Daily Advent Reflection

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

I didn't realize it at the time but I am certain that The Carpenter's Christmas by Peter K. Rosegger is based on the Gospel passage for today. Jesus says, "It is not those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven." Read the story and then go back to the Gospel where the rest of the passage talks about how the sensible person builds their house on rock that withstands the storms that rage against it.

How does our faith withstand the storms that wage against us during the course of our lives? Can we make sense of the daily intrusions that interfere with our plans? Are we truly open to Our Lord's coming at every moment or are we closed to his coming to us in any way but the one we have decided upon?

*****

More from Michael Dubruiel:

Michael Dubruiel wrote a book to help people deepen their experience of the Mass.  He titled it, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist.  You can read about it here. 

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist gives you nine concrete steps to help you join your own sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ as you:

• Serve: Obey the command that Jesus gave to his disciples at the first Eucharist.
• Adore: Put aside anything that seems to rival God in importance.
• Confess: Believe in God’s power to make up for your weaknesses.
• Respond" Answer in gesture, word, and song in unity with the Body of Christ.
• Incline: Listen with your whole being to the Word of God.
• Fast: Bring your appetites and desires to the Eucharist.
• Invite: Open yourself to an encounter with Jesus.
• Commune: Accept the gift of Christ in the Eucharist.
• Evangelize :Take him and share the Lord with others.

Filled with true examples, solid prayer-helps, and sound advice, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist shows you how to properly balance the Mass as a holy banquet with the Mass as a holy sacrifice. With its references to Scripture, quotations from the writings and prayers of the saints, and practical aids for overcoming distractions one can encounter at Mass, this book guides readers to embrace the Mass as if they were attending the Last Supper itself.

Books by Michael Dubruiel

You can buy Michael Dubruiel's books here.

PLEASE only orders to US addresses. Only.
(If you live in Canada, and really want a book, though...email me. We'll work it out. Just don't order before you contact me.)

If you have any questions, please email me at amywelborn60 - AT - gmail.com.

Prices all include shipping

For more information on these (and other) books go to the following sites:

Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing

Friendship with Jesus/Be Saints!

Wish You Were Here (includes excerpts)

Book of Saints/Book of Heroes

The Prove It Books

Listening to God with Blessed John Paul II

The Words We Pray

The How to Book of the Mass & How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist

The Church's Most Powerful Novenas

Pocket Guides by other authors

Michael Dubruiel's Pocket Guides

Christmas Meditation

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

"Blessed is she who believed that the message made her by the Lord would be fulfilled." Here is where most of us fall short. We really don't believe, silently we distrust. In our actions we loudly show our unbelief.

Elizabeth praises Mary for her trust.

What do you and I really trust in?

Today ask the Blessed Virgin to give you a stronger faith, one that looks to God expectantly at every waking moment of your day and sleeps at night with the same assurance.

More from Michael Dubruiel:

Michael Dubruiel wrote a book to help people deepen their experience of the Mass.  He titled it, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist.  You can read about it here. 

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist gives you nine concrete steps to help you join your own sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ as you:

• Serve: Obey the command that Jesus gave to his disciples at the first Eucharist.
• Adore: Put aside anything that seems to rival God in importance.
• Confess: Believe in God’s power to make up for your weaknesses.
• Respond" Answer in gesture, word, and song in unity with the Body of Christ.
• Incline: Listen with your whole being to the Word of God.
• Fast: Bring your appetites and desires to the Eucharist.
• Invite: Open yourself to an encounter with Jesus.
• Commune: Accept the gift of Christ in the Eucharist.
• Evangelize :Take him and share the Lord with others.

Filled with true examples, solid prayer-helps, and sound advice, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist shows you how to properly balance the Mass as a holy banquet with the Mass as a holy sacrifice. With its references to Scripture, quotations from the writings and prayers of the saints, and practical aids for overcoming distractions one can encounter at Mass, this book guides readers to embrace the Mass as if they were attending the Last Supper itself.

Daily Advent Reflection by Michael Dubruiel

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

I didn't realize it at the time but I am certain that The Carpenter's Christmas by Peter K. Rosegger is based on the Gospel passage for today. Jesus says, "It is not those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven." Read the story and then go back to the Gospel where the rest of the passage talks about how the sensible person builds their house on rock that withstands the storms that rage against it.

How does our faith withstand the storms that wage against us during the course of our lives? Can we make sense of the daily intrusions that interfere with our plans? Are we truly open to Our Lord's coming at every moment or are we closed to his coming to us in any way but the one we have decided upon?

*****

More from Michael Dubruiel:

Michael Dubruiel wrote a book to help people deepen their experience of the Mass.  He titled it, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist.  You can read about it here. 

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist gives you nine concrete steps to help you join your own sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ as you:

• Serve: Obey the command that Jesus gave to his disciples at the first Eucharist.
• Adore: Put aside anything that seems to rival God in importance.
• Confess: Believe in God’s power to make up for your weaknesses.
• Respond" Answer in gesture, word, and song in unity with the Body of Christ.
• Incline: Listen with your whole being to the Word of God.
• Fast: Bring your appetites and desires to the Eucharist.
• Invite: Open yourself to an encounter with Jesus.
• Commune: Accept the gift of Christ in the Eucharist.
• Evangelize :Take him and share the Lord with others.

Filled with true examples, solid prayer-helps, and sound advice, How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist shows you how to properly balance the Mass as a holy banquet with the Mass as a holy sacrifice. With its references to Scripture, quotations from the writings and prayers of the saints, and practical aids for overcoming distractions one can encounter at Mass, this book guides readers to embrace the Mass as if they were attending the Last Supper itself.

Daily Advent Reflection

These were written by Michael Dubruiel many years ago.

First Sunday of Advent

My memories of growing up in New England are filled with examples of what ideally we all might do if we were to celebrate Advent in response to Jesus' admonition in the Gospel of Mark. Gathering on the Sunday after Thanksgiving for the lighting of the village Christmas Crèche, caroling throughout the streets of the small town, and the general mood of good cheer that permeated the cold wintry landscape warms me even now. Everyone seemed to make an extra effort to notice everyone else.

What does this have to do with the readings you ask?

Jesus tells his disciples to "watch," to be alert, for they do not know when the time will come. Last Sunday we had the end portrayed and indeed the gathered people (the sheep and goats) are surprised that they had already either helped the Lord or refused him when they had reached out to those in need. If we are truly vigilant we will greet everyone we meet today as though it could be the Lord himself coming into our midst.

There are no unimportant visitors for the Christian. Advent is a time of expectation of the Lord's coming, not on our terms but in whatever way He chooses to come to us today. Be vigilant!

The way we celebrated before Christmas when I was growing up seemed to capture this spirit, people genuinely became other focused. If we truly believe that the Lord might be lurking in the stranger that we meet how might we treat Him differently. The Lord commands us to "Watch!" There is no better way to celebrate Advent than this intense watching, vigilance for the unexpected arrival.

Monday of the First Week of Advent

We say the words of the Centurion before communion everytime we go to Mass but do we really mean it? "Lord, I am not worthy..."

Most of us probably think there are times when we aren't worthy but plenty of other times that we are. The truth is that we are never worthy. The more we can foster that notion the less likely we are to sit in judgment of others, the less likely we are to ever think we know better than God.

If we are to truly look forward to the coming of Christ we have to foster within us a deep sense of our own unworthiness that creates space for Christ to enter into our lives. The Centurion realized that a mere word from the savior could save his servant. In faith we should open the Scriptures with the same belief and expectation.

More from Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel's books

You can buy Michael Dubruiel's books here.

PLEASE only orders to US addresses. Only.
(If you live in Canada, and really want a book, though...email me. We'll work it out. Just don't order before you contact me.)

If you have any questions, please email me at amywelborn60 - AT - gmail.com.

Prices all include shipping

For more information on these (and other) books go to the following sites:

Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing

Friendship with Jesus/Be Saints!

Wish You Were Here (includes excerpts)

Book of Saints/Book of Heroes

The Prove It Books

Listening to God with Blessed John Paul II

The Words We Pray

The How to Book of the Mass & How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist

The Church's Most Powerful Novenas

Pocket Guides by other authors

Michael Dubruiel's Pocket Guides

Back to Ordinary Time (8th Week)

But not so in the old days, as Father Mark points out, in an excellent post on the "suppression" of the "Octave of Pentecost" (similar to the Octave of Christmas and Easter) that was celebrated up unto 1969, He includes this anectdote:

The story goes that on the Monday after Pentecost in 1970 His Holiness Pope Paul VI rose early and went to his chapel for Holy Mass. Instead of the red vestments he expected, green ones were laid out for him. He asked the Master of Ceremonies, "What on earth are these for? This is the Octave of Pentecost! Where are the red vestments?" "Your Holiness," replied the Master of Ceremonies, "this is now The Time Throughout the Year. It is green, now. The Octave of Pentecost is abolished." "Green? That cannot be," said the Pope, "Who did that?" "Your Holiness, you did." And Paul VI wept.

Paul VI did not weep alone. Many wept with him. It was reported that Catherine de Hueck Doherty of Madonna House was inconsolable. Faithful the world over were speechless at the brutal removal of one of the Church Year’s most cherished moments. In some countries the hierarchy were frightfully embarrassed: the civil calendar had retained the Monday and Tuesday after Pentecost as holidays, while the Church had erased them from hers. Little by little, the voices of those seeking the restoration of the Pentecost came to be heard in high places.

Bishop Trautmann's Red Herring

He continues his crusade against the new translation of the Mass, when ironically I would think he would defending and catechizing people on the necessity of it. But in the Tablet, a UK Catholic paper he presents this nugget:

While people need an understanding of the transcendence of God, the use of expressions not prevalent in the speech of the assembly and the use of archaic words defeat that purpose and make God remote. The new formalism in liturgicaltranslation will stifle authentic worship. For Christ's message can only be heard in the culture of the hearer. Liturgy does not take place in a cultural vacuum. If the liturgy of the Church is not celebrated in terms that resonate with the assembly, it will not be heard.

I find this a little disingenous, because quite frankly the liturgy(that word itself is archaic and hardly understood by the masses)is filled with words already that the majority of people in the congregation have no earthly idea of the meaning--and what is missing from this nugget is the sense that the liturgy is supposed to lift us out of this world (especially when the Eastern focus of liturg is emphasizd).

I have had great success with a book that I authored The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You, (which incidently is soon to be released in an expanded verion see Amazon)mainly because it defines a bunch of words that people hear at Mass (itself another archaic word, but one that is used in our culture in the context of Christmas)that are not part of our culture and quite foreign--think Eucharist!

One wonders what Bishop Truatmann hopes to accomplish with his crusade against the new translation?

Baptism of the Lord

Celebrated in the United States today-- but yesterday almost everywhere else in the world. The pope commemorated the occaision with a mass in the Sistine Chapel that included baptisms.

We'll commemorate the event by playing the BCS National Championship game tonight to officially end the Christmas season. Hopefully us Gator fans will have much to cheer about as we enter ordinary time (time without college football).

"Why did God become man?" Pope Benedict

Today's Angelus on the Feast of St. John the Apostle, from Asia News Italy:

“Why did he do it? Why did God become man?”

The chant the angels began singing in the grotto—“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests” (Lk 2, 14)—can help answer this question. The canticle of the night before Christmas, which is now in the Gloria, belongs to the liturgy as do the other three canticles from the New Testament which refer to Jesus’ birth and infancy: the Benedictus, the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis.

Whilst these are included respectively in the morning Lauds, the evening Vesper prayer, and the nightly Compline, the Gloria found its place in the Holy Mass. To the angels’ words a few acclamations were added: "We praise You. We bless You. We adore You. We glorify You. We give You thanks for Your great Glory.” Later “Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. You who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us” were added to form an ariose hymn of praise that was sung the first time during Christmas mass and then in all feast days. Included at the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration, the Gloria underscores the existing continuity between and the birth and the death of Christ, between Christmas and Easter, which are indissoluble aspects of the one and the same mystery of salvation.

The Gospel says that the angelic multitude sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will”. The angels announced that the birth of Christ to the shepherds “is” glory to God in the Highest and peace to His people on earth. Therefore, these angelic words are conveniently placed on the grotto to explain the mystery of Christmas that is fulfilled in the nativity scene. The word “gloria” (doxa) indicates the splendour of God that his grateful creatures’ praise elicits. Paul said that it is “the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of (Jesus) Christ” (2 Cor 4, 6). “Peace" (eirene) summarise the fullness of the messianic gift, salvation, as the Apostle puts it, which is identified with Christ himself. “For he is our peace," (Eph 2, 14). There is, finally, a reference to men “of good will”. “Good will” (eudokia) would ordinarily make one think of men’s “good will”, but here it refers to God’s, boundless, “good will” towards men. Hence the Christmas message means that with the birth of Jesus, God has shown his good will towards all.

Let us get back to question “Why did God become man?” St Irenaeus said: “The word became the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men [. . .]. For the glory of God is a living man—vivens homo—; and the life of man consists in beholding God.” (Adv. Haer. IV, 20, 5.7).

God’s glory manifests itself in the salvation of man whom God loved so much, wrote John the Evangelist, “that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life,” (Jn 3, 16). Love is therefore the ultimate reason for Christ’s incarnation. Theologian H.U. von Balthasar’s reflection on the matter is eloquent. He wrote that “God is not, first of all, absolute power, but rather absolute love whose sovereignty does not manifest itself in keeping what is his, but in giving it up” (Mysterium paschale I, 4). The God that we see in the nativity scene is God-Love.

At this point the angels’ announcement sounds to us like an invitation: “Let there be” glory to God in the Highest, “let there be” peace to His people on earth”. The only way to glorify God and build peace on earth lies in humbly and trustingly welcome the gift of Christmas: love. The angels’ song can then become a prayer to repeat often, not only during the Christmas period. A hymn of praise to God in the highest and a fervent invocation of peace on earth that may turn into a concrete commitment to build it with our own life. This is the commitment Christmas gives us.

Keep the Mass in Christmas!

I begin with an ingenius "smiley" making a reverencial Sign of the Cross...Ever stop to think what you are wishing everyone to have a "Merry" of..? Not the Espanol "Feliz Navidad"...essentially "Happy Birthday" but rather a joyful Christ mass. What is the Mass?

There are those who think they cut Christ out of the picture by replacing Christ with an "X"...but the first letter of Christ in Greek is "X" and even when you say X-mas...you are still left with the Mass and what is the Mass?

Then there is the Christmas story, especially as it is found in the Gospel of Luke.

The Gospel of Luke begins and ends with a "vision of angels." First there is the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to Zechariah and Mary. When Mary later visits Zechariah and Elizabeth she proclaims that God "has shown the might of his arm dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty,"(Luke 1:51-53) Zechariah at the birth of John prophesies "by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace" (Luke 1:78,79).

There is a common theme hinted at in both of these canticles, the lowly understand a message that those in power totally miss, hunger is filled, and those who sit in darkness are given light. These precede another vision of angels; in Luke 2: 8 immediately following the birth of Jesus we read about shepherds keeping "night watch" over their flocks, the shepherds are literally a people "sitting in darkness" who have an experience of light: "the glory of the lord shone around them.".

What is the message given to the shepherds? " "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2: 10-12).

We may be overly familiar with this Christmas story to notice what it might be telling us. What exactly is a sign? It is not an end in and of itself but rather points to a greater reality. What is the sign the shepherds are told they will witness? They are told that they will find an "infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." A manger is a feeding box for animals. We are told that it is a "sign", what they witness points to something beyond the experience of the birth of Christ to something else.

When the angels leave, the shepherds say, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." The key phrase here is "Bethlehem" which literally means "house of bread". "Let us go to the House of Bread to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."

All of this is how the Gospel of Luke begins, but how does it end? Here the Risen Christ has joined two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They do not recognize him and here they tell him about a "vision of angels" that the women who came to the tomb have reported to them. In response to this He opens the Scriptures to them. They invite Him to stay with them. He takes bread, says the blessing, breaks it, gives it to them, then physically vanishes from their site. Luke tells us quite blatantly, for the really dense reader, that they recognized Him in the "breaking of the bread".

Where are we to find Jesus this day? In the bread that is broken in the Eucharist! So at Mass we sing the Gloria, the message of the angels. It is both a reminder and an invitation for us to encounter the Lord here.

I have good news for you! This Christ Mass you too can get up and see what the Lord has made known to us--He is waiting for you.

I recommend also two books that I've written as the perfect Christ Mass gift to give, to remind and to inspire what we wish everyone to have a Merry one.

My How-To Book of the Mass for those who want to understand the Mass better and How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist for those who understand but our bothered by the way they actually experience the Mass in their parish. Both will help you and your loved ones trek that trial of the shepherds this Christ-Mass.

Looking for the Perfect Christ-Mass Gift?

This Christmas, let's keep the "Mass" in Christmas...and Christ will reign supreme!

An excellent time of the year to catechize why this celebration is named after the central act of worship in the Catholic Church...

Give a personalized copy of The How-To Book of the Mass or How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist...for more details go here.