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There’s something very special about the Good Friday liturgy. It’s sparse and dignified. If one is still hungry from the Good Friday fast, it creates even more of a sense of identification with Jesus (not that we can approximate it, but good Catholic liturgy gets us closest) and his sufferings and death.

The most meaningful part of the service for me is the veneration of the cross. It’s especially humbling to bow before the cross and kiss it. It creates in me a real sense of recognition of the sacrifice made by Jesus and the need for total submission to live at the foot of the Cross, our hope.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!

Click here to read more about this amazing Saint.

Tomorrow is the start of Lent with the Church holiday of Ash Wednesday. For those interested in adding readings of the Church Fathers to your Lenten discipline, my brother and I created last year (with help from Chad Toney) the Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan. We now have two versions:

Church Fathers Lenten Plan: Complete
Church Fathers Lenten Plan: Lite

The primary difference between the two is the amount of daily reading.

Have a blessed Ash Wednesday and a blessed Lent!

God’s blessings to all my readers this Christmas season!

Photo by Jonathan Bennett (taken at my aunt’s house)

O Emmanuel
our King and our Lawgiver
You are the Desired of the nations
and the Savior of all men.
- Come to save us, O Lord, our God!

From Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

O King of the Gentiles
and the long-for Ruler of the nations,
You are the cornerstone Who make all one.
- Come and save those whom You have created

From Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

O Radiant Dawn
You are the brightness of eternal light
and the Sun of justice.
- Come to enlighten those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death

From Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

O Key of David
and Royal Power of Israel,
You open what no man can shut,
and You shut what no man can open.
- Come and deliver Your people
imprisoned by darkness and the shadow of death

From Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

O Root of Jesse
raised up as a sign of all peoples
in Your presence kings become mute
and the nations worship before You
- Come to deliver us and do not delay

From Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

O Sacred Lord
and leader of ancient Israel
You communicated with Moses at the burning bush
and gave him the law on Mount Sinai
- Come to set us free by Your mighty arm

From Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

Today, December 17th, we begin the great "O Antiphons" of Advent. I will include each day’s prayer on this blog.

O Wisdom,
Holy Word of God
You rule all creation with power and true concern.
- Come teach us the way of salvation.

Taken from Advent Prayers and Collects (ChurchYear.net)

I wasn’t formally tagged, but here goes anyway…

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

What no specially flavored coffee as a choice? I’d say egg nog in small amounts as a special winter/Christmas treat.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Definitely wraps. What fun is it just to sit them there?

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

I get very kitschy at Christmas, so the more colorful and gaudy the better.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

Not yet, but when I’m married…

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Usually I put them up a little after Thanksgiving, although with a nod to Advent. For example, I won’t put Jesus in the nativity scene until Christmas.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?

Definitely the ham loaf mom makes for Christmas Day. Mmmmm. Aunt Kathy’s potato cheese casserole is up there too.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

I have so many good ones, I can’t really focus on just one with ease. I used to love going to my church’s Christmas pageant where we’d also get candy and see Santa. I also loved when my local fire department had their Christmas party for kids and we’d get candy and see Santa on the fire engine.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I was nine and just kind of suspected. I asked and found out the truth. I still believe and talk to the real Santa.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Usually.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

Typical: lights, ornaments, a star.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?

At Christmas when I’m at my parents’ house, I love it. They get sane amounts of snow. At my own house during winter, I hate it. But then again, I get insane amounts.

12. Can you ice skate?

Yes, but don’t really do it much.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

Not really, although it was probably a video game system of some sort.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

The family, the food, the lights, the spirit, and the mass.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

Pumpkin pie and my grandma’s pistachio dessert.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Looking at lights with my family on Christmas day.

17. What tops your tree?

Star.

18.Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

These days, giving.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?

O Come All Ye Faithful and O Holy Night

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?

Yum!

If anyone still hasn’t done this and wants to…you are tagged!

Photo of family’s tree last year

Now that we are fully into Advent, at least enough for that fact to have finally sunk in, I want to note a few of my thoughts. First, we as a society have a hard time with "waiting" and hoping. Delayed gratification is not really an American trait. But, lest I seem snobbish, it’s not really a personal trait either. Yet, for me, I’ll admit, waiting is hardly a problem this Advent. The problem this year, for me, is that I don’t really have time for waiting or anticipating or hoping. It’s hard to fail at something if you don’t even try it.  Advent is not being lost in a storm of "Christmas" gratification, but rather is clouded by a whirlwind of indifference. I know I need to do better. Yet, I feel I’m not alone in my "confession."

The Western world is not oriented towards the religious holiday of Christmas and especially not the season of Advent. The Church tells us to wait and hope when we seem to have the least time to do just that. It’s hard to wait and hope when you’re buying presents, putting up decorations, preparing for family dinners, and on top of all that working and doing the other activities you do during ordinary time. People just have to work all day, go to the gyms, go shopping, take the kids to all the activities they absolutely have to go to, and take ourselves to different kinds of activities, but all that we absolutely have to go to. Even parties around Christmas seem to become a chore and a burden. We’ve become terrible at fasting and terrible at feasting. It’s probably because we hardly do the former and the latter has lost any sense of uniqueness.

In the midst of it all, I know I really should do better. The Church tells me as much, and, after all, Advent and Christmas were around a long time before post-modern America. I always have great hopes for times like Advent and Lent, but, in my sinfulness, they seem to slip away without all of the joy and meaning I had originally desired. It’s mostly because I lose sight of what the seasons are truly about and become overwhelmed by stresses of the world. And yet, in the midst of our busy world this December, I hear, over and over in my mind, "Come, Lord Jesus." I just hope we’re not too busy to notice him when he does.

Blessed Advent!

Photo from Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation Carey, Ohio. Photo by Jonathan Bennett.

Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King, created as a universal holiday in part to combat the primary allegiance of many Catholics to secular governments instead of allegiance to their true king, Jesus Christ.

More:

Christ the Crucified King
Christ the King (per Christum)

Or more properly, Happy All Hallows Eve! Beware, the aging (it’s hair coloring), demented, doctor. Anyone need any unnecessary surgery? Oh, by the way, it’s all in good fun, I assure you (just in case anyone was in danger of taking me seriously):