Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
December 29, 2009

Our Christmas week could best be described as though we were a family of baby birds,
sitting in a nest, in waiting for our morsel of sustenance each day from our Mother Church.
How fitting as we entertain the poetry of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas',
that so much of the Christian symbolism is represented through~

...the partridge in a pear tree,
...two-turtle doves,
...three french hens,
...four calling birds,
...six geese a-laying, and the
...seven swans a-swimming

The unique gift presented by each 'family of birds'
in this Christmas carol, seems to resonate to me this year,
a sense of mission, expressed uniquely, that serves the 'loving unity of all people'.
The essence of vocation, as a response to the will of God in the life of our family,
has blossomed, even as we witnessed
to the marriage of Jordan and Kelly this Advent at Holy Trinity Parish.

This theme of the family that grows in holiness,
has been lovingly expressed most especially this past Sunday,
the feast of the Holy Family, by our Father in Faith, Pope Benedict XVI.
At a time in history,
when the mission of the family is less understood
and clouded by the winds of secular advancements,
our Holy Father is there is offer us the words of encouragement,
and to unite us with the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
He reminds us that the family is precisely the way in which
God chose to enter into time and encourages us
to dedicate ourselves to this mission of family love.

I have posted some of Pope Benedict's quotes
from his address in Saint Peter's Square before praying the Angelus on Sunday,
December 27th, on the Feast of the Holy Family,
as he encourages us, as though he were sitting with us in our living rooms,
fortifying us in his apostolic blessings for our families.

Christmas Blessings,
Sharon

"God wishes to reveal Himself by being born of a human family,
and hence the human family becoming an icon of God",
He continues,"the human family is, in a certain sense,
the icon of the Trinity because of the love between its members
and the fruitfulness of that love".

"God, by having come into the world in the bosom of a family,
shows that this institution is a sure way to meet and know Him,
and a permanent call to work for the loving unity of all people.
Thus, one of the greatest services which we as Christians
can offer our fellow men and women is
to show them the serene and solid witness of a family
founded upon marriage between a man and a woman,
defending it and protecting it,
because it is of supreme importance for the present and future of humankind.

"In truth, the family is the best school in which to learn
to live the values that dignify individuals and make peoples great.
There too sufferings and joys are shared,
as everyone feels cloaked in the affection that reigns in the home
by the mere fact of being members of the same family".

Benedict XVI prayed to God that family homes may always experience
"this love of total commitment and fidelity
which Jesus brought into the world by His birth,
nourishing and strengthening it with daily prayer,
the constant practice of virtue,
reciprocal understanding and mutual respect.

"I encourage you - trusting in the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy,
Queen of Families, and the powerful protection of St. Joseph, her husband
- tirelessly to dedicate yourselves to this beautiful mission
the Lord has placed in your hands.
Be sure of my closeness and affection", he concluded,
"and I pray you carry a very special greeting from the Pope
to those of your loved ones who suffer greatest need and difficulties".

www.holytrinityparish.net
December 19, 2009
Saturday
2:30 P.M.

The day is here! It's as if time is standing still!

Revelations 22:17
The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'!
Let everyone who listens answer, 'Come'
Then let all who are thirsty come,
all who want it may have
the water of life, and have it free.

www.holytrinityparish.net

On this day before our wedding, this Friday in Advent,
I am especially thoughtful of Our Lady and how one Good Friday,
she was not to be consoled.
I ask her to place this marriage ever so close to her heart,
and within the folds of her mantle.

Kelly has chosen the 'Ave Maria' to be sung
while she and Jordan consecrate their marriage to her care.
I remember well hearing Cathy C. sing this during a Mass offered by Archbishop Beltran
for our home school families at Saint Monica's, years ago.
Cathy introduced Jordan and Kelly years later during the Triduum festivities
at Clear Creek Monastery.
As I hear this angelic psalter sung on Saturday,
I will be remembering all our friends who could not attend,
and especially Cathy for her gift of song and intuitions of love.

Ave Maria Gratia plena
Maria Gratia plena
Maria Gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tui Jesus

Ave Maria
Ave Maria Mater dei
Ora pro nobis pecatoribus
Ora, ora pro nobis
Ora ora pro nobis pecatoribus

Nunc et in hora mortis
In hora mortis, mortis nostrae
In hora mortis nostrae
Ave Maria!

Ave Maria Prayer : The Latin text of the Ave Maria prayer
set to the music by Franz Schubert

Ave Maria
German translation by Adam Storck from
"The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott

Ave Maria! Ave Maria! maiden mild!
Listen to a maiden's prayer!
Thou canst hear though from the wild,
Thou canst save amid despair.
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care,
Though banish'd, outcast and reviled -
Maiden! hear a maiden's prayer;
Mother, hear a suppliant child!
Ave Maria!

Ave Maria! undefiled!
The flinty couch we now must share
Shall seem this down of eider piled,
If thy protection hover there.
The murky cavern's heavy air
Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled;
Then, Maiden! hear a maiden's prayer;
Mother, list a suppliant child!
Ave Maria!

Ave Maria! stainless styled!
Foul demons of the earth and air,
From this their wonted haunt exiled,
Shall flee before thy presence fair.
We bow us to our lot of care,
Beneath thy guidance reconciled;
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer,
And for a father hear a child!
Ave Maria!

Ave Maria
German translation by Adam Storck from
"The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott

Hail, Mary,
Full of Grace
The Lord is with you
Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb,
Jesus
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

www.holytrinityparish.net

On this Second Day before our wedding,
Thursday, I am reflecting on this beautiful tabernacle and sharing the hymn that
Kelly has chosen for Holy Communion because it was on a Thursday
that Our Lord shared in the Last Supper,
our first Mass as His Sacred Gift of Presence.

Kelly has chosen 'Panis Angelicus'
written by Saint Thomas Aquinas to be sung by the cantor.
I love hearing it sung in Latin,
even as I cherish the simplicity of the English translation below.
This beautiful prayer is my prayer of petition for Kelly and Jordan
as they begin their new life together.


Bread of Angels,
made the bread of men;
The Bread of heaven
puts an end to all symbols:
A thing wonderful!
The Lord becomes our food:
poor, a servant, and humble.
We beseech Thee,
Godhead One in Three
That Thou wilt visit us,
as we worship Thee,
lead us through Thy ways,
We who wish to reach the light
in which Thou dwellest.
Amen.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

www.holytrinityparish.net

"The Lord is coming and will not delay;
He will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal
Himself to every nation".
Hb:2, 1Cor 4

Three Days Before Our Wedding
December 16th, 20009

As Kelly leaves Oklahoma at the break of dawn,
this night shot of Holy Trinity inspires my prayer for her safe journey home to us.
The wedding psalm is a companion to my divine reading today.
It is entitled,
'The Royal Wedding Song'.

PSALM 45:10-17

Listen, daughter, pay careful attention:
forget your nation and your ancestral home,
then the king will fall in love with your beauty.
He is your master now, bow down to him.

The daughter of Tyre will solicit your favor with gifts,
the wealthiest nations, with jewels set in gold.
Dressed in brocades, the king's daughter
is led in to the king,
with bridesmaids in her train.

Her ladies-in-waiting follow
and enter the king's palace to general rejoicing.

Your ancestors will be replaced by sons
whom you will make lords of the whole world.

I shall immortalize your name,
nations will sing your praises for ever.

www.holytrinityparish.net
Fourth Day Before the Wedding
This, our fourth day before our wedding,
is a day of hustle and bustle for Kelly,
as she spends her last day in Oklahoma before driving to Virginia
with some of her bridal party,
leaving Wednesday morning at O'dark thirty.

On Jordan's fourth day before his wedding,
he in on his way to Norfolk to spend the night on a ship,
not exactly a pleasure cruise when hosted by the Marine Corps.

As these days slowly evolve into bringing us all together,
I am looking to the prayers of petition that will be offered
during the Nuptial Mass,
as I invite you all to join me
in prayer.

For Jordan and Kelly that they will always give God first place in their lives, that they will enjoy the support of friends and the blessing of children, let us pray to the Lord...
Lord, hear our prayer.

That Jordan, Kelly and their children will be a source of inspiration and support to those around them, let us pray to the Lord...
Lord, hear our prayer.

For Jordan and Kelly's ancestors,
both living and deceased, and for all who helped them grow in faith,
let us pray to the Lord...
Lord, hear our prayer.

www.holytrinityparish.net

On this Monday, our fifth day before our wedding, it is this gospel reading that Jordan and Kelly have chosen that will serve to inspire my prayer time today.
Kelly especially chose this reading because Jordan has accepted the call to serve his country in all the ways of sacrifice and love...
no less of a call for their marriage.

This Gospel reading will be offered by Father Oswalt, our family pastor from Oklahoma, whom Kelly and Jordan have asked to preside over their Nuptial Mass, here in Virginia.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 15: 12-16

Jesus said to his disciples: "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not kow what his master is doing, I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you."

www.holytrinityparish.net

Love is....

This Guadete Sunday, December 13th, six days before our wedding,
we spent with Jordan in anticipation of the abundantly blessed week that we all face as our families begin to arrive on Wednesday.
I chose this Sacred Heart photo to post with this second reading that Jordan and Kelly have chosen to be read by my parents during their Nuptial Mass on Saturday.
Almost twenty-five years ago, my own Aunt Wyn and Uncle Zoe read this at our wedding.
I still remember when it was read back then, because my Aunt was so filled with emotion
that she paused for a moment. She gave us the gift of reading from her heart.

May Jordan and Kelly find the richest rewards as they grow in their understanding together
of the greatest of all gifts, love.

Even still today, each time this divine reading comes my way,
I am challenged to discovery in my own deeds of all that love is not.

As I begin the tasks of a hostess, I carry this reading within my heart as a prayer of petition
and offering to the Lord.
May I be granted the grace to desire the truest expressions of unfailing love.

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians
12:31-13:8

Brothers and Sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And If I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is ptient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices iwth the truth. It bears all things, believes all tings, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

www.holytrinityparish.net

On this seventh day before our wedding,
Jordan and I are preparing to offer the first reading
during Jordan and Kelly's nuptial Mass.
I chose this stained glass masterpiece from their Church as it reminds me of the triune family charism we have in the Holy Trinity with the mystical Body of Christ.

They have picked their first reading from the
Book of Genesis 2:18-24

The Lord God said: "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the Lord God formed out of the ground various animals and various birds of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

So the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called "woman." for out of "her man" this one has been taken.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one body.

www.holytrinityparish.net

First and Last Words

On this eighth day before our wedding,
I am centered on the scripture reading of the
wedding feast at Cana where we find Our Lady-Mother
attending to the details of the nuptial couple running
out of wine at their wedding banquet.
His first sign through her last words,

~Do Whatever He Tells You~

John 2:1-11

These will also be the very first words
that Jordan and Kelly will see
as they approach the altar on their wedding day.

HIC EST FILIUS MEUS DILECTUS,IN QUO MIHI BENE COMPLACIUI;
IPSUM AUDITE

"This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
Listen to Him"

Matthew 17: spoken by God, Our Father, to
Our Lord's groomsmen,
~Peter, James, and John~

May this Fatherly Wisdom and Motherly Advice
serve this new beginning for Jordan and Kelly,
as they arrive in single-hearted love
and depart in the Triune embrace.
~Through Him, with Him, in Him~
under the mantle of Our Lady-Mother.

Prayerfully expectant,
Sharon

www.holytrinity.net

Dear Mothers,
This morning, December 10th,
my Advent divine reading time is steeped in
reflections of the wedding banquet of the Lord,
as we are only nine days away from Jordan and Kelly's wedding!
I invite you to pray with this 'mother of the groom'
these nine days before the wedding,
before the Blessed Sacrament of the very space we will all gather in His name
on December 19, 2009 at Holy Trinity Parish in Gainesville, Va.
Thank you, my mother-friends,
for joining me during this time of prayerful reflection,
as hand-matrons of the Lord
with lamps filled to the brim with the oil of joyful expectations.

Matthew 23:1-13
~The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids~

Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like this:
Ten Bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and fiver were sensible.
The foolish ones did take their lamps, but they bought no oil,
whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps.
The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep.
But at midnight there was a cry,
"The bridegroom is here!
Go out and meet him."
At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps,
and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones,
"Give us some of your oil:
our lamps are going out".
But they replied,
"There may not be enough for us and you,
you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves".
They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived.
Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed.
The other bridesmaids arrived later.
"Lord, Lord" They said, "open the door for us."
But he replied, "I tell you solemnly, I do not know you".
So stay awake, because you do not know the day or the hour.


As we prepare to witness this Sacrament of Matrimony
between Jordan and Kelly,
we ask for abundant blessings on them
during this time of preparation.
May we all continue to
radiate the grace we have received from the oil of the Sacramental life
we are granted.
Sharon

Keeping Christ in Advent

"Justice shall flourish in His days,
and profound peace,
till the moon be no more."
Psalm 72

December 1st, 2009


As I awoke this morning to the amazing fullness of light
coming from this December moon,
I found my camera and stepped out into the cold
without knowing why I was drawn to the dawn in such a way.
I then unwrapped my December 'Magnificat Publication'
and found myself pondering the Hymn below,
delighted to have this picture as a way to think of
Our Lord in His coming as blazing through the night.

I began reminiscing about our mother's night together
when we encountered the divine reading of the
ten bridemaids parable
offered by our Lord,
recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 25.

How Our Lord designs our movements
when we gather in His name.
I invite you to visit this psalm in thanksgiving
for all the Lord provides us
through the friendship of mothers.

~Hymn~
p. 18 Magnificat

Come, light our souls in constant flame
to scatter darkness by Your Name.
O Jesus, through this passing night,
Let your salvation be our light.

Like virgins with their lamps in hand,
we watch for You as here we stand.
With oil of hope and lasting fire,
We trust in You, our one desire.

Make haste, O Lord, for Your return;
Until that time may lamps still burn.
O Father, Son and Spirit blest,
We offer praise in watch and rest.

A Mother's Advent Prayer

First Sunday in Advent
November 29th, 2009

My Dear Mother-Friend,
My Lady-Mother Mary,
How I have waited to come upon this time
to visit with you in mysteriously joyful ways!
Motherhood is rich in joyful expectations.
May I take my place at your feet,
as a mother who remembers well,
the joy, reverence and time in prayer
before each of my own children were born.
How much it means to me to ponder the fullness of your joy,
especially during these four weeks
before your Son and Savior came to us all!
Increase my reverence as I serve my own children
and help me to rest in your joy
which completes the shadows of joy in my own daily tasks.
Help me to be a mother of prayer and prudence
especially now when so many tasks come about
for the mother of a family.
Stay with me each day and help prepare me
for my time of visitation in the manger
on that day when time stands still.
Will I be ready?
Will four weeks be enough time
to quiet my soul and ponder the miracle of joy
that has come to us through you?
I will wait on you, Mary.
Teach me to pray and to love.

Your daughter first,
Sharon

Saint Andrew, Pray for us!
Saint Andrew is a priest after my own motherly heart,
as he seems to have a real way with family dynamics.
He brings his own brother, Peter, to the Lord
and is happy to receive his place behind him in the Lord's plan.

He brings the loaves and fishes with the little boy
and is happy to share in the miracle of bountiful nourishment.

Mostly, Saint Andrew's special way of expressing his love
speaks to me of how completely he conformed
to the will of his long-awaited Savior.
To even reach martyrdom by being crucified on the X-shaped cross,
reveals the pain and agony of conforming even his very bones
to the shape of that which means 'Christ' in Greek, 'X'!
Was there anything that he would not give to the Lord?
In my motherly encounters today,
I turn to this priestly patron Saint of the conforming will.
I ask Saint Andrew this day to assist me,
should any expression of my own will
not be in conformity to the Lord's plan.
During the very first Advent,
over 2000 years ago,
I wonder if Our Lady prayed for those whom
Our Lord, her Son, would invite into
abiding apostolic friendship,
in the years to come.

This Novena, although not directed to Saint Andrew,
reveals tender, attentive love to the details of that moment in time,
there in the manger in Bethlehem.
The tradition invites one to pray this 15 times a day
until Christmas Eve.
Some have recommended a family pray by dividing up the recitation
as necessary, perhaps five times at each meal.

Saint Andrew Christmas Novena
November 30th-December 24th

~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 piercing cold...

In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God!
to hear my prayers and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Savior, Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother.
Amen.