Per Christum

I pray that everyone is having a blessed and happy Christmas season. Below are lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas carols, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” written by Christina Rossetti in 1872.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; But His mother only, in her maiden bliss, Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

…the whole body of the faithful confess that they believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. By which three statements the devices of almost all heretics are overthrown. For not only is God believed to be both Almighty and the Father, but the Son is shown to be co-eternal with Him, differing in nothing from the Father because He is God from God, Almighty from Almighty, and being born from the Eternal one is co-eternal with Him; not later in point of time, not lower in power, not unlike in glory, not divided in essence: but at the same time the only begotten of the eternal Father was born eternal of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. And this nativity which took place in time took nothing from, and added nothing to that divine and eternal birth, but expended itself wholly on the restoration of man who had been deceived: in order that he might both vanquish death and overthrow by his strength, the Devil who possessed the power of death. For we should not now be able to overcome the author of sin and death unless He took our nature on Him and made it His own, whom neither sin could pollute nor death retain. Doubtless then, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit within the womb of His Virgin Mother, who brought Him forth without the loss of her virginity, even as she conceived Him without its loss.

(Pope St. Leo the Great, Letter 28 (aka “The Tome of Leo“)

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Dec. 19, Vespers:

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel, qui aperis
et nemo claudit, claudis et nemo aperuit: veni et educ
vinctum de domo carceris sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Key of David, Scepter of the House of Israel, who opens and
no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens: Come and lead the
captive from prison, the one seated in darkenss and the shadow
of death!

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt regos os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur:
Veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare!

O Root of Jesse,
Standing as Sign for the people,
before Whom kings keep silence,
Whom the nations will adore:
Come to free us - delay no more!

“O Wisdom, proceeding out of the mouth of the Most High…come and teach us the way of prudence.”
- the O-Antiphon for 16 Dec.

At Vespers this past Friday evening (for those of the Western Tradition) the O-Antiphons began. These fairly ancient verses are, by custom, chanted (or recited) right before the “Magnificat” at Vespers. Sung each evening from 16 Dec. through 23 Dec., these antiphons
celebrate some attribute of the One whose birth we will soon commemorate - Christ the Wisdom of God, Christ the Lawgiver and Redeemer of Israel, Christ David’s heir, Christ the Harrower of Hell et al. While many Catholics and Protestants may not be familiar (any more) with the Antiphons in their Divine Office form, they will surely be familiar with the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” each verse of which is a paraphrase of an antiphon.

As an enhancement to daily devotions, whether alone or with others, I will, starting today, write out each antiphon for that day’s Vespers in both Latin and English. I hope that they will be a meaningful addition to your daily prayers. (There is absolutely no reason why an Orthodox Christian or a Byzantine Catholic may not use these Antiphons too. A suggested place to insert them would be either right after the Trisagion Prayers or as antiphons before the evening Psalms.)

For Vespers, Sunday, 17 Dec.:

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et in ei in Sina legem dedisti: Veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O Adonai, leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave the Law on Sinai’s height: Come to redeem us with outstretched arm!

I just saw this on Titusonenine. Grace Church in Newark, New Jersey is purposefully reaching out to dissenting Catholics. Of note, Grace Church is home to Louie Crew, a well-known gay-rights activist in the Episcopal church. Here is an excerpt from their program toward Catholics:

At Grace Church you will find:

Traditional Catholic worship, offered with care and reverence

Worthy liturgical music, including Gregorian Chant

A respectful approach to Scripture and Tradition, without fundamentalism or authoritarianism

A diverse congregation that embraces divorced persons, gay men, and lesbians as fully as it embraces all others.

This attitude is not really new. Episcopalians have been convincing Catholics for years that you can have 110% of the beauty with only 10% of the guilt by becoming Episcopalian. And I am sure most of that guilt these days is over things like shopping at Wal-Mart or calling God “he.” In fact, many Episcopal churches have a large ex-Catholic population, driven in part by the Episcopal church’s more liberal outlook.

I am not upset by this outreach. In fact, I kind of think it is a good idea. First let me say I never think it is a good thing when someone leaves the Catholic Church. However, There are a lot of Catholics out there that aren’t really that, well, Catholic. They probably would find a better home in the Episcopal church, rather than trying unsuccessfully to change the Catholic Church into something it is not. I believe it is proper for Catholics to reach out to disaffected mainline protestants, so in fairness, I believe mainline protestants should be allowed to reach out to disaffected Catholics.

One thing I want to add is that the Catholic Church does reach out to gays and lesbians, albeit on different terms than the Episcopal church. The Catholic Church reaches out to all types of sinners, saints, and folks in-between, and I know gay people who feel very welcome in Catholic parishes. However, while the Catholic Church welcomes all people, it does not affirm all behavior, which is why I and many others receive the sacrament of confession frequently.

Today I got the following email with an attachment from a friend of mine who is not Catholic wanting to know the veracity of its claims. Apparently, not knowing many Catholics, she thinks we all are well versed in such things. It stumped me.

“Ok, my Catholic Friend…Someone sent this to me today - Is it true?? I figured you’d know…

LT”

The History Behind “The 12 Days Of Christmas”

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled us. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won’t come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas? From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning:the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children could remember.

1. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

12. The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in The Apostles’ Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that lovely but strange song became a Christmas Carol… so pass it on if you wish.

This was all news to me. And seemed like odd news, but I couldn’t put my finger on it!

Really, given how very rushed we feel during the days leading up to Christmas with shopping, baking sending cards and parties, we as Christians might take an interest in using these 12 nights AFTER December 25th to meditate in more spiritual ways on the gift of the incarnation given for the salvation of all mankind some 2 millenia ago. So leave that tree up and just relax.

Of course, if you were Greek Catholic or Greek Orthodox, you would leave the tree up until February 2d, The Feast of The Presentation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Temple. However, if you don’t live in a neighborhood that is a bastion of like-minded Byzantines, the neighbors might just think you are a little weird.

Merry Twelve Days of Christmas to you and yours!

-A Simple Sinner

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. May everyone enjoy this blessed solemnity by imitating the holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While we do not share this feast in common with most other Christians, we do share a basic understanding of Mary’s sinlessness with the East, and a strong veneration of Mary with many high-church Protestants. May this be a start of unity!

As many of you know, Dave Hartline’s new book The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism will be released soon, on December 12th specifically. We have been toying with the idea of expanding our Podcast (yes, it still exists!) to include panel discussions and interviews. With the release of Dave’s upcoming book, we knew we had found the perfect first person to interview.

Thus our new podcast episode, The Interview With Dave Hartline, author of The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism, is now available. This is episode 6 of the podcast, and it is 48 minutes long, and the file size is 17.4 Mb. I think you will find Dave interesting and his observations positive and relevant to the current Church situation.

If you are interested in getting the word out about this interview and Dave’s book, please link over to the interview, which is located at: http://podcast.ancient-future.net/episode6.mp3.

We are hoping to expand the interview episodes, and have some people in mind to interview. The new format is different than the Paltalk media we usually employ, and uses an internet telephone service, which makes the sound quality better and the final product easier to edit (not to mention allowing us to conference call with people over their phone). However, the number of people is limited, and you have to have a fast connection. We still have a few technical humps to get over, but we have already fixed a few bugs for the next interview.

If you are interested in Dave’s book, check out your local Catholic bookstore or click here for more information.

Sunday marked the beginning of the Advent Season of the Church Year. It is a period of waiting. This consists of symbolically waiting with the past prophets, patriarchs, kings, and ordinary guys and gals for the first arrival of the waited Christ. We also eagerly await the second coming of our Lord in glory.

Since Advent lasts from now until Christmas, this leaves some of us in a quandary. What do we do when our society begins to celebrate Christmas during our Advent season? We are in a time of waiting and penitence when our culture is going full-bore materialistic. I usually recommend balance. I am not going to refuse to go to Christmas parties or look at lights, but I will observe Advent in the fullest way possible, and celebrate Christmas the most fully from December 24th until Winter Ordinary Time begins. Robb, a Lutheran pastor who runs the Lutherpunk blog, has a few helpful suggestions for keeping the balance in his post called Jumping the Gun.