Now matter how small... .

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US Catholic

Advent yields to Christmas. It's still a little early - only a little early - to plunge into the topic of Christmas. The Nativity is, of course, our destination, and it is fast approaching. Called out of every nation, we are gathering toward Bethlehem, called to a census not as Quirinius at the decree of Emperor Augustus provoked, but as the Lamb convokes, to wake us to God's love for us.

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The approach to the Nativity of Our Lord quickens. The wait diminishes; our gait increases. Hosanna in excelsis! Perhaps those words, the words of the angels heralding the arrival of the Lord, the Hosanna of the Gloria of the Mass, will be sung or said with greater zeal at the return of the Gloria in the Liturgy during the Christmas season. There, in the Gloria that returns like the light now returning in the northern hemisphere, we meet at Bethlehem. May our voices unite with the chorus of Angels in the Gloria, at the Bethlehem in every Mass, to offer here on earth a more perfect hymn to God.
Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. - Psalm 150
A Gift To Be Shared

Good and faithful men and their families, our pastor and assistant priests and the flock who followed them into the Ordinariate, have left comforts of one kind or another, launching out into the deep as commanded by the Lord (Lk 5:4), leaving the stability of their former homes to walk to Bethlehem to join the convocation of the Lamb.

A bountiful harvest is sure to follow such deep trust in God. God, according to His will, not ours, works miracles among those who trust in Him.

Indeed, that harvest has begun. Cradle Catholics and converts like yours truly are steadily trickling into the community of Saint John Henry Newman, one of some 40+ Ordinariate parishes and communities-in-formation. The Ordinariate Mass, called Divine Worship, is a banquet for the soul. Divine Worship - its familiarity and strangeness, its warmth and majesty - defies the limited room of a blog post to describe it. That said, visitors here are welcome to click on the links in the right column of this blog which lead to informative sites, videos, homilies, etc., that offer additional opportunities to discover the Ordinariate and Divine Worship.

Most Ordinariate communities are smaller than your typical Roman Catholic parish. No matter how small a community is - 10, twenty, 50, a hundred souls - the love of Jesus Christ can there be found in abundance.The community of which I am a member is a safe harbour and oasis of faith, hope, love and hospitality. I am grateful for the gift of the Ordinariate. I am grateful that God led me into an Ordinariate community and allows me to serve there in the sacred Liturgy.

Christmas, an entire season not merely one day, so often focused on as a time of gift giving, is a season wherein the gifts of the Ordinariate and Divine Worship will be celebrated by yours truly with deep gratitude and a fervent desire to share with others the joy to be found in the midst of the Ordinariate family.


Last Steps To Bethlehem

The journey of Advent is a four Sunday walk of purification. The Sacrament of Penance is a profoundly beautiful opportunity to prepare for Christmas, to better honour the Father's Gift. As we approach the end of the beginning (Advent), to begin again or anew, perhaps a visit to the confessional would be an appropriate activity to better dispose oneself to His grace to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and the manifestation of the Lord.

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