Merry Christmas!

A Merry and Very Blessed Christmas to All! Just thought I'd share with you this treasure which opens every Midnight Mass each Christmas. From the Roman Martyrology:

The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

* The twenty-fifth day of December.

* In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;

* the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;

* the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;

* the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;

* the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;

* in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;

* in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad

* the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;

* the forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;

* the whole world being at peace,

* in the sixth age of the world,

* Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months having passed since his conception,

* was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary, being made flesh

* The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

The Word of God became a man, and we have seen God's glory.

Blessings and the Joy of Christmas to All!

3rd Sunday of Advent

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer our spirits by thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Yesterday was the third Sunday of the Advent season, sometimes known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a Latin word that means "rejoice." And it is time to rejoice, for we are now past the halfway point in Advent, and Christmas will be here soon. It is because of this joy that this Sunday is represented by the single pink candle in the Advent wreath. It is also one of the few times during the year that the liturgical color is pink (or rose, as more emphatically stated by our pastor here at Ball State who claims he "doesn't wear pink").

The joyful nature of the Advent complements the more penitent aspect. We are awaiting our Savior with joy, yet we strive to prepare our hearts and our broken natures. Perhaps in this Advent season we can understand the Church's wisdom in requiring that Catholics receive the sacrament of confession. Confession in itself is the perfect icon for the Advent season. In both instances, we approach our God with a humble, contrite heart, yet we are secure in the joy that God truly loves us. And, when its all over, the joy is multiplied, and we are empowered to go out into the world and continue our ever-constant call to increased holiness.

Much conspiratorial nonsense is made of the simple fact that Christmas falls on the date of the Roman festival of Sol Invictus - the Unconquered Sun. To me this seems like a happy coincidence. Christmas radiates light in the darkest time of the year, and we are called to reflect that light to one another in a spirit of joyful love, suffering, and evangelization. The Romans were simply celebrating the wrong sun, the literal sun. Christ, the Day-Spring, the Light of Nations, evermore poignantly enlightens the heart of humanity and empowers us to take up our crosses and follow him in joy.

In Advent, which in some ways may be called the season of Mary - in her joyful expectation - we can look to Our Blessed Mother as the ideal representation of the joyful Christian. She truly and completely bore Christ and carried his message within her heart even after he was born. As she proclaimed to Elizabeth, her soul magnifies the Lord, and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, giver of all joy.

Our Lady, Cause of Our Joy, pray for us