Devotion for today: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

We have arrived at the part of the Mass where men and angels are joined in their hymn of praise. The Bible is filled with references to what heaven is like: angels surrounding the throne of God praising him with songs of “Hosanna! Holy! Holy! Holy!”It is somewhat sad to think that for most of us, this is just a rote and uneventful prayer. I listened carefully at Mass one Sunday when we had no choir to sing this, and the congregation could not have sounded more lifeless if it had actually tried to do so. How Sad, I say again. Here we are, standing before God, united in a hymn of praise with His angels, getting ready for the most important part of the Mass, where Jesus will truly become present on the altar, and we rattle off our prayer while probably wondering what our favorite football team is going to do in the game that afternoon. We must make a change in our attitude at Mass. When we get to these familiar parts, and I know from experience how hard this is to do, we really must try to picture what is happening on the spiritual level, and not as man sees it. Picture the heavens opening, and the angels appearing, and in their “frightful” glory, inviting you to sing along with them in praise of the almighty God. Who knows, and one can hope, that this is just the practice session we need to be invited one day to sing in the heavenly chorus!! Go ahead; sing it out with all your heart:

Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of hosts;

Heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!!!

Edward Sri tells us: …we repeat the words which the crowds used to greet Jesus as He processed into Jerusalem: “Hosanna” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Both expressions were originally in Psalm 118, a pilgrimage hymn recited on the way to the Temple for major feasts. Hosanna is a transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “Save us,” which became an expression of praise in liturgical worship. The blessing upon “he who comes in the name of the Lord” was normally invoked on the pilgrims coming into the Temple. On the day we know as Palm Sunday, the crowds used these words to welcome Jesus as the one coming in the Lord’s name – in other words, the one representing God and acting on his behalf. It is fitting that we repeat these words at this moment in the Liturgy. Just as the crowds in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus into the holy city with these words from Psalm 118, so do we welcome Jesus into our churches, for he is about to become present in the Eucharist on our altars. (The Mass, Ascension Press, 2011)

Scripture for reflection:

Isaiah 6:2-3: Above him were Seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Matthew 21:9: The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Revelation 5:13: And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Prayer: Psalm 118:26-29

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you
 The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
 up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will praise you;

 You are my God, and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
 his love endures forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

Devotion for today: the Christmas Season wrap-up

As you know, the official Christmas Season of the Church wrapped up on Sunday, with the Baptism of Our Lord, although in the Vatican the decorations will remain until February 2, which is the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the temple. Our Churches are now stripped of poinsettia plants and nativity sets, green vestments replace the white or gold, and standard hymns replace Christmas Carols. Someone asked me why we don’t sing Christmas Carols during the month of December. Good question and the answer is simple: the Church doesn’t follow the secular calendar for the season of Christmas. For the rest of the world, Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving, but for the Church, we spend December in the season of Advent, which is a time of preparation and longing for Christ to come. We were cleansing our hearts and souls of sin and pride and setting our minds on things of God and not of man. It would make no sense to sing “The Lord has come” when he had not yet been born, so to speak. So the Church sings “Happy Birthday to Jesus", or Christmas Carols as they are popularly called, on His birthday and for a few weeks after that. Remember the Twelve Days of Christmas are the days from Christmas until the feast of the Three Wise Men!! Today we will take a look back at a few Bible passages concerning the role of Angels in the Infancy narratives of Jesus, and leave the season behind with a parting commentary from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Luke 1:26-28:  In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,  to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Matthew 1:20: But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 2:13: Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."

Luke 2:8-14: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Matthew 2:11-12: On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Angels, by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
Many people, having seen my "angel" clean my blackboard on television, will ask on meeting me, "How is your angel?" So, let us talk about angels and their role in our lives. However, here we use the word angel in a very restricted sense — not as a spiritual invisible messenger, not a special illumination or a winged creature bearing a summons, not even as a vision or anything preternatural. By an angel we mean here any person or event that has changed the whole course of our life, influenced our behavior, made us turn right when we were about to turn left, and in general made us better. What lifts such a concept out of the natural order is that eventually it is seen as being an act of God.

Take, for instance, in the book of Tobit, the story of young Tobias, who was sent by his father Tobit to the land of Media on a kind of economic mission. His mother was worried about sending the son on such a long journey, so she went out and found a guide, whose name was Raphael. Raphael not only protected Tobias from dangers and helped him to collect a debt, but even found a good wife for him. The Book of Tobit says, "Raphael was an angel, but he knew it not."

God sets many angels in our paths, but often we know them not; in fact, we may go through life never knowing that they were agents or messengers of God to lead us on to virtue, or to deter us from vice. However, they symbolize that constant and benign intervention of God in the history of men, which stops us on the path to destruction or leads us to success or happiness and virtue. God is generally operating behind secondary causes, like an anonymous benefactor. His direction of our lives is so hidden that most of us are unaware of how we were made an angel to help a neighbor, or how a neighbor was made an angel for us.

When I finished college, I took an examination for a national scholarship worth several thousand dollars. I was anxious to complete my education by working to a Ph.D., but at the same time, ever since my earliest recollection, I had wanted to be a priest. Accepting the university scholarship would have meant postponing my call to the priesthood and maybe endangering it. During the summer vacation after college graduation, I visited our professor of philosophy and told him with great glee that I had won the university scholarship. He grabbed me by the shoulders and said, "Do you believe in God?" I told him the question was silly. However, he challenged me, "But do you believe in God practically?" When I answered in the affirmative he said, "You know your duty. Go to the seminary now and begin studies for the priesthood. Tear up the scholarship." However, I protested, "Why cannot I work now for my Ph.D. and then go later to the seminary?" He retorted, "If you make that sacrifice, I promise you that after your ordination to the priesthood you will receive a far better university education than before."

I tore up the scholarship, followed my duty, and after ordination as a priest, I spent almost five years in graduate studies — most of them in some of the great universities of Europe.
The professor was my angel. I saw it then, but I see it more clearly now.

 (Excerpt from "In Media Ecclesiae — Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: master preacher, pastor of the air waves," by John Baptist Ku, O.P.)

Devotion for today: a wonderful prayer to start the day

The Universal Prayer by Pope Clement XI

O my God, I believe in Thee; do Thou strengthen my faith. All my hopes are in Thee; do Thou secure them. I love Thee, teach me to love Thee daily more and more. I am sorry that I have offended Thee, do Thou increase my sorrow.

I adore Thee as my first beginning; I aspire after Thee as my last end. I give Thee thanks as my constant benefactor; I call upon Thee as my sovereign protector.

Vouchsafe, O my God, to conduct me by Thy wisdom, to restrain me by Thy justice, to comfort me by Thy mercy, to defend me by Thy power.

To Thee I desire to consecrate all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings; that henceforward I may think of Thee, speak of Thee, refer all my actions to Thy greater glory, and suffer willingly whatever Thou shalt appoint.

Lord, I desire that in all things Thy will may be done because it is Thy will, and in the manner that Thou willest.

I beg of Thee to enlighten my understanding, to inflame my will, to purify my body, and to sanctify my soul.

Give me strength, O my God, to expiate my offenses, to overcome my temptations, to subdue my passions, and to acquire the virtues proper for my state of life.

Fill my heart with tender affection for Thy goodness, hatred of my faults, love of my neighbor, and contempt of the world.

May Thy grace help me to be submissive to my superiors, condescending to my inferiors, faithful to my friends, and charitable to my enemies.

Assist me to overcome sensuality by mortification, avarice by alms-deeds, anger by meekness, and tepidity by devotion.

O my God! Make me prudent in my undertakings, courageous in dangers, patient in affliction, and humble in prosperity.

Grant that I may be ever attentive at my prayers, temperate at my meals, diligent in my employments, and constant in my resolutions.

Let my conscience be ever upright and pure, my exterior modest, my conversation edifying, and my comportment regular.

Assist me, that I may continually labor to overcome nature, to correspond with Thy grace, to keep Thy commandments, and to work out my salvation.

Make me realize, O my God, the nothingness of this world, the greatness of heaven the shortness of time, and the length of eternity.

Grant that I may prepare for death; that I may fear thy judgments, and in the end obtain heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.