Advent: December 18th
Friday of the Third Week of Advent
Other Titles: Day 2 O Antiphons: O Adonai (O Lord and Ruler)
MASS READINGS
December 18, 2009 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Father, may the coming celebration of the birth of your Son bring us your saving help and prepare us for eternal life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today is the second of the O Antiphons, O Adonai (O Almighty God). As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am." "Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption.
O Antiphons ~ O Lord and Ruler
O Lord and Ruler
Thou art He "who didst appear to Moses in the burning bush." "I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigor of them that are over the works. And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey" (Exod. 3:7 f.). Thus spoke the Lord to Moses from the bush which burned but was not consumed, which is a figure of God's condescension to assume the weakness of human nature. The human nature of Christ is united to the burning divine nature, and yet it is not consumed.
As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. . . . I am who am" (Exod. 3:5, 14).
O Adonai, almighty God! Mighty in the weakness of a child, and in the helplessness of the Crucified! Thou, almighty God, mighty in the wonders that Thou hast worked! Mighty in guiding, sustaining, and developing Thy Church! "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).
"Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption. "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you" (Matt. 25-34).
Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
2nd O Antiphon:
And leader of the house of Israel, who Appeared to Moses in the bush's flaming fire, And gave to him the Law on Sinai,
COME
To redeem us with outstretched arm.
Today is Day Three of the Christmas Novena.
Saint Winebald
Winebald was born in 701 at Wessex, England. He was born a prince, the son of Saint Richard the King and Saint Wunna of Wessex. He was the brother of Saint Willibald and Saint Walburga and the nephew of Saint Boniface.
During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he became ill and spent seven years in Rome, Italy recovering and studying before finally returning to England. Winebald was ordained in 739.
Winebald became a missionary under St. Boniface and, with his sister St. Walburga. He worked in Thuringia, Bavaria and Mainz. He governed as the first abbott of the double monastery of Heidenheim in Bavaria that their brother St. Willibald had established. His missionary work was hampered by bad health and by the ill will of his heathen neighbors. He died on December 18, 761 at Heidenheim, Germany.
Patronage: construction workers; engaged couples; Wimborne, England
Symbols and Representation: abbot‘s staff; trowel, referring to the churches and abbey he built
Highlights and Things to Do:
- Read more about Winebald:
Ember Wednesday of Advent
Station with Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major):
The station church for Ember Wednesday in Advent is the church of St. Mary Major in Rome. The liturgy invites us to visit the home of the Virgin of Nazareth and presents us the scenes of the Annunciation. Reverently beholding the holy Virgin, we contemplate the great mystery of the Incarnation. The traditional Mass text for the Golden Mass, or Rorate Mass or Missa Aurea, just before Christmas, emphasizes the Old Testament background leading to His birth. In the great Church of St. Mary Major the crib is venerated, which brings Bethlehem very close; Mary is our patron. She typifies the Church, for the role she played at Christ's first advent, the Church now takes in the Savior's liturgical advent as He manifests Himself in the mysteries (adapted from Pius Parsch, OSB, The Church's Year of Grace and Benedict Baur, The Light of the World).
For more on Santa Maria Maggiore, see:
For further information on the Station Churches, see The Stational Church.
