Devotion for today: Blessed are you, Lord God of all Creation

We halted our study of the Mass in 2012 by wrapping up our look at the Liturgy of the Word. Someone asked me why I left out the Creed. It is a study of its own and we can do that later. Today we will enter into the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The opening prayers of this section are so reflective of our lives and those of so many people in the Old Testament. Picture Abel offering the first fruits of his harvest to God. Picture Abraham offering the ram as a sacrifice in place of his son Isaac. Now picture yourself taking all you have and offering it back to God, acknowledging that everything we have comes from God. It is His to give and His to take away. Here we acknowledge that the very bread and wine we place on the altar before Him are gifts of His earth, and it is under His power that they will become the ultimate, perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Let us always pray this part of the Mass with fervent hearts and pure consciences. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God because it was pure. We must present ourselves in the same condition.

Blessed are you, Lord God of all
creation, for through your
goodness we have received the
bread we offer you: fruit of the
earth and work of human
hands, it will become for us the
bread of life.

Blessed are you, Lord God of all
creation, for through your
goodness we have received
the wine we offer you: fruit of
the vine and work of human
hands it will become our
spiritual drink.

With humble spirit and contrite
heart may we be accepted by
you, O Lord, and may our
sacrifice in your sight this day
be pleasing to you, Lord God.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist begins with the preparation of the gifts.  When the bread and wine are placed upon the altar and raised by the Priest as an offering to God, we often hear two prayers spoken aloud over each element (they can also be spoken quietly by the Priest).

….The prayers accompanying the offering of the bread and wine are very important, because they express the sacramental reality of the Sacred Liturgy.  Through our human work amidst creation, we offer back to God what is already His (the new translation highlights that we first “received” these gifts from Him), and He brings it to its heavenly fulfillment.  In an overarching sense, this applies to our entire Christian lives on earth.  Just as the bread and wine become Christ’s Body and Blood, we look forward to our resurrection in glorified bodies (as we profess in the Creed), and also to the perfection of all creation in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The people’s response to both prayers remains, “Blessed be God for ever” (a phrase that is actually a traditional introduction for Jewish prayers).

The entire preceding exchange during the preparation of the gifts bears similarity to prayers found in an episode from the Book of Daniel, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are cast into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship an idol created by King Nebuchadnezzar.  Abednego (also known as Azariah) utters a prayer from within the furnace that begins, “Blessed are you, and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and glorious forever is your name” (Dan 3:26).  And as the three men are kept safe by an Angel while in the furnace, they sing a litany of praise, wherein they repeatedly bless the Lord and extol His name “above all forever.”

After offering the bread and wine, the Priest then quietly recites, “With humble spirit and contrite heart…”  More than a simple rearranging of the current translation, the new text is a much clearer allusion to a portion of the same prayer spoken by Abednego in the furnace: “But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; as though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame” (Dan 3:39-40). 

This also recalls Psalm 51 (50), which affirms that the Lord desires a humble heart over burnt sacrifices. http://old.usccb.org/romanmissal/samples-priest-gifts.shtml

Devotion for today: rid yourself of pride

Our Lady of Kibeho stressed to her visionaries that man’s pride is a great offense to God. We live in a very prideful world, a world which has been this way since the time of Adam and Eve. It was pride, was it not, that caused the fall of man in the Garden and the fall of the angels from heaven? God warned his people in the Old Testament to avoid pride, and He continued to do so in the New. Is it no wonder we struggle so severely with this sin? To be a true disciple of Christ, and bring others to Him, we must work as hard as we can to obey God in all things, to stop reinventing our religion to accommodate our sins, and to find the strength to go up against the temptation to think more of ourselves than we do of God and our fellow man. We can only do this with the grace of God, and with an awareness of how much He hates what pride does to His beloved Children. Our goal in life should be to become saints. To do that, we must accept God's will for our lives, and live that will purely, humbly and with great love. If we are to be proud of anything, let us be proud of our role in God's plan for salvation. Performed well on the stage of life, it is the only role worthy of a reward, an eternal reward received in the arms of our Father. "Well done, my good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:21)

Pride

Micah 6:8: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Job 35:12: There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

Proverbs 8:13: The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 11:2: When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:18:  Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 29:23: A man's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Isaiah 2:11, 17: The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

2 Chronicals 7:14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin....

Sirach 10:12-13: The beginning of man's pride is to depart from the Lord; his heart has forsaken his Maker. For the beginning of pride is sin, and the man who clings to it pours out abominations. Therefore the Lord brought upon them extraordinary afflictions, and destroyed them utterly.

Matthew 18:4: Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 23:12: Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Luke 1:49-53: for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

2 Timothy 3: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Prayer for humility: Jesus, help me to be authentically humble in the challenges of each day. Teach me what it means to be humble. Help me to wait my turn to speak and to be at peace when others outshine me. Grant that I may listen with a spirit of objectivity rather than an ‘I know it all’ attitude. Lord, grant that I not only be content with who I am, but have confidence that your grace can make me better! Help me to be obedient without resentment and ready to do Your Will. I ask that You make up for whatever I lack and increase those desires within me that lead to true humility. Most of all, help me to believe in your revelations, hope in Your word and love you more than myself. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine! Amen. (Deacon Bill Steltemeier EWTN)

Devotion for today: the shepherds represent the Jews, the Kings represent the Gentiles

 

 

This excerpt from an Epiphany sermon of Pope St. Leo the Great (Sermo 3 in Epiphania Domini, 1-3. 5: PL 54, 240-244) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6.  "Epiphany" means the revelation or appearance of a King.  On this feast, the church celebrates the revelation of Christ as King, messiah, Lord, and God to the Gentiles represented by the Magi from the east.

 

The loving providence of God determined that in the last days he would aid the world, set on its course to destruction. He decreed that all nations should be saved in Christ.

A promise had been made to the holy patriarch Abraham in regard to these nations. He was to have a countless progeny, born not from his body but from the seed of faith. His descendants are therefore compared with the array of the stars. The father of all nations was to hope not in an earthly progeny but in a progeny from above.

Let the full number of the nations now take their place in the family of the patriarchs. Let the children of the promise now receive the blessing in the seed of Abraham, the blessing renounced by the children of his flesh. In the persons of the Magi let all people adore the Creator of the universe; let God be known, not in Judaea only, but in the whole world, so that his name may be great in all Israel.

Dear friends, now that we have received instruction in this revelation of God’s grace, let us celebrate with spiritual joy the day of our first harvesting, of the first calling of the Gentiles. Let us give thanks to the merciful God, who has made us worthy, in the words of the Apostle, to share the position of the saints in light, who has rescued us from the power of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son. As Isaiah prophesied: the people of the Gentiles, who sat in darkness, have seen a great light, and for those who dwelt in the region of the shadow of death a light has dawned. He spoke of them to the Lord: The Gentiles, who do not know you, will invoke you, and the peoples, who knew you not, will take refuge in you.

This is the day that Abraham saw, and rejoiced to see, when he knew that the sons born of his faith would be blessed in his seed, that is, in Christ. Believing that he would be the father of the nations, he looked into the future, giving glory to God, in full awareness that God is able to do what he has promised.

This is the day that David prophesied in the psalms, when he said: All the nations that you have brought into being will come and fall down in adoration in your presence, Lord, and glorify your name. Again, the Lord has made known his salvation; in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.

This came to be fulfilled, as we know, from the time when the star beckoned the three wise men out of their distant country and led them to recognise and adore the King of heaven and earth. The obedience of the star calls us to imitate its humble service: to be servants, as best we can, of the grace that invites all men to find Christ.

Dear friends, you must have the same zeal to be of help to one another; then, in the kingdom of God, to which faith and good works are the way, you will shine as children of the light: through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

  St. Leo the Great was pope during the middle of the fifth century, a troubled time when barbarian armies were ravaging the once mighty Roman Empire.  He is perhaps most famous for persuading Attila the Hun to abandon his plans to sack the city of Rome.  Leo, one of the Early Church Fathers, was such an extraordinary teacher that he is one of the few Popes of history to have been dubbed "the Great." http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/109/Epiphany____Star_Invites_all_Nations_to_Find_Christ__Leo_the_Great_.html