SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
PEACE
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"Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven."
--Saint Pope Pius X |
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INDEX: |
ADVENT
From Catholic Encylopedia:
According to present [1907] usage, Advent is a period beginning with the
Sunday nearest to
the feast of
St. Andrew
the Apostle (30 November) and embracing four Sundays. The first
Sunday may be as
early as 27 November, and then Advent has twenty-eight days, or as late as 3
December, giving the season only twenty-one days.
With Advent the ecclesiastical year begins in the
Western churches.
During this
time the faithful to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of
the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of love, thus to
make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and
through grace, and
thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at
the end of the world.
During Advent:
1) Attend Mass often.
2) Pray. Pray the Rosary, Pray
to the Holy Saints of God and to the Blessed Mother.
3) Pray the Divine Mercy
Chaplet
3) Go to Confession. Forgive the
sins of other.
4) Do good works to help others,
especially the poor.
5) Pray the Saint Andrew Christmas
Novena.
We begin the novena on the feast of St. Andrew on November 30 and conclude on
Christmas Eve. Tradition holds that we pray the novena 15 times daily for a
particular intention. This being said, pray in a way that works best for you.
Time needed: 5
minutes
Pray
this novena for 25 days.
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Make the Sign of the Cross.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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Say the St. Andrew Christmas Novena prayer.
Hail and blessed be the hour and
moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at
midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I
beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires through
the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
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Name any intentions or other prayers you wish to share with God. Maybe
consider your response to Jesuss call to follow Him; just as he called
on Andrew and Peter, he also calls on us to let go and surrender.
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Conclude with the Sign of the Cross.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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If youre praying this novena in the traditional fashion
Repeat the above steps 14x throughout your day.
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Continue praying the novena daily through Christmas Eve!
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"At the evening of life, you will be examined in love. Learn to love as God
desires to be loved and abandon your own ways of acting." Saint John of the
Cross |
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MASS READINGS FOR TODAY
December 12, 2024
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Reading 1
Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Gods temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.
Responsorial Psalm
JUDITH 13:18BCDE, 19
R. (15:9d) You are the highest honor of our race.
Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God,
above all the women on earth;
and blessed be the LORD God,
the creator of heaven and earth.
R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Your deed of hope will never be
forgotten
by those who tell of the might of God.
R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;
from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
LK 1:26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgins name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.
But Mary said to the angel,
How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?
And the angel said to her in reply,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.
Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.
Then the angel departed from her.
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SEXUALLY IMMORAL WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM HEAVEN, UNLESS THEY REPENT, FROM THE BIBLE 9 Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 |
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SAINT FOR TODAY OR FEAST DAY
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
FEAST DAY: DECEMBER 12TH
The tilma of
Saint Juan Diego at
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
On December 9, 1531, the Blessed Mother appeared to Saint Juan Diego, when he
was on his way to morning Mass, on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico
City. She told him to tell his Bishop to have a shrine built on this site
where she appeared. Juan went to the Bishop who did not believe him and
the Bishop asked for a sign to know that it was true. On December 12th at Tepeyac, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill and pick flowers that
were growing there in winter time. Juan found roses, which he folded up in
his garment and took to the Bishop. When he showed the Bishop the roses,
an image of the Blessed Mother showed up on his garment with Our Lady's image
imprinted on it. The bishop had the Catholic shrine built and Juan spent
the rest of his life in devotion and prayer to God and his blessed Mother.
The image to the right is the image that was imprinted on his garment.
Juan Diego was
canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II on July 31, 2002 at the basilica of
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico. God has promoted devotion to Our Lady of
Guadalupe in order to pour out millions of graces to people all around the
world. Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe has brought about changes to
millions of souls, especially in Mexico.
Novena to Our Lady of
Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe,
according to your message in Mexico, I venerate you as "the Virgin Mother of the
true God for whom we live, the Creator of all the world, Maker of heaven and
earth." In spirit I kneel before your most holy Image which you miraculously
imprinted upon the cloak of the Indian Juan Diego, and with the faith of the
countless numbers of pilgrims who visit your shrine, I beg you for this favor:
to be a generous, self-sacrificing, faithful Marian Catechist all the days of my
life.
Remember, O Immaculate Virgin,
the words you spoke to your devout client, "I am a merciful Mother to you and to
all your people who love me and trust in me and invoke my help. I listen to
their lamentations and solace all their sorrows and their sufferings." I beg you
to be a merciful Mother to me, because I sincerely love you and trust in you and
invoke your help. I entreat you, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to grant my request, if
this should be the Will of God, in order that I may "bear witness to your love,
your compassion, your help and protection." Do not forsake me in my needs.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray
for us. Hail Mary . . . (3 times)
This novena prayer, written by Father
Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D., is approved by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke
for use preceding Consecration /
Renewal.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
SAINT JUAN DIEGO
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