Vijaya Bodach
Reading, Writing & Ruminating
Monday, December 2, 2024
December Saints and Feast Days
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Advent: A Time for Waiting, Praying and Singing
One of my favorite ways to prepare for Christmas is to pray 15x/day beginning on the Feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30th) until Christmas Eve:Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayers and grant my desires (mention your intentions here), through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His most Blessed Mother. Amen. It places me immediately at the manger and into the mystery of Christmas. So many prayers have been answered over the years. Deo gratias! I love how succinctly Enid M. Chadwick depicts Advent (and other feasts and other Anglo-Catholic traditions) in My Book of the Church's Year.
A couple of years ago, I learned the delightful story below about Gregorian chant. Our choir director sings the trope that tells how the Holy Ghost whispered into the ear of Pope St. Gregory in response to his prayer and then we all come in for the Introit for the first Sunday of Advent, Ad te levavi... When I poked around to learn more, I came across the art here. Translation: When the most holy Gregory poured out prayers to the Lord that He might surrender to him from above a musical gift in song then the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and enlightened his heart to such a degree that at last he began to sing saying this: Ad te levavi... (Introit for the first Sunday of Advent). A most blessed Advent to all.
A couple of years ago, I learned the delightful story below about Gregorian chant. Our choir director sings the trope that tells how the Holy Ghost whispered into the ear of Pope St. Gregory in response to his prayer and then we all come in for the Introit for the first Sunday of Advent, Ad te levavi... When I poked around to learn more, I came across the art here. Translation: When the most holy Gregory poured out prayers to the Lord that He might surrender to him from above a musical gift in song then the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and enlightened his heart to such a degree that at last he began to sing saying this: Ad te levavi... (Introit for the first Sunday of Advent). A most blessed Advent to all.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Thanksgiving Day
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Happy Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 21, 2024
A Shower of Blessings
Friday, November 15, 2024
Marian Eucharistic Conference Recap
Tidbits from the conference speakers. You can learn more from their excellent books and talks online:
Fr. Larry Richards is such an energetic priest. He speaks the hard truths that we don't always want to hear. I love how he runs his parish--he makes the people take three classes on: Jesus is Lord; worship; service. If you want to be an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, then you'd better have extraordinary devotion to the Holy Eucharist, meaning spending time with Him in Adoration.
How are you? Blessed. Who's the first who said it? Mary in her Magnificat. We have one purpose in life--to do God's holy will. He speaks but we don't listen. Be still and silent. Sit with the Scriptures with an open heart. We need the Heart of Jesus. Offer your poor heart to Him and He'll give you His Heart. Learn to love from Him.
Fr. Larry told us a story about a American and a Japanese in a POW camp. The Japanese man was very sick, so the American would share everything he had with him, be it food or a blanket. When he realized that the man might die, he thought, I've shared everything except Jesus, my Savior. So he told the dying man about Him, and the dying man said, "If Jesus is anything like you, I can't wait to meet Him."
Fr. Chris Alar is passionate about Divine Mercy. And Mary as the mother of Mercy. He quoted Fr. Don Calloway: "If you could make your mother, wouldn't you make her perfect?" Mary is the guide to Jesus. In Genesis, who crushes the head of the serpent? Mary. Who does Satan fear more? God or Mary? He then told us a story about wrestling in high school. He lost to a Japanese national champion. Yet, both his father and his coach said, "good job." But when he was in 4th grade, he drew a girl, who was confident. He was terrified--to lose to a girl would be complete humiliation. Likewise, Satan knows God is God. But to lose to a 15-yr-old Jewish girl is absolute humiliation. It wounds his pride.
There are four Marian Dogmas: her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, her Perpetual Virginity, her Maternity--she is the mother of King Jesus. She is our advocate. Protestants have a difficult time with Mary. And because our barbershop chorus is practicing Christmas songs for a concert, I'm reminded why we have songs like Mary Did You Know? It's a lovely lullaby that invites us to ponder like Mary, but the second half of the first verse is flat out wrong [I propose a revision to make it theologically sound because words matter]:
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you [has done delivered you]
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Prayers Answered--Hallelujah!
These past four years, we've seen a terrible deterioration in our nation and instability in the world. Public policy regarding Covid was tyranny. So many people's livelihoods were destroyed due to the lockdowns, especially the small businesses. So many were coerced to take the shots that have done more harm than good. And the lies!!! Suppression of valuable information. Persecuting anybody who questions the narrative. And the relentless persecution of President Trump. And yet, I believe that God allowed us to have leaders who were incompetent at best and evil at worst as a punishment for our sins as a nation. I am thankful because these past four years exposed the corruption and collusion within the govt. along with the media and big tech. Trump didn't have to run given all the grief he's been given for the past ten years, including two assassination attempts; he could've retired in his palatial home in Florida. But he fought for the American people. We the people came to support him.
I predicted to my friends that he'd win in a landslide, mostly because I couldn't imagine anyone so blind that they'd want to vote for such a weak candidate as Harris. She has no accomplishments to show, only a great desire to have abortion on demand. It is so bizarre that so many people still supported her for something so horrible. I wanted Trump to win the popular vote too, so there'd be no question. We the people have spoken.
We the people have been praying and fasting for our nation. I am so thankful to God that finally we can return to some sanity. It's going to take some time to clean up the various departments; he is surrounding himself with knowledgeable people who can help him and I am hopeful. As are so many of our young friends. We oldies were invited to a mega MAGA party and it was such a consolation to see the red wave across the country. Last night, when I went to bed, I knew we'd pulled back from the precipice. Thank you, Lord. With Your help, we can make America great again. This is my prayer from America the Beautiful:
God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.