"Advent Conspiracy - Enter the Story 2011"

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Saint Andrew Novena - Anticipating Christmas

A special devotion is a lovely way to focus ourselves and our families on the advent of the Christ. This one, being prayed 15 times a day , has the purpose of drawing us back to the centre throughout the day:

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Thank-you, Saint Andrew.

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"The Word Became Flesh"

Oh, Christmas Tree...,

Here we are in Advent, and we have the annual stories of 'cultural vandalism' filling the air. First , two tree stories - one from Orange County, Calif., and the next from Cambridge (Incidentally, Dundee has had a change of 'Spirit'!)

If that's not cheerful enough, how about a 'Naughty & Nice' list from the American Family Association, or one from Liberty Counsel?

Wise Men Seeking Truth

The Epiphany

The mystery of the Christ-birth is a rich and glorious beginning, splendid with promise. Today we worship a partial fulfillment when Jesus, as an Infant King, is manifested to wise men of the Gentile world and through them to all peoples. His royalty is neither frightening nor pompous, for the kingly majesty of the sovereign Redeemer is robed in babyhood. Coming in the simplicity of true greatness, Jesus makes Himself acceptable and at home to the little and the great of every nation under heaven.

ProEcclesia has a great round-up of Twelfth Night traditions.

The Westin household will be trying out a few of them this evening.

Joy To The World!! The Lord HAS Come!!

Holy Innocents

(Rankin Sisters- Cape Breton, Nova Scotia)

Lully, Lullay, thou little tiny child.
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Lullay thou little tiny child
Bye, bye, lully, lullay

O sisters, too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day;
This poor Youngling for whom we sing
Bye, bye lully, lullay

Herod the King, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.

Then woe is me, poor child, for thee,
And ever mourn and say;
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye lully, lullay.

This beautiful English lullaby carol originated in the Coventry Corpus Christi Mystery Plays performed in the 15th century. In a play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, the women of Bethlehem sing this song just before Herod's soldiers come to slaughter their children. It tells the story of the murder of the Holy Innocents, and is sung on December 28, the feast of those tiny martyrs.

"The Twelve Ways Of Christmas"

Christmas is a yearly reality check. The lessons of Christmas are so counterintuitive that even after we have celebrated Christmas in society for centuries, and in our homes our whole lives, when each Christmas comes it’s like we are learning its lessons for the first time.

Here are 12 Christmas virtues our culture tends to forget. Call them the 12 ways of Christmas.

1. God loves a good story. Far from being opposed or alien to human nature, God shares our love of a good story. He could have become a man any way he wanted. He chose to be born in a stable, to a couple far from their home, surrounded by animals, shepherds and Magi, pursued by a wicked king.

2. God loses battles but wins wars. In his day, Herod was Christmas’s formidable enemy. He lied to the Magi and ordered a massacre of innocents, becoming an angel of death in Bethlehem as he killed all newborn boys to try to eliminate Jesus. In our day Christmas is still under attack, though in America the attacks aren’t violent, thank God. Christmas will win in the end, because God wins even through apparent defeats.......

National Catholic Register reviews the 12 Ways on their blog.

"A Visit From The Christ Child"

Twas the morning of Christmas, when all through the house
All the family was frantic, including my spouse;
For each one of them had one thing only in mind,
To examine the presents St. Nick left behind.

The boxes and wrapping and ribbons and toys
Were strewn on the floor, and the volume of noise
Increased as our children began a big fight
Over who got the video games, who got the bike.

I looked at my watch and I said, slightly nervous,
"Let's get ready for church, so we won't miss the service."
The children protested, "We don't want to pray:
We've just got our presents, and we want to play!"

It dawned on me then that we had gone astray,
In confusing the purpose of this special day;
Our presents were many and very high-priced
But something was missing -- that something was Christ!
I said, "Put the gifts down and let's gather together,
And I'll tell you a tale of the greatest gift ever.

"A savior was promised when Adam first sinned,
And the hopes of the world upon Jesus were pinned.
Abraham begat Isaac, who Jacob begat,
And through David the line went to Joseph, whereat
This carpenter married a maiden with child,
Who yet was a virgin, in no way defiled.

"Saying 'Hail, full of Grace,' an archangel appeared
To Mary the Blessed, among women revered:
The Lord willed she would bear -- through the Spirit -- a son.
Said Mary to Gabriel, 'God's will be done.'

"Now Caesar commanded a tax would be paid,
And all would go home while the census was made;
Thus Joseph and Mary did leave Galilee
For the city of David to pay this new fee.

"Mary's time had arrived, but the inn had no room,
So she laid in a manger the fruit of her womb;
And both Joseph and Mary admired as He napped
The Light of the World in his swaddling clothes wrapped.

"Three wise men from the East had come looking for news
Of the birth of the Savior, the King of the Jews;
They carried great gifts as they followed a star --
Gold, frankincense, myrrh, which they'd brought from afar.

"As the shepherds watched over their flocks on that night,
The glory of God shone upon them quite bright,
And an angel explained the intent of the birth,
Saying, 'Glory to God and His peace to the earth.'

"For this was the Messiah whom prophets foretold,
A good shepherd to bring his sheep back to the fold;
He was God become man, He would die on the cross,
He would rise from the dead to restore Adam's loss.

"Santa Claus, Christmas presents, a brightly lit pine,
Candy canes and spiked eggnog are all very fine;
Let's have fun celebrating, but leave not a doubt
That Christ is what Christmas is really about!"

The children right then put an end to the noise,
They dressed quickly for church, put away all their toys;
For they knew Jesus loved them and said they were glad
That He'd died for their sins, and to save their dear Dad.



©1986 F.R. Duplantier

Joyeux Noel ! Our King Is Born!

The Nativity Icon Explained

"I Saw Three Ships"

Aled Jones with the Royal College Of Music Chamber Choir

"Stille Nacht"

The original version of the world famous "Silent Night" by Franz Xaver Gruber as sung by the Innsbrucker Capellknaben

"Its About The Cross"

Go Fish (www.gofishguys.com)

"Grown-Up Christmas List"

(via FB 'Priests For Life')

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

One of the Christmas songs you'll hear on the radio during these days is called "Grown-up Christmas List." It speaks of the fact that age does not stop us from dreaming, and that as life goes on, our wishes at Christmas are not for ourselves, "but for a world in need." The list begins, "No more lives torn apart, that wars would never start…that right would always win."

Do we dare to hope for these things, just because the calendar says December 25 is approaching?

Indeed, the question for a Christian is, "How we can dare not to hope for these things?" Christmas lists, after all, spring from Christmas hope, and Christmas hope is based on an historical fact: God has already given us everything in His Son. St. Paul asks, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).

We look for good things in life, and good things are all around us. Yet the best of good things does not satisfy us completely. The best relationships leave something to be desired, and the best vacations always end and leave us looking forward to the next one. This is because every good thing is just a reflection of goodness itself.

In the birth of Christ, we find that total, infinite goodness. "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being" (Heb. 1:3). In the birth of Jesus Christ, almighty God has given to the human family His last, best offer of hope.

The wonder of Christmas, in fact, is that the promised coming of the Messiah of the Lord was fulfilled in a surprising way that surpassed the hopes and dreams of the people of old. On the first Christmas night, angels announced Christ's birth to the shepherds. But instead of saying that Jesus was the Messiah of the Lord, they said that He is "Messiah and Lord" (Lk. 2:11). God, in other words, did not simply send someone to represent Him. He came Himself!

Christmas is not about the birth of a child who became a great man. It is about a God who created the human family, and then decided to become a member of that family. Christmas is not when Jesus began; it is when Jesus began existing as one of us, and thereby joined all of us to Himself. He joins to His Divinity all who share human nature: the weak and strong, the small and big, the born and unborn. Christmas is universal, and is about the exaltation of the human person.

That's why our "grown-up Christmas list" can say "no more lives torn apart" -- whether by abortion or anything else. Christmas lists spring from Christmas hope, and Christmas is all about the victory of life!

Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity

A voice from the unheard voices of the Christians of the Middle East who have been witnessing to faith in the Saviour since His incarnation in their midst.

Christmas Concert Lebanon (Dec./07)

The Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Choir: the Antonine University Choir, the NDU Choir and the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory Choir
Choir Direction: F. Khalil Rahme
Under the Direction of Dr. Walid Gholmieh
National Lebanese Orchestra

"The Angel Gabriel"

(Celtic Christmas)


"And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS." --Luke 1:31

Catholic Carnival#203

"Waiting In Joyful Hope" is being hosted by Catholic Fire. A great variety of posts this week to help us prepare for the Big Event!


Gloucester Cathedral Choir - 'In A Bleak Mid-Winter'

Christmas On My Mind

Four days of homeschooling left before Christmas. No.5 son turns 12 today. No. 2 son arrives home on Wednesday night. Housework not done. Baking not done. Shopping - hahahaha. (Fortunately DH does most of that!) Thank goodness we live 2 blocks from the Church, because with three altar servers we have a busy schedule all month.

I may have a seasonally addled mind and molasses slow body but I am not panicking. My family has low expectations. I thank God for our Adoration Chapel and my regular hours of quiet time with Jesus. Nothing , not even my extreme unfitness for the tasks He has given me, can rattle me enough to shake my confidence in His love.
I love being Catholic!

"It's Called Christmas!"

PTBC has its naughty and nice (and marginal) list up with commentary:

....Christmas is in fact a legal federal holiday. It’s not just another day. It’s not just “the season” or another “holiday”. It’s Christmas. I’m sorry for those Canadians who dislike Canada and its heritage and history and traditions so much that they seek to change Canada to be to their liking. Sadly, they’re making a lot of headway. But sorry as I am, I’m going to push back and fight them back. It’s a war they’ve launched. A culture war of sorts. And they attacked first. So let’s deploy the citizens—the sane, rational defenses of the citizenry. “Yes we can!“

Do we want to mock and ridicule them, here? Why yes. Yes we do. Of course we do. They are mock-worthy and ridiculous. And they don’t deserve our business and hard-earned dollars.

Do we want to give a little free advertising to businesses and organizations that openly celebrate CHRISTMAS? Yes.

We call it Christmas proudly and happily and like normal folks do. Let them schlep away in their quagmire of ugly left-wing politics and ideology in their own dark ugly and probably undecorated homes...

Catholic Carnival #202

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Hosted this week by newbie James Hahn atReal Life Rosary. Plenty of Advent/Christmas resources and meditations, pro-life gifts for Jesus, and the winner from last week's contest! Wow!