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Second Sunday of Advent, December 5, 2004
"A" Readings:
Isa. 11:1-10 • Rom. 15:4-9 • Matt 3:1-12
• Advent Homily:
"Repent your Sins; the Kingdom Is Coming " by Rev. Jeffrey Lawrence
| The Scriptures teach that when we repent and cast away our sins, we make ourselves
"a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezek. 18:31). God will refresh us (Acts: 3:19), because
"He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness"
(Joel 2:13). ...
• Advent Reflection:
"The Perfect Faith of the Blessed Virgin" by Carl E. Olson |
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!" Uttered by the
heavenly messenger, Gabriel, to a Jewish maiden (Lk 1:28), these words, of
course, make up the first phrase of the Hail Mary. The second phrase of that
great prayer come from an earthly creature, Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, who
exclaims: "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb" (Lk 1:42). St. Bede remarks that this is fitting since the two remarks
show that Mary "should be honored by angels and by men and why she should
indeed be revered above all other women."
...
•
"Fulton Sheen on Advent & Eternity" | Through the Year with Fulton Sheen
is Sheen at his best--the master storyteller, preacher, and faithful servant of Christ--with a word
of encouragement, counsel, and direction for each day of the year. With characteristic insight and
eloquence, he penetrates to the heart of the Christian life with practical reflections on love,
holiness, spiritual power, miracles, and Christ-like living. These daily selections for the second
week of Advent provide a fresh perspective on what it means to be a follower of Christ, on the
challenge of serving God and the blessings of living a grace-filled life.
...
•
"Inedible Dough Christmas Ornaments",
an excerpt from A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz
| Cookie Christmas ornaments are pretty, but as we all know, those that taste good disappear
mysteriously from the tree. Try having your children make ornaments each year out of inedible
dough, to save. You can also make sets of ornaments, such as a creche scene. Or try a Noah's ark.
These figures make nice presents for children to give as gifts to godparents, favorite relatives,
and friends. ...
•
"St. Nicholas and Nicholas recipes",
an excerpt from Cooking with the Saints: An Illustrated Treasury of Authentic Recipes,
Old and Modern by Ernst Schuegraf | Nicholas lived in the fourth century and was
bishop of Myra, now in southwestern Turkey. Nothing else is of historic certainty,
although his veneration in the East can be traced to the sixth century. ...
• "The Advent Wreath",
an excerpt from Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in the Domestic Church by by Peter & Catherine Fournier
| Every season of Advent is a new
reminder of the promise of eternity. (CCC 1020 - 1029) Thus, Advent wreaths are made of evergreens
to symbolize God's "everlastingness" and our immortality. (Purple is the liturgical color for Advent,
green in the wreath symbolizes hope and new life.) Four candles--three purple or violet that represent
penance, sorrow, and longing expectation and one rose or pink that represents the hope and coming joy--are
used to represent the four weeks of Advent. ...
• Selected
Ignatius Press books and music for Advent and Christmas. Books
for the entire family, including Fiona French's beautifully illustrated
Bethlehem, books by theologian John Saward, and classic Catholic Christmas
carols. ...
The page for the first week of Advent is here.
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Dogma And Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to
Daily Life (2nd Ed)
by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
This volume is an unabridged edition of Dogma and Preaching, a work that appeared in a much-reduced form in English, in 1985. The new book contains twice as much material as first
English edition. "Dogma", for many people, is a bad word. For the well-informed believer, it shouldn't be. Dogmas are truths revealed by God, which should enlighten the minds,
guide the choices, and gladden the hearts of Jesus' disciples, including pastors, deacons, and lay teachers. But, as Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), notes in the foreword
to this book, "The path from dogma to proclamation or preaching has become very troublesome." Finding ways to relate the content of the Church's dogmas to everyday life can be
challenging for today's preachers and teachers. Some people find the task so daunting that they leave dogma out. As a result, they wind up presenting something other than the
Church's faith and speak in their own name, offering perhaps unwittingly merely their own, subjective ideas, rather than the Word of God. In Dogma and Preaching, the theologian
and priest Joseph Ratzinger provides (1) a theory of preaching for today; (2) application of this theory to some themes for preaching drawn from the Church's dogmas; (3) meditations
and sermons based on the liturgical year and the communion of saints; and (4) some thoughts regarding the decade after the Second Vatican and Christianity's seeming irrelevance.
Ratzinger insists that sound preaching should rest on three pillars... Read more!
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