ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

Today we shift our gaze from the grotto of Bethlehem where the Saviour was born on Holy Night to the humble house of Nazareth, to contemplate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, whose feast we celebrate in the festive, family atmosphere of Christmas.   The Redeemer of the world chose the family as the place for his birth and growth, thereby sanctifying this fundamental institution of every society. The time he spent in Nazareth, the greater part of his life, continues to be shrouded in deep silence. Very little information about it has been passed on to us by the Evangelists. However, if we aspire to a deeper understanding of Jesus' life and mission, we must draw close to the mystery of the Holy Family of Nazareth to observe and listen. Today's liturgy offers us a providential opportunity to do so.   For every believer, and especially for Christian families, the humble dwelling place in Nazareth is   an authentic school of the Gospel.   Here we ...

The pressing need of devoting ourselves to the consideration of the one thing necessary is especially manifest in these days of general chaos and unrest, when so many men and nations, neglecting their true destiny, give themselves up entirely to acquiring earthly possessions, failing to realize how inferior these are to the everlasting riches of the spirit.  And yet St. Augustine's saying is so clearly true, that "material goods, unlike those of the spirit, cannot belong wholly and simultaneously to more than one person."  The same house, the same land, cannot belong completely to several people at once, nor the same territory to several nations. And herein lies the reason of that unhappy conflict of interests which arises from the feverish quest of these earthly possessions.  On the other hand, as St. Augustine often reminds us, the same spiritual treasure can belong in its entirety to all men, and at the same time to each, without any disturbance of peace between them. ...

The wily king Herod, who was reigning in Judea at the time of the birth of Our Saviour, learned from three Wise Men from the East that they had come to Jerusalem, advised by a star in the heavens, in search of the newborn King of the Jews. Herod's superstitious fear of losing his throne was awakened, and he grew troubled. He called together the chief priests, questioned them, and learned from them that the awaited Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David. He said to the strangers: When you have found Him, bring me word, that I too may go and adore Him. The star which had guided the Magi re-appeared over Bethlehem, and they found the Infant and adored Him, and offered Him their royal gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, recognizing by these His perfect Divinity, His royalty, and His prophesied sufferings. God warned them in a dream afterwards not to go back to Herod, and they returned to their lands, rejoicing, by a different route. Saint Joseph, too, was warned duri...

Plaque with Saint John the Evangelist French,  ca. 1175–1200 On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in   Gallery 3 From the Met Collection: Used with permission Saint John, brother of Saint James the Greater, the Apostle of Spain, is the   beloved disciple.   He was privileged, with his brother and Saint Peter, to behold the Savior raise up a dead child to life, then saw Him transfigured on the mountaintop; he alone reposed his head on His breast at the Last Supper. After the crucifixion it is he who, with Saint Peter, hastened to the empty tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. Standing beside Mary at the Cross, he heard his Master confide the Blessed Mother to him to be his Mother also. He took Mary to Ephesus when the persecution of the Jerusalem Christians became too intense; and from there he went out to evangelize Asia Minor, of which he became the first Archbishop. He was later exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, but afterwards returned t...

Manuscript Illumination with the Martyrdom  of Saint Stephen Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna Italian ca. 1394–1402 From The Met Collection: Used with permission The Jewish origin of Saint Stephen is universally acknowledged; he is known and loved everywhere as the first follower of Christ to give to his martyred God love for love, blood for blood. It is not certain whether he was among the seventy-two disciples of Jesus; some believe he was of the Greek tongue and not a native of Palestine. He studied with Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas under the famous Doctor of the Law, Gamaliel, who, being a member of the Sanhedrin, attempted to stop the persecution of the Apostles.   ( Acts of the Apostles   5:34-40)   What is certain, however, is that he distinguished himself among his brethren as an admirable Christian, replete with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To his great beauty and angelic chastity were joined humility, patience, gentleness and charity, so perfect that they dr...

The Gospel says, “The angel of the Lord appeared to the (shepherds) and the glory of the Lord shone around them…” It is no wonder the shepherds were struck with great fear. The glory of the Lord is radiance. It is light. It is majesty and power. But we are not struck with great fear, but with great awe and wonder and admiration, for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity is all around us. It is bringing to light the knowledge of the glory of God shining on the face of Jesus Christ, and showing us its reflection on the face of his mother Mary.   Unlike the shepherds, we have no fear, because we are united with our heavenly Father who gazes with delight upon the glorious face of his Son. We have no fear, because the veil that covered our faces has been removed, and we are transformed from glory to glory by the Lord who is the Spirit. We have no fear, because we are united with our Lord through Our Lady who ponders all these things in her heart, reflecting the glory of her child as the mo...

1. St. Thérèse of Lisieux: “A God who became so small could only be mercy and love.”  2. St. Paul VI: “We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.” 3. St. Alphonsus Liguori: “Arise, all ye nobles and peasants; Mary invites all, rich and poor, just and sinners, to enter the cave of Bethlehem, to adore and to kiss the feet of her new-born Son…Let us enter; let us not be afraid.” 4. St. Augustine: “Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man…I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.” 5. St. John Paul II: “If we celebrate with such solemnity the birth of Jesus, it is to bear witness that every human being [is] somebody unique and unrepeatable…somebody thought of and chosen from eternity, some[one] called and identified by his own name. It is as it was with the first man, Adam. It is as it was with the new Adam, born of the Virg...

Let Your goodness Lord appear to us, that we, made in your image, conform ourselves to it. In our own strength we cannot imitate Your majesty, power, and wonder nor is it fitting for us to try. But Your mercy reaches from the heavens through the clouds to the earth below. You have come to us as a small child, but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of eternal love Caress us with Your tiny hands, embrace us with Your tiny arms and pierce our hearts with Your soft, sweet cries.  

The Lord has given us a sign 'as deep as Sheol and as high as heaven', such as we should not have dared to hope for. How could we have expected to see a virgin with child, and to see in this Child a 'God with us' (Isaiah 7.11 & 14) who would descend into the depths of the earth to seek for the lost sheep, meaning the creature he had fashioned, and then ascend again to present to his Father the 'man' [humanity] thus regained? IRENAEUS OF LYONS Against Heresies , III,19,3

This is the reason why the Word of God was made flesh, and the Son of God became Son of Man: so that we might enter into communion with the Word of God, and by receiving adoption might become Sons of God. Indeed we should not be able to share in immortality without a close union with the Immortal. How could we have united ourselves with immortality if immortality had not become what we are, in such a way that we should be absorbed by it, and thus we should be adopted as Sons of God? IRENAEUS OF LYONS Against Heresies , III,19,1      

How could the human race go to God if God had not come to us? How should we free ourselves from our birth into death if we had not been born again according to faith by a new birth generously given by God, thanks to that which came about from the Virgin’s womb? IRENAEUS OF LYONS Against Heresies , IV,33,4

His Love for me brought low his greatness. He made himself like me so that I might receive him. He made himself like me so that I might be clothed in him. I had no fear when I saw him, For he is mercy for me. He took my nature so that I might understand him, My face so that I should not turn away from him. Odes of Solomon 7 (The Odes and Psalms of Solomon R. Harris and A. Mingana II, pp. 240-1) 

Beginning Dec. 17 of each Advent season, and for the next seven days, a special antiphon known as an O Antiphon is read before the Magnificat during evening prayer or before the gospel at Mass. Sometimes called the Greater Antiphons, or the O’s of Advent (because they begin with that exclamation), the O Antiphons differ from the daily antiphons because they herald the coming birth of Christ. Originally written in Latin around the seventh or eighth centuries, these special antiphons are verses extracted from the Old Testament prophets — namely, Isaiah — and express the longing for the coming of the Christ. The word “come” is used in every O Antiphon.  Each of the seven antiphons begins by addressing Jesus using an Old Testament title for the Messiah. These seven names or titles, all from the Book of Isaiah, are: Dec. 17,   O’ Sapientia   (meaning O Wisdom), from Isaiah 11:2-3. Dec. 18,   O’ Adonai   (O Lord or Ruler), 11:4-5 and 33:22. Dec. 19,   O’ Radix ...

  Again this morning, John the Baptist, that odd and frightening figure, probably more than a bit scraggly and smelly. A guy who lives on the fringes. He doesn’t dress like other Galileans (he wears scratchy camel hair); he doesn’t eat what they eat (only grasshoppers and wild honey); he doesn’t do what they do. He doesn’t fit in. and he doesn’t try to. The son of Zechariah of the priestly tribe, he should have simply followed his father’s lead and become part of the Temple establishment. But he wants none of it. He has gone out to a place, loaded with political and religious significance - the Jordan River the final waterway crossed by Israel as they entered the Promised Land centuries before. Recognizing that the end is near, John is calling everyone in Israel to repentance and a change of heart, for they have squandered their calling and will surely be judged by God. A new Exodus has got to happen now. Radical repentance with baptism in the Jordan will be the only thing that can...

( Readings: Sir 48:1-4,9-11; Mt 17:10-13) Fire from Heaven Three great figures tower before us in today’s readings: Elijah, John the Baptist, and the Lord Jesus. What seems to bind the persons and mission of all three of them together may be summed up in the one word fire. Sirach uses this word four times in connection with Elijah, while John the Baptist says with reference to his own ministry: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Mt 3:10). And of his cousin Jesus, John affirms: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11). We may say that, in each of these three looming Advent figures, their private persons were fused into one with their mission by the fire of God’s love for them and their love for God. In their inmost heart and whole being, they became their mission. And what about ourselves and our own persons and mission? How do we fit into this picture as disciples of Jesus? What is the fire driving us ? Is it the fire of ou...

John is a saint because his life was a heroic effort to live up to his name: “of the Cross.” The folly of the cross came to full realization in time. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34b) is the story of John’s life. The Paschal Mystery—through death to life—strongly marks John as reformer, mystic-poet, and theologian-priest. Ordained a Carmelite priest in 1567 at age 25, John met Teresa of Avila and like her, vowed himself to the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As partner with Teresa and in his own right, John engaged in the work of reform, and came to experience the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God. Yet, the paradox! In this dying of imprisonment John came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit ca...

Saint Lucy was a young Christian maiden of Syracuse in Sicily. She had already offered her virginity to God and refused to marry, when her mother pressed her to accept the offer of a young pagan. The mother was afflicted afterwards for several years by an issue of blood, and all human remedies were ineffectual. Lucy reminded her mother that a woman in the Gospel, suffering from the same disorder, had been healed by the divine power. They determined to make a journey to Catania, a port of Sicily, where the tomb of Saint Agatha, martyred in 251, was already a site of pilgrimage. Saint Agatha, Lucy said, stands ever in the sight of Him for whom she died. Only touch her sepulchre with faith, and you will be healed. The Saint of Catania had already saved that city, when Mount Etna had erupted the year after her martyrdom: some frightened pagans, seeing a course of lava descending directly toward the city, had uncovered her tomb, and at once it had stopped. Saint Lucy and her mother spent an...

Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe Day is a story of miracles and faith that marks an important shift in the history of Mexico. The Spaniards, after they conquered Mexico, wanted to convert the indigenous Indians to Catholicism. But the Spaniards encountered many difficulties because the Mexican had their own faith and spirituality in which they strongly believed. However, indigenous people started to become fascinated with Catholicism when the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Juan Diego came to the fore. According to tradition, Mary, mother of Jesus, appeared to Juan Diego, who was an Aztec convert to Christianity, on December 9 and again on December 12, 1531. Juan Diego was a young indigenous Indian who was walking toward the Hill of Tepeyac when he was stopped by an appearance of the Virgin Mary. According to Diego, the Virgin Mary was a young woman with black hair and dark skin who looked more like the women in his community. She ordered Diego to go to the Bishop and ask him to bui...