laudare, benedicere, praedicare TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, TO PREACH
December 2023
D E C E M B E R 2023
1/ 2/ 3 / FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 4/ 5/ 6/ 7 / Saint Ambrose 8 / THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 9/
10 / SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT 11 / 12 / Our Lady of Guadalupe 13 / Saint Lucy 14 / Saint John of the Cross 15 / 16 / 17 / THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT 18 / 19 / FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 20 / 21 / 22 / Anniversary of the Approval of the Dominican Order, Dec. 22,1216 23/ DEDICATION OF THE SAINT CECILIA MOTHERHOUSE CHAPEL 24 / FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 25 / NATIVITY OF THE LORD (Christmas) 26/ Saint Stephen 27 / Saint John 28 / The Holy Innocents 29 / Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord 30/ Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord 31/ THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH
Celebrations from the Dominican calendar appear in italics.
Gifts Given W
By: Sister Mary Peter, O.P.
hen I was in 6th grade, my grandparents moved from their home into ………….an apartment. Grandma offered to give me her favorite set of china, and without giving it much thought I replied, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Unbeknownst to me, my Aunt Mary got the OK from Grandma to pack the china up, store it in her own basement, and give it to me when I was willing to receive it. About ten years later as I moved into my first apartment, Aunt Mary came along with a large box of…. you guessed it… Grandma’s china which at this point I was delighted to receive! As that story shows, there are three parts to any completed gift. First, the donor must have donative intent, desiring to freely give something that he or she believes is good for you. Second, the donor must make an offer or delivery of the gift. There is a level of vulnerability for the donor since the gift could be refused, or misused after it is given. Further, there may be things built into the nature of the gift itself that place limits on its use. For example, if I pour coffee into the fuel tank of a car that was given to me, my gift will be in need of major repair because of how I used it. Third, the recipient must accept the gift. With those three elements in mind, let us turn to the gift of the Eucharist where we are privileged to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.
The new translation of the Mass included a change at the words of institution which previously spoke of the Blood of Jesus as given “for all.” In the new translation this was changed to his Blood given “for many.” As Dr. Edward Sri explained in A Biblical Walk Through the Mass (Ascension Press 2011), the revised language is closer to the actual words of institution Jesus said as recorded in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (Mt. 26:28). Additionally, Dr. Sri explained: “[T]he new translation points to the reality that while Jesus died for all, not everyone chooses to accept this gift. Each individual must choose to welcome the gift of salvation and live according to this grace, so that he or she may be among ‘the many’ who are described in this text.” (Sri, page 112-113)
‘”…choose to welcome the gift…”
In the Eucharist and throughout our lives when God makes an offer of a gift to us, it is done with donative intent: He wants to make a gift and knows it is for our true happiness and good. We call Him the giver of all good gifts, but He cannot and will not force us to accept His offer, because to do so would render null our free will. When any offer of a gift has been made, it is up to us to accept the gift – or not.
Why do we at times have such difficulty accepting the gifts of God? Perhaps we do not know God well enough, and need to spend more time in personal prayer to get to know and love Him so that we will trust Him. Maybe we think it is not a good thing being offered. If so, we could pray for an increase in the spirit of adoption to know the goodness of Abba and His plan for us. Once all three parts of a gift are complete, we were taught as children to say “Thank you!” A key way to do that is reverent participation in the Eucharist - which itself means “thanksgiving” - where we pray that Jesus makes of us an everlasting offering to the Father. We can also beg for the grace to become a gift ourselves. Paraphrasing John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI said in his last General Audience just before his retirement, "One receives one’s life precisely when one offers it as a gift." One way we can become a gift is to look for ways to live our morning offering where we offer our prayers, works, joys and sufferings of the day to God.
B o o k
R e c o m m e n d a t i o n
uring Advent, we beg the Lord Jesus Dto come: in His birth, in His glory, and
in our hearts. Mother Mary Francis, a Poor Clare nun, guides us in allowing Jesus to work in our hearts, to transform us by His presence as we await His deeper coming. Let her lead you more deeply in contemplation with Christ and growth in virtue this Advent.
Vocation Story
The Grace of Prayer Sister Felicity, O.P.
In the Angelus, we meditate on Mary’s “yes” to the Angel: “Let it be done to me according to your word”. The fruit of her “yes” was that the Word became flesh for our salvation. It is the same for our small daily “yeses.” God uses them to give tremendous graces to us and to the world. In college, I committed to praying for 30 minutes every day. At first, every day went like this: I went to Adoration, and found I had nothing to say. However, since I had committed to spending 30 minutes there, I opened my journal and doodled until the time was up. I continued to go, every day. Over time, without noticing the change, I started to have deep sense that what before me was a Person. Several weeks later, I realized, “This Person loves me.” A while later, what started to well up inside me was the response, “I love Him.” After about two years of praying every day, the prayer spontaneously became, “I want to give my whole life to Him.” I knew what had grown in me was my vocation, to be a bride of Christ.
The final days of Advent are marked in the Liturgy of the Hours with the singing of the "O Antiphons" during Vespers. From December 17th-23rd the antiphons for the Magnificat reflect titles of the Messiah as prophesied in the Book of Isaiah.
Click the links below for short video reflections on the "O Antiphons" from our sisters.