistically admitted their lack of material resources.
6.
They
generously gave away their spiritual resources.
7.
They
solved practical problems.
8.
They
gained credibility through demonstration, not just proclamation.
9.
Peter’s
demonstration gave him a platform and a convincing argument.
Eyes of Faith[2]
Many of us today are still enthralled to a Deist view of God,
whereby God is a distant and aloof first cause of the universe, uninvolved with
the world he has made. But Thomas Aquinas taught that God is in all things,
"by essence, presence, and power" and that God providentially cares
for every aspect of his creation. Therefore, we should expect to see signs of
his presence and activity in nature, in history, and in human affairs.
And once we see, we are meant to speak! In a way, followers of Jesus are not
looking at the signs of the times for their own benefit, but rather that they
might share their prophetic perspective with everyone else. So, look around,
look with attention, look with the eyes of faith!
Amoris Lætitia[3]
the Transformation of Love (163-164)
Longer
life spans now mean that close and exclusive relationships must last for four, five or even six decades; consequently, the
initial decision has to be frequently renewed. While one of the spouses may no
longer experience an intense sexual desire for the other, he or she may still
experience the pleasure of mutual belonging and the knowledge that neither of
them is alone but has a “partner” with whom everything in life is shared. He or
she is a companion on life’s journey, one with whom to face life’s difficulties
and enjoy its pleasures. This satisfaction is part of the affection proper to
conjugal love. There is no guarantee that we will feel the same way all through
life.
Yet if a couple can come up with a
shared and lasting life project, they can love one another and live as one
until death do them part, enjoying an enriching intimacy. The love they pledge is greater than
any emotion, feeling or state of mind, although it may include all of these. It
is a deeper love, a lifelong decision of the heart. Even amid unresolved
conflicts and confused emotional situations, they daily reaffirm their decision
to love, to belong to one another, to share their lives and to continue loving
and forgiving. Each progresses along the path of personal growth and
development. On this journey, love rejoices at every step and in every new
stage. In the course of every marriage physical appearances change, but this
hardly means that love and attraction need fade. We love the other person for
who they are, not simply for their body. Although the body ages, it still
expresses that personal identity that first won our heart. Even if others can no
longer see the beauty of that identity, a spouse continues to see it with the
eyes of love and so his or her affection does not diminish. He or she reaffirms
the decision to belong to the other and expresses that choice in faithful and
loving closeness.
The
nobility of this decision, by its intensity and depth, gives rise to a new kind
of emotion as they fulfill their marital mission. For “emotion, caused by
another human being as a person… does not per se tend toward the conjugal act”.
It finds other sensible expressions. Indeed, love “is a single reality, but
with different dimensions; at different times, one or other dimension may
emerge more clearly”. The marriage bond finds new forms of expression and
constantly seeks new ways to grow in strength. These both preserve and
strengthen the bond. They call for daily effort. None of this, however, is
possible without praying to the Holy Spirit for an outpouring of his grace, his
supernatural strength and his spiritual fire, to confirm, direct and transform
our love in every new situation.
Ember Friday of Advent.[4] Commemoration of the Visitation.
Mary visits her relative Elizabeth;
they are both pregnant: Mary with Jesus, and Elizabeth with John the Baptist.
Mary left Nazareth immediately after the Annunciation and went "into the hill
country ... into a city of Judah" (Luke 1:39) to attend to her cousin (Luke 1:36) Elizabeth. There are several
possibilities as to exactly which city this was, including Hebron, south of Jerusalem, and Ein Karem. The journey from Nazareth to
Hebron is about 130 kilometers (81 mi) in a direct line, probably up to
half as far again by road, depending on the route taken. Elizabeth was in the
sixth month before Mary came (Luke 1:36). Mary stayed three months, and
most scholars hold she stayed for the birth of John. Given the prevailing
cultural traditions and needs for security, it is probable that Joseph accompanied Mary to Judah then
returned to Nazareth, and came again after three months to take his wife home.
The apparition of the angel, mentioned in Matthew 1:19–25, may have taken place
then to end the tormenting doubts of Joseph regarding Mary's maternity.
In the Gospel of Luke, the author's accounts of the Annunciation
and Visitation are constructed using eight points of literary parallelism to
compare Mary to the Ark of the Covenant.
Some Catholic
commentators have maintained that the purpose of this visit was to bring divine grace
to both Elizabeth and her unborn child. Even though he was still in his
mother's womb, John became aware of the presence of Christ, and leapt for joy
as he was cleansed from original sin
and filled with divine grace. Elizabeth also responded and recognized the
presence of Jesus, and thus Mary exercised her function as mediatrix
between God and man for the first time.
And she [Elizabeth] spoke out with
a loud voice, and said, "Blessed [art] thou among women, and blessed [is]
the fruit of thy womb. And whence [is] this to me, that the mother of my Lord
should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in
mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed [is] she that
believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her
from the Lord." (Luke 1:42–45)
In response to Elizabeth, Mary
proclaims the Magnificat (My soul doth magnify the Lord) Luke 1:46–55.
The word "blessed" is
rendered in Greek not by the word "Makarios" but as
"evlogimeni", which is the feminine second person singular, used only
this once in the New Testament. Its masculine third person singular counterpart
"evlogimenos" is used only for Jesus and only on this occasion and
when he was welcomed into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with: "Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord". The masculine/mixed gender third
person plural "evlogimenoi" is used by Jesus only when referring to
the righteous who are to be raised to life in the Last Judgement.
Ember days-wintertime[5]
Psalm 147:12, 16-17
"Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion. Who giveth snow
like wool: scattereth mists like ashes? He sendeth his crystal-like morsels:
who shall stand before the face of his cold?"
Winter is a time of
reflection, when human activity is stilled, and snow blankets the world with
silence. For the Christian, Winter symbolizes Hope: though the world now
appears lifeless and makes us think of our own mortality, we hope in our
resurrection because of the Resurrection of the One Whose Nativity we await
now. How providential that the Christ Child will be born at the beginning of
this icy season, bringing with Him all the hope of Spring! Also among our
Winter feasts are the Epiphany and
Candlemas,
two of the loveliest days of the year, the first evoked by water, incense, and
gold; the latter by fire...Yes, despite the typical, unimaginative view of
Winter as a long bout with misery, the season is among the most beautiful and
filled with charms. The ephemeral beauty of a single snowflake... the pale blue
tint of sky reflected in snow that glitters, and gives way with a satisfying
crunch under foot... skeletal trees entombed in crystal, white as bones, cold
as death, creaking under the weight of their icy shrouds... the wonderful
feeling of being inside, next to a fire, while the winds whirl outside... the
smell of burning wood mingled with evergreen... warm hands embracing your
wind-bitten ones... the brilliant colors of certain winter birds, so shocking
against the ocean of white... the wonderfully long nights which lend themselves
to a sense of intimacy and quiet! Go outside and look at the clear Winter skies
ruled by Taurus, with the Pleiades on its shoulder and Orion nearby... Such
beauty! Even if you are not a "winter person," consider that
Shakespeare had the right idea when he wrote in "Love's Labor’s
Lost":
Why
should proud summer boast
Before the birds have any cause to sing?
Why should I joy in an abortive birth?
At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
Feast of the Expectancy[6]
This feast, which in recent times has been kept not only throughout
the whole of Spain, but also in many other parts of the Catholic world, owes
its origin to the bishops of the 10th Council of Toledo, in 656. These prelates
thought that there was an incongruity in the ancient practice of celebrating
the Feast of the Annunciation on the 25th of March, inasmuch as this joyful
solemnity frequently occurs at the time when the Church is intent upon the
Passion of Our Lord, so that it is sometimes obliged to be transferred into
Easter time, with which it is out of harmony for another reason. They therefore
decreed that, henceforth, in the Church of Spain there should be kept, eight
days before Christmas, a solemn Feast with an octave, in honor of the
Annunciation, and as a preparation for the great solemnity of Our Lord's
Nativity.
In the course of time, however, the Church of Spain saw the
necessity of returning to the practice of the Church of Rome and of the whole
world, which solemnize the 25th of March as the day of Our Lady's Annunciation
and the Incarnation of the Son of God. But such had been, for ages, the
devotion of the people for the Feast of the 18th of December, that it was
considered requisite to maintain some vestige of it. They discontinued,
therefore, to celebrate the Annunciation on this day; but the faithful were
requested to consider, with devotion, what must have been the sentiments of the
Holy Mother of God during the days immediately preceding Her giving Him birth.
A new Feast was instituted, under the name of "the Expectation of the
Blessed Virgin's Delivery."
This Feast, which sometimes goes under the name of Our Lady of O,
or the Feast of O, on account of the great antiphons which are sung
during these days, and, in a special manner, of that which begins O Virgo
virginum (which is still used in the Vespers of the Expectation—together
with the O Adonai, the antiphon of the Advent Office), was kept with
great devotion in Spain. A High Mass was sung at a very early hour each morning
during the octave, at which all who were with child, whether rich or poor,
considered it a duty to assist, that they might thus honor Our Lady's
Maternity, and beg Her blessing upon themselves.
It is no wonder that the Holy See approved of this pious practice
being introduced into almost every other country. We find that the Church of
Milan, Whose Advent fast lasted 40 days, long before Rome conceded this Feast
to the various dioceses of Christendom, celebrated the Office of Our Lady's
Annunciation on the sixth and last Sunday of Advent, and called the whole week
following the Hebdomada de Exceptato (for thus the popular expression
had corrupted the word Expectato). But it, too, has given way to the
Feast of Our Lady's Expectation, which the Church has established and
sanctioned as a means of exciting the attention of the faithful during these
last days of Advent.
Most just indeed it is, O Holy Mother of God, that we should unite
in that ardent desire Thou hadst to see Him, Who had been concealed for nine
months in Thy chaste womb; to know the features of this Son of the Heavenly
Father, Who is also Thine; to come to that blissful hour of His birth, which
will give glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men of good will.
Yes, dearest Mother, the time is fast approaching, though not fast enough to
satisfy Thy desires and ours. Make us redouble our attention to the great
mystery; complete our preparation by Thy powerful prayers for us, that when the
solemn hour has come, our Jesus may find no obstacle to His entrance into our
hearts.
O Virgin of virgins! How shall this be? For never was there one
like Thee, nor will there ever be. Ye daughters of Jerusalem, why look ye
wondering at Me? What you behold is a divine mystery.
Come
and redeem us with outstretched arm.
O Lord and Ruler of the House of
Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the
law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.
·
As
Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form
of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling
down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am." "Come with an
outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the
second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us
plentiful redemption.[7]
Spiritual Crib[8]
A special devotion that can be performed during Advent to prepare for the coming of the Infant Savior. It can be adapted for adults and/or children and applied as is appropriate to your state in life.
·
8th day, December 18th THE MULE—Patience To practice this virtue, we must complain of no
one or nothing. No shade of impatience should be seen on our countenance, nor
an impatient word heard. Be brave. The Infant Jesus suffered much more for you.
Daily Devotions
·
Jesse
Tree ornament: Jesus is Lord: Ex. 3:2; 20:1 Symbols: burning bush, stone
tablets
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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