ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

  THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER – FOR A PERFECT START TO THE NEW YEAR At the beginning of a new year people often think of how they might improve themselves.  As Catholics we do this every time we make an examination of conscience.  If we are not trying to be better we are going to be worse.  I recently came across a copy of what is called The Universal Prayer, which is attributed to the saintly Pope Clement XI, whose pontificate began on November 23, 1700 and ended with his death on the feast of St. Joseph, to whom he had a particular devotion, on March 19, 1721.  I thought that this prayer would be an excellent one to begin the year with, and can be used with great profit throughout the year as an examination of conscience.  I offer it for your edification. Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith. I trust in you: strengthen my trust. I love you: let me love you more and more. I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow. I worship you as my first beginning, I long for you as my la

  SHOULD I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS?             In my homily two Sundays ago I asked why the evangelist Luke referred to the preaching of John the Baptist as “good news” when it required difficult changes in one’s life.   The answer, if you remember, was the Baptist’s quote of the Prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”   Also, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”   The good news is that we can change and become better, with God’s help, and in doing so our eyes will be open to see God among us.             Now I want to speculate on why we call Christmas “merry.”   Should it be merry?   Should I wish you a merry Christmas?   Or would that be insensitive in some cases?   I looked up the Merriam-Webster’s definition of the word merry .   The first definition: full of gaiety and high spirits; mirthful.   The second is

  LIVING IN THE MIDDLE             You probably are aware that Advent has two themes: the second coming of Christ at the end of time to judge the living and the dead; and the long, anxious, and hope-filled wait by the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah to Israel, which was promised by the Prophets.   Spiritually, and liturgically, we observe the Second Coming in anticipation and observe the hope for the first coming in remembrance.   Saint Bernard, founder and Abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux in Burgundy, France from 1115 to 1128, was one of the most influential church men of his time and has subsequently been recognized as a doctor of the Church for the insight and inspiration of his writings.   In a sermon in which he considered the first and second comings of Christ, he offered that there was also a third coming.   This one we do not anticipate or memorialize like the first and second comings.   Rather, we live the third coming here and now!   The first coming ended wi

  THE GENEALOGIES OF JESUS             If you come to Mass on December 17 you will hear Saint Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Christ.  It also is read at the Vigil Mass of Christmas Eve unless the celebrant opts for the shorter version.  Luke also recorded a genealogy of Christ.  It is read at Mass only on January 6, and only when the Solemnity of the Epiphany is celebrated that year on Sunday, January 7 or 8.  And even then, it is optional!               This “pastoral” approach which is meant to spare a congregation from the long recitation of unfamiliar names should not be interpreted as meaning that the genealogies have nothing to say.  Biblical scholars have long viewed them as reflective of what each evangelist stresses in his writing about the nature and mission of Jesus.  Their pedagogical purpose may account in part for the fact that the two lists of ancestors vary from each other.  Clearly, each one used a different source or sources to compile their list.  Some scholar

  THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION             The Immaculate Conception refers to the conception without sin of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Ann, in view of her predestination to be the Mother of the Word made flesh.  This was a singular election.  In the tradition of the Church, it is believed that Saint John the Baptist was consecrated by the Holy Spirit when Mary visited his mother, St. Elizabeth.  We know this by the testimony of the mother: “At the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy” (Luke 1:44).  John the Baptist was consecrated for his prophetic office as the precursor of the Messiah while he was still in the womb.  However, unlike Mary, he was not conceived without sin.             What does it mean to be conceived in sin?  The Bible teaches that all people, of every time and place, are implicated by the sin of Adam, from whom every human being is descended.  Saint Paul writes, “Sin came into the wor