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Advent & ChristmAstide with the
sAints J.B. Midgley All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE
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CONTENTS Introduction ...............................................................................3 Advent - Awaiting the Second Coming ...................................5 Advent - Joyfully awaiting the Saviour .................................11 The Nativity of the Lord .........................................................20 The Holy Family ......................................................................29 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God .......................................34 The Circumcision and Holy Name of Jesus ..........................41 The Epiphany ..........................................................................46 The Baptism of the Lord ........................................................52 The Presentation of the Lord - Candlemas...........................58 Index of Saints .........................................................................63
CTS gratefully acknowledges recourse to the following sources: The Wisdom of Catholicism, A.C. Pecis, Michael Joseph, London, 1950. The Jerusalem Bible, Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1974. The Divine office, Collins, London, 1974. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Geoffrey Chapman, London 1994. Westminster Hymnal, Burns, Oates & Washbourne, London, 1948. Hymns Ancient and Modern, W. Clowes & Sons, London, 1948. Documents of Vatican II, Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1966. A Catholic Dictionary, Virtue & Co., London, 1951. Christian Quotations & Meditations, H. Ward & J. Wild, Lion Books, Oxford, 1998. The Psalms, Grail Translation, Catholic Truth Society, London, 2003. The Catholic Encyclopaedia, The Encyclopaedia Press, London, 1907. Christ our Light, Friends of Henry Ashworth, Exordium Books, Maryland, 1981. Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Ed.M.Walsh, Burns and Oates, London, 1985. Our Lord with the Saints, B.Groeschel & J.Monti, Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2004.
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❧ INTRODUCTION ❧ For a great many people the richness and warmth of these two seasons are almost unknown or, at best, longforgotten. ‘Christmas’ has sadly been reduced in our secular age to the December shopping frenzy culminating on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day and Boxing Day offer a brief respite, but the rush resumes with equal ferocity once the New Year Sales descend on cities and towns. This need not be the end of the story. As winter draws on each year, Christians begin their liturgical new year in early December, and set out on their Advent journey that will take them to Christmas, Christmastide, and to the beginning of February. They prepare Advent candles, wreaths, Nativity cribs of various kinds and sizes, songs and carols, and look forward to the visit of the Three Kings. Above all they wait in great expectation for the coming of Christ into their hearts and minds, into all their thoughts and activities. This collection of sayings and writings on these themes drawn from biblical sources, the Fathers of the Church, saints and inspiring Christians, leads us into a new time and a new perspective, and accompanies us during this period that is full of important events, signs, symbols, feasts and celebrations.
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The joyful season of Advent comes to our aid in its hopeful contemplation of our own mortality and the final coming of the Lord at the end of time, and in its meditation upon the Incarnation and birth of the Infant Jesus in Bethlehem. Therefore, the Church warmly encourages vigilance and an attitude of joyful expectation during these four weeks. The peaceful season of Christmastide abounds with joy and inspires a hope that the world can never give. We are invited to celebrate feast after feast and marvel at what God has done for us in the Incarnation when Christ becomes Man to redeem us. It is in this context that the January New Year is also passed, when we celebrate how God reveals Himself to us in Christ: in a humble stable, before the Magi, at His baptism by John in the Jordan, and by His first miracle at the Wedding in Cana. On your bedside table, in your pocket, on the train or bus, in a few moments before the Blessed Sacrament, this little book is designed to help us receive and savour the graces of this precious time and to live it as we are surely intended. Downham Market, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2006
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❧ ADVENT ❧
AWAITING THE SECOND COMING Malachi, 460 BC “The Lord says, ‘The One you are seeking will suddenly enter His Temple; and the angel of the covenant who you are longing for is coming. Who will be able to resist the day of His coming or remain standing when He appears? He will take His seat as refiner and purifier; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made’” (Ml 3:2-4). St Matthew, 1st Century Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, escorted by all the angels, He will take His seat on the throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before Him and He will separate men from one another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats, the sheep on His right hand, the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the Kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, visited me when I was sick or
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in prison... For as long as you did this to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me’” (Mt 28: 1-46). St Peter, 1st Century “It was not any cleverly invented myths that we were repeating when we brought you the knowledge of the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; we had seen His majesty for ourselves. He was honoured and glorified by God the Father when He said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; He enjoys my favour ...You should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the day of God to come. We are waiting for what He has promised: the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home” (2 P 1:16-18, 3:12-14). St Mark, 1st Century Jesus said, “You will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them, since the good news must be proclaimed to all the nations ... After the time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory; and He will send His angels to gather His chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven... Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come “ (Mk 13:24-32).
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St John, 1st Century Jesus said, “I am going to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me, so that where I am you also will be... Live in Christ then, my children, so that if He appears, we may have full confidence and not turn from Him in shame at His coming” (Jn 13:1-6, 1 Jn 2:28). “Then I saw some thrones, and I saw those who are given the power to be judges take their seats on them. I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for having witnessed for Jesus and preached God’s word ... They came to life and reigned with Christ ... Happy and blessed are those who share in the first resurrection; the second death cannot affect them but they will be priests of God and reign with Him ... The one who guarantees these revelations repeats his promise: ‘I shall indeed be with you soon’. Amen; come Lord Jesus” (Rv 20:4-6, 22:20). St James, 1st Century “Be patient until the Lord’s coming... do not lose heart because the Lord’s coming will be soon... the Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates” (Jm 5:7-8). St Paul, 1st Century “You will be the crown of which we shall be proudest in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes... and may He so conform your hearts to holiness that
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you may be blameless in the sight of our God when He comes with all His saints ... At the trumpet, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord. So we shall stay with Him for ever... May the God of peace make you perfect and holy; and may you be kept safe and blameless, spirit, soul and body, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Th 2:19, 3:13, 4:13-18,5:23). St Cyril of Alexandria, 376-444 “The first coming of Christ revealed the meaning of His patient endurance; the second, far more glorious, brings with it the crown of the divine Kingdom. He who suffered death in human fashion, but rose again in a divine manner and went up to Heaven, will come revealed not in human lowliness but in the glory of supreme divinity and accompanied by a host of angels... He first came in the order of divine providence to teach us by gentle persuasion; but when He comes again we will be subjects of His Kingship... Our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven in glory at the end of this world on the last day. Then there will be an end to this world, and this created world will be made new.”
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St Bernard, 1090-1153 “Our Lord’s first coming is in the flesh and in weakness; another coming is hidden as souls see within themselves, receive rest and consolation, and are saved. His last coming will be in glory and majesty, and all flesh shall see the salvation of our God.” Thomas a Kempis, 1380-1471 “‘The Kingdom of God is within you,’ says the Lord. Turn with all your heart to the Lord and forsake this wretched world and your soul will find rest. Learn to despise outward things and give yourself to things inward and you will see the Kingdom of God come to you. Give Christ free entrance into your heart and keep out everything which impedes His coming.” St Charles Borromeo, 1538-1584 “This is a sacred season, the time of the Lord’s favour, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation for which the patriarchs and prophets prayed and longed for with all their hearts. We must celebrate it fittingly, giving praise and thanks to the eternal Father for the mercy He shows in this mystery of the coming of His only begotten Son”. “The Church uses the rites of this season, its hymns, songs, and utterances of the Holy Spirit to show us that our hearts should be as prepared now for the Coming of Christ Our Lord as if He were still to come into this world.”
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St Thérèse of Lisieux, 1873-1897 “Pray that the best portion of your life may not be overshadowed by idle fears. We have only life’s brief moments to spend for the glory of God, and well does Satan know it. That is why he employs every ruse to make us consume them in useless labour.” “My God, far from becoming sad at the sight of my miseries, I come to you with confidence, recalling that ‘those who are well do not need a doctor, but the sick do.’ Tomorrow, with the help of your grace, I will begin a new life in which each moment will be an act of love and renunciation.” Karl Rahner SJ, 1904-1984 “We begin the season of Advent that connotes not only an arrival, but also that which is yet to come. The very word expresses a strange interpenetration of the present and the future, of what now exists and what is yet to come, of possession and expectation. In the liturgy, the present and future of Christian salvation are mysteriously interwoven. The Incarnation of the Word of God took place in the past and continues in the present. Christ’s return to judge all men and to complete His redeeming work is an event of the future, and yet He is constantly on the point of coming. The liturgy celebrates both His entrance into the world and the expectation of His return.”