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December 20, 2008 –  Saturday in 3rd Week of Advent      DAILY LITURGICAL/THEME MEDITATION: "For with God nothing will be impossible" UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENT(S): Jesus Seen as Light in Dark Times SAINT OF THE DAY St. Dominic of Silos  GENERAL MARIOLOGY The Predestination of the Virgin Mother and Her Immaculate Conception Conclusion DIVINE MERCY On Saving Souls I Live For Souls  TEACHING/TESTIMONY/CONVICTION: Christmas Message of Jerusalem's Church Leaders   Monthly Index

DAILY LITURGICAL MEDITATION

Saturday (12/20): "For with God nothing will be impossible" Scripture: Luke 1:26-38 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" 35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible."38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'uel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” (Is. 7:14-15) Meditation: God uses signs to communicate his purposes, his presence, his righteousness, his favor to his people (Psalm 86:17), and his assurance that he is speaking to them and that he will keep his promises. God also performed mighty signs to demonstrate his saving deeds when he delivered his people from bondage in Egypt (Psalm 78:43). When God offered King Ahaz a sign, the king refused. God, nonetheless, gave Israel a sign to assure his people that he would indeed give them a Savior who would rule with peace and righteousness (Is. 7:11ff). The greatest sign God has given us is his only begotten Son Jesus Christ who took on flesh for our sake and for our salvation. We see the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and the unfolding of God's plan of redemption in the events leading up to the Incarnation, the birth of the Messiah. The new era of salvation begins with the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary. This child to be born is conceived by the gracious action of the Holy Spirit upon Mary, who finds favor with God. As Eve was the mother of all humanity doomed to sin, now Mary becomes the mother of the new Adam who will father a new humanity by his grace (Romans 5:12-21). This child to be conceived in her womb is the fulfillment of all God’s promises. He will be “great” and “Son of the Most High” and “King” (Luke 1:32-33), and his name shall be called “Jesus”, which means “the Lord saves.” “He will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The promise of an everlasting kingdom to the house of David (Isaiah 9:6-7) is fulfilled in the King to be born in Mary’s womb.  How does Mary respond to the word of God delivered by the angel Gabriel? She knows she is hearing something beyond human capability. It will surely take a miracle which surpasses all that God has done previously. Her question, “how shall this be, since I have no husband” is not prompted by doubt or skepticism, but by wonderment! She is a true hearer of the Word and she immediately responds with faith and trust. Mary's prompt response of "yes" to the divine message is a model of faith for all believers. Mary believed God's promises even when they seemed impossible. She was full of grace because she trusted that what God said was true and would be fulfilled. She was willing and eager to do God's will, even if it seemed difficult or costly. Mary is the “mother of God” because God becomes incarnate when he takes on flesh in her womb.  When we pray the Nicene Creed we state our confession of faith in this great mystery: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man”.  God gives us grace and he expects us to respond with the same willingness, obedience, and heart?felt trust as Mary did. When God commands he also gives the help, strength, and means to respond. We can either yield to his grace or resist and go our own way. Do you believe in God's promises and do you yield to his grace? "Heavenly Father, you offer us abundant grace, mercy, and forgiveness through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Help me to live a grace-filled life as Mary did by believing in your promises and by giving you my unqualified 'yes' to your will and plan for my life." Psalm 24:1-6 1 The earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein; 2 for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers. 3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. [Selah]   RETURN TO TOP

UNIVERSAL CHURCH/WORLD EVENTS

Jesus Seen as Light in Dark Times Jerusalem's Christian Leaders Send Christmas Message   JERUSALEM, DEC. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Even though it may appear that there are more problems than solutions in the world today, the leaders of the Christian Churches in Jerusalem are reminding the faithful that Jesus is a light that "never goes out." Thirteen patriarchs and heads of Christian Churches stated this in a message for Christmas in which they also urged their flocks to transform faith in the light of Christ into action. Patriarch Fouad Twal, the archbishop of Jerusalem, Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land, and Patriarch Theophilos III of the Greek Orthodox Church were among the signers. Representatives of the Armenian, Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches also signed the message, as did leaders of the Maronite, Greek Melkite, Anglican, Lutheran, Syrian Catholic and Armenian Catholic Churches. "As we prepare to celebrate Christmas there seems to be even more, darkness, conflict and despair in the world around us. That means for us, as Christians, we must think even more carefully and deeply about Jesus -- the baby born in Bethlehem's stable," the leaders said. Despite the "absence of light" that people perceive, they reminded the faithful that "Jesus is a light in the dark which never goes out, a burning light which takes the terror from the night and moreover, a light on which we should fix our eyes not least when the clouds appear to be gathering around us." What would he do? "We must affirm and witness to the fact that Jesus is the light which shines out from our personal and corporate lives at all times," they affirmed. "Again and again we need to ask ourselves. 'What would Jesus do, what would Jesus say?' "Then, our thoughts and ideas of his actions and words must be translated into the daily life of our community -- particularly in this Holy Land." The leaders of the Churches also mentioned the need to "convince the world's political leaders that the true peace will only come on earth when we seek God's will for his people." In particular they mentioned the president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama, and said they would pray "that he and other world leaders may see the urgent need for peace in the Middle East and not least in this Land." "We need also to see the situation in which many are suffering in Gaza in the light of Christ and make a determined effort to bring them urgent relief," the message continued. "Moreover, we must never forget our duty to point our children and young people to the light of Christ assuring them that, through Jesus, we all have hope for a better world."   RETURN TO TOP

DAILY LITURGICAL SAINT

December 20, 2008 St. Dominic of Silos (c. 1000-1073)   It’s not the founder of the Dominicans we honor today, but there’s a poignant story that connects one Dominic with the other. Our saint today, Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a peasant family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he welcomed the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in numerous leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over property, Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a new monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses in Spain. Many healings were reported there. About 100 years after Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to be the "other" Dominic—the one who founded the Dominicans. For many years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labor. The practice ended in 1931. RETURN TO TOP

GENERAL MARIOLOGY

The Predestination of the Virgin Mother and Her Immaculate Conception  By Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, F.I.  Conclusion We may conclude these considerations on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception with an exercise of the analogia fidei (analogy of faith), or as St. Paul says spiritualia spiritualibus comparantes (1 Cor 2:13): comparing mystery ("spiritual reality&quot with mystery. The interconnection of mysteries and their illustration, not the deduction of conclusions implied in the express contents of the deposit of faith, is the heart of theological reasoning, a reasoning ultimately resting on the logic of the divine counsels. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma, not deduced from revealed premises. It is itself revealed. The use of deduction is but one logical method employed to illustrate just how that dogma is contained within the deposit. The closer our theological reflections come to an adequate formulation of a mystery, the greater will be our appreciation of this interconnection, what Vatican II calls the hierarchy (sacred order, not relative certainty or importance) of truths, as this is arranged in the saving counsels of God concerning the predestination of the saints to glory in Christ. Methodologically, the recognition of the signs of the saving will of God (signa voluntatis Dei), as for instance in its classic formulation by Scotus, functions as a kind of convergence of considerations, in which each reflects the truth and certainty of the others, and a denial of one, even on a seemingly small point, leads to a repudiation of all. This, mass repudiation, is exactly what is entailed in contemporary calls for the "dedogmatization" the Immaculate Conception, hardly a minor point. And in the case of the Immaculate Conception this convergence is particularly impressive. The perfection of Our Lady’s virginity rests in this, that it is the fullest realization of that moral state defined by the grace of the Immaculate Conception, the complement in Mary of the grace of the hypostatic union and substantial sanctity of Christ’s human nature. In turn, it is this perfect espousal of the Holy Spirit which explains, as Gabriel observed at the Annunciation, how a mere creature might become the virginal Mother of God and Mother of the Church. We may say that the mission of the Holy Spirit as complement to that of the Son is realized, or has its term in the Immaculate Virgin qua Immaculate, whether we refer this mission to the anointing of the Messiah at the Incarnation, or to the sanctification of the Church beginning with Pentecost. Finally, as the crown of her maternal mediation consummated by her coredemptive role on Calvary and continued in the work of bringing the Church to full glory, the singular grace and privilege of the Assumption at the end of her earthly life is the same as that working the Immaculate Conception at its beginning. In speaking of an Immaculate Conception, we are not speaking of one moment among many others, but of the one moment which determines the fundamental moral character and dignity of all the others, a dignity which underlies the moral worth of conception and of every person conceived by woman. Immaculate Conception is what is meant when a person is named as Panhaghia. To call her most blessed among women is to describe her conception as untouched by the prince of this world. The mystery of the Immaculate Conception is intimately linked to the absolute primacy of Christ, a given of Tradition never questioned until the Immaculate Conception was systematically denied, or qualified until hypotheses concerning an alleged debitum peccati were proposed as necessary to insure Our Lady’s inclusion in the work of redemption. That link rooted in the joint predestination of Christ and Mary as constituting the "hierarchy" (St. Bonaventure) or sacred order of the hypostatic union, is not only made evident at the first moment of the Incarnation (that of the Annunciation in Nazareth), but above all by a contemplation of that primacy in terms of the preservative redemption of Mary at the moment of Christ’s exaltation on the Cross and his ensuing triumph in the Church through the mediation of the Immaculate and the glorification of her Immaculate Heart. In a word, we are talking about her coredemptive role, why the Immaculate Conception makes possible her active role in the sacrifice of Calvary and in the establishment of the objective economy of salvation. The surpassing excellence of the Immaculate Conception in Mary, type of the Church, is the key to an appreciation of the holiness of the Church and of the excellence of that salvation won for us by Christ through a liberative redemption from sin, and therefore to the dignity and hope of every child conceived, the inestimable value of conception and conversely, the horror of contraception. Incorporation of that mystery into the very life of the Church and into the lives of each of its members, according to St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, is crucial to an appreciation of, and commitment to, the moral and supernatural life of the Church and of the entire human family, at its inception, in its progress and at its conclusion (90). Finally, the grace of the Immaculate Conception, as foretold in the Protoevangelium, makes of the Virgin the destroyer of every heresy in the whole world, of all that is contrary to and subversive of faith in her Son, in doctrine and in discipline. Here is meant not only each heresy, but what is at the root of every heresy, namely self-will in the place of God’s will to believe in his Son. Total consecration to Mary means just this: to make one’s own will one with that of the Immaculate, as her will is one with that of the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Quite correctly, refusal of this has been identified as a sign of a lack of balance, that reduces Mary and Christ to the level and condition of all other men in the present state of fallen nature (denial of the divinity of the Son of Mary Immaculate as Messiah: Ebionites, Nestorians, Pelagians); or reduces them to the condition of heavenly symbols (denial of the sacred humanity of Christ and the perfect virginal motherhood of Mary: Docetism, Gnosticism, Monophysitism). Acceptance of total consecration, on the other hand, is the sign and guarantee of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, the realization of the mission of the Holy Spirit to sanctify the Church, to render it holy, without spot or wrinkle (Eph 5:27). In the Immaculate Conception, in the Panhaghia, is revealed the reality of that perfect union of wills, of being one heart and soul (cf. Acts 4:32), which constitutes the tabernacle of God on earth, first in Mary, and then by extension in the Church, as it is marianized or transubstantiated into the Immaculate Conception. We may then join Mary Immaculate responding to the angelic salutation with her canticle, Magnificat, and so rejoice forever in God our Savior. Indeed, "All generations will call her blessed," no more so than when they proclaim her in word and deed "the Immaculate Conception." Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons is available from Queenship Publishing at 1-800-647-9882, www.queenship.org., or P.O. Box 220, Goleta, California, 93116, U.S.A.  RETURN TO TOP

DIVINE MERCY

Dairy from St. Faustina On Saving Souls I Live For Souls I often accompany a person who is dying far away, but my greatest joy is when I see the promise of mercy fulfilled in these souls (Diary, 935). I am constantly united with [the Lord], and I am fully aware that I live for souls in order to bring them to Your mercy, O Lord. In this matter, no sacrifice is too insignificant (Diary, 971). RETURN TO TOP

CATHOLIC  TEACHING/CONVICTION/TESTIMONY

Christmas Message of Jerusalem's Church Leaders   "We Must Think Even More Carefully and Deeply About Jesus"   JERUSALEM, DEC. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the Christmas message signed by 13 patriarchs and heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem. * * * Dear Sisters & Brothers Greetings. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas there seems to be even more, darkness, conflict and despair in the world around us. That means for us, as Christians, we must think even more carefully and deeply about Jesus -- the baby born in Bethlehem's stable. Many people are afraid of the dark whether it be the absence of light around them or fear of the unknown in their personal lives or the world at large. Despite all this we need to think and mediate about Jesus: "A light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower." (John 1:5) St. John's Gospel goes on to remind us of the facts of Jesus' birth: "That he was born into a world which did not recognize him and a people that did not receive him." (John 1:10-11) So, as we approach another Christmas we must show the world around us that Jesus is a light in the dark which never goes out, a burning light which takes the terror from the night and moreover, a light on which we should fix our eyes not least when the clouds appear to be gathering around us. Just as the baby in the stable is the focal point of our Christmas celebrations, so we must affirm and witness to the fact that Jesus is the light which shines out from our personal and corporate lives at all times. Again and again we need to ask ourselves "What would Jesus do, what would Jesus say". Then, our thoughts and ideas of His actions and words must be translated into the daily life of our community -- particularly in this Holy Land. Similarly, we have to convince the world's political leaders that the true peace will only come on earth when we seek God's will for his people … not least through the words and actions of Jesus. Nor must we belittle the fact, affirmed in St. John's Gospel, that to all who accept Jesus, He gives power to become the Children of God. This means we must stand alongside all who suffer around us -- the hungry, the homeless, the unemployed and the bereaved since Jesus tells us that when we help others we are doing it to Him as thought He were suffering for them. To stand alongside also involves us in action. We need the light of Christ to shine on this Land to enable us to work more realistically for a two state solution which would end the burden of restrictions arising out of Occupation. (So we pray for the president-elect of the United States that he and other world leaders may see the urgent need for peace in the Middle East and not least in this Land). We need also to see the situation in which many are suffering in Gaza in the light of Christ and make a determined effort to bring them urgent relief. Moreover, we must never forget our duty to point our children and young people to the light of Christ assuring them that, through Jesus we all have hope for a better world. Then we would greet our Sisters and Brothers across the world -- not least the thousands who have visited this Holy Land recently. It is important to recall that you are walking in the footsteps of Jesus and when you pause to see the plight of many of your fellow Christians that you respond as you believe He would. We are conscious of all who suffer across the world but for all we believe the only way forward is to see people and situations in "The light of Christ". Be assured of our good wishes and prayers for all of you as Christmas approaches and may God's blessing be on your homes and families. "Walk in the light and the light will illumine your path, Walk in the truth and the truth will set you free, Walk in the way of peace and you will have, through Christ, The peace which passes understanding." (Prayers of the Way: by John Johansen-berg). Jerusalem December 2008 Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem H.B. Patriarch Theophilos III Greek Orthodox Church H.B. Patriarch Fouad Twal Roman Catholic Church H.B. Patriarch Torkom Manooghian Armenian Orthodox Church Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ofm Custos of the Holy Land Archbishop Anba Abraham Coptic Orthodox Church Archbishop Swerios Malki Murad Syrian Orthodox Church Archbishop Abouna Mathias Ethiopian Orthodox Church Archbishop Paul Sayyah The Maronite Church Archbishop Youssef Jules Zreyi The Greek Melkite Church The Rt. Revd. Suhiel Dawani The Anglican Church The Rt. Revd. Mounib Younan The Lutheran Church The Rt. Revd. Pierre Malki The Syrian Catholic Church Father Rafael Minassian The Armenian Catholic Church   RETURN TO TOP

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