Christ, Our Savior is Born!

Merry Christmas to all!

The Pope inaugurates Advent by recalling that an embryo is not an accumulation of biological material but a living being

From the L'Osservatore Romano,

On Saturday evening, 27 November, in St Peter's Basilica, the Holy Father presided at the celebration of First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent, on which the Liturgical Year of the Church begins. This year the celebration was preceded by a half-hour Prayer Vigil for unborn life and by the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The celebration ended with the Pope's prayer for life and with adoration of the sacrament and the Eucharistic Blessing. The pro-life Prayer Vigil was organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family and similar vigils were celebrated on the same day in Catholic Churches across the world. The following is a translation of the Holy Father's Homily, which was given in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,With this evening celebration the Lord gives us the grace and joy of opening the new Liturgical Year, starting with its first season: Advent, the period that commemorates the coming of God among us. Every beginning brings a special grace, because it is blessed by the Lord.In this Advent Season we shall be granted once again to experience the closeness of the One who created the world, who guides history and who cared for us to the point of deigning to become a man. This great and fascinating mystery of the God-with-us, indeed, of the God who becomes one of us, is what we shall celebrate in the coming weeks journeying towards holy Christmas. During the Season of Advent we shall feel the Church which takes us by the hand and - in the image of Mary Most Holy, expresses her motherhood, enabling us to experience the joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord, who embraces us all in his love that saves and consoles.While our hearts look forward to the annual celebration of Christ's Birth, the Church's Liturgy directs our gaze to the final goal: our encounter with the Lord who will come in the splendour of glory. For this reason in every Eucharist we "announce his death, proclaim his Resurrection until he comes again", we watch in prayer. The Liturgy does not cease to encourage and support us, putting on our lips, in the days of Advent, the cry with which the whole of Sacred Scripture ends, on the last page of the Revelation to St John: "Come, Lord Jesus" (22:20).Dear brothers and sisters, our gathering this evening for the beginning of the journey through Advent is enriched by another important reason: together with the whole Church we wish to celebrate a solemn prayer vigil for unborn life. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have accepted this invitation and to those who are specifically dedicated to welcoming and safeguarding human life in its various situations of frailty, especially when it is newly conceived and in its early stages. Precisely, the beginning of the Liturgical Year helps us live anew the expectation of God who took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself little, who becomes a child; it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is close, who chose to experience human life from the very beginning in order to save it totally, in its fullness. And so the mystery of Lord's Incarnation and the beginning of human life are closely and harmoniously connected and in tune with each other in the one saving plan of God, the Lord of the life of each and everyone. The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in a surprising way, that every human life has a very lofty and incomparable dignity.In comparison with all the other living beings that populate the earth man has an unmistakable originality. He is presented as the one unique being, endowed with intelligence and free will, as well as consisting of material reality. He lives simultaneously and inseparably in both the spiritual and the corporal dimension. This is also suggested in the text of the First Letter to the Thessalonians that has just been proclaimed: "May the God of peace himself", St Paul writes, "sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (5:23). We are therefore spirit, soul and body. We are part of this world, tied to the possibilities and limitations of our material condition, while at the same time we are open to an infinite horizon, able to converse with God and to welcome him within us. We are active in earthly realities and through them we are able to perceive God's presence and to reach out to him, Truth, Goodness and absolute Beauty. We savour fragments of life and happiness and yearn for complete fulfilment.God loves us deeply, totally and without making distinctions. He calls us to friendship with him, he makes us part of a reality beyond every imagination and every thought and word: his divine life itself. With feeling and gratitude, let us be aware of the value of every human person's incomparable dignity and of our great responsibility to all. "Christ, the final Adam", the Second Vatican Council states, "by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and his love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear… by his Incarnation, the Son of God has in a certain way united himself with each man". (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22).Believing in Jesus Christ also means seeing man in a new way, with trust and hope. Moreover, experience itself and right reason testify that the human being is capable of understanding and of wanting, conscious of himself and free, unrepeatable and irreplaceable, the summit of all earthly realities, and who demands to be recognized as a value in himself and deserves always to be accepted with respect and love. He is entitled not to be treated as an object to be possessed or a thing to be manipulated at will, and not to be exploited as a means for the benefit of others and their interests. The human person is a good in himself and his integral development must always be sought. Love for all, moreover, if it is sincere, tends spontaneously to become preferential attention to the weakest and poorest. This explains the Church's concern for the unborn, the frailest, those most threatened by the selfishness of adults and the clouding of consciences. The Church continually reasserts what the Second Vatican Council declared against abortion and against every violation of unborn life: "from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care" (ibid., n. 51). Cultural trends exist that seek to anaesthetize consciences with spurious arguments. With regard to the embryo in the mother's womb, science itself highlights its autonomy, its capacity for interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism. It is not an accumulation of biological material but rather of a new living being, dynamic and marvelously ordered, a new individual of the human species. This is what Jesus was in Mary's womb; this is what we all were in our mother's womb. We may say with Tertullian, an ancient Christian writer: "the one who will be a man is one already" (Apologeticum IX, 8), there is no reason not to consider him a person from conception. Unfortunately, even after birth, the lives of children continue to be exposed to neglect, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence and exploitation. The many violations of their rights sorrowfully wound the conscience of every person of good will. In the face of the sad view of injustices committed against human life, before and after birth, I make my own Pope John Paul II's passionate appeal to the responsibility of each and every individual: "respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this direction will you find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness!" (Encyclical Evangelium vitae, n. 5). I urge politicians, leaders of the economy and of social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture ever respectful of human life, to obtain favourable conditions and support networks for the acceptance and development of life. Let us entrust our prayers and our commitment to unborn life to the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the Son of God made man with her faith, with her maternal womb, with her attentive care, with her nurturing support, vibrant with love. Let us do so in the Liturgy - which is the place where we live the truth and where truth lives with us - adoring the divine Eucharist in which we contemplate Christ's Body, that Body which took flesh from Mary through the action of the Holy Spirit, and was born of her in Bethlehem for our salvation. Ave, verum Corpus, natum de Maria Virgine!

"Bishop Requests Novena for Seminarian Philip Johnson"

As we approach the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Burbidge has requested that the entire Diocese of Raleigh participate in a novena for my healing through the intercession of Our Lady. Philip is a good friend of the council and of the parish. The novena will begin on November 29th, ending on Our Lady's Feast Day on December 8th.
Please pray for Philip!
The Novena is as follows:

Father all-powerful and ever-living God,
You chose the Immaculate Virgin Mary,
the mother of Your Son, to be the mother and help of all Christians.

As she endured her bitter agony at the cross of her Son,
she was consoled by You with the hope of His ressurection.

Now, in heaven she consoles with a mother's love all who turn to her with faith,
until the day of the Lord dawns in glory.

-Pray the Memorare-

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
That never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence,
I fly to thy, O Virgin of virgins, my mother;
to thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

-We pray-
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
we are filled with confidence that your prayers on our behalf
will be graciously heard before the throne of God.
Bring our seminarian, Philip Johnson healing, peace, courage, and strength
as he shares in the suffering of your Son.
O Glorious Mother of God,
in memory of your joyous Immaculate Conception,
hear our prayers and obtain for us our petitions.

Keep Christ in Christmas

In a time when all things religious are being discouraged and swept away, it’s refreshing to know that the Order sponsors the “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign to remind people that Christmas is above all a holy day celebrating the birth of Christ. Keeping Christ in Christmas is keeping the very heart and meaning of the Christmas celebration alive. At Christmas we honor the birth of Jesus Christ. At times our Savior is forgotten in the commercialization of the season and the rush to get ready for holiday festivities. Each year the Knights of Columbus takes a leading role in reminding society that Christmas is first and foremost a holy day. One of the best ways to do this is participating in the Order’s “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign. Here are some of the things we are doing:
•Urge all members to display a nativity scene on their property or at their place of business if they can.
•Resist the temptation, even when you’re in a rush or short of space, to abbreviate “Christmas” as “Xmas.” Reducing Christ to an “X” trivializes the message of the season.
The Best Presents Can’t Be Wrapped
This holiday season give the gift of yourself within your council, community and family. Give these or similar presents of friendship, understanding, kindness, love and compassion:

•Serve or prepare meals at a soup kitchen.

•Bring presents to children or elderly people in the hospital.

Clean, repair and refurbish a church in a poor neighborhood.

Visit someone who’s shut-in.

•Send a Christmas card to someone you have not seen or talked to in years.

Invite a friend or neighbor who will be alone to share your Christmas celebration.

•Reconcile with a friend or relative with whom you have quarreled. Apologize if you were wrong.

•Provide transportation to shelters for homeless people.

•Wish people you meet a good day and a happy and holy Christmas.

•Get the family together to clean out all the closets and dressers. Donate usable clothing, shoes, blankets and other items to a program for needy families.

•Send care packages to military personnel stationed overseas.

•Sing Christmas carols at nursing homes or hospitals.

•Collect baby clothes, blankets, food, diapers or money and donate these items to an organization that helps needy people.

•Supply car seats or cradles to underprivileged mothers.

•Sponsor a drive for children to donate their old toys to youngsters.

•Be a part of the holiday spirit by undertaking one or more of the items listed above and help make Christmas merry for someone else and yourself.

Remember to keep Christ in Christmas: See video below!

Archbishop Piacenza: Formation for Priests Is a Key Priority

Visor Lift to Zenit for this very good article. His Holiness is on the right track to ensuring the formation of the future priests of Christ's one true church. This time the proof is in the pudding.

click here

October, the Month of the Rosary

October is held in devotional honor to the Rosary by Holy Mother Church. As a result all Knights are asked to pray the Rosary daily with their families. Please join us in the Church-wide devotion to the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To learn how to pray the Rosary visit the Latin Treasury of prayers under Rosarium.


REMEMBER, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, what ineffable power thy divine Son hath given thee over His own adorable Heart. Filled with confidence in thy merits, we come before thee and implore thy protection. O heavenly Treasurer of the Heart of Jesus, that Heart which is the inexhaustible source of all graces, which thou mayest open to us at thy good pleasure, in order that from it may flow forth upon mankind the riches of love and mercy, light and salvation, that are contained therein; grant unto us, we beseech thee, the favors which we seek ... We can never, never be refused by thee, and since thou art Mother, O our Lady of the Sacred Heart, graciously receive our prayers and grant our request. Amen.

MEMORARE, o Domina Nostra a Sacro Corde, quam ineffabilem tibi potentiam Filius tuus divinus contulerit in suum ipsius Cor adorabile. Pleni nos fiduciae in meritis tuis, accedimus implorantes tuum praesidium. O Cordis Iesu Thesauraria caelestis, illius Cordis, fontis inexhausti gratiarum omnium, quod potes ipsa pro tua voluntate recludere, ut defluant inde in homines divitiae amoris et misericordiae, luminis et salutis, quae in ipso continentur; concede nobis, obsecramus, beneficia quae petimus ... Nulla nobis, nulla a te erit repulsa, et, quoniam Mater Tu nostra es, o Domina Nostra a Sacro Corde, preces nostras benigne habe et benigne exaudi. Amen.

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