Words of the Word

Fourth Sunday of Advent

“And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you...” (Luke 1:28)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“The angel greeted Mary with a new address, which I could not find anywhere else in Scripture. I ought to explain this expression briefly. The angel says, “Hail, full of grace.” … I do not remember having read this word elsewhere in Scripture. An expression of this kind, “Hail, full of grace,” is not addressed to a male. This greeting was reserved for Mary alone.” (Homilies on the Gospel of Luke, 6)

Collect

Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord,
Your grace into our hearts,
that we, to whom
the Incarnation of Christ Your Son
was made known by the message of an Angel,
may by His Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Saturday of the Third Week of Advent - 23 December: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver,
desire of the nations, Savior of all people,
come and set us free, Lord our God.

“Now I am sending my messenger — he will prepare the way before me; and the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire — see, he is coming! says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“Someone else will appeal to the text, “Let us make man according to our image and likeness,” and maintain that whatever is made according to God’s image and likeness is man. To support this, numberless instances are adduced to show that in Scripture “man” and “angel” are used indifferently and that the same subject is called both angel and man. This is true of the three who were entertained by Abraham and of the two who came to Sodom. In the whole course of Scripture, persons are styled sometimes men, sometimes angels. Those who hold this view will say that since persons are styled angels who are manifestly men, as when Zechariah says, “The messenger of the Lord, I am with you, says the Lord almighty,” and as it is written of John the Baptist, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face,” the angels (messengers) of God are so called on account of their nature. Scripture confirms this view that the names applied to higher powers are not those of species of living beings but those of the orders, assigned by God to this and to that reasonable being.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2.)

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
as we see how the Nativity of your Son
according to the flesh draws near,
we pray that to us, your unworthy servants,
mercy may flow from your Word,
who chose to become flesh of the Virgin Mary
and establish among us his dwelling,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Monday of the Third Week of Advent

“See, days are coming when I will raise up a righteous branch for David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land.” (Jeremiah 23:5)

Pope Saint Leo the Great offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“There was only one remedy in the secret of the divine plan that could help the fallen living in the general ruin of the entire human race. This remedy was that one of the sons of Adam should be born free and innocent of original transgression, to prevail for the rest by his example and by his merits. This was not permitted by natural generation. There could be no clean offspring from our faulty stock by this seed. The Scripture says, “Who can make a clean thing conceived of an unclean seed? Isn’t it you alone?” David’s Lord was made David’s Son, and from the fruit of the promised branch sprang. He is one without fault, the twofold nature coming together into one person. By this one and the same conception and birth sprung our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom was present both true Godhead for the performance of mighty works and true manhood for the endurance of sufferings.” (Sermon 28)

Collect

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who are weighed down from of old
by slavery beneath the yoke of sin,
may be set free by the newness
of the long-awaited Nativity
of Your Only Begotten Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Proclaim the victory of “glad tidings” by care for the poor

εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“The spirit (רוּחַ ruach) of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed (מָשַׁח mashach) me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar) to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God...

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation (יָשַׁע yasha)
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
nd a garden makes its growth spring up,
so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations (Isaiah 61:10-11).”

(Isaiah 61:1-10)

θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

When was the last time you greated someone with “glad tidings” or a person offered you with the same greeting? The question would be the same if “glad tidings” was substituted by the word gospel. Many Christians tend to think the word gospel is unique to the Christian experience bearing the names Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Historically, the English word that comes to us as gospel has a rich foundation in the cultures of the Ancient Near East as well as the Persian and Greek military empires. In the pages of the Old Testament, glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar) is often associated with war, particularly victory. The victor and citizens sing the “glad tidings” of a new way of living that the victory has effected. More specifically, numerous uses of glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar) in the Old Testament focus on David as victor in battle or protected against the enemies of Israel. Accounts of victorious battles or protection from those who sought to kill him were often couched in the language of glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar).

Around the time of Alexander the Great when a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures occurred (a text known as the Septuagint and commonly abbreviated by the Roman numeral LXX (70) because it is believed that 70 elders were involved in the production of the Greek translation) “to bring glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar)” was translated εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo, gospel) “To announce good news” in the Persian-Greek era was to announce victory over one’s enemy or enemies. In time, the use of εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo, gospel) appeared to be somewhat restricted to news of victory concluding a war. While there were (and still are!) many events that constituted “good news,” Alexander’s time opted for a more restrictive identity of “good news” linked to a victorious end of a war or military campaign.

Prior to Alexander the Great and still within the Tradition of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Advent’s Prophet of Hope made use of glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar), especially in the chapters beginning at 40. In the Isaian text proclaimed last week, “glad tidings (בָּשַׂר bāsar)” was news intimately linked to freedom from captivity, a freedom that resulted from the transformation (not annihilation) of obstacles. “Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings (בָּשַׂר basar); cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news (בָּשַׂר basar)! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care (Isaiah 40:9-11).”

True to his time and culture, Isaiah conveys a sense of the military (“power,” and “rules by his strong arm”) but notice the other aspect: the ‘good news’ of feeding, carrying and leading. These actions are at the heart of living, especially in and on a land that is often hostile to life. These actions became concrete images in the Old Testament describing (never defining, that is, limiting) the experience of salvation (יָשַׁע yasha or yesha [the Hebrew root of Jesus!]). Salvation (יָשַׁע yasha) in the context of the Old Testament is about living on a land that is broad and wide, not hemmed in by a tight space. On this land that is broad and wide, one has sufficient resources for a family to live: sufficient drinking water for family, livestock and crops. One has sufficient food for family and herd. Sufficient clothing and housing offers protection from nature (a scorching sun by day and surprisingly cold night) and criminals. For Isaiah this was all experienced as pure and complete gift from a Providential God of Love.

For Isaiah, this proclamation of glad tidings (בָּשַׂר basar) is an act of creation. It brings into existence and establishes order and harmony that did not exist prior to the proclamation. Glad tidings (בָּשַׂר basar) is power that transforms even the most colossal obstacle into a vehicle of life and love. It is for this reason that one is anointed (מָשַׁח mashach). The concrete image of an abundant ‘rubbing oil into’ (not a passive pouring of drops) equips the recipient with the power necessary to call being into existence. That is truly the work of Messiah whose root in Hebrew is means “anointed.” The Messiah whose birth we prepare to celebrate reminds us that we too have been anointed for mission through Baptism and Confirmation (and Ordination). Following the initiative of and working with the Holy Spirit, we model John the Baptist in speaking a word to burn complacency from our midst as the glad tidings of Divine Love are breathed into a waiting world and longing hearts.

Preface II of Advent

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

For all the oracles of the prophets foretold him,
the Virgin Mother longed for him
with love beyond all telling,
John the Baptist sang of his coming
and proclaimed his presence when he came.
It is by his gift that already we rejoice
at the mystery of his Nativity,
so that he may find us watchful in prayer
and exultant in his praise.

And so, with Angels and Archangels,
with Thrones and Dominions,
and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,
we sing the hymn of your glory,
as without end we acclaim: ...

Collect

O God, Who see how Your people
faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity,
enable us, we pray,
to attain the joys of so great a salvation
and to celebrate them always
with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Third Sunday of Advent

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners ...” (Isaiah 61:1)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted,” that is, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, after being incarnated and clothed with a human body, as is said, he has received the Spirit and has been anointed with the Spirit, because he has received the Spirit for us and has anointed us with it. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.” That Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and is his essence, is in me, who am the Word and the Son of the Father, and through my incarnation I received the anointment of the economy of salvation.” (Commentary on Isaiah, 61)

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent

Collect

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

“... but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands...” (Matthew 17:12)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“The disciples who went up with Jesus remembered the traditions of the scribes concerning Elijah, that before the advent of Christ, Elijah would come and prepare for him the souls of those who would receive him. But the vision on the mountain, in which Elijah appeared, did not seem to be harmonized with what had been said, since Elijah seemed to them to have come with him rather than before him. So they say this thinking that the scribes were wrong. To this the Savior replies, not denying what was handed down about Elijah but saying that there was another coming of Elijah before that of Christ unknown to the scribes. In [this coming] “they did not know him but did to him whatever they pleased,” as though they too were accomplices in his imprisonment by Herod and execution by him. Then he says that he too will suffer what they did to Elijah. The disciples asked these questions as though about Elijah and the Savior replied. But hearing the Savior’s words, “Elijah has already come,” and what followed, they took it as a reference to John the Baptist.” (Commentary on Matthew, 13)

Collect

May the splendor of Your glory
dawn in our hearts,
we pray, almighty God,
that all shadows of the night
may be scattered
and we may be shown
to be children of light
by the advent of Your
Only Begotten Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Mary and the Church

Blessed Isaac of Stella

Cistercian Monk

An excerpt from his Sermon 51

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

The Son of God is the first-born of many brothers. Although by nature he is the only-begotten, by grace he has joined many to himself and made them one with him. For to those who receive him he has given the power to become the sons of God.

He became the Son of man and made many men sons of God, uniting them to himself by his love and power, so that they became as one. In themselves they are many by reason of their human descent, but in him they are one by divine rebirth.

The whole Christ and the unique Christ—the body and the head—are one: one because born of the same God in heaven, and of the same mother on earth. They are many sons, yet one son. Head and members are one son, yet many sons; in the same way, Mary and the Church are one mother, yet more than one mother; one virgin, yet more than one virgin.

Both are mothers, both are virgins. Each conceives of the same Spirit, without concupiscence. Each gives birth to a child of God the Father, without sin. Without any sin, Mary gave birth to Christ the head for the sake of his body. By the forgiveness of every sin, the Church gave birth to the body, for the sake of its head. Each is Christ’s mother, but neither gives birth to the whole Christ without the cooperation of the other.

In the inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal sense of the virgin mother, the Church, is understood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary, and what is said in a particular sense of the virgin mother Mary is rightly understood in a general sense of the virgin mother, the Church. When either is spoken of, the meaning can be understood of both, almost without qualification.

In a way, every Christian is also believed to be a bride of God’s Word, a mother of Christ, his daughter and sister, at once virginal and fruitful. These words are used in a universal sense of the Church, in a special sense of Mary, in a particular sense of the individual Christian. They are used by God’s Wisdom in person, the Word of the Father.

This is why Scripture says: I will dwell in the inheritance of the Lord. The Lord’s inheritance is, in a general sense, the Church; in a special sense, Mary; in an individual sense, the Christian. Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell for ever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Friday of the Second Week of Advent

“If only you would attend to my commandments, your peace would be like a river, your vindication like the waves of the sea ...” (Isaiah 48:18.)

Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“Set before yourself any river. It springs from its fountain but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up everything in the oneness of the qualities without any dispute over degrees of greatness. For in this point also Scripture has provided for us. For the Son of God says, “Whoever shall drink of the water that I will give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” This well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living Fountain. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the fountain of eternal life.

You observe, then, from his words that the unity of the divine greatness is pointed out and that Christ cannot be denied to be a fountain even by heretics, since the Spirit, too, is called a fountain. The Spirit is called a river, too, just as the Father said, “Behold, I come down on you like a river of peace, and like a stream overflowing the glory of the Gentiles.” And who can doubt that the Son of God is the river of life from whom the streams of eternal life flowed forth?” (On the Holy Spirit, 1)

Collect

Grant that Your people,
we pray, almighty God,
may be ever watchful
for the coming of your Only Begotten Son,
that, as the author of our salvation
Himself has taught us,
we may hasten, alert and with lighted lamps,
to meet him when He comes.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Eve and Mary

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

Bishop, Father of the Church and Martyr

An excerpt from his Against Heresies (Book 5)

Friday of the Second Week of Advent

The Lord, coming into his own creation in visible form, was sustained by his own creation which he himself sustains in being. His obedience on the tree of the cross reversed the disobedience at the tree in Eden; the good news of the truth announced by an angel to Mary, a virgin subject to a husband, undid the evil lie that seduced Eve, a virgin espoused to a husband.

As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve.

Christ gathered all things into one, by gathering them into himself. He declared war against our enemy, crushed him who at the beginning had taken us captive in Adam, and trampled on his head, in accordance with God’s words to the serpent in Genesis: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall lie in wait for your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel.

The one lying in wait for the serpent’s head is the one who was born in the likeness of Adam from the woman, the Virgin. This is the seed spoken of by Paul in the letter to the Galatians: The law of works was in force until the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

He shows this even more clearly in the same letter when he says: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman. The enemy would not have been defeated fairly if his vanquisher had not been born of a woman, because it was through a woman that he had gained mastery over man in the beginning, and set himself up as man’s adversary.

That is why the Lord proclaims himself the Son of Man, the one who renews in himself that first man from whom the race born of woman was formed; as by a man’s defeat our race fell into the bondage of death, so by a man’s victory we were to rise again to life.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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When preparing is preparing ...

εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“The beginning of the gospel (Αρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου) of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare (κατασκευάσει) your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
‘Prepare (ἑτοιμάσατε) the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.’”
John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert (ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ)
proclaiming a baptism of repentance (μετανοίας) for the forgiveness of sins.”

(Mark 1:1-4)

θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

Do you have a favorite Advent Text from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah? For many, this Sunday’s proclamation from the Prophet of Hope is the signature Word of Advent found in the Old Testament only overshadowed by Isaiah 7:14 (“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign, the virgin will be with child and you shall name him Emmanuel.”) George Frederick Handel enshrined Isaiah 40 as the opening movement in Messiah.

As for the Sacred Text at hand, all four Evangelists employ some aspects of Isaiah 40 as Jesus’ Public Ministry commences in the region of Galilee. The Synoptic Evangelists also include the command “Prepare (ἑτοιμάσατε) [Mark 1:2, Matthew 3:3 and Luke 3:4].” Take note of the verses in this Sunday’s proclamation from Mark: “Behold, … he will prepare (κατασκευάσει) your way (Mark 1:2)” and “A voice … ‘Prepare (ἑτοιμάσατε) the way of the Lord’ (Mark 1:3).” The English word prepare appears twice in 2 verses, yet the Greek verbs are different: κατασκευάζω (kataskeuazo in verse 2) and ἑτοιμάζω (hetoimazo, in verse 3). Is the Evangelist making a point here by using two separate verbs or is he simply availing himself of a theological thesaurus, varying the words to keep our attention?

Considering the myriad of insights one could bring to the Marcan Gospel, ‘fluff’ is not one of the Evangelist’s characteristics. In fact, when one examines the Greek Text of what is perhaps the first written Gospel, one quickly discovers difficulty in reading. Saint Mark’s favorite word is AND (καί, kai in Greek). It seems he grammatically has confused the word and with a period. Many note that he writes in ‘run-on’ sentences and the over use of and joining 1 thought to another is a nightmare for teachers and professors of writing. But this gives us an insight into the Evangelist. For Mark, time is short – not necessarily chronologically but time in the sense of acting now to prevent a situation from getting worse. One might liken this to an infection in the body: far better to ‘nip it [the infection] in the bud’ because if it is permitted to fester, one runs the risk of a loss of limb or even one’s physical life despite aggressive antibiotics. The Evangelist bluntly, boldly and urgently records the events of Jesus’ Words and Deeds with the intent that one will permit the Person Jesus to transform the hard heart and open one’s heart to God the Father's way of living, known in the Gospels as the Kingdom of God (more on the Kingdom of God, to repent and to believe when we return to Ordinary Time in January).

This background is meant to form a basis not only for our reception of Mark’s Gospel this Liturgical Year, but also to make a case, from a human perspective, that the 2 distinct verbs – both translated into English as prepare – is intentional on Saint Mark’s part. In verse 3, notice the proximity of the command (yes, a command!) ἑτοιμάσατε (hetoimasate) to the verse concerning John the Baptist’s proclamation of “baptism of repentance (μετανοίας) for the forgiveness of sins.” While μετάνοια (metanoia) is often translated “repentance,” it is composed of 2 Greek words: “beyond (μετά, meta)” and “mind (νοῦς, nous).” To go “beyond the mind” in antiquity was the equivalent of “going to/from the heart.” ἑτοιμάσατε (hetoimasate) is about putting ‘heart’ into your thoughts, your words and your actions. Permitting your heart to invade thoughts, words and actions minimally raises the bar of attentiveness. Increasing attentiveness is more properly perceived and received as recognizing that the Holy Spirit is guiding our lives. When you and I are inattentive and attempt to run life according to personal agendas, life gets messed-up and messed-up big time! Recall what happened in the Garden: when humanity stopped listening to the words of the Creator our guard dropped. Our inattentiveness to the words and instructions for life from the Creator resulted in listening to another voice, a divided voice that brought division and alienation into human nature requiring the incarnate and consubstantial intervention of Jesus the Christ.

Speaking of the Garden … there is still another prepare verb to consider: κατασκευάζω (kataskeuazo in verse 2). Many English translations of the Sacred Scriptures render this verb prepare, and do so perhaps because the verb is not frequently used in the New Testament. Literally κατασκευάζω (kataskeuazo) means ‘to create’ or ‘to fashion vessels necessary for persons to live.’ This verb has a decidedly concrete, touchable, tangible – CREATED focus. Notice the proximity of this verse to the opening verse: “The beginning of the gospel (Αρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου) of Jesus Christ” (verse 1). Biblically, Αρχὴ (arche, beginning) has a connection with THE beginning, Genesis. This is the same Greek word that Saint John uses to begin the Fourth Gospel and it is the same word that is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX). The Creation motif is certainly not out of place here and it ties in well with Advent being both a time and a way of living in which something is new, something new is being created. Naturally the question arises, what? What is being created? What is new?

In one way, Advent is a time of a new creation – a creation that is not only spiritual (change of heart) but also something that is quite touchable, tangible and visible. While the Season is about being made ready for the celebration of Jesus’ birth, the readiness for His Nativity requires the creation of a new attitude in us who bear His Name. The attitude or disposition is this: as a Christian is Jesus the singularly, unique Person Who grounds my life and the life of our parishes? This is one of the fundamental questions the εὐαγγελίον (euaggelion, Good News, Gospel) - Who is Jesus? Those who self-identify as “Christian” may have varying levels of intellectual, catechetical, and cultural ‘knowledge’ ABOUT Jesus. But timely Advent question is, ‘has this knowledge been permitted to become love FOR, WITH and OF Jesus?’ Knowing what we have done and do for people we love can be a pattern for growing in love that Christ offers. Being with Him, hanging out in silent prayer, attentive celebration of the Sacraments and pondering His Word, saying NO to anything not of Him and charitable service in His Name are some of the simple acts to respond to His invitation of love. Accepting this invitation permits His work of loving creation to continue in our lives and the lives of our communities. These graced works prepare and prepare each of us for Jesus.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen