After a wonderful presentation on La Señora de Guadalupe on December 10, we were back in class with great anticipation of the celebration of Christ's Birth.
In the week before the Solemnity of the Lord's Nativity on Christmas Day, the Church observes the days with greater focus and anticipation of Jesus Christ's birth, beginning on December 17 with O Antiphons.
In the spirit of looking ahead to Christmas Day, our opening prayer was the song "Be Born in Me" performed by Francesca Batistelli. The lyrics speak to how we are called, as people of faith, to let God be born in us so we make Him known in the world.
Then we looked at the O Antiphons, which serve as the basis for the Advent hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". This webpage has videos for each of the 7 O Antiphons, similar to how we read about them in our class book. Also in the book are stories about heralds who announced the coming of Jesus Christ.
During the time period from December 17-24, the Gospel readings are the stories preceding Jesus's birth in Matthew 1 and Luke 1.
We watched video clips from the movie The Nativity Story, one of my favorite movies, with two scenes from those readings, the Annunciation of Gabriel to the Blessed Mother Mary and Mary's visit to St. Elizabeth. The visit story illustrates how we can experience joy just by anticipating the arrival of God into our lives, which is a major theme of the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday.
December 17 is Pope Francis's birthday, and we celebrated in class. He was present at World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, and the theme of that event was based on Mary's fiat, "Let it Be Done to Me according to Your Word". We saw the international version of the theme song, with the refrain, "Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Speak Your Word in me and let Your Will be done". (I actually visited some of the places shown in the video.)
Advent is a time that calls us to be more aware of God's presence, especially as He comes to us in the Eucharist. We watched this short video from Relevant Radio's Eucharistic Encounters series, about a mysterious metal sound.
Our closing prayer was the concluding prayer of the Angelus.
Everyone wrote down that prayer on an index card, and I asked you to display it somewhere during these weeks we're on break.
When we return on January 7, we'll still be in the Christmas Season, and we'll explore its meaning.
At this holy time of year, I pray that you will be gladdened by the presence of Christ deep within you, Who fulfills the promise of Emmanuel, for God is truly with us.
We remain connected as One Church in Jesus Christ, Who was born for us:
All my relations.
And remember that you're not just lucky, you're blessed.
Like the song says, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
God's blessings,
Paul
 |
| Advent Wreath at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., with all its candles lit for the 4th Sunday of Advent |
No comments:
Post a Comment