16. The Second Coming of Christ (Advent Meditations)
by VP
Posted on Monday December 15, 2025 at 11:00PM in Advent Sermons
1. When the apostles on Mount Olivet were gazing after their Master, Who had just ascended into heaven, two angels stood by them and announced to them that He Who had just vanished from their sight would return in like manner. Our Lord Himself had already declared that He would come again with power and great glory and would sit upon the throne of His glory. At the sound of His approach the dead will rise from their graves to meet Him, and the nations of the world who have not accepted His sway will be filled with unspeakable terror and dismay. What will be the dispositions with which I shall rise again to meet Christ? What would they be now if He were to come to-day?
2. The object of His coming will be to judge the living and the dead. All that is now hidden will be made manifest before the world. All the secret thoughts and whispered words, and actions concealed from the eyes of men, will then be made manifest. How should I like to have all my base and low motives dragged to light, all my unkind words revealed to those against whom they were spoken, all those actions, of which I cannot myself think without shame, proclaimed so that all may behold them ?
3. Our Lord will come, radiant in majesty and glory, to crush His enemies under His feet and reward His faithful soldiers and servants. How great then will be the ignominy and shame of the mighty men of earth, if they have not bowed their neck to the King of kings! How full of joy will be the hearts of all who have humbled themselves before Him! How will they be beautiful beyond compare, and honored before His holy angels! Learn now to humble yourself under the yoke of Christ. "Meditations #16 for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
Saint Andrew Christmas Novena: 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 Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)
Glory Be (three times).
Infant Jesus, make me love Thee more and more.
Ember Days Winter (December 17, 19, 20)
by VP
Posted on Monday December 15, 2025 at 11:00PM in Prayers
Let us, therefore, revive Embers days!
Let us again pray, fast, and abstain for more faithful priests!
Wednesday (17th): the day Christ was betrayed (Fast and half-abstinence)
Friday (19nd): Christ was crucified (Fast and abstinence)
and Saturday (20th): the day Christ was entombed. (Fast and half-abstinence)
"Many Christians, alas, scarcely know the purpose of the Ember days. They have been appointed in order that the faithful pray for good priests, and may supplement their prayers by fasting and good works. Good priests must be obtained through prayer. The greatest blessing for a parish is a good, zealous priest. Those who often pray for priests will draw God's blessing upon themselves, and will experience the assistance and blessing of the priest in the hour of death."Rev. Ferreol Girarday C.S.S.R
The observance of Ember days is a very old tradition, going back to the
Apostolic time and taking after the Roman Pagan customs that held
festivals on each seasons of the year. In 494, Pope Gelasius I used
the Ember Saturdays to confer ordination to the priesthood.
From
their origins, Ember days had a two fold purpose: to pray for the
laborers and for the fruits of the harvest. During these three days,
Catholics were thanking Our Blessed Lord "for the gifts of nature" asking
Him "to teach men to make use of them in moderation, assist the needy"
but most of all to pray for more good priests. Ember Days: Catholic Encyclopedia
In 1969, Pope Paul VI excluded the embers day from being mandatory
days of fast and abstinence and left their celebrations to the
discretion of the local bishops. Even though the US Bishops' Conference
has decided not to celebrate them, we may still choose to do so as a
personal devotion since its observance at home or small communities is
not discouraged:
"17. Vigils and Ember Days, as most now know, no
longer oblige to fast and abstinence. However, the liturgical renewal
and the deeper appreciation of the joy of the holy days of the
Christian year will, we hope, result in a renewed appreciation as to why
our forefathers spoke of "a fast before a feast." We impose no fast
before any feast-day, but we suggest that the devout will find greater
Christian joy in the feasts of the liturgical calendar if they freely
bind themselves, for their own motives and in their own spirit of
piety, to prepare for each Church festival by a day of particular
self-denial, penitential prayer and fasting."
Vigils and Ember Days (USCCB) 1966
"We should never let these seasons pass without adding prayer to our fasts, or it may be compensating fast by prayer. Our prayer should be for the clergy, not only those ordained, though for them especially; but for the Sovereign Pontiff, the cardinals, bishops, parochial clergy, missionaries and religious orders, seminarians; and for the grace of vocation to the priesthood. An excellent prayer for this purpose is the Litany of the Saints, in which so many bishops, priests, and Levites are invoked; or the Rosary may be appropriately said, grouping those for whom we pray into five classes, corresponding to the five decades." Publications of the Catholic Truth Society, (Volume 24)
"The fast of the Ember days has been instituted principally to obtain of God good, holy and zealous priests for His Church. On this point especially depend the honor and welfare of the Church and the salvation of mankind. History proves, beyond all doubt, that a careless and tepid clergy do greater injury to the Church and to the souls of men than a bitter and bloody persecution. Persecution, in its outcome, proves beneficial to the Church and sends heroic martyrs to heaven, but a clergy devoid of holiness and virtue is the scourge of souls and the disgrace of the Church." Rev. Ferreol Girarday C.S.S.R
