Domestic Church

Since I am directing the upcoming (tonight!!) Misawa Home Educators production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, I haven't had time to write anything except the column for the parish bulletin. So here's this week's effort:

Domestic Church "The Second Vatican Council calls the family the 'Ecclesia domestica', the domestic Church, teaching that parents are 'by word and example...the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children.'" (CCC1656)

Ground hog day is this Wednesday, February 2^nd. Did you ever wonder why February 2^nd would be chosen as the day to look for the coming spring?

It may be because February 2^nd, the Feast of the Presentation, was once the end of the Christmas season. On this feast day, we celebrate Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, presented to God in the Hebrew temple. The Mass readings tell us of Simeon and Anna, holy prophets who waited God’s Messiah at the temple. Upon seeing the Christ Child, Simeon exclaims

"Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;

your word has been fulfilled:

My own eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared in the sight of every people:

A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.”

--Luke 2:29-32

Christ the Light has come into the world.

And so we celebrate light, the Light of the World. This coincides with the gradual return of light, slightly lengthening days, of spring in the northern hemisphere. So, people began to think of spring, and wonder how much longer winter’s cold might last. Their attempts to predict this led to the traditional search for a groundhog to “predict” the weather. And it makes sense that they searched on this, the last day of their Christmas celebration..

It is fun to make Christian connections with our secular holidays. Often our children do not realize how much of our culture is based on Christian ideals and practices, and it is a blessing to be able to share these celebrations with them.

How to celebrate the Presentation at home? With candles!

This celebration of the Light of the World is also the day that Christians blessed candles for liturgical use in the coming year, and so it is also called Candlemas. Light some candles on your dinner table or put birthday candles on a special dessert. Find a favorite song about light; take a walk in the evening dark and enjoy the starlight. Talk about Mary, the pure Mother, who presented her Son to God on this day. She is also known as The Star of the Sea and as the Sorrowful Mother (because of the suffering and death of her Son, which Simeon also predicts in the second chapter of Luke). Once again, suffering and joy are tied up together in the story of Our Lord and His holy Mother, Mary. You might read the story of the Presentation in the Bible aloud with your family, pray the Canticle of Simeon together, but most of all, take another opportunity to Rejoice in the coming of our Savior!

For other beautiful ideas for celebrating the day, check out :

Cottage Blessings:

http://alice.typepad.com/cottage_blessings/2007/01/when_candelmas_.html

and Women for Faith and Family:

http://www.wf-f.org/Presentation.html

Words, words, words

The little entry somewhere down to the right of here is hardly doing justice to the question of what reading material is currently taking up space on my night stand!  Here's what it looked like:

I doubt it's the most esoteric collection of books ever assembled, but I think it'll do me some good to go through them and remember why they're there.  This is a slightly more organized view of them:

And here's their "status", one at a time:

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville - The "classic treatise on the American way of life".  It's quoted in several other books in this list.  I haven't started it yet...

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon - A novel about a Protestant minister living in a cozy, southern town.  Judy recommended it.  I'm about 60 pages in...

The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek - A "passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production."  I'm learning a lot about the differences between socialism and capitalism, but it's not easy to read.  I'm in the third chapter of sixteen...

Victory over Vice by Archbishop Fulton Sheen - A commentary on each of the seven deadly sins with a look at how to embrace the corresponding virtues.  If you only read one page, make sure it is 108.  I finished this book, but it's worth reading over and over again...

Surrender by Carmen Marcoux - It's a Catholic novel Judy read.  I started it, but I guess it wasn't that engaging.  Maybe I'll get back to it when I finish At Home in Mitford...

The Lies About Money by Ric Edelman - A book on personal finance, it's a well presented argument against the mutual fund industry with suggestions for creating an investment portfolio without mutual funds.

The Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read - I remember starting this, but I don't remember finishing.  Not sure what that says about it.  Maybe I should try again...

Economics for Dummies by Sean Masaki Flynn, PhD -I got this more for the kids than myself, in case they wanted to learn a little about economics.  It's an easy-to-understand overview of of the basic concepts, as you'd expect from a Dummies book.  I did finish it...

Pensees by Blaise Pascal -A 400-year old defense of Christian beliefs.  I'm only a few pages into it...

The Fatal Conceit--The Errors of Socialism by F.A. Hayek - This it to read after The Road to Serfdom.  It's one of several books I purchased so that I can better enunciate why I disagree with the policies of the current administration...

The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton - An epic poem about "King Alfred's heroic battle against the Danes in 878."  I've read a chapter or so.  Probably stopped when the book was buried...

The Travels by Marco Polo - You know it's time to clean when you have two different versions of the same book on your nightstand (see below).  It appears I've only read the introduction and the prologue...

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury - A classic story about life in rural Illinois during the summer of 1928.  I'm about 2/3 of the way through it.  Not sure why I stopped...

Frequent Confession--It's Place in the Spiritual Life by Benedict Baur - "Instructions and considerations for the frequent reception of the sacrament of Penance."  I haven't started it yet.  It looks like good material to have on hand during Eucharistic Adoration...

Fatherless by Brian J. Gail - I just received it on Epiphany and I haven't started reading it.  It's a novel about the "Catholic experience in America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries."   It's pretty likely the next book I'll actually finish...

Every Man's Battle by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey - A "resource for overcoming the struggle and remaining strong in the face of temptation."  I've read more than half of it, but it's best taken in small doses...

The Gargoyle Code by Dwight Longenecker - This is a book on spiritual warfare written in the style of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  It's an easy, but enlightening, read, designed to be digested slowly over the seven weeks of Lent.  Since Lent does come to an end, I finished this book...

The Discernment of Spirits--An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living by Timothy M. Gallagher, OMV -This must have been a gift from Judy.  I haven't yet begun to read it...

The Heart--An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity by Dietrich von Hildebrand - Another gift and still not started...

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo - I've barely begun it.  I suppose if I were to keep a travelogue, it would turn out something like this...

Listen, My Son--St Benedict for Fathers by Dwight Longenecker - It's the Rule of St Benedict divided into 120 pieces with the author's commentary on each.  It could be read daily over four months.  It took me longer, but I did finish it.  I had thought I would continue to re-read it, but I haven't so far.  Going through it once a year would be fruitful...

Love & Responsibility by Karol Wojtyla - A "remarkably eloquent and resourceful defense of Catholic tradition in the sphere of family life and sexual morality."  I hear it's dense reading.  I haven't yet worked up the energy to begin...






The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona & Peter Opie - I have no idea how this ended up on my nightstand, at the bottom of one pile, no less.  Judy Gibbons inscribed her name at the top of the first page and the price was only $9.95.  It must be hers from college...