Prayers before and after meals for Christmas and Epiphanytide

Prayer Before Meals

BENEDIC, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Ante prandium
Mensae coelestis participes faciat nos, Rex aeternae gloriae. Amen.
Ante cenam
Ad coenam vitae aeternae perducat nos, Rex aeternae gloriae. Amen.

BLESS us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Add for midday; May the King of everlasting glory make us partakers of the heavenly table. Amen.
Add for evening; May the King of ever-lasting glory lead us to the banquet of life eternal. Amen.

Prayer After Meals

AGIMUS tibi gratias, omnipotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis, qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
V. Deus det nobis suam pacem.
R. Et vitam aeternam.
Amen.
WE give Thee thanks, almighty God, for all Thy benefits, who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.
V. May the Lord grant us His peace.
R. And life everlasting.
Amen.

From Christmas until 1st Vespers of Epiphany

Ante prandium et cenam
Vebum caro factum est, alleluia
Et habitavit in nobis, alleluia
Post prandium et cenam
Notum fecit Dominus, alleluia
Salutare suum, alleluia

Add for midday:
The Word was made flesh, alleluia
And dwelt among us, alleluia
Add for evening:
The Lord hath made known, alleluia
His salvation, alleluia

From Epiphany through January 13th

Ante prandium et cenam
Reges Tharsis, et insulae munera offerent, alleluia
Reges Arabum et Saba dona adducent, alleluia
Post prandium et cenam
Omnes de Saba venient, alleluia
Aurum et thus deferentes, alleluia

Add for midday:

The kings of Tharsis and of the islands shall offer presents, alleluia
The kings of Arabia and of Saba shall bring gifts, alleluia

Add for evening:

All from Saba shall come, alleluia
bearing gold and incense, alleluia

Rorate Mass (a letter from my pastor)

What is a Rorate Mass?

The Rorate Mass got its proper name from the first word of the Introit (Entrance antiphon): "Rorate caeli désuper et nubes pluant justum". "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness". We know Gaudete and Laetare Sunday which also got their names from the Introit.

ORIGINS
The Rorate Mass has a long tradition in the Church, especially in German-speaking countries. It is a Votive Mass in honor of the Blessed Mother for the season of Advent. Our Lady shows herself in a special way as our leader through Advent to Christmas. The celebration by candle light had originally a more practical reason. According to the Missal of 1570 no Mass could be said after 12.00 Noon. On the other hand, people had to go to work in the morning. Also the Rorate Masses were celebrated in a more solemn form and therefore would last longer. For these reasons the Masses had to begin relatively early in the morning when it was still dark due to winter-time.

SYMBOLISM
There is a beautiful symbolism associated with the Rorate Mass. Through the snow and cold and darkness of early morning the faithful would trudge with lanterns and candles in their hands to the then brightly lit Church (no electric light!) where the Mass was celebrated.

MARIAN DIMENSION
In Advent we live spiritually between the Annunciation and the birth of Christ. Mary teaches us the spirit of Advent and inner attitude we should have during Advent. During the nine month of pregnancy Mary lived a hidden life, in the spirit of silence and intense intimacy with Christ she carried in her womb. This spirit of intimacy with God the faithful are to cultivate during the season of Advent more intensely by listening attentively to God's message and by obedience to His word.

USE OF CANDLES
What we see so often in Church history: certain things have been done first for practical reasons, but then in the course of time there was also attributed a spiritual meaning. And the use of candles during Advent belongs into this category. The symbolism of the candle matches very well with the spirit of Advent. Advent is dawn. It is still not the bright light of Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation for something exceedingly joyful that will be going to happen. The Church and the soul are still struggling through the darkness toward the Light. There is a longing and expectancy of Advent. The light of our candles is a symbol for our longing for the coming of our Savior Whose light is already dawning. On Christmas Eve we will enter the Church in procession by candlelight. When the Gloria is sung all the lights will be turned on meaning that Christ is now born.

Awake and Alive

This song happens to be my theme just now, when those around me at work and daily events (usually involving gossip, unfaithfulness, murder, and inhumanity) keep getting me down, making me wonder why I do it all...why I do anything. The more exact and philosophical reason for this I have not fully formulated as of yet, so I'll leave that for another post. The song is by Skillet, a rock band, and is one of theirs called Awake and Alive.



I'm at war with the world
And they try to pull me into the dark
I struggle to find my faith
As I'm slipping from your arms

It's getting harder to stay awake
And my strength is fading fast
You breathe into me at last

I'm awake, I'm alive
Now I know what I believe inside
Now it's my time
I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life

Right here, right now
Stand my ground and never back down
I know what I believe inside
I'm awake, and I'm alive

I'm at war with the world
'Cause I ain't never gonna sell my soul
I've already made up my mind
No matter what, I can't be bought or sold

When my faith is getting weak
And I feel like giving in
You breathe into me again

I'm awake, I'm alive
Now I know what I believe inside
Now it's my time
I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life

I can feel you in my sleep
In your arms, I feel you breathe into me
Forever hold this heart that I will give to you
Forever I will live for you

A simple death

What prompted me to quote John Donne's sonnet was the death of a child at the hospital last week...a child with severe physical and mental handicaps and a very contorted body. She was in her late teens and had a Do Not Resucitate order on her chart, which basically means that if her heart stops or she stops breathing, we are to do nothing for her but to let her go.

Yes, this was probably a good idea since she was so very sick and had been all her life. I walked into the room from doing something and offered to help, but was told by the other nurse that she was gone.

Gone.

simple little phrase but true nonetheless. Sure, the body is there but she, her essence and soul is not. I held her hand a moment, and looked over her contorted, misshapen little body and wondered about all the sufferings she had experienced, if she had ever had much comfort. Happily, she couldn't have suffered much before she died...and it was nice to see her so peaceful. She passed...and we are finished.

Usually when such a thing happens we are in full gear, administering meds, doing cpr, putting tubes down throats, and attempting to force the body to awaken again. After about 15 minutes of this with no response, we usually discontinue our efforts. This time, nothing happened. I felt weird, like I should be doing something to help her, but she didn't really need our help.

Goodnight, little rose. Thou art now in the garden of paradise.

Death be not Proud

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, 5
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, 10
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

A Day We Will Never Forget

The time has come.

Child number 2 (hereafter known as Suzy) has earned her Bachelors Degree, so the family will converge to partake of this wonderful new step. Who'd have thunk this attempt at familial bonding time would morph into a series of disasters!

It started out well enough, the six younger "kids," dad, and myself camping in Gettysburg for 2 nights. The auto tour was great, the visitors center and cylorama were great! Thousands of memorials dot the countryside, roadsides, and forest paths. The national cemetery is home to thousands of fallen soldiers of that war and 4 subsequent wars. Though beautiful and very interesting to see those places of which we had heretofore only read about, our thoughts were sobered remembering those who had fallen. "Right where I am standing now, a soldier fought and died."

The day we left Gettysburgh, our troubles began. Before we could leave the serpentine belt on the van had to be replaced, so we used the stupid GPS to find 3 different auto parts stores...the first two of which were no where to be found. We went for a hike to McDonald's while dad and Peter fixed the van, and Daniel picked up some friendly little blood suckers on the way. After beating all of the ticks off of him, we started down route 30, also known as the Lincoln Highway, which originates in New York City and ends up in San Francisco, I think. A major thoroughfare from the days of the epic road trip. That very day, just after going though Pitsburg the van stalled out on the interstate...started again...stalled 2 more times before we were able to get off the interstate.

I cannot describe the pit of fear that arose in my chest...other than it was the most nervous and afraid I have been in a very long time. Sufice to say, that we then ran up a hill to go to a gas station which did not exist, then a very nice, toothless young man from West Virginia gave us some gas.

You know, there is something to be said for good breeding, and though this toothless, scruffy young West Virginian who probably had no more than a highschool education at best was on his way home from work the same as everyone else, he stopped to help some stranded out-of-towners, gave us three gallons of gas which he would not take payment for. There were many better educated and better kempt looking persons about, but all they did was stare and smirk...or simply ignore us.

We got to the gas station, gassed up, then the van would not start. Almost the same moment, the sky opened in a severe storm. Happy times, right? we were quite happy for the shelter of the gas station. A friendly Texan offered to jump us, but the car wasn't jumping.

Anyhow, to make a terribly long story short, we ended up stranded in a gas station for about 5 hours, I spent most of it attempting to obtain lodgings for that night (thank God the GPS and my phone held a charge for a few hours!). Suzy arrived in the oldsmobile to take 4 people with her. the tow truck came to tow the van (and the remaining 4 personel) into town...and a very interesting person was the driver. Covered in tatoos and spitting tobacco out the door every so often. He then took us to the hotel (where we could stay only Thursday night) and bade us farewell. Needless to say there was much heated emotion and frustration that night but we all made it through. The next day, we found an Holiday Inn 20 miles north in West Virginia...and let me tell you that ferrying 10 people back and forth in a