Christmas novena - day 2 and O Antiphons

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Here is today's novena:


Today also starts the "O Antiphons." For more information, click here

Christmas novena - day 1

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I plan on posting one video each day for this novena.

Saint Lucy

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St. Lucy Day

By: Julie M. Young

How to Celebrate St. Lucy Day

Saint Lucy Day (also known as Sankta Lucia or Santa Lucia Day) is a Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox Christian holy day that’s celebrated throughout the world on December 13, particularly in Sweden, Scandinavia and Italy. St. Lucy Day celebrates, with Advent, the start of the Christmas season as well as the winter solstice (according to the Julian calendar).

Who was St. Lucy?

St. Lucy was a 4th century girl in Syracuse, Italy who was martyred for her Christian faith by the Romans under Diocletian, possibly because she refused marriage to devote her life to God. Not much else is known about her, but by the 6th century she was well-known throughout the Christian world, and many legends had taken root.

The name Lucy means “light,” which comes from the root for lucid and understanding. Thus, her holy day celebration was celebrated on the darkest day of the year. One legend has it that Lucy’s eyes were put out because of the Romans or a spurned suitor, but then her sight was restored by God. She’s often depicted holding a plate with her eyes on it, and is also a patron saint of the blind.

How to Celebrate in the Style of Sweden and Scandinavia

In Scandinavia, St. Lucy Day celebrates the “Festival of Lights.” Scandinavia has some of the darkest winters in the world, so a celebration of light holds much meaning.

The celebration begins on the morning of St. Lucy Day, when a girl child---the youngest or the oldest---portrays the Lucia Queen. She wears a white dress with a red sash and a wreath with white candles on her head (for safety reasons, people now use battery operated-candles). The Lucia Queen wakes the rest of her family with a tray of saffron buns (called Lussekatter) and coffee. The other girl children also dress in white and carry single candles while singing songs. Though the role was traditionally female, boys also now have a part in the celebration as Star Boys. They wear white pajamas and a conical hat with stars on it, and join the song and merriment.

In Denmark, St. Lucy Day took on a more political role during World War II. Called Luciadag, the celebration was a passive protest against the German occupation. It was meant to bring light in a time of darkness, and is still celebrated today.

How to Celebrate in the Style of Italy

Italy celebrates St. Lucy Day in a few different ways. In the north eastern areas of Italy, St. Lucy brings gifts to good children and coal to the bad ones on December 13. The children in turn must leave her a snack, and promise to not see St. Lucy (aided by her donkey) make her deliveries. Should a child see St. Lucy delivering the gifts, legend has it that Lucy throws ashes into the child’s eyes, blinding them.

In Sicily, St. Lucy’s home region, St. Lucy’s Day is celebrated with food---most notably, cuccia, a dish made of wheat berries, chocolate, sugar and milk. They also make Santa Lucia cookies, which are in the shape of eyes.

Holiday Party Checklist

If you’re planning on hosting St. Lucy Day festivities, you’ll need these items, depending on the country of choice.

Sweden and Scandinavia

Lussekatter (saffron buns)
Coffee
Wreath (for the table or a child’s head)
White Candles (battery-operated for the child’s head; tapers for the table)
White dress or pants for boys and girls.

Star hat
The song “Sankta Lucia.” Look for Holger Lissners version.


Italy


Cuccia
Santa Lucia cookies
Traditional Neapolitan song “Santa Lucia.” Look for the Enrico Caruso version.

Taken from http://www.doityourself.com/stry/saint-lucy-day

Our Lady of Guadalupe

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In 1531 a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to Saint Juan Diego, a poor Indian from Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She identified herself as the Mother of the True God and instructed him to have the bishop build a church on the site and left an image of herself imprinted miraculously on his tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth. The tilma should have deteriorated within 20 years but shows no sign of decay after over 470 years. It to this day defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

Apparently the tilma in the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe, even reflects what was in front of her in 1531! Her message of love and compassion, and her universal promise of help and protection to all mankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the "Nican Mopohua," a 16th century document written in the native Nahuatl language.
There is reason to believe that at Tepeyac Mary came in her glorified body, and her actual physical hands rearranged the roses in Juan Diego’s tilma, which makes this apparition very special.

An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Each year an estimated 10 million people visit her Basilica, making her Mexico City home the most popular Marian shrine in the world, and the most visited Catholic church in the world after Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Altogether 24 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In 1999, Pope John Paul II, in his homily given during the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent. During the same visit Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.

Patronage: Americas, Central America, diocese of Colorado Springs Colorado, diocese of Corpus Christi Texas, diocese of Dodge City, Kansas, Estremadura Spain, diocese of Gallup New Mexico, Mexico, diocese of Nashville Tennessee, New Mexico, New World, diocese of Orange California, diocese of Phoenix Arizona, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, diocese of Sacramento, California, diocese of Sioux City Iowa, Spain.

Source: Sancta.org

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

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On the Immaculate Conception

"The Reflection of the Beauty That Saves the World"

ROME, DEC. 9, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Monday, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, before praying the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The mystery of Mary's Immaculate Conception, which we celebrated solemnly today, reminds us of two fundamental truths of our faith: in the first place original sin, and then the victory of Christ's grace over it, a victory that shines sublimely in Mary Most Holy. The existence of what the Church calls "original sin" is, sadly, a crushing truth, suffice it to look around us and above all in our interior. The experience of evil is, in fact, so consistent, that it imposes itself and makes us ask the question: from whence does it come? For a believer especially, the question is even more profound: If God, who is absolute goodness, has created everything, where does evil come from?

The first pages of the Bible (Genesis 1-3) respond precisely to the fundamental question -- posed by every human generation -- with the account of creation and our parents' fall: God created everything so that it would exist, in particular he created man in his own image; he did not create death, rather, the latter entered the world because of the envy of the devil (cf. Wisdom 1:13-14; 2:23-24), who, rebelling against God, also attracted men with deceit, inducing them to rebellion. It is the drama of freedom, which God accepts totally out of love, but promising that there would be the son of a woman that would crush the head of the ancient serpent (Genesis 3:15).

Hence, from the beginning, the "eternal counsel" -- as Dante would say -- has a "fixed term" (Paradise, XXXIII, 3): The Woman predestined to be mother of the Redeemer, mother of him who humbled himself to the extreme to lead us back to our original dignity. In God's eyes, this Woman has always had a face and name: "full of grace" (Luke 1:28), as the Angel called her when visiting her in Nazareth. She is the new Eve, spouse of the new Adam, destined to be the mother of all the redeemed. Thus wrote St. Andrew of Crete: "The Theotokos Mary, the common refuge of all Christians, was the first to be delivered from the primitive fall of our parents" (Homily IV, on Christmas, PG 97, 880 A). And today's liturgy states that God has "prepared a worthy dwelling for his Son and, in anticipation of his death, preserved her from all stain of sin" (Collect Prayer).

Beloved, in Mary Immaculate we contemplate the reflection of the Beauty that saves the world: the beauty of God that shines on the face of Christ. In Mary, this beauty is totally pure, humble, free of all pride and presumption. The Virgin showed herself in this way to St. Bernadette 150 years ago in Lourdes, and in this way she is venerated in so many shrines. This afternoon, in keeping with tradition, I will also render her homage before the monument dedicated to her in the Piazza di Spagna. Let us now invoke the Immaculate Virgin with confidence, recalling with the Angelus the words of the Gospel, which today's liturgy proposes for our meditation.

[Translation by ZENIT]

[After the Angelus the Pope greeted the pilgrims in various languages. In English, he said:]

I greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims who are present today. The feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an occasion for us all to rejoice in the radiant purity of the Mother of our Redeemer. She was chosen from among all women to be our pattern of holiness, a sign of favor to the Church at its beginning and the promise of its perfection as the spotless bride of Christ. May God bless you, your families and all those you love.

© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Saint Nicholas

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ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2008

Saint Nicholas was born in Lycia in Asia Minor.

He is one of the most popular saints of the Church, even though there is scarcely anything historically certain about him except that he was Bishop of Myra in the fourth century.

As a young man he is said to have made a pilgrimmage to Palestine and Egypt in order to study in the school of the Desert Fathers. On returning some years later he was almost immediately ordained Bishop of Myra.

He was imprisoned during the Diocletian persecution and only released when Constantine the Great came to power and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.


He is also called Nicholas of Bari because his relics were taken to Bari by Italian merchants in 1087.

He is associated with Chirstmas because of the tradition that he had the custom of giving secret gifts to children, and is thus associated with Santa Claus in some countries.

He died on December 6th in 346.

For ideas for celebrating this feast day, please visit Saint Nicholas Center.

1st Sunday in Advent

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In the secular world, Black Friday has come and gone, Christmas decorations are up, and kids are anxiously awaiting for Santa to come. But for us Catholics, Advent is a time to deepen our spiritual lives as we anticipate Christ's second coming, as well as the celebration of His Birth! Hopefully, your families celebrate these next four weeks with an Advent wreath, Advent Calender, Jesse Tree, or something similar. Below, I have posted links to some helpful resources to enhance your prayer life for the next 26 days:

Spiritual Crib
Advent with EWTN

In addition, I have posted a link to an Immaculate Conception Novena, which begins today: Immaculate Conception Novena