CATHOLIC FAITH AT HOME RESOURCES

For Our Family of Parishes

St. Thomas More, St. Bernadette, St. Mary's, St. Peter's

December 18

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

DECEMBER 18

ARE YOU PREPARED TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

The greatest gift of all came that first Christmas.

It wasn’t wrapped in a beautiful package

and set under a decorated tree.

The greatest gift came wrapped in the flesh of baby Jesus

and laid in the rough wood of a manger.

Our perfect gift would later be re-wrapped

in the scars of our sins and nailed to the rugged wood of

a cross on Calvary, all because of love.

PRAYER FOR ADVENT WEEK FOUR

Heavenly Father,

The whole meaning of Christmas

can be explained in one little four-letter word…LOVE.

You sent your gift of pure love to us that first Christmas.

Love descended from heaven to be born of a virgin.

Love lay in the scratchy hay of a manger

in a meager barn in Bethlehem.

All of your love, God, was robed in the delicate skin of a baby

and wrapped in swaddling clothes.

This final week of Advent,

help us to reflect on the magnitude of love

that was made manifest in Jesus.

AMEN

.

Study the Mass with

Archbishop Schnurr 

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr

is leading a special study of

Word on Fire Ministries’

video series The Mass

featuring Bishop Robert Barron.

Participants will receive weekly emails from

January 8 through February 12

with that weeks’ 25-minute episode

and a brief video of Archbishop Schnurr sharing his insights. 

"I don’t get anything out of Mass!"

Recognizing that this is a common statement

from many who have drifted from the Church,

Archbishop Schnurr hopes this study will help Catholics

experience the Mass in a whole new way.

Participation is free, takes just a few seconds and is open to everyone.

Click HERE to get signed up! 

DISCIPLE MAKER SURVEY

FOR OUR

FAMILY OF PARISHES

A Beacons of Light phase

This discipleship survey is your opportunity to share your voice.

All responses are confidential - Only a summary report is returned.

Please help us help you!

Just 10-15 minutes and available until January 1

WHY?

To understand where our parishioners are in their spiritual journey.

To know the reality, not perceptions or ideals, so we can better help all of you.

thrive on your journey through life and draw others to Christ.

Please be honest and genuine!

Fr. Tim and our Pathways and Leadership teams can then better focus efforts

as we strive to help everyone be the best disciples we can be.

Results are expected in Spring/Summer and will be shared with parishioners then.



Click below to start the survey:

DISCIPLE MAKER SURVEY

ADVENT GUIDE FROM THE CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH

When was the last time you had a

truly unforgettable Christmas?

To have a truly unforgettable Christmas you have to prepare for it!

"The Ultimate Guide to Advent"

is

FREE, beautiful and filled with stories that will

inspire you and

fill you with wonder.

A new issue comes out each Sunday during Advent.

Click the link below to get ADVENT WEEK THREE on PDF!

ADVENT GUIDE WEEK THREE

ADVENT REFLECTIONS ON FORMED.ORG

Enter more deeply into

the Sunday Mass readings

through reflections with

Drs. James Prothro & Israel McGrew.

Abide in the Word of God this Advent

by immersing yourself in it, thus preparing your heart for Christ's coming.

Follow along with your Bible this Sunday:

-First Reading: Isaiah 7:1014

- Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

- Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7

- Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24

Click below to watch the video on the FOURTH Sunday of Advent readings:

ADVENT WEEK FOUR ON FORMED.ORG



Advent Checklist 

Perhaps your Advent observance has been really solid,

or maybe you still need to enter more deeply

into this important liturgical season.

Either way, Tom Hoopes offers some practical tips

and ideas for how to spiritually observe this

sacred season now in its fourth week!

Click the link below to read Tom's tips:



TOM'S TIPS

A Christmas Novena

December 16:

O Shepherd that rulest Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, come to guide and comfort us.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 17:

O Wisdom that comest out of the mouth of the Most High, that reachest from one end to another, and orderest all things mightily and sweetly, come to teach us the way of prudence!

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 18:

O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, Who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush, and gavest him the law in Sinai, come to redeem us with an outstretched arm!

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 19:

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at Whom the kings shall shut their mouths, Whom the Gentiles shall seek, come to deliver us, do not tarry.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 20:

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, come to liberate the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 21:

O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Son of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 22:

O King of the Gentiles, yea, and desire thereof! O Corner-stone, that makest of two one, come to save man, whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth!Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 23:

O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

December 24:

O Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, God of hosts, come, show Thy face, and we shall be saved.

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory be.

Amen!

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Here is another Christmas Novena from Pray More Novenas.

You can sign up for it to be sent to your email box.

It starts December 16.

Click the link below:

CHRISTMAS NOVENA FROM PRAY MORE NOVENAS



Our Lady of Guadalupe and Eucharistic Revival

Did you know that when Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared

on Tepeyac Hill over 500 years ago,

the new world was in tremendous need of Eucharistic Revival?

In his prayerful reflection, Father Tim Oudenhoven

shares some history and theology of this important apparition

to help us understand why the bishops chose Our Lady of Guadalupe

as the patroness of the National Eucharistic Revival.

Click the link below to read more:

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE AND THE EUCHARIST

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DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME:

A Step-by-Step Walk Through the Mass

In this week’s column, Father Luke highlights the Opening Hymn

and how this song can help lead us

nto our worship of God during the Mass.

Click the link below to read more:

DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME

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QUIZ! FOR THE WEEK

What do jasmine flowers have to do with Our Lady?

Scroll down to find the answer!

Every morning, a very religious woman stands on her front porch and says, "Lord, I thank thee for this day."

Her atheist neighbor is driven up a wall by this, so he devises a plan to teach her a lesson.

He buys a huge basket of food and leaves it on the woman's front porch one night when she is fast asleep.

Seeing the food on the porch in the morning, the woman says,

"Lord, I thank thee for this food."

At which the atheist jumps from behind a bush and cries,

"Gotcha! The Lord didn't give you this food, I bought it for you!"

The woman turns from her neighbor and prays,

"Lord, I thank thee for making my neighbor pay for this food."

GOSPEL READING REFLECTION

For December 18, 2022

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Year A -   Mt 1:18-24

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jesus Christ is Emmanuel,

God-with-Us

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us.”

• Paul announced “the gospel about [God’s] Son, descended from David according to the flesh.” Here, the angel explains to Joseph, son of David, that “through the Holy Spirit” Mary’s “child has been conceived in her.”

• Paul announced the call to “the obedience of faith” to “belong to Jesus Christ” so as “to be holy.” The angel explains that Joseph is to name this child of Mary and the Holy Spirit “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins,” so they can be holy. Joseph exercises this obedience of faith because “he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.”

• The virgin Mary conceived and bore a son who is literally Emmanuel, God-with-Us, and who is named Jesus, literally God Saves, because he will save his people from their sins.

• This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy, the sign or miracle God gave Ahaz.

• The Virgin conceived a human and divine Son, so God did and still does dwell with us.
• Consequently, he could and did descend to “the netherworld” to save us from sin and ascend “high as the sky” into heaven to bring us up there with him into eternal life.



• As this Advent comes to an end, it might be good to simply dwell on the thought that the Blessed Virgin Mary carried God, the Christ Child, in her womb.

• We can also do that while we meditate on the traditional “act of faith”:

O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three Divine Person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; I believe that Thy Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen.

ANSWER TO QUIZ

Without exaggerating, we can say

every detail on the miraculous image of

Our Lady of Guadalupe

on Juan Diego's Tilma

speaks volumes.

Look at just one of these features:

The four-petaled jasmine flower on Our Lady’s dress.

In Aztec culture, each petal of jasmine represents a direction

—north, south, east, or west—

and each direction is governed by its own god.

The jasmine is also associated with the sun god,

whose main temple was built over

natural caves in the shape of a four-petaled flower.

So, the four-segmented shape represents the

entirety of the cosmos, with the sun god in its center.

The four-petaled jasmine flower, therefore, is a

symbol of the highest divinity,

the sun god himself, who is the center of all.

On Our Lady’s dress,

this flower is found directly over her womb,

indicating to the Aztec people that

she herself carries the only true God,

the true Center of the cosmos.

WISH TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE IMAGE?

Click on the link below for

interviews with leading theologians, historians, and experts

on the scientific inquiries into the miraculous image!

Jim Caviezel narrates this gripping film that explores

the inexplicable mysteries behind the image,

and the continued relevance of the Guadalupe apparition

to the modern world.

GUADALUPE:

THE MIRACLE AND THE MESSAGE

ST. THOMAS MORE WEBSITE LINKS

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RECOMMENDATION

We need to be armed for battle!



At all times, and especially during these crazy times in this vale of tears,

we need to lay our foundation in Christ Jesus.

Spiritual reading helps us build and strengthen that foundation.

This week's recommendation is:

Roses Among Thorns:

Simple Advice for Renewing

Your Spiritual Journey

by St. Francis de Sales

From the thousands of personal letters by St. Francis de Sales comes this

short, practical guide that will develop in you

the soul-nourishing habits that lead to sanctity.

St. Francis de Sales is widely regarded as one of the greatest spiritual advisors

in the history of the Church.

As he did for saints and sinners in his own time, St. Francis de Sales will stiffen your resolve, help you gain small victories over unruly passions, and restore in you a trusting confidence in Jesus Christ. Soon you’ll find yourself delivered from the chains of self-love as your soul opens to divine goodness and your heart shaped into a fitting place for Christ to dwell and reign eternally.

If you find it difficult to live amid the clamor of the world with your eyes fixed on Christ alone, let St. Francis de Sales teach you how to live as a true rose among thorns as you learn . . .

--What to do when you stop finding consolation during prayer

--How to place yourself in the presence of God

--How busy people should pray

--Do you fear vice more than you love virtue? A guide to discernment

--How to be patient with your family

--The dangers of too many devotions

--How to know when your feelings are from God or the devil

--What to do about repeated spiritual dryness

--The three things you must do to be at peace

--How to avoid thoughts that give us anxious and restless minds

We pray you will be excited to embark on purposeful

spiritual reading as a way to build a more prayer-filled,

Christ centered life.