While we're quick to remind others to
"Keep Christ in Christmas,"
Do not forget to
keep Mass in Christmas!
It is the Christ Mass!
Qui Locutus - Formerly The CathApol Blog - a Catholic Apologetics Blog Defending the Faith and keeping Catholics Catholic! Scott Windsor, MEd. - aka: CathApol
Fourth Sunday of Advent
This is the Fourth Sunday in Advent - and this year it is also the LAST DAY of Advent! Tomorrow is the Christ Mass! Joy to the world! Peace unto men of goodwill (not the mistranslation of "goodwill, peace to men").
Today marks the closing of the shortest possible Advent Season, and tomorrow starts the Christmas Season. The "Twelve Days of Christmas" start on December 25th, Christmas Day, and go through January 5th. January 6th begins Epiphany (which is also a Christmas Season). Christmas can actually be celebrated all the way to February 2nd which is Candlemas - and in the lectionary Candlemas is the last time for the liturgical year that the Nativity of our Lord is mentioned in the readings. So, don't be in too much of a hurry to take down your Christmas decorations!
Don't forget! While every Sunday is a holy day of obligation, so is tomorrow! The Christ Mass is one of the highest of all the feast days - second only to Easter Sunday. The way we explained this to our children when this happens is "You don't HAVE to go to Mass two days in a row, you GET to!"
Don't forget! While every Sunday is a holy day of obligation, so is tomorrow! The Christ Mass is one of the highest of all the feast days - second only to Easter Sunday. The way we explained this to our children when this happens is "You don't HAVE to go to Mass two days in a row, you GET to!"
The Third and FINAL Week of Advent
"What?" You say? "Advent has FOUR weeks, not THREE!"
Well, yes - but not THIS year, nor several more to follow. This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday in Advent - but Monday is Christmas! This means that the "Fourth Week of Advent" is really just a single day! Monday begins the Season of Christmas! I say several more years to follow because the Fourth Week of Advent will only gain a day per year (excluding Leap Year) eventually getting us to a full week after the Fourth Sunday of Advent - which, of course, will put Christmas on a Sunday and that won't happen again until 2022.
Many of you may be scratching your heads over the statement that Monday begins the Season of Christmas. Many think the Christmas Season begins when Santa Claus rides in on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and lasts until Christmas Day. Well - they are wrong! The current season, which begins four Sundays before the Christ Mass, is Advent. The Season of Christmas begins on Christmas Day and lasts through at least Epiphany (January 6th). The older tradition is that Christmas lasts through Candlemas - in which the Nativity is read about for the last time in the liturgical year. Candlemas is on February 2nd and is the 40th day of the Christmas/Epiphany Season.
Well, yes - but not THIS year, nor several more to follow. This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday in Advent - but Monday is Christmas! This means that the "Fourth Week of Advent" is really just a single day! Monday begins the Season of Christmas! I say several more years to follow because the Fourth Week of Advent will only gain a day per year (excluding Leap Year) eventually getting us to a full week after the Fourth Sunday of Advent - which, of course, will put Christmas on a Sunday and that won't happen again until 2022.
Many of you may be scratching your heads over the statement that Monday begins the Season of Christmas. Many think the Christmas Season begins when Santa Claus rides in on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and lasts until Christmas Day. Well - they are wrong! The current season, which begins four Sundays before the Christ Mass, is Advent. The Season of Christmas begins on Christmas Day and lasts through at least Epiphany (January 6th). The older tradition is that Christmas lasts through Candlemas - in which the Nativity is read about for the last time in the liturgical year. Candlemas is on February 2nd and is the 40th day of the Christmas/Epiphany Season.
Naked Man Nativity Scene
Well, that's what many are calling the Vatican Nativity Scene shown below:
At first glance this scene does not even appear to be a Nativity Scene. If you look a bit more closely though, you can find the Baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, the Three Wisemen, the Angel and the Star - but what of all the other "noise" around the scene? I have to agree with Patrick Madrid in his Tweet:
Certainly the Season of Advent is a good time to practice Corporal Works of Mercy and we should incorporate these into our Advent penance - but the Nativity Scene should be centered on the Incarnation, the Baby Jesus. Traditionally, all the figures in the Nativity Scene - even the animals, are looking at the Baby Jesus - in the Vatican Nativity Scene can you find ANY of the figures looking at the Baby Jesus? Not the Angel, not Joseph, not even the Blessed Virgin are looking upon the newborn Christ-child. See a traditional example below:
For those reading who may not know, or know all the Corporal Works of Mercy, here's a list:
So yes, there is a time and place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) and the Corporal Works of Mercy are good to meditate upon, or more importantly DO, but to clutter up the Nativity scene with these other figures detracts from the Nativity. I can certainly see where it can be argued that one of the reasons Jesus came into the world was to not only preach, but DO Corporal Works of Mercy, but again there is a time and place for everything. What are your thoughts? Please share them below this article. Should the Nativity Scene be used to promote the Corporal Works of Mercy?
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| Click on for larger view |
Who's in charge of designing/approving Vatican manger scenes? This year's naked-guy rendition is just bizarre. Jarring, discordant & chaotic, it's not even Baby Jesus-centered. Yes, the extra bits are meant to depict works of mercy, but why? They don't belong in a Nativity scene.
https://twitter.com/patrickmadrid/status/941083134841556992
Certainly the Season of Advent is a good time to practice Corporal Works of Mercy and we should incorporate these into our Advent penance - but the Nativity Scene should be centered on the Incarnation, the Baby Jesus. Traditionally, all the figures in the Nativity Scene - even the animals, are looking at the Baby Jesus - in the Vatican Nativity Scene can you find ANY of the figures looking at the Baby Jesus? Not the Angel, not Joseph, not even the Blessed Virgin are looking upon the newborn Christ-child. See a traditional example below:
For those reading who may not know, or know all the Corporal Works of Mercy, here's a list:
So yes, there is a time and place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) and the Corporal Works of Mercy are good to meditate upon, or more importantly DO, but to clutter up the Nativity scene with these other figures detracts from the Nativity. I can certainly see where it can be argued that one of the reasons Jesus came into the world was to not only preach, but DO Corporal Works of Mercy, but again there is a time and place for everything. What are your thoughts? Please share them below this article. Should the Nativity Scene be used to promote the Corporal Works of Mercy?
Palestine
This is a great little video putting the Palestinian, Jewish, Arab conflict over a small patch of land in the Middle East which several religions refer to as "The Holy Land."
Second Week of Advent
"Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me."Then after they leave, He turns and confirms He is the One in whom they have been waiting when He says:
"What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold I send my angel before my face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' " (Giglio, 2017)So, St. John the Baptist was the one who prepared the way for the Messiah. Blessed are those who are not scandalized by the truth of our Faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
I hope you're having a wonderful Advent Season and if one of your traditions is an "O Tree" (for the O Antiphons, see below), then don't forget to get your tree out this week! The traditional remembrance of the O Antiphons (and the verses in the Advent Hymn, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel") begins next Sunday, December 17th.
Resources:
Giglio, Deacon John. Second Sunday of Advent. Retrieved on December 10, 2017 from:
http://tridentine-mass.blogspot.com/2017/12/second-sunday-of-advent.html
O Antiphons: http://www.traditionalcatholicliving.com/o-antiphons-advent/
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