striving to radiate Him always
Merry Christmas!
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Blessed art Thou, O new-born Savior, who hast descended from on high to teach me the ways of justice, hast become man and equal to me.
In return for this goodness of Thine, I renounce all evil, all sinful desires, words, and deeds. In return for Thy love, I will ever uproot from my heart all carnal desires, and always live soberly, justly, and godly; do Thou by Thy grace, strengthen me in this resolve. #frleonardgoffine
Dad has Scandinavian & Italian blood but we celebrate this glorious feast day because we are Catholic and seek the intercession of our beloved St. Lucia.
We seek to use the beautiful customs which have been inspired by the liturgical customs to inspire our family to make a feast day marvelous — to give greater glory to God and a special saint.
And sometimes it’s super simple — store-bought donuts and a reading of the saint’s life (as pictured from last year’s celebration).
May it all lift our minds to Heaven where the Saint of Light sings in the glorious Choir of Virgins.
May all the feast day celebrations in our homes be a way to invite Heaven to work miracles again for the faithful through the intercession of the members of the Church Triumphant, the Saints — our modest attempt to restore Christendom within our own families.
SANTA LUCIA, ORA PRO NOBIS.
This year we will have a simple brunch at 10 am after our children’s first lessons of the day. We will turn on our tree lights in the house and the candles in the windows. We will offer our family rosary & Advent devotions earlier so we can make our first trip to see Christmas lights in town while enjoying a hot drink & treat.
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
To those who are suffering their own discrimination and the one of their beloved ones;
to those who were forced to take a *#!!+^#•+^ because the civil authority shamefully blackmailed them, with the outrageous complicity of the ecclesial authority;
to those who with courage refuse to surrender to illegitimate and tyrannical laws;
to those who are deprived of their means of support due to their coherence, I say this:
YOU are the proof that the strength and the violence of Evil can possibly affect you in your belongings, in your body and in your family; but they cannot ever, ever, strip away from you the peace of having stayed loyal to the Lord.
Do you think that the martyrs were people gifted with special powers?
The real martyrs were, are, and will be persons like you and I, persons with a thousand flaws maybe, but driven by the love for Christ, that is, driven by Charity, who are ready to sacrifice their lives in order to not renounce that supernatural and divine love.
And if they were able, with the help of God, to face death accompanied by horrible pains, do you think that you today are not able, under the mantle of the most holy Virgin Mary, to stand up against these tyrants, as cruel as they are cowardly?
Feel honored by the privilege that is granted to you of meriting Heaven: your fidelity, your strength against the impositions of a hostile power, will merit you the help and protection of Heaven even in the littlest things.
Remain in the Grace of God, which is the only good that no one can ever take away from you: all the rest will be in the hands of Her whom we invoke as the Help of Christians. And when the Virgin intervenes, Hell trembles.
Taken from an interview with Archbishop Vigano
There is no exercise which is more pleasing to God, or more meritorious, or which has greater influence in infusing solid piety into the soul, than the assisting at the holy sacrifice of the Mass. If this be true at all the various seasons of the Christian year, it is so, in a very special manner, during the holy time of Advent. The faithful, therefore, should make every effort in order to enjoy this precious blessing, even on those days when they are not obliged to it by the precept of the Church. #domprospergueranger
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The beauty and austerity of the morning can not be put into words. The senses are drawn in more than ever before.
Some years we all go and other times one of us stays behind with the littles.
We wake up at 3am to prepare for this Holy Mass and depart at 4:30am, arriving before the gates open.
We remind the children about the darkness that we will be surrounded with in the Church, the world, and that which is placed before us for this Holy Mass. We impress the necessity for us to trust in the maternal love of Our Lady for all our needs as we prepare for Holy Mass.
Holy Mass begins and all the worries fade. The darkness is almost unnoticeable as all the senses are drawn into the true light. It’s all a beautiful preparation for the Christchild.
Divine Infant King Jesus, come down into our hearts! 🙏🏼
The following Advent reflection is one worth reading for all.
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Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father.
—Mt. 10:32
Meditation
Our Lord may be the occasion of fall in different ways and notably by human respect. As the name indicates, human respect is the respect of man, but an exaggerated respect, a respect which leads us to renounce doing good to our neighbor by fear of displeasing him.
This subject is especially pertinent insofar as Catholics today are easily singled out and ridiculed.
The desire which we have of pleasing men and the exaggerated fear which we have of displeasing them can make us not dare to bear witness to our Faith. As Bourdaloue says, “We are ashamed to declare ourselves [Christians] and we do not see that this shame is in itself more shameful than the declaration we would have to make. A word, a mockery troubles us, and we do not consider by what or by whom we are letting ourselves be troubled. By what? Since there is nothing more frivolous than mockery when it is attacking virtue. By whom? Since it is by vain men whose blame or approval ought to matter to us but little.”
Under pretext of not shocking people, we may be leaving them in their mediocrity. Human respect puts a muzzle on us and prevents us from being apostles.
Let us acknowledge that this excessive timidity is unworthy of a Catholic and let us strive to make up for it in the future.
Lord Jesus, give me the grace to overcome human respect when Thy honor is at stake. I wish from now on to defend the Catholic Faith, with humility and prudence but also with strength and constancy.
Prayer
O Jesus, who left the imprint of Thy holy Face on the veil of St. Veronica, deign so to imprint Thy features on my soul that, fortified by the courage of this holy woman, never again may I let myself be drawn down by cowardly human respect.
—Way of the Cross, 6th station
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This meditation is taken from #adventtoepiphany
I pray that your Advent has been fruitful thus far and that you have a blessed Gaudete Sunday. 💜💗
Second Sunday in Advent
Third Sunday in Advent
Let us enter into her spirit, and be glad on this third Sunday of her Advent, because our Lord is now so near unto us. Tomorrow we will resume our attitude of servants mourning for the absence of their Lord and waiting for Him; for every delay, however short, is painful and makes love sad.
The Station is kept in the basilica of St. Peter, at the Vatican. This august temple, which contains the tomb of the prince of the apostles, is the home and refuge of all the faithful of the world; it is but natural that it should be chosen to witness both the joy and the sadness of the Church.
The Night Office commences with a new Invitatory. The voice of the Church no longer invites the faithful to come and adore in fear and trembling the King, our Lord, who is to come. Her language assumes another character; her tone is one of gladness; and now, every day, until the Vigil of Christmas, she begins her Nocturns with these grand words:
The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. #domprospergueranger
Today we celebrate a patronal feast of our oldest son — one which he chose for himself.
Powerful would be an understatement. I can’t begin to articulate the weight of knowing that your child was specifically called to a saint after great discernment.
What is God calling him to?
That’s the question that I no longer ask. I merely entrust my children to Our Blessed Mother & their patrons, pray for their protection, and ask that they cooperate with all God’s grace.
St. Ambrose, ora pro nobis!
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Remove our prejudices, O you great lover of truth! and crush within us those time-serving and unwise theories, which tend to make us Christians forget that Jesus is the King of this world, and look on the law, which equally protects error and truth, as the perfection of modern systems.
May we understand that the rights of the Son of God and his Church do not cease to exist, because the world ceases to acknowledge them; that to give the same protection to the true religion and to those false doctrines, which men have set up in opposition to the teaching of the Church, is to deny that all power has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth; that those scourges which periodically come upon the world are the lessons which Jesus gives to those who trample on the Rights of his Church, Rights which he so justly acquired by dying on the Cross for all mankind; that, finally, though it be out of our power to restore those Rights to people that have had the misfortune to resign them, yet it is our duty, under pain of being accomplices with those who would not have Jesus reign over them, to acknowledge that they are the Rights of the Church.
And lastly, dear Saint, in the midst of the dark clouds which lower over the world, console our holy Mother the Church, who is now but a stranger and pilgrim amid those nations which were her children, but have now denied her. ➕
Practical Considerations from Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1871
• Remember the words of Saint Ambrose: “In too much eating many have found their death; but none in fasting.” Heed this sentence well; especially if you belong to those poor and deluded beings who imagine that the fasts, ordained by the Church, are injurious to health. Even the word of God assures us, that many have shortened their lives by intemperance in eating and drinking, and the experience of almost every day is another overwhelming evidence of this fact. But where can you point out to me any one who shortened his life, by observing the fasts ordained by the Church? The word of God assures us that those who are temperate in eating and drinking, prolong their lives. Whom do you believe, the word of God, or the evil Spirit, who, through the mouth of the free-thinkers, the heretics, or of those wicked persons, whose life makes them despicable, says, that fasting and abstaining is hurtful to man, that it is the cause of many infirmities and that it shortens life. The true Church, by whose mouth God speaks, prays: “O Lord, who, by holy fasting and abstinence, dost help both soul and body:” which means: curest soul and body as by a remedy. I believe in this prayer, and with me all those who are true Catholic Christians.
• “I fear not to die, because we have a merciful Lord,” says Saint Ambrose. So it is; we have a merciful, a most kind Lord. All who endeavor to serve Him faithfully during their life, can and may comfort themselves with the thought of the divine mercy in their last hour. Satan sometimes tries to frighten and drive to despondency even pious souls, but recollecting that they have served the Lord rightly, and confessed their sins, they ought not to listen to the Evil One; but, contemplating the infinite mercy of God, comfort themselves and say: “We have a merciful Lord.” In Him will I trust; He will not forsake me. But those who during their life, have abused the divine goodness in order to be more wicked; who sinned because God, so infinitely good and merciful, would forgive them; these, I say, have reason to fear the temptations of Satan in their last hour; for, he generally comes then to throw us into gloom and despair by representing the severity , of the divine Justice. Take care not to be of the number of these unhappy people. Serve God faithfully during your life; do not offend Him: and if you have done wrong, do penance and seek to regain the grace of the Almighty. In this manner, you will be able to comfort yourself on your death-bed with the thought of His goodness, and say: “I have a merciful God; in Him will I trust.” Exercise yourself today in this hope, and say with King David: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. Turn not away thy face from me. Be you my helper, forsake me not, do not you despise me, O God, my Saviour!” (Psalm 26) And again: “I cried to thee, O Lord, I said: you art my hope, my portion in the land of the living.” (Psalm 141)
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.
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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:
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.
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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:
“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 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.
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.
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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! 💜➕🙏🏼
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.
Hi! I'm Lena, mama of JOYfilledfamily.
We are a traditional Catholic family striving to live for Jesus Christ in everything we do. We pray to completely surrender our will to His and to become His servants. Our mission of this blog is to share our JOY.
This blog serves as a journal of us making good memories, living the liturgical year, and our spiritual journey.