Diary of a Parish Priest

Christmas 2011

Many thanks from myself and our entire parish staff for the many cards, prayers and gifts we have received over the Christmas season. 

We celebrated a beautiful, spirit-filled Christmas and not only was our mass attendance great, but so was the attendance at our Advent prayer services, wreath making and retreat.

 Of course, Joseph and Mary and our "pony-impersonating-a-donkey"

led the way through the Stations of the Creche. 

We did actually have a donkey this year, though he did not do any of the heavy lifting. I think he is animal who has learned that Baby Jesus sleeps on the best straw in the manger - and the donkey knows just how to get it! 

We did have quite a gathering of God's creatures. It is surprising how eager for attention (and food) the goats are; a few of them really do seem to enjoy butting you when you least expect it. I thought that happened only in black and white cartoons!

The real reason for the season. We gather as God's family in a busy, commericialized and increasingly secularized month, to give thanks for the coming of Christ among us, praise God with hymns and inspired songs, place the infant Jesus in the manger, light our tree and pause for some refreshments. Now we were ready for Christmas.

Have a Blessed and Grace-filled Christmas Season.

 

Advent Wreath Holy Cross 2011

After a few years of trial and error, we seem to have discovered a set-up for the wreath which stays lit in all but the most gusty winds. It's a beautiful sight in the evening.

Sunday Homily Playlist for Advent

I think this might work. You need Spotify to listen, but the list itself is on my Facebook page.

Here's the link  http://www.facebook.com/frmanning

 

 

Advent Wreath at Holy Cross Rumson

Inside or outside the church, I love our Advent decorations!

O Come O Come Emmanuel - Stations of the Creche

It was COLD ! Light snow flurries arrived a few hours after our Stations of the Creche and Christmas Tree Lighting.

Thanks to everyone whose effort made the evening a success: the prayerful liturgy in Church, the procession to the outdoor scenes of the Shepherds and the Magi, and of course to the Christmas manger. The hot chocolate and home baked goodies after the lighting of the tree were delicious and well appreciated.

Now I know that the sheep in our Nativity scene are not real, but I'm not sure the real sheep we had on hand Monday night knew that. What other explanation for the fact that they took off like lightning toward the Shepherds and Sheep station? The photo below shows the blurry images of the sheep dragging their shepherds toward the light. Thanks to everyone for being good sports. The electronic color-changing candles worked out well this year--- who knew they could also be used a light sabers?

Our Christmas tree has weathered a storm or two and stil has its supports from the last bad storm, but it looks proud and beautiful in the darkness as its lights announce the coming of the Light of the World.

 
One of the Shepherds Looks over the Prayer

 

 
You Would Think the Sheep Knew Where They Were Going! 

 
The Magi Teach Us To Seek The Lord

 
Our Christmas Tree Proclaims That Christ is Our Light

Advent Stations and Lighting of the Christmas Tree Tonight !

Join us this evening for an indoor/outdoor Stations of the Creche as we journey toward the Christmas manger and celebrate events leading up to the birth of Christ. We will light our Christmas tree and gather for refreshments after a carol of praise and thanksgiving.
Join us at 7 : 00 PM !

 
Stations of the Creche and Christmas Tree Lighting 2009

Have You Been Waiting Long?

 

Our moral and spiritual stature can be measured by that which we await and that for which we hope.

Benedict XVI, Angelus November 28th.

Advent Skies

View from the Sacristy

 

 
Our Advent Star over the Carriage House

 

There's a rumor that several angels will be making an appearance over the skies at Holy Cross this year.

Vigil for All Nascent Human Life

 

Pope Benedict has asked that prayer vigils be held at the beginning of Advent to pray for a greater respect for all unborn human life. The time of expectant waiting for Jesus seems a perfect opportunity to be mindful of the vulnerability Jesus took upon himself in the Incarnation, and the vulnerability of all powerless and voiceless human life.

We will pray a Vigil for Human Life on Wednesday, December 1st at 6:30 PM at Holy Cross Church. This will coincide with the beginning of the Advent Family Retreat, but will also include any parishioners who are not taking part in the Family Retreat but wish to join in prayer for life.

It is planned to have prayer, song, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and some time for private reflection and meditation.

 

Archbishop Chaput on the Vocation of Christians in American Public Life

Vocations of Christians in American Public Life

  Archbishop Chaput's most recent speech on the role of Catholic faith in American public life traces the unhealthy division between a politician's private moral beliefs and their public voting records to the speech President Kennedy made about his own Catholic faith during his run for the presidency.

In erroneously viewing the history of our republic as purely secular, and reassuring the public that if elected he would not be a Catholic president, (or perhaps even as a president who was truly Catholic,) Kennedy established the principle that politicians should divorce their private moral and religious beliefs from their public advocacy. 

The Archbishop calls Kennedy's landmark speech "sincere, compelling, articulate – and wrong.  Not wrong about the patriotism of Catholics, but wrong about American history and very wrong about the role of religious faith in our nation’s ."

In this far reaching and thoughtful speech, Chaput emphasizes the importance of Catholic witness in public life decrying ecumenism based on polite behavior instead of truth as empty, and a lie.

Look at the short list of issues the Archbishop identified that confront us, and notice how many depend precisely on our beliefs as Catholics:

abortion; immigration; our obligations to the poor, the elderly and the disabled; questions of war and peace; our national confusion about sexual identity and human nature, and the attacks on marriage and family life that flow from this confusion; the growing disconnection of our science and technology from real moral reflection; the erosion of freedom of conscience in our national health-care debates; the content and quality of the schools that form our children.

Read the entire text of the Archbishop's speech on their diocese's webpage by following the link at the top of this post.

Advent Prayer

Angels Appearing Before the Shepherds, Henry Osawa Tanner

 

One of my favorite Prefaces in the Sacramentary (the book of prayers for the Mass)  is the Preface for  Advent II. It's poetry and theology combined.

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

His future coming was proclaimed by all the prophets.
The virgin mother bore Him in her womb with love beyond all telling.
John the Baptist was His herald
and made Him known when at last He came.
in His love Christ has filled us with joy as we prepare to celebrate His birth,
so that when He comes He may find us watching in prayer,
our hearts filled with wonder and praise.

And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven
we proclaim Your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise:

O Emmanuel

Today would be a wonderful day to play the hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel as a melodically prayerful summary of our preparation for Christmas and the spirit of the O Antiphons.

Many parishioners have brought their infant Jesus's from their mangers to be blessed, and the school children took home a bit of straw from the creche at church to place in the creche at home.

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

O King of Nations

O King of Nations.

We can almost hear Pilate ask the question even though it's Christmas that approaches, not Easter: "So then, you are a king?"

Kingship is hard to imagine for a baby. And for us it's a difficult metaphor for Jesus, first because it emphasizes his sovereignty not his warm-fuzzy compansionship and second because it's not just "us" over which Jesus is sovereign, but the entire world, even better, the universe.

Something to pray about as we place the infant Jesus in our mangers.

O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:

Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

O Oriens

We had a true Advent sunrise this morning; I hope you saw it.

And if you saw it and "noticed" it, then you prayed at the crack of dawn.

The beautiful rose and blue colors of the sky were a welcome relief from the storm.

While pious Jews traditionally pray toward Jerusalem, and Muslims toward Mecca, Christians have traditionally faced not in the direction of a city, but East.

Our hope comes from the Lord, the Rising Son.

O Rising Sun,

splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:

Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The Weather Outside Was Frightful

But all six of our babies to be baptized arrived safe and sound and warm. Two expectant couples arrived for their blessing and to pray for the health of their babies-on-the-way. Several families brought the Infant Jesus from their Christmas mangers to bless as well, probably over a dozen Infant Jesus's of all shapes, sizes and styles.

Our own maintenance crew did a great job of cleaning up the walkways and sidewalks and augmented the basic plowing job by our snow removal contractor. The driving winds virtually cleared some areas of snow entirely, while accumulating drifts of three, four and five feet or more in certain areas, especially against the school building.

Evening 7 PM mass is still on schedule and, as usual, will be the Traditional Latin Mass.

O Key of David

The Messiah's lineage from the house of David the King is echoed by the key, a symbol of authority and power.

This prison which this Messiah will open will be the gates of Hell and the kingdom which will be ours instead, the kingdom of eternal life. Jesus builds on this imagery when he gives Peter the keys to the kingdom.

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

 

O Root of Jesse

 The Incarnation, with both its historical and transhistorical importance, takes place in history, in a particular place and time, to Mary and Joseph. The genealogy of Jesus celebrates the Messiah's historicity, yet emphasizes his origins as God.

The Christmas proclamation at just before midnight mass is such a beautiful proclamation of this truth as well.

Jesus is not a myth, an ideal, or a symbol, he is True-God/True-Man.

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

 

O Adonai

The name of the LORD in Hebrew which pious Jews were permitted to pronounce aloud.

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

The God of Moses who appeared in the burning bush, gave the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

A God, who for the first time in human history, made a covenant with his people.

A God whom Christians believe comes again to make a New Covenant, a covenant He will ratify with His Body and Blood.

Let us give thanks for our God who comes among us and keep holy God's Name.

O Wisdom

Today begins the seven days of "O Antiphons" - seven titles of the Messiah from the book of the prophet Isaiah.   
Today the first of the antiphons, is the Messiah's title as "O Wisdom."

O Wisdom, Who didst come out of the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.

Wisdom and prudence are often contrasted with knowledge or technical expertise. A prudent person knows when and how to apply all the other virtues. How does one temper justice with mercy? Courage and patience? When to speak up and when to keep silent? One of the most difficult tasks of the spiritual life is to find balance - O Wisdom. Jesus is the wisdom and the prudence.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Thank you to all the parents who brought young children and to those who helped plan our annual Stations of the Creche and Christmas tree lighting.

The relatively mild weather and the clear night added to the festivities and so did our little flock of sheep and goats. It's easy to for me to say, since I didn't have to lead any of them, but it seemed like they were pretty well behaved -- at least no one got away! Even the three candles on the outdoor Advent wreath stayed lit.

Our tree is decorated with many more lights this year and the newer LED's make a more brilliant display of color.

The children did a great job of reading and Mary and Joseph and "Seymour" the pony who plays the part of the donkey, were right on schedule. Our portable sound system worked perfectly this year and the inside of the church looked festive and dignified. Everyone seemed to enjoy the snacks after the prayers (even our sheep who got to eat grass and treats too.)

Each year we celebrate the Advent Stations with Christmas creche blessing and tree lighting to gather as a parish family for a holy and happy event during the Advent season. Thanks again to everone who made the evening such a success.

Check out the rest of the photos in the Christmas Album.