On the Twelfth Day of Christmas
Collect:
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
AM Psalm 2, 110:1-5(6-7); Joshua 1:1-9; Heb. 11:32-12:2; John 15:1-16
From Forward Day by Day
Hebrews 11:32-12:2. Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the perfecter and pioneer of our faith.
Perfecter and pioneer--not words we usually associate with Jesus. Like so many passages in the letter to the Hebrews, this phrase is both a little strange and, in the end, wonderfully revealing. Perfecter--that word at once reminds me how imperfect I am (how much in need of grace) and also how loving this Redeemer is, how willing he is to make perfect what on its own could never be perfect, could never be complete or whole. And pioneer! I have to work to get grizzled prospectors and covered wagons out of my mind's eye when I hear that word. This is a different kind of pioneering, the kind of advance action the ancients had in mind when they declared that Jesus pioneered his way into Hades, descended to the dead, and rescued Adam, Eve, and all the patriarchs and matriarchs who had been waiting for the day of resurrection. Pioneer of our faith, perfecter of our imperfections--who better than Jesus to embrace us at the finish line when our own course of life has been run?
Eve of Epiphany
PM Psalm 29, 98; Isa. 66:18-23; Rom. 15:7-13
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Ecuador - (Province IX, USA)
Advent calendar: Ways to Move Systems -- like businesses and governments -- Toward Sustainability:
10. Practice Socially Responsible Investing-SRI. Help: www.socialfunds.com
From: Christmas CLARESHARE December 2006
Ty Mam Duw Poor Clare Colettine Community
5th January
On this day your little sisters at Ty Mam Duw keep a centuries' old custom of
drawing at random cards on which are the names of the people who were around
Christ's manger: Mary, Joseph, the ass.... Each of these people has a
prayer intention attached that relates to their person, for example with
Joseph you would pray for the unemployed, (he had a rough time in Egypt!)
Choose a character and a related prayer intention and offer your daily work
for that intention today.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
The road to Christ
Just as Christ once came on earth in the flesh to accomplish our salvation, so he comes daily in the spirit to save each individual soul; the difference is that his first coming was visible to the eye, whereas the second is unseen. As scripture says: Christ the Lord is the breath of life to us, and the hidden nature of this spiritual coming is shown in the continuation of the same text: Under his shadow we shall live among the nations. For this reason, even if you are too sick to go very far to meet the Lord, it is appropriate for you to respond to the great physician’s visit by making an effort at least to raise your head and lift yourself up a little to greet him on his arrival.
The road pointed out to you is not a long one; you do not have to cross the seas or pierce the clouds or climb mountains to meet your God. Enter into your own soul and you will find him, for his word is near you; it is on your lips and in your heart. Go down deep into your heart until you are stirred to compunction; make your confession, and so at least turn your back on a conscience so defiled as to be unworthy of entertaining the author of purity.
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard (1090 - 1153), abbot of Clairvaux, was a monk whose writings show an intimate knowledge of scripture and mysticism.
read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux or
www.newadvent.org/cathen/02498d.htm or
www.osb.org/cist/bern.html
"Addictions"
Fear is an addiction for a lot of people. They don’t know how to motivate themselves without being afraid of something. They don’t know how not to worry. When you’re living an inauthentic life, you’re going to worry because your subconscious, your spirit, knows your life has no truth. That is why we’re creating so many fearful people. The more illusory stuff we have to protect, the more fearful we will be. There’s almost a correlation between the fears that people have and the false lives that they live. Beneath all the layers of behavior, it is fear that brings more people into counseling than any other emotion. The counselor’s role is to help people identify what is behind their fear. Real lives start then.
from Preparing for Christmas With Richard Rohr
OVERWHELMED BY ABSENCE AND WAITING—ADVENT
Our lives of following Christ are marked by both anticipation and
satiation. We live most of our lives in the paradox of both seeing God’s
loving presence and saving work in our lives—and at the same time
longing for His presence and action to be more clearly demonstrated. We
are both satisfied and we wonder why it is He does not do more.
In the celebration of Advent and Christmas we are reminded that we are not
alone in the experiences of longing and satisfaction. In these two seasons
we both anticipate God’s presence in our yearning for the Messiah and
celebrate His coming. In these celebrations we are reminded that this
paradox is not abnormal—it is (only in part) a reflection of God’s
activity in all of human history. (I say in-part because God is also doing
something very unique in each our lives.) It is as if our lives reflect in
microcosm the pattern of salvation history—they have an Advent and
Christmas shape and in recalling these seasons we understand God’s work
both in times past and today.
Advent—Overwhelmed by Waiting…... Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the Ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps. Waiting for God is an active, alert—yes, joyful—waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes. Henri Nouwen, In Joyful Hope: Meditations for Advent
Read slowly and prayerfully these scriptures; Ps 25.1-7, 16-22;Lam. 3.25-
26: Is. 35
* In what places of your life have you been waiting for the Lord? * Is that waiting a hopeful waiting—or a waiting of despair? * Have there been times when it seems that God has been or is hidden? * How has your waiting shaped you both positively and negatively?
Pray your waiting….
Moments of great calm. Kneeling before the altar Of wood in a stone church In summer, waiting for the God To speak; the air a staircase For silence; the sun’s light Ringing me, as though I acted A great role. And the audiences Still; all that close the throng Of spirits waiting, as I, For the message. Prompt me, God; But not yet. When I speak, Though it be you who speak Through me, something is lost. The meaning is in the waiting. R.S. Thomas
It is both in the experiences of tasting God’s goodness and in the
experiences of longing to taste that our appetite for God is increased.
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Dennis Bratcher
The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th but the following day is considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th).
The origin of the Twelve Days is complicated, and is related to differences in calendars, church traditions, and ways to observe this holy day in various cultures (see Christmas). In the Western church, Epiphany is usually celebrated as the time the Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12). Traditionally there were three Magi, probably from the fact of three gifts, even though the biblical narrative never says how many Magi came. In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings (Span: la Fiesta de Reyes, el Dia de los Tres Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag). Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.
By the 16th century, some European and Scandinavian cultures had combined the Twelve Days of Christmas with (sometimes pagan) festivals celebrating the changing of the year. These were usually associated with driving away evil spirits for the start of the new year.
The Twelfth Night is January 5th, the last day of the Christmas Season before Epiphany (January 6th). In some church traditions, January 5th is considered the eleventh Day of Christmas, while the evening of January 5th is still counted as the Twelfth Night, the beginning of the Twelfth day of Christmas the following day. Twelfth Night often included feasting along with the removal of Christmas decorations. French and English celebrations of Twelfth Night included a King's Cake, remembering the visit of the Three Magi, and ale or wine (a King's Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA). In some cultures, the King's Cake was part of the celebration of the day of Epiphany.
The popular song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is usually seen as simply a nonsense song for children. However, some have suggested that it is a song of Christian instruction dating to the 16th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Faith. They contend that it was a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters. The "true love" mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who is part of the Christian Faith. Each of the "days" represents some aspect of the Christian Faith that was important for children to learn.
However, many have questioned the historical accuracy of this origin of the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. It seems that some have made an issue out of trying to debunk this as an "urban myth," some in the name of historical accuracy and some out of personal agendas. There is little "hard" evidence available either way. Some church historians affirm this account as basically accurate, while others point out apparent historical discrepancies. However, the "evidence" on both sides is mostly in logical deduction and probabilities. One internet site devoted to debunking hoaxes and legends says that, "there is no substantive evidence to demonstrate that the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' was created or used as a secret means of preserving tenets of the Catholic faith, or that this claim is anything but a fanciful modern day speculation. . .." What is omitted is that there is no "substantive evidence" that will disprove it either.
It is certainly possible that this view of the song is legendary or anecdotal. Without corroboration and in the absence of "substantive evidence," we probably should not take rigid positions on either side and turn the song into a crusade for personal opinions. That would do more to violate the spirit of Christmas than the song is worth. So, for the sake of historical accuracy, we need to acknowledge this uncertainty.
However, on another level, this uncertainty should not prevent us from using the song in celebration of Christmas. Many of the symbols of Christianity were not originally religious, including even the present date of Christmas, but were appropriated from contemporary culture by the Christian Faith as vehicles of worship and proclamation. Perhaps, when all is said and done, historical accuracy is not really the point. Perhaps more important is that Christians can celebrate their rich heritage, and God's grace, through one more avenue this Christmas. Now, when they hear what they once thought was a secular "nonsense song," they will be reminded in one more way of the grace of God working in transforming ways in their lives and in our world. After all, is that not the meaning of Christmas anyway?
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Day 12, January 5
Twelve Drummers Drumming
The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.
-Dennis Bratcher, Copyright © 2006, Dennis Bratcher, All Rights Reserved
See Copyright and User Information Notice
Christmas Devotional
During the time surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph had some awesome experiences! The very night He was born, shepherds came to see the baby, saying they had been told by angels to visit. Later, wise men from the East told how they had been led to them by an unusual star. As Mary pondered these events, she could not help but remember what the angel, Gabriel, had said. And yet it all seemed so unreal.
Now the time had come for Mary and Joseph to fulfill the requirement of God's law, and take their new-born Son to the temple in Jerusalem. They would participate in a dedication ceremony, to acknowledge that this precious new Life had been given to them by God, and as the first-born, belonged to God. It was all very routine really. They had seen relatives and friends do the same thing over the years. No big deal.
So here they are entering the temple. People milling around.
But wait! Who is this elderly man approaching?
He introduces himself as Simeon. He says he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to visit the temple at that time, and then to approach this little family.
"Why would he want to talk to us?" Mary thinks to herself. "We are obviously not important people. Anyone can see that all we could afford was the minimum sacrifice of two turtle doves."
Then this kindly-spoken man goes on: "God told me I would not die until I saw the Messiah with my own eyes! Today He has told me that your precious little baby is the One! Now I can depart in peace."
"Again with the mystical messages!" Mary muses. But there was more.
"He will cause many to fall and rise in Israel, and He will be a Sign to be spoken against."
"Yes", thought Mary, "It seems every time God does something out of the ordinary, people speak against it."
"And a sword will pierce your own soul also"
"Uh, oh! That doesn't sound too good! I wonder what he means?"
Just then, a lady who looked like she was even older than Simeon came over. She said her name was Anna. Actually, they had seen Anna before. She was well known around the temple, as she had spent so much time there over the many years since her husband had died.
With a shriek of delight, Anna just prayed out loud, thanking God for giving her the privilege of seeing the Messiah. Then she went off and excitedly told everyone she knew about that wonderful occasion.
As Mary and Joseph finished their duties at the temple and went on their way to Nazareth, they recounted the strange things they had seen and heard.
"I wonder why it is that people like Simeon and Anna knew about the time of the Messiah's arrival, yet everyone else seems to be living their lives as if nothing special is going on?" Joseph pondered.
"I guess they have taken the time to get to know the Father and become His intimate friends."
- Arthur Knights
Draper, Queensland, Australia
Dear Lord,
This journey is almost over. A new year is here. I've already broken most of my great plans for a new beginning. It is said that the wise men offered gifts of great cost to You. I don't have anything of great cost. All I have is me. And really Lord, I'm not all that hot. But, if You are interested, I'm Yours. Use me as You will. Do with me what You want. For, if I have learned nothing else in this journey, I now know that You can be trusted. So, I'm Yours.
Amen
From the "The Pen of the Wayfarer", Rose-Marie Slosek
Sincerely His: A Life without Wax
Have you ever wondered where the word "sincerely" came from? After all, we all
grew up signing our letters, "Sincerely yours." As a young person I always would
sit up a little straighter when I signed that to my letters as I thought, "I really need to
mean this."
As I grew older I would think less about the sincerely part, and more about the idea that by writing this letter, I was leaving myself open to randomly becoming someone else's. For the emphasis in my mind seemed to fall on the "yours" part of the signature. What if I was just writing a letter to complain to the Stop and Shop about the rotten lettuce at the store, or to my great Aunt Helga for giving me a pair of hopelessly fashion-less knit slippers? Did I have to be not just "yours" but
"sincerely yours"? It seemed a bit much.
Ah, but what does sincerely mean anyway?
It is commonly believed that sincere
comes from two Latin words:
sine 'without' and cera 'wax'.
Although even that much is challenged,
there are two explanations for how
without wax' came to be an important claim,
both involving craftsmen, who during the
Republic of Rome , would generally have been
slaves or foreigners. Some think that marble
workers would cover imperfections in the
stone with wax, much as modern homemakers
or unscrupulous antique dealers might rub
wax to hide a scratch in wood. Another
idea for the origin of sincere has more
ominous consequences. Since cement was more
expensive than wax, unscrupulous brick
layers would sometimes employ it -- at least
that's the story. When it melted, bricks
could shift and structures collapse. So the
claim that something was sine cera would
be an important guarantee.
(http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/etymology/f/Sincere.htm)
So artisans would either use wax to fill or cover cracks in their sculptures, etc, or
wax would be smeared into the supposedly cement filler that was holding the bricks in place that held up your house.
What about us? Are we "sin cera --without wax cover ups or cheap fillers? Or are we the real thing, through and through? Would we pass inspection? Can God guarantee His work in us? Is our foundation built on Him? Or is it mixed with the dirt and wax of our own soulish concoctions? For we are not left as slaves or foreigners, without proper resources, but with Christ Himself, to be our life.
Our Lord is after a Church, a Bride, without spot and wrinkle,indeed, sin cera,
without wax needed to cover the blemishes, without inferior workmanship or inexpensive materials. In order to get to such a place we have to give Him everything. We have to allow Him to inspect every area of our hearts and lives. If we hold back anything we are not altogether His but still ours. And we all know where "still ours" gets us.
Jesus came to the rich young ruler and nicely flattened the man's attempt to talk about his goodness. Jesus isn't after goodness, but perfection. And perfection is not
something that humans are capable of. God is always driving us back to total
surrender to and total reliance upon Himself. Why do we fight this when we know where our self efforts get us? "If you would be perfect...." Jesus asks the man, as He asks you and me today (Matthew 19:16-22).What would He say to me? How would
He fill in the blank for me?
As we become more aware of God's call to give Him everything, our ways of holding onto our lives can become more and more subtle, so that onlookers, or even we ourselves, will think that we are wholly dedicated to the Lord. My friends, that is not a life that gives Christ His due for hidden underneath the wax polish are glaring imperfections. Giving Him a little, giving Him what we decide to give, is really giving Him an inferior product. In the Old Testament blemished sacrifices were unacceptable. Jesus was and is the only perfect sacrifice. Only by His Spirit working within , full time within, can He find the cracks and restore us to the kind of perfection that is His standard.
As the new year dawns, ask yourself "Am I sincerely His?" Better yet, ask Him. If you would be perfect......
Lord Jesus, give us sincere hearts, undivided hearts, hearts that are fully given to You! In this moment, may we let ourselves be examined for fatal cracks and all that falls short of perfect. May Your very Presence melt our hearts like wax so that all that is left is pure and pleasing to you. Overcome us! For in Your Presence the mountains themselves melt. Let us be built on the solid Rock of Christ, not on the shifting, shoddy, unreliable filler of our own selfish wills and natu ral strength?
--A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his
enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened
the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills
melted like wax at the presence of the LORD,
at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
(Psalm 97: 3-5)
If you enjoyed this and would like to read more from the Pen of the Wayfarer: http://pen-of-the-wayfarer.blogspot.com
From the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/index.html#English
January 5, May 6, September 5
Prologue
Hence the Lord says in the Gospel,
"Whoever listens to these words of Mine and acts upon them,
I will liken to a wise person
who built a house on rock.
The floods came,
the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it did not fall,
because it had been founded on rock" (Matt. 7:24-25).
Having given us these assurances,
the Lord is waiting every day
for us to respond by our deeds to His holy admonitions.
And the days of this life are lengthened
and a truce granted us for this very reason,
that we may amend our evil ways.
As the Apostle says,
"Do you not know that God's patience is inviting you to repent" (Rom. 2:4)?
For the merciful Lord tells us,
"I desire not the death of the sinner,
but that the sinner should be converted and live" (Ezech. 33:11).
Commentary from Sr. Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html
Clearly, for Benedict, God is not something to be achieved; God is a presence to be responded to but to whom without that presence, we cannot respond. God isn't something for which spiritual athletes compete or someone that secret spiritual formulas expose. God is the breath we breathe. It is thanks to God that we have any idea of God at all. God is not a mathematical formula that we discover by dint of our superior intelligence or our moral valor. God is the reason that we can reach God. It is to this ever-present Presence that the Rule of Benedict directs us. It is to God already in our lives that Benedict turns our minds. The Hasidim tell the story of the preacher who preached over and over, "Put God into your life; put God into your life." But the holy rabbi of the village said, "Our task is not to put God into our lives. God is already there. Our task is simply to realize that."
The words of the Rule are as fresh on this point as the day they were written. The fact is that we still compartmentalize God. We tell ourselves that we are working on reaching the spiritual life by saying prayers and doing penances and making pilgrimages and giving things up. And we keep score: so many daily masses, so many rosaries, so many fastdays, so many spiritual books read, so many conferences attended equal so many steps toward the acquisition of God. The Rule of Benedict sets us straight. God is with us, for the taking, but not for any spiritual payment, only for realizing what we already have.
God is neither cajoled nor captured, the Rule makes plain. God is in the Here and Now in Benedictine spirituality. It is we who are not. It is we who are trapped in the past, angry at what formed us, or fixated on a future that is free from pain or totally under our control. But God is in our present, waiting for us there.
With this conclusion, God waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, these holy teachings. Therefore our life span has been lengthened by way of a truce, that we may amend our misdeeds. As the apostle says: "Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you to repent (Rom 2:4)?" And indeed God assures us in love: "I do not wish the death of sinners, but that they turn back to me and live (Ez 33:11)."
"Life is only loaned to us," a Jewish proverb instructs and the Rule of Benedict explains further "by way of a truce." Long life, in other words, is given for the gift of insight: To give us time to understand life and to profit from its lessons and to learn from its failures and to use its moments well and make sense out of its chaos. That, perhaps, is why we expect the elderly to be wise. That, perhaps, is why we look back over the years of our own lives and wonder what happened to the person we were before we began to see more than ourselves. The problem is that there is a lot of life that dulls the senses. Too much money can make us poor. Too much food can make us slow. Too much partying can make us dull. Only the spiritual life enervates the senses completely. All life takes on a new dimension once we begin to see it as spiritual people. The bad does not destroy us and the good gives us new breath because we are always aware that everything is more than it is. The family is not just a routine relationship; it is our sanctification. Work is not just a job; it is our exercise in miracle making. Prayer is not just quiet time; it is an invitation to grow. We begin to find God where we could not see God before, not as a panacea or an anesthetic, not as a cheap release from the problems of life, but as another measure of life's meaning for us.
Clearly, living life well is the nature of repentance. To begin to see life as life should be and to live it that way ourselves is to enable creation to go on creating in us.
______________________________
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
AM Psalm 2, 110:1-5(6-7); Joshua 1:1-9; Heb. 11:32-12:2; John 15:1-16
From Forward Day by Day
Hebrews 11:32-12:2. Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the perfecter and pioneer of our faith.
Perfecter and pioneer--not words we usually associate with Jesus. Like so many passages in the letter to the Hebrews, this phrase is both a little strange and, in the end, wonderfully revealing. Perfecter--that word at once reminds me how imperfect I am (how much in need of grace) and also how loving this Redeemer is, how willing he is to make perfect what on its own could never be perfect, could never be complete or whole. And pioneer! I have to work to get grizzled prospectors and covered wagons out of my mind's eye when I hear that word. This is a different kind of pioneering, the kind of advance action the ancients had in mind when they declared that Jesus pioneered his way into Hades, descended to the dead, and rescued Adam, Eve, and all the patriarchs and matriarchs who had been waiting for the day of resurrection. Pioneer of our faith, perfecter of our imperfections--who better than Jesus to embrace us at the finish line when our own course of life has been run?
Eve of Epiphany
PM Psalm 29, 98; Isa. 66:18-23; Rom. 15:7-13
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Ecuador - (Province IX, USA)
Advent calendar: Ways to Move Systems -- like businesses and governments -- Toward Sustainability:
10. Practice Socially Responsible Investing-SRI. Help: www.socialfunds.com
From: Christmas CLARESHARE December 2006
Ty Mam Duw Poor Clare Colettine Community
5th January
On this day your little sisters at Ty Mam Duw keep a centuries' old custom of
drawing at random cards on which are the names of the people who were around
Christ's manger: Mary, Joseph, the ass.... Each of these people has a
prayer intention attached that relates to their person, for example with
Joseph you would pray for the unemployed, (he had a rough time in Egypt!)
Choose a character and a related prayer intention and offer your daily work
for that intention today.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
The road to Christ
Just as Christ once came on earth in the flesh to accomplish our salvation, so he comes daily in the spirit to save each individual soul; the difference is that his first coming was visible to the eye, whereas the second is unseen. As scripture says: Christ the Lord is the breath of life to us, and the hidden nature of this spiritual coming is shown in the continuation of the same text: Under his shadow we shall live among the nations. For this reason, even if you are too sick to go very far to meet the Lord, it is appropriate for you to respond to the great physician’s visit by making an effort at least to raise your head and lift yourself up a little to greet him on his arrival.
The road pointed out to you is not a long one; you do not have to cross the seas or pierce the clouds or climb mountains to meet your God. Enter into your own soul and you will find him, for his word is near you; it is on your lips and in your heart. Go down deep into your heart until you are stirred to compunction; make your confession, and so at least turn your back on a conscience so defiled as to be unworthy of entertaining the author of purity.
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard (1090 - 1153), abbot of Clairvaux, was a monk whose writings show an intimate knowledge of scripture and mysticism.
read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux or
www.newadvent.org/cathen/02498d.htm or
www.osb.org/cist/bern.html
"Addictions"
Fear is an addiction for a lot of people. They don’t know how to motivate themselves without being afraid of something. They don’t know how not to worry. When you’re living an inauthentic life, you’re going to worry because your subconscious, your spirit, knows your life has no truth. That is why we’re creating so many fearful people. The more illusory stuff we have to protect, the more fearful we will be. There’s almost a correlation between the fears that people have and the false lives that they live. Beneath all the layers of behavior, it is fear that brings more people into counseling than any other emotion. The counselor’s role is to help people identify what is behind their fear. Real lives start then.
from Preparing for Christmas With Richard Rohr
OVERWHELMED BY ABSENCE AND WAITING—ADVENT
Our lives of following Christ are marked by both anticipation and
satiation. We live most of our lives in the paradox of both seeing God’s
loving presence and saving work in our lives—and at the same time
longing for His presence and action to be more clearly demonstrated. We
are both satisfied and we wonder why it is He does not do more.
In the celebration of Advent and Christmas we are reminded that we are not
alone in the experiences of longing and satisfaction. In these two seasons
we both anticipate God’s presence in our yearning for the Messiah and
celebrate His coming. In these celebrations we are reminded that this
paradox is not abnormal—it is (only in part) a reflection of God’s
activity in all of human history. (I say in-part because God is also doing
something very unique in each our lives.) It is as if our lives reflect in
microcosm the pattern of salvation history—they have an Advent and
Christmas shape and in recalling these seasons we understand God’s work
both in times past and today.
Advent—Overwhelmed by Waiting…... Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the Ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps. Waiting for God is an active, alert—yes, joyful—waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes. Henri Nouwen, In Joyful Hope: Meditations for Advent
Read slowly and prayerfully these scriptures; Ps 25.1-7, 16-22;Lam. 3.25-
26: Is. 35
* In what places of your life have you been waiting for the Lord? * Is that waiting a hopeful waiting—or a waiting of despair? * Have there been times when it seems that God has been or is hidden? * How has your waiting shaped you both positively and negatively?
Pray your waiting….
Moments of great calm. Kneeling before the altar Of wood in a stone church In summer, waiting for the God To speak; the air a staircase For silence; the sun’s light Ringing me, as though I acted A great role. And the audiences Still; all that close the throng Of spirits waiting, as I, For the message. Prompt me, God; But not yet. When I speak, Though it be you who speak Through me, something is lost. The meaning is in the waiting. R.S. Thomas
It is both in the experiences of tasting God’s goodness and in the
experiences of longing to taste that our appetite for God is increased.
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Dennis Bratcher
The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th but the following day is considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th).
The origin of the Twelve Days is complicated, and is related to differences in calendars, church traditions, and ways to observe this holy day in various cultures (see Christmas). In the Western church, Epiphany is usually celebrated as the time the Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12). Traditionally there were three Magi, probably from the fact of three gifts, even though the biblical narrative never says how many Magi came. In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings (Span: la Fiesta de Reyes, el Dia de los Tres Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag). Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.
By the 16th century, some European and Scandinavian cultures had combined the Twelve Days of Christmas with (sometimes pagan) festivals celebrating the changing of the year. These were usually associated with driving away evil spirits for the start of the new year.
The Twelfth Night is January 5th, the last day of the Christmas Season before Epiphany (January 6th). In some church traditions, January 5th is considered the eleventh Day of Christmas, while the evening of January 5th is still counted as the Twelfth Night, the beginning of the Twelfth day of Christmas the following day. Twelfth Night often included feasting along with the removal of Christmas decorations. French and English celebrations of Twelfth Night included a King's Cake, remembering the visit of the Three Magi, and ale or wine (a King's Cake is part of the observance of Mardi Gras in French Catholic culture of the Southern USA). In some cultures, the King's Cake was part of the celebration of the day of Epiphany.
The popular song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is usually seen as simply a nonsense song for children. However, some have suggested that it is a song of Christian instruction dating to the 16th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Faith. They contend that it was a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters. The "true love" mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who is part of the Christian Faith. Each of the "days" represents some aspect of the Christian Faith that was important for children to learn.
However, many have questioned the historical accuracy of this origin of the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. It seems that some have made an issue out of trying to debunk this as an "urban myth," some in the name of historical accuracy and some out of personal agendas. There is little "hard" evidence available either way. Some church historians affirm this account as basically accurate, while others point out apparent historical discrepancies. However, the "evidence" on both sides is mostly in logical deduction and probabilities. One internet site devoted to debunking hoaxes and legends says that, "there is no substantive evidence to demonstrate that the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' was created or used as a secret means of preserving tenets of the Catholic faith, or that this claim is anything but a fanciful modern day speculation. . .." What is omitted is that there is no "substantive evidence" that will disprove it either.
It is certainly possible that this view of the song is legendary or anecdotal. Without corroboration and in the absence of "substantive evidence," we probably should not take rigid positions on either side and turn the song into a crusade for personal opinions. That would do more to violate the spirit of Christmas than the song is worth. So, for the sake of historical accuracy, we need to acknowledge this uncertainty.
However, on another level, this uncertainty should not prevent us from using the song in celebration of Christmas. Many of the symbols of Christianity were not originally religious, including even the present date of Christmas, but were appropriated from contemporary culture by the Christian Faith as vehicles of worship and proclamation. Perhaps, when all is said and done, historical accuracy is not really the point. Perhaps more important is that Christians can celebrate their rich heritage, and God's grace, through one more avenue this Christmas. Now, when they hear what they once thought was a secular "nonsense song," they will be reminded in one more way of the grace of God working in transforming ways in their lives and in our world. After all, is that not the meaning of Christmas anyway?
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Day 12, January 5
Twelve Drummers Drumming
The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.
-Dennis Bratcher, Copyright © 2006, Dennis Bratcher, All Rights Reserved
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Christmas Devotional
During the time surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph had some awesome experiences! The very night He was born, shepherds came to see the baby, saying they had been told by angels to visit. Later, wise men from the East told how they had been led to them by an unusual star. As Mary pondered these events, she could not help but remember what the angel, Gabriel, had said. And yet it all seemed so unreal.
Now the time had come for Mary and Joseph to fulfill the requirement of God's law, and take their new-born Son to the temple in Jerusalem. They would participate in a dedication ceremony, to acknowledge that this precious new Life had been given to them by God, and as the first-born, belonged to God. It was all very routine really. They had seen relatives and friends do the same thing over the years. No big deal.
So here they are entering the temple. People milling around.
But wait! Who is this elderly man approaching?
He introduces himself as Simeon. He says he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to visit the temple at that time, and then to approach this little family.
"Why would he want to talk to us?" Mary thinks to herself. "We are obviously not important people. Anyone can see that all we could afford was the minimum sacrifice of two turtle doves."
Then this kindly-spoken man goes on: "God told me I would not die until I saw the Messiah with my own eyes! Today He has told me that your precious little baby is the One! Now I can depart in peace."
"Again with the mystical messages!" Mary muses. But there was more.
"He will cause many to fall and rise in Israel, and He will be a Sign to be spoken against."
"Yes", thought Mary, "It seems every time God does something out of the ordinary, people speak against it."
"And a sword will pierce your own soul also"
"Uh, oh! That doesn't sound too good! I wonder what he means?"
Just then, a lady who looked like she was even older than Simeon came over. She said her name was Anna. Actually, they had seen Anna before. She was well known around the temple, as she had spent so much time there over the many years since her husband had died.
With a shriek of delight, Anna just prayed out loud, thanking God for giving her the privilege of seeing the Messiah. Then she went off and excitedly told everyone she knew about that wonderful occasion.
As Mary and Joseph finished their duties at the temple and went on their way to Nazareth, they recounted the strange things they had seen and heard.
"I wonder why it is that people like Simeon and Anna knew about the time of the Messiah's arrival, yet everyone else seems to be living their lives as if nothing special is going on?" Joseph pondered.
"I guess they have taken the time to get to know the Father and become His intimate friends."
- Arthur Knights
Draper, Queensland, Australia
Dear Lord,
This journey is almost over. A new year is here. I've already broken most of my great plans for a new beginning. It is said that the wise men offered gifts of great cost to You. I don't have anything of great cost. All I have is me. And really Lord, I'm not all that hot. But, if You are interested, I'm Yours. Use me as You will. Do with me what You want. For, if I have learned nothing else in this journey, I now know that You can be trusted. So, I'm Yours.
Amen
From the "The Pen of the Wayfarer", Rose-Marie Slosek
Sincerely His: A Life without Wax
Have you ever wondered where the word "sincerely" came from? After all, we all
grew up signing our letters, "Sincerely yours." As a young person I always would
sit up a little straighter when I signed that to my letters as I thought, "I really need to
mean this."
As I grew older I would think less about the sincerely part, and more about the idea that by writing this letter, I was leaving myself open to randomly becoming someone else's. For the emphasis in my mind seemed to fall on the "yours" part of the signature. What if I was just writing a letter to complain to the Stop and Shop about the rotten lettuce at the store, or to my great Aunt Helga for giving me a pair of hopelessly fashion-less knit slippers? Did I have to be not just "yours" but
"sincerely yours"? It seemed a bit much.
Ah, but what does sincerely mean anyway?
It is commonly believed that sincere
comes from two Latin words:
sine 'without' and cera 'wax'.
Although even that much is challenged,
there are two explanations for how
without wax' came to be an important claim,
both involving craftsmen, who during the
Republic of Rome , would generally have been
slaves or foreigners. Some think that marble
workers would cover imperfections in the
stone with wax, much as modern homemakers
or unscrupulous antique dealers might rub
wax to hide a scratch in wood. Another
idea for the origin of sincere has more
ominous consequences. Since cement was more
expensive than wax, unscrupulous brick
layers would sometimes employ it -- at least
that's the story. When it melted, bricks
could shift and structures collapse. So the
claim that something was sine cera would
be an important guarantee.
(http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/etymology/f/Sincere.htm)
So artisans would either use wax to fill or cover cracks in their sculptures, etc, or
wax would be smeared into the supposedly cement filler that was holding the bricks in place that held up your house.
What about us? Are we "sin cera --without wax cover ups or cheap fillers? Or are we the real thing, through and through? Would we pass inspection? Can God guarantee His work in us? Is our foundation built on Him? Or is it mixed with the dirt and wax of our own soulish concoctions? For we are not left as slaves or foreigners, without proper resources, but with Christ Himself, to be our life.
Our Lord is after a Church, a Bride, without spot and wrinkle,indeed, sin cera,
without wax needed to cover the blemishes, without inferior workmanship or inexpensive materials. In order to get to such a place we have to give Him everything. We have to allow Him to inspect every area of our hearts and lives. If we hold back anything we are not altogether His but still ours. And we all know where "still ours" gets us.
Jesus came to the rich young ruler and nicely flattened the man's attempt to talk about his goodness. Jesus isn't after goodness, but perfection. And perfection is not
something that humans are capable of. God is always driving us back to total
surrender to and total reliance upon Himself. Why do we fight this when we know where our self efforts get us? "If you would be perfect...." Jesus asks the man, as He asks you and me today (Matthew 19:16-22).What would He say to me? How would
He fill in the blank for me?
As we become more aware of God's call to give Him everything, our ways of holding onto our lives can become more and more subtle, so that onlookers, or even we ourselves, will think that we are wholly dedicated to the Lord. My friends, that is not a life that gives Christ His due for hidden underneath the wax polish are glaring imperfections. Giving Him a little, giving Him what we decide to give, is really giving Him an inferior product. In the Old Testament blemished sacrifices were unacceptable. Jesus was and is the only perfect sacrifice. Only by His Spirit working within , full time within, can He find the cracks and restore us to the kind of perfection that is His standard.
As the new year dawns, ask yourself "Am I sincerely His?" Better yet, ask Him. If you would be perfect......
Lord Jesus, give us sincere hearts, undivided hearts, hearts that are fully given to You! In this moment, may we let ourselves be examined for fatal cracks and all that falls short of perfect. May Your very Presence melt our hearts like wax so that all that is left is pure and pleasing to you. Overcome us! For in Your Presence the mountains themselves melt. Let us be built on the solid Rock of Christ, not on the shifting, shoddy, unreliable filler of our own selfish wills and natu ral strength?
--A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his
enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened
the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills
melted like wax at the presence of the LORD,
at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
(Psalm 97: 3-5)
If you enjoyed this and would like to read more from the Pen of the Wayfarer: http://pen-of-the-wayfarer.blogspot.com
From the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/index.html#English
January 5, May 6, September 5
Prologue
Hence the Lord says in the Gospel,
"Whoever listens to these words of Mine and acts upon them,
I will liken to a wise person
who built a house on rock.
The floods came,
the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it did not fall,
because it had been founded on rock" (Matt. 7:24-25).
Having given us these assurances,
the Lord is waiting every day
for us to respond by our deeds to His holy admonitions.
And the days of this life are lengthened
and a truce granted us for this very reason,
that we may amend our evil ways.
As the Apostle says,
"Do you not know that God's patience is inviting you to repent" (Rom. 2:4)?
For the merciful Lord tells us,
"I desire not the death of the sinner,
but that the sinner should be converted and live" (Ezech. 33:11).
Commentary from Sr. Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html
Clearly, for Benedict, God is not something to be achieved; God is a presence to be responded to but to whom without that presence, we cannot respond. God isn't something for which spiritual athletes compete or someone that secret spiritual formulas expose. God is the breath we breathe. It is thanks to God that we have any idea of God at all. God is not a mathematical formula that we discover by dint of our superior intelligence or our moral valor. God is the reason that we can reach God. It is to this ever-present Presence that the Rule of Benedict directs us. It is to God already in our lives that Benedict turns our minds. The Hasidim tell the story of the preacher who preached over and over, "Put God into your life; put God into your life." But the holy rabbi of the village said, "Our task is not to put God into our lives. God is already there. Our task is simply to realize that."
The words of the Rule are as fresh on this point as the day they were written. The fact is that we still compartmentalize God. We tell ourselves that we are working on reaching the spiritual life by saying prayers and doing penances and making pilgrimages and giving things up. And we keep score: so many daily masses, so many rosaries, so many fastdays, so many spiritual books read, so many conferences attended equal so many steps toward the acquisition of God. The Rule of Benedict sets us straight. God is with us, for the taking, but not for any spiritual payment, only for realizing what we already have.
God is neither cajoled nor captured, the Rule makes plain. God is in the Here and Now in Benedictine spirituality. It is we who are not. It is we who are trapped in the past, angry at what formed us, or fixated on a future that is free from pain or totally under our control. But God is in our present, waiting for us there.
With this conclusion, God waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, these holy teachings. Therefore our life span has been lengthened by way of a truce, that we may amend our misdeeds. As the apostle says: "Do you not know that the patience of God is leading you to repent (Rom 2:4)?" And indeed God assures us in love: "I do not wish the death of sinners, but that they turn back to me and live (Ez 33:11)."
"Life is only loaned to us," a Jewish proverb instructs and the Rule of Benedict explains further "by way of a truce." Long life, in other words, is given for the gift of insight: To give us time to understand life and to profit from its lessons and to learn from its failures and to use its moments well and make sense out of its chaos. That, perhaps, is why we expect the elderly to be wise. That, perhaps, is why we look back over the years of our own lives and wonder what happened to the person we were before we began to see more than ourselves. The problem is that there is a lot of life that dulls the senses. Too much money can make us poor. Too much food can make us slow. Too much partying can make us dull. Only the spiritual life enervates the senses completely. All life takes on a new dimension once we begin to see it as spiritual people. The bad does not destroy us and the good gives us new breath because we are always aware that everything is more than it is. The family is not just a routine relationship; it is our sanctification. Work is not just a job; it is our exercise in miracle making. Prayer is not just quiet time; it is an invitation to grow. We begin to find God where we could not see God before, not as a panacea or an anesthetic, not as a cheap release from the problems of life, but as another measure of life's meaning for us.
Clearly, living life well is the nature of repentance. To begin to see life as life should be and to live it that way ourselves is to enable creation to go on creating in us.
______________________________
posted by Gloriamarie Amalfitano @ 5:44 PM
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