The Liturgical Year

The Liturgical Year - Second Thursday of Advent

December 8, 2011

Read more parts here Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. De Isaia Propheta. Cap. xix. Onus Egypti. Ecce Dominus ascendet super nubem levem: at ingredietur Egypturn: et commovebuntur simulacra Egypti a facie ejus, at cor Egypti tabescet in medio ejus: et concurrere faciam Egyptios adversus Egyptios, et pugnabit vir contra fratrem suum, at vir contra amicum [...]

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The Liturgical Year - Second Wednesday of Advent

December 8, 2011

Read more parts here Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. De Isaia Propheta. Cap. xvi. Emitte Agnum Domine, dominatorem terrae, de petra deserti ad montem filiae Sion. Et erit: sicut avis fugiens, et pulli de nido avolantes, sic erunt filiae Moab in transcensu Arnon. Ini consilium, coge concilium, pone quasi noctem umbram tuam in meridie: absconde [...]

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The Liturgical Year - The Second Tuesday of Advent

December 6, 2011

Read more parts here Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus. De Isaia Propheta. Cap. xiv. Prope est ut veniat tempus ejus, et dies ejus non clongabuntur. Miserebitur enim Dominus Jacob, et eliget adhuc de Israel, et requiescere eos faciet super humum suam: adjungetur advena ad eos, et adhaerebit domui Jacob. Et tenebunt eos populi, et adducent [...]

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The Liturgical Year - The Practice of Advent Part III

December 5, 2011

Read more parts here And you, Christians, for whom the good tidings are as things that are not, because you are dead in sin, lo! He who is very life is coming among you. Yes, whether this death of sin has held you as its slave for long years, or has but freshly inflicted on [...]

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The Liturgical Year - The Practice of Advent Part II

December 4, 2011

Read more parts here For this glorious solemnity, as often as it comes round, finds three classes of men. The first, and the smallest number, are those who live, in all its plenitude, the life of Jesus who is within them, and aspire in­cessantly after the increase of this life. The second class of souls [...]

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The Liturgical Year - The Practice of Advent Part I

December 3, 2011

Read more parts here CHAPTER THE THIRD PRACTICE DURING ADVENT IF our holy mother the Church spends the time of Advent in this solemn preparation for the threefold coming of Jesus Christ; if, after the example of the prudent virgins, she keeps her lamp lit ready for the coming of the Bridegroom; we, being her [...]

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The Liturgical Year - The Mystery of Advent Part II

December 2, 2011

Read more parts here The holy Church, therefore, during Advent, awaits in tears and with ardour the arrival of her Jesus in His first coming. For this, she borrows the fervid expressions of the prophets, to which she joins her own supplications. These longings for the Messias expressed by the Church, are not a mere [...]

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The Liturgical Year - The Mystery of Advent Part I

December 1, 2011

Read more parts here CHAPTER THE SECOND THE MYSTERY OF ADVENT IF, now that we have described the characteristic features of Advent which distinguish it from the rest of the year, we would penetrate into the profound mystery which occupies the mind of the Church during this season, we find that this mystery of the [...]

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The Liturgical Year - History of Advent Part IV

November 30, 2011

Read more parts here The Greek Church still continues to observe the fast of Advent, though with much less rigour than that of Lent. It consists of forty days, beginning with November 14, the day on which this Church keeps the feast of the apostle St. Philip. During this entire period, the people abstain from [...]

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The Liturgical Year - History of Advent Part III

November 29, 2011

Read more parts here The obligation of observing this Lent, which, though introduced so imperceptibly, had by degrees acquired the force of a sacred law, began to be relaxed, and the forty days from St. Martin's day to Christmas was reduced to four weeks. We have seen that this fast began to be observed first [...]

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