Sorry for the late evening post but I was out enjoying the day with friends and family but I did want to pass along a quote from Pope Francis’ speech today and I can’t think of a more succinct way to remember today’s feast:

““Some stars may be bright, but do not point the way. So it is with success, money, career, honors and pleasures, when these become our lives,” the pope said, adding that path won’t ensure peace and joy.” Pope on Epiphany

With these thoughts, may I also pass along to you the same small prayer we say as we bless our children, even our oldest, when they head off to bed. Either Matt or I will trace a small cross on their forehead, give them a kiss and say, “May the saints and angels give your good dreams, good night!”

“A rose by any other name is still a rose..”

Act II, Scene II, Romeo and Juliet, Wm. Shakespeare

 

This famous scene has Juliet asking Romeo if his is willing to cast aside his name, being a Montague for her love; “O, be some other name!”

Romeo agrees, “I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo.”

What is in a name? More than we sometimes realize.

Today we honor the wonderful name of Jesus, a name that brings us forgiveness for our wrongs (Acts 10:43), physical healing (Acts 3:6 and 16) and blessings (Matt 5). His name sends demons fleeing (Luke 10:17), and is a prayer unto itself as author Peter Kreeft will tell us:

Jesus – The Shortest, Simplest Prayer

On this feast day we are told,

“..So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”, Phil. 2:10-11

We can bring about a simple act of adoration if we begin to bow our heads at His Holy Name, wether in church or at Wal-Mart; when it said as a prayer but especially as a curse. What small difference might be made if we just bow our heads every time we hear His name and ask our children to do the same? Might it spark a change, begin a revolution or pass unnoticed? It doesn’t matter really but we have done our part to remember that His name above all others has brought salvation to the world.

What A Beautiful Name It is…Hillsong United

 

 

 

My love for the devotional, The Magnificat, is well-known. For today’s reading of Luke 1:26-38, we are giving a reflection from Caryll Houselander, who tells us:

“For every mother the knowledge of God is the essential preparation for motherhood: to know him as a tender but infinitely powerful Father; then to pray for the descent of the Spirit, for the divine ray that illumines natural love and bestows all the qualities of the Spirit’s indwelling presence, which are the basic necessities in bringing up a child.”

Now this wisdom comes from a woman who never married, and did not have children of her own; but her words ring with such truth. Under the protection of a loving Father, along with all the Holy Spirit gives us through both gifts and fruits, we have all we need to be great parents – as long as we open the gifts and take part in the fruits!

Those fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, (CCC 1832).

The gifts are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (CCC 1285).

As we enter in these last days before the arrival of the greatest gift we ever received, perhaps we could ask the Baby Jesus to renew in us these fruits and gifts to help us be better parents in 2018!

 

Mary said,

“Listen, and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little son; do not be troubled or weighted down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?”

Of course, we think we need so much; especially this time of year when our list for gifts might go on and on.

But, today we can pause to remember that having Mary remember us, wrapped in her mantle, we need little else.

Check out here for A thorough re-telling of the story

Have a blessed feast day!

 

 

And if you live in the Watkins’ home, you know your stocking will be filled with treats and small gifts. I’ve written before about this family tradition that my Belgian grandparents brought over with them when they emigrated to New York. My father, himself a Nicholas, kept it alive and well in my own childhood home.

Wether you fill the stockings tonight or on Christmas Eve, remembering to tell the story of St. Nicholas goes way beyond his transformation into Santa Claus. His story reminds us that giving to others is a reflection of Christ Himself. Sharing never diminishes you; it only helps you grow in virtue, it helps you grow in love!

The St. Nicholas Center has everything you may need to pull off a visit tomorrow or plan one for Christmas Eve.

 

Our faith, traditions and history is a bottomless treasure chest and I never want to burden you with any expectation of  extra stuff to do in your busy life; especially now (check my post from yesterday). But I remain always eager to learn of Catholic traditions, prayers, etc. that I did not know about.

Did you know about the Prayer Of St. Andrew?

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[here mention your request]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

From EWTN we learn: “Beginning on St. Andrew the Apostle’s feast day, November 30, the following beautiful prayer is traditionally recited fifteen times a day until Christmas. This is a very meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming.”

Perhaps this small treasure will enrich your Advent!

 

 

 

 

While we may hope Advent is a remarkable, spiritual journey, Advent can sometimes fill us with more anxiety because it just so happens to fall right before Christmas; how bothersome.

And we know how crazy Christmas is – from the buying gifts or making plans to travel, what outfits should the kids to wear in the Christmas photo, which Mass to attend – Midnight Mass is absolutely lovely but why does it have to be scheduled so late at night? Where did I put Gramma’s antique ornaments, should I write a chatty Christmas letter for our cards or just send the card or maybe just a Christmas email or a FB post, why does my daughter think I’m wearing an ‘ugly sweater’ and why does Andy Williams think this is “most wonderful time of the year?” Arrgghh!

In other words, our Christmas season is in desperate need of some Advent – an arrival of someone important. A someone to make us stop for a moment, calm down, sit down and remember what Christmas is really all about. Happily, nothing makes us stop in tracks more than a baby. A baby! A baby, any baby, makes us smile and talk in a softer voice, albeit kinda of high, use a softer touch and get down right giddy. It’s a baby!

But this special baby’s coming was foretold centuries before it happened and it happened just as it was foretold.

Advent makes us recall – once again – that our salvation from sin came with the ‘yes’ of a gentle, young girl, unmarried yet betrothed. She spoke to an angel and an angel spoke to her courageous man. And a baby was born in the midst of their love and in the midst of a stable.

So, get some Advent into your Christmas. Wether you decide to do every single tradition from the Novena to the Immaculate Conception that begins today to Jesse Tree to St. Nicholas’ Day to St. Lucy’s Day to the O! Antiphons the last week before Christmas. Is it a chocolate filled Advent Calendar or a Lego Advent Calendar or the one you DIY’d just last week inspired by Pinterest?

What do you have planned for Advent? This year, the Watkins’ house has our Advent candles already waiting on the dining room table. We have been using the same candles for over three years as we were given our church’s huge pillar candles after one Advent season. Happily, I expect to use them for years and years to come.

We will fill our stockings for St. Nicholas on December 6th just as my father, Nicholas did. In his home, overseen by his Belgian parents, most if not all of his Christmas gifts were given on this day rather than Christmas Day. We also have a chocolate calendar waiting to be opened, a box full of Christmas books (both religious and secular) that we’ll read, one each night. I’m hoping to do the Jesse Tree in one fell swoop over Gaudete Sunday weekend and we have a Fontanini Advent Calendar we received as gift from one of my girl’s godparents we do along with a reading of the O Antiphons, from Dec. 17-23rd.

In other words – do something for Advent. Pick one or two or all of them. Maybe you want to give your children (and yourself) some new traditions. Advent should be time to stop and look at a beautiful baby. Pause to fill your souls with great soil to start off the new year. Resting during the Christmas rush to plant some spiritual seeds during this Advent will help some beautiful flowers bloom come 2018.

Need any help? Check out these sites and feel free to share your own either here or on our FB page:

St. Nicholas Center

O! Antiphons

Why Christmas

Jesse Tree Ornaments to Print

 

 

And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

let this be made known in all the earth.”  Isaiah 12:4-5

 

To all of You  – 

We want to send our prayers and hopes that your Thanksgiving is

full of family, friends, good memories, and good food. 

We are grateful for your friendship and your prayers for us.

May the angels watch over your travels!

-From All of Us 

Quite honestly, I cannot image leaving any of my children as depicted above. According to our tradition, Mary was left at the temple at the age of 5 or 6 (5 or 6!!). How can that be a good thing?

Leaving aside the cultural norms, religious expectations, the promise made by Anne and Joachim in thanksgiving for answered prayers – she was 5 or 6! Wow!

Art historians take notice of the look over her shoulder as a symbol of her leaving behind her former way of life and walking towards her future as the eventual Mother of God. Mary walked up the stairs without assistance, her hands pressed in prayer ready to prepare herself for her eventual Fiat.

But, it did happen and because of her strength and the strength of her parents, I am saved.

I know a bit of how this might have felt or happened as several of my children pursued and discerned possible religious vocations and were gone from my house for a few years. But they all have returned home as God called them to another life, a more ‘normal’ life as it were. As a result, I see them regularly.

What about Mary? Did Anne and Joachim see Mary at all as she grew up? Did a life in the temple mean a life in a cloister as it were?

And, today, now in 2017 what can Mary’s Presentation at the Temple mean for us?

Today, I am thinking about this from two different points of view:

1st things 1st – I am praying about what I should be leaving at the temple. Just as I am attached to my children – appropriate – I know I am overly attached to a few worldly things – inappropriate. What should I be leaving at the temple so I can focus on what God wants me to?

2nd things 2nd – I am putting myself in Mary’s shoes (which are way too big to fill) and walking myself to the temple hoping to offer myself to God for His service as best as I can – as a wife, mother, homeschooling, despite my MS or because of it. What will God do with me if I were to leave myself at the temple?

No answers yet; just the wondering. Either way, asking God and wanting God to take over more parts of your life, help you leave others behind is always a good thing. Always.

Walking away from Him or ignoring Him as He passes by – that’s never a good thing.