by popadmin | Jan 9, 2022 | Parish Life
Saturday Afternoon, 15 January
- No confessions at 3.30p
- 4p Anticipated Latin EF Mass
- 5p Anticipated English Sung Mass (livestreaming Masked Mass in Croghan Hall with Communion)
- Blessing of the Great Nativity with Prosecco Toast for Donors will be rescheduled at a later date
- 6p Adoration Chapel Closes
Sunday, 16 January
- No Mass, RE, Vespers, ministry or other events (CYO, basketball, etc)
Monday, 17 January
- No Mass, school (scheduled holiday), ministry or other events (basketball, etc)
Tuesday Afternoon, 18 January
- 12N Church, Office and Adoration Chapel Open with Latin EF Mass
- 6.30p Epiphany Blessing and Mass is cancelled
Please remember that we close the church due to expected inclement weather for a number of safety related reasons: the Fathers do not live on campus, but on the top of a hill where the road is usually not snowplowed or cleared of ice; ice storms north of I-85 and 385 often cause power outages which mean no electricity or water, downed trees and power lines on and near campus; etc. Thank you in advance for your understanding.
by popadmin | Jan 9, 2022 | CIC Saint Writeups
8 January: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today, we celebrate the baptism of Christ in the Jordan by John the Baptist: a milestone event in the life of Jesus and in Christianity. This feast day is usually celebrated on the Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany. It brings to an end the liturgical season of Christmas. {Christmas is the feast of God’s self-revelation to the Jews, and Epiphany celebrates God’s self-revelation to the Gentiles.} At his Baptism, Christ reveals himself again, this time to repentant sinners. The Baptism of Jesus also marks the first public revelation of all Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and the official revelation of Jesus as the Son of God to the world by God the Father. Jesus’s baptism is described in all four Gospels and it marks the beginning of his public ministry. “After Jesus was baptized, he came from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased’ ” (Mt 3:16-17). We know that Jesus, holy and sinless, did not need to be baptized. Yet he humbled himself and submitted to his Father’s will. Jesus’s baptism sanctified the waters and instituted the Sacrament of Baptism. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for sinners, in order to “fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus’ gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying. The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his “beloved Son.” (CCC 1224) Fr. Antony Kadavil explains this further: “Neither John nor Jesus invented baptism. It had been practiced for centuries among the Jews as a ritual equivalent to our Confession. Until the fall of the Temple in 70 A.D., it was common for Jewish people to use a special pool called a Mikveh – literally a “collection of water” – as a means of spiritual cleansing. Men took this bath weekly on the eve of the Sabbath; women, monthly. Converts were also expected to take this bath before entering Judaism. The Orthodox Jews still retain the rite. John preached that such a bath was a necessary preparation for the cataclysm that would be wrought by the coming Messiah. Jesus transformed this continuing ritual into the one single, definitive act by which we begin our life of Faith. In effect, He fused His Divine Essence with the water and the ceremony. In this humble submission, we see a foreshadowing of the “baptism” of his bloody death upon the cross. Jesus’ baptism by John was the acceptance and the beginning of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allowed himself to be numbered among sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s will. Out of love, He consented to His baptism of death for the remission of our sins.” On this glorious feast day, we also celebrate our own baptisms, which freed us from sin and made us sons and daughters of God. Through baptism, God has opened the doors to Heaven. Deo gratias!
Ideas for celebrating in your home:
- The Christian symbol for Baptism is the shell, which you can easily turn into a dinner theme. Make pasta shells, Nacho Stuffed Shells, or Italian stuffed shells. Decorate the table with sea shells (children can color or craft some if you don’t have any real ones).
- Pull out your family’s Baptismal candles and light them at dinner. Tell children about the Baptism of Our Lord and their own special Baptismal days! (Share stories from family baptisms around the dinner table: Talk about who was there, how godparents were chosen, celebration afterwards, etc.)
- This is a wonderful day to renew our baptismal vows: click here for instructions.
- Start a family tradition of celebrating baptism anniversaries: Here are ideas!
- Finally, if you have access to a pool, pond, river or stream: we dare you to take a winter plunge in celebration of Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan!
by popadmin | Dec 29, 2021 | Liturgy
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a holy day of obligation. Our Mass schedule is:
- 5p Vigil Mass on Friday, 31 December
- 10a on Saturday, 1 January
- 12n EF (Low Mass of the Circumcision)
*EF = Extraordinary Form
by popadmin | Dec 29, 2021 | Events
Did you know that the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January, known in the English speaking world as the Twelfth Night of Christmas, is actually far older than Christmas itself, and for centuries was celebrated with eight days, an Octave, of feasting afterwards? The Epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning manifestation and actually commemorates three manifestations of the Divinity of Christ: when the Wise Men give gifts fit for a king and a deity to the Christ Child, when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan and the Father from heaven confirms His divine sonship; and the first miracle of Jesus at the Wedding at Cana. There are numerous customs of Catholic culture associated with Epiphany, and this year at Prince of Peace, we are going to celebrate as many as we can both in our parish church and in your domestic church.
2 January – Sunday: the Transferred Solemnity of the Epiphany in the Ordinary Form
8a Low Mass in English
10a The Proclamation of the Movable Feasts of the Year of Our Lord 2022 and Solemn Mass of the Epiphany in English
2 January – Sunday: the Feast of the Holy Name in the Extraordinary Form
12N Low Mass in Latin
5 January – Wednesday: the Vigil of the Epiphany
12N Low Mass EF in Latin
6 January – Thursday: the Traditional Feast of the Epiphany in the Extraordinary Form
6.30p Solemn Blessing of Epiphany Water, Chalk, Gold – Frankincense – Myrrh
7p Solemn High Mass of the Epiphany
8p Royal Procession to the Epiphany Crib and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament
8 January – Saturday
6p Blessing of the Great Nativity and Prosecco Toast for Donors
6p Epiphany Party & Potluck Dinner for Our Parish Family
On the Feast of the Epiphany in the Domestic Church you are invited to do the following:
- Take home blessed chalk which will be available in the narthex from 2-6 January and mark the door of your house with 20 + C + M + B + 22. The year of the Incarnation of Our Lord is accompanied by the initials CMB. In Latin, they stand for two things: Christus mansionem benedicat – May Christ bless this home, as well as the traditional names of the Three Kings, whose relics are in Cologne Cathedral in Germany: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
On the Traditional Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January, we encourage you to come to the evening liturgy and bring with you the following to be blessed by placing them on the table provided in the sanctuary within the Communion rail:
- Containers of water and salt – Chalk – Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
- Please mark your names on each item and pick them after the Royal Procession to the Epiphany Crib the same night.
- You can actually buy little coffrets of gold, frankincense and myrrh here.
In Catholic cultures, it was common for the parish priest and the altar servers to go to door in the parish boundaries with blessed Epiphany Water during the Octave of the Epiphany and bless every house in the parish. Because of the size of our territory and the number of parishioners who live outside the territory, that is impossible at Prince of Peace, but you may bring home the water you have blessed at church, mix the salt into it, and sprinkle the inside and outside of your homes and workplaces.
The Eastern Catholic Traditions
To learn more about these amazing Epiphany customs, please read the following:
- To see the actual text of the blessing of Epiphany Water (click here)
- Why Epiphany Water is a powerful sacramental to use against the Evil One (click here)
- The Chalking of the Doors (click here)
- Epiphany Customs (click here)
- Dom Gueranger on the Epiphany (click here)
Recent Comments