Tuesday January 3, 2012
This Friday, January 6, 2012, I will be making my first appearance on Catholic Answers Live, the radio show of Catholic Answers, the leading Catholic apologetics organization in the United States. Our topic will be "Living the Liturgical Year," and since January 6 is Epiphany, we'll be looking specifically at this all-too-often neglected holiday at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Everyone knows that the Wise Men visited the Christ Child on Epiphany, but did you know that Epiphany was historically the first of the major feasts of Our Lord celebrated during the Christmas season? Tune in on Friday to find out more!
Catholic Answers Live is heard on over 160 AM and FM radio stations around the United States, as well as on Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 130), EWTN shortwave, and online at Catholic Answers website, Catholic.com. You can find a list of radio stations that carry the show here.
My segment on "Living the Liturgical Year" will begin at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time (6:00 P.M. Central; 5:00 P.M. Mountain; 4:00 P.M. Pacific). During the first ten minutes of the program, host Patrick Coffin and I will discuss the liturgical year and Epiphany, and then we'll open up the phone lines for questions and answers.
That's where you come in! If you have any questions about Epiphany, living the liturgical year, or anything even vaguely related to those topics, please call (888) 31-TRUTH, and ask away! I'd love to have the chance to talk to you and to answer your questions.
If you're worried that you'll forget to tune in on Friday, just follow me on Twitter and like the About.com Catholicism Page on Facebook. As showtime draws near, I'll make sure to remind you—I want to hear your voice on the radio!
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Tuesday January 3, 2012
Happy New Year! What's that? It's January 3? I'm running behind already? It's a good thing, then, that I've chosen this Novena to Saint Expeditus as our novena of the week.
This novena is the perfect way to start the New Year, because Saint Expeditus is, among other things, the patron saint of procrastinators! And avoiding procrastination is one of the most common New Year's resolutions. In fact, it's been one of my resolutions every year since I can remember. Except for 1996, when I decided to make it one of my resolutions for 1997 instead.
There's more to Saint Expeditus, though, than simply help for us hopeless—err, I mean, procrastinators. You can read about his conversion story in the Introduction to the Novena to Saint Expeditus.
To make this week's novena a little harder to avoid (a good thing for those of us who procrastinate), I've set up a nine-day course of e-mails to help remind you (and me!) to pray the novena each day. Simply sign up for the course, and you will receive an e-mail each day with the prayers for that day, as well as links to related articles.
Let's start the New Year right, by resolving not to put off till tomorrow that which we should do today--pray!
More on Saint Expeditus:
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Tuesday January 3, 2012
In Philippians 2, St. Paul tells us that "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." From the earliest days of Christianity, Christians have known the great power of Jesus' Holy Name. As the once-popular hymn commanded:
All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ Name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Small wonder, then, that the Church sets aside the first month of the year in honor of the Holy Name of Jesus. In our society, of course, we hear His Name uttered quite often, but all too frequently, it is used in a curse or blasphemy. In the past, Christians would often make the Sign of the Cross when they heard Christ's Name uttered in such a manner, and that's a practice that would be worthwhile to revive.
Another good practice that we could take to heart during January, the Month of the Holy Name of Jesus is the recitation of the Jesus Prayer. This prayer is as popular among Eastern Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, as the rosary is among Roman Catholics, but it's not well known in the West.
This month, why not take a few minutes to memorize the Jesus Prayer, and pray it during those moments of the day when you are between activities, or traveling, or simply taking a rest? Keeping Christ's Name always on our lips is a good way to ensure that we draw ever nearer to Him.
Prayers for January:
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Sunday January 1, 2012
During the Twelve Days of Christmas, the Catholic Church celebrates many important feasts, including the feasts of Saint Stephen, the first martyr (December 26), whose martyrdom is recorded in Acts 6-7; St. John the Apostle (December 27), who wrote the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation; the Holy Innocents (December 29), the children who were slaughtered at the order of King Herod, when he was trying to kill the Christ Child; and the Holy Family (normally celebrated on the Sunday after Christmas, and on December 30, when Christmas falls on a Sunday).
None, however, is as important as the feast celebrated on the Octave (eighth day) of Christmas, January 1: the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. In fact, the Church regards this feast as so important that it is a Holy Day of Obligation. (See Is January 1 a Holy Day of Obligation? for more details.) On this day, we are reminded of the role that the Blessed Virgin played in the plan of our salvation. Christ's Birth was made possible by Mary's fiat: "Be it done unto me according to Thy word."
One of the earliest titles given by Christians to the Blessed Virgin was Theotokos--"God-bearer." We celebrate her as the Mother of God, because, in bearing Christ, she bore the fullness of the Godhead within her.
As we begin another year, we draw inspiration from the selfless love of the Theotokos, who never hesitated to do the will of God. And we trust in her prayers to God for us, that we might, as the years pass, become more like her.
O Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
(An icon of the Theotokos, the Mother of God. Egg tempera on wood, Central Russia, mid-1800's. Photo © Slava Gallery, LLC; used with permission.)
Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
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