Archive for 2006:
O Come Divine Messiah!
O come, Divine Messiah,
The world in silence waits the day
When hope shall sing its triumph,
And sadness flee away.
Dear Savior haste!
Come, come to earth.
Dispel the night and show Thy face,
And bid us hail the dawn of grace.
O come, Divine Messiah,
The world in silence waits the day
When hope shall sing its triumph,
And sadness flee away.
O Thou whom nations sighed for,
Whom priest and prophet long foretold,
Wilt break the captive fetters,
Redeem the long lost fold.
Dear Savior haste!
Come, come to earth.
Dispel the night and show Thy face,
And bid us hail the dawn of grace.
O come, Divine Messiah,
The world in silence waits the day
When hope shall sing its triumph,
And sadness flee away.
Subscribe to the comments for this postFeast of Saint Nicholas
Today is the Feast of Saint Nicholas. Did you put your shoes and/or stockings out? 
The true story of Santa Claus begins with Saint Nicholas the 4th century Bishop of Myra (in Turkey). A holy and great man. A defender of the Faith against Arianism.
The most famous story told about St. Nicholas has to do with three young sisters who were very poor. Their parents were so poor that they did not have enough money for the daughters to get married. Every young girl needed money to pay for the wedding and to set up house for themselves.
Nicholas heard about this family and wanted to help them, but he did not want anyone to know that he was the one who was helping them.
The story is told in a few different ways. In one version, he climbed up on their roof three nights in a row and threw gold coins down their chimney so that they would land in the girls’ stockings, which had been hung by the fire to dry. After two of his daughters had been able to marry because of the money mysteriously appearing in their stockings, the father was determined to find out who was helping them, so he hid behind the chimney the next night. Along came Bishop Nicholas with another bag of money.
When he was discovered, he asked the father not to tell anyone else, but the father wanted everyone to know what a good and generous man the Bishop Nicholas was, so he told everyone he knew. That is how we have the story and the tradition of stocking full of gifts today.
Have a great feast day and be sure to check out the Saint Nicholas Center for activities, stories and images of Saint Nick.
1st Sunday of Advent
The wreath and Jesse tree are ready and all set up. Fr. Bernard came over this afternoon and blessed them and led us all in a beautiful prayer service. The children are working on the Jesse tree ornaments and I am sipping a cup of tea while feeling warm and cozy in my new Advent socks. Yep that’s right, Advent socks - compliments of my very dear friend Sally. And look there’s even a pair for the baby!
Are these just too cute or what??
Advent Begins
A new year begins as Advent marks the start of the liturgical year of the Church. In this season filled with preparation and busyness it’s easy to let ourselves get sidetracked and forget Who it is we are truly preparing for. May we await the coming of Christ with a spirit of joyful anticipation as we contemplate the great mystery of the Incarnation.
The peace that passes all understanding
I feel very peaceful this morning. Which might be surprising given the night we had last night. It started out well. Wednesday is RCIA night and Fr. Leo was giving a talk on the Eucharist but instead of staying for the talk I decided to go up to the church and spend time with Jesus alone. The Church is of course generally locked so I was all alone with Our Lord. I spent an hour just praying and truly felt a wonderful sense of peace and joy when I left.
Later, as dh and oldest son Timothy and I were at home sitting in the living room talking, everything changed when we heard two gun shots and a man crying for help! Not even thinking about their safety, my dh and son both immediately ran outside to help. I ran to the phone and called 911 while watching from the doorway and praying fervently that the gunman was gone (he was!). The police and ambulances were here within minutes and the man who was shot was not mortally wounded but shot twice in the leg. Of course by that time the entire neighborhood was out and the police spent the next several hours interviewing us and investigating.
We have never has something like that happen here and having it happen a mere 500 feet from my house was pretty unnerving - though not as unnerving at the tense moments when I feared for my husband and son. Still, although I was shaking and even crying a bit last night I must say I did sleep well and I did wake up this morning feeling peaceful. I can only attribute that to our Lord. He knew what I needed last night - time with Him. And I know that whatever happens He is in control. I found out this morning that there were 3 other such shootings in the city last night and that is indeed disturbing. But the peace and calm are still here and I am so very grateful for that.
As an aside, I walked outside this morning to have a look around and ended up being interviewed for the news. It’s a lesson in humility because I had no make-up on and my hair was just pulled up into a hair clip. Oh well!
Baby Watch - Week 39
Almost there! (Sorry, no picture - if I make it to 40 weeks I’ll take one last shot.) OB check today went well but they scheduled me for an ultrasound to try and determine how big this baby might be - since the last one was 10 lb. Not that it means anything really. The margin of error this late in the game is a pound or two up or down and I wouldn’t elect for a c-section anyway but apparently they will need to have a physican in the room if the baby is suspected to be 11 lb. or more. I don’t think she’ll be that big though - at least I hope not! Ultrasound is Wednesday (if I don’t deliver before then).
I couldn’t make it to mass yesterday because my back has been hurting quite badly for the 2 days. It feels strained in that when I move a certain way I get a jolt of pain. It’s OK as long as I am still. But thanks be to God, Fr. Bernard came to see me and brought me communion and prayed over me and I am feeling A LOT better today. Actually he stopped by again this morning and gave me another blessing. Since he is the hospital chaplin and we live just 2 blocks from the hospital we are fortunate to get visits from him pretty often.
We are very blessed. God is good!
