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My Prayer Box
for the First Sunday of Advent
from My
Catholic Tradition
“You cannot strengthen the
weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the
wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You
cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You
cannot help men permanently by doing for them what
they could and should do for themselves.” -
Abraham Lincoln
To subscribe to the newsletter, please follow this
link. |
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When
God Paints ... |
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(Contributed by John M.) |
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He uses all His colors. |
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Why
We do what We Do |
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Priestly Celibacy Is A Disciplinary Rule |
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You've
probably heard this before: |
"Priestly celibacy is unnatural. Further
more it caused the child abuse scandal."
Many
of those who never married were in religious
life but most were not. To call not being
married as unnatural will label the millions
of people who did not get married, either by
choice or by circumstance, as leading
unnatural life.
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Some
might argue that those who did not get married
have very low opinion of married life.
Certainly, there are some who did not get
married because of their low opinion of
married life. But most, in fact, have a higher
opinion of married life - marriage being a
sacrament in the Catholic Church.
Celibacy and priesthood is a vocation that one
is called to and chooses freely. Priestly
celibacy enables the priest to devote their
complete energies to God and to the service of
His Church.
In
1 Cor 7:8 – 9
"Now
to the unmarried and to widows, I say: it is
a good thing for them to remain as they are,
as I do,
but if they cannot exercise self-control
they should marry, for it is better to marry
than to be on fire."
Paul
recommends that those who choose the religious
life be like he was. Although this has been a
disciplinary rule since the early Middle Ages,
priestly celibacy is not a doctrine.
In the
Eastern Rites married men can be ordained as
priests, as was their custom from the early
times. Once ordained, however, the unmarried
priest may not marry. However, all monks of
the Eastern Rites are celibate and the Eastern
Rites bishops are always chosen from the
monks, which mean that all Eastern Rites
bishops are unmarried.
One
argument against priestly celibacy can be
found in
Gn 1:28:
"God
blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have
dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds
of the air, and all the living things that
move on the earth.""
This
passage however is a general precept for the
human race and does not bind each individual.
If it did, everyone who is unmarried,
including Jesus, John the Baptist, and Paul,
would be in a state of sin.
But
what about
1 Tm 3:2?
"This saying is trustworthy: 2 whoever
aspires to the office of bishop desires a
noble task.
Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable,
married only once, temperate,
self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to
teach,
not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle,
not contentious, not a lover of money.
He must manage his own household well,
keeping his children under control with
perfect dignity;"
Opponents say this is further proof against
celibacy. However, Paul did not say a man must
marry to be a bishop, but a bishop cannot
marry more than once. This rule prohibits a
man to remarry after being widowed and does
not order him to have at least one wife.
But is
the Catholic church apostate according to
1 Tm 4:3?
"They forbid marriage and require abstinence
from foods that God created to be received
with thanksgiving by those who believe and
know the truth."
Certainly not. A Catholic man is free to
marry, and he is not obligated to be a priest.
What
about the scandal of child abuse by the
clergy?
This
is a grievous sin done by evil men and was not
caused by celibacy. One who is prone to do
evil will do evil regardless of whether or not
he is celibate.
The
roots of child abuse maybe traced back to when
the rigid requirements and personality
screening for those who choose to become
priests were relaxed due to liberal ideas of
inclusiveness.
The
sad part of this is that those in the Catholic
hierarchy appeared to be complicit to these
horrible acts by not responding to the problem
as they surfaced promptly and publicly.
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To
read
the whole article,
please click here. |
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'On Christian Hope'
and Advent
by Archbishop of Denver Charles J.
Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
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The
Most Rev. Charles Chaput
is the Archbishop of the
Catholic Archdiocese of Denver Colorado, USA. |
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Pope
Benedict XVI released his new encyclical letter,
“On Christian Hope,” Nov. 30, just two days
before the beginning of Advent. Not
surprisingly, the Holy Father’s timing was
perfect because Advent, more than any other
season of the year, is rooted in the virtue of
hope.
For Catholics, the real new year begins not on
Jan. 1, but on the First Sunday of Advent, the
day when the Church begins her annual new cycle
of Scripture readings and worship. The season of
Advent, deriving from the Latin verb advenire,
meaning “to come” or “to arrive,” has a two-fold
purpose: first, to remind us of the birth of
Jesus in Bethlehem and all that it implied for
the salvation of the world; and second, to ready
us for Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time
as King and Judge of creation. Like Lent, Advent
is a time of preparation. Also like Lent, Advent
is a penitential season — but not in the same
strict way. Rather, Advent embodies the words of
the liturgy, which remind us that “we wait in
joyful hope for the coming of our savior, Jesus
Christ.”
Benedict’s new encyclical is a rich and
challenging document. It’s not easily absorbed
in one reading. But one of its most important
lines can be found right in the opening
sentences. The Holy Father reminds us that for
Christians, the virtue of hope enables us to
face the burdens of daily life, no matter how
heavy. He writes that “the present, even if it
is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it
leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this
goal, and if this goal is great enough to
justify the effort of the journey”
(1). Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to hope for
eternal life. Christ’s life gives our lives
meaning. If we really believe in Jesus Christ,
we will have confidence in the future, no matter
how bleak some days or some problems seem. For
in the end, Jesus has already won our salvation
and the happiness that comes with it.
The source of the word “virtue” is revealing; it
comes from the Latin noun virtus, meaning
“strength.” The virtue that Christians call hope
is not a warm feeling, or a sunny mood, or a
habit of optimism. Optimism, as the great
Catholic novelist Georges Bernanos once wrote,
has nothing to do with hope. Optimism is often
foolish and naïve — a preference to see good
where the evidence is undeniably bad. In fact,
Bernanos called optimism a “sly form of
selfishness, a method of isolating oneself from
the unhappiness of others.”
Hope is a very different creature. It’s a
choice; a self imposed discipline to trust in
God while judging ourselves and the world with
unblinkered, unsentimental clarity. In effect,
it’s a form of self-mastery inspired and
reinforced by God’s grace. “The highest form of
hope,” Georges Bernanos said, “is despair,
overcome.” Jesus Christ was born in a filthy
stable and died brutally on a cross not to make
a good world even better; but to save a fallen
and broken world from itself at the cost of his
own blood. Such is the real world; our daily
world; the world of Christian hope — the world
that Pope Benedict speaks to when he writes in
his new encyclical that “all serious
and upright human conduct is hope in action”
(35) and “the true measure of humanity is
[determined by our] relationship to suffering
and to the sufferer” (38).
In the words of Benedict: “To suffer with the
other and for others; to suffer for the sake of
truth and justice; to suffer out of love, and in
order to become a person who truly loves — these
are fundamental elements of humanity, and to
abandon them would destroy man himself” (39).
As we ready ourselves for the joy of Christmas
this year, let’s live Advent well and remember
why we’re supposed to be joyful. In the end,
Christmas is not about gifts or carols or
parties, though all these things are wonderful
in their place. Christmas is about the birth of
Jesus Christ, who brings meaning and hope to a
world that needs redemption. In Him, and only in
Him, is our hope.
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more... |
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To read
the entire article,
please click here. |
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Our
Faith: What you might want to know |
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The Blessed Virgin Mary |
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The Office of Catechism
of the United States Congress of Catholic Bishops
website puts our knowledge of the Catholic
Faith to a test! |
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1. |
True or False.
Because of her sin, Eve is not considered a
proper anticipation of the role of Mary. |
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2. |
True or false.
Because Mary was conceived without sin, she
did not come under the condemnation we
incurred from Adam and Eve, and so she had no
need of redemption by Christ. |
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3. |
True or false.
Mary, conceived sinless, remained without sin
throughout her life. |
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4. |
The Immaculate
Conception refers to: |
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the birth of Jesus
from a virgin |
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the fact that Mary,
due to her sinlessness, never had an
impure thought |
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Jesus’ freedom from
sin from conception onwards |
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d. |
the impregnation of
Mary by the Holy Spirit |
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Mary’s freedom from
all stain of Original Sin from her
conception |
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5. |
True or false.
The virginal conception of Jesus is most
likely not an historical fact, but a
theological addition to the Gospels that
points to the uniqueness of Jesus. |
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6. |
True or false.
After the virgin birth of Jesus, Mary, as it
says in Scripture, had other children. |
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7. |
True or false.
Mary is the symbol of the Church. |
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8. |
Choose none, any
combination, or all. Why did God want His Son
to be born of a
virgin?
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The Virgin Birth
manifests God’s absolute initiative. |
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Because Jesus is the
New Adam, who inaugurates the New
Creation. |
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By the Virgin Birth,
Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new
birth of children adopted in the Holy
Spirit through faith. |
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d. |
The Virgin Mary’s
virginity is the sign of her faith
unadulterated by any doubt.
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e. |
It is the sign of
the Virgin Mary’s undivided gift of
herself to God’s will. |
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9. |
Which is
true?
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Mary is only the
mother of Jesus’ human nature.
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b. |
Mary is the mother
of the second person of the Holy Trinity.
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c. |
Mary is the mother
of the human person Jesus, but not the
second person of the Holy Trinity. |
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d. |
Mary is the mother
of both the human person and the divine
person.
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e. |
None of the above. |
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10. |
Why was it fitting that
Mary be "full
of grace" in order to be
the Mother of the Savior? |
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To
learn more about Our Faith, please
click here. |
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The Second Sunday of Advent
December 7,
2008
Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will
come.
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First Reading
from the Prophet Isaiah |
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Is 40:1-5, 9-11
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Comfort, give
comfort to my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim
to her that her service is at an end, her
guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of
the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway
for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in, every
mountain and hill shall be made low; the
rugged land shall be made a plain, the
rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of
the LORD shall be revealed, and all people
shall see it together; for the mouth of
the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald
of glad tidings; cry out at the top of
your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good
news!
Fear not to cry
out and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who
rules by his strong arm; here is his
reward with him, his recompense before
him.
Like a shepherd
he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers
the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom, and leading
the ewes with care. |
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Responsorial From the Book of Psalms |
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Ps 85:9-10-11-12,
13-14 |
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R. Lord, let us see your
kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear
him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us
your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us
your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us
your salvation. |
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First Reading
from the Second Book of Peter |
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2 Pt 3:8-14 |
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Do not ignore this one
fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is
like a thousand years and a thousand years
like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some
regard “delay,” but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish but that
all should come to repentance.
But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief, and then the
heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and
the elements will be dissolved by fire, and
the earth and everything done on it will be
found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this
way, what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and
devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming
of the day of God, because of which the
heavens will be dissolved in flames and the
elements melted by fire.
But according to his
promise we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved,
since you await these things, be eager to be
found without spot or blemish before him, at
peace. |
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Reading From the
Gospel of Mark |
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Mk 1:1-8 |
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The beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of
you; he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying
out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight
his paths.”
John the Baptist
appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole
Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem were going out to him and were being
baptized by him in the Jordan River as they
acknowledged
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their sins.
John was clothed in
camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his
waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me. I am
not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of
his sandals. I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
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Suggested Readings |
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intersection of
morality, reason, and politics. This isn’t
just a book for Catholics, but for anyone who
cares about the state of America’s soul —and
how that concern might shape the 2008
elections.”
—John
L. Allen Jr., NCR and CNN senior Vatican
correspondent, Amazon |
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Happiness Is a Serious
Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual
by Dennis Prager.
In this unique blend of self-help and moral
philosophy, talk-radio host Dennis Prager
asserts that we're actually obligated to be
happy, because it makes us better people.
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Praying With Frederic Ozanam
(Companions for the Journey Series)
-
Paperback, by Ronald Cm Ramson (Author) |
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Praying With Louise De
Marillac (Companions for the Journey Series)
by Audrey Gibson (Author), Kieran Kneaves
(Author) |
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Praying with Vincent de
Paul (Companions for the Journey)
2004, by Thomas McKenna
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The Rise of Christianity:
How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became
the Dominant Religious Force ....
(Paperback) by Rodney Stark
(Author)
From the Publisher
"... this account of Christianity's remarkable
growth within the Roman Empire is already the
subject of much fanfare. |
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"Anyone who has puzzled
over Christianity's rise to dominance... must
read it,"
...
Read the first page. |
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Living Liturgy:
Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for
Sundays and Solemnities, Year A,
2008 (Paperback) by C.PP.S. Joyce Ann Zimmerman
(Author), Thomas A. Greisen (Author), S.N.D. de
N. Kathleen Harmon (Author), M.S. Thomas L.
Leclerc (Author) |
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"Perfect for home use or to prepare for weekly
liturgy . . . It includes help for the
celebration, ideas for catechesis on the
particular event, and ways to understand the
readings more deeply. Finally, it includes
sample questions from which priests, deacons,
lay groups, ministers and others can jump off
into deeper discussion." |
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Straight Answers, Answers
to 100 Questions about the Catholic Faith
by Ph.D Rev. William P.
Saunders (Author)
Review by: Reverend William G. Curlin Bishop of
Charlotte
Straight Answers offers Catholics a simple and
direct response to the many questions concerning
the Catholic Church. It spells out profound
truths in very |
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simple language for all who seek a better
understanding of their Faith. I highly recommend
it for Catholics, both young and old. |
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The Power of Intention:
Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way
From Amazon:
After years of spiritual study and reflection,
inspirational speaker and |
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bestselling
author Wayne Dyer has emerged a highly esteemed
teacher. His current message about tapping into
the power of intention may sound like good old
positive thinking: just stay focused on what you
want, rather than focusing on the lack of having
what you want. But the teaching here goes deeper
than just controlling thoughts (although he does
acknowledge that thought control is a
surprisingly challenging and significant
endeavor).
This book might
help readers land a better job, but it's more
relevant for those who are ready to detach from
an ego-driven life filled with quick fixes of
happiness and step into a more authentic,
joyful, and spiritually fulfilling life. His
core teachings speak to tapping into a universal
source of energy that can also be called the
"power of intention." |
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The Chariot of Israel:
Exploits of the Prophet of Elijah
THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL: When Elijah was caught up
to heaven, his disciple Elisha cried out, "the
chariot of Israel, and its horsemen." Elisha was
referring not to the chariot but to the prophet.
This study of Elijah’s life will captivate you
as it walks you through a pivotal period in
Israel’s history, and illustrative maps will
give you a better picture of the physical
geography of this ancient land. |
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Read
more about the Liturgical Year |
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The Origins of the
Liturgical Year (Pueblo Books)
by Thomas J. Talley (Author) The Rev. Dr.
Thomas J. Talley, Professor of Liturgics
at the General Theological Seminary in New
York, is one of the leading liturgists in
the country. He gives us a fresh
examination of the complex history of the
Liturgical Year. |
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The Cultural World
of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday, Cycle C.
(Bestseller! the Cultural World of Jesus:
Sunday by Sunday)
by John J. Pilch (Author)
Reader
Review: The book by Pilch provides those
who not only fill the pulpits across this
country but also all interested in the
cultural world in which Jesus lived with a
lot of pertinent information that sheds
light on a lot of areas that have been
"muddled" in the past. Yes, I highly
recommend this book. - James Mauldin |
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Learn
more and read the Old Testament. |
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Preaching from the
Old Testament
by Elizabeth Achtemeier (Author) Reader
Review: The author of these thirty-two
short chapters begins and ends with the
assumption that problems we experience
with the Old Testament are our problem,
not the Bible's. This subordinating of the
Bible reader to the well-weathered book he
holds in his hand opens doors, not to
forced |
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harmonisations of problematic
passages, but to fresh reappraisal of
difficult texts on their own terms. -
David A. Baer |
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The Navarre Bible:
Pentateuch (The Navarre Bible: Old
Testament)
This volume helps
you make the first five books of the Old
Testament a vital part of your spiritual
reading and practical growth in the
Christian life. It contains the full
English and Latin texts of these books,
along with extensive and
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faithfully Catholic
commentaries. Like other volumes in the
world-renowned Navarre Bible series, these
commentaries draw on Church documents, the
exegesis of Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the works of
contemporary spiritual writers — particularly
St. Josemaría Escrivá, who initiated the
Navarre Bible project. |
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Comments and Suggestions are Most Welcome.
If you have any comments or contributions,
please
use the form in this link.
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