Advent Series- December 1

(Note: The series is posted here for parents to share with their children- it was written for a young audience which accounts for its simple style)

The history of the world properly begins with God, our Creator, Who Himself has no beginning.

We have all heard the story of creation; how God created the world out of nothing in 6 days.

It is easy to remember what God created on each day, since the first 3 days and the last 3 days are related:

The Bible says, 'In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, And the earth was void and empty."(Gen 1:1-2)

On the first 3 days, God began by giving a form to His creation.

The next 3 days God spent filling His creation,

Thus;

On Day 1 God created the light---on Day 4 He created the sun, moon and stars to shine with that light

On Day 2 God created the sky and separated the waters above from the waters below--Day 5 He filled them with the birds and fish

On Day 3 God created the land---Day 6 He filled the land with animals and man

On Day 6 God made the first man and woman; our first parents Adam and Eve.

We are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

God gave Adam and Eve everything to make them happy. His greatest gift to them was sanctifying grace; His own life in their souls. If they were faithful to God, God planned that they would have a happy life here on earth, followed by eternal happiness in Heaven.

God gave only one command for Adam and Eve to obey, and they did not remain faithful.

We all know what happened....the devil tempted Eve and she ate of the forbidden fruit, then she convinced Adam to do the same.

There are many lessons to be learned from the sin of Adam and Eve;

1)We learn the importance of keeping busy and avoiding the occasions of sin

2) We learn the importance of saying no to temptations right away (don't dialogue with the devil!)

3) We learn the importance of not becoming attached to ourselves and the things of this world- Eve disobeyed because she wanted to become like God, knowing good and evil.....how often does the sin of pride lead us to look at things we should not!

4) The importance of not giving in to the pressure of companions- Adam gave in to the pleadings of Eve and dragged the whole human race with him.

During Advent we make sacrifices in order to detach ourselves from the things of this world, so that we can grow closer to God.

By this we show God that we choose Him before ourselves.

We do not make sacrifices in order to be miserable, but rather to prepare ourselves for the best kind of happiness.....eternal happiness!

After their sin, Adam and Eve lost God's special gifts. They had to leave the garden of Eden. They had to suffer and eventually they would die.

The worst thing that happened (even worse than suffering and death) was that they lost God's life in their souls. The gates of heaven were closed.

God did not leave them totally hopeless, however. He promised to send a Savior, Who would come to make up for sin and reopen the gates of heaven.

This promise that God made is called the "Protoevangelium" or "first message"

In Genesis 3:15, God foretells the coming of Jesus and Mary when he told the devil, "I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."

It is interesting to note that when Our Lord spoke to Mary, He called her, "Woman"....because she is "The Woman" foretold in Genesis 3:15.

The whole Old Testament has as its central idea, the coming of the Savior, Who would restore the old friendship between God and man.

God foretells the Woman and her Seed crushing the head of Satan ....and we will see in the Old Testament, there is quite alot of head crushing going on! (and alot of women who do it, too!)

And each time it is a foreshadowing of our Redemption.

Everything in the Old Testament leads up to the sacrifice of Our Lord on the cross.

It is at that very moment we see the Woman and her Seed crushing the head of Satan on the hill of Golgotha, which means, "Place of the Skull"

We are in for some interesting days ahead!

From the creation of Adam to the coming of Our Lord there is about 4000 years.

The 4 weeks of Advent symbolizes these 4000 years of waiting for the Savior to come.

Auctorem Fidei

Can the SSPX be right about the Novus Ordo? Revision: Feb 11, 2013 On another web forum, I was engaged in a rather heated discussion about the documents of Vatican II.

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Is it sinful to attend the Novus Ordo (New Mass) - Is it Sinful to Not Attend the Novus Ordo on Sunday?

+ JMJ A non-SSPX Catholic is upset over the SSPX statements on not attending the Novus Ordo Missae. Ladies and gentlemen, what the SSPX, or at least its website editor, is advocating is a mortal sin against the Third Commandment. Unless the priest deviates from the language of the Sacramentary, the consecration, and thus the rest of Mass is to be considered valid. No one may elect not to attend Mass simply because abuses are occurring therein. Might I suggest that such absenteeism is its own abuse? The Third Commandment binds under mortal sin. Father So-And-So from the SSPX has no authority whatsoever to excuse attendance at Mass, be that Mass ever so unpalatable. Source:Restore DC Catholicism Well, this is interesting. First why does the SSPX issue this statement? Because it is sinful to put your faith in danger by attending a protestant service. It is likewise dangerous to put your faith in danger by attending a protestantized mass (ie the Novus Ordo Missae

Catholic Culture - The Edgar Schein Model Analysis of the Pre and Post Conciliar Culture

+ JMJ So ... I was thinking ... I've used Edgar Schein's (RIP) organizational cultural model (link ) in my research ... why not apply it in a comparison between the Catholic Organizational Culture - PRE and POST Second Vatican Culture? Of course, this will be from my own perspective, I'm certain that others will think differently. 😁 Also, apologies for a rather long article. Graphic: https://mutomorro.com/edgar-scheins-culture-model/ Below is a quick mapping of the cultural factors that I could think of. Since the Church is vast and composed of millions of Souls, it is necessarily a limited cultural map. Yet, I think it will still be useful to assess what has changed since the Second Vatican Council. Additional Reading: 5 enduring management ideas from MIT Sloan’s Edgar Schein | MIT Sloan Artifacts Artifacts are tangible and observable aspects of the culture being examined. All organizations have them. Walmart has their Walmart chant, Charismatics have their spe

Holy Ghost vs Holy Spirit

+ JMJ Something that always and I do mean always causes me to cringe interiourly is when non-Trad Catholics use the words "Holy Spirit" instead of "Holy Ghost". First, this is a natural response because of long usage of "Holy Ghost" as soon as I hear the word "Holy" in a prayer, my brain automatically is prepped to hear "Ghost" afterwards. This creates a short period of interiour dissonance (discomfort). Now the question I would like to ponder today is whether or not there is a difference and whether or not there is a right way vs wrong way.

Tradicat

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