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O Come. O Come, Emmanuel !
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Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Fourth Sunday of Advent
The birth of the Lord draws near. The celebration of the fulfillment of God's promises approaches.
Christmas celebrates God coming into the world as a fully human - human being. He comes for the renewal of our lives.
Joseph had a problem and it wasn't a small one. Yet he relied on the Lord to speak to him and guide him through his very difficult moment. Joseph was a righteous man and we should all be righteous people, taking Joseph's lead.
Joseph may have feared BUT he was not afraid! JOseph knew, as we should all understand, God was with him.
"What emanates from the figure of Saint Joseph is faith . . . Joseph of Nazareth is a just man becasue he totally lives by faith. He is holy because his faith is truly heroic."
Pope John Paul II
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Do you think of yourself as living a virtuous life?
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Do others perceive you as righteous?
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What makes the difference between the righteous and the self-righteous person?
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Jospeh was a man who paid attention to his dreams. Do you listen to your dreams, by day or night?
What do you take in?
What do you ignore?
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Christmas.
Christmas celebrates God coming into the world as a fully human - human being. He comes for the renewal of our lives.
Joseph had a problem and it wasn't a small one. Yet he relied on the Lord to speak to him and guide him through his very difficult moment. Joseph was a righteous man and we should all be righteous people, taking Joseph's lead.
Joseph may have feared BUT he was not afraid! JOseph knew, as we should all understand, God was with him.
"What emanates from the figure of Saint Joseph is faith . . . Joseph of Nazareth is a just man becasue he totally lives by faith. He is holy because his faith is truly heroic."
Pope John Paul II
.
.
.
Do you think of yourself as living a virtuous life?
.
Do others perceive you as righteous?
.
What makes the difference between the righteous and the self-righteous person?
.
Jospeh was a man who paid attention to his dreams. Do you listen to your dreams, by day or night?
What do you take in?
What do you ignore?
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Loving God, through the intercession of the blessed virgin Mary, the mother of Christ Your Son, may our hope of salvation be realized in the birth of Christ.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Today, Dec 13, The Feast of Saint Lucy
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Today we remember St. Lucy the Martyr or Santa Lucia! Little is known about this 3rd century saint. She died a martyr on this day in 305 AD. She is the patroness of those with eye difficulties.
Lucy's name means "light", with the same root as "lucid" which means "clear, radiant, understandable." Unfortunately for us, Lucy's history does not match her name. Shrouded in the darkness of time, all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life in the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith.
Lucy's name is probably also connected to statues of Lucy holding a dish with two eyes on it, see the pic above. This refers to another legend in which Lucy's eyes were put out by Diocletian as part of his torture. The legend concludes with God restoring Lucy's eyes.
Lucy's name also played a large part in naming Lucy as a patron saint of the blind and those with eye-trouble. (One huge reason why, when I was blind for about 6 mos in the 80’s I became a daily pray-er to Saint Lucy for my own eye sight)
Whatever the fact to the legends surrounding Lucy, the truth is that her courage to stand up and be counted a Christian in spite of torture and death is the light that should lead us on our own journeys through life.
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Saint Lucy, pray for us!
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