Keep
your eyes open!...
Christmas,
2024
THE TRIB TIMES WILL
RETURN IN MID JANUARY 2025, GOD
WILLING (James 4:15).
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM THE
ZAMBRANO
GRANDKIDS! BLESSINGS FOR A
JOYOUS NEW YEAR!
(Joh 1:1-5) In
the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was
God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life:
and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness:
and the darkness did not comprehend it.
VATICAN NEWS: Cardinal Krajewski in Ukraine: May this be the last Christmas of war
HLI: Human Dignity in Christ’s Nativity
SUBSTACK: “God Is with Us”: Christmas 2024 By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
"Yet, the
reality is this: God loved us enough to send us—through the faith of
Mary and Joseph—his only Son. He loved us enough to take on our
poverty, our indignities and fears, our hopes, joys, sufferings, and
failures—and to speak to us as one of us. He became man to show men and
women how much God loves them. He was born for that purpose. He lived
for that purpose. He died and rose again for that purpose".
CATHOLIC INSIGHT: Christmas According to the Saints
EXCERPT HOMILY: On the Nativity of Our Lord By St. Gregory Nazianzus
Christ is born, glorify Him!
Christ from heaven, go out to meet Him!
Christ on earth, be exalted! Sing
to the Lord all the whole earth; and that I may join both in one word,
let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, for Him who is of
heaven and then of earth. Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling
and with joy; with trembling because of your sins, with joy because of
your hope.
Again, the darkness is past; again
Light is made; again Egypt is punished with darkness; again Israel is
enlightened by a pillar. The people who sat in the darkness of
ignorance, let them see the great Light full of knowledge.
Old things have passed away, behold
all things have become new. The letter gives way, the Spirit comes to
the front. The shadows flee away, the truth comes in on them.
Melchizedek is concluded. He who was without Mother becomes without
Father (without mother of His former state, without father of His
second). The laws of nature are upset; the world above must be filled.
Christ commands it, let us not set ourselves against Him.
O clap your hands together all you
people, because unto us a Child is born, and a Son given unto us, whose
government is upon His shoulder (for with the cross it is raised up),
and His name is called The Angel of the Great Counsel of the Father.
Let John cry, prepare the way of the Lord; I too will cry the power of
this Day. He who is not carnal is Incarnate; the Son of God becomes the
Son of Man, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Let the Jews be offended, let the Greeks deride; let heretics talk
until their tongues ache. Then shall they believe, when they see Him
ascending into heaven; and if not then, yet when they see Him coming
out of heaven and sitting as Judge.
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
50. He also said, 'Imitate the publican, to prevent yourself being
condemned with the Pharisee. Follow the gentleness of Moses, and
hollow out the rocky places of your heart, so that you turn them into
springs of water.'
FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT, 2024
(Luk 1:43-45) And
whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For
behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the
infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast
believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken
to thee by the Lord.
THE CATHOLIC THING: The Word Became Flesh
CNA: Heads of Christian churches in Holy Land call for end of war in Gaza in Christmas message
CATHNEWS: Bishops call for renewal of prayer, charity and love during Jubilee Year
BISHOP BARRON: Why Mary Matters
Friends, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we come to the Advent figure
par excellence: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. What I want
to do in this homily is to look at some of the Church’s classical
titles of Mary. These are not simply pious exclamations, but rather
very substantive insights into her role in bringing Christ to
birth—both in history and in us today.
CATHOLIC DAILY REFLECTIONS: Wonder and Awe
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come
to me?” Luke 1:42–43
Elizabeth expressed a beautiful humility in this statement. The Blessed
Virgin Mary had just made a long journey to be with Elizabeth in her
final months of pregnancy. As soon as our Blessed Mother greeted
Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s child, Saint John the Baptist, leaped for joy in
her womb. Elizabeth acknowledges this and then humbly expresses the
fact that she is exceptionally blessed to have Mary, the mother of her
Lord, come to visit her.
There are many things worth pondering in this visitation of our Blessed
Mother. But try to focus upon the humble wonder and awe expressed by
Elizabeth. “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord
should come to me?” Elizabeth was clearly grateful for Mary’s visit.
But it appears that her reaction went even beyond gratitude. She was
given the gift of wonder and awe. She clearly knew she was incredibly
blessed by the fact that both the Mother of God and her Lord Himself
were now in her presence in her home.
This gift of wonder and awe that Elizabeth experienced is one of the
Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It’s a gift that enters a humble heart,
enabling it to first see its unworthiness of a special grace given. But
then this humble soul receives the special grace and responds with an
overwhelming amazement. Thus, not only is gratitude present, but there
is also this holy amazement that results in praise of God.
In our own lives, there are so many incredible graces we have received
from God. But too often we fail to see them for what they are. We fail
to see the incredible graces God has given us and, thus, fail to
experience the amazement that should result from God’s gifts.
ADVENT
RESOURCES
ICBC: Advent
Calendar 2024
DYNAMIC CATHOLIC: Best
Advent Ever!
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY'S ONLINE MINISTRIES:
Praying Advent and Celebrating Christmas
USCCB: Advent 2024
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
49. Hyperichius said, 'The tree of life is high, and humility climbs it.'
THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT, 2024
(Php
4:4-7) Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say, rejoice. Let your
modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous:
but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God, which
surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus.
FATHER KIRBY: Rejoice! Celebrating Gaudete Sunday – Joyful Anticipation for Christmas
ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF SINGAPORE: Advent to Christmas Reflection booklet 2024-2025 (Year C)
ALETEIA: Advent can be a time of intense spiritual warfare
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE (12/08):
Brothers and sisters, it is the season of Advent. In the language of
the Church the word Advent has two meanings: presence and anticipation.
Presence: the light is present, Christ is the new Adam, he is with us
and among us. His light is already shining and we must open the eyes of
our hearts to see the light and to enter into the river of light. Above
all we must be grateful for the fact that God himself entered history
as a new source of good. But Advent also means anticipation. The dark
night of evil is still strong. And therefore in Advent we pray with the
ancient People of God: "Rorate caeli desuper". And we pray insistently:
come Jesus; come, give power to light and to good; come where
falsehood, ignorance of God, violence and injustice predominate. Come
Lord Jesus, give power to the good in the world and help us to be
bearers of your light, peacemakers, witnesses of the truth. Come, Lord
Jesus!
HOMILY EXCERPT:
The great C.S. Lewis touches on this in his magnificent Mere
Christianity: “Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has
landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take
part in a great campaign of sabotage.” Jesus Christ was born on a dark,
lonely night in Bethlehem, behind enemy lines, and now is ready to
fight the ancient evil.
This deserves a grand celebration. But He has invited me into the
fight, into the sabotage against the ancient enemy who had reign over
the earth since Adam and Eve. Yes, this season brings rejoicing, leads
to us being joyful and triumphant, and grants us comfort and joy. But
we still have a role in the fight.
The pink candle and vestment invite me into the great battle, where the
Word became flesh and “saved us all from Satan’s power.” Between now
and Christmas, what do I need to do to more fully enter the battle?
Invite someone to Confession or Mass? Get myself to Confession? Be
generous with someone in need? Whatever the case may be, may our
celebrations this weekend and this entire season lead us into greater
appreciation for the Word Made Flesh and our entry into the battle next
to Him.
ADVENT
RESOURCES
ICBC: Advent
Calendar 2024
DYNAMIC CATHOLIC: Best
Advent Ever!
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY'S ONLINE MINISTRIES:
Praying Advent and Celebrating Christmas
USCCB: Advent 2024
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
48. Syncletica of blessed memory said, 'A ship cannot be built without nails and no one can be saved without humility.'
SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT, 2024
(Php 1:9-11) And
this I pray: That your charity may more and more abound in knowledge
and in all understanding: That you may approve the better things: that
you may be sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ: Filled
with the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and
praise of God.
HOMILY EXCERPT:
But God the Father did not need to send His Son from Heaven in order to
teach mankind. He’d been doing that for centuries through the prophets
of the Old Testament. God the Father could have dropped down copies of
the Sermon on Mount from Heaven if He had wanted to. Teaching was not
the chief reason for God the Son to be born at Bethlehem.
The chief reason is summed up in a little saying: “The wood of the crib
is the wood of the cross.” Or there’s another saying that expresses the
same insight: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem so that he could die on
Calvary.” “So that he could die.” What God the Son, as God, could not
accomplish from Heaven is to die in order to wash away both your sins,
and the punishment that your sins merit. That’s why if you won’t
acknowledge your sins as St. John the Baptist demands, you won’t be
able to accept Jesus as the gift that God the Father sent Him to be for
you.
YOUTUBE: FINDING IT WITH FATHER! EPISODE #9 PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS!
DENVER CATHOLIC: The Hope of Christmas
THE CATHOLIC THING: A Eucharistic Advent
CATHOLIC CULTURE: Wishing you a restless Advent
EXCERPT HOMILY: Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
“Prepare a way for the Lord,” he cries to us in Advent. “Repent and
believe the Good News – for the forgiveness of sins.” Smooth out the
rough bits in your life-story through contrition, prayer, the
sacraments; remove the obstacles of your vices by conversion and the
cultivation of virtues in their place; make a straight path for God in
your hearts. Dress up for the wedding feast of God’s kingdom, not in a
tuxedo or bridal gown, but with integrity and godliness, as our first
reading suggested.
How to get the gear that really
matters? Paul’s prayer for us today is “that your love for each other
may keep increasing, and your knowledge [of God], and your
perceptiveness so that you can always recognise what is best.” That, he
says, is the way to “prepare yourself for the Day of Christ”, to ready
yourself and observe the Advent dress-code. Our hearts are made for
loving, our minds for reasoning, our senses for perceiving: so all
three are the most natural things in the world for us; yet how easy it
is for our affections to go astray, our minds to be warped, our vision
to be distorted. Hatred, prejudice, egotism, indifference – you name it
– these things unprepare us for Christ’s coming, put up barriers, hills
and ravines. But knowing, loving and serving God and His divine image
in our fellows: these things ‘smooth out’ the way for Him.
When a religious makes profession
of their vows or a new priest is ordained, the Provincial or Bishop
uses St Paul’s words from our epistle today: “May the Lord who has
begun this good work in you bring it to fulfilment”. But Paul, of
course, intended this prayer for all of us. So if we try to dress
ourselves in integrity and godliness, if we seek to know, love and
serve God and His people, we are making a space for God – and between
now and Christmas, now and the end of our lives, now and the end of
time, the God, who has begun this good work in us, will bring it to
completion.
A MOMENT WITH MARY: Advent, an eminently Marian time
The fact that Advent is “a time particularly suited to the veneration
of the Mother of the Lord” does not mean that this liturgical season is
a “month of Mary”.
In the liturgical calendars of the Christian East, the period of
preparation for the mystery of the manifestation (Advent) of divine
salvation (Theophany) in the mysteries of the Nativity-Epiphany of the
only Son of God the Father seems to be very Marian, but the focus is on
the preparation for the coming of the Lord in the mystery of divine
maternity.
In the East, all mysteries relating to the Virgin Mary are
Christological mysteries, that is, they refer to the mystery of our
salvation in Christ.
Thus, in the Coptic rite, the praises of Mary are sung during this
period in the Theotokia; in the Syrian East, this time is called
Subbara, i.e. Annunciation, to emphasize its Marian character. In the
Byzantine rite, the run-up to Christmas is marked by an increasing
series of Marian feasts and refrains sung in honor of the Virgin Mary.
ADVENT
RESOURCES
ICBC: Advent
Calendar 2024
DYNAMIC CATHOLIC: Best
Advent Ever!
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY'S ONLINE MINISTRIES:
Praying Advent and Celebrating Christmas
USCCB: Advent 2024
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
45. The same brother asked him, 'Do you think Satan persecuted the men
of old as he persecutes us?' Sisois said, 'More, for now his doom has
drawn nearer, and he is weakened.'"
FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT, 2024
(Luk
21:34-36) And take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life:
and that day come upon you suddenly. For as a snare shall it come upon
all that sit upon the face of the whole earth. Watch ye, therefore,
praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all
these things that are to come and to stand before the Son of man.
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Getting Advent right
CATHOLIC REVIEW: Four ways to follow St. Joseph this Advent
ARCHBISHOP LORI: Advent Message – 2024
As we approach this Advent season, I would like to take a moment and
reflect on the brightness of our Lord’s love. Recently, someone told me
how much she dislikes this time of year. She said, “Daylight is short.
The hours of darkness are long.” My heart went out to her in that
moment, and I shared with her a few words from John’s Gospel: “The
light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Indeed, as December ushes in the winter weather, the darkness and the
long nights – Advent ushers in the light of God’s love. And in the
darkness, God’s love shines all the more brightly through the grace of
the Holy Spirit.
The dread of darkness during these short December days can make us feel
lost at times. We may feel that we have lost God’s friendship or that
God has forgotten us. We may feel we have lost our friends or have been
forgotten by them. Sins, weaknesses as well as spiritual and emotional
wounds are part of every life. But when these get the better of us, we
may think that God and other people have given up on us. This is, of
course, a lie. Yet, the sense of being lost to God and lost to our
friends can seem very real.
In today’s world, many feel isolated and alone. God seems far away.
Perhaps, you may feel an absence of love in your life. Without love,
life make no sense. When love is lacking, so, too, hope is lacking. And
when hope is lacking, it is all the more difficult to deal with those
sins, weaknesses and wounds that bedevil us.
This Advent, please remember: As Christians, we believe that God does
not want us to be lost. So much does the Father love us that he sent us
his only-begotten Son into the world to find us, to save us, to gather
us into his family. To do this, God’s Son assumed our humanity – not
just our flesh but a human mind, heart and will.
As the Lord went about preaching the Good News, healing, forgiving and
rising from the dead, he experienced hunger, thirst, pain and sorrow –
and finally laid down his life for us. This is how far God went to find
us. And by the way, he’s still searching. He searches for you and me at
this very moment.
Let us then prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, the great
reason for our hope. And how do we do this? By allowing the Lord to
find us. Often, when we feel the absence of the Lord’s love, it’s
because we have hidden ourselves from it. We often do this because of
painful realities that are difficult to face. We blame, deflect, hide,
self-isolate.
During Advent, let us allow the Lord to break through barriers that
prevent us from receiving and giving love. This can happen when we make
an unburdening confession of our sins. Or when we have an honest
conversation with a trusted friend or spiritual director. Or when we
reach out in love to someone in need, rediscovering the joy of giving.
On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door at St. Peter’s
in Rome to inaugurate a Holy Year, a Jubilee of Hope. The theme of this
special year of grace comes from Romans chapter 5, verse 5: “Hope does
not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit…”
May your hearts be filled with hope this Advent season as we await the joy that Christmas brings!
CNA: Advent 2024: 4 Catholic resources to help you grow in your faith
ADVENT
RESOURCES
ICBC: Advent
Calendar 2024
DYNAMIC CATHOLIC: Best
Advent Ever!
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY'S ONLINE MINISTRIES:
Praying Advent and Celebrating Christmas
USCCB: Advent 2024
The
Desert Fathers: sayings of the Early Christian Monks: Humility
44. 'A brother once came to Sisois on the mountain of Antony, and as
they were talking he said to Sisois, 'Have you reached the stature of
Antony yet, abba?' He answered, 'If I had a single thought like Antony,
I should leap toward heaven like a flame. But I know myself to be
someone who can only with an effort keep his thoughts in check.'
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