December 6, 1998Second Sunday of Advent |
The Second Sunday of Advent marks the appearance of John the Baptist, as the one who prepares the way of the Lord. Each of us is called to use this time of Advent to prepare our own hearts and lives for the Lord, and to be the one who prepares the way for others to know Christ this season. Dr. Reginald Fuller notes that the second Sunday of Advent marks the shift from future eschatology to preparation for the Incarnation. This shift appears in all of the readings of the second and third Sundays of Advent contain echoes of the earlier theme. In today's Old Testament reading we have one of the great messianic prophecies of Isaiah. It pictures the ideal king from the family of David. He is to be endowed with the spirit of Yahweh and with charismatic gifts. Note the three pairs: Ôwisdom and understanding' are powers of intellect; 'counsel and might' denote practical ability; 'knowledge and fear of the Lord' are gifts of piety. The benefits of the king's reign are described in idyllic terms. In the Christian economy of salvation, these terms are realized in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This Sunday, like all of Advent, teaches the great theme and virtue of hope. The readings highlight the place of hope in the Christian life. We are all in need of HOPE daily. Advent gives us the chance to reflect on the meaning of hope. With the power of God in the coming of Christ, we are never alone in our daily lives with the power of Christ to do beyond what any of us could imagine.
The official cycle of the Church's daily prayer is called the Liturgy of the Hours. This cycle of prayers was formerly called the Divine Office and was used exclusively by clergy and members of religious communities. It is based on the recitation of the 150 Psalms. The previous arrangement presented all of these in a one-week Psalter. The Second Vatican Council revised it so that the 150 Psalms are now arranged over a four-week cycle. This four-week Psalter is now available to be used by other members of the Church as well as clergy and religious. The "hours" are: Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). These two are "hinge hours" on which the whole cycle of daily prayer depends. Others are, Prime (First hour, around 6 a.m.), Midday Prayer (during the day) is much shorter than the "hinge hours." Options include Midmorning (Terce), Midday (Sext) and Mid-afternoon (None) that contemplative communities are to observe. But it is sufficient for others to choose only one of these to pray along with appropriate texts. Night Prayer (Compline) is to be said before retiring and Office of Readings that include three psalms or sections of psalms (which would have been one "nocturne" in the previous schema) followed by a scriptural reading and a patristic reading.
Besides the official four-volume set (which contains all of the hours) there are several one-volume versions now published that contain Morning, Evening and Night Prayer, with selections from Midday Prayer and Office of Readings. There are also shorter forms of Morning and Evening Prayer available that do not contain the full seasonal and sanctoral variations but do maintain the four-week cycle of Psalms.
You may find these scheduled in some parishes especially during Advent or Lent. They are often included in some retreat situations. Lastly, available in the United States is a one-volume Office of Readings * that gives access to the great wealth of patristric readings to ordinary people. This is perhaps the most important contribution of the revision to modern spirituality. (* Published by Daughters of St. Paul/Boston)
1) Isaiah 11, 1-10
2) Romans 15, 4-9
3) Matthew 3, 1-12
Reform your lives!...Prepare the way of the Lord...The reign of God is at hand (3) is the cry of the Baptist. The reform that we are asked to accomplish is to bring our lives into harmony with the will of God. We are not on our own. Everything written before our time was written for our instruction, that we might derive hope from the lessons of patience and the words of encouragement in the scriptures (2). Sometimes we feel under-equipped to handle the challenges of everyday life, but it is the Lord who has provided us with strength in the future. What we do with the gifts we have received is our responsibility. The question of stewardship is Have we prepared the way of the Lord to the best of our ability?
Next Sunday, the reading's will be: 1)Isaiah 35, 1-6.10; 2)James 5, 7-10; 3)Matthew 11, 2-11.
Read Jeremiah 33:16. Let family members pray that each of them will do things that promote family peace, no more interrupting each other, no more teasing, speaking words of love.
Rearrange all the furniture in your living room until Christmas. Let it remind you of the need for change in your own life, for seeing with new eyes. Bethlehem means "house of bread". Make gifts of bread for friends, neighbors, a soup kitchen.
December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On this day we remember Mary's appearance as a native Mexican, expectant with child, shining like the sun and moon together. Pray on this day in a special way for all expectant mothers that God will bless them and bring their child into the world safely. December 13 is the Feast of St. Lucy (This year, her feast is superseded by the Third Sunday of Advent). The tradition of St. Lucy, whose name means "light", is that she chases away the early morning darkness as she arrives wearing a crown of candles. As a family, arise early on this day and, as you watch the sunrise, praise God for the gift of light.
ADVENT WEEK TWO ACTIVITIES - (part 2 of 4 parts)
--Dr. Harry Kocurek, Pastoral Associate
Devotion to the infant Jesus was first popularized in the 12th century when St. Francis of Assisi showed the world the infant Jesus shivering from the cold in the hay. From then on, the custom of representing this nativity scene has grown in popularity.
During the second half of the 16th century in Mexico, the Augustinian monks from the convent of Alcoman sought to prepare the Indians to celebrate Christ's birth. What had been nine days of ceremonial dances and human sacrifices, in honor of the god Huitzilopochtli, now were transformed into the Christmas novena. Also in Mexico, the Conceptionist monks of that time visited one anothers' monasteries, carrying the images of Mary and Joseph in search of "pasada" or lodging.
During the same time period in Spain, St. John of the Cross had processions with his monks, carrying the image of the Virgin throughout the cloisters of the monastery on Christmas Eve, singing verses to Joseph from their cells: "Show us your purse if you wish entry; if you haven't any money, there will be no lodging." It was only when they arrived at the church and the doors were opened that midnight Mass could commence.
The pasada is a Mexican tradition commemorating Mary and Joseph's arrival in Bethlehem and their search for a place to sleep (Luke 2:7-20). Organize a pasada with three or four other families. One family goes to the second family's house and asks to enter like Mary and Joseph did, but are told there is no room. Both families then proceed to the third family's house and the process is repeated. When all the families arrive at the last house, they knock on the door and ask several times to enter. At last, they are allowed to enter and everyone sings carols and enjoys refreshment. The pasada truly is a family and community celebration which should include breaking a pinata full of goodies and sharing its contents. Make your own pinata by covering a balloon with papermache.
When Spaniards first colonized New Mexico, they lacked the traditional Christmas lights. Gradually they developed a custom of building little bonfires with bright burning pinons, a southern Rock Mountain pine, to light the way along the streets on Christmas Eve for processions to Midnight Mass. In later years, brightly wrapped lanterns were hung outside homes for festive occasions. With the advent of paper bags and commercial candles, the people improvised once again to make inexpensive, energy saving, yet attractive, Christmas lawn decorations called luminaries. Making luminarias to be placed along the front sidewalk, porch, or driveway of your home as we do in the parking lots and on the sidewalks here at St. John's is another good family Advent activity. Place either individual votive candles or a string of holiday lights in a paper bag or a gallon size plastic milk jug which has the front panel cut out and which has been weighted down with sand. The bags should have openings cut in a Christmas pattern such as a star or snowflake in order for the design to show. Lumanarias are a wonderful way to symbolize the coming of the Light of the World.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe near Mexico City is one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in North America. On December 9, 1531, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to an Indian convert, Juan Diego, and left with him a picture of herself impressed upon his cloak. Tell your children the story of Juan Diego or one of the other Christmas saints to conclude this week's activities.
My dear family in Christ,
John the Baptist cries out: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths (Mt. 3:3). Let me focus on one aspect that is suggested by the Holy Father in this year when we focus on God, the Father.
The virtue for our consideration is charity. What does this mean? We are to live out our faith. As the Gospel announces through the Baptist, that which we have received, faith, needs to be seen through our actions. God, the Father, created all and has sent us a Redeemer. In coming among us He has fully disclosed His love - reaching out to others, forgetting about self.
In practicing charity, each one of us has challenges that with God's grace, we can meet. This is living out what God has fully revealed in coming to us in His Son. There is no time like Advent to focus on others. We have many opportunities.
Let us keep in mind, however, that we not lose focus with all the activity and forget who it is that we welcome once again.
Fr. Ron
Dear Parishioners,
The penitential aspect of the season of Advent is not as severe as the Lenten season. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has asked Catholics to be more adult in embracing penitential acts, that is, rather than legislate them, the Church wants Catholics to develop a lifestyle of penitential practices through our own initiative.
For example, all Fridays of the year should be of a penitential character for Catholics. However, it is only during Lent that the Church prescribes that we abstain from eating meat. What should we be doing on the other days of the year? I know some Catholics who not only abstain from meat each Friday of the year, but they also abstain from seafood. Fridays are a vegetarian day of penance. Some even make all Fridays of the year a day of fasting which can be accomplished by eating only one main meal and two smaller snacks which combined do not equal a main meal. The more daring go without food altogether on Fridays.
Others make Friday a day of prayer, which includes Mass, or a time spent before the Blessed Sacrament. Still others may do some act of charity, such as working at the Soup Kitchen or Catholic Social Services.
All of these acts of penance are meant to dispose us to God's mercy and lead us to true conversion. They are good for us. I hope you will use this season of Advent to take adult initiative in developing a lifestyle of penance year-round. May God bless you.
Your Pastor,
Father Allan J. McDonald
MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA (1910-1997). Born in Albania, she joined a religious order and served in India. While acting as principal of a Catholic high school in Calcutta, she was moved by the presence of the sick and dying on the city streets. In 1948 she received permission to leave her post and begin a ministry among the sick, a ministry that led to her founding a new order, the Missionaries of Charity. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. While not formally canonized, at her death in 1997 the world knew it had lost a saint. Gifts for the third millennium: Teresa's special love and care for "the poorest of the poor."
Holy Day
The feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Dec. 8, occurs on Tuesday of this week. This is a reminder to participate in Holy Mass. The First celebration or Vigil Mass will take place at 7:00 PM on Dec. 7. Masses on Dec. 8 are scheduled for 8:15 AM and 5:30 PM.
Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of the Church in the United States as well as of our diocese of Springfield-in-Illinois. Our Cathedral Church is called the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
In the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1884) the Church proclaims solemnly that Mary was privileged by God to be conceived and to be preserved from the taint of sin from the first moment of her existence. This favor God extended to the woman who was to be the mother of the Savior of the world.
Mary, of course, cooperated totally and completely with God. She accepted the invitation to be the Mother of Jesus. As Mary made provision for Christ to come into her life on that first Christmas, we pray that this time of Advent may move each of us to provide the Lord with a special place in our lives.
"Come, Lord Jesus, be born anew in us! Like Mary, come to us that we might reveal you to the world in which we live!"
The Season of Advent always presents the preaching of the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist calling for repentance. Thus this Sunday John the Baptist proclaims this theme: "reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand"; quoting Isaiah he says "a herald's voice in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." (Mt. 3:1-3) A commentary on this Sunday's reading underscores the theme of justice as a paramount issue in this Sunday's liturgy.
"Today's liturgical readings, with their shared emphasis on justice and peace, challenge the community of believers to determine whether these cherished entities are indeed poppycock or a truly attainable possibility. Each Advent, the church reminds us that the justice and peace we so need and desire have their origin in God. Whereas most of us are inclined to equate justice with the fair and treatment of others or the administration and procedure of law. In both the Jewish and Christian scriptures, justice meant fidelity to the demands of a relationship of each covenanted believer to God as well as the relationship shared by members of the covenant community. Because the norm for all relationships is prescribed by the manner in which God relates to all creatures, and to the created universe, human beings are to reflect the very justice of God in their dealings with one another and with the world." (Celebration Resource)
Peace is more than the absence of war: it cannot be reduced to the maintenance of a balance of power between opposing forces nor does it arise out of despotic dominion, but it is appropriately called the effect of righteousness (Is 32:17). It is the fruit of that right ordering of things with which the divine founder has invested human society and which must be actualized by human thirsting after an ever more perfect reign of justice. ...
Peace cannot be obtained on earth unless human welfare is safeguarded and people freely and trustingly share with one another the riches of their minds and their talents. A firm determination to respect the dignity of others and other peoples along with the deliberate practice of love are absolutely necessary for the achievement of peace. Accordingly, peace is also the fruit of love, for love goes beyond what justice can ensure. ...
Therefore, all Christians are earnestly to speak the truth in love (cf. Eph 4:15) and join with all who love peace in pleading for peace and trying to bring it about. In the same spirit we cannot but express our admiration for all who forgo the use of violence to vindicate their rights and resort to those other means of defense which are available to weaker parties, provided it can be done without harm to the rights and duties of others and of the community.
Insofar as all are sinners, the threat of war hangs over them and will so continue until the coming of Christ; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming together in charity, violence itself will be vanquished and they will make these words come true: They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Is 2:4).
Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World
ADVENT HOPE--"Purged of anxiety, calm, sure, joyous: such is Christian hope in theory. In fact, we see around us sad-faced Christians who claim with a pride not wholly devoid of snobbery, that they live in anxiety. They show no sign of that deliberately maintained good humor that is a sign of the genuine hope of those who already possess." These words of the Benedictine writer Adrian Nocent strike me every year. Is it true that we have a kind of snobbery about being anxious? That we may even compete with one another with a kind of pride about how bad we have it, why we shouldn't have much hope? The Advent season every year calls us to hope, with a reminder that Jesus is coming again to our world. It's not just centered on Christmas, especially this early, but on our longing for God to come fully and reclaim his world. In the meantime, we have many signs that this hope is reasonable, in our own lives and in the signs the Church brings. "Our hope thus consists in waiting for the successive realities that we can already touch and that we already share."
...Reflections on Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and the Father, by Pope John Paul II.
Evangelization Is The Task of Every Christian...By her very nature the Church is a missionary community. She is continually impelled by this missionary thrust which she has received from the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses"(Acts 1:8, NAB). In fact, the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of the Church's entire mission.
As a consequence, the Christian vocation is also directed toward the apostolate, toward evangelization, toward mission. All baptized persons are called by Christ to become His apostles in their own personal situation and in the world: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you"(Jn. 20:21, NAB). Through His Church Christ entrusts you with the fundamental mission of sharing with others the gift of salvation, and He invites you to participate in building His Kingdom. He chooses you, in spite of the personal limitations everyone has, because He loves you and believes in you. This unconditional love of Christ should be the very soul of your apostolic work, in accord with the words of St. Paul: "The love of Christ impels us" (2 Cor 5:14, NAB).
Being disciples of Christ is not a private matter. On the contrary, the gift of faith must be shared with others. For this reason the same Apostle writes, "If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it!" (1 Cor 9:16, NAB). Moreover, do not forget that faith is strengthened and grows precisely when it is given to others.
The mission lands in which you have been called to work are not necessarily located in distant countries, but can be found throughout the world, even in the everyday situations where you are. In the countries of more ancient Christian tradition today there is an urgent need to call attention again to the message of Jesus by means of a new evangelization, since there are widespread groups of people who do not know Christ, or do not know Him well enough. Many, caught by the mechanisms of secularism and religious indifference, are far from Him. [TPS 37/3, 1992, 139-40]
With this series of historical vignettes we review the history of the parish and archdiocese.
The first Cathedral of St. Louis had also its own graveyard. All of the north half of the Church Block (Second to Third, Market to Walnut) not occupied by the church was used for cemetery purposes. Its beginning probably antedated by some four or five years the log church blessed by Father Gibault in 1770. Although the first burial record found in the Old Cathedral Register is dated 1770, yet there are civil records to indicate a number of burials before that date. Before the graveyard was finally closed, almost two thousand people had been laid to rest there.
The first reason for the old cemetery being abandoned was that the City Trustees in 1823 passed an ordinance prohibiting the burial of the dead within the city limits. At that time the boundary line of the city ran along Seventh Street and the old cemetery fell within the prohibition. Accordingly, land was bought on the St. Charles Road a little more than a mile from the city limits for a new burial ground.
Secondly, in 1828, Market Street was widened, entailing the condemnation of part of the old cemetery. Coincidentally plans for the erection of the new stone Cathedral, known today as the Old Cathedral, were slowly being realized, and unfortunately this project necessitated the use of the remaining land of the cemetery. By 1831, all the dead were removed from the Cathedral graveyard, and reinterred in other consecrated ground.
In April, 1826, Bishop DuBourg laid down the heavy responsibilities of his office by resigning his see of Louisiana and the Floridas. Two months later, on June 26, 1826, St. Louis was constituted a separate diocese, distinct from the Diocese of New Orleans. Prior to Bishop DuBourg's resignation, the Rev. Joseph Rosati, C.M., superior of the Vincentian motherhouse and Seminary of St. Mary of the Barrons, Perryville, MO., had been consecrated Bishop of Tenegra, and Coadjutor to Bishop DuBourg on March 25, 1826. Bishop Rosati ultimately was transferred to the See of St. Louis, March 20, 1827, becoming thereby the first bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis, meanwhile remaining administrator of New Orleans until 1830. From that date on, he took up his permanent residence in St. Louis.
In 1828, on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Bishop Rosati had the joy of ordaining to the Holy Priesthood, the first native born son of the Old Cathedral parish, one Francis Regis Loisel. Also, during the early days of his episcopate in St. Louis were founded the Convent and school of the Madames of the Sacred Heart in 1827, the Hospital and Orphanage in charge of the Sisters of Charity in 1828, and as mentioned before, St. Louis College in 1829.
