Feast of St Andrew

Today is the day to start this Christmas Novena:

Hail and blessed be the hour and the 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 Savior, Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

Advent: New Beginnings

New beginnings; new life; two new grandchildren; fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit – an invitation to grow in faith.  That’s what is being said from all sides: pray, pray daily, pray for an increase in faith, pray for faith for the miraculous.  Do not be complacent.  Do not be limited by the past.  Step out in faith and do not be afraid.  God is with you.

In this season of waiting, of watchfulness, the Lord is inviting His people to throw themselves in wholeheartedly; to plunge into the graces He offers – not to hold back, but to trust that He will do what He has promised. 

How do we prepare our hearts to receive Him, to welcome Him, to be awake and watchful for His coming – eager for His return?

Pray.  Pray daily.  Ask for an increase in faith.  Seek Him with all your heart.  And when you feel nothing, feel alone, feel like giving up, choose to believe that His word to you will be fulfilled.

Forgiveness

Engraft yourself onto the tree of the cross. Bind yourself by love, by measureless, infinite charity, to the slain lamb who pours out his blood from every part of his body. Let these hearts of ours be broken open! No more hardness, no more carelessness -- for time does not sleep but runs its course relentlessly! Let us make our dwelling place with him in love and holy desire, and we need never be afraid again.
This is what I want for you: to see you bound fast in that firm yet gentle bond...and this is one of the chief signs we have to show that we are disciples bound to Christ -- if we are returning good for evil...Saint Catherine of Siena
Magnificat, Monday, November 7th, pg 106.

Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them

“As human beings, we have a natural fear of death and we rebel against its apparent finality,” Pope Benedict said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly general audience.

“Faith teaches us that the fear of death is lightened by a great hope, the hope of eternity, which gives our lives their fullest meaning. The God who is love offers us the promise of eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son.”

Therefore, said the Pope, “in Christ, death no longer appears as an abyss of emptiness, but rather a path to life which will never end.” --Pope Benedict XVI

Come, Let Us Go Up...

Spend a little time reading in Isaiah. Ponder the promises of the Lord and the call to go up -- to his house of prayer....

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." Is.2:3

"But now listen, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord Says --he who made you, who formed you in the womb and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant...I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessings on your descendants." Is 44:1-3

"Listen to me, O house of Jacob,...I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Is 46:3-4

"Come near and listen to this: "From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there." And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, with his Spirit." Is 48:16

"In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer." Is. 54:5

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come tot he waters..." Is 55:1

For this is what the Lord says:...to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. ...these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Is 56:4-8

Silence & Solitude

"I shall sum it up like this," the Pope said. "By withdrawing into silence and solitude, human beings, so to speak, 'expose' themselves to reality in their nakedness, to that apparent 'void,' which I mentioned at the outset, in order to experience instead Fullness, the presence of God."
--Pope Benedict XVI (quoted on ZENIT today)

Prayer: Radical Trust

"Turning to Lord in prayer involves a radical act of trust, in the awareness that one is entrusting oneself to God who is good, "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 86:15; cf. Joel 2:13; Genesis 4:2; Psalm 103:8; 145:8; Nehemiah 9:17). For this reason, today I would like to reflect with you on a Psalm that is wholly imbued with trust, in which the psalmist expresses the serene certainty that he is guided and protected, and kept safe from every danger, because the Lord is his shepherd. It is Psalm 23 -- according to the Graeco-Latin tradition [Psalm] 22 -- it is a text familiar to all and much-beloved by all...

"He who goes with the Lord even into the dark valleys of suffering, of uncertainty and of every human problem feels secure. You are with me: this is our certainty, this is what sustains us. The darkness of night frightens us with its moving shadows, with the difficulty it brings in distinguishing dangers, with its silence filled with indecipherable sounds. If the flock moves after sunset, when visibility is lessened, it is normal for the sheep to become restless, since there is a risk of stumbling or of going astray and becoming lost -- and there is the added fear of possible aggressors, who conceal themselves under the cover of night.

"In speaking of the "dark" valley, the psalmist uses a Hebrew expression that evokes the shadows of death. The valley to be crossed is therefore a place of anguish, of awful threat and of mortal danger. And yet the man who prays proceeds securely and without fear, for he knows that the Lord is with him. His "you are with me" is a proclamation of unwavering trust and sums up the experience of radical faith; the nearness of God transforms reality, the dark valley loses its danger -- it is emptied of every threat. Now the flock can walk in peace, accompanied by the familiar sound of the staff hitting the ground -- the sign of the reassuring presence of the Shepherd.

"This comforting image concludes the first part of the Psalm, and gives way to a different scene. We are still in the desert where the shepherd lives with his flock, but now we are transported to his tent, which is opened in order to provide hospitality."

--from ZENIT, quoting Pope Benedict XVI in the general audience yesterday.