OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
On the Second Day of Christmas
From the Christmas Card of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael to you:
God’s infinite love has come to us.
God chose to become human
to teach us to live
in trust, in hope, and in love.
On the First Day of Christmas . . .
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
as prophets long have sung,
It came a flow’ret bright
Amid the cold of winter
When half spent was the night.Isaiah ’twas foretold it
The rose I have in mind.
With Mary we behold it
The Virgin Mother kind.
To show God’s love aright
She bore to us a savior
When half spent was the night.– Sixteenth Century Carol
May Our Lives Bring forth Christ in our World
We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture? This, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of Man is begotten in us.
– Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328, German Dominican Mystic
O Radiant Dawn!
Today’s O Antiphon for this last day of Advent – Christmas Eve is,
Alleluia, Alleluia.
O Radiant Dawn,
Splendor of eternal light,
Sun of Justice:
Come and shine on those
Who dwell in darkness and
In the shadow of death.Alleluia, Alleluia.
Handling the Christmas Rush
It gets so busy this time of year. Hectic might be a better word! And this busyness comes at a time when we would like to step back and relish the season. We might even entertain some “romantic” notions that . . . if only we were in a monastery away from all this craziness, then we would have a really spiritual Advent and Christmas. Of course, even in the monastery we cannot run away from ourselves. Here are some thoughts from Andrew Greeley, SJ.
It might be easy to run away to a monastery, away from the commercialization, the hectic hustle, the demanding family responsibilities of Christmas-time. Then we would have a holy Christmas. But we would forget the lesson of the Incarnation, of the enfleshing of God—the lesson that we who are followers of Jesus do not run from the secular; rather we try to transform it. It is our mission to make holy the secular aspects of Christmas just as the early Christians baptized the Christmas tree. And we do this by being holy people—kind, patient, generous, loving, laughing people—no matter how maddening is the Christmas rush…
The Magnificat
Today’s Advent Gospel reading is a favorite of many, it is known as The Canticle of Mary or Magnificat . . . the song she at the time of The Visitation, when she went to visit Elizabeth.
Mary said:
My soul proclaims your greatness, O God,
and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior.
For you have looked with favor upon your lowly servant,
and from this day forward all generations will call me blessed.
For you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and Holy is your Name.
Your mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear you.
You have shown strength with your arm,
you have scattered the proud in their conceit,
you have deposed the mighty from their thrones
and raised the lowly to high places.
You have filled the hungry with good things,
while you have sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the aid of Israel your servant,
mindful of your mercy- the promise you made to our ancestors
to Sarah and Abraham and their descendants forever.Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned home.
(translation is from The Inclusive New Testament)
Mary and Elizabeth
Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise
I love today’s Advent reading from The Song of Songs – Song of Songs 2:18-14. And certainly the sight of a young stag peering through the window would evoke delight and surprise.
May your Christmas days – all twelve of them – be filled with delightful surprise.
Hark! My lover – here he comes
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.
My lover speaks: he says to me
“Arise, my beloved, my dove,
my beautiful one, and come!
For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise by beloved, by beautiful one,
and come!O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely.
O Key of David, Come!
This week of Advent is the week of the O Antiphons.
Today’s O Antiphon is:
Alleluia, Alleluia.
O Key of David,
Opening the gates of God’s
Eternal Kingdom:
Come and free the
Prisoners of darkness!
Alleluia, Alleluia.
To learn more about them, please read from last year’s posts starting with: The O Antiphons are Coming!
We Chose to Look Toward the Light
I found the following Advent Prayer on the Education for Justice website.
The Winter Journey of Advent
In this time of darkness,
We choose to look toward the Light.
In this time when so many suffer,
We choose faith, not despair:
We choose the work of compassionate justice.As we move through Advent together,
Hungry for transformation, for hope,
Our steps themselves
Transform us, nourish us.
We are on constant pilgrimage,
Moving to the heart of things,
Reaching beyond what any one of us
Can reach alone.The brightness of the incarnation
Guides us as we continue,
With the promise of the Prince of Peace
As the bright star in these dark nights.-Jane Deren
As Christmas Approaches, Let Us Be Attentive and Aware
I have enjoyed the writings of Edward Hays for many years. For today’s Advent reflection I have chosen a quote of his from A Pilgrim’s Almanac.
Take time to be aware that in the very midst of or busy preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.
And old abbot was fond of say, “The devil is always the most active on the highest feast days.”
The supreme trick of Old Scratch is to have us so busy decorating, preparing food, practicing music, and cleaning in preparation for the feast of Christmas that we actually miss the coming of Christ. Hurt feelings, anger, impatience, injured egos – the list of clouds that busyness creates to blind us to the birth can be long, but it is familiar to us all.
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