Sanctus Simplicitus

A little crafting tutorial to share for the Feast of Saint Valentine, inspired by a pin on Pintrest. A fellow blogger was using up candy canes from Christmas and made a heart shape with two left over ones. Seeing this and knowing the story of the Candy Cane, it seemed the most perfect treat for Saint Valentine's Feast Day!

The Legend of the Candy Cane
“A humble man wished to use his candymaking art to make a Christmas gift for Christ that came straight from his heart. First he shaped the candy into a shepherd's staff, a "J" - to stand for the name of Jesus, who was born on Christmas Day. He used white stripes to symbolize Jesus' virgin birth, and His sinlessness and purity during His time on earth. Finally, he colored the candy with stripes made out of red, to represent the scourging and the blood that Jesus shed. He had created the Candy Cane, to remind us during this season that Christmas is a sweet gift of love - Jesus is the reason.”

Saint Valentine sent hearts of parchment to those imprisoned for their Faith. On the Feast of Saint Valentine let us remember the Candy Cane heart for one of God’s most dear friends who shed his blood for LOVE of Him whom created Him.

“This saint fought even unto death, for the law of his God, and feared not the words of the wicked; for he was set upon a firm rock.”

-Antiphon of St. Valentine

Could You Explain Catholic Practices? By: Rev. Charles J. Mullaly, S.J. Impr. 1937

The Ecclesiastical Year

The first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. There is a difference between the ecclesiastical year and the calendar year. Could you explain this difference?

The ecclesiastical year starts on the first Sunday of Advent, while the calendar year begins on January 1. As the season of Advent, or "the coming" of our Redeemer, includes the four Sundays that precede Christmas, the ecclesiastical year may begin as early as November 27 or as late as December 3.

Advent is a season of penance, and of preparation by the Faithful for the spiritual joy of Christmas. It is a time when the Church admonishes us to lifed our hearts to God and to trust in Him who is to free us from our sins. Aas Advent is a season of penance, the color of the vestments used at its seasonal Masses is violet and the altar is not decorated with flowers, except on the third Sunday which is called Guadete, or "Rejoice Sunday," because the Introit of the Mass of that day reminds us of the near approach of our Lord's birth: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh." During this season of penance, as in Lent, the solemn celebration of marriage, that is with Nuptial Mass, ect., is forbidden.

The ecclesiastical year includes fixed and moveable feasts. Many of the fixed feasts of the Church are determined by their relation to Christmas Day: the Feast of the Circumcision, January 1, being eight days after the birth of Christ; the Purification, February 2, forty days after Christmas; while the Annunciation, March 25, is nine months before the Feast of the Nativity. Epiphany,  commemorating the coming of the Wise Men from the East to Jerusalem to adore the Christ Child, is also on a fixed day because of its relation to Christmas.

There are variable feasts which depend upon the changing date of Easter. Ash Wednesday and the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost come earlier or later in the year with the variation of the date of Easter, which rangers from March 22 to April 25. It is easy to remember that Easter is always on the first Sunday following the first full moon after March 21, the beginning of Spring. Our Divine Saviour rose from the dead on the Sunday after the Passover, the Jewish feast commemorating the night when the Lord, smiting the firs-born of the Egyptians, "passed over" the houses of the children of Israel. This Jewish feast was determined by the time of the first full moon after March 21.

Certian days of the ecclesiastical year are marked Rogation Days, while others are noted as Vigils, and still others as Ember Days. A Rogation Day is one of prayer, and formerly also of fasting, insituted by the Church to appease God's just anger at man's sin, to ask Heavenly protection in calmities, and to beg a bountiful harvest. The Rogation Days are April 25, called Major, and the three days, called Minor, are before the Feast of the Ascension.

A Virgil is the day preceding certian feasts and observed as a preparation threfore, and formerly always with a fast attached. The Vigils of Pentecost, Assumption, All Saints, and Cristmas are fast-days, except when the feast falls on a Monday. (*see note below)

Ember Days (Quatutor Tempora, four times) are days of abstinence and fasting at the beginning of the seasons. Their purpose is to thank God for the gifts of nature and, at the same time, to teach us to use the gifts in moderation and to assist those in need. December 13, after Ash-Wednesday, after Pentecost and after September 14.

* Note that the fasting rules for the list of  Vigils was changed by Pope Pius XII in 1957 with his document Motu Proprio.

Praying that you all had a wonderful Feast of the Holy Family on Sunday. We are ever nearing the approach of the Lenten Season but while we are still in the Christmas season I thought I would share today a few of our Christmas related projects.

Some where in the internet world there was a blog post about creating Christmas ornaments throughout the year on each of the Feast Days so that when it came time to decorate the tree there were many ornaments featuring Catholic subjects(wish I could give credit where it was due but I've long forgot the location). I thought it was a wonderful idea and so we started a few here and there and hope to keep it up this year with even more to add to our tree. The above ornament is of St. Anne, featuring three different images that were found on the internet. I traced the outline of one side and scanned the image, placing it over the internet image I found online so that it would fit properly when cut out. I then printed as many as I needed and cut them out. A little trimming needed as each paper mache ornament I used was different. Then I used Modge Podge to glue them on and two layers of the top to make it shine a little and protect it from any handling or storage issues. With a glue gun I put lines down the side and poured glitter over the top which gives it a more finished look and extra shimmer. They were pretty simple to make in the end and lots of fun. I have more of these paper mache ornaments stored away for making more this year.

_The ornaments were purchased at Micheal's Craft store and you may still be able to find them but they were hit and miss during the Christmas season. I did find some more options here online that are a little more expensive but it gives an idea of what was used in the one above.

To the right is another (forgive my poor photography!) of the paper mache one's that we did. My 7 year old son did St. Patrick, which is his patron Saint. He cut out the pieces that were printed and glued them on and put the finishing coat on. After it dried over night I added the glitter as the glue gun requires fast hands. Several others were also made as Christmas gifts as part of our trying to make more hand made gifts this year.

There were a couple of these ornaments of St. Linus (2nd Pope) on our tree this year which we made back in September on the Feast of St. Linus. Another Patron Saint in our family. This one was another print out Modge Podged onto a wooden coin that the boys collected from some event we were at. They also added glitter around the edge of this one too and tied it up with a ribbon.

Here is another that the boys made on the Feast of St. Nicholas. They used a  print out from the St. Nicholas Center and then cut it out and colored. It was then taped or glued to a Popsicle stick that they colored green and wrote their name on. There are lots of and lots of ideas at the St. Nicholas Center as well as other places for making ornaments of the real St. Nicholas. A great addition to the Christmas tree and fun to make!

This one was made when we were studying about St. Brendan and his discovery of America. We read the book Saint Brendan and the Voyage before Columbus, this was one of the activities we did to reinforce the book. St. Brendan's Cross was free handed onto some thick coordinated cardboard and then cut out with an Exacto knife. Then painted on both sides with gold acrylic paint. Next lots of glue and lots of glitter added to make it sparkle!

There are lots and lots of ideas that can be used for adding Catholic ornaments to you tree while making them here and there throughout the year.

How about saving all the fronts of your Christmas cards and coming up with a creative way to recycle them into Christmas tree ornaments? Some of the images may even be the right size for the paper mache ornaments. Ornaments can be made for school subjects such as historical studies, Catechism subjects and so forth. Here is a sort list of days throughout the year that could be used for an ornament theme:

January
Epiphany
Baptism of Our Lord
Most Holy Name of Jesus
Holy Family
Our Lady of Good Success
St. John Bosco

February
Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Candlemas
St. Valentine
Our Lady of Lourdes
Ash Wednesday

March
St. Patrick
St. Joseph
Annunciation
Palm Sunday

April
Holy Thursday
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
St. Leo the Great
St. George
St. Catherine of Siena

May
St. Joseph
Finding of the Holy Cross
Ascension
Pentecost
Coronation of Our Lady

June
Trinity Sunday
Corpus Christi
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sts. Peter and Paul

July
Most Precious Blood of Our Lord
Visitation
St. Mary Magdalen

August
Transfiguration
Assumption
Immaculate Heart of Mary

September
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
Most Holy Name of Mary
Seven Sorrows

October
Guardian Angles
Our Lady of the Rosary
St. Raphael
Christ the King
All Hallows Eve

November
All Saints Day
All Souls Day
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin
St. Andrew
Advent/Jesse Tree

December
St. Nicholas
St. Lucy
Immaculate Conception
Jesse Tree Symbols
O Antiphons
Holy Innocents
St. John the Evangelist
Nativity

While the new Liturgical Year started back in November, another New Year is upon. I created this bulletin board for our little family because I wanted my children to know how the Liturgical Year works, just like any calendar. I needed some way to teach them the days of the week, the months of the year, what a year is and looks like, how to know which Rosary mysteries to on which day, what is an Ember Day? A Rogation Day? Saint's Feast Day? What special prayers are said on each day of the week, what day of the week is dedicated to St. Joseph? To the Angels? To the Crucifixion? What days do we not eat meat on? So on and so forth, that is a lot for one person to learn at any age, let alone a wee one! I learn best visually and so that is how I teach our kiddos at home to. I've found I have one visual learner and one that likes to move around doing things so this was our solution to all of the above.

Below you will find the files and a tutorial on how to make our Liturgical Year Bulletin Board. Save your pieces from month to month as they ARE reusable and you should only need to make the pieces one time and be good for year after year. Some of the pieces get reused throughout the year, such as the purple pockets from Advent will be used for Lent, the Gold pockets from Christmas will be used again at Easter time and so forth.

* 2ft by 3ft Bulletin Board

* 20 in x 16 in plain laminated calendar with grid(any size that fits the above bulletin board will do so long as it is not smaller... the saint pieces are made to fit this size)

6-9 sheets of card stock (110 lb works best, 65 lb will do)

* Color Printer

* 1-2 Lamination Sheets (optional)

*Scissors

* Stapler that unlatches backwards for attaching items to bulletin board (and staples)

* Tape

* Three Popsicle sticks or tongue depressors

* 60 + Velcro Dot sets
You will need more throughout the year so if you see them at the $1 store stock up! Or find a deal online... that sticky puddy stuff will do as well. A friend also recommeded buying velcro at the fabric store by the yard. That way you are able to purchase the side you need instead of having a lot of one side left over.  

*** These Files!!! Please print one copy of each file in COLOR on CARD STOCK ***

                        January Saint's                       Bulletin Board Pieces

** Note, if you have already printed the Liturgical Calendar from the Advent Board you do not need all of the second file as you can reuse the pieces **

1.) After attaching your calendar grid to the bulletin board: Print out above files (January Saint's and Bulletin Board Pieces) on card stock using a color ink printer.

2.) Laminate Saints pieces; today, tomorrow & yesterday pieces ; This Sunday Is: piece; Rosary Mystery piece; Today's Rosary Mystery piece and pieces for the Liturgical Wheel (the wheel itself as well as the arrow to attach to it.)

3.) Cut all pieces out, laminated and regular card stock.

4.) Cut out and fold all 7 pockets (one for each day of the week). Directions for cutting and folding Days of the week pocket are below:

5.) Make your Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday moveable sticks. Your round pieces should be laminated and cut out by now. Take your three Popsicle sticks and trim them about one inch with a good set of kitchen shears. Then tape the circles to the top of the sticks as show below:

6.) Place Velcro dots to the calendar. Make sure that you place all the same side on the calendar so that your other pieces will stick. So always use either the hook or either the loop side but don't mix and match the pieces.

7.) Attach the other Velcro dots to the back side of your laminated Saint's pieces and then place on your calendar according to their appropriate day. So the first this month (Jan. 2012) is on a Sunday.

8.) Cut the Month/Year and monthly dedication out, tape pieces together so they line up. Attach Month and Year to the top of your Bulletin Board using your stapler.

9.) Attach Days of the Week pockets below your calendar in-line with the days of the week grid on your calendar (this makes for less confusion for the kids) using your stapler.

10.) Attach your Liturgical Wheel to the bottom middle of your board with the stapler and then attach the arrow to your liturgical wheel using a push pin right in the center. This allows the arrow to spin and move according the the season that we are on.

11.) Attach the remaining pieces with a stapler using the picture at the top of this blog as a guide for placement. With a dry erase marker write the up coming Sunday's name on the "This Sunday Is" piece. This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Circumcision.

12.) Add Velcro dots to the back of your Rosary Mysteries and one dot to 'Today's Rosary Mysteries Are" making sure that they will stick correctly. Use either the loop or hook on the mysteries and then the opposite on the piece that they are attached to each day.

13.) Place the Rosary mystery pieces in the pockets with the 'Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow' pieces on the day they will be needed next.

In my online browsing I saw this cute Bulletin Board Storage Bag and thought I would share. For now we are just using manilla envelopes for our pieces that are not currently being used.

Have you downloaded all of our File Folder games too? There are several for math and phonics, and soon some for preschool learning. I also spotted this File Folder Game Storage Hanging Pocket while online, that looks like a good way for kids to easily access file folder games.

Enjoy! We will be sharing again next month for February's files! I hope you enjoy and that it helps provide a little hands on learning for your little one's this New Year!

The Liturgical Year   By Dom Gueranger

CHAPTER THE FIRST - THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS
We apply the name of Christmas to the forty days which begin with the Nativity of our Lord, December 25, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, February 2. It is a period which forms a distinct portion of the Liturgical Year, as distinct, by its own special spirit, from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost. One same Mystery is celebrated and kept in view during the whole forty days. Neither the Feasts of the Saints, which so abound during this Season; nor the time of Septuagesima, with its mournful Purple, which often begins before Christmastide is over, seem able to distract our Holy Mother the Church from the immense joy of which she received the good tidings from the Angels [St Luke ii 10] on that glorious Night for which the world had been longing four thousand years. The Faithful will remember that the Liturgy commemorates this long expectation by the four penitential weeks of Advent.

The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of our Saviour’s Nativity by a feast or commemoration of forty days’ duration is founded on the holy Gospel itself; for it tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending forty days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfil, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel, when they became mothers.

The Feast of Mary’s Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus’ Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of forty days as one continued Festival has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church. And firstly, with regard to our Saviour’s Birth on December 25, we have St John Chrysostom telling us, in his Homily for this Feast, that the Western Churches had, from the very commencement of Christianity, kept it on this day. He is not satisfied with merely mentioning the tradition; he undertakes to show that it is well founded, inasmuch as the Church of Rome had every means of knowing the true day of our Saviour’s Birth, since the acts of the Enrolment, taken in Judea by command of Augustus, were kept in the public archives of Rome. The holy Doctor adduces a second argument, which he founds upon the Gospel of St Luke, and he reasons thus: we know from the sacred Scriptures that it must have been in the fast of the seventh month [Lev. xxiii 24 and following verses. The seventh month (or Tisri) corresponded to the end of our September and beginning of our October. -Tr.] that the Priest Zachary had the vision in the Temple; after which Elizabeth, his wife, conceived St John the Baptist: hence it follows that the Blessed Virgin Mary having, as the Evangelist St Luke relates, received the Angel Gabriel’s visit, and conceived the Saviour of the world in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, that is to say, in March, the Birth of Jesus must have taken place in the month of December.

But it was not till the fourth century that the Churches of the East began to keep the Feast of our Saviour’s Birth in the month of December. Up to that period they had kept it at one time on the sixth of January, thus uniting it, under the generic term of Epiphany, with the Manifestation of our Saviour made to the Magi, and in them to the Gentiles; at another time, as Clement of Alexandria tells us, they kept it on the 25th of the month Pachon (May 15), or on the 25th of the month Pharmuth (April 20). St John Chrysostom, in the Homily we have just cited, which he gave in 386, tells us that the Roman custom of celebrating the Birth of our Saviour on December 25 had then only been observed ten years in the Church of Antioch. It is probable that this change had been introduced in obedience to the wishes of the Apostolic See, wishes which received additional weight by the edict of the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, which appeared towards the close of the fourth century, and decreed that the Nativity and Epiphany of our Lord should be made two distinct Festivals. The only Church that has maintained the custom of celebrating the two mysteries on January 6 is that of Armenia; owing, no doubt, to the circumstance of that country not being under the authority of the Emperors; as also because it was withdrawn at an early period from the influence of Rome by schism and heresy.

The Feast of our Lady’s Purification, with which the forty days of Christmas close, is, in the Latin Church, of very great antiquity; so ancient, indeed, as to preclude the possibility of our fixing the date of its institution. According to the unanimous opinion of Liturgists, it is the most ancient of all the Feasts of the Holy Mother of God; and as her Purification is related in the Gospel itself, they rightly infer that its anniversary was solemnized at the very commencement of Christianity. Of course, this is only to be understood of the Roman Church; for as regards the Oriental Church, we find that this Feast was not definitely fixed to February 2 until the reign of the Emperor Justinian, in the sixth century. It is true that the Eastern Christians had previously to that time a sort of commemoration of this Mystery, but it was far from being a universal custom, and it was kept a few days after the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity, and not on the day itself of Mary’s going up to the Temple.

But what is the characteristic of Christmas in the Latin Liturgy? It is twofold: it is joy, which the whole Church feels at the coming of the divine Word in the Flesh; and it is admiration of that glorious Virgin, who was made the Mother of God. There is scarcely a prayer, or a rite, in the Liturgy of this glad Season, which does not imply these two grand Mysteries: an Infant-God, and a Virgin-Mother.

For example, on all Sundays and Feasts which are not Doubles, the Church, throughout these forty days, makes a commemoration of the fruitful virginity [The Collect, Deus qui salutis aeternae beatae Mariae Virginiate fecunda humano generi, etc.] of the Mother of God, by three special Prayers in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She begs the suffrage of Mary by proclaiming her quality of Mother of God and her inviolate purity [V. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti. R. Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis.], which remained in her even after she had given birth to her Son. And again the magnificent Anthem, Alma Redemptoris, composed by the Monk Herman Contractus, continues, up to the very day of the Purification, to be the termination of each Canonical Hour. It is by such manifestations of her love and veneration that the Church, honouring the Son in the Mother, testifies her holy joy during this season of the Liturgical Year, which we call Christmas.

Our readers are aware that, when Easter Sunday falls at its latest - that is, in April - the Ecclesiastical Calendar counts as many as six Sundays after the Epiphany. Christmastide (that is, the forty days between Christmas Day and the Purification) includes sometimes four out of these six Sundays; frequently only two; and some times only one, as in the case when Easter comes so early as to necessitate keeping Septuagesima, and even Sexagesima Sunday, in January. Still, nothing is changed, as we have already said, in the ritual observances of this joyous season, excepting only that on those two Sundays, the fore-runners of Lent, the Vestments are purple, and the Gloria in excelsis is omitted.

Although our holy Mother the Church honours with especial devotion the Mystery of the Divine Infancy during the whole season of Christmas; yet, she is obliged to introduce into the Liturgy of this same season passages from the holy Gospels which seem premature, inasmuch as they relate to the active life of Jesus. This is owing to there being less than six months allotted by the Calendar for the celebration of the entire work of our Redemption: in other words, Christmas and Easter are so near each other, even when Easter is as late as it can be, that Mysteries must of necessity be crowded into the interval; and this entails anticipation. And yet the Liturgy never loses sight of the Divine Babe and his incomparable Mother, and never tires in their praises, during the whole period from the Nativity to the day when Mary comes to the Temple to present her Jesus.

The Greeks, too, make frequent commemorations of the Maternity of Mary in their Offices of this Season: but they have a special veneration for the twelve days between Christmas Day and the Epiphany, which, in their Liturgy, are called the Dodecameron. During this time they observe no days of Abstinence from flesh-meat; and the Emperors of the East had, out of respect for the great Mystery, decreed that no servile work should be done, and that the Courts of Law should be closed, until after January 6.

From this outline of the history of the holy season, we can understand what is the characteristic of this second portion of the Liturgical Year, which we call Christmas, and which has ever been a season most dear to the Christian world. What are the Mysteries embodied in its Liturgy will be shown in the following chapter.

_
CHAPTER THE SECOND - THE MYSTERY OF CHRISTMAS 
Everything is Mystery in this holy season. The Word of God, whose generation is before the day-star [Ps. cix 3], is born in time - a Child is God - a Virgin becomes a Mother, and remains a Virgin - things divine are commingled with those that are human - and the sublime, the ineffable antithesis, expressed by the Beloved Disciple in those words of his Gospel, THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, is repeated in a thousand different ways in all the prayers of the Church;- and rightly, for it admirably embodies the whole of the great portent which unites in one Person the nature of Man and the nature of God.

The splendour of this Mystery dazzles the understanding, but it inundates the heart with joy. It is the consummation of the designs of God in time. It is the endless subject of admiration and wonder to the Angels and Saints; nay, is the source and cause of their beatitude. Let us see how the Church offers this Mystery to her children, veiled under the symbolism of her Liturgy.

The four weeks of our preparation are over - they were the image of the four thousand years which preceded the great coming - and we have reached the twenty-fifth day of the month of December, as a long desired place of sweetest rest. But why is it that the celebration of our Saviour’s Birth should be the perpetual privilege of this one fixed day; whilst the whole liturgical Cycle has, every year, to be changed and remodelled, in order to yield that ever-varying day which is to be the feast of his Resurrection - Easter Sunday?

The question is a very natural one, and we find it proposed and answered, even so far back as the fourth century; and that, too, by St Augustine, in his celebrated Epistle to Januarius. The holy Doctor offers this explanation: We solemnize the day of our Saviour’s Birth, in order that we may honour that Birth, which was for our salvation; but the precise day of the week, on which he was born, is void of any mystical signification. Sunday, on the contrary, the day of our Lord’s Resurrection, is the day marked, in the Creator’s designs, to express a mystery which was to be commemorated for all ages. St Isidore of Seville, and the ancient Interpreter of Sacred Rites who, for a long time, was supposed to be the learned Alcuin, have also adopted this explanation of the Bishop of Hippo; and our readers may see their words interpreted by Durandus, in his Rationale.

These writers, then, observe that as, according to a sacred tradition, the creation of man took place on a Friday, and our Saviour suffered death also on a Friday for the redemption of man; that as, moreover, the Resurrection of our Lord was on the third day after his death, that is, on a Sunday, which is the day on which the Light was created, as we learn from the Book of Genesis - ‘the two Solemnities of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection,’ says St Augustine, ‘do not only remind us of those divine facts; but they moreover represent and signify some other mysterious and holy thing.’ [Epist. ad Januarium.]

And yet we are not to suppose that because the Feast of Jesus’ Birth is not fixed to any particular day of the week, there is no mystery expressed by its being always on the twenty-fifth of December. For firstly we may observe, with the old Liturgists, that the Feast of Christmas is kept by turns on each of the days of the week, that thus its holiness may cleanse and rid them of the curse which Adam’s sin had put upon them. But secondly, the great mystery of the twenty-fifth of December, being the Feast of our Saviour’s Birth, has reference, not to the division of time marked out by God himself, which is called the Week; but to the course of that great Luminary which gives life to the world, because it gives it light and warmth. Jesus, our Saviour, the Light of the World [St John viii 12], was born when the night of idolatry and crime was at its darkest; and the day of his Birth, the twenty-fifth of December, is that on which the material Sun begins to gain his ascendency over the reign of gloomy night, and show to the world his triumph of brightness.

In our ‘Advent’ we showed, after the Holy Fathers, that the diminution of the physical light may be considered as emblematic of those dismal times which preceded the Incarnation. We joined our prayers with those of the people of the Old Testament; and, with our holy Mother the Church, we cried out to the Divine Orient, the Sun of Justice, that he would deign to come and deliver us from the twofold death of body and soul. God has heard our prayers; and it is on the day of the Winter Solstice - which the Pagans of old made so much of by their fears and rejoicings - that he gives us both the increase of the natural light, and him who is the Light of our souls.

St Gregory of Nyssa, St Ambrose, St Maximus of Turin, St Leo, St Bernard, and the principal Liturgists, dwell with complacency on this profound mystery, which the Creator of the universe has willed should mark both the natural and the supernatural world. We shall find the Church also making continual allusion to it during this season of Christmas, as she did in that of Advent.

‘On this the Day which the Lord hath made,’ says St Gregory of Nyssa, ‘darkness decreases, light increases, and Night is driven back again. No, brethren, it is not by chance, nor by any created will, that this natural change begins on the day when he shows himself in the brightness of his coming, which is the spiritual Life of the world. It is Nature revealing, under this symbol, a secret to them whose eye is quick enough to see it; to them, I mean, who are able to appreciate this circumstance of our Saviour’s coming. Nature seems to me to say: Know, O Man! that under the things which I show thee Mysteries lie concealed. Hast thou not seen the night, that had grown so long, suddenly checked? Learn hence, that the black night of Sin, which had reached its height by the accumulation of every guilty device, is this day stopped in its course. Yes, from this day forward its duration shall be shortened, until at length there shall be naught but Light. Look, I pray thee, on the Sun; and see how his rays are stronger, and his position higher in the heavens: learn from that how the other Light, the Light of the Gospel, is now shedding itself over the whole earth.’ [Homily On the Nativity.]

Let us, my Brethren, rejoice,’ cries out St Augustine: [Sermon On the Nativity of our Lord, iii] ‘this day is sacred, not because of the visible sun, but because of the Birth of him who is the invisible Creator of the sun. ... He chose this day whereon to be born, as he chose the Mother of whom to be born, and he made both the day and the Mother. The day he chose was that on which the light begins to increase, and it tvpifies the work of Christ, who renews our interior man day by day. For the eternal Creator having willed to be born in time, his Birthday would necessarily be in harmony with the rest of his creation.’

The same holy Father, in another sermon for the same Feast, gives us the interpretation of a mysterious expression of St John Baptist, which admirably confirms the tradition of the Church. The great Precursor said on one occasion, when speaking of Christ: He must increase, but I must decrease [St John iii 30]. These prophetic words signify, in their literal sense, that the Baptist’s mission was at its close, because Jesus was entering upon his. But they convey, as St Augustine assures us, a second meaning: ‘John came into this world at the season of the year when the length of the day decreases; Jesus was born in the season when the length of the day increases.’ [Sermon In Natali Domini, xi]. Thus, there is mystery both in the rising of that glorious Star, the Baptist, at the summer solstice: and in the rising of our Divine Sun in the dark season of winter.

[It is almost unnecessary to add that this doctrine of the Holy Fathers which is embodied in the Christmas Liturgy is not in any degree falsified by the fact that there are some parts of God’s earth where Christmas falls in a season the very opposite of Winter. Our Lord selected, for the place of his Birth, one which made it Winter when he came upon earth; and by that selection he stamped the Mystery taught in the text on the season of darkness and cold. Our brethren in Australia, for example, will have the Mystery without the Winter, when they are keeping Christmas; or, more correctly, their faith and the Holy Liturgy will unite them with us, both in the Winter and the Mystery of the great Birth in Bethlehem. - Translator’s Note.]

There have been men who dared to scoff at Christianity as a superstition, because they discovered that the ancient Pagans used to keep a feast of the sun on the winter solstice! In their shallow erudition they concluded that a Religion could not be divinely instituted, which had certain rites or customs originating in an analogy to certain phenomena of this world: in other words, these writers denied what Revelation asserts, namely, that God only created this world for the sake of his Christ and his Church. The very facts which these enemies of our holy Religion brought forward as objections to the true Faith are, to us Catholics, additional proof of its being worthy of our most devoted love.

Thus, then, have we explained the fundamental Mystery of these Forty Days of Christmas, by having shown the grand secret hidden in the choice made by God’s eternal decree, that the twenty-fifth day of December should be the Birthday of God upon this earth. Let us now respectfully study another mystery: that which is involved in the place where this Birth happened.

This place is Bethlehem. Out of Bethlehem, says the Prophet, shall he come for/h that is to be the Ruler in Israel [Mich. v 2]. The Jewish Priests are well aware of the prophecy, and a few days hence will tell it to Herod [St Matt. ii 5]. But why was this insignificant town chosen in preference to every other to be the birth-place of Jesus? Be attentive, Christians, to the mystery! The name of this City of David signifies the House of Bread: therefore did he, who is the living Bread come down from heaven [St John vi 41], choose it for his first visible home. Our Fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead [Ibid. vi 49]; but lo! here is the Saviour of the world, come to give life to his creature Man by means of his own divine Flesh, which is meat indeed [Ibid. vi. 56]. Up to this time the Creator and the creature had been separated from each other; henceforth they shall abide together in closest union. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the manna which fed but the body, is now replaced by the Ark of a New Covenant, purer and more incorruptible than the other: the incomparable Virgin Mary, who gives us Jesus, the Bread of Angels, the nourishment which will give us a divine transformation; for this Jesus himself has said: He that eateth my flesh abideth in me, and I in him [Ibid. vi 57].

It is for this divine transformation that the world was in expectation for four thousand years, and for which the Church prepared herself by the four weeks of Advent. It has come at last, and Jesus is about to enter within us, if we will but receive him [Ibid. i 12]. He asks to be united to each one of us in particular, just as he is united by his Incarnation to the whole human race; and for this end he wishes to become our Bread, our spiritual nourishment. His coming into the souls of men at this mystic season has no other aim than this union. He comes not to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him [Ibid. iii 17], and that all may have life, and may have it more abundantly [Ibid. x 10]. This divine Lover of our souls will not be satisfied, therefore, until he have substituted himself in our place, so that we may live not we ourselves, but he in us; and in order that this mystery may be effected in a sweeter way, it is under the form of an Infant that this Beautiful Fruit of Bethlehem wishes first to enter into us, there to grow afterwards in wisdom and age before God and men [St Luke ii 40, 52].

And when, having thus visited us by his grace and nourished us in his love, he shall have changed us into himself, there shall be accomplished in us a still further mystery. Having become one in spirit and heart with Jesus, the Son of the heavenly Father, we shall also become sons of this same God our Father. The Beloved Disciple, speaking of this our dignity, cries out: Behold! what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the Sons of God! [St John iii 1]. We will not now stay to consider this immense happiness of the Christian soul, as we shall have a more fitting occasion, further on, to speak of it, and show by what means it is to be maintained and increased.

There is another subject, too, which we regret being obliged to notice only in a passing way. It is, that, from the day itself of our Saviours Birth even to the day of our Lady’s Purification, there is, in the Calendar, an extraordinary richness of Saints’ Feasts, doing homage to the master feast of Bethlehem, and clustering in adoring love round the Crib of the Infant-God. To say nothing of the four great Stars which shine so brightly near our Divine Sun, from whom they borrow all their own grand beauty - St Stephen, St John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, and our own St Thomas of Canterbury: what other portion of the Liturgical Year is there that can show within the same number of days so brilliant a constellation? The Apostolic College contributes its two grand luminaries, St Peter and St Paul: the first in his Chair of Rome; the second in the miracle of his Conversion. The Martyr-host sends us the splendid champions of Christ, Timothy, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Vincent, and Sebastian. The radiant line of Roman Pontiffs lends us four of its glorious links, named Sylvester, Telesphorus, Hyginus and Marcellus. The sublime school of holy Doctors offers us Hilary, John Chrysostom, and Ildephonsus; and in their company stands a fourth Bishop - the amiable Francis de Sales. The Confessor-kingdom is represented by Paul the Hermit, Anthony the conqueror of Satan, Maurus the Apostle of the Cloister, Peter Nolasco the deliverer of captives, and Raymond of Pennafort, the oracle of Canon Law and guide of the consciences of men. The army of defenders of the Church deputes the pious King Canute, who died in defence of our Holy Mother, and Charlemagne, who loved to sign himself ‘the humble champion of the Church.’ The choir of holy Virgins gives us the sweet Agnes, the generous Emerentiana, the invincible Martina. And lastly, from the saintly ranks which stand below the Virgins - the holy Widows - we have Paula, the enthusiastic lover of Jesus’ Crib. Truly, our Christmastide is a glorious festive season! What magnificence in its Calendar! What a banquet for us in its Liturgy!

A word upon the symbolism of the colours used by the Church during this season. White is her Christmas Vestment; and she employs this colour at every service from Christmas Day to the Octave of the Epiphany. To honour her two Martyrs, Stephen and Thomas of Canterbury, she vests in red; and to condole with Rachel wailing her murdered Innocents, she puts on purple: but these are the only exceptions. On every other day of the twenty she expresses, by her white Robes, the gladness to which the Angels invited the world, the beauty of our Divine Sun that has risen in Bethlehem, the spotless purity of the Virgin-Mother, and the clean heartedness which they should have who come to worship at the mystic Crib.

During the remaining twenty days, the Church vests in accordance with the Feast she keeps; she varies the colour so as to harmonize either with the red Roses which wreathe a Martyr, or with the white Amaranths which grace her Bishops and her Confessors, or again, with the spotless Lilies which crown her Virgins. On the Sundays which come during this time - unless there occur a Feast requiring red or white or, unless Septuagesima has begun its three mournful weeks of preparation for Lent - the colour of the Vestments is green. This, say the interpreters of the Liturgy, is to teach us that in the Birth of Jesus, who is the flower of the fields [Cant. i 1],we first received the hope of salvation, and that after the bleak winter of heathendom and the Synagogue, there opened the verdant spring-time of grace.

With this we must close our mystical interpretation of those rites which belong to Christmas in general. Our readers will have observed that there are many other sacred and symbolical usages, to which we have not even alluded; but as the mysteries to which they belong are peculiar to certain days, and are not, so to speak, common to this portion of the Liturgical Year, we intend to treat fully of them all, as we meet with them on their proper Feasts.

_May you all have a very
Blessed Christmas Season!!

"O God, who has made this most holy night to shine forth with the splendor of the true Light: grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who have known the mysteries of His light on earth, may enjoy also His happiness in heaven. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth forever. Amen."

“And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

Happy second day of Christmas!! Joy to the World the Lord has come! We have 12 days to celebrate such a wonderful feast. Find lots of links and projects for the 12 days of Christmas HERE on our Christmas Page. Here is a section from the 12 Days of Christmas Download over at Casica Books:

The 12 Days of Christmas
Now that Christmas Day has come, we get to enjoy the Christmas festivities for another 12 days! Christmas has not ended with Christmas Day, but rather, has only begun! Every day there is something special to remember and celebrate.

You are all familiar with the Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. This song was not just a "nonsense‟ song written for fun, but instead was written for a much more important reason. Between the years 1558 and 1829, it was a crime to be a Catholic in England – a crime that was punishable by death. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was written to help young Catholics learn the main points of their Faith, since to be caught with anything in writing that showed that one was a Catholic could very well have meant death.

There are hidden meanings throughout each point of the song. The „true love‟ refers to God, our Heavenly Father, Who is Love. „Me‟ refers to every baptized person.

December 26 – On the First Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me....

A partridge in a pear tree

The partridge refers to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who died on a wooden cross to save us from our sins and open the gates of Heaven.

“Sweet Infant Jesus, make us love Thee more and more.”

The Feast of St. Stephen
The name Stephen means, "crown‟. St. Stephen was the very first of Christ‟s followers to receive the crown of martyrdom. As the number of Christians began to grow, Peter and the other Apostles decided they needed to appoint some people to the care of widows and the poor. St. Stephen is the best known of the seven deacons who were given this duty.

St. Stephen performed many miracles by the grace of God. He spoke with great wisdom and grace so that many people became followers of Christ. This made the enemies of the Christians furious. So, they decided to plot against him. When they couldn't answer his good arguments, they had men lie about him, saying that he spoke sinfully against God. St. Stephen was not afraid – the Bible says his face looked like that of an angel.

Speaking about Jesus, St. Stephen told the Jews that He was the Saviour God had promised to send. He scolded them for not believing in Jesus. They rose in anger, shouting at him. Looking up to Heaven, he said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. The hearers plugged their ears and would not listen to another word. Dragging him out of the city, they threw stones at him until he died. Before he died though, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, and falling to his knees he begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.

When we are hurt by the words and actions of others, let’s remember St. Stephen, and ask him to help us forgive from our heart those who hurt us. Dear St. Stephen, please pray for me that I may always fully forgive those who hurt me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Today, we can also remember Good King Wenceslaus, who "looked out on the Feast of Stephen‟ and gave food to a needy person. What better day to sing this Christmas song than today?

How about some Christmas links to help plan your 12 days of Christmas Celebration? These and more can be found on our Christmas Page. Don't forget the Christmas Novena starts tonight! God bless!

_By: Maria Von Trapp
Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family
 On Christmas Eve in the morning the Church sang, "This day you shall know that the Lord is coming, and tomorrow you shall see His glory," and "Be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in," and "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken." These promises will be fulfilled during Midnight Mass. It must be in order that the grown-ups may devote themselves with a quiet mind, unhindered by any commotion, to these great mysteries of the Holy Night, that in most Catholic countries the giving of gifts has been advanced to Christmas Eve. And so Christmas Eve is the day for our children. When the little ones get up in the morning, they find the door of the living room closed, and no one is allowed to go in, much less to peek through the keyhole; because the Christ Child will come and bring the Christmas tree and all the gifts. Only mother and father may assist Him. Christmas Eve is Confession day. Once more we listen to the voice of St. John the Baptist, who admonishes us to prepare the way of the Lord and to do penance. When the Holy Child is entrusted into our hearts at midnight in our Christmas Communion, He shall find the place clean and swept and warm with love. There is a certain hush all through the house. People are tip-toeing and whispering; at the same time there is an atmosphere of extreme activity. Mother and father spend the day behind the closed doors, "helping the Christ Child." In our house the large Christmas tree, twelve feet high, always a beautiful, thick balsam fir, requires a lot of time to be decorated "the old way." During the preceding nights, the older children have wrapped up candies in tinfoil or in tissue paper with fringed edges and have then tied red thread to candies as well as to hundreds of cookies. They are hung on the tree first. On the lower branches we hang also small apples and tangerines. Then come Christmas-tree decorations from our home studios--angels and stars worked in silver or brass, which will glitter later in the light of the candles. Yes, candles--because there will be six dozen small candleholders with real candles fastened to the branches. (On either side of the tree there will be a camouflaged bucket with water and a mop with a long handle "just in case." So far we have never needed it.) Next, dozens of packages of tinsel are emptied on twigs and branches; and the last touch is silver chains spinning in spider-web fashion, criss-crossed from branch to branch. The final effect is like a fairy tale. Every so often the mother is interrupted by a discreet knock at the closed door and as she comes to open she can just hear steps running away. Everything and anything is a big secret today. As she opens the door just a little, she sees either a laundry basket or a cardboard box filled with many packages, each one with its name tag. So every one of the children comes with his gifts, for every one has prepared something for everybody else. In a large household such as ours--when we are without guests we are eighteen--that means a great deal of arranging and rearranging until finally everything seems to be in its place. The last thing is to put the Christmas crib right next to the tree--the crib in the cold, dark cave where Mary and Joseph have arrived last night after evening prayers. {Decorations for Christmas Tree: Top two rows are various cookie samples for the tree; third row, apple and tangerine; next six items can be cut from heavy tin foil or aluminum foil, which is available in various colors. Use knitting needle to scratch details into figures. Bottom right samples of candy wrappings. Use colored tissue paper, tie with colored string.} When, finally, everything in the "Christmas Room" (as the living room is called these days) is ready, the rest of the afternoon is devoted to tidying up the house. Not only the workshops and rooms, but also every drawer and closet is put in order. Then we all dress in our feast-day best. When it gets dusky outside, we meet in the chapel. (Before we had our chapel, we used to meet in a big bedroom upstairs.) Besides the vigil light, there is only the little flame of the Advent candle burning. We say the rosary, and afterwards we sing every one of our Advent hymns and at the end a song to the Blessed Mother. When we are in the middle of it, one can hear clearly the ringing of a little silver bell. A suppressed sigh can be heard coming from the little ones. This is their hour, because the bell announces that the Christ Child has come. Now we all go downstairs, and the double doors of the living room are wide open. A big Christmas tree stands there all ablaze in the light of many candles. Tables covered with white cloths are heaped with beautifully wrapped packages--gifts put there by love. First the youngest in the family steps forward and recites the Nativity story according to St. Luke. Then we sing for the first time "Silent Night"--three verses in German and in English. (For the first time at home, that is. We have sung it many times in our Christmas programs during the last weeks, always anticipating this moment when it would be sung at home.) And then everyone wishes everyone else, not a "Merry," but a "Blessed Christmas" "Gesegnete Weihnachten." After this the mother leads everybody to his or her Place and, for the next hour, the room is filled with happy exclamations. Then the bell rings for an early supper. This, again, is traditional: carp with potato salad and, as dessert, "Knorpeltorte." The first one who gets up is the father. When he is fully dressed in his heavy winter coat, he takes a lantern containing a burning candle and stands all by himself in the hall and starts singing an old Christmas carol that is only sung once a year. We never sing it earlier, and we never repeat it afterwards.