Sunday Meditation: Feast of the Holy Family

Merry Christmas.  Again!  It is still Christmas season, and how appropriate that the first Sunday after Christmas Day, the birth of our Lord and Savior, we celebrate the family through the invocation of the Holy Family.  I carry four religious medals on a chain on my chest, and one of them is that of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  Jesus is depicted as a boy and stands in front of His parents.  It must be alluding to today’s Gospel passage.

 

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast

of Passover,

and when he was twelve years old,

they went up according to festival custom.

After they had completed its days, as they were returning,

the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,

but his parents did not know it.

Thinking that he was in the caravan,

they journeyed for a day

and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,

but not finding him,

they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the temple,

sitting in the midst of the teachers,

listening to them and asking them questions,

and all who heard him were astounded

at his understanding and his answers.

When his parents saw him,

they were astonished,

and his mother said to him,

“Son, why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

And he said to them,

“Why were you looking for me?

Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

But they did not understand what he said to them.

He went down with them and came to Nazareth,

and was obedient to them;

and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor

before God and man.

~Lk 2:41-52

 

Fr. Geoffrey Plant outdoes himself with explaining this passage.  It is outstanding.

That is the exegesis homily.  Now for the significance homily I want to provide this from Fr. Peter Marsalek of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, abbreviated as SOLT. 

I had not known of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity before.  I had seen SOLT, but I did not know what it stood for.  Their website says they were founded in 1958 and their stated charism is “Disciples of Jesus through Mary, living in Marian-Trinitarian communion, serving on ecclesial family teams in areas of deepest apostolic need.”  Headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas but founded by Fr. James Flanagan, within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, SOLT includes priests, religious brothers and sisters, and even a lay association.  It sounds like a wonderful order.  Fr. Peter gave a great homily.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

 

For today’s hymn, I’m going to go off the beaten path to a song I have never heard, “Lord, I'm Amazed (The Holy Family Song).” The song was presented by Country House Media, and I have no clue who they are or whether they wrote and performed the song. 

 

It’s a really lovely song and they provide the lyrics for you at their channel:

 

Son of God, You became man

Born of a woman conceived without sin

Mary entrusted with hands full of grace

To hold our Messiah

Lord, I'm amazed.

 

Son of Man, come down from heaven

Given a father of highest honor

Joseph entrusted with hands full of faith

To teach how to labor

Lord, I'm amazed.

 

O, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

So pure and holy, image of love

A family entrusted with hearts set ablaze 

To guide us forever

Lord, I'm amazed.

 

They seem Catholic, but even that I’m not totally sure.  I love this little song!

Christmas Meditation: He Was In The World

Merry Christmas!  Christmas Mass presents us with four sets of readings: for the Vigil, for the midnight, for during the day, and for the evening.  They are all very beautiful.  I am going to present for meditation the Gospel reading of the Christmas Mass During the Day.  The reading is the exquisite first half of the first chapter of John’s Gospel.  This might be my favorite passage in all the bible.

 

In the beginning was the Word,

        and the Word was with God,

        and the Word was God.

    He was in the beginning with God.

    All things came to be through him,

        and without him nothing came to be.

    What came to be through him was life,

        and this life was the light of the human race;

    the light shines in the darkness,

        and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

    He was in the world,

        and the world came to be through him,

        but the world did not know him.

    He came to what was his own,

        but his own people did not accept him.

 

But to those who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to those who believe in his name,

who were born not by natural generation

nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision

but of God.

    And the Word became flesh

        and made his dwelling among us,

        and we saw his glory,

        the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

        full of grace and truth.

~Jn 1:1-18

I am sure everyone is Christmas’d out, so just one video clip.  I am going to let Bishop Barron give a little exegesis on John's first chapter.  As he says in the video, books can be written to explain these eighteen lines fully.  His fifteen minutes just touches on the subject,

 

Sunday Meditation: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

 

For today's hymn, let’s select the most holy of Christmas songs, “Silent Night,” here sung by Josh Groban.

 

This is one of my favorite Christmas Carols, and I found out today that it’s Pope Francis’ favorite.  You can read about that here.  And this lovely video clip explains the history of the carol.

 

Music Tuesday: Tu scendi dalle stele

What song should we have at Christmas Eve but a Christmas Carol, and I’m going to post the most popular Christmas Carol in all of Italy, the beautiful “Tu scendi dalle stele.” 

There is a little back history to this song.  The melody and original lyrics were written by St. Alphonsus Liguori, a priest and eventually bishop who lived through most of the 18^th century (1696-1787).  He was a prolific writer and eventually made a Doctor of the Church.  He was born in the Campania region which is the region where I was also born.  In fact his Cathedral as Bishop was in the city of Benevento, which is not far from where I was born.  In addition he was the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, commonly called the Redemptorists. He was canonized in 1839, just some fifty or so years after his death.  That’s quite a history.  

Most Catholics today know him for his Marian devotional books, but his noteworthy publications deal with moral theology.  It’s on that basis he was made a Doctor of the Church. 

But he also wrote songs.  Obviously he was a man of learning.  I can’t find the original lyrics but I will provide the ones that have been so popular in Italy with the English translation

 

1. Tu scendi dalle stelle,

O Re del Cielo,

e vieni in una grotta,

al freddo al gelo.

 

O Bambino mio Divino

Io ti vedo qui a tremar,

O Dio Beato

Ahi, quanto ti costò

l’avermi amato!

 

2. A te, che sei del mondo

il Creatore,

mancano panni e fuoco;

O mio Signore!

 

Caro eletto Pargoletto,

Quanto questa povertà

più mi innamora!

Giacché ti fece amor

povero ancora!

 

English

 

1. From starry skies descending,

Thou comest, glorious King,

A manger low Thy bed,

In winter’s icy sting;

 

O my dearest Child most holy,

Shudd’ring, trembling in the cold!

Great God, Thou lovest me!

What suff’ring Thou didst bear,

That I near Thee might be!

 

2. Thou art the world’s Creator,

God’s own and true Word,

Yet here no robe, no fire

For Thee, Divine Lord.

 

Dearest, fairest, sweetest Infant,

Dire this state of poverty.

The more I care for Thee,

Since Thou, O Love Divine,

Will’st now so poor to be.

 

First I’ll embed a children’s chorus, because it’s so made for children to sing.

 

That is such an endearing melody.  I’ll also post a more sophisticated rendition, the tempo slowed down just enough to give it a contemplative tone, sung by the incredible Andrea Bocellli.

 

 That brings tears to my eyes.  It must be the Italian.

Merry Christmas! 

Sunday Meditation: Blessed is the Virgin

The fourth and final Sunday of Advent is reserved for the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in Year C we read of Mary’s visitation to her kinswoman Elizabeth.  Here Mary has just been given this startling news of her supernatural conception, which undoubtedly is going to put her life at risk since it is a pregnancy without a human father, and the first thing she does is “in haste” rush to care for her elderly cousin who is also pregnant.  I find this one of the most touching scenes in all the New Testament. 

 

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

“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?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled.”

~Lk 1:39-45

First, Kimberly Hahn, Scott’s wife, provides a detailed exegesis of this passage.

 

Fabulous sermon.  Kimberly is a better preacher than her husband!

Next Bishop Barron provides a wonderful homily on the importance of the Blessed Mother in our spiritual life.

 

Next I am going to give you a third clip, a homily from a Fr. Anthony Craig that takes the meaning of the passage and the significance of the Blessed Mother as we have heard in the first two clips, and provides the moral on which we can be transformed.

Did you catch that at the beginning?  Check the 40 second mark.  Christ’s first action incarnate in the world while still in the womb is an act propelling the bearer to service and charity.  How important is that to contemplate?  I don’t think I have ever heard that before.

Finally if you still have the energy, a couple of months ago I provided an analysis of Thomas Merton’s poem, “The Quickening of John the Baptist” which is a meditation on the Visitation and St. John’s the Baptist’s leap for joy.  It’s a wonderful poem well worth reading and very fitting for today's Gospel passage.  l

 

Sunday Meditation: “And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

 

John Michael Talbot put the “Hail Mary” to music and it’s outstanding.

 

I had never heard it before.  My goodness, that is just so lovely.  It should be more widely played.

 

Sunday Meditation: He Preached the Good News

As with last week, John the Baptist has a starring role in the Third Sunday of Advent again.  But does he?  Yes, John has the speaking part.  Yes, the crowd comes to him to ask how they can be saved.  And yes they come to John filled with expectation of the coming messiah.  But this Gospel passage is divided into two movements.  The first is the coming to John.  The second is John pointing them to Jesus.  Jesus is the real star here.   

 

The crowds asked John the Baptist,

“What should we do?”

He said to them in reply,

“Whoever has two cloaks

should share with the person who has none.

And whoever has food should do likewise.”

Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,

“Teacher, what should we do?”

He answered them,

“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”

Soldiers also asked him,

“And what is it that we should do?”

He told them,

“Do not practice extortion,

do not falsely accuse anyone,

and be satisfied with your wages.”

 

Now the people were filled with expectation,

and all were asking in their hearts

whether John might be the Christ.

John answered them all, saying,

“I am baptizing you with water,

but one mightier than I is coming.

I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor

and to gather the wheat into his barn,

but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Exhorting them in many other ways,

he preached good news to the people.

~Lk 3:10-18

First, let’s get introduced to the supporting actor.  Who is John the Baptist?  Dr. John Bergsma from the St. Paul Institute gives us a full understanding.

 

“I am an introduction incarnate, a preface in a person, a forward in the flesh, I am the prelude to the Messianic age.”  That is fantastic!  I have considered John the Baptist the first Dominican, the Order of Preachers, since he came to preach ahead of the Lord. 

Now, the best explanation of this Gospel comes from Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.  Watch Fr. Cajetan divide the Gospel into its two parts.

 

He goes a little long at the end but I don’t think anyone else’s homily quite shows the two parts so starkly.

Sunday Meditation: “His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn”

 

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot with his “Surrender to Jesus.” 

 

Surrender it all. 

Faith Filled Friday: The Re-Opening of Notre-Dame de Paris

Last week on December 6^th, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris was reopened after it was restored from a fire five years ago.  From the Catholic on-line magazine, Aleteia:

 

This weekend Paris was abuzz with the reopening ceremonies and Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. After an intensive five-year restoration program, most of the scaffolding came down, the boarding disappeared, and the beautiful Gothic structure opened its doors to the world.

That article from Aleteia provides many of the highlights in written form.  But you can watch the highlights in these YouTube videos.  First on the restoration from CBS’s Sunday Morning.

 

If you want just sights and sounds of the celebration, this nice compilation comes from NBC News.

 

I found this CNN news segment broadcast just prior to the reopening interesting, mainly because it outline the cost, which was remarkably on budget and less than one would have thought.

 

This lovely light show with music by Michael Canitrot was well done..

 

Finally, let’s end with this rendition of Mozart’s LAUDATE DOMINUM (translates to “Praise the Lord” I think) performed at the reopening and sung by Julie Fuchs.  It provides breathtaking images of the Cathedral.

 

 

I was in tears five years ago when I saw the Cathedral burning.  I thought it was the image of disappearing Christianity.  Today my heart has been restored as the beautiful Cathedral.