Advent Day 2 — Swords to plowshares / guns to roses
advent 2011
Advent Day 22 ~ Are you waiting for something ~ for Someone?
Tuesday of the Fourth week o f Advent
“O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.
Come and show your people the way to salvation.”
~ O Antiphons
The Jewish people are waiting for the Messiah.
We wish our Jewish neighbors well as they begin their Hanukah celebration this evening.
We are waiting for the return of Christ. Some expect him “soon and very soon.”
Every single one of us is longing for something — Someone.
What — or Who — are YOU waiting for?
– for Godot?
– to be accepted into college?
– a new job?
– your son to come home from Afghanistan?
– to win the lottery?
– someone to fill your loneliness?
– for news that your biopsy is benign?
– to get home after being stuck in rush hour traffic and bad day at work?
– a letter that never comes?
There are all kinds of things we have to wait for.
Advent is about learning how to use “waiting time” well.
We can wait patiently or impatiently.
Some people want “fast access DSL” to be even faster.
But I have learned that slower is better.
When we’re waiting in line or in the doctor’s office — especially during Advent — we can go inside ourselves. Quiet our mind. Just focus on our breathing for a while or say a decade of the rosary.
Real life happens when we’re waiting for something else to happen.
Life happens between here and there.
But we have to be ready. Open. Ready to hear God speak to us in the murmured Wisdom of a three-year-old.
Ready to see the evidence of God’s presence when you walk out the door in the morning.
– or even to see God in a baby in manger.
Ready and waiting for Jesus to come to us in a new way this Christmas.
Yes, life happens WHILE we’re waiting.
When we’re not in any particular hurry.
When we’re ready to respond to whomever wants or needs our attention at the moment
– one of your children or perhaps a even a stranger at the checkout counter at the corner grocery store.
That’s what a real Christmas is all about!
That’s what a spiritual life is all about whether you are Catholic or Hebrew or Muslim or Buddhist or non-believer.
But the most important waiting that we try to learn during the Advent season is to wait for the Lord.
Having enough faith to wait for God to act in our life on God’s time — not ours.
So, Advent is about learning patience.
It’s also about longing for something –Someone more.
About realizing as St. Augustine said:
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, my God!“
Finally, dear friends, I share with you a song I’ve always loved from West Side Story because it captures so well the excitement / the anticipation/ the hope / the yearning / striving / hungering / the thirsting / the DESIRE of the human race for something MORE! Someone NEW to break into our life and turn us upside down.
“Something’s Coming!” sung by Tony in West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein — a YouTube presentation. Turn up your speakers and enter full screen. Christmas is 4 days away.
Have a great day!
With love,
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Advent Day 20: Depressed or lonely at Christmas?
O come, thou dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
~ O Antiphons
Fourth Sunday of Advent
There sometimes can be a lot of depression swirling around at Christmas.
People can feel lonelier because we’re expected to be cheerier and they often don’t feel it.
This blog is meant for us to pray and reach out and notice these folks.
In the gospel today (Luke 1:26-38) is about the Annunciation of Mary. The angel
didn’t take away Mary and Joseph’s problems of what to say to the neighbors and all the hardship they would have to face.
Let’s be with folks who have lost a loved one and still miss them.
With kids who are shuffled back from one parent to another to “celebrate” the holidays.
With soldiers far away from home and their families at home without them.
And so, may we pray:
There are sometimes dark clouds in our lives, Lord.
Pierce the gloominess of our lives with Your very own Light.
May we allow You to dawn on us and in us this day.
May we be ready for Your dawning in a new way in our lives this Christmas.
May this celebration of Jesus’ birth bring meaning and joy in the midst of our worries and concerns.
And may we BE the dawning of your light and love and justice
in our homes, our neighborhoods, our jobs, our world.
And there are dark and ominous clouds over our world right now, Lord.
Pierce our greed and hate and fear and complacency and violence with hope, Lord.
May we pray earnestly for a new dawn for our beloved country and our world.
May we BE the dawning of your light and love and justice in our land.
Lord Jesus, come!
May the light of that dawning transform our lives and our land.
We need Your Light and Your Love more than ever.
And now for your listening enjoyment here is the great Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing “Unto us a Son is given” Click here. Be sure to turn up your speakers and enter full screen.
For today’s Mas readings Click here.
With love,
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Advent Day 19 ~ The Burning Bush of the World
Saturday of the third week of Advent
Christmas Eve is a week away.
Advent themes are all about waiting for light to shine in our darkness.
For we who are Christians we await, Jesus, Yeshua, who is for us the Light of the World.
We prepare a place for him to shine in our own hearts this day.
We invite you to search out your own inner meaning whatever that might be.
Here is one of the magnificent O Antiphons that appears in the liturgy as a countdown to Christmas:
O Adonai and Ruler of the House of Israel,
you appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and on Mount Sinai gave him your law.
Come, and with outstretched arm redeem us.
And my prayer . . .
O Adonai*, we need you in our world more than ever!
You appeared in the burning bush long ago.
I remember this awesome sunrise two years ago over the ocean at St. Augustine Beach.
I’m reminded of the old sailor’s maxim: “Red at night, a sailor’s delight; red in the morning, sailor’s take warning.”
Come with your refiner’s fire and burn your way into our hearts.
so that we can prepare the way for the Messiah to come into our lives,
into our homes,
our workplace and marketplace,
our neighborhoods
our beloved country,
our waiting world!
Come Lord Jesus!
______
What are the “O Antiphons?” One of the most cherished collections of our ancient liturgical chants are the seven “O Antiphons” that are sung each of the seven nights before Christmas at Vespers beginning tonight. They have beautiful chant melodies. I am using some of them interspersed in the next week before Christmas.
Here is a dramatic audio slide show of O come, O come Emmanuel for your reflection (which is the text of the seven O antiphons. Be sure to turn up your speakers and enter full screen
* Adonai — one of the names the Jewish people use for God.
For those those of you interested in Gregorian Chant, here is a web site that has information and recordings of the chant melodies of all seven. (Scroll down to the bottom of the chart. The recordings for each antiphon are there; you have to click on the audio sign for each. Have patience! It’s well worth it.)
With love,
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Share this:
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Advent Day 15 ~ The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe ~ God prefers the poor
Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Today,we honor our sister and brothers in Mexico
as they celebrate the appearance of the Mother of Jesus to a poor peasant native Mexican.
Today, may we unite ourselves in solidarity with all the peoples of North and South and Central America who rejoice in this feast day; indeed may we unite ourselves in solidarity with all the world’s poor.
Half way down is an interpretation of the symbolism of the image that of the woman that appeared on Juan Diego’s cloak. That’s truly amazing. Be sure to check it out It converted a whole culture.
Here’s the charming story; it’s well worth the read:
An elderly Indian man named Chuauhtlatoczin (“Juan Diego” in Spanish) had a vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus, at Tepeyac, a squalid Indian village outside of Mexico City, 470 years ago. Mary directed Juan Diego to tell the bishop to build the church in Tepeyac. The Spanish bishop, however, dismissed the Indian’s tale as mere superstition. He asked that he bring some sort of proof, if he wanted to be taken seriously. Three days later, the Virgin Mary appeared again and told Juan Diego to pick the exquisitely beautiful roses that had miraculously bloomed amidst December snows, and take them as a sign to the bishop. When the Indian opened his poncho to present the roses to the bishop, the flowers poured out from his poncho to reveal an image of the Virgin Mary painted on the inside of the poncho. That image hangs today in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City and is venerated by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.
Significantly, Mary appeared not as a white-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired European Madonna but as a dark-skinned, brown-eyed, black-haired “Tonantzin,” the revered Indian Mother, and she spoke to Juan Diego not in cultured Castillian but in his own Nahuatal language. She spoke in the language of the powerless, disenfranchised, and despised Indians. She was then and is today, “La Morenita” – the Brown One. Her message to the bishop was that God’s church should be built out on the fringes of society, amidst the poor and the downtrodden. The vision challenged the powerful conquerors, the Spaniards of Mexico City, to change their way of thinking and acting. It challenged them to move out from their position of power and influence to the periphery; to leave their magnificent cathedral and build God’s house in Tepeyac – among the poor and the despised, away from the center of power and culture and education and the arts.
Guadalupe is a “vision” story and, like all such stories, tells us something about God and something about ourselves. More precisely, it tells us how God wants to be among us. St. Juan Diego’s vision of where God wants to be or whom we should listen to should come as no surprise to us. Throughout history, God has consistently chosen to be with poor people. In that respect, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s message to St. Juan Diego at Guadalupe is a restatement of Jesus’ mission: That God is in those who are hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, naked, sick, stranger, and suffering. The challenge for us is to heed the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the message of Christ’s Gospel, and reach out to those who belong to the margins of our society.
– Source: The Manila Bulletin online.
God of power and mercy,
you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac
with the presence of the Virgin Mary at Guadalupe.
May her prayers help all men and women
to accept each other as brothers and sisters
Through your justice present in our hearts
may your peace reign in our world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
. . . official prayer from the Mass of the feast
The Image of Our Lady is actually an Aztec Pictograph
that was read and understood quickly by the Aztec Indians. 
1. THE LADY STOOD IN FRONT OF THE SUN
She was greater than the dreaded Huitzilopochtli, their
sun-god of war.
2. HER FOOT RESTED ON THE CRESCENT
MOON
She had clearly crushed Quetzalcoatl,
the feathered serpent moon-god.
3. THE STARS STREWN ACROSS THE MANTLE
She was greater than the stars of heaven which they worshiped.
She was a virgin and the Queen of the heavens for Virgo rests over her womb and the northern crown upon her head.
She appeared on December 12, 1531 and the stars that she wore are the constellations of the stars that appeared in the sky that day!
4. THE BLUE‑GREEN HUE OF HER MANTLE
She was a Queen because she wears the color of royalty.
5. THE BLACK CROSS ON THE BROOCH AT HER NECK
Her God was that of the Spanish Missionaries, Jesus Christ her son who died
on the cross for all mankind.
6. THE BLACK BELT
She was with child because she wore the Aztec Maternity Belt.
7. THE FOUR PETAL FLOWER OVER THE WOMB
She was the Mother of God because the flower was a special symbol of
life, movement and deity-the center of the universe.
8. HER HANDS ARE JOINED IN PRAYER
She was not God but clearly there was one greater than Her and she
pointed her finger to the cross on her brooch.
9. THE DESIGN ON HER ROSE COLORED GARMENT
She is the Queen of the Earth because she is wearing a contour map of
Mexico telling the Indians exactly where the apparition took place.
The Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Science
1. The image to this date, cannot be explained by science.
2. The image shows no sign of deterioration after 450 years!
The tilma or cloak of Saint Juan Diego on which the image of Our Lady has
been imprinted, is a coarse fabric made from the threads of the maguey
cactus. This fiber disintegrates within 20-60 years!
3. There is no under sketch, no sizing and no protective over-varnish on the
image.
4. Microscopic examination revealed that there were no brush strokes.
5. The image seems to increase in size and change colors due to an unknown
property of the surface and substance of which it is made.
6. According to Kodak of Mexico, the image is smooth and feels like a
modern day photograph. (Produced 300 years before the invention of
photography.)
7. The image has consistently defied exact reproduction, whether by brush or
camera.
8. Several images can be seen reflected in the eyes of the Virgin. It is
believed to be the images of Juan Diego, Bishop Juan de Zummaraga, Juan
Gonzales, the interpreter and others.
9. The distortion and place of the images are identical to what is produced in
the normal eye which is impossible to obtain on a flat surface.
10. The stars on Our Lady’s Mantle coincide with the constellations in the sky on
December 12, 1531. All who have scientifically examined the image of Our
Lady over the centuries confess that its properties are absolutely unique
and so inexplicable in human terms that the image can only be supernatural!
With love,
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Advent Day 14 ~ Rejoice! The Lord is near!
//
PDRTJS_settings_938668_post_1110={“id”:938668,”unique_id”:”wp-post-1110″,”title”:”Advent Day 15 – What should we do?”,
Third Sunday of Advent
In our Catholic liturgical calendar this is “Gaudete Sunday — the Sunday of Joy. We’re half way through Advent and the vestment color is Rose, rather than purple, the color of penitence. So, we see the celebrant in rose vestments, which is – um – a little too close – to pink. I had a “Rose” cell phone once; everybody asked me why I had a pink cell phone (Don’t ask. I bought it when I was manic.) I insisted it was rose – not pink!
Enough foolishness.
This is supposed to be a joyful time of year but . . . some us don’t see things clearly, or can’t speak up for ourselves or are disabled. some of us are afraid /disillusioned /confused / depressed / lonely / weak-kneed / in need of a good old-fashioned infusion of hope and joy.
A traditional reading for this day from Isaiah 35:1-6a,10 sums up the joyful, hopeful mood of this third Advent Sunday:
The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
they will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
And then this traditional third Sunday reading:
Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ~(Phil 4:4-7.)
To You be honor and glory. Amen!
COME, LORD JESUS!
The Actual Mass readings for today can be found on a link below.
To get you in a joyful mood I have a surprise for you ~ the HALLELUIA CHORUS sung in a shopping mall during lunch by opera singers mingled with the munchers. This is truly amazing and lots of fun. Turn up your speakers and enter full screen.
(With our joyful gratitude to Alphabet photography.)
Here are all the today’s Mass Readings. Click Here.
With love,
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Advent Day 13 ~ My Friend had a Vineyard
During Advent our Reading often come from the prophet Isaiah.
This is the beloved Song of the Vineyard (5:1-7).
Now let me sing of my friend,
my beloved’s song about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
He spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
Within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he waited for the crop of grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.
Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more could be done for my vineyard
that I did not do?
Why, when I waited for the crop of grapes,
did it yield rotten grapes?
Now, I will let you know
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
Take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!*
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but will be overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
the people of Judah, his cherished plant;
He waited for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry!*
Now, our Founding Fathers spaded and planted the Vineyard
we call America. But what’s happened to it ~ to us, O my people?
Where are those who care for the vineyard and not their own profit, O my people?
Isaiah wasn’t afraid to speak a tough message in his day. We need him today!
Before you go here, as our Advent season intensifies, here is the Overture for Handel’s Messiah Click here.
God bless you and have a great day!
Bob Traupman
Contemplative writer
Advent Day 12 ~ Mary’s Song of Justice
an image of Vladimir’s famous icon “Our Lady of Tenderness” in my homeThis is a feast of Mary for us Catholic’s. In today’s gospel, we read the story of Mary’s Yes to God, her consent to bring Jesus into our world.
I offer for your reflection the Song of Mary that Luke places upon her lips ~ the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) , sung or recited everywhere in the church throughout the world each evening of the year.
And as you’ll see, it has a pretty radical message ~ if you allow yourself to think about it.
And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant;
from this day all ages call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy on those who fear him in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered the promise of his mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers [and mothers]
Abraham [and Sarah and Hagar] and [their] children for ever.
+ + + +
The song speaks of lowliness ~ humility. Yet it recognizes what God does in our lives.
Look with favor on ME too, Lord.
Please ~ I need Your favor, Your grace.
Let my soul proclaim Your greatness.
Let me see (and accept) that you do good things for me, too.
Let me cry out every day: Holy is Your name, my God!
Let your mercy be on us and our world.
Show your strength, Lord, the strength of Your justice.
Scatter the proud, the arrogant ones who control so much of our world, our country, our congress.
Cast down the mighty.
Lift up the lowly.
Fill the hungry.
Send the rich empty away like the poor, Lord.
Come to the help of Your people in our time.
We, too, are descendants of Abraham ~ Jew / Muslim / Christian.
We are all Your children, Father.
To You be glory and honor and praise for ever. Amen!
Dear Reader,
Luke places these words in the mouth of Mary at the very beginning of the story of Jesus. It is the “Magnificat,” the Canticle of Mary, sung or recited by priests and nuns and monks all over the world every single day of the year at Evensong. So, it’s a pretty important text to reflect upon.
I would like you to notice how radical this message is: “Cast down the mighty.” “Raise up the lowly.” “Send the rich away empty.”
Sounds like a pretty political message, don’t ya think?
People have been thrown into prison for saying things like that.
But these words are two thousand years old!
An essential and enduring part of the Christmas story as told in the first chapter of Luke.
It’s a Song about Justice from the lips of Mary, the Mother of God. About Justice entering our world.
I have sung Mary’s Song every evening for 30 years with spontaneous melodies arising from the mood of my soul of the moment.
And in that, I try to live the song!
How do you respond, dear friend?
How do you respond?
P. S. I wonder what is implied here about universal health care and so much more. . .
Now to thrill you and inspire you, here’s introduction to Bach’s Magnificat on You Tube. If you scroll down the right side of the page, you will find other segments of the concert as well. Or you can Google “Magnificat videos” and have an amazing choice, including Shubert and Mozart and Michael Talbot. Be sure to enter FULL SCREEN. ENJOY!
With love,
Bob Traupman
contemplative writer
Share this:
Advent Day 2 — Swords to plowshares / guns to roses
Monday of the First Week of Advent
Dear Friends,
If you’re new to this Advent blog, I recommend reading Welcome to Advent 2009 to get a sense of why we want to spend four weeks preparing for our Christmas celebration and how it can help you deepen your (our) spirituality whether you are a Catholic or even a Christian. (If you’re not tech savvy, click on the little arrow on the top left of your browser above the word “Back” and it’ll bring you right back to this page.)
Today’s reading from Isaiah is a famous one:
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:4)
All of my adult life my writing and my prayer has been against war —
Viet Nam / the Balkans / the Gulf War / Iraq / and now Afghanistan.
Pope Paul VI, speaking before the United Nations General Assembly made an impassioned plea:
“No more war! Never again war!
And Pope John Paul II said the Iraq war was “a defeat for humanity.”
And Dwight David Eisenhower, the great general of Word War II and President of the U.S. said: “When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.”
Advent is a time to wish for peace / pray for peace / work for peace.
The Christmas story is about peace. One of the titles of Jesus is “Prince of Peace.”
But we become cynical about peace.
Many of us have our private little wars that we engage in every day with a sibling or a friend or co-worker.
Let us “Practice peacefulness,” as a friend put it to me once. Let’s stop the gossiping. Give people a chance. Be kind.
The legend of St. Christopher carrying a child across a stream on a stormy night invites us to greet every human person as if they were Christ himself.
Think thoughts of peace. Be peace. At least try it today, the second day of Advent.
The image below is a photo of the last page of the men’s magazine Details. This image is actually a GAP commercial selling plaid shirts; those are young women and men making up the peace sign.) Would that they (we) would put their (our) bodies, minds and spirits to the task of creating peace in our world!
I will hear what the Lord God has to say,
a voice that speaks of peace,
peace for his people and his friends.
and those who turn to him in their hearts.
Mercy and faithfulness have met;
Justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven.
The Lord will make us prosper
and the earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him
and peace shall follow his steps.
Psalm 85
Dear Friends,
I will be posting each day of Advent, (God willin’ n’ the creek don’t rise.)
You can subscribe to the blog and it will come directly to your inbox and look like the box above.
Just scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email address. You can un-subcribe at anytime.
You can make yourself a five-minute-a-day mini-retreat and have the best and most meaningful Christmas ever!
It’ll relieve your stress. Calm your nerves. Put a bounce in your step and a smile on your face. And it’s free!
And I always spend a lotta time selecting the right photo. And I search the web for the perfect music video to accompany the theme.
So, what are you waiting for? Come on board! Put your email address in the hopper and you won’t have to think about it again.
Father Bob's Reflections 