Skip to main content

Advent Series - December 6

Image
By

 

+
JMJ

December 6

Happy feast of St. Nicholas!

Jacob (now named Israel) had 12 sons.
These sons would become the fathers of the 12 Tribes of Israel.
Their names were;
1) Ruben 2) Simeon 3) Levi
4) Juda 5) Dan 6) Nephtali
7) Gad 8) Aser 9) Issachar
10) Zabulon 11) Joseph 12) Benjamin
Jacob’s favorite child was Joseph, the first born son of his wife Rachel.
Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat of many colors.
The other boys were jealous, and they sold Joseph as a slave to some Egyptian traders.
The boys told their father that a wild animal had killed Joseph. (Poor Jacob. He was deceived again!)

 The slave traders sold Joseph to a rich Egyptian. That Egyptian’s wife told lies about Joseph and got him sent to prison because he refused to do wrong. Things looked pretty bad for Joseph, but he trusted in God.

 In prison, Joseph met 2 men who had strange dreams. Joseph told them what their dreams meant; one of the men would be hanged and the other would be set free.
Things turned out just as Joseph said. After a time, Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt had a strange dream also. No one could tell him what his dream meant. Then the man who had been freed remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about Joseph and his special gift.

The Pharaoh sent for Joseph and Joseph told him what his dreams meant; the land of Egypt would have 7 years of good crops, followed by 7 years when no food would grow.
Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of storing food to prepare for the famine.
The day came when no crops would grow, but because of Joseph,the people of Egypt were well provided for.

Meanwhile, due to the famine, Joseph’s family had run out of food but they heard it was possible to buy food in Egypt.
The brothers set out for Egypt. When they got there they did not recognize Joseph.
Joseph remembered them, however. He forgave his brothers and invited the whole family to come and live in Egypt where there was plenty of food.

 Let’s remember Joseph when we’re having a bad day. Everything fits into God’s plan, and God brings good out of evil. When things are not going as we hoped, that’s when we can show God that we love Him and trust Him.

 So Jacob (Israel) and his sons went to live in Egypt. At first things went well, but then the Old Pharaoh died.
The new Pharaoh did not trust the children of Israel.
We read before how God told Abraham that He would give to His people the land of Chanaan, but only after they spent 400 years as slaves in a strange land.(Gen 15)
This marks the beginning of their 400 years of exile.

 The children of Israel had many children. They grew to be so many, that after 400 years, the Egyptians were afraid they would take over Egypt. The Pharaoh who ruled then decided to do something about it. He ordered all Hebrew baby boys to be killed.

It was then that Moses was born. Moses, of course was a Hebrew baby boy, so his life was in danger.
Moses’ mother placed him in a basket on the Nile River to escape being killed.
His older sister followed to watch over him. When an Egyptian princess found Moses, she wanted to take care of him. Moses’ sister stepped out of the rushes and offered to find a nurse to take care of the baby. Can you guess who she “found”?

Moses grew up in the palace of the Pharaoh, but he stayed loyal to his own people. One day, he saw an Egyptian being cruel to a Hebrew. Moses got so angry that he killed the Egyptian. After that, Moses knew he had to leave Egypt or be killed as well.
Moses went to live in the desert for many years. One day, he saw a bush that was on fire, yet it did not burn to ashes. God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, telling him to go to Pharaoh and ask that the Hebrews be allowed to go into the desert and make sacrifices to God.

 The Israelites worked to build Pharaoh’s cities so Pharaoh was not thrilled with the idea of them leaving to go into the desert. In fact, he thought that the Hebrews must have too much time on their hands to come up with such an idea. To punish them, Pharaoh ordered the Hebrews to make bricks without straw. Anyone not supplying the same number of bricks would be whipped. Now this was not fair at all, since you could not make bricks without straw!

 The people of Israel were upset. They told Moses that Pharaoh had used his visit as a reason to persecute them.
And God said to Moses, “I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, wherewith the Egyptians have oppressed them: and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord who will bring you out from the work prison of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from bondage” (Ex 6:5-6)

 We will read tomorrow about how God fulfilled His promise.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Father, Should I Attend That Mass?" Advice on Attending Non-SSPX Latin Masses

By
 + JMJ I see that the 'resistors' are in a tizzy because Fr. Robinson used them as an example instead of the sedevacantists. What is interesting is that you can apply the exact same reasons against going to a sede mass as that of the 'resistors'. Namely: On the other extreme are those situations where an SSPX priest knows that a certain non-SSPX traditionalist venue is a grave danger to the faith . Frankly, most, if not all, of the Resistance Masses would fall into this category. In many cases, the behavior of these priests has been and continues to be scandalous, by their (A) spirit, their (B) preaching, and their indiscriminate conferral of the (C) priesthood and (D) episcopacy. To attend a Mass with such ongoing scandals poses a serious danger to the souls of the faithful. Yep, looking at A,B,C and D the shoe fits. On this basis the "resistors" = "sedevacantists". P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org   A companion article to a recent "Questions with ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Correcting Caricatures of the SSPX

By
 + JMJ Introduction First, a little background on the FSSP St. John Vianney Chapel in Mission Hill Kansas.  After the 1988 consecrations and the foundation of the FSSP there was a consistent trend of Dioceses allowing the SSPX to run chapels and churches near SSPX locations. As with any 'organizational change' there were those who didn't agree with the change and no longer sought the sacraments from the SSPX. I heard from friends that in that era there was a lot of anger and tension (on both sides) between the St. Mary's SSPX and Mission Hill FSSP.  Second, there have been caricatures of the SSPX position (some are evident below) in which personal opinions of SSPX priests and laity are taken as the official position or conflated with those of sedevacantists or 'resistance'. Recent Perspectives of the SSPX Position In the shadow of the consecrations a fever pitch accusations and opinions how surfaced - many of which include caricatures of the SSPX positions, of w...
Post a Comment
Read more

SSPX: Why Is the SSPX So Criticized?

By
 + JMJ As long as you are ok with what happens in other Catholic Churches, Traditional Catholics will be left 'alone'.  This is a paraphrase of words spoken by an Archbishop to Traditional Catholics (with a sprinkling of SSPX) who had requested the Traditional Latin Mass under Summorum Pontificum. This reflects that attitude of the Church towards anyone who takes issue with some of the ambiguities of Vatican II and the post-conciliar magisterium.  If you reject the papacy but are ok with V2, the New Mass, and what Rome has stated since 1965 - then you are welcome. Question some of the more abiguous statements and ask for Rome to realise that a circle is not a square - then you are in for a world of hurt. This is where the SSPX exists and has existed from almost its very first moments. Pointing out contradictions with previous magisterium is not acceptable - under any condition. Why? Because it will cause the whole V2 house of cards to fall. I guess only when the contradic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stories: Early Days of Tradition Part 8 - Convention Centre Chapel

By
 + JMJ I came to Tradition a few years after they had bought a chapel. My wife told me of the earlier years when Fr. Normandin would come to town and Mass would be held in a room at the convention centre.  He'd start by blessing the room and then proceed with Mass. This went on for a while before the one of the faithful found a small hall that would suit just fine. They pooled their money and bought the building.  Then came the work as the retiree's refinished the floor, setup the sactuary. Oh, did I mention that I heard that the hall had been used by a motorcycle gang? The floor needed a lot of work.  I remember seeing pictures of the founders working to make the hall into a fitting place for the Sacrifice of the Mass. That little chapel would be a refuge like many others serviced by Fr. Normandin.  From Thunderbay, Ontrario to Nanaimo, British Columbia - the SSPX chapels are all the results of Fr. Normandin's missionary work in those desperate times. Without h...
Post a Comment
Read more

How many more must die for the throne? or How to combat FUD!

By
 + JMJ How many more must die for the throne? (Movie Quote: Prince Caspian) The Spread of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt I've seen a lot of FUD spreading across the intergnat on various stats etc.   So let's put this in context ... especially the perspective of those people in positions of authority who need to make decisions to protect the lives of their citizens. Yep, this is going to be that type of post.  Like it or not the leaders of our governments have their authority from God.  So, as Catholics should know, you need to have a very good reason to deliberately disobey the orders of their superiors. This is basic St. Thomas Aquinas ... so don't blame me for discussing things from a Catholic perspective. The leaders of our countries have taken action to protect the vulnerable of our countries.   As much as the young and not-so-young may whine and complain - I have to ask how many more of our elderly have to die? What the armchair virologists and ec...
10 comments
Read more