O Night Divine

"The Trees of the Wood Sing for Joy"

As Mary has noted in the these virtual pages, the Christmas Tree is one of,  if not the most recognizable symbols of Christmas.  They are everywhere, indoors and out, and you'll probably enjoy as much as I have a new little meditation on their beauty and purpose. 

I picked up a library copy the other day of:  The Blessing of Christmas by the prolific author Joseph Ratzinger ( Pope Benedict XVI) and published by Ignatius Press.  The first part deals with the challenges of illness but includes a very special section on the Christmas tree from which we all might gain a new insight or two.

The pope reminds us that almost all of our Advent customs are rooted in Scripture.  "Here, the faithful people have, as it were, translated Scripture into visible signs"  (I just love that thought).  Of all the customs of Advent and Christmas I would have thought The Tree would have the least connection to Scriptual roots,  but thankfully I was wrong.

"For example, we read in Psalm 96:  'Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord, for He comes.' "  Expanding on this and other verses, the liturgy proclaims: " 'The mountains and hills will sing praise before God, and all the trees of the wood will clap their hands, for the Lord, the ruler is coming to rule for ever.' "

Then as I read the next paragraph, those goosebumps pour over me as they so often do when I perceive a new level of the sacramental nature of the world: 

"The Christmas trees we decorate are simply an attempt to make these words visible.  The Lord is here--our ancestors believed this and knew this, and so the trees had to go out to meet him, they had to bow down before him, the trees themselves had to become a song of praise to their Lord.  The same certainty of faith led them to make the words about the singing mountains and hills a reality.  They gave a voice to the mountains, and their singing resounds down through the centuries into our own days, letting us sense something of the nearness of the Lord--for it is only he who could give men such melodies."

So as you decorate your tree or look upon the finished product tonight, contemplate the nearness of the Lord, who through time, our ancestors in faith, this liturgical season called Advent and the simple tree, comes in a myriad of sacramental ways to call all people (even those who don't know the meaning of this season or of their tree) "to bow down before Him."

Here is a Christmas tree blessing for the home for you to use, even if you have already decorated your tree.

A few days ago Mary posted the link to Paper Dali, the site of free paper doll saints for you to print as well as very reasonably priced  feast day sets.  We printed the Juan Diego doll and made a nifty stand out of cardboard for him to hang out on our Mary table during his feast day.

Sorry about the poor quality of this photo but you can see St. Juan Diego there with hat in hand.  We made the stand by simply slitting the cardstock between the saint's feet and inserting a piece of stiff cardboard crossways.

Since St. Juan Diego's feast comes 3 days before that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we decided to add the colored and decorated tilma at that time.

Now imagine how thrilled I am today to find that Paper Dali has added Our Lady of Guadalupe and Uncle Bernardino!!   There is not a new doll for Bishop Zumarraga but Vee has a link to St. Nicholas, who can easily become another bishop.  
                                                                         
Later this afternoon our 5 and 9 year old will  color our new figures while we watch Juan Diego: Messenger of Guadalupe.   We will add Our Lady, then Uncle Bernardino and the Bishop over the next couple of days, then the tilma along with some more roses on the 12th.  Thank you Paper Dali!!

                                                    

History is so........

Catholic!  Here for your reading enjoyment on this December 1st, is the Top Ten Things You Need to Know about Advent: 

From item #10: "Advent is the parenthesis in which falls all of Christian history."

I hope you learn something new!

A Weary World Rejoices

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Let's say a prayer for peace today

Christmas: Seen and Heard

There's an interesting liturgical tidbit from the memories of popular author Anne Rice as recounted in her conversion memoir:  Called Out of Darkness; A Spiritual Confession.  Mrs. Rice richly describes the varied sights, sounds and smells of the yearly feasts and seasons in her diocese of New Orleans during the 1940s and 50s and I was surprised by her admission that Advent was not observed by the churches there. 

Mrs. Rice does an amazing job of bringing the stunning beauty of the Christmas decorations and Creches erected in the legion of Catholic churches and chapels in her area of the city, many weeks before Christmas: 
"I recall spectacular Manger scenes with very simply gorgeous life-size statues, and one particular statue of the Infant Jesus that couldn't help but fill me with happiness when I saw it ... These Manger scenes were usually surrounded by Christmas greens and they smelled wonderful ... I remember the utter sweetness of the statues, the sublime scent of the greens, and the other glittering decorative elements, all of this uplifting my spirits and filling me with a pure happiness that I associated with the entire season

She tells about how these church scenes and music were duplicated all around town by the businesses and homes in the form of yard and window displays which everyone loved to go out and see in the evenings. 

Mrs. Rice makes a very poignant point about this sacramental nature of the physical beauty of Christmas as it moves out of the church and into the community when she says she "sometimes wonder[s] whether for people of no religion, this might have been the only sacred space they knew.  When people rail now against the 'commercial nature of Christmas,' I'm always conflicted ... those who would banish commercialism from the holiday fail to understand how precious and comforting the shop displays and music can be."

 She goes on to note that when she was an older child the parishes began observing the Advent season and in making the change, moved  the time of decorating for Christmas to the end of Advent.   And basically her observation is that "in America 'nothing is more over than Christmas,'  this meant that the cribs didn't command anybody's attention for very long.  The radiant Christ Child came and went in a matter of a few days."  These days, while we do have a few Christmas carols and in some places an outdoor Creche, there is not a whole lot to point to the true nature of the feast. Nevertheless it's interesting to wonder about how each beautiful song or display or sculpture might be delighting or bringing peace to the secular culture.

I'm not suggesting that we should revert to observing Christmas during Advent.  But if the physical aspects of Christmastide have the power to nurture conversion then how important it must be that we bring the fullness of Christmas and all of its sacramental power to the Catholic, Christian and secular world during the season of December 24th to the Baptism of Our Lord! 

St. John

God our Father, you have revealed the mysteries of your Word through John the apostle. By prayer and reflection may we come to understand the wisdom he taught. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today marks the feast of the Apostle and Evangelist St. John, who bears the distinction of being the only apostle who was not martyred, although it's not as though they didn't try (a little more about this later)!

St. John was the brother of St. James who together formed the "sons of thunder."  Along with St. Peter, these two were the only other witnesses to the Raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration and the Agony of Our Lord in the garden and it was he alone among the chosen twelve who remained in fear and suffering beside the Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross.  There he obediently received the command to care for her.  He is also counted among the four evangelists, or gospel authors.

Legend has it that St. John was given a poisoned cup of wine, which he blessed, only to have the poison rise up in the shape of a serpent and depart.  His symbol is the eagle, for his "gaze pierces so far into the mysteries of heaven and his version of the gospel begins with a lofty prologue that is a poem of the Word become flesh." (The Catholic Source Book, ed. by Rev. Peter Klein.)   It is from his gospel that we receive one of the readings for Christmas Day Mass.

On this third day of Christmas you might like to carry on the European tradition of blessing wine to drink at the evening meal.   Here is a recipe is from A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz  for St. John's Wine, a traditional hot spiced wine.
1 quart red wine
3 whole cloves
1/16 teaspoon ground cardamom
2-2in. cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar

Pour the wine into a large saucepan.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Boil for 5 min. (after 5 minutes the alcohol is virtually all evaporated).  Serve hot.  Yield:  8-10 servings.  (this recipe is credited to the Catholic Cookbook by William Kaufman.)  As always, many thanks to Catholic Culture , which provides us with the Blessing Prayer for St. John's Wine

If you would like to try an eagle craft today it's a good bet you'll have enough items on hand to try this simple Paper Roll Eagle. 
 

Prayer Chains and the Pope

We started our prayer chain on the first Sunday of Advent.  We cut several strips out of construction paper and each of the children wrote the names of people they wanted to pray for.  We left a few of them blank and every now and then, when we say a special prayer for a mom in labor or someone in trouble, we write the name on the link and add it to our chain which is the gift we give the Savior on His birthday.

  We've prayed for the pope and added his name during the course of this Advent season.  I'm sure we all agree he is always in need of our prayers and support.  I especially like to ask the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary to remind him of our love for him. 

Then yesterday I saw this letter  from a Catholic Exchange reader.  It's a long letter in which the author responds to a very thoughtful article (there's a link in the letter) about the United States' mission and our patroness, the Virgin conceived without sin, titled the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.  The writer (of the letter to the editor) is an American living in Europe.  From her vantage point she made several observations about the state of post-Christian Europe and it's effects on the papacy. In the middle of the letter she quotes from an Italian news magazine:

I would like to speak to you about a person whom I care very much about.  I am writing this in the pages of Tempi because I know you, the reader, will understand me better than most [Tempi is conservative and Catholic].  I am afraid that they will try to eliminate this person.

And I think not just morally but also physically.  No one has ever dared to say the things that he has said.  And not only are the wicked against him but now even [...] those who are considered good and decent are against him.

This man's name is Joseph Ratzinger.  [...] I invite you to consider him for a moment devoid of his white vestment, of his pontifical authority and of the solemn air of the Vatican.  Today he is defenseless and abandoned by everyone.  They are counting his bones. He is truly the 'Alter Christus', the [poor] servant about whom the Gospel speaks, the one prophesized by Isaiah.

Even if you don't have time to read her letter and the accompanying article, this excerpt is a powerful reminder of how crucial our prayers and support of the Holy Father are and how he suffers in the place of our Savior, even as we await the Holy Infant's birth.

So I'm encouraging you to start a prayer chain.  If you already keep this devotion, just add extra links.  Do you have any spare wrapping paper (yes, I'm only kidding) you can pull out today?  Or construction paper?  Gather your family and talk in terms of the ages and temperaments of your family members and then begin to pray for Pope Benedict XVI.  Add your links hour by hour, day by day and when Christmas comes keep going.  John Paul II would be an excellent intercessor for our dear pope.  By the end of the Christmas season you will have a beautiful gift for the Savior indeed and one for his Vicar as well.

Happy New Year!!

Last night we had a little New Year's Eve party.  It is usually my style to forget to plan ahead, yet I keep a lot of little tidbits rolling around the edges of my thoughts and if an opportunity presents itself, I sometimes manage to work it into real life successfully. 

Dear thoughtful Mary offered to bring me the Liturgical Wheel calendar she ordered for me so we could have in time for the First Sunday of Advent (aka: 1st day of the New Year).  I suggested she bring the whole family for dessert and they decided to make the drive.  Before I hung up my memory kicked into gear:  "Hey, we can have a New Year's eve party!" I remarked.

What to eat for a Catholic New Years?  Why something round of course.  So in between errands I slid a Lemon Pound cake into the oven (the Cake Mix Doctor is one of my most oft used health-care professionals) and our friends arrived toting our fave pro-life wine (Thank you!) along with plenty of sparkling cider.

Alas, although I may be able to throw things together at the last moment adequately, it did occur to me that the round cake should have had purple & pink, green, white & gold and red embellishments in the form of sugars or icing (note to self: pluck this thought from receeding memory next year write this idea down today!). 

It was a delightful end to the day, the week, the year.  We rose this morning to our purple accents and the wonderful sense of anticipation that accompanies us into the Advent pilgrimage.  To all the friends I know who are reading this and to all I haven't met, have a blessed and happy New Year
beginning with this holy season of Advent!

Finish with Christ the King

As we approach Advent with ever increasing speed, and prepare this week for family and feasting and giving thanks, let's take a few moments to consider how we'll celebrate this coming 34th Sunday, the last one of the (liturgical year), the Solemnity of Christ the King.  Every New Year starts better when we finish the old one well.

In the history of Church feasts Christ the King is a baby. A mere 81 years old, it was even more recently moved to the final Sunday of the liturgical calendar, the Sunday preceding the first Sunday of Advent. Really, the contemplation of Christ the King as we approach Advent is the perfect anecdote to the secular practices of the commercial winterfest that will inevitably encroach upon our quiet days of preparation.  Here in this King, who comes to wear a crown of thorns, we have the object of our longing.  Indeed, it was to combat growing numbers of people ignoring the need for Christ to rule the nations that Pope Pius the XI  initiated the feast.  As he explained in the opening paragraph of Quas Primas :  "We referred to the chief causes of the difficulties under which mankind was laboring. And We remember saying that these manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations." Furthermore, "Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ."

So, even as the world around us gears up to party during the Advent season and ignore the true Christmas season, in the end it will fail to bring any lasting satisfaction or joy. What a great grace we have in this feast then, to be reminded on the threshold of the season of preparation that Christ the King  " must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God." (33)

Quas Primas is such an easy encyclical to read that I recommend printing it out to read all or in parts as a family, around the dinner table or at prayer time.  Kings, kingdoms and royal courts are all fertile grounds for the imaginations of children.  With Christ as King and Mary as Queen Mother, young ones can be princes and princesses and " it behooves them ever to fight courageously under the banner of Christ their King."(25)   How will they usher in the kingdom of Our Lord during the coming Advent season?  What will they do to promote the reign of Peace? Leading a discussion like this will help prepare hearts in a very concrete way for the sacrifices of Advent. 

This is such a young feast that traditions with which it is associated are not many. At domestic-church.com there is a description of a parish "Christ the King" party which provides many ideas for games to play at home or with friends. The Crown activity at the bottom of the page would make an especially good craft. The "Crown Poster" with "jewel" shapes that have the children's sacrifices written upon them would be an appropriate home activity, with the jewels being added each day between now and the final Saturday of the year.  A Crown Cake like this regal beauty , or this colorful headpiece would be a beautiful centerpiece for the feast day dinner.  On the other hand, if by Sunday you've baked, boiled, roasted and basted enough to last until the end of the Church year, try this Jello Crown Jewel Dessert in a ring mold.

Finally it will be time to pray.  Begin with an Act of Dedication of the Human Race .  Continue by dedicating your home and family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and finish up with a Litany.  Perhaps you'd like to stretch these out encompass the days of the week, ending with a "New Year's Eve" party on Saturday, December 2, and quietly praying before bed in the dwindling hours of Ordinary Time.

Giving the Organized Christmas

I've been busy the last couple of weeks printing many of the forms Mary Ellen recommended from the Organized Christmas site.  Toward the end of last week, I found an inexpensive white binder that allows inserts in both front and back cover and the spine.   As I pondered the creative possibilities for cover, pages and content I was reminded of another Christmas book I received, as well as many types of books I'd like to give.  Years ago I received a little cookbook that was so lovingly prepared for me by my brother and his (then) new bride.  When I open this book I first see a photo of the couple in their kitchen.  Since it is a wire bound journal they did not simply print up pages and insert them later.  No, each recipe from my sister-in-law's native Argentina is handwritten and added to the Table of Contents.   I love this book and I love the thoughts and attention that were spent on my behalf in creating it.

Mary Ellen mentioned that a friend was going to receive a gift of one of the Christmas Organizers.  Many years I have a theme gift for birthdays throughout the year and I'm considering this idea for my sisters and sister-in-law and daughter-in-law during 2007.  While I know I will never be able to carefully handprint each recipe (and I do want to include recipes), I believe I will ask my mom to write a couple of her most popular favorites on recipe cards for duplication and insertion in the notebooks.  And now that I have the idea, there's time to get a few photos of mom and dad during the Christmas season: baking; making Thanksgiving gravy; serving Christmas Eve Wassail; presenting the homemade Caramel Corn.   If my sister hosts the Christmas Cookie Exchange she keeps promising, I’ll include all the aunts’ and cousins’ cookie recipes and some photos.  So the organic Christmas Organizer will be something between a scrapbook and a cookbook, with all the blank forms recommended by Mary Ellen included for the women to add the information that will personalize it for them.

 

Now that I'm considering recipe gifts, I should try to work on another project that was abandoned last year for lack of inspiration.  I think I'm on to something this time (which is unique considering I get my greatest ideas when there is less than 24 hours left before the event and a mountain of chores to finish).  While my 10 year old son isn't an arts crafty type, he does love to cook and has amassed his own recipe collection in a folder.  He would love to share these recipes with a cousin of a similar age, perhaps in a baking kit or smoothie basket.  Like the ladies' books, his might feature photos of his cooking adventures and 4H ribbons.  Since we got stuck on making the actual book last year, perhaps this 3-ring binder or a store bought journal will be just the thing to get us started on assembling the important things; the recipes!

By the way, thank you Mary Ellen for inviting me to be a part of your blog!