Saturday December 5:
First Saturday of Advent
FIRST SATURDAY

Violet vestments

First Reading: Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23-26
Psalms: Psalm 147: 1-6
Gospel Reading: Matthew 9: 35-38; 10: 1, 6-8

SUNDAY December 6:
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Violet vestments

First Reading: Isaiah 11: 1-10
Psalms: Psalm 72: 1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
Second Reading: Romans 15: 4-9
Gospel Reading: Matthew 3: 1-12

Even though the Second Sunday of Advent supersedes his feast, December 6th is also the Feast of Saint Nicholas, Bishop:

December 6: SAINT NICHOLAS, Bishop

     The universal popularity of Saint Nicholas in both the Eastern Church, the Western Church and in secular circles has contributed to the legend of this saint. All we really know about him is that he was born of wealthy parents near Patara in Lycia part of Asia Minor. He was named bishop of Myra, which was a diocese in decline, but his holiness, zeal and accounts of miracles transformed the diocese into one of great faith. As bishop, he was among those who signed the doctrine affirming Jesus Christ's Divinity at the Council of Nicea in 325. Nicholas used his well-endowed inheritance from his deceased parents for the Church, aiding the poor. One legend, which spawned the concept of Santa Claus relates that there were three very poor sisters whose father, in order to make ends meet for the family, was about to turn them into prostitutes so he could also afford their future dowries. Nicholas, hearing of this, tossed a bag of gold into their house through a window on three different occasions, thus preserving them from a life of sin. The repentant father, discovering it was Nicholas, later fell at his feet in gratitude saying, "You are my helper. You have delivered my soul and my daughters' from hell." On another occasion, unable to personally reach the Emperor Constantine, through prayer he appeared in a dream to the Emperor informing the ruler that the three imperial officers he was going to put to death for treason, were innocent. Upon awakening, Constantine freed them immediately. Nicholas destroyed pagan temples and even managed to get a governor to admit publicly that he was condemning three innocent men because he had been bribed. The men were set free and the governor deposed. During the tyrannical rule of the Emperor Diocletian he was incarcerated for his faith along with many other Christians. There he was tortured and died around the age of 65 in the middle of the 4th Century. Nicholas had always been renowned for his charitable works toward poor children and, after his death the legend grew enormously. When the faith was brought to Northern Germany, so also were the tales of St. Nicholas who took on the folklore of "Weihnachtsmann", German for "the man of Christmas Eve. His popularity increased in the 11th Century when his relics were transfered from Myra to Bari in Italy. His shrine in this Adriatic coastal town became one of the most beloved of the Medieval times, visited by many crusaders who brought the legend back to various parts of Europe. The practice of giving gifts and sweets to children on the eve before the Christ Child's birth grew both from a secular standpoint as well as a religious one, for the adults spent much time in Church at Christmas with extensive ceremonies and if the children had something to keep them occupied, it made it easier on everyone. In Holland St. Nicholas became Sint Klaes which was soon translated into Santa Claus since the German name for Nicholas is Klaus. The image of Santa Claus however was taken from the pagan god Thor and associated with winter and the Yule log. They depicted him riding on a chariot led by two goats whose names were Cracker and Gnasher. It wasn't long before this translated into reindeer and the rest, as we know, is commercialism. St. Nicholas Day is still celebrated in Europe to this day with sweets placed in the shoes of children the night before. St. Nicholas is considered the patron saint of Greece, Sicily, Lorraine in France and Apulia, not to mention the universal patron of children everywhere. His popularity can be attested in the fact there are thousands of churches named in his honor throughout Europe.

Monday December 7:
Feast of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

White vestments

First Reading: Isaiah 35: 1-10
Psalms: Psalm 85: 9-14 and Isaiah 35: 4
Gospel Reading: Luke 5: 17-26

December 7: SAINT AMBROSE, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

      This Doctor of the Church was born in 340 in Trier, Germany and rose swiftly through the secular ranks as the son of a praetorian prefect of Gaul. When his father died, he was taken to Rome where he was afforded the best education and soon became a renowned oratorian and was sent to Milan. There he began to be exposed to Christianity and plunged in to studying the faith. But before he could be baptized the bishop died and a bitter struggle broke out between Catholics and Arians for control of the bishopric. When Ambrose sought to mediate the fracas, his golden voice prompted the people to unanimously elect him Bishop of Milan even though he was not ordained, let alone baptized. Though he refused at first, the Emperor adhered to the vox populi and enforced the election. Thus he was baptized on this day in 374 and consecrated a bishop the same day at the age of 34. He took his position seriously and his golden voice converted countless souls to the faith as he became one of the staunchest defenders of the faith against Arianism. As the great Roman Empire began to crumble, Ambrose built from these decaying ruins hope for the Church through his dedication to Christ and His teachings. Despite insidious politics between the emperors of East and West, and the threat of Arianism and paganism, Ambrose persevered and, through his leadership and example, paganism was defeated and Christianity rose to new heights after three centuries of persecution. Ambrose, an exemplary example of what a bishop should be, is best known as the man who brought Saint Augustine back to the faith and baptized him. Ambrose died in Milan on April 4, 397 ten years after welcoming Augustine into the Mystical Body of Christ.

      For the special Novena Prayers for Friday, Saturday and Sunday for this time of preparation during Advent, click on ADVENT

ADVENT NOVENA PRAYER

    O Triune Divinity, we come to you through the intercession of Blessed Mary, ever-Virgin, and St. Joseph, her chaste, holy spouse. In this season of Advent we desire to obtain the grace of purity of intention, that through our obedience to Your Heavenly Will, we, too, can transform our poor, miserable lives into the resplendent stable at Bethlehem where You Only-begotten Son was born.
Through the intercession of Mary, and all the hosts of Heaven, we beseech You, through the merits gained for us by Jesus Christ, Your Only-begotten Son, to help us convert our hearts, to live the messages of Your Mother, and to ardently beseech You to bring about the Triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart now, that the Reign of the Sacred Heart might be upon the world.
Heavenly Father, we trust in Your goodness and beseech You to hear us, not because of our worthiness, but because of our willingness to be Your little children who kneel in adoration to their God. Come, let us adore Him!

PRAYER for December 4: First Friday of Advent

    Heavenly Mother, today we ask you to remember all the things of our lower human ego, our lower human passions, which are a hindrance to us in our spiritual life. Today we ask you to intercede for us that we may recognize our weakness in regard to our intelligence. Let us be mindful of this great gift which is from God, and to order our thoughts so to think only of Him, for Him, and with Him, according to His Will, not our own.

PRAYER for December 5: First Saturday of Advent

   St. Joseph, we beseech you, in this season of Advent, to help us prepare more properly for the Coming of Jesus Christ. You believed, St. Joseph, in the Divine Birth and in the virginity of Mary, your holy spouse. You watched in awe as the pregnancy came to full term, and thanked God for the privilege given to you, to be the guardian of Mary and of Jesus. Help us to overcome our lack of faith, that we too might learn to seek Him in all things.

PRAYER for December 6: Second Sunday of Advent

    Heavenly angels and saints, you look down upon us in our earthly journey, this place of sorrow, and recognize what we are still striving to see - the Divinity of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. We beseech you to help us to raise our hearts to Heaven, where they might be touched by Divine Love. Then, aflame with love, may we work ceaselessly to prepare not only our own hearts, but our whole world to proclaim Jesus as King and Messiah.

Vatican to Israel: Enough already! All has been made known in the archives regarding the holocaust! It's time to move on!

     The Vatican is exhausted from the constant barbs from Israel and Jewish interests who demand the Vatican open all the archives regarding the holocaust. Thursday the Holy See curtly responded with the facts that all archives have been exhausted regarding this and it's time to accept it and move on. In an attempt to put closure to this incendiary issue which the media has muddled so, the director of the Vatican press office Monsignor Joaquin Navarro-Valls challenged anyone to show proof that the Vatican has not produced the said archives. Basically he was telling them that what they are looking for doesn't exist and you cannot squeeze blood from a turnip. Whether the Israelis and media will accept that remains to be seen as both of those entities seek to lay the blame on someone, anyone they can. For more, click on Vatican response.

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- In a sharp new public statement today, the Holy See insisted that all material in the Vatican archives regarding the Holocaust has already been made public, and challenging critics to provide evidence that anything has been held back.

      Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters that the statement was a response to "accusations raised during the past several days against the Holy See." Some such accusations have been aired at a conference on the Holocaust hosted by the US Department of State.

      Navarro-Valls pointed out that the Vatican has released all archival material pertaining to the Holocaust. He added: "Anyone who makes insinuations contrary to what the Holy See has already repeated several times should have some concrete evidence-- which, naturally, will not be forthcoming."

      Today's statement noted that an international group of historians had searched the Vatican archives at the request of Pope Paul VI, and produced an 11-volume work covering the years 1939- 1945. "This monumental work is universally recognized by historians as a fundamental contribution to the study of that period," the statement noted. Moreover, a recent history of Pope Pius XII incorporated another full volume of archival material.

      Citing this "exhaustive" published record, Navarro-Valls insisted that "nothing-- I repeat, nothing" more can be found in the Vatican archives.

      Similarly, the Vatican spokesman said, the archives contain no more evidence regarding the gold stolen by Nazis from Croatia. Pointing to "the absences of documents relative to that subject," Navarro-Valls concluded that the Vatican was not involved in any transfer of that stolen gold. He pointed out that Vatican experts participated in a scholarly session last year, trying to trace the path of the stolen gold, and the results were inconclusive.

Senate could be backtracking on fetal-tissue ban, but bishops standing firm

      The scientists are at it again. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Such is the case in their appeal to the US Senate this past week when they asked the congressmen to relax the ban on fetal-tissue. They claim that they need the fetal-tissue of a newly-aborted baby to further their research into finding cures for such common illnesses as diabetes, heart disease and Parkinson Disease to name a few. While they are pushing to save lives through these findings, they are promoting the idea of destroying lives with more abortions and the bishops won't have any of the doublespeak even though some senators are trying to rationalize that an exception can be made because of the nomenclature "organism" even though it raises even more ethical concerns. For more, click on Fetal-tissue ban

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - Researchers and scientists told a US Senate subcommittee on Wednesday that a ban on the use of fetal tissue in research is slowing the development of more effective treatments for heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and other disorders.

      But an expert from the US bishops' conference's pro-life office told the Senators that the methods used to collect the cells raise ethical concerns. Richard M. Doerflinger said that researchers isolate the necessary stem cells by either destroying a living unborn child, collecting cells from a newly aborted unborn child, or implanting human genes into a cow's egg.

      "Each system arouses ethical concerns," said Doerflinger. "These are the type of experiments that the federal ban" applies to, he said. "You could rip my heart out of my body and it would not be an organism," he added but the action would still result in the death of a human being. Researchers said cultured stem cells could produce new heart cells, or new insulin-producing cells for the treatment of diabetes, or new neurons for patients with Parkinson's disease or spinal-cord injuries.

      Embryonic stem cells are the basic or primordial cells from which all of a human's bodily tissues and organs develop during pregnancy. Under a federal ban, government-funded researchers must avoid human stem-cell studies and other research that involves the use of human embryos. Part of the federal law states that the ban applies only to what it calls "organisms." Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, minority leader on the subcommittee, said that definition would exclude stem-cell culturing and thus allow it.

Spain going to the devil as Church and State officials strive to stem satanic activities

     The Church in Spain estimates that a quarter of a million people in Spain are involved in satanic activities which include the Black Mass and human sacrifices. These numbers and the fact devil worship is so prominent throughout Europe and especially in Spain alarms all. A theologian from the Spanish bishops conference has evidence of human sacrifices and warns there could be more murders and suicides as satan seeks to gain more souls by this means. What bothers most is the fact that many of these satanic cults are protected by legal means which allows them to continue unabated. For more, click on satan invades Spain.

      MADRID (CWNews.com) - An investigation into the activities of Satanic cults, undertaken by the Spanish newspaper ABC, has yielded disturbing information about the growth of the cults' activities, and the connection with murders, suicides, and human sacrifices.

      The ABC investigation involved interviews with police spokesmen, other public officials, Church representatives, and members of the sects themselves.

      Jaime Mayor, the government's interior minister, reported that there are now "about 200 destructive sects" operating in Spain, "the majority of them under legal cover." Police estimates put the overall membership of the groups at about 150,000.

      The Spanish bishops' conference offered a higher estimate: 250,000 people engaged in devil-worship, associated with 40 major cult groups. Father Manuel Guerra Gomez, a theologian and specialist in cult activities, said that there was substantial evidence to support the belief that some of these cults had engaged in human sacrifice; he mentioned an incident in Barcelona, in which a young gypsy girl was apparently killed at a black mass.

      The ABC article also cited statistics from the international law-enforcement consortium, Interpol, suggesting that the number of such ritual sacrifices is on the rise across Europe. Interpol reported that there were at least 100 human sacrifices in Europe in the years 1989 and 1990.

Conflict among churches at World Council of Churches could result in some moving closer to returning to True Church

     Plenty of fireworks are expected as the World Council of churches opens its annual meeting, this year in Zimbabwe, Africa. The Orthodox churches lead the way in protesting the liberaliztion of most churches which includes ordination of women and acceptance of homosexuality. Many suspect a strong contingent of gay-rights activist will try to wrestle control of the convention to pass liberal laws that will benefit the homosexual lifestyle, something that cannot be accepted by anyone who professes loyalty to Jesus Christ. These issues could very well push the Orthodox churches and others toward ecumenism with the one Church who will have none of these heresies or aberrations against what Our Lord established: the Roman Catholic Church. It is just one more example of how God allows evil for good. For more, click on Council needs counseling

      HARARE, Zimbabwe (CWNews.com) - The World Council of Churches opened its annual assembly on Thursday amid a controversy that saw a boycott of the opening worship service by many Russian and Greek Orthodox delegates.

      The international body of Protestant and Orthodox churches faces growing tensions because Orthodox members are increasingly dissatisfied by what they see as creeping liberal stances on theological issues, including ordination of women and acceptance of homosexuality. While many Orthodox delegates chose not attend the opening worship service, others -- including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople -- elected to attend by not lead the service.

      The meeting, which will end on December 14, is expected to address the Orthodox concerns. Contrary to earlier assurances from WCC officials, it seems certain that the homosexual issue will reach the assembly floor, at least obliquely. A message from a pre-assembly women's festival will refer to "human sexuality in all its diversity." Such language was opposed by Orthodox women as well as Protestants from Africa and the Mideast. The disaffected delegates mainly blame Protestants in North America and Europe for the increasingly liberal slant to the organization.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

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PROVERB OF THE DAY

"Man's pride causes his humiliation, but he who is humble of spirit obtains honor."

Proverbs 29: 23

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December 4-6, 1998 volume 9, no. 236   DAILY CATHOLIC