Merry Christmas!

 

O great mystery and wonderful sacrament:
that animals should see the new-born Lord lying in a manger!
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear
Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!

 

O Emmanuel

God with us!

O Emmanuel, our King and lawgiver, the expectation of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.

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

Good reflections here.

Last O Antiphon!  Remember: Erocras – I’ll be there tomorrow!

putting my tears into perspective

It was helpful to come home to this tonight:

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/131753494/for-these-young-nuns-habits-are-the-new-radical

Who would have thought that NPR (of all places) would feature the Nashville Dominicans?  I’m listening to the story right now, and it’s heart-warming to hear the beautiful voices of my friends Sr Beatrice and Sr Joan of Arc (my name-share-r, as of this past August).

Tonight I went to Compline to pray with the Sisters, knowing this was my one chance to see my own sister, at least from afar.  The chapel was so full — all the Sisters are home from across the country (and, literally, the world) — I was worried I wouldn’t see her.  But God heard my whispered prayer and I managed to catch a glimpse of her when the Sisters processed through the chapel for the Salve, again when she was returning to her seat, and then last when she was taking her books to her new choir stall assignment.

Unless my memory is misleading me, I think this is the first Christmas we won’t be visiting Sister.  It just won’t work out this year.  I won’t lie — it isn’t easy.  Christmas is the hardest time for me to give Sister to Christ.

But through my tears tonight in the chapel, I realized that in this suffering is great joy.  This is the life to which He has called her, and this is her path to Heaven.  In a very real way, that means it’s my path too.

I’ve been doing a novena to the Blessed Mother leading up to Christmas, and part of the prayer surrenders everything into her hands — “all I am and have, without reserve…”  As I was praying it tonight, I realized that my selfishness in wanting God’s plan to be mine, wanting Sister with me and not with her Sisters — is contrary to everything I’m praying with my lips.  The prayer continues, “… wherever you enter, you obtain the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through your hands that all graces come to us from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus….”

This is a great grace.  The grace of surrender, of detachment, of loving Sister so much that I allow her to live her marriage to Christ.

It ain’t easy.  But it’s growth in holiness.

O King of the Nations

O King of the gentiles and their desired One, the cornerstone that makes both one: come, and deliver man, whom you formed out of the dust of the earth.

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.

Good reflections here.

Dinner and a Movie

or, a Movie and Dinner.

Name the movie above….

Today after work I went to the movies with my friend Liza.  There’s an old theatre down here that plays a lot of independent films, artsy films, and documentaries you wouldn’t see at other theatres.  They also play old movies on the weekends.

And for the last week or two, they’ve been showing It’s a Wonderful Life.   Liza asked if I wanted to go for my birthday (which is celebrated from Thanksgiving until Christmas, according to her), and I jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen.

That movie is as wonderful the millionth time as it is the first.

Afterwards, we went across the street for beer and hot dogs.

I had the Rise n’ Shine…. a hot dog with bacon, cheese sauce, and a fried egg.

It was really good… but I’m pretty sure my cholesterol has reached unhealthy levels.

O Oriens

A fitting title for our Messiah for the darkest day of the year.

O dawn of the east, brightness of light eternal, and sun of justice: come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer,
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

There are several different translations of this O Antiphon, including Rising Sun, Dayspring, Radiant Dawn, and Morning Star. So I stuck with the Latin for the post title.

Good reflections here.

O Key of David

O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.

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.

As usual, good reflections here.

O Radix Jesse

O Root of Jesse, that stands for an ensign of the people, before whom the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: come, to deliver us, and tarry not.

O come, O Rod of Jesse free,
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.

Good reflections here by Father Z, including this great line:  ”The little root of Advent becomes by Lent the Tree of our salvation.”

8 is the new 2

This morning after Mass I made breakfast for Maria and I.  It turned out to be a sort of last-hurrah breakfast before she left and moved into her new place, but it was first intended to be a “I bought too many eggs and need to use them before Christmas” breakfast.

I had decided before Mass to make a frittata, but in a quick search of the internet decided I couldn’t because I didn’t have an oven-proof skillet.  So the frittata turned into a quiche and I grabbed a pie crust at the store after Mass.

(Why do pie crusts come in twos?  Isn’t it possible to want to make ONE pie?)

I wasn’t intending to follow a recipe — I figured I would just cook some onions, zucchini, and yellow squash in a skillet, then whip some eggs, add some cheese, cut up some little tomatoes, and then dump everything into a pie crust and bake it.  As I cracked the eggs, I asked Maria how many she thought I should crack.

As I finished cracking the eighth egg, she hesitantly said, “All these recipes are calling for two.”

TWO?!

We shrugged and dumped everything in anyway.

I’m not sure what a two-egg quiche tastes like, but an eight-egg quiche is fantastic.  Especially with a side of avocado.  Yum, yum!

O Adonai

O Lord and Ruler the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and redeem us with outstretched arms.

O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty, and awe.

Good reflections here.