hostgator coupon EPICA ILLUSIVE CONSENSUS: Advent
Showing posts with label Advent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advent. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A new tradition for Gaudete Sunday


The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.

Sunday's first reading sparked a new tradition at our house. Especially amid the chill of winter, buying flowers for the dining table reminds us at every meal of the fulfillment of Isaiah's messianic prophecies in the birth of Christ.

Image source

Sunday, December 12, 2010

And next in the line-up...

... St. Lucia!

Here in Minnesota, where Swedish heritage is a unifying factor for a huge part of the population, no one would think twice about a white-robed girl with a flaming wreath of candles on her head, but King Arthur Flour's patrons were not too happy to see it on the cover of a past catalog. That story is just a small aside in a bigger article the describes the process and recipe for some beautiful Lussekatter.

I just discovered this blog yesterday and when I added it to my Reader the most recent 10 posts come up. Of those, I immediately earmarked or emailed an overwhelming number to make sometime in the next few weeks. Bake-Ahead Cinnamon Buns, a make-ahead method for those tedious roll out cookies, how to pre-make pies and freeze them for future baking, an easy method for making yeast bread (with notes on making it with the King Arthur white whole wheat flour that we love so much around here), handmade truffles, and using royal icing to make a pretty spectacular gingerbread house.

All the recipes have step-by-step instructions and lots of pictures. Of course, King Arthur is trying to inspire you to buy their products (which, in my experience, are excellent), but in many cases you'll be able to devise suitable substitutes.

We're pretty snowed in here and there's no Vikings game today, so I think I'll go bake something!

~Margaret Mary (whose ancestors include a Sorenson and a Hendrickson who, as the story goes, lived just across the hill from one another in the Old Country but first met and eventually married after both families had immigrated to Minnesota.)

Just a note - I have no connection to King Arthur Flour other than my history with their delicious and inspiring (in a foodie-kind-of-way) products. If you'd like to be on their mailing list (and if you're a baker, you will), go here.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Today's Word: Procession

Procession (pro-SEH-shuhn) - Sacred parades, either inside or outside the church, in which clergy and faithful travel from one place to another, giving praise, thanks, and worship to God.

You may be familiar with traditional Advent Posadas, have fond memories of May Crownings or have participated in city-wide, elaborate Corpus Christi processions, but remember, you can also duplicate the very Catholic tradition of the procession in your domestic church.

Epiphany is the traditional time to bless your home, but I also know of families who place a figure of the Christ Child in their creche on Christmas Eve with procession and song and some who return the "Alleluia" to their family prayer table at Easter with a joyful procession. It's important to consider the age and attention span of your kids when planning your event, but even very small children can appreciate the solemnity of the occasion.

I suggest you map out your route ahead of time (following the simplest progression through your home) and that you give each family member something relevant to carry. At least one candle is a must, but safety is primary - use glass globes (tested ahead of time to make sure they don't get hot on the bottom), or electric flameless candles. A Crucifix, icon, or other relevant picture works well, as does a Bible, a container of holy water, or even incense.

It is traditional to sing as you walk and I'm sure you'll have no trouble coming up with appropriate songs that your family knows. You can simplify even further by singing the same song more than once. If you have a budding musician, make their Advent practice assignment a song you can use.

At each stop (even if there's only one), you want a short time of prayer. Of course this can be spontaneous prayer, but it may be more in keeping with the occasion to have something prepared. Assign a leader and begin with the Sign of the Cross. Your procession will have a more liturgical feel if you begin each stop the same way ("A reading from the book of Luke," or "Our hope is in the name of the Lord/who made heaven and earth," or even "Peace be with you/and also with you.") You could break up an appropriate Bible story and read part at each stop, or if you are blessing your home at Epiphany, stop at each room and ask the Lord's blessing for the intended use of each. ("Lord bless this dining room and all our activities here." Then invite anyone to add a petition.)

Conclude by asking the Lord's blessing on all of you, and by blessing your children by tracing a small cross on their foreheads.

The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc. CCC 1674
See also the Directory on Popular Piety, paragraph 118.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Happy New Year!

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and the beginning of a new Liturgical Year.

Our loyal followers may have noticed that posting has been scarce. The Ladies have all been very busy, and each have very exciting news recently (excepting myself it seems - so here I am!).

It was decided several weeks ago that our Annual Patron Saint drawing will unfortunately be tabled until Epiphany or thereabouts. Stay tuned!

Last year, Margaret Mary posted here on Jesse Trees. To that I would like to add this: Today, Ann Voskamp, undoubtedly my favorite non-Catholic blogger, released a Jesse Tree book. It is available as a free PDF to anyone who subscribes to her blog. It includes Scripture references and color images to be cut out and used for ornaments.

A homemade wreath. Time to dust off those candles!

Advent, the period that commemorates the coming of God among us. Every beginning brings a special grace, because it is blessed by the Lord. In this Advent period we will once again experience the closeness of the One who created the world, who guides history and cared for us to the point of becoming a man. This great and fascinating mystery of God with us, moreover of God who becomes one of us, is what we celebrate in the coming weeks journeying towards holy Christmas. During the season of Advent we feel the Church that takes us by the hand and - in the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary - expresses her motherhood allowing us to experience the joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord, who embraces us all in his love that saves and consoles.

- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily for First Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent 2010
Source & Cloche Tip

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Advent Annunciations (Christmas Eve)

O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem.
O happy fault that merited such and so great a Redeemer.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

O Emmanuel

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

Image source
: Duccio, The Prophet Isaiah, 1308-1311

Advent Annunciations (Wednesday of the fourth week of Advent)

Annunciation, Donatello
c. 1435, gilded pietra serena

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

O Desire of Nations

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.

Image Source: English Miniaturist, Christ in Glory, 1200

Advent Annunciations (Tuesday of the fourth week of Advent)

The Annunciation, Florentine
c. 1200, marble relief

Monday, December 21, 2009

O Day Spring

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.

Image source
: Vision of the Eagle and the Christ Child, 1482

Advent Annunciations (Monday of the fourth week of Advent)

The Annunciation (wings of an altarpiece)
c. 1480, oil on woood

Sunday, December 20, 2009

O Key of David

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.

Image source: Beham, Scenes from the Life of David, 1534

Advent Annunciations (Fourth Sunday of Advent)

Annnunciation, Giorgio Vasari II
1564-67, oil on poplar

Saturday, December 19, 2009

O Rod of Jesse

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.

Image Source: English Minaturist, Tree of Jesse, 1140

O-Antiphons Considered

My favorite blogger, Jamie of Light and Momentary, has some beautiful reflections up about the O-Antiphons. Hopefully there will be more- I love her writing style and spirituality.

From "O Wisdom"
I watched a sheet of cloud scud from north to south, sweeping across the sky. I thought of my own smallness, as I listened to the voice in the back of the van say "How much farther now, Mom?" Twenty-five miles, sweetheart. I imagined the skies behind the clouds, boundless space and tremendous stars, and I thought about the might of God that wrought those realms and somehow chose to be contained within a human frame, a baby's frame. I sang, "The universe declares your majesty," but I didn't sing very long because I had to stop and say, Twenty-one, Pete. Only twenty-one more miles.

From "O Adonai"
Moses was amazed when he saw that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. How much more amazing that God has chosen us for a dwelling place, that the flame of the Holy Spirit can shine forth from us to bring warmth and light into the world. Though it burns away our impurities, we will not be consumed. He says, "I am Lord over the heartbreak, and I am the Refiner whose fire transforms ore -- rock with potential -- into a beautiful and enduring precious metal." Cleanse me.

Advent Annunciations (Saturday of the third week of Advent)

Annunciation, Peter Paul Reubens
1609, oil on canvas

Friday, December 18, 2009

O Adonai


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.

Image source: Tintoretto, Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law, 1560-62

Advent Annunciations (Friday of the third week of Advent)

The Annunciation Triptych, Robert Campin and assistant
c. 1425, oil on wood

Thursday, December 17, 2009

O Wisdom


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.

Image source: Tiziano, Wisdom, 1560

Advent Annunciations (Thursday of the third weeek of Advent)

Annunciation, Francisco de Goya
1785, oil on canvas