ÿþ<HEAD> <meta name="description" content="Homilies and scholarly articles of a Catholic Priest."> <meta name="keywords" content="Catholic, Byzantine, Orthodox, Religion, Pope, Homilies, Sermons, Bible, Orthdox, Orthodoxy, Catholicism, OTR, Radio"> <TITLE>FatherMichael.com: Homilies according to the Roman & Byzantine Calendars</TITLE> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="linkicon.ico"> <BODY BACKGROUND="back.jpg" TEXT=#000000 LINK=#7c6262 VLINK=#7c6262 alink=#7c6262> <FONT FACE="Maiandra GD"> <STYLE TYPE="text/css"> <!-- /* $WEFT -- Created by: Michael Venditti (admin@fathervenditti.com) on 7/20/2016 -- */ @font-face { font-family: Maiandra GD; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; src: url(MAIANDR2.eot); } @font-face { font-family: Maiandra GD; font-style: oblique; font-weight: normal; src: url(MAIANDR3.eot); } --> </STYLE> </HEAD> <p align=center><img src="header_dec21.jpg"> <table align=center border=0 cellpadding=10 cellspacing=0 rules=none width=95% cols=2> <tr> <td align=left valign=top width=20%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=+1><i>Skip the Countdown. Just Blast Off.</i></font> <p><hr noshade align=center color=#7c6262><p><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=+1>The Fifth Day of the Greater Antiphons;<small>*</small> and, the Commemoration of Saint Peter Canisius, Priest & Doctor of the Church.<small><br><br>Lessons from the proper, according to the ordinary form of the Roman Rite:<br><br>" Songs 2: 8-14; or, Zephaniah 3: 14-18.<br>" Psalm 33: 2-3, 11-12, 20-21.<br>" Luke 1: 39-45.</small></font> <p><hr noshade align=center color=#7c6262><p><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=+1>The Second Class Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle; and, the Commemoration of the Fifth Day of the Greater Antiphons.<small><br><br>Lessons from the proper, according to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite:<br><br>" Ephesians 2: 19-22.<br>" Psalm 138: 17-18.<br>" John 20: 19-31.</small></font> <p><hr noshade align=center color=#7c6262><p><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=+1>The Thirty-First Monday after Pentecost; a Prefestive Day of the Nativity; and, the Feast of the Holy Martyr Juliana of Nicomedia.<small><br><br>Lessons from the pentecostarion, according to the Ruthenian recension of the Byzantine Rite:<br><br>" Hebrews 11: 17-23; 27-31.<br>" Mark 9: 42 10: 1</small></font> </font><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1><a href="index.htm">FatherVenditti.com</a></font><br><br><br> </td> <td valign=top width-80%><font face="Maiandra GD"><p align=justify><img src="mary4.jpg" align=right>10:44 AM 12/21/2015  If yesterday had not been a Sunday, the Gospel lesson would have been that of the Annunciation. As it is, the lesson for the Fourth Sunday was that of the Visitation, which is repeated today for the Fifth Day of the Greater Antiphons; but, that's OK since yesterday we wrapped up our Advent series on confession. <br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;But, if you can imagine that yesterday wasn't a Sunday but just the Fourth Day of the Greater Antiphons, then consider how these events leading up to Christmas Day are being presented. In yesterday's Mass, our Blessed Mother received the news that She would be the Mother of the Savior, but included in Gabriel's message to Her is the news that Her cousin is expecting. Our Lady knows that Elizabeth is quite a bit older than She is, and we all know that a pregnancy in a woman's older years can be precarious and difficult, especially for someone who has not had children before. So, the Evangelist Luke reports to us: "In the days that followed, Mary rose up and went with all haste to a town of Juda, in the hill country& " (1: 39 Knox). <br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Now, Saturday last we had seen the careful attention that the Blessed Evangelist Luke gave to this first chapter of his Gospel, his marvelous facility with the Greek language with which he was raised, and his attention to the meaning of every word he uses. And there is one word in this opening verse that deserves our attention: ÃÀ¿Å´ÆÂ, an adverb taken from the verb ÃÀµÍ´É meaning  to hasten. Our Lady proceeds  in haste. She puts all she has at God's disposal. In an instant, all Her personal plans and no doubt She had many were discarded so that She could do everything God wanted. She made no excuses, had no reservations, and wastes no time; but consider what She wastes no time to do. <br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Among the few episodes of the Gospel that refer to Her, two of them speak directly of Her attention to the needs of others. Right after receiving from Gabriel what had to be striking news for Her, She runs full steam to Her cousin to help her during what She obviously reasoned would be a difficult pregnancy for someone so up in years. Later, She would express concern to Her Son for the young couple and their guests at the wedding in Cana. Such is the temperament and solicitousness of Someone conceived without sin, without a selfish bone in Her body. No doubt Her neighbors in Nazareth could have told us about Her many little services to them over the years. <br>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;In Mary we find the truth that generosity is the virtue of great souls. Most of us, when we receive startling news that potentially changes our lives completely, retreat into ourselves: whatever we may be doing for others is put on hold because now we are the ones in need, and we look to others to give us support and consolation for a change; but, not our Blessed Mother. With haste without a moment's hesitation right on the heals of being told how every hope and dream for Her own future was now turned upside down, she blasts off to Her cousin's house to help. Don't think for a moment that this is a natural inclination on Her part; remember, She's a human being like the rest of us, and this decision to run to Elizabeth in her need was a conscious act. Pope Saint John Paul II once said: <blockquote><small><p align=justify>Far from being an instinctive inclination, love is a conscious decision of the will to draw close to other people. To be able to love truly it is important to be detached from everything and, especially, from self, to give gratuitously& . This detachment from self is the source of a balanced personality. It is the secret of happiness (Address of June 1, 1980).</blockquote></small> <p align=justify>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Today, let us ask the Mother of God to teach us to be generous, first of all with God, then with others, starting with those with whom we live and work in the various circumstances of our lives. She will show us to set aside our own needs in favor of the needs of those around us, thus showing us that the path to true happiness lies in putting ourselves aside, as Her own Son would later say:  & whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Luke 9: 24). <p align=center><img src="signature.jpg"> <blockquote> <font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262><p align=justify><small>* The Greater Antiphons sung at Vespers, known as the "O Antiphons," and also serving as the verse before the Gospel in the ordinary form, are ordered and utilized differently between the two forms of the Roman Rite. The banners at the top of the pages for the Days of the Greater Antiphons have been created to reflect the original ordering of the antiphons as used in the extraordinary form. For reference, the usage of the two forms compares thus: <table cols=3 width=100% rules=rows> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1><i>Date.</i></td> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1><i>Extraordinary Form.</i></td> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1><i>Ordinary Form</i>.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 17.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Sapientia.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Sapientia.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 18.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Adonai.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Adonai.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 19.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Radix Iesse.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Radix Iesse.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 20.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Clavis David.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Clavis David.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 21.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Oriens.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Emmanuel.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 22.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Rex Gentium.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Rex Gentium.</td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 23.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Emmanuel.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Rex Gentium <small>(<i>repeated</i>).</small></td> </tr> <tr align=center> <td align=center width=33%><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>Dec. 24.</td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1><small>[<i>The Vigil of Christmas. Cf. below.</i>]</small></td> <td align=center><font face="Maiandra GD" color=#7c6262 size=-1>O Oriens.</td> </tr> </table> &emsp;&emsp;Regarding December 24th: in the Roman Rite, the concept of a vigil differs completely between the ordinary and extraordinary forms. In the ordinary form, a vigil is simply a celebration of the feast the evening before, either prior to or following First Vespers (in the United States, after 4:00 PM). On Solemnities on which an obligation has been attached, this may be fulfilled at either the Mass of the vigil the evening before, or on the feast itself. <br>&emsp;&emsp;In the extraordinary form, the word  vigil designates the entire day before a First Class Feast, and the Mass on that day takes place in the morning. If a feast carries an obligation, this must be satisfied on the feast itself; the extraordinary form does not offer the opportunity to satisfy an obligation on the evening before. <br>&emsp;&emsp;In the extraordinary form, December 24th is the Vigil Day of Christmas and has its own proper texts, the Days of the Greater Antiphons having concluded on the 23rd. In the ordinary form, the morning of December 24th is a day of the Greater Antiphons up to Vespers, at which point it becomes the vigil for Christmas.</small></font> </blockquote> <br><br> </tr> </table>