“We have come to do him homage.”

“The Magi set out because of a deep desire which prompted them to leave everything and begin a journey.  It was as though they had always been waiting for that star.”  - Pope Benedict XVI

Solemnity of the Epiphany 

January 6 - traditional date*

*(In the United States the feast is celebrated

on the first Sunday following January 1st)

 

“No one, whether shepherd or wise man, can approach God here below except by kneeling before the manger at Bethlehem

and adoring him hidden in the weakness of a new-born child.”

- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 563

 

 

“We have come to do him homage.” These words of the magi, during their journey to find the baby Jesus, compel us to adore Him today in the Holy Eucharist.

Pope Bl. John Paul II reminds us that the real presence of Jesus is with us today, “the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”

The Church and the Eucharist

 

 

  Fr. Tom Hoisington shares an inspiring homily on this special feast day.

Balm to every wound

Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. 

Get up and take care of your mat." - Acts 9:34

 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton received great solace

by bringing her sorrows to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

and speaking heart to heart with Him there:

"How sweet, the presence of Jesus

to the longing and harassed soul!

He is instant peace and balm to every wound."

St Elizabeth Ann Seton

United States ~ 1774-1821

Convert to Catholicism

Three basic points led her to become a Catholic:

1)belief in the Real Presence,

2) devotion to the Blessed Mother,

3) conviction that the Catholic Church led

back to the apostles and to Christ.

Mother, Widow, Educator, Religious

 Established schools and orphanages

Foundress of Sisters of Charity

Two great devotions: 1) Abandonment to  God's Will

2) Ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

Feast Day - January 4

“The gate of heaven is very low; 

only the humble can enter it.” - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

 

Click here: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton - YouTube (3 mins)

 

Click here: Mother Seton: Servant of the Good Teacher | Crisis Magazine

 

St Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us!

The fire of His Name

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

January 3

 

At every Mass, before the priest begins the Eucharistic prayer,

we pray: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

St. Paul proclaims: “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him

the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus

every knee should, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.” - Phil 2:9-11

 

 

 

"There are two things that make it easy for souls to adore Our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love: they can seek His Human Face, though it be veiled by the appearance of the Sacred Host; and they can call upon Him by His Human Name.

These are the two things that people crave in a relationship: knowledge of a face and of a name. From these, one experiences the heart of the other, and so a relationship becomes a communion, an exchange in which one finds fulfillment, that is, joy and a response to one's love in the other. ... 

Come close to Him, then, who has made Himself so close to us. ...

This knowledge of Him -- of His Name and of His Face -- comes through Word and Sacrament in His Holy Catholic Church. Only there can souls come to experience Him as the Risen One with whom they can enter into a relationship so real that it is consummated in a Holy Communion, in partaking of His Body and Blood, and in becoming one with Him, even as He is one with His Father. ...

The Sacred Name and Sacred Face of Jesus are fire and light in this world that is becoming colder and darker by the day. In the end, the darkness will be forever vanquished by the fire of His Name and by the light of His Face, and then there shall be peace in His Kingdom fully revealed, and in the company of His saints who will sing praise to His Name and adore His Face, shining more brightly than a thousand suns, and this unto the ages of ages."

Dom Mark Daniel Kirby is Conventual Prior of Silverstream Priory in Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland.

 

St. Paul was in a very special way the preacher and doctor of the Holy Name.  St. Thomas Aquinas says of him: 

"St. Paul bore the Name of Jesus on his forehead because he gloried in proclaiming it to all men; he bore it on his lips because he loved to invoke it; on his hands, for he loved to write it in his epistles; in his heart, for his heart burned with love of it.  He tells us himself:  'I live, yet not I, but Christ, liveth in me.' "

Click here: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus - YouTube (9:30 mins)

 

MORE on Devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus:  http://www.fisheaters.com/holyname.html

 

MORE on the Wonders of the Holy Name of Jesus:

http://www.olrl.org/pray/wonders.shtml

 

MORE on spreading devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus:

http://www.nahns.com/

Linked in life and feast

Let the peoples recount the wisdom of the Saints, and let the Church

proclaim their praise.  Their names will live on and on.  - Cf. Sir 44:15, 14

(Entrance Antiphon, Today's Liturgy)

 

 

 

    

"Eternal Son of the living God, whom I acknowledge here as truly present, I adore You with all the powers of my soul!  Prostrate with the angels in the most profound reverence, I love You, O my Savior; whom I now behold on Your throne of love.  O dread Majesty, O infinite Mercy, save me!  Forgive me!  Grant that I may never more be separated from You!"

 

St Basil the Great

Doctor of the Church

Father of Eastern Monasticism

His single greatest contribution was his insistence

on the divinity and consubstantiality

of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son

329-379 AD

FEAST DAY - January 2

 

 

 

 "We should not accept in silence the benefactions of God,

but return thanks for them." - St Basil the Great

 

"Why was St. Basil given the name "Great"? Only a few people in the world were ever given the magnificent title, "Great"! Alexander the Great was so-called because he conquered the world, but St. Basil was called "Great" because he conquered the hearts and souls of men for Jesus Christ. His whole life was dedicated to Jesus and the message of Christianity. He had the humility of Moses, the zeal of Elijah, the piety of Peter, the eloquence of John the Theologian, and the dedication of Paul." ~ Fr. George Poulos

“Let us remain in adoration: and to Him, who, in order to save us, humbled Himself to such a degree of poverty as to receive our body, let us offer not only incense, gold and myrrh, the first as God, the second as king, and the third as one who sought death for our sake, but also spiritual gifts more sublime than those which can be seen with the eyes” (Oratorio).

St Gregory Nazienzen

Doctor of the Church

Father of Eastern Monasticism

Esteemed writer and orator

aka "the Theologian"

328 -389 AD

FEAST DAY - January 2

 

 

 

 “God accepts our desires as though they were a great value. He longs ardently for us to desire and love Him. He accepts our petitions for benefits as though we were doing Him a favor. His joy in giving is greater than ours in receiving. So let us not be apathetic in our asking, nor set too narrow bounds to our requests; nor ask for frivolous things unworthy of God’s greatness.” ~ St Gregory of Nazienzen

      Another sweet tidbit of interest: St. Gregory marveled at the depth of his mother, Nonna’s, faith in God on the altar. While in His presence, she would never turn her back.

 

Sts Basil and Gregory, pray for us!

Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen are linked in this feast day, as they were in life; they were schoolmates, co-defenders of the orthodox teaching on the Trinity, and dear friends.  Both served as Bishops and suffered hostility from the politically powerful Arians.  In 379 Gregory preached at Basil's funeral:   "Do you, Basil, there also welcome me in your dwelling, when I have departed this life that we may live together and gaze more directly and perfectly at the Holy and Blessed Trinity.  Thus we shall attain the fruition of our desire, and receive the reward of the battles we have fought and the attacks we have resisted."  ~ Magnificat - Vol 15, No 11, January 2014 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God

and World Day of Peace

January 1

 

Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King,

who rules heaven and earth for ever.

(Entrance Antiphon, Today's Liturgy)

 

 

 

"Let us invite the Blessed Virgin to preside maternally over the Eucharistic life of the entire Church.  May she, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, implore from Him the attainment of that Life which Christ offers to all through the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, celebrated and received in the power of the Spirit of Life and Love."

Pope Blessed John Paul II

 We have received this heavenly Sacrament with joy, O Lord:

grant, we pray, that it may lead us to eternal life,

for we rejoice to proclaim the Blessed ever-Virgin Mary

Mother of your Son and Mother of the Church, 

Through Christ our Lord.

~ Prayer after Communion, Today's Liturgy

 

Virgin Immaculate, you are the perfect model of adorers of the Blessed Sacrament. You adored Jesus in the little white Host with the same faith, reverence and wonder with which you adored Him on the first Christmas night and during all the years you lived with Him. Teach us not to forget that the small white Host is truly our God, infinite, eternal and omnipotent. Help us to conduct ourselves at all times in His presence with the modesty and reverence we owe to our God...

Virgin Immaculate, perfect lover of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we ask you to obtain for us the graces we need to become true adorers of our Eucharistic God. Grant us, we beg of you, to know Him better, to love Him more, and to center our lives around the Eucharist, that is, to make our whole life a constant prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, and petition to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Amen.

V. Pray for us, O Virgin Immaculate, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

R. That the Eucharistic Kingdom of Jesus Christ may come among us!

~ From "Treasury of Prayer: Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament"

 

 

“We serve a Mother who seems to grow more beautiful

as new generations call her blessed."  ~ GK Chesterton