ST. SYLVESTER DAY

Mass on December 31 was followed by Eucharistic adoration, during which we chanted the Te Deum, thanking God for the blessings of the past year.  Under the normal conditions, a plenary indulgence was possible for doing this.

CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS

Before Midnight Mass began, Father chanted the proclamation of the Birth of Jesus.  This tradition takes a passage from the Roman Martyrologium, which briefly tells the story of the martyrs, saints and feasts for each day on the religious calendar.  For December 25, the Martyrologium recounts how many years since the creation of the world, the flood in Noah's time, the birth of Abraham, and so on, Christ was finally born.

Mass begins with Father carrying the Infant Jesus (Niño) to the belen (Nativity Scene or creche).  The schola sings "Ecce Nomen Domini Emmanuel."  Hail, the Lord's name is Emmanuel!

The Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei for Midnight Mass were taken from the Misa Pastorela.  It was taught to the Chamorros in Saipan by Spanish missionaries and is sung just for Christmas.

As is the custom on Guam, Masses all throughout the Christmas season end with the veneration of the Niño (Infant Jesus).

PHOTOS

The Sermon

The Consecration

The Last Gospel

(Photos and Video courtesy of Bryan Quinata)

RORATE MASS

On Saturday morning at 6AM, December 17, Father celebrated a Rorate Mass.  The idea is to experience the light of Christ grow into the fullness of daylight in the midst of our darkness.  So Mass is said in darkness, except for the light of candles.  As Mass continues, the sun gradually fills the chapel with light.

With the aid of the flash, this is what the chapel looked like at 6AM

But this is what people saw at 6AM when they entered the chapel.

In the early part of the Mass, during the lessons, it was still very dark and Father had to read the Missal with the help of candles.

By the middle of Mass, at the Sanctus, the sun had risen enough to start filling the chapel with light, though candles were still helpful.

After the Mass, in full daylight, we prayed the rosary for the intention of the Pro-Life cause, and chanted the Litany of Loreto.

GAUDETE SUNDAY

GAUDETE (REJOICE) SUNDAY

Third Sunday of Advent

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

The Schola sings Dom Pothier's Tota Pulchra Es, in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

The beginning verses of this hymn say :

Tota pulchra es, O Maria, tota pulchra es

et macula non est in te.

Quam speciosa, quam suavis

in deliciis Conceptio illibata.

Veni, veni de Libano; veni, veni de Libano;

veni, veni coronaberis.

Thou art all fair, O Mary, thou art all fair

and no stain is in thee.

How lovely, how sweet

in its delights, thy Conception unstained.

Come, come from Mount Lebanon; come, come from Mount Lebanon;

come, come you will be crowned.

These words come from the Song of Songs, which tells of a man calling out to his beloved.  This is symbolic of the beauty God finds in Mary's holiness, which began at her Immaculate Conception.

REMEMBERING THE POOR SOULS

Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us!

"It is a good and wholesome thing to pray for the dead." (2 Macc 12:43)

"We owe unspeakable gratitude to God, therefore, for allowing us to do more for our departed friends and relatives than to merely mourn over their graves. For by helping them, we obtain for ourselves a right to the special protection of God, and the angels and the saints, who rejoice whenever they can welcome a newcomer into their midst. Most of all, however, we gain friends among the Holy Souls themselves, and when they reach heaven, they will surely remember and help us."

~~~Provincial Council of Vienna 1858

MONTH OF THE HOLY SOULS

November is the month of the Poor and Holy Souls in Purgatory

There is no need to pray for the dead if they are all in heaven, since our prayers cannot improve the perfect joy of the saints in heaven.

Nor if the dead are all in hell, since our prayers cannot improve the just condemnation of the unrepentant sinners in hell.

We pray for the dead only because some of them are in neither place.  Some of them are in a temporary place of purification, and they can be helped by our prayers.

Some saints have taught that our prayers for the souls in Purgatory are the most pleasing to God because our prayers for them are the most charitable.  How so?  As we said, praying for the souls in heaven or hell is fruitless.  Besides the souls in Purgatory, the only other people we can and should pray for are those still alive on earth.  But, to some extent, some more than others, everyone on earth can in some way improve their own situation.  Not so the souls in Purgatory!  They can do nothing whatsoever to decrease their pains in Purgatory.  The time for merit is over.  They depend entirely on the judgment of God, and the prayers of the saints in heaven and the faithful on earth.  What can be more charitable than to help the most helpless, and the souls in Purgatory are certainly the most helpless.  And since God is charity, the most charitable prayers and works please Him the most.  If we want to be as charitable, good and holy as God is, we will be very active in praying and sacrificing for the souls in Purgatory.

The souls in Purgatory are both holy, because they died in the state of grace and are destined for heaven; and they are also poor, because they are suffering the just delay of heaven on account of their venial sins and incomplete reparations.

Practical Things We Can Do for the Holy Souls this Month

• Offer Holy Mass for their intention.  This is the best thing we can do for them, for in Holy Mass we offer not just our own unworthy and imperfect prayers, but the saving sacrifice of Jesus.
• Pray the Rosary and the Chaplet for the Holy Souls for them
• Offer little sacrifices, penances, mortifications for them like fasting or abstinence
• Spread devotion to them, reminding people to pray for them
• Make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament for them
• When gaining indulgences, apply them to the Holy Souls rather than for yourself
• Visit the cemeteries (Coemeterii Visitatio).  Some saints have told us that the souls experience more consolation when we visit their graves or the sites of their death.  Say prayers at the gravesite.  If you do this on or before November 8, a plenary indulgence can be gained; for the rest of the month, a partial indulgence.

The Grandmother of the late Fr. Daniel Lord, SJ

Father Lord was a famous Jesuit; an orthodox Catholic writer and teacher who was a key person in composing a code of decency used by Hollywood at the time.  He tells the story how his grandmother would take him many Sundays to the cemetery, where, besides praying, they would bring a picnic basket of sandwiches and sweets.  Their visits to the cemetery were real visits, not just quickies.  To stay in a cemetery for an hour or so was to really spend time with one's loved ones, to give them real attention.  It reminds us that, though physically dead, our loved ones are alive in the spirit.  We are still one family - the Communion of Saints.  How neglected the souls are!  Not by this grandmother!

To eat a picnic lunch at the cemetery is a reminder that life goes on.  Death is only of the body.  The soul is immortal.  On Judgment Day, our bodies will re-unite with our souls and join it wherever the soul may be.