First Sunday of Advent: Renewing the HOPE...

 First Sunday of Advent

Renewing the HOPE

In Advent, Christians relive a dual impulse of the spirit:  on the one hand, they raise their eyes towards the final destination of their pilgrimage through history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other, remembering with emotion His birth in Bethlehem, they kneel before the Crib. The hope of Christians is turned to the future but remains firmly rooted in an event of the past. In the fullness of time, the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary:  "Born of a woman, born under the law", as the Apostle Paul writes (Gal 4: 4). - Pope Benedict XVI, 27 November 2005

"Therefore, stay awake.  For you do not

 know on which day your Lord will come."

Matthew 24:42 (Jesus' words in Today's Gospel) 

Rorate Mass:  a dawn Mass said only by candlelight - to welcome the Advent season

"It is the beautiful task of Advent 

to awaken in all of us 

memories of goodness 

and thus open doors of hope."

Pope Benedict XVI

Singing Angels – Relief from the Cantoria by Luca Della Robbia (c. 1435)

"Hills of the North, rejoice: 

Rivers and mountain-spring, 

Hark to the advent voice!

Valley and lowland, sing!"

Charles Edward Oakley, Hymnist

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"Let us approach Christmas with an expectant hush, 

rather than a last-minute rush." 

Anonymous
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"We journey as if on a bridge that connects 

earth to Heaven, a bridge that the Lord has built for us.  

Let us always keep our eyes fixed on both shores, so 

that we may love God and our brothers and sisters

with all our hearts in order to journey together and find 

ourselves one day united in the house of the Father."

Pope Leo XIV

Homily, First Sunday of Advent 2025

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The Lord's Day is the lord of days...but

ALSO remembering today... 

Click here: Animated story of St Andrew - YouTube (1:45 mins)

Feast Day:  December 30

St Andrew, pray for us!

Christmas Anticipation Prayer

Beginning on St. Andrew's Feast Day, November 30, the following prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a beautifully meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming. 

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother.  Amen. 

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Advent season resources

Advent: Catholic News Agency 

Click here: Advent in 2 Minutes - YouTube 
Click here: Making Advent a more holy season - YouTube (4:30 mins)

Click here: Fish Eaters Advent Overview

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Learn more about the saints of Advent, including 

St Edmund Campion (Dec 1), the Blessed Virgin Mary 

(Dec. 8 - IC celebrated on 9th this year; also feasts on 10 and 12), 

St. John the Baptist, St Francis Xavier (Dec 3), 

St John Damascene (Dec 4), St. Nicholas (Dec. 6), 

St Ambrose (Dec 7), St. Juan Diego (Dec. 9), 

St. Lucy (Dec. 13), St John of the Cross (Dec 14), 

St Peter Canisius (Dec 21), St Stephen (Dec 26), 

St John of Kanty (Dec 23), the Holy Innocents (28th) and

St Thomas Becket (Dec 29th).  All you holy ones, pray for us!

Hunger and thirst: satisfied!...

  And God is able to provide you with every 

blessing in abundance, so that you may always 

have enough of everything and may provide 

in abundance for every good work. - II Cor 9:8 

 

"How sweet is the moment 

in which poor humanity, wearied and afflicted, 

may remain alone, with Jesus alone, 

in the Sacrament of Love; for there the Lord, 

with His flaming heart open, calls unto all, 

'You that are burdened and heavy laden, 

come unto Me and I will refresh you.' 

Happy are those hearts that know how to 

satisfy the unquenchable hunger and thirst 

in this heavenly banquet!" 

 Fr. M.J. Corcoran, O.S.A.

Approaching plainly and simply...

   ...and that you may love the LORD your God, 

listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.  

For the LORD is your life...  Deut 30:20

"Whenever I go to the chapel, 

I put myself in the presence of our good Lord, 

and I say to Him, Lord, I am here.  

Tell me what you would have me to do’ ...

... I tell God everything that is in my heart.  

I tell Him about my pains and my joys, 

and then I listen.  

If you listen, God will also speak to you, for with 

the good Lord, you have to both speak and listen. 

God always speaks to you when you 

approach Him plainly and simply."  

St Catherine Labouré

France~ 1806 -1876
Daughters of Charity nun (Nursing order)
Marian Visionary
Incorrupt body 
(Motherhouse of Dgtrs of Charity: 
140 Rue du Bac, Paris)

Feast Day - November 28

The Listening Woman - Godfried Shalcken

In her second apparition, on November 27, 1830, Our Lady revealed her desire for the Miraculous Medal.  Over the course of the apparitions, which always occurred near the Blessed Sacrament, Our Mother gave St Catherine this message, as if giving a remedy, for the world:  “Come to the foot of the altar.  Here graces will be showered on all, great and little, who ask for them.  Graces will especially be showered upon those who ask for them.”

Click here: St. Catherine Labouré - YouTube (2 mins)

AMM-Request Free Medals and Bookmarks

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Wear the medal - plainly, simply!

St Catherine Laboure, pray for us!

The wealth of one...

 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has 

eternal life.  I am the bread of life. - Jn 6:47-48

"Sacrifice all earthly goods

rather than a single Communion."

St Mary Magdelen of Pazzi

Blessed Thanksgiving Day!

I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart... Psalm 138:1a

"Remember the past with gratitude. 

Live the present with enthusiasm. 

Look forward to the future with confidence."
St John Paul II

Gratitude ... goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. - Fr Henri J. M. Nouwen

As Catholics, our Eucharistic life 

(Eucharistia means thanksgiving) 

is literally one of Thanks-living!

  Consider a gift of gratitude to our Lord through a

daily HOLY HOUR and/or HOLY MASS

during the upcoming season of ADVENT!

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"God has two dwelling places:

One in heaven and the other

in a grateful heart."  - Izaak Walton

In the silence of the heart...

 "It seems to me that I have found my heaven on earth, 

because my heaven is you, my God, 

and you are in my soul. 

You in me, and I in you - may this be my motto." 

 St Elizabeth of the Trinity

"When one has just received communion,

of what use are the words of men

when it is God who is speaking?

We must listen to what the 

good Lord says to our heart."

St John Vianney

Photo: La Purisima Concepcion Catholic School students pray during Mass (Los Angeles, California, 2011)

Toward springs of water...

     The Lamb who is at the center of the throne

will lead them to the

springs of the waters of life. - Rev 7:17

 

 

Prayer After Communion (Today's Liturgy)

O God, who bestowed on 

blessed Catherine of Alexandria a crown 

among the Saints for her twofold triumph 

of virginity and martyrdom, grant, we pray, 

through the power of this Sacrament,

that, bravely overcoming evil,

we may attain the glory of heaven.

Through Christ our Lord.

 

St Catherine of Alexandria

Egyptian princess, scholar ~ 287-305

Convert, Virgin, Martyr

One of the 14 Holy Helpers

One of the "Counsels" of St Joan of Arc

At 18 y/o debated 50 pagan philosophers.
All became Christians. All were martyred.

Patron: Students, Christian philosophers, 

teachers, librarians

Feast Day - Nov 25

 

 "Faith is to believe what you do not see;

the reward of this faith is to see."

St Catherine of Alexandria

St. Catherine of Alexandria HD - YouTube (3 mins)

St. Catherine of Alexandria, saint of November 25

 

St Catherine of Alexandria, pray for us!

Renewed by the one Bread...

  Blessed are those who suffer persecution 

for the sake of justice;

the kingdom of heaven is theirs. - Matthew 5:10

 

Today’s Liturgy:  Prayer after Communion

Renewed by the one Bread 

as we commemorate the holy Martyrs,

we humbly beseech you, O Lord, 

that abiding as one in Your love, 

may merit by endurance an eternal prize.

Through Christ our Lord.

St Andrew Dũng-Lạc (priest) 

and Companions

117 Martyrs (btwn 1820-1862)* ~ Vietnam

Companions: 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spaniards, 10 French:

8 Bishops, 50 priests, 59 lay Catholics, incl a 9 y/o

Patron Saints of Vietnam

Feast Day – November 24

 

"In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, 

I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, 

because I am not alone - Christ is with me.  

Our Master bears the whole weight of the cross, 

leaving me only the tiniest, last bit." 

 St Paul Le-Bao-Tinh, Martyr, 1843

 Click here: Den katolske kirke —

 St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his 116 companions

Saint Andrew Dũng-Lac and Companions, Martyrs - My Catholic Life!

St Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, 
pray for us!

Christ is King!...

 Solemnity of 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
King of the Universe

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King celebrates the all-embracing authority of Christ as King and Lord of the cosmos.  It is celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent. "O Lord our God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power" (Rev 4:11). 

“The Lord will sit on His royal throne for ever; 
the Lord will bless His people in peace.” - Psalm 29: 10b,11b 

Sacristy ~ Basilica of St Mary's ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota ~ USA

 “O king of Glory, though You hide Your beauty,

yet the eye of my soul rends the veil." - St. Faustina

 

"There He is:

King of Kings and Lord of Lords,

hidden in the bread.

To this extreme

has He humbled Himself
for love of you." 
St Josemaria Escriva 

Excerpt: Quas Primas, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI 

Promulgated on December 11, 1925, Quas Primas introduced the Feast of Christ the King. The encyclical summarizes both the Old Testament and the New Testament teaching on the kingship of Christ. Invoking an earlier encyclical Annum Sacrum of Pope Leo XIII, Pius XI connotes that the kingdom of Christ embraces the whole mankind. He connected the denial of Christ as king to the rise of secularism. At the time of Quas Primas, secularism was on the rise, and many Christians, even Catholics, were doubting Christ’s authority, as well as the Church’s, and even doubting Christ’s very existence.   

Hail King Jesus, King of Peace! 

20. If the kingdom of Christ, then, receives, as it should, all nations under its way, there seems no reason why we should despair of seeing that peace which the King of Peace came to bring on earth -- he who came to reconcile all things, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, who, though Lord of all, gave himself to us as a model of humility, and with his principal law united the precept of charity; who said also: "My yoke is sweet and my burden light." Oh, what happiness would be ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ!  "Then at length," to use the words addressed by our predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, twenty-five years ago to the bishops of the Universal Church, "then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheathe their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father."
21. That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to the end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ. For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year -- in fact, forever. The church's teaching affects the mind primarily; her feasts affect both mind and heart, and have a salutary effect upon the whole of man's nature. Man is composed of body and soul, and he needs these external festivities so that the sacred rites, in all their beauty and variety, may stimulate him to drink more deeply of the fountain of God's teaching, that he may make it a part of himself, and use it with profit for his spiritual life.

To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King,
Who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring, 

And thanks and adoration.

Refrain:

Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler!

Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

 

The way to 'enter' into God's Kingdom does not 

permit shortcuts; rather, every person must freely welcome 

the truth of the love of God.  He is Love and Truth and 

both love and truth never impose themselves: they knock 

at the door of the heart and mind and, wherever they may enter, 

they bring peace and joy. This is God's way of reigning; 

this is His project of salvation, a 'mystery' in the biblical sense 

of the word, which is a plan that is revealed little by little 

throughout history."- Pope Benedict XVI

"While nations insult the beloved name 

of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it 

in their conferences and parliaments,

we must all the more loudly proclaim
His kingly dignity and power,

(and) all the more universally affirm His rights. ... 

When once men recognize, both in private 

and in public life, that Christ is King, society will 

at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well 

ordered discipline, peace and harmony." - Pope Pius XI