Felix dies Nativitatis...

  May God, who by the Incarnation 

brought together the earthly and heavenly realm, 

fill you with the gift of His peace and favor

and make you sharers with the Church in heaven.  

Missale Romanum

 

Felix dies Nativitatis

 

Merry Christmas - Glædelig Jul - Veselé Vánoce - Vrolijk Kerstfeest -

 Häid Jõule - Hyvää Joulua - Joyeux Noël - Fröhliche Weihnachten -

 Boldog Karácsonyt - Gleðileg Jól - Nollaig Shona - Buon Natale - 

Il-milied It-tajjeb - God Jul - Wesołych Świąt - Feliz Natal - 

Un Crăciun Fericit - C Pождеством Xристовом - Nollaig Chridheil - 

Vesele Vanoce - Feliz Navidad - Noeliniz Kutlu Olsun

... and a Happy and Prosperous

New Year of the LORD!

_________

 

Let us continue in earnest and zeal

to know, love and serve our Eucharistic Lord

day by day, more and more -

and invite all that we meet to embrace the same...
the enduring mission of this Truth Himself Apostolate.
__________________

Please pray a MEMORARE every day for this intention
when you open the daily Eucharistic reflection.
Let us together see what God will do!

______________________________

 

This Apostolate began at the end of the Year of the Eucharist (2005)

20 years ago with 12 recipients of the Reflections!

United in prayer and mission - Janette +JMJ+

(This is 2nd in series of two entries today)

The heavens have distilled honey...

  Make merry therefore on this beautiful day, 

on which the sun of the Eucharist is rising.  

Let your gratitude never separate the Crib from the Altar, 

the Word made Flesh from the God-Man made 

Bread of Life in the Most Blessed Sacrament."

 St Peter Julian Eymard

 

 “In this midnight Mass . . . I shall see a crib on 
the altar, and the sweet Babe with his two eyes 
filling with tears more precious than pearls, 
I will offer him to God his Father 
with his Mother’s approval, 
and will ask him for you, 
that he may ever be heart of your heart 
and the sole Beloved of your soul.”
St. Francis de Sales

___________________

"Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day,
even every moment,
in the interior temple of your spirit."

 St Paul of the Cross

 

 Adoration of the Shepherds ~ Guido Reni

Each of us must sink 

to child-level before the Crib. 
Each of us, at the same time,
must rise to the Incarnation-level.

Msgr Ronald Knox

___________________

Today is the dawn of the new redemption,

of the old restoration, of eternal happiness:

today, the heavens have distilled honey

throughout the whole world." 

 St Bonaventure

________________________

"Raise Your tiny hand, divine Child,

and bless these young friends of Yours,

bless the children of all the earth." 

Pope St John Paul II

"Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born;
let us rejoice. 
Sadness should have no place 

on the birthday of life. 
The fear of death has been swallowed up; 
life brings us joy 

with the promise of eternal happiness. 
No one is shut out from this joy;
all share the same reason for rejoicing.”

From a sermon of St Leo the Great, Pope

Our abiding Bethlehem...

     Behold, when the fullness of time had come,

God sent his Son into the world. – Gal 4:4

  

"The Bethlehem of that night …

has never passed away.

…It lives a real, unbroken, unsuspended life, 

not in history only, or in art, or in poetry, 

or even in the energetic fertile worship 

and fleshly hearts of the faithful, but in the 

worshipful reality of the Blessed Sacrament.

Round the Tabernacle, 

which is our abiding Bethlehem, 

goes on the same world of beautiful devotion 

 which surrounded the new-born Babe, 

real, out of real hearts, 

and realized by God’s acceptance." 

Fr Frederick W Faber

"The mystery of Bethlehem 

is renewed upon the altar,

and the cry goes forth:

'Christ is born to us.  Come, let us adore!' "

Fr Karl Adam

His resting places...

  "Let each of us leave his house empty 

so that we may see our Master 

wrapped in swaddling clothes 

and lying in a manger...

The table of this altar 
takes the place of the manger.
And surely the Master's body

will be lying on this altar."

St John Chrysostom

Fourth week of Advent:  LOVE

He both leads us and journeys toward us...

 Veni, Veni Emmanuel!

"He it is Who though as yet hidden 

is nevertheless leading all... 

He it is Who is now leading the whole world and placing 

everybody in His own city. He it is Who is leading Joseph

 away from Nazareth. He it is Who is leading His own 

Mother over every step of that difficult and tiring journey, 

letting the joy in His own Heart overflow into hers; 

and He is my Leader too.  With such a General, 

nothing will be overlooked in my life; 

everything will be arranged in wisdom and love...

Oh! come, little Leader, come and redeem us."

Mother St. Paul (1861-1940)

Ortus Christi

 

 

"The nine months draw to a close, and our Lord's 

last act is to journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  

It is toward us, as well as toward Bethlehem, 

that He is journeying. He is about to leave 

His home a second time for the love of us. 

As He had left His uncreated home in the 

Bosom of the Father, so is He now going to leave 

His created home that He may come to us and be 

still more ours.  He will show us in this last action that 

He is not obedient merely to His holy and chosen Mother, 

but that He has come to be the servant of our 

commands and to wait upon our forwardness..."

Fr. Frederick W. Faber
Bethlehem

 

By Sr M Charlita, I.H.M:

From Mary's sweet silence

Come, Word mutely spoken!

Pledge of our real life,

Come, Bread yet unbroken!

Seed of the Golden Wheat,

In us be sown.

Fullness of true Light,

Through us be known.

Secret held tenderly,

Guarded with Love,

Cradled in purity,

Child of the Dove,

COME!

 Veni, Veni Emmanuel!

Fourth week of Advent:  LOVE

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love...

 Fourth Sunday of Advent

Love

 

"The world being unworthy to receive the son 

of God directly from the hands of the Father, 

He gave His son to Mary 

for the world to receive Him from her."

St Augustine

Our Lady of Expectation

 “The modern world’s feverish struggle 

for unbridled, often unlicensed, freedom 

is answered by the bound, enclosed 

helplessness and dependence of Christ:

Christ in the womb,

Christ in the Host,

Christ in the tomb."

Caryll Houselander 

The Reed of God

"Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this word 

which the Lord has brought to pass and revealed to us.  

It is the house of bread and it is good for us to be there."

St Bernard of Clairvaux

Returning love to Love...

 "Did the apostles gasp in wonder as they heard you say,

"Take this, all of you, and eat it: 

this is My Body which will be given up for you'?

I look upon the Host whenever I am at Mass,

speechless and struck with awe at such humility. 

My life is so full of me - so full of pride -

so full of the need to keep my identity. 

You are willing to hide Your Glory and Majesty

behind this wafer, so I may gaze at my God and not die. 

You want me to be comfortable in your Presence - to speak 

to You unencumbered by the difference in our natures. 

Oh Love, that is not loved,

how can I return Your love?

Wash me clean, dear Jesus, clean of every sin and weakness. 

Cover me over with mercy and forgiveness."

Mother Angelica

The Mass is My Life

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Today - approach our Lord,

full of tender mercy and love, through

 the sacrament of Reconciliation.

"A contrite heart implies the turning away from sin,
and in this way a sacrifice is offered to God 
on the altar of the heart." - St Vincent Ferrer

"The Lord offers His wounds as a guarantee of forgiveness, 

and shows that the Resurrection is not the erasure of the the past, 

but its transfiguration into a hope of mercy." - Pope Leo XIV

Third week of Advent:  JOY

Emptying to make room...

  The humility of Jesus can be seen in the crib ...

and now in His permanent state

of humility in the tabernacle,

where He has reduced Himself

to such a small particle of bread that the 

priest can hold Him with two fingers.

The more we empty ourselves,

the more room we give God to fill us.”

St Teresa of Calcutta

“Spread love everywhere you go. 

Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. 

Be the living expression of God's kindness: 

kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes,

kindness in your smile.” – St Teresa of Calcutta

Third week of Advent:  JOY