Get Married and Be Submissive

Are you kidding? Get Married and Be Submissive a hit book in Europe

 

 

BY SARAH RAINEY, LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 23, 2013

 

 

 

 

Nicole Kidman stars as Joanna in the film The Stepford Wives in a file photo. A new book selling well in Italy and Spain is a traditional guide to being the perfect woman, guaranteed to bring out your inner Stepford Wife.

Photograph by: Handout , Paramount Pictures

Ladies, hold that letter to Santa: I have just the thing for your Christmas list. There’s a new book flying off the shelves faster than Fifty Shades of Grey. In fact, Fifty Shades couldn’t be further removed from this bestseller, which is a traditional guide to being the perfect woman, guaranteed to bring out your inner Stepford Wife.

Sadly, the book, Cásate y Sé Sumisa (Get Married and Be Submissive) isn’t available in English yet – but the original, in Italian, has sold nearly 100,000 copies, and the latest edition, released in Spain, is topping Amazon’s bestseller lists there. Written by Costanza Miriano, an Italian journalist and mother-of-four, and inspired by the Biblical teachings of St Paul, the book preaches a message of “loyal obedience, generosity and submission” on the part of newlywed wives, and offers nuggets of wisdom on how to please one’s husband.

As might be expected, readers are divided. Some have hailed it “revolutionary”, flooding book websites with glowing five-star reviews. “It reflects a sincere, optimistic vision of the marital relationship, which today is deemed truly daring,” gushes one reader. “Full of humour and common sense,” trills another.

In Spain, the Catholic Church has taken the controversial book under its wing – it was published by Francisco Javier Martinez, the Archbishop of Granada, who has labelled it “very interesting from a Christian point of view”.

Others are furious. Women’s groups have staged a public demonstration at which they tore up copies of the tome, and activists from the group Anonymous uploaded a video message calling it misogynistic and oppressive. “We’ve had enough of the Church seeing us as mere objects to satisfy men, reproduce and clean,” a campaigner declared. Politicians, too, have raised their hackles, with the Spanish health minister calling for the book to be withdrawn. “I think it is inappropriate and disrespectful to women,” said Ana Mato.

Having recently become engaged, I’m curious about what Miriano has to say. Any self-help book that claims to demystify the world of weddings and marriage – from A Modern Girl’s Guide to Getting Hitched to Marriage for Dummies – is already on my Christmas wishlist. How bad could this one be? So, in the name of research, I got my hands on a copy, to see if it contains any genuine tips for life as a newlywed – or whether it will put me off before I make it to the altar.

From the very first page, one thing is clear: my fiancé must never read this book. In fact, no man must ever read this book. It would make any marriage impossible. Miriano starts by telling us that “we are not equal to men and to not recognise this is a guaranteed source of suffering”.

Instead, “you must submit to him. When you have to choose between what he likes and what you like, choose in his favour.” Worse still, “when your husband tells you something, you should listen as if it were God speaking”.

Sending a century of feminism crashing down in a matter of sentences, she continues. “A husband can’t resist a woman who respects him, who acknowledges his authority, who devotes herself loyally to listening to him, to remaining at his side.” It’s more like a history lesson on the dark ages than a guide for modern brides – but Miriano makes out like it’s in our DNA. “A woman bears 'obedience’ written on her inside.” Does she? “The man, by contrast, carries the role of liberator and guide.”

Her rules on housekeeping are equally skewed. “If you’re not an experienced cook or the perfect housewife,” she writes, “what’s the problem if he says so? Tell him he’s right, that it’s true, that you will learn. Seeing your sweetness and your humility, your effort to become what he wants, he will also change himself.” One can only hope. Oh, and your job? Once married, you simply must quit. “Women forget that they can’t have it all: working like a man and being at home like a woman. Power is not designed for women.”

It is breathtaking. Miriano’s vision is one from the Fifties, of pinny-wearing wives waiting hand-and-foot on their hard-working husbands – indeed, the image on the cover of her book shows a bride bowing down to a groom perched on top of a wedding cake. “My response to any marital problem is to choose one of the following: he is right, marry him, have a child, obey him, have another child, forgive him, try to understand him,” she preaches.

I contact the author to see if she can explain herself. Miriano, 43, who has been married to Guido for 15 years, seems unaware of the furore surrounding her book. “When I got married I thought we would share everything – duty and responsibilities,” she explains. “Then I discovered my husband was on another planet. It was hard at the beginning, but I learnt to be happy through making sacrifices. I found that I had some strange ideas on matrimony and being with a man, so I wanted to share them.”

Some readers have claimed Miriano’s words are ironic, but she insists they’re heartfelt. The book, she explains, is a compilation of real letters she has written to female friends over the years, and though she is a devout Catholic, she hopes non-Christians will heed her advice, too. Critics, she says, “don’t understand that being submissive is not taking a step back but a step forward. I am completely at peace with myself so I can accept that some things I lose.”

Whatever Miriano’s experience of marriage, her opinions on obedience and submission surely can’t speak to more than a tiny fraction of the population. So why is a book promoting such outdated ideals doing so well in 2013?

Sam Owen, a relationships coach and psychologist, says the resurgence of traditional notions about marriage is due to the breakdown of society. “There are now so many single parents and broken homes, and married couples that are still together tend to be parents and grandparents. If people are hankering for an old-fashioned marriage, it’s often because so much of it worked so well.”

In Spain, particularly, where unemployment is the highest in Europe and poverty is rife, citizens are seeking refuge in tradition and religion. The Church remains a symbol of stability and wealth. But the idea of the submissive wife isn’t confined to Europe. Miriano’s words echo the teachings of The Surrendered Wife, a 2006 book by Laura Doyle, which has spawned a movement of followers across the US. The “Surrendered Wives” pledge to relinquish control of their husbands’ lives, respect their men and take the “feminine” approach to marriage.

“We are a lost society when it comes to relationship roles within marriage,” explains Owen. “Due to a rapidly changing world, the desire for women and men to be seen as equal, and the drive towards having everything – children, a successful career and a happy spouse – husbands and wives are feeling confused about what their role is within the marriage and family unit, and this creates discord.”

Adopting the Stepford Wife approach is seen, by some, as a viable solution – because it elects one role over another, rather than trying to combine the two.

Miriano and her legions of Spanish fans might not be alone in their beliefs – but I’m not convinced. To my future husband, don’t get your hopes up. One day, I will promise to love and to cherish, till death us do part. But if this book bears any relation to modern marriage, count me out.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/kidding%20Married%20Submissive%20book%20Europe/9312285/story.html

Collect of the Day: Immaculate Conception / Commemoration of the Second Sunday of Advent

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Collect of the Day: Immaculate Conception / Commemoration of the Second Sunday of Advent

Posted by David Werling

Ave, gratia plena!

The Immaculate Conception by Martino Altomonte, 1719

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 
Salve Regina by Josquin des Prez, 16th century

Commemoration of

Second Sunday of Advent

From

The Liturgical Year

by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

The Office of this Sunday is filled, from beginning to end, with the sentiments of hope and joy, with which the soul should be animated at the glad tidings of the speedy coming of Him who is her Saviour and Spouse. The interior coming, that which is effect in the soul, is the almost exclusive object of the Church’s prayers for this day: let us therefore open our hearts, let us prepare our lamps, and await in gladness that cry, which will be heard in the midnight: “Glory be to God! Peace unto men!”

The Roman Church makes the Station today in the basilica of Holy Cross in Jerusalem. It was in this venerable church that Constantine deposited a large piece of the true cross, together with the title which was fastened to it by Pilate’s order, and which proclaimed the kingly character fo the Saviour of the world. These precious relics are still kept there, and, thus enriched with such a treasure, the basilica of Holy Cross in Jerusalem is looked upon, in the Roman liturgy, as Jerusalem itself, as is evident from the allusions made in the several Masses of the Stations held in that basilica. In the language of the sacred Scriptures and of the Church, Jerusalem is the image of the faithful soul; and the Office and Mass of this Sunday have been drawn up on this idea, as the one of the day. We regret not to be able here to develop the sublime beauty of this figure; and must proceed at once to the passage, which the Church has selected from the prophet Isaias. There she tells her children how well founded are her hopes in the merciful and peaceful reign of the Messias. But first let us adore this divine Messias:

Lesson from the book of Isaias, 11:1-10

And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious.

How much is contained in these magnificent words of the prophet! The branch; the flower that is to come from it; the Spirit which rests on this flower; the seven gifts of this Spirit; peace and confidence established on the earth; and, throughout the world, one brotherhood in the kingdom of the Messias! St. Jerome, whose words are read by the Church in the lessons of the second nocturne of this Sunday, says that the branch which cometh forth from the root of Jesse, is the blessed Virgin Mary, who had contact with no shrub or plant; and that the flower is the Lord Jesus, who says in the Canticle of canticles: “I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valley.” In every age of the Christian Church, this wonderful branch and its divine flower have been objects of enthusiastic veneration. In the middle ages the tree of Jesse, with its prophetic branches, was carved on the cathedral porches, was painted on the windows, was embroidered on the hangings of the sanctuary, and the melodious voice of the priests sang its praises in the beautiful responsory composed by Fulbert of Chartres, and put to music by the devout king Robert.

R. The root of Jesse gave out a branch, and the branch a flower; and on the flower restest the holy Spirit.
V. The Virgin Mother of God is the branch, her Son the flower. And on the flower restest the Holy Spirit.

The devout St. Bernard, commenting upon this responsory in his second Advent homily, says: “The Virgin’s Son is the flower, a flower white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands; a flower on whom the angels love to look; a flower whose fragrance restores the dead; a flower, as himself assures us, of the field, not of the garden: for the flowers of the field bloom without man’s care, no man has sown their see, no man has cultivated them. Just so the Virgin’s womb, a meadow verdant in the endless spring, has brought forth a flower, whose beauty will never droop, whose freshness will never fade. O Virgin, branch sublime, to what a height art thou grown! Even up to Him that sitteth on the throne, even to the Lord of Majesty. It was sure to be so, for thou castest deep down the roots of humility. O plant of heaven indeed! Precious above all, holier than all. O tree of life indeed! Alone worthy to bear the fruit of salvation.”

And of the Holy Spirit and His gifts, what shall we say? They rest and are poured out on the Messias only to the end that they may flow from Him upon us; he needs them not; but we alone need wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge and godliness, and fear of the Lord. Let us ask with instance for this divine Spirit, by whose operation Jesus was conceived and born in Mary’s womb, and let us beg of Him to form Jesus within our hearts. But let us not forget to rejoice at those other glorious things which are told us by the prophet, of the happiness, and peace, and delights, which are to be the holy mountain. The world has been looking so many ages for peace; it is now coming. Sin had caused enmity and division everywhere; grace will bring unity. A little Child will be the pledge of an alliance between all nations. The prophets have foretold it, the Sibyl has announced it, and in Rome itself, buried as it is in paganism, the prince of Latin poets has sung the celebrated poem, which, after all, is but the voice of the old tradition: “The last age foretold by the Cumean Sibyl, is at hand; a new race is being sent down to earth from high heaven. The flock shall no more fear the fierce lions. The serpent shall be no more: the treacherous plant, which yielded poison, shall grow no more.”

Come then, O Messias, and restore to the world its primitive peace; but remember, we beseech Thee, that it is in the heart of man that harmony has been broken more than elsewhere in Thy creation: cure this heart, enter into possession of this Jerusalem, which Thou loves, though so unworthy: she has been too long captive in Babylon; lead her out of this strange land. Build up her temple again, and make the glory of this second temple to be greater than that of the first, by having Thee dwell in it, not in figure, but in the reality of Thy adorable Person. The angel said to Mary: “The Lord God shall give unto thy Son the throne of David His father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” What can we do, O Jesus, but say with Thy beloved disciple, at the close of his prophecy: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Christ Enthroned from the Book of Kells, circa 800

Introit - Isaias, 61. 10; Psalms, 29. 2

I will heartily rejoice in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for He has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
I will extol You, O Lord, for You drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

I will heartily rejoice in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for He has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.

Collect of the Day

Deus, qui per immaculátam Vírginis Conceptiónem dignum Fílio tuo habitáculum præparásti: quaesumus; ut, qui ex morte eiúsdem Filii tui prævísa eam ab omni labe præservásti, nos quoque mundos eius intercessióne ad te perveníre concédas. Per eundem Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, prepared a worthy dwelling for Your Son, and Who, by Your Son’s death, foreseen by You, preserved her from all taint, grant, we beseech You, through her intercession, that we too may come to You unstained by sin. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Collect gives us the moral explanation of the mystery. Mary was preserved from original sin because she was to be the dwelling-place of the Most Holy: let this teach us to beg of this same God, that He would purify our souls.

-Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

Commemoration of the Second Sunday in Advent

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Your only-begotten Son, so that through His coming we may be able to serve You with purified minds. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen

Lesson - Proverbs, 8. 22-25

The Lord begot me, the firstborn of His ways, the forerunner of His prodigies of long ago; from of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. When He established the heavens I was there, when He marked out the vault over the face of the deep; when He made firm the skies above, and poised the fountains of waters; when He set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress His command; when He fixed fast the foundations of the earth; then was I beside Him as His craftsman, and I was His delight day by day, playing before Him all the while, playing on the surface of His earth and I found delight in the sons of men. So now, O children, listen to me; happy those who keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Happy the man who obeys me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorsteps, for he who finds me finds life, and wins favor from the Lord.

From

The Liturgical Year

by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

The apostle teaches us that Jesus, our Emmanuel, is the firstborn of every creature (Col. I. 15). These mysterious words signify not only that He is, as God, eternally begotten of the Father; but also that the divine Word is, as Man, anterior to all created beings. Yet, how is this? The world had been created, and the human race had dwelt on this earth full four thousand years, before the Son of God took to Himself the nature of man. It is not in the order of time, but in the eternal intention of God, that the Man-God preceded every creature. The eternal Father decreed first the nature of man; and, in consequence of this decree, to create all beings, whether spiritual or material, as a kingdom for this Man-God. This explains to us how it is, that he divine Wisdom, the Son of God, in the passage of the sacred Scripture which forms the Epistle of this feast, proclaims His having existed before all the creatures of the universe. As God, He was begotten from all eternity in the bosom of the Father; as Man, He was, in the mind of God, the type of all creatures, before those creatures where made. But the Son of God could not be of our race, as the divine will decreed He should be, unless He were born in time, and born of a Mother as other men; and therefore she that was to be His Mother was eternally present to the thought of God, as the means whereby the Word would assume the human nature. The Son and the Mother are therefore united in the plan of the Incarnation: Mary, therefore, existed, as did Jesus, in the divine decree, before creation began. This is the reason of the Church’s having, from the earliest ages of Christianity, interpreted this sublime passage of the sacred volume of Jesus and of Mary unitedly, and ordering it and analogous passages of the Scriptures to be read in the assembly of the faithful on the solemnities or feasts of the Mother of God. But if Mary be thus prominent in the divine and eternal plan; if, in the sense in which these mysterious texts are understood by the Church, she was, with Jesus, before every creature; could God permit her to be subjected to the original sin, which was to fall on all the children of Adam? She is, it is true, to be a child of Adam like her divine Son Himself, and to be born at the time fixed; but that torrent, which sweeps all mankind along, shall be turned away from her by God’s grace; it shall not come near to her; and she shall transmit to her Son, who is also the Son of God, the human nature in its original perfection, created, as the apostle says, in holiness and justice (Eph. IV. 24).

Gradual - Judith, 13. 23; 15. 10; Canticle of Canticles, 4. 7

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth.
V. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honor of our people. Alleluia, alleluia.
V. You are all-beautiful, O Mary, and there is in you no stain of original sin. Alleluia.

The Annunciation by Sandro Botticelli, 1489

Gospel - St. Luke, 1. 26-28

At that time, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And when the angel come to her, he said, Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.

From

The Liturgical Year

by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

This is the salutation with which the Archangel greets Mary. It shows us what was his admiration and his profound veneration for the virgin of Nazareth. The holy Gospel tells us that Mary was troubled at these words, and thought within herself what such a salutation as this could imply. The sacred Scriptures record many angelical salutations: but, as St. Ambrose, St. Andrew of Crete, and, before them, Origen had remarked, there is not one which contains such praises as this does. The prudent Virgin was, therefore, naturally surprised at the extraordinary words of the angel, and, as the early fathers observe, they would remind her of that other interview between Eve and the serpent. She therefore remained silent, and it was only after the Archangel had spoken to her a second time, that she made him a reply.

And yet, Gabriel had spoken not only with all the eloquence, but with all the profound wisdom of a celestial spirit initiated into the divine mysteries; and, in his own superhuman language, he announced that the moment had come when Eve was to be transformed into Mary. There was present before him a woman destined for the sublimest dignity, the woman that was to be the Mother of God; yet, up to this solemn moment, Mary was but a daughter of the human race. Think, then, taking Gabriel’s words as your guide, what must have been the holiness of Mary in this her first estate: is it not evident that the prophecy, made in the earthly paradise, had already been accomplished in her?

The Archangel proclaims her full of grace. What means this, but that the second woman possesses in herself that element of which sin had deprived the first? And observe, he does not say merely that divine grace works in her, but that she is full of it. “She is not merely in grace as others are,” as Saint Peter Chrysologus told us on his feast, “but she is filled with it.” Everything in her is resplendent with heavenly purity, and sin has never cast its shadow on her beauty. To appreciate the full import of Gabriel’s expression, we must consider what is the force of the words in the language which the sacred historian used. Grammarians tell us that the single world which he employs is much more comprehensive than our expression “full of grace.” It implies not only the present time, but the past as well, an incorporation of grace from the very commencement, the full and complete affirmation of grace, the total permanence of grace. Our translation has unavoidably weakened the term.

The better to feel the full force of our translation, let us compare this with an analogous text from the Gospel of St. John. This evangelist, speaking of the Humanity of the Incarnate Word, expresses all by saying that Jesus is full of grace and truth (John I. 14). Now, would this fullness have been real, had sin ever been there, instead of grace, even for a single instant? Could we call him full of grace, who had once stood in need of being cleansed? Undoubtedly, we must ever respectfully bear in mind the distance between the Humanity of the Incarnate Word and the person of Mary, from whose womb the Son of God assumed that Humanity; but the sacred text obliges us to confess, that the fullness of grace was, proportionately, in both Jesus and Mary.

Gabriel goes on still enumerating the supernatural riches of Mary. He says to her: “The Lord is with thee.” What means this? It means, that even before Mary had conceived our Lord in her chaste womb, she already possessed Him in her soul. But, would the words be true, if that union with God had once not been, and had begun only when her disunion with Him by sin had been removed? The solemn occasion, on which the angel uses this language, forbids us to think that he conveyed by it any other idea, than that she had always had the Lord with her. We feel the allusion to a contrast between the first and the second Eve; the first lost the God who had once been with her; the second had, like the first, received our Lord into her from the first moment of her existence, and never lost Him, but continued from first to last and forever to have Him with her.

Let us listen once more to the salutation, and we shall find from its last words that Gabriel is announcing the fulfillment of the divine oracle, and is addressing Mary as the woman foretold to be the instrument of the victory over Satan. “Blessed are thou among women.” For four thousand years, every woman has been under the curse of God, and has brought forth her children in suffering and sorrow: but here is the one among women, that has been ever blessed of God, that has ever been the enemy of the serpent, and that shall bring forth the fruit of her womb without travail.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is therefore declared in the Archangel’s salutation; and we can now understand why the Church selected this portion of the Gospel to be read today in the assembly of the faithful.

The Walpole Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, crica 1680

Offertory - St. Luke, 1. 28

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women. Alleluia.

Secret

Accept, O Lord, the sacrifice of salvation which we offer You on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary; and grant that as we profess that she was kept from all taint of evil, by Your anticipating grace, so, through her intercession, may we be freed from all sin. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Commemoration of the Second Sunday in Advent

Be appeased, we beseech You, O Lord, by the prayers and offerings of our human frailty, and where the support of our own merits is lacking, come to our assistance with Your protection. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Preface - Of the Blessed Virgin

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God: and that we should praise and bless, and proclaim Thee, in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mary, ever-Virgin: Who also conceived Thine only-begotten Son by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, and the glory of her virginity still abiding, gave forth to the world the everlasting Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the Dominations worship it, and the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with these we entreat Thee that Thou mayest bid our voices also to be admitted while we say with lowly praise:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus, Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus, qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

Communion

Glorious things are said of you, O Mary, for He Who is mighty has done great things for you.

Post Communion

May the sacrament we have received, O Lord our God, heal in us the wounds of that sin from which by a singular privilege, You kept immaculate the conception of blessed Mary. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Commemoration of the Second Sunday of Advent

We who have been refreshed by the food of spiritual nourishment, humbly beseech You, O Lord, that through partaking of this sacrament You will teach us to disdain the things of earth and love those of heaven. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

December 8.—THE FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

ON this day, so dear to every Catholic heart, we celebrate, in the first place, the moment in which Almighty God showed Mary, through the distance of ages, to our first parents as the Virgin Mother of the divine Redeemer, the woman destined to crush the head of the serpent. And as by eternal decree she was miraculously exempt from all stain of original sin, and endowed with the richest treasures of grace and sanctity, it is meet that we should honor her glorious prerogatives by this special feast of the Immaculate Conception. We should join in spirit with the blessed in heaven, and rejoice with our dear Mother, not only for her own sake, but for ours, her children, who are partakers of her glory and happiness. Secondly, we are called upon to celebrate that ever-memorable day, the 8th of December, 1854, which raised the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady from a pious belief to the dignity of a dogma of the Infallible Church, causing universal joy among the faithful.

Reflection.—Let us repeat frequently these words applied by the Church to the Blessed Virgin: "Thou art all fair, O Mary? and there is not a spot in thee" (Cant. iv. 7).

The Immaculate Conception by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1767

From the Roman Breviary: The Acts of Pope Pius IX

The fact that the Virgin Mother of God had at the moment of her Conception triumphed over the foul enemy of man, hath ever been borne out by the Holy Scriptures, by the venerable tradition of the Church, and by her unceasing belief, as well as by the common conviction of all Bishops and faithful Catholics, and by marked acts and constitutions of the Holy See. At length the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX, in compliance with the wishes of the Universal Church, determined to publish it as a truth of faith, on his own absolute and unerring authority, and accordingly, on the 8th day of December, 1854, in the Vatican Basilica, in presence of a great multitude composed of the Fathers Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and Bishops from all parts of the earth, he, with the consent and jubilation of the whole world, declared and defined as follows : That doctrine which declareth that the most blessed Virgin Mary was in the first instant of her Conception preserved, by a special privilege granted unto her by God, from any stain of original sin, is a doctrine taught and revealed by God, and therefore is to be held by all faithful Christians firmly and constantly.

Blessed John Henry Newman
Advent Sermon II: I JOHN 4:3

"Every spirit that confesseth not that
JESUS CHRIST is come in the flesh,
is not of GOD, and this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come,
and even thou already is it in the world."

http://www.arsorandi.blogspot.ca/2013/12/collect-of-day-immaculate-conception.html

Collect of the Day: St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier
Confessor

From

The Liturgical Year

by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

The apostles being the heralds of the coming of the Messias, it was fitting that Advent should have in its calendar the name of some one among them. Divine Providence has provided for this; for, to say nothing of St. Andrew, whose feast is oftentimes past before the season of Advent has commenced, St. Thomas’s day is unfailingly kept immediately before Christmas. We will explain, later on, why St. Thomas holds that position rather than any other apostle; at present, we simply assert the fitness of there being at least one of the apostolic college, who should announce to us, in this period of the Catholic cycle, the coming of the Redeemer. But God has not wished that the first apostolate should be the only one to appear on the first page of the liturgical calendar; great also, though in a lower degree, is the glory of that second apostolate, whereby the bride of Jesus Christ multiplies her children, even in her fruitful old age, as the psalmist expresses it. There are Gentiles who have still to be evangelized; for the coming of the Messias is far from having been announced to all nations. Now of all the valiant messengers of the divine Word who have, during the last few hundred years, proclaimed the good tidings among infidel nations, there is not one whose glory is greater, who has worked greater wonders, or who has shown himself a closer imitator of the first apostles, than the modern apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier.

The life and apostolate of this wonderful man were a great triumph for our mother the holy Catholic Church; for St. Francis came just at a period when heresy, encouraged by false learning, by political intrigues, by covetousness, and by all the wicked passions of the human heart, seemed on the eve of victory. Emboldened by all these, this enemy of God spoke, with the deepest contempt, of that ancient Church which rested on the promises of Jesus Christ; it declared that she was unworthy of the confidence of men, and dared even to call her the harlot of Babylon, as though the vices of her children could taint the purity of the mother. God’s time came at last, and He showed Himself in His power: the garden of the Church suddenly appeared rich in the most admirable fruits of sanctity. Heroes and heroines issued from that apparent barrenness; and whilst the pretended reformers showed themselves to be the most wicked of men, two countries, Italy and Spain, gave to the world the most magnificent saints.

One of these is brought before us today, claiming our love and our praise. The calendar of the liturgical year will present to us, from time to time, his contemporaries and his companions in divine grace and heroic sanctity. The sixteenth century is, therefore, worthy of comparison with any other age of the Church. The so-called reformers of those times gave little proof of their desire to convert infidel countries, when their only zeal was to bury Christianity beneath the ruin of her churches. But at that very time, a society of apostles was offering itself to the Roman Pontiff, that he might send them to plant the true faith among people who were sitting in the thickest of death. But, we repeat, not one of these holy men so closely imitated the first apostles as did Francis, the disciple of Ignatius. He had all the marks and labours of an apostle: an immense world of people evangelized by his zeal, hundreds of thousands of infidels baptized by his indefatigable ministration, and miracles of every kind, which proved him, to the infidel, to be marked with the sign which they received who, living in the flesh, planted the Church, as the Church speaks in her liturgy. So that, in the sixteenth century, the east received from the ever holy city of Rome an apostle, who, by his character and his works, resembled those earlier ones sent her by Jesus Himself. May our Lord Jesus be forever praised for having vindicated the honour of the Church, His bride, by raising up Francis Xavier, and giving to men, in this His servant, a representation of what the first apostles were, whom He sent to preach the Gospel when the whole world was pagan.

Let us now read the short account given us, in the words of the Church, of this new apostle.

Francis was of noble family, and was born in the castle of Xavier, in the diocese of Pampeluna, in the year of our Lord 1506. He was a companion of St Ignatius at Paris, and one of his earliest disciples. Under his teaching, he learnt to become so wrapt in the contemplation of divine things, that he was sometimes lifted in ecstasy off the ground, which happened to him several times when he was saying Mass in public before large congregations. He earned these refreshments of the soul by the sharpest punishment of the body. He gave up the use not only of meat and wine, but also of wheaten bread; he lived on the vilest food, and ate only once every two or three days. He used an iron scourge till his blood ran freely; he shortened the hours of his rest, and lay only on the ground.

The hardness and holiness of his life had made him meet to be called to be an Apostle, and when John III., King of Portugal, asked Pope Paul III. to send to the Indies some members of the then new Society of Jesus, the Pontiff, by the advice of St Ignatius, sent Francis to enter on that vast field of labour with the powers of Apostolic Nuncio. He arrived (in India on the 6th day of May, in the year 1542.) When he began his work, it seemed as though God Himself taught him the many and difficult languages of the natives. It even happened that when he preached in one language to a mixed congregation of different nationalities, each one heard him in his own tongue wherein he was born. He travelled over countless districts, always walking, and often bare-footed. He introduced the faith into Japan, and six other countries. In India he turned many hundred thousands to Christ, and regenerated many chiefs and kings in the holy font. And notwithstanding that he was doing all these great things for God's service, so deep was his lowliness that when he wrote to St Ignatius, the General of the Society, he did so on his knees.

God was pleased to support his zeal for spreading the Gospel with many and great miracles. He gave sight to a blind man. On one occasion the supply of fresh water failed when he was at sea, and five hundred sailors were in danger of perishing by thirst, but the servant of God, by the sign of the Cross, turned salt water into fresh, and they used it for a considerable time. Some of this water was also carried into different countries, and a great number of sick persons were instantaneously cured by it. He called several dead men to life, among whom was one who had been buried the day before, and who was disinterred by command of the saint; and likewise two others who were being carried to the grave, and whom he took by the hand and restored living to their parents. He had the spirit of prophecy, and foretold many things, remote both in place and time. Utterly worn out with his labours, he died full of good works in the island of San-Chan in the Canton River, (upon the 2nd day of December, in the year of our Lord 1552.) His body was buried in quick lime, and, being again taken up, was again buried in the same, but at the end of many months it was found entirely incorrupt, and sweet, and, when cut, blood flowed freely from it. From China it was carried to Malacca, and, as soon as it reached that place, a plague, which was raging there, ceased. At length, when he had become famous throughout the whole world for new and wonderful miracles, Gregory XV. added his name to the list of the Saints.

Glorious apostle of Jesus Christ, who didst impart His divine light to the nations that were sitting in the shadows of death! We, though unworthy of the name of Christians, address our prayers to thee, that by the charity which led thee to sacrifice everything for the conversion of souls, thou wouldst deign to prepare us for the visit of the Saviour, whom our faith and our love desire. Thou was the father of infidel nations; be the protector, during this holy season, of them that believe in Christ. Before thy eyes had contemplated the Lord Jesus, thou didst make Him known to countless people; now that thou seest Him face to face, obtain for us that, when He is come, we may see Him with that simple and ardent faith of the Magi, those glorious first-fruits of the nations to which thou didst bear the admirable light.

Remember also, O great apostle, those nations which thou didst evangelize, and where now, by a terrible judgment of God, the word of life has ceased to bring forth fruit. Pray for the vast empire of China, on which thou didst look when dying, but which was not blessed with thy preaching. Pray for Japan, thy dear garden which has been laid waste by the savage wild beast, of which the psalmist speaks. May the blood of the martyrs, which was poured out on that land like water, bring it the long-expected fertility. Bless, too, all the missions which our holy mother the Church has undertaken in those lands where the cross has not yet triumphed. May the heart of the infidel be opened to the grand simplicity and light of faith; may the seed bring forth fruit a hundred-fold; may the number of thy successors in the new apostolate ever increase; may their zeal and charity fail not; may their toil receive its reward of abundant fruit; and may the crown of martyrdom, which they receive, be not only the recompense but the perfection and the triumph of their apostolic ministry. Recommend to our Lord the innumerable members of that Association, which is the means of the faith being propagated through the world, and which has thee for its patron. Pray, with a filial affection and earnestness, for that holy Society, of which thou art so bright an ornament, and which reposes on thee its firmest confidence. May it more and more flourish under the storm of trial which never leaves it at rest; may it be multiplied, that so the children of God may be multiplied by its labours; may it ever have ready, for the service of the Christian world, zealous apostles and doctors; may it not be in vain that it bears the name of Jesus.

Let us consider the wretched condition of the human race, at the time of Christ’s coming into the world. The diminution of truths is emphatically expressed by the little light which the earth enjoys at this season of the year. The ancient traditions are gradually becoming extinct; the Creator is not acknowledged. Even in the very work of His hands; everything has been made God, except the God who made all things. This frightful pantheism produces the vilest immortality, both in society at large, and in individuals. There are no rights acknowledged, save that of might. Lust, avarice, and theft, are honoured by men in the gods of their altars. There is no such thing as family, for divorce and infanticide are legalized; mankind is degraded by a general system of slavery; nations are being exterminated by endless wars. The human race is in the last extreme of misery; and unless the hand that created it reform it, it must needs sink a prey to crime and bloodshed. There are indeed some few just men still left upon the earth, and they struggle against the torrent of universal degradation; but they cannot save the world; the world despises them, and God will not accept their merits as a palliation of the hideous leprosy which covers the earth. All flesh has corrupted its way, and is more guilty than even in the days of the deluge: and yet, a second destruction of the universe would but manifest anew the justice of God; it is time that a deluge of His divine mercy should flood the universe, and that He who made man, should come down and heal him. Come then, O eternal Son of God! Give life again to this dead body; heal all its wounds; purify it; let grace superabound, where sin before abounded; and having converted the world to Thy holy law, Thou wilt have proved to all ages that Thou, who camest, was in very truth the Word of the Father; for as none but a God could create the world, so none but the same omnipotent God could save it from Satan and sin, and restore it to justice and holiness.

A Responsory of Advent

(The Roman breviary, fourth Sunday of Advent)

 R. Behold! How great is he that cometh in to save the nations; he is the King of justice, Whose generation hath no end.
 V. He comes in as our precursor, made Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech; Whose generation hath no end.

The Vision of St. Francis Xavier by Baciccio, 1675

Commemoration of

Tuesday in the First Week of Advent

From
The Liturgical Year
by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.

Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come.

From the Prophet Isaias (Is. 2. 1-3)

The word that Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem. And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

How the Church loves to hear and say these grand words of the prophet: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord! She repeats them in the Lauds of every feria in Advent; and her children bless the Lord, who, that we might have no difficulty in finding Him, has made Himself like to a high mountain; high, indeed, yet can we all ascend it. It is true that, at first, this moutain is, as we learn from another prophet, a small stone which is scarcely perceptible, and this to show the humility of the Messias at His birth; but it soon becomes great, and all people see it, and are invited to dwell on its fertile slopes, yea, to go up to its very summit, bright with the rays of the Sun of justice. It is thus, O Jesus, that Thou callest us all, and that Thou approachest towards all, and the greatness and sublimity of Thy mysteries are put within the reach of our littleness. We desire to join, without delay, that happy multitude of people which is journeying on towards Thee; we are already with them; we are resolved to fix our tent under Thy shadow, O Mountain ever blessed! There shelter us, and let us be out of reach of the noise of the world beneath us. Suffer us to go so far up, tht we may lose all sight of that same world's vanities. May we never forget those paths which lead even to the blissful summit, where the mountain, the figure, disappears, and the soul finds herself face to face with Him, whose vision eternally keeps the angels in rapture, and whose delight is to be with the children of men!

The Prophet Isaias by Lorenzo Monaco, 1405

Introit - Psalms, 118. 46-47; 116. 1-2

I will speak of Your decrees before kings without being ashamed. And I will delight in Your commands, which I love exceedingly.
Praise the Lord, all you nations; glorify Him, all you peoples! For steadfast is His kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

I will speak of Your decrees before kings without being ashamed. And I will delight in Your commands, which I love exceedingly.

Collect of the Day

Deus, qui Indiárum gentes beáti Francísci prædicatióne et miráculis Ecclésiæ tuæ aggregáre voluísti: concéde propítius; ut, cuius gloriósa mérita venerámur, virtútum quoque imitémur exémpla. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O God, You Who were pleased to gather into Your Church the peoples of the Indies by the preaching and miracles of blessed Francis, mercifully grant that we, who honor his glorious merits, may also imitate the example of his virtues. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Commemoration of the Feria in the First Week of Advent

Put forth Your power, O Lord, we beseech You, and come, that with You as our protector we may be rescued from the impending danger of our sins; and with You as our deliverer, may we obtain our salvation. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Epistle - Romans, 10. 10-18

Brethren: With the heart a man believes unto justice, and with the mouth profession of faith is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whoever believes in Him shall not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for there is the same Lord of all, rich toward all who call upon Him. For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then are they to call upon him in Whom they have not believed? But how are they to believe Him Whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear, if no one preaches? And how are men to preach unless they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace; of those who bring glad tidings of good things! But all did not obey the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? Faith, then, depends on hearing, and hearing on the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, indeed, Their voice has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Gradual - Psalms, 91. 13-14, 3; James, 1. 12

The just man shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow in the house of the Lord.
To proclaim Your kindness at dawn and Your faithfulness throughout the night. Alleluia, alleluia.
V. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been tried, he will receive the crown of life. Alleluia.

Gospel - St. Mark, 16. 15-18

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. And these signs shall attend those who believe: in My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak in new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall get well.

Offertory - Psalms, 88. 25

My faithfulness and My kindness shall be with him, and through My name shall his horn be exalted.

Secret

Grant, we beseech You, O almighty God, that the offering we make of our lowliness may be pleasing to You for the honor of Your saints, and at the same time may it cleanse us in body and mind. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Commemoration of the Feria in the First Week of Advent

May these offerings, O Lord, cleanse us by their mighty power and thus make us come purer before You Who are their author. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Preface - Common

It is truly meet and just, and profitable unto salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, through Christ, our Lord. Though whom the angels praise thy majesty, the dominions adore it, the powers are in awe. Which the heavens and the hosts of heaven together with the blessed seraphim joyfully do magnify. And do thou command that it be permitted to us to join with them in confessing thee, while we say with lowly praise:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus, Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus, qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

The Crucifixion with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist by Antonio da Firenza,  circa 1450.

Communion - St. Matthew, 24. 46-47

Blessed is that servant, whom his master, when he comes, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, he will set him over all his goods.

Post Communion

We beseech You, O almighty God, that we who have eaten the food of heaven may find in it, by the intercession of blessed Francis, Your confessor, strength against all harm. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Commemoration of the Feria in the First Week of Advent

May we receive Your mercy, O Lord, in the midst of Your temple, and thus prepare with due observance for the coming festal season of our redemption. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Death of St. Francis Xavier by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, 1690

December 3.—ST. FRANCIS XAVIER.

YOUNG Spanish gentleman, in the dangerous days of the Reformation, was making a name for himself as a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Paris, and had seemingly no higher aim, when St. Ignatius of Loyola won him to heavenly thoughts. After a brief apostolate amongst his countrymen in Rome he was sent by St. Ignatius to the Indies, where for twelve years he was to wear himself out, bearing the Gospel to Hindostan, to Malacca, and to Japan. Thwarted by the jealousy, covetousness, and carelessness of those who should have helped and encouraged him, neither their opposition nor the difficulties of every sort which he encountered could make him slacken his labors for souls. The vast kingdom of China appealed to his charity, and he was resolved to risk his life to force an entry, when God took him to Himself, and on the 2d of December, 1552, he died, like Moses, in sight of the land of promise.

Reflection.—Some are specially called to work for souls; but there is no one who cannot help much in their salvation. Holy example, earnest intercession, the offerings of our actions in their behalf—all this needs only the spirit which animated St. Francis Xavier, the desire to make some return to God.

St. Francis Xavier by Andrea Pozzo, 1701