Monday, December 9, 2024

Christopher’s Corner

· Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels

Ballet Arizona takes the Symphony Hall stage in grand fashion with this holiday classic. Celebrate the joy and wonder of the season with Andersen’s The Nutcracker as Tchaikovsky’s cherished score is masterfully performed by The Phoenix Symphony. Follow Clara’s wintry adventures as she battles mischievous mice and charms the Sugar Plum Fairy. Whether this is your first Nutcracker or your 101^st, this heartwarming tradition never fails to enchant and draw smiles from all!

· Kirk Douglas' birthday, 1916 Died aged: 103 years, 1 month, 27 days

· How to celebrate Dec 9th

· Wake up to a day filled with surprises. Begin by whipping up some delicious pastries for breakfast to celebrate National Pastry Day. Dive into the world of techno music, cranking up your favorite beats while getting ready for the day ahead. Embrace sustainability by participating in Green Monday—opt for plant-based meals and reduce waste wherever possible.

· Take a moment to appreciate the charm of llamas on National Llama Day—watch videos online, or visit a local farm if one is nearby. Share some laughter by creating and sending out Christmas cards to loved ones. Show gratitude for our furry friends by learning more about veterinary medicine on its international day.

· Fight against corruption by staying informed and engaging in discussions on International Anti-Corruption Day. Reflect on the struggles of others on Weary Willie Day, and consider donating to a local shelter or volunteering your time. Snack on Opal apples while learning about new recipes or apple-related crafts.

· Lastly, honor the lives lost to genocide and champion the prevention of future atrocities on Genocide Prevention Day. Take a moment of silence to remember, then educate yourself on global issues and organizations working towards justice and peace. Enjoy this diverse and meaningful day, embracing each theme in your own way.

33 days to Christmas-Start the 33 days to Eucharistic Glory[9]

Want to start a small group? Download our 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory Study Guide

Day 12

On this 12^th day, find purpose via a heart filled with the desire for holiness to build the Kingdom of God

Copilot:

Finding purpose through a heart filled with the desire for holiness is a profound journey that aligns you with God's will and contributes to building His Kingdom. Here are some ways to cultivate this desire and live out your purpose:

Embrace Holiness

1. Daily Prayer: Begin and end each day with prayer, seeking God's guidance and expressing your desire for holiness.

2. Scripture Study: Regularly read the Bible to deepen your understanding of God's word and His call to holiness.

3. Sacraments: Participate in the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist and Confession, to receive grace and strengthen your resolve.

Live with Intention

1. Acts of Kindness: Perform acts of kindness and service, seeing each action as a way to build God's Kingdom.

2. Moral Integrity: Strive to live with integrity, making choices that reflect your commitment to holiness.

Cultivate Community

1. Fellowship: Engage with a faith community for support, encouragement, and accountability.

2. Mentorship: Seek guidance from spiritual mentors who can help you grow in holiness.

Reflect and Renew

1. Meditation: Spend time in silent meditation, focusing on God's presence and your desire for holiness.

2. Examination of Conscience: Regularly examine your actions and intentions, seeking areas for growth and improvement.

DECEMBER 9 Monday-Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception

FEAST OF JUAN DIEGO-Christmas Card Day

Monday Night at the Movies

Nicholas Ray, King of Kings, 1961.

Judith, Chapter 5, Verse 23

“We are not AFRAID of the Israelites,” they said, “for they are a powerless people, incapable of a strong defense.

Such is the mindset of bullies. I remember as a child I got my first lesson in why one should avoid such mentalities. As a child we had a rough and tumbling playground and mayhem during recess was the order of the day. As a child during recess, one needed to run and make up for all the mind-numbing instructions of our dedicated teachers. One such game was called North and South. In this game we would line up and charge each other and attack. The North I joined, and we all lined up for the melee. Almost as one all at once we started running and they started running as we came closer, I got a little frightened but then I saw a little guy that looked pretty powerless and came on strong. As I was about to knock him down and trample or tackle him when suddenly he grabbed my wrist and using my weight and energy swung me around three times and then let me fly. I landed hard and crumpled in the dust. Lesson learned don’t be a bully or underestimate the powerless.

Today just like in Judith’s time the Israelites refused to be a refugee and stood their ground; just like the little guy that used my own energy and power to defeat me even though I was twice his size. Israel was different for they knew that if they were faithful to God; ultimately, they would win the war.

Bullying[1]

If you’re being bullied

· Speak up – Tell someone what’s happening – your parents, an older brother or sister, your grand- parents, teacher, school chaplain, a friend!

· Chin up – Don’t let the bullies see you’re upset. But be careful about taking them on, as you could be injured (or accused of being a bully yourself)

· Join up – Don’t believe that everyone is against you. It’s not true. Persevere with making your own friends.

If you know someone who’s being bullied

· Speak up – Don’t let someone suffer because you won’t do the right thing. If you can’t challenge the bully, tell a responsible adult.

· Link up – Talk to your friends about what’s going on. Agree that you won’t stand idly by. Unity is strength.

· Meet up – Show your support for the person being bullied. Include her/him in your activities. Give them a chance.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception[2]

Moved to Monday this year due to the 8^th was a Sunday

This is the plan of the Fathers salvation of man. The spiritual blessings we have received through Christ are the call to holiness; the gift of divine adoption establishing a unique spiritual relationship with God the Father through Christ; liberation from sin through Christ’s sacrificial death; revelation of God’s plan of salvation in Christ; the gift of election and faith in Christ bestowed upon Jewish Christians; and finally, the same gift granted to Gentiles. In the Christ-centered faith and existence of the Christian communities the apostle sees the predetermined plan of God to bring all creation under the final rule of Christ being made known and carried through, to God’s glory.

Darkest Hour[3]

Mary as the new Eve is an essential part of God’s redemptive plan bringing light to a dark world.

The season of Advent is about preparing to celebrate the birth of our redeemer. God in his love has chosen us, predestined us to be his children and then in the fullness of time, redeemed us.

These are our darkest afternoons. But surprise! For most of us, December 8, will bring the turnaround. It’s a major winter milestone: the day of our earliest sunset. This puzzles people, but in fact it’s a reliable yearly sequence. First comes earliest sunset, this week. Then there’s the solstice half a month later, the day with the fewest minutes of daylight. Finally, another two weeks later, in early January, we get our murkiest morning—the latest sunrise. So, we’re now slam bang at the low point of afternoon sunshine. And since far more people are awake and aware of things at 4:30 PM than they are at 6 in the morning, in a very real sense you can forget about the solstice and the “official” shortest day of the year. So far as what most folks actually experience, NOW is the darkest time of the year.

Mary who was conceived without sin on the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception is our example of courage in the presence of God and His angels. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. (Luke 1:30-31)

ON this and the following eight days the Church celebrates, with particular solemnity, the immaculate conception of the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, who, from all eternity, was chosen to be the daughter of the heavenly Father, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Mother of the divine Redeemer, and, by consequence, the queen of angels and of men. The consideration of these prerogatives convinced the most enlightened fathers and teachers of the Catholic Church that she was conceived immaculate, that is, without original sin. It is very remarkable that among the shining hosts of saints who have, in every century, adorned the Church no one wrote against this belief, while we find it confirmed by the decisions of the holy fathers from the earliest times. Pope Pius IX., forced, as it were, by the faith and devotion of the faithful throughout the world, finally, on December 8, 1854, sanctioned, as a dogma of faith falling within the infallible rule of Catholic traditions, this admirable prerogative of the Blessed Virgin. It is, therefore, now no longer, as formerly, a pious belief, but an article of faith, that Mary, like the purest morning light which precedes the rising of the most brilliant sun, was, from the first instant of her conception, free from original sin.

DECEMBER 8. ON this and the following eight days the Church celebrates, with particular solemnity, the immaculate conception of the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, who, from all eternity, was chosen to be the daughter of the heavenly Father, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Mother of the divine Redeemer, and, by consequence, the queen of angels and of men. The consideration of these prerogatives convinced the most enlightened fathers and teachers of the Catholic Church that she was conceived immaculate, that is, without original sin. It is very re markable that among the shining hosts of saints who have, in every century, adorned the Church no one wrote against this belief, while we find it confirmed by the decisions of the holy fathers from the earliest times. Pope Pius IX., forced, as it were, by the faith and devotion of the faithful throughout the world, finally, on December 8, 1854, sanctioned, as a dogma of faith falling within the infallible rule of Catholic traditions, this admirable prerogative of the Blessed Virgin. It is, therefore, now no longer, as formerly, a pious belief, but an article of the faith, that Mary, like the purest morning light which precedes the rising of the most brilliant sun, was, from the first instant of her conception, free from original sin. In the Introit of the Mass the Church sings: “Hail, holy parent, who as a happy mother brought forth the King Who rules heaven and earth from eternity to eternity.” “My heart hath uttered a good, I speak my works to the King.”

Prayer.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, to bestow on Thy servants the gift of heavenly grace, that, for those to whom the Blessed Virgin’s maternity was the beginning of salvation, the votive solemnity of her immaculate conception may procure increase of peace. Amen.

EPISTLE. Prov. viii. 22-35.

The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His ways, before lie made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out: the mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth: He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass He enclosed the depths: when He established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: when He compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when He balanced the foundations of the earth, I was with Him forming all things ; and was delighted every day, playing before Him at all times; playing in the world, and My delights were to be with the children of men. Now, therefore, ye children, hear Me: Blessed are they that keep My ways. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth Me, and that watcheth daily at My gates, and waiteth at the posts of My doors. He that shall find Me shall find life and shall have salvation from the Lord.

Explanation.

This lesson is, in the literal sense, a eulogy on the divine and uncreated wisdom, which before all things was in God; through which all things were made, disposed, and preserved; which rejoices in its works, and calls upon all its creatures, especially on men, to render to it love and obedience. Most of what is here said is also to be applied to Mary, of whom it may with truth be said that, as the holiest and most admirable of all creatures, she occupies the first place in the heart of God.

Therefore, the Church also refers to her those words of the wise man: “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first born of all creatures.”

GOSPEL. Luke i. 26-28.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace: the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Immaculate Conception Facts[4]

· God gave Mary a pure soul incapable of sinning when she was received. It prepared her to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. This teaching does not appear in Scripture. It was decreed by Pope Pious IX on December 8, 1854.

· Our Holy Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness for the United States - as decreed by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

· Our Mother Mary is full of beauty because she is full of grace. - Pope Francis via twitter on Dec 30, 2013.

· The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin. - Catechism of the Catholic Church

Immaculate Conception Top Events and Things to Do

· Go to Mass. It is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in the United States.

· Study the Immaculate Conception in art. One famous painting, The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception was completed by Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo in the 17th century. It hangs in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

· Watch the movie, Mary of Nazareth (2013)

More Things to Do[5]

· The dogma of the Immaculate Conception lends itself to fruitful meditation and should be taught to children. The doctrine of original sin, the sin of Adam and its effects on the human race, is a good beginning for study. For the best explanation of the teachings of the Church on this, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbers 386-412. Also you might read Pope Piux IX's bull, Ubi Primum (On The Immaculate Conception) proclaiming the Immaculate Conception as a dogma of Faith. Other reading from the Catholic Culture Library:

o Apostolic Constitution The Immaculate Conception (Ineffabilis Deus) by Pius IX;

o Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum (On The Immaculate Conception) by Pius X;

o Fulgens Corona (Proclaiming A Marian Year To Commemorate The Centenary Of The Definition Of The Dogma Of The Immaculate Conception) by Pope Pius XII;

o On Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marialis Cultus) by Pope Paul VI;

o Immaculate Conception Defined by Pius IX by Pope John Paul II;

o John Duns Scotus: Champion of the Immaculate Conception by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.;

o The Message of the Virgin of Lourdes by Bishop Donald Montrose, D.D.;

o The Immaculate Conception by Abbot Gueranger

· Mary as the Immaculate Conception is the patroness of the United States. Visit or take a virtual tour of the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, America's patronal church.

· This day would also be appropriate for parents to plan their approach on family sex education, as it is the privilege and duty of parents to teach their own children in this area.

· Make a Mary candle for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. See Celebrating for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception for details and other ideas.

· Prepare an all-white meal for dinner and then discuss with your children the dogma of the Immaculate Conception with the visual aids of dinner showing the purity and the stainlessness of Mary's soul. Read Teaching the Immaculate Conception and Advent and the Immaculate Conception for discussion ideas.

Ideas for dinner:

Appetizers: Rice crackers and white cheeses;
Soups: cream soups, such as clam chowder, potato soup, cream of celery;
Main Course: chicken breasts, pasta with alfredo sauce;
Side Dishes: mashed potatoes, white rice, cauliflower with (or without) white cheese sauce, white bread (with crusts removed), white corn;
Dessert: White cake with white icing, meringue kisses, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, white chocolate.

· The special treat for this feast is Moravian Spritz, or gingerbread cookies, loaded with fine, aromatic spices. These are mixed on the vigil, December 7. Or make your favorite gingerbread cookie. Perhaps for this solemnity the family could make a gingerbread house or Gingerbread Bowls.

· Today, plant an Immaculate Conception Rose Bush. During this winter season, it is also a good time to plan a Mary Garden. Flower Theology by John Stokes, the website Mary's Gardens and the book Mary's Flowers, Gardens, Legends and Meditations by Mary's Gardens Associate, Vincenzina Krymow, are good beginnings for planning your garden.

· No room for a garden? No time to nurture nature? Read Flowers for the Fairest by Daniel Foley to read about flowers appropriate for Our Lady, and purchase a small bouquet or a few flowers...real or silk to display for feasts of Mary.

Why Is the Octave of the Immaculate Conception No Longer Observed?[6]

On this octave day of the Immaculate Conception, it occurred to me that it was in 1956, six years before the Missal of 1962 was promulgated by Pope John XXIII, that the Feast of the Immaculate Conception lost its octave and became a feast celebrated in the course of one day.

A similar simplification occurred in 1955, when Pope Pius XII accepted the suggestions of Fr. Annibale Bugnini concerning the reform of Holy Week. Seven years later, Pope John XXIII himself would accept the suggestions of the same Fr. Bugnini to simplify Catholic pious devotions and remove the octaves from the Church calendar.

Why did John XXIII agree to Bugnini’s proposition to reform this feast of the Immaculate Conception?

Several answers can be given to this question. Here I want to stress just one point that I present as a hypothesis. The answer seems related to the fact that John XXIII also failed to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart even though he knew he should do so. That was in 1960 after the Pope read the Third Secret and decided that “it was not for our time,” even though Our Lady had explicitly asked the Pope to make it known at that time. There is more that could be said but others have addressed the issue of Fatima in great detail, so I will not repeat what they have already written.

I think that when we disobey the will of God, we receive a curse from God rather than a blessing. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that when a person receives such a curse, God allows increased demonic activity and influence in his life, or if it happens to be a Pope in question, that demonic power would extend to the Church and the world.

At La Salette, Our Lady told Melanie that in the 1840s Satan and some of the other most powerful devils were released from Hell to punish mankind for sins committed.

Bugnini, proposed the octave be eliminated; John XXIII agreed: This fact was confirmed in a revelation received by Pope Leo XIII more than a half century later. After Mass one day, he had a vision of the confrontation between Jesus and Satan. The latter boasted that he could destroy Christ's Church if he were only given more time, which was granted to him. Shortly after this vision, the Holy Pontiff composed the St. Michael prayer [click here] as well as wrote several encyclicals on the Rosary. He also ordered that the St. Michael prayer, in addition to three Hail Mary’s, the Hail Holy Queen, and a prayer for the Church should be prayed at the end of every Mass for the conversion of sinners. These prayers were made optional in 1962 and abolished in 1965.

Where disobedience increases, degeneration increases, and as Fr. Patrick Perez pointed out in a recent talk in Indianapolis for the Catholic Family News Conference, this corrosion of the liturgy did not begin in 1969 with the New Mass. It did not begin even with the 1962 Missal. It began much earlier.

Why did it happen?

In 1929, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy in Tuy, Spain, requesting the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. She wanted the Consecration made not only to bring about millions of conversions to the Catholic Faith, but also so that those who adhered in substance to the Catholic Faith would be more faithful and zealous.

By failing to honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary and fulfill the requests that would establish devotion to her Heart throughout the world, as Our Lord desires, the last Popes in succession became guilty of greater and greater disobedience to the Divine Will.

Our Lady of Fatima

The Popes disregarded Our Lady's command to consecrate Russia.

Just as a disease that is not cured spreads, so it happens with a malady in the Church. The internal crisis in the Church becomes worse and worse so long as the right remedy is not applied to it.

As the power and influence of Satan and his minions increase, the temptations to sin become greater and it becomes more difficult to resist, although it is never impossible. We must always keep before us the horror of all sin, especially mortal sin, in order to keep up our resistance to the evil of our times. Wherever we go, we should consign Jesus and Mary to go with us. They witness our every action.

Now, if we further reflect that the season of Advent commemorates that time when Our Lady was preparing to give birth to the Redeemer, then we realize we should ask for her protection in the name of the great love she had for her Son.

By honoring today, the octave of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, we prove to her and to Almighty God that we will not accept any rebellion against the will of God, not even the trial balloon of the 1962 Missal. For already at that point in the game, Progressivism was preparing its great assault on the Church, which was Vatican II.

It is this kind of firm resistance to errors and concessions toward Progressivism that will help us to also resist temptation to mortal sin in our personal life, obtaining for us the graces necessary to remain firmly planted in the footsteps of Our Lady and Our Lord, far from Satan’s wicked instruments. The decree Maxima Redemptionis, which introduced the new rite in 1955, changed the times of the ceremonies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday to evenings.

It also suppressed the Last Gospel for the Masses of Holy Week, the psalm Judica me for the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, initiated the practice of the priest facing the people in certain places, diminished the role of the priest in the readings, changed the Prayer for the Conversion of Heretics to the Prayer for Church Unity, introduced the vernacular in places, and many other such innovations.

Saint Juan Diego[7]

St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548). Little is known about the life of Juan Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaeological and iconographical sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the event of Guadalupe, "El Nican Mopohua" (written in Náhuatl with Latin characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some information on the life of the saint and the apparitions. Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the talking eagle") in Cuautlitlán, today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anáhuac Valley. When he was 50 years old, he was baptized by a Franciscan priest, Fr Peter da Gand, one of the first Franciscan missionaries.

On 9 December 1531, when Juan Diego was on his way to morning Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to go to the bishop and to request in her name that a shrine be built at Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her. The bishop, who did not believe Juan Diego, asked for a sign to prove that the apparition was true.

On 12 December, Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac. Here, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill and to pick the flowers that he would find in bloom. He obeyed, and although it was wintertime, he found roses flowering. He gathered the flowers and took them to Our Lady who carefully placed them in his mantle and told him to take them to the bishop as "proof". When he opened his mantle, the flowers fell on the ground and there remained impressed, in place of the flowers, an image of the Blessed Mother, the apparition at Tepeyac. With the Bishop's permission, Juan Diego lived the rest of his life as a hermit in a small hut near the chapel where the miraculous image was placed for veneration. Here he cared for the church and the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Mother of Jesus. Much deeper than the "exterior grace" of having been "chosen" as Our Lady's "messenger", Juan Diego received the grace of interior enlightenment and from that moment, he began a life dedicated to prayer and the practice of virtue and boundless love of God and neighbor.

He died in 1548 and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. He was beatified on 6 May 1990 by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Guadalupe, Mexico City. The miraculous image, which is preserved in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, shows a woman with native features and dress. She is supported by an angel whose wings are reminiscent of one of the major gods of the traditional religion of that area. The moon is beneath her feet and her blue mantle is covered with gold stars. The black girdle about her waist signifies that she is pregnant. Thus, the image graphically depicts the fact that Christ is to be "born" again among the peoples of the New World and is a message as relevant to the "New World" today as it was during the lifetime of Juan Diego.

Things to Do[8]

· Read Pope John Paul II's homily at the canonization of St. Juan Diego.

· Meditate on Our Lady's beautiful words to St. Juan Diego: "Hear and let it penetrate into your heart, my dear little son; let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Also, do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?"

· Cook some Mexican dishes for dinner and bake a Rose Petal Pound Cake or other rose theme for dessert in honor of St. Juan Diego.

· From the Catholic Culture Library:

o On The Canonization Of First Native American

o Mexico Has Seen a Great Light

o Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

· Recommended Reading: For children: The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola. For adults: The Wonder of Guadalupe by Francis Johnston.

· For music for Juan Diego's and Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast, see www.savae.org. The San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble have two cds of authentic music by Mexican medieval composers. Very beautiful!

· Visit Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas for detailed accounts on the apparition to Juan Diego.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE-THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

Article 3-THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

Day 180

1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"

I. The Eucharist - Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life

1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."

1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."

1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.

1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking."

Christmas Card Day[10]

Way back in 1843, the first commercial Christmas card was created in England by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant who was responsible for the idea of sending greetings scribbled into the now familiar cards we get around the season of good cheer. Christmas Card Day honors its inventor on the 9th of December. The first ever commercial Christmas card showed a family raising a toast, and in the following year’s designs showing flowers or depicting the promise of spring were favored. Lithograph firm Prang and Mayer started selling their whimsical Christmas cards, often featuring children or cartoon animals, across the pond to America in 1874. By 1880, Prang and Mayer were producing a massive five million cards a year. With so many designs, shapes and sizes, some Christmas cards have become collector’s items which have been known to shift at a pretty penny at auction. One of the world’s first cards, commissioned by Cole and produced by J. C. Horsley, saw the hammer come down at £22,250 in 2001. Another one of Horsley’s cards sold for almost £9000 in 2005 – and if you want to see a big collection of these coveted cards you can drop by the British Museum to see Queen Mary’s early 1900s collection.

Today, seasonal cards are posted all over the world and can be found in hundreds of thousands of designs. The most popular messages you’ll find inside a Christmas card are ‘seasons greetings’ and ‘merry Christmas, and a happy new year’ – but many also stick to religious roots by featuring a short biblical verse or a religious blessing.

How to Celebrate Christmas Card Day

If you’ve got time, it’s always nice to make handmade cards to send out. Get hold of some glitter and a dab of glue and see what you can come up with. The recipients are sure to appreciate it – or if you have children, get them involved in making cards for friends and family! With the advent of e-mail, it’s easier than ever to send Christmas wishes to friend and family across the world – e-cards appeared in the 90s and are frequently used in place of physical cards, so you’ve got no excuse nowadays not to send those season’s greetings. But since nothing beats the real thing, perhaps now is the right time to send out those Christmas cards so they all get to your family and friends before the last post on 23rd December! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you could always send out some cheery cards to celebrate the coming of the new year!

Jesse Tree[11]

Jesse Tree Scriptures (The Symbols Are Only Suggestions)