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Saint Nicholas

by Filed Under: 12 December Saints, Advent, St. Nicholas Leave a Comment

So many stories surround this beloved saint.

We read from a few different sources. The following hymn from the Roman Breviary sums it all so simply.

➕

Tell, O my tongue,
the praise of the pontiff Nicholas;
that so the sovereign Adonai,
the King and Father of all creatures,
may grant us to be brought by his Son,
to the port of salvation.

When yet a babe at his mother’s breast,
he took it but once
on each fourth and sixth feria,
nor would the child
break his fast
by one drop of milk.

Elevated to the dignity of pontiff,
Nicholas so abundantly
gave to all men the dew of piety,
that scarce could any age
find a better
or so good a pastor.

He gives his gold to secure virgins their treasure;
he distributes corn to the people in a famine;
he brings up from the depths of the sea a vase
that had fallen in;
he brings help to mariners
who were well nigh to shipwreck.

He brings to life a dead man
who had committed a theft;
the Jew is baptized and recovers
what had been stolen from him;
the one is restored to life;
the other is brought to the faith.

Nicholas! thou fair gem,
and honour, and glory of the priesthood!
help by thy gracious intercession
the whole people, the whole clergy;
that their minds, and hands, and lips,
may pay their tribute to our God.

Praise, power, and triumph,
to the most high Trinity!
May it give us to come, after this life,
with our laurel wreaths upon us,
to the joys which Nicholas the blessed
possesses in our country of heaven.

Amen

This year’s books:

These are all books that we already have in our homes library but they are new to littles so we gifted them their own copies. The story books are new to the Family Advent Library.
These titles are all (family) requirements for our older children.

Saint Nicholas

by Filed Under: 12 December Saints, Advent, St. Nicholas Leave a Comment

So many stories surround this beloved saint.

We read from a few different sources. The following hymn from the Roman Breviary sums it all so simply.

➕

Tell, O my tongue,
the praise of the pontiff Nicholas;
that so the sovereign Adonai,
the King and Father of all creatures,
may grant us to be brought by his Son,
to the port of salvation.

When yet a babe at his mother’s breast,
he took it but once
on each fourth and sixth feria,
nor would the child
break his fast
by one drop of milk.

Elevated to the dignity of pontiff,
Nicholas so abundantly
gave to all men the dew of piety,
that scarce could any age
find a better
or so good a pastor.

He gives his gold to secure virgins their treasure;
he distributes corn to the people in a famine;
he brings up from the depths of the sea a vase
that had fallen in;
he brings help to mariners
who were well nigh to shipwreck.

He brings to life a dead man
who had committed a theft;
the Jew is baptized and recovers
what had been stolen from him;
the one is restored to life;
the other is brought to the faith.

Nicholas! thou fair gem,
and honour, and glory of the priesthood!
help by thy gracious intercession
the whole people, the whole clergy;
that their minds, and hands, and lips,
may pay their tribute to our God.

Praise, power, and triumph,
to the most high Trinity!
May it give us to come, after this life,
with our laurel wreaths upon us,
to the joys which Nicholas the blessed
possesses in our country of heaven.

Amen

This year’s books:

These are all books that we already have in our homes library but they are new to littles so we gifted them their own copies. The story books are new to the Family Advent Library.
These titles are all (family) requirements for our older children.

St. Francis Xavier

by Filed Under: 12 December Saints, St. Francis Xavier, The Liturgical Year Leave a Comment

“The life & apostolate of St. Francis Xavier were a great triumph for our mother the holy Catholic Church; for he came just at a period when heresy, encouraged by false learning, by political intrigues, by covetousness, and by all the wicked passions of the human heart, seemed on the eve of victory.

Emboldened by all these, this enemy of God spoke, with the deepest contempt, of that ancient Church which rested on the promises of Jesus Christ; it declared that she was unworthy of the confidence of men, and dared even to call her the harlot of Babylon, as though the vices of her children could taint the purity of the mother.

God’s time came at last, and He showed Himself in His power…Heroes and heroines issued from that apparent barrenness; and whilst the pretended reformers showed themselves to be the most wicked of men, two countries, Italy & Spain, gave to the world the most magnificent saints.

A this time (16th Century) a society of apostles was offering itself to the Roman Pontiff, that he might send them to plant the true faith among people who were sitting in the thickest shades of death.

Not one of these holy men so closely imitated the first apostles as did Francis, the disciple of Ignatius. He had all the marks and labours of an apostle: an immense world of people evangelized by his zeal, hundreds of thousands of infidels baptized by his indefatigable ministration, and miracles of every kind, which proved him, to the infidel, to be marked with the sign which they received who, living in the flesh, planted the Church, as the Church speaks in her liturgy.

May our Lord Jesus be forever praised for having vindicated the honour of the Church, His bride, by raising up Francis Xavier, and giving to men, in this His servant, a representation of what the first apostles were, whom He sent to preach the Gospel when the whole world was pagan.” #domprospergueranger

He would most likely be accused by many today for lacking charity in his speech.

They would be wrong. The saints did not use the honeyed language of the false ecumenism that is prevalent in today’s Church.

The words of St. Francis Xavier shows us what a true Catholic apostle should be like.

May St. Francis Xavier & Our Lady grant us the courage, until we die, to use this language.

Advent Resolutions

by Filed Under: Advent Leave a Comment

Advent is traditionally observed as a “mini-Lent.” We make Advent plans which include various spiritual resolutions, similar to Lent.

Our children also make their own resolutions. This year, my little boys had assistance from a beloved Sister.

Our church’s nativity — waiting for the Christ Child

They mediated on the Nativity and all present. Then the following list was shared with them to help them decide which spiritual resolution they would make this Advent.

We loved it so much that we shared it with all of our children and we want to share it with you.

➕
ADVENT RESOLUTIONS – Who will you work to be like this Advent, in preparation for the Christ Child?

• Lamb – silence, no arguing or fighting, patience
• Ox – diligence, working hard and carefully
• Shepherds – piety
• Wisemen – purity of intention
• St. Joseph – obedience

After their spiritual resolution was set, they took it before our crèche for veneration as they will do daily through Advent — to help them recall why they are working on these areas and ask for the grace. 🙏🏼

💜 Have you set your resolutions?

I’m actually still working on refining my resolutions and my husband is still guiding our older children to help them discern their Advent plans. Our goal is to have all of our plans solidified by the First Friday in Advent. But it’s never too late! 💜➕🙏🏼

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

by Filed Under: Advent, First Week of Advent, Thursday of the First Week of Advent Leave a Comment

Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus.    Come, let us adore the King, our Lord, who is to come.

From the Prophet Isaias.

Ch. v.

Cantabo dilecto meo canticum patruelis mei vineæ suæ. Vinea facta est dilecto meo in cornu filio olei. Et sepivit eam, et lapides elegit ex illa, et plantavit eam electam; et aedificavit turrim in medio ejus, et torcular exstruxit in ea; et exspectavit ut faceret uvas, et fecit labruscas. Nunc ergo, habitatores Jerusalem et viri Juda, judicate inter me et vineam meam. Quid est quod debui ultra facere vineæ meæ, et non feci ei? an quod exspectavi ut faceret uvas, et fecit labruscas? Et nunc ostendam vobis quid ego faciam vineæ meæ: auferam sepem ejus, et erit in direptionem; diruam maceriam ejus, et erit in conculcationem. Et ponam eam desertam; non putabitur et non fodietur: et ascendent vepres et spinæ, et nubibus mandabo ne pluant super eam imbrem. Vinea enim Domini exercituum domus Israel est; et vir Juda germen ejus delectabile: et exspectavi ut faceret judicium, et ecce iniquitas; et justitiam, et ecce clamor.   

I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place. And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard. What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.

We are awaiting the Birth of a Child who is to appear seven hundred years after the time of Isaias; and this Child will be the world’s Savior.

Men will persecute him, load him with calumnies and injuries and, but a few hours before they crucify him, they shall hear this parable from his lips: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen; and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits thereof. 

And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. 

See, Christians, this Son is coming to you. Will you reverence him? Will you treat him as the Son of God, with that honor and love which are due to him? Take notice of the wickedness of men; it has a progress in malice. In the days of Isaias, the Jews despised the Prophets; but the Prophets, though sent by God, were only men. The Son of God came, and they would not acknowledge him; a far greater crime, assuredly, than to stone the Prophets. 

What, then, would be the crime of Christians, who not only acknowledge him who is now coming to them, but are his members by Baptism, if they will not open their hearts to this Messias, whom the Father is sending into the vineyard? What punishment would not the ungrateful vine deserve, planted, as it has been, with so much love, should it persist in yielding nothing but bitter fruit? 

Ah, dear Jesus! let not this be: make us generous: make us produce abundant flower and fruit for the day of thy Coming, which is so near at hand.

Prayer of the Churches of France During Advent

(Taken from the Prophet Isaias)

Rorate, cœli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.   

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Ne irascaris, Domine, ne ultra memineris iniquitatis: ecce civitas sancti facta est deserta, Sion deserta facta est, Jerusalem desolata est, domus sanctificationis nostræ et gloriæ, ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.   

Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquty: behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.

Rorate, cœli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.   

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Peccavimus, et facti sumus tamquam immundus nos, et cecidumus quasi folium universi; et iniquitates nostræ quasi ventus abstulerunt nos: abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis, et allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostræ.   

We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, an dwe have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away: thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.

Rorate, cœli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.   

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Vide, Domine, afflictionem populi tui, et mitte quem missurus es. Emitte Agnum dominatorem terræ de petra deserti ad montem filiæ Sion, ut auferat ipse jugum captivitatis nostræ   

See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.

Rorate, cœli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.   

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus: cito veniet salus tua: quare mœrore consumeris? quare comprehendit te dolor? Salvabo te; noli timere: ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus, Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus.   

Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come: why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

Rorate, cœli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.   

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Prayer From the Ambrosian Missal

(Fourth Sunday of Advent)

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui per Adventum unigeniti Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi nova luce radiare dignatus es, concede nobis, ut sicut eum per Virginis partum in forma nostri corporis meruimus habere paticipem, ita in regno gratiæ ejus mereamur esse consortes, qui tecum vivit et regnat in sæ sæculorum. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, who, by the Coming of thine only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, didst deign to shine on us with a new light; grant unto us, that as we deserved to have him as our companion in the form of our body, by the Birth the Virgin gave him; so also we may merit to be his companions in the kingdom of his grace: who liveth and reigneth with thee for ever and ever. Amen.

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