Feast of St. John the Evangelist

El Greco

John
the Beloved
Apostle

The Gospel for the Mass of Christmas Day was the majestic and moving openning of the Gospel of John - "In the beginning was the Word..." Today the Church gives us the opportunity to celebrate the memory of the author of that work whoever he/she may be and the Apostle John for whom the Gospel was named, as was customary for authors wanting to give praise to their principal source.

This morning Fr. Thomas Deely, CSsR made his way over to our monastery, faithful as he is to his contemplative sisters, in spite of 18 inches of snow and higher drifts. In the course of his homily he reminded us of the custom of blessing wine on this day. I suspect that the legend mentioned in the first blessing is something from the Gospel of Thomas. This Gospel did not make the cut when the Gospel canon that we know today was decided upon.

Be so kind as to bless and consecrate with Your right hand, Lord, this cup of wine, and every drink. Grant that by the merits of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, all who believe in You and drink of this cup may be blessed and protected. Blessed John drank poison from the cup, and was in no way harmed. So, too, may all who this day drink from this cup in honor of Blessed John, by his merits, be freed from every sickness by poisoning and from any harms whatever. And, when they have offered themselves in both soul and body, may they be freed, too, from every fault, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Bless, Lord, this beverage which You have made. May it be a healthful refreshment to all who drink of it. And grant by the invocation of Your holy name that whoever tastes of it may, by Your generosity receive health of both soul and body, through Christ our Lord. Amen

Fr. Tom left a bottle of blessed wine with us which we will share at our dinner. We are very grateful for the attentiveness of all of the Redemptorists at Mt. St. Alphonsus Retreat Center who are so faithful in providing us with daily Mass. Many contemplative nuns are not so fortunate.

Do you know someone named John who may appreciate a feastday greeting from you today? 

A Blessed Christmas to All

A little child is born for us today;

little and yet called the mighty God, alleluia.

The Nativity (a detail)
engraving by Frater Max Schmalzl, CSsR
1850-1930

My, dear friends, on this day of great joy and hope, I just composed what I thought was a moving reflection on the on-going Christmas in our lives, the daily birth of Jesus in us every day. But the grinch of computers took it all away as I tried to embellish the piece with more of Brother Max Schmazl's great work. So be it. It was not meant to be my Christmas gift to you. Instead, now I remind that our prayers today have been for all that challenges our world, our country and our families. May the grace and blessing of this feast be with you in abundance.







Christmas Eve

Today you will know

the Lord is coming.

In the morning

you will see His glory.

The Advent Season Progresses

Illustration of O Antiphon for December 17
by Sr. Moira Quinn

If one looks at the layout of the Liturgical Year of the Church from the viewpoint of a  film maker or stage director one must admire the keen sense of drama, the slow yet pointed build up to the major feasts of Christmas and Easter. The growing dramatic intensity appears in each of the public forms of official worship, that is the Eucharistic Liturgy and the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office. Unfortunately, most Catholics never experience the Liturgy of the Hours except if they should attend Tenebrae services in their local parish during Holy Week or visit a monastery.  Communities of contemplative nuns are very aware of the unfolding drama because they are immersed in the Liturgy of Hours and all its fine details five or six times a day.

Today we begin a series of these dramatic additions, known as the Great 'O' Antiphons. From now until Christmas we will sing them along with the canticle at Vespers (Evening Prayer) which is Mary's Magnificat, her great prayer of praise at the moment of the Annunciation.

The Redemptoristine Monastery in Dublin, Ireland has posted a You Tube video of tomorrow's O Antiphon. 

The following is a complete explanation of the meaning of the 'O" Antiphons written by our subprioress, Sr. Moria Quinn.

Jewels of Advent - The Great O Antiphons

Advent is the most beautiful of liturgical seasons. It is a time of watching and preparing, of hopeful expectation and joyful anticipation. Advent is the season where we ponder the comings of Christ. The Mass readings of Advent begin with the Second Coming of Christ to earth, the Parousia. The word Parousia means ‘to be present.’ Isn’t that what Advent is about? To be present to the mystery of God: past, present and future. We remember with our ancestors of the past their longing for the coming of the Messiah. We rejoice and celebrate Jesus’ incarnation, his coming in the flesh 2000 years ago. In the present, we recognize Jesus, our Messiah, in our midst in the here and now where he is gracing us in every facet of our lives as we look to our reward at his ‘Second Coming.’

If you follow the daily readings at Mass during Advent you find they are filled with much imagery. Last year, it got to the point that I felt inspired to illustrate the Great O Antiphons.

Some of you may be scratching your head and saying, ‘The Great what?’ You know them, or at least one of them, by heart, ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel… ’ It is probably the most beloved of all Advent hymns. In the monastery, for the final preparation before the coming of Christmas, we sing the ‘Jewels of Advent,’ the last 7 nights before Christmas Eve. For those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours the Great O’s are sung during Evening Prayer just before the Magnificat beginning December 17 and then continue for the next 6 days with a different ‘O’ sung every night until December 23. They are also sung, or said, at the Gospel Alleluia at Mass during that time.

The exact origin of the ‘O Antiphons’ is not known. Boethius (480–524/5) a Christian philosopher in 6th century Rome made a slight reference to them, thereby suggesting their presence at that time. During the next century at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire of Fleury in central France, these antiphons were recited by the abbot and other abbey leaders in descending rank, and then a gift was given to each member of the community. By the eighth century, they were in wide use in the liturgical celebrations in Rome. The hymn, ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel,’ dates back to the 9th century.

The original O Antiphons, of course, were in Latin. But over the years there have been many translations.

• December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

• December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)

• December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

• December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)

• December 21: O Oriens (O Morning Star)

• December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)

• December 23: O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel)

Whoever put together all the Latin Antiphons was having a good time because if you take the first letter of each invocation, then read it backwards, it forms an acrostic in Latin: ERO CRAS. This can be understood as the words of Christ, responding to his people's plea, “Tomorrow I will come."

You may say, ‘Wait a minute. Christmas is on the 25th not the 24th. Why end on the 23rd ?’ True enough, but thanks to the tradition handed down to us by our Jewish ancestors in the faith, we begin the liturgical day at sundown. So, the evening of the 23rd is Christmas Eve, and as a result, therefore, the Christmas liturgy begins at Evening Prayer on the 24th . I know it sounds confusing but that is the way it is.

To add to the mix, an alternative English medieval practice arose of moving all of the antiphons forward by one day so they began on December 16th. They added an antiphon involving Mary to the end on the 23rd.

O Virgo Virginum…

O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be?

For neither before you, or after shall be.

Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel at me?

The thing you behold is divine mystery.

So they took the ‘V’ from O Virgo and added it to the acrostic so it became Vero Cras, "Truly, tomorrow."

This additional antiphon was only eliminated from the Church of England liturgy in the year 2000, thereby restoring the Great O Antiphons to their original form.

The O Antiphons are all scripture based, at least they are alluded to somewhere in the Jewish Testament. Each Antiphon has three parts:

◊ They all begin with an exclamation of a Messianic title: O Wisdom, O Root of Jesse, O Morning Star….

◊ They are followed by an attribute, a description of the power of God: Giver of Law, Sign of God’s Love, Source of Life, Promised Savior….

◊ And then conclude with an invocation to Come and: Come and teach us, Come and open the way, Come and Redeem us, Come and set us free…

Did you know the name Jesus, Jehoshua, means in Hebrew ‘Jehovah saves or sets free’? That is the underlying theme of all the O’ Antiphons: our longing for God to set us free.

In many cultures, to know the name of another gives you power over that person. Think of the power we have in knowing, in our limited way, some of the names for the ineffable God; and the awareness of some of the attributes of our incomprehensible God. Because of this power, we dare to cry out, to demand that God come to our aid to open our hearts and teach us, to hurry up and unite us to God’s self, to redeem us and set us free.

Sr. Moira Quinn, OSsR

Last year I posted each day's antiphon with Sr. Moira's drawings. Just click on the word "Advent" in the index in the side par and you can see all of them.

'Tis the Season of Preparation

 A Christmas Novena  

Adore, oh my soul,

in the bosom of Mary,

the only-begotten Son of God

who was made man

for love of you.

Our Redemptoristine community of contemplative nuns will begin offering this novena Christmas prayer on December 16th. We say it at the close of the Office of Vespers (evening prayer). There will be no lights in chapel except those of the Advent wreath. Each sister will say the prayer out loud in turn, leaving a little meditative pause between each one. At the end we will all sing the Salve Regina. For each of us, offering this novena, in this way, is a very moving experience. In addition, it serves to focus our preparations for the feast of Christmas on our prayers for the needs of our world, the sick and suffering, the unemployed, those affected by wars and a myriad of other intentions as well as the individual prayer requests we receive regularly.

I was introduced to novenas as a little girl. Our parish church was almost directly across the street from my Brooklyn home. My aunt went to novena there every Tuesday evening and I would often accompany her. Many would gather in the Church summer or winter. Each person had a collection of little novena booklets ready for the prayers to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Mother of Perpetual Help and the Infant Jesus of Prague, one right after the other. Prayers ended with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, incense and all! I still have all of my little booklets.

The practice of saying special prayers for nine days before a special feast of the Liturgical Year has been part of Catholic culture for hundreds of years. The word 'novena' comes from the Latin for number nine.

There are many prayer practices in addition to the novena that are connected with Advent and Christmas in the Catholic tradition. More to come on that topic.

Many people, not only Catholics, use this prayer practice before the feast of their favorite saints. I like to privately pray a novena to St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, before her feast in October each year. In some cultures a novena of prayers is said in preparation for the anniversary of a special event or the death of a loved one.

Consider adding our simple Christmas Novena to your Advent Wreath Prayers with your family. If you haven't set up a wreath, why not begin your Christmas preparation on the 16th with these few words of adoration at the beginning or end of your dinner each night. In may make a big difference in the way you meet the great feast of the Incarnation when it comes.