SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
SAINTS OF THE DAY – FEAST DAY ~ DECEMBER 13, 2024
SAINT ANDREW’S CHRISTMAS NOVENA
[The Saint Andrew’s Christmas Novena prayer below is traditionally prayed 15 times a day from November 30, the Feast of Saint Andrew, through Christmas Eve.]
THE LITURGICAL YEAR IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH [Please see link to this article below]
THE SAINTS: WHO ARE THEY AND HOW ARE THEY CANONISED? [Please see link to the article below]
PURGATORY: WHAT IS PURGATORY? [Please see link to this article below]
THE HOLY ROSARY: WHAT IS THE HOLY ROSARY AND WHY DO WE PRAY THE HOLY ROSARY? [Please see link to this article below]
Greetings and blessings, beloved family and Happy Friday of the 2nd Week of Advent!
On this Special Feast day, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints, we pray for God’s grace and mercy and for the safety and well-being of our children and for peace in our family and the whole world and we continue to remember the souls of the faithful departed and the souls in Purgatory. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls and souls of all the faithful ù peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯
“Blessed are those who have died in the Lord; let them rest from their abors for their good deeds go with them.” ~ Rev 14:13
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life, you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil, and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | December 13, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary| on EWTN on YouTube” | December 13, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary for Peace with Pope Francis” | LIVE Basilica of St. Mary Major | October 6, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary Novena From Lourdes” | December 13, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy in song”| December 13, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” oùn YouTube |
Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |
Today’s Bible Readings: Friday December 13, 2024
Reading 1, Isaiah 48:17-19
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6
Gospel, Matthew 11:16-19
THE LITURGICAL YEAR IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/2024/12/03/the-liturgical-year-in-the-catholic-church/
THE HOLY ROSARY: WHAT IS THE HOLY ROSARY AND WHY DO WE PRAY THE HOLY ROSARY? | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/2024/11/21/the-holy-rosary-what-is-the-holy-rosary-and-why-do-we-pray-the-holy-rosary/
THE SAINTS: WHO ARE THEY AND HOW ARE THEY CANONISED? | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/2024/11/01/the-saints-who-are-they-and-how-are-they-canonised/
PURGATORY: WHAT IS PURGATORY? | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/2024/11/15/purgatory-and-limbo/
THE ADVENT WREATH: SECOND WEEK PRAYER: The prayer that follows is to be repeated each day of the second week. After the prayer, the oldest child lights the first and second purple candles.
LEADER: O Lord, stir up our hearts that we may prepare for Thy only begotten Son, that through His coming we may be made worthy to serve Thee with pure minds. Through Christ our Lord. ALL: Amen.
(The two candles are allowed to burn during the evening meals of the second week.)
SAINT ANDREW PRAYER
Beginning on the Feast of St. Andrew (November 30th), 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 the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“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 piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, 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.”🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT LUCY OF SYRACUSE, VIRGIN AND MARTYR – FEAST DAY ~ DECEMBER 13TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, Virgin and Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints, we humbly pray for God’s grace and mercy as we prepare for the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ during this season of Advent. Praying for hope, faith, love, joy and peace in our world today, as we face these incredibly challenging times. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the safety and well-being of all those traveling during this season of Christmas. Amen🙏
SAINT LUCY OF SYRACUSE, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Lucy (283-304) also known as Lucia is a virgin and martyr of Syracuse in Sicily, who was born to wealthy and noble Christian parents in the year 283 on the island of Sicily. Her father was of Roman origin, but his early death left her dependent upon her mother, whose name, Eutychia, seems to indicate that she was of Greek heritage. She was brought up as a Christian by her mother, who was miraculously cured at the shrine of St. Agatha in Catania. Like so many of the early martyrs, Lucy grew in piety, and at a young age secretly consecrated her virginity to Christ, and she hoped to devote all her worldly goods to the service of the poor. St. Lucy’s mother, Eutychia, pressured her into an arranged marriage with a pagan nobleman in order to provide for her daughter’s future, which Lucy avoided. For three years St. Lucy managed to postpone the marriage. St. Lucy prayed at the tomb of Saint Agatha to change her mother’s mind about her faith. When Lucy’s mother was struck with a long and serious illness, Lucy convinced her mother to accompany her to pray at the tomb of St. Agnes. As a result, St. Lucy’s mother was miraculously cured of her malady, a long haemorrhagic illness. St. Lucy then told her mother about her vow of chastity, and her mother consented to her refusal to marry and consented to her desire to live for God. St. Lucy made a vow of virginity and gave herself to serving persecuted Christians hiding in the catacombs, wearing a wreath of candles on her head to illumine the dark underground caverns, with her arms full of provisions. The distribution of her wealth to the poor, her generosity stirred the wrath of the unworthy youth to whom she had been unwillingly betrothed and upon finding that St. Lucy was a Christian and had refused his hand in marriage, had her imprisoned under the persecutions of Diocletian.
The governor planned to force her into prostitution, brothel, but God rendered her body immovable and the soldiers were unable to carry out the task, when guards went to fetch her, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. The governor ordered her to be killed instead. After a gruesome torture which included having her eyes torn out, she was surrounded by bundles of wood which were set afire, but the fire quickly died out. She prophesied against her persecutors, and finally, she was killed by the sword. She was then executed by being stabbed to death with a dagger about the year 304 amidst the fierce war waged against the Christians under Diocletian. According to later accounts, St. Lucy warned Paschasius he would be punished. When the governor heard this he ordered the guards to gouge out her eyes; however, in another telling, it was Lucy who removed her eyes in an attempt to discourage a persistent suitor who greatly admired them. When her body was being prepared for burial, they discovered her eyes had been restored. This and the meaning of her name (“light” or “lucid”) led to her patronage with eyes; eye problems, the blind, eye trouble, and other eye ailments. She’s the Patron Saint against hemorraghes; authors; blind people; blindness; cutlers; dysentery; eye disease; eye problems; glaziers; hemorraghes; laborers; martyrs; peasants; Perugia, Italy; saddlers; salesmen; stained glass workers; Syracuse, Sicily; throat infections; writers.
St. Lucy is among the great virgin martyrs of the Church, her name appearing in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Her feast day is December 13th.
PRAYER: Lord, may the intercession of Your Virgin and Martyr St. Lucy help us so that, as we celebrate her heavenly birthday on earth, we may contemplate her triumph in heaven. Amen 🙏🏽
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
*Bible Readings for today, Friday of the Second Week in Advent | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121523.cfm
Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 11:16-19
“They listened to neither John nor to the Son of Man”
“Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus complains that His contemporaries see nothing good in either Himself or in John the Baptist. They regard John as possessed because of his ascetic way of life and they consider Jesus a glutton, a drunkard and a friend of undesirables because of His more celebratory lifestyle. They remind Jesus of children he sees in the marketplace who refuse to join in either the funeral games or the party games of other children. As it may seem, there was no pleasing them. Yet, God was drawing near to them in the two very different ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. In spite of that, they found a way of dismissing both John and Jesus; they belittled both. We all run the risk of belittling the messengers that God sends us or making light of the various ways that God might be trying to communicate with us. God communicate with us in different ways at different times, in the imagery of the Gospel reading, in both dirges and dances, in times of great sadness and great joy. The Gospel reading today suggests that what is needed from us is an openness to hear God, to be attentive to the Lord. That is, above all, what Advent calls for – that listening ear which is attentive to the Lord’s coming and presence, no matter what form it takes. The Gospel is the source of true joy; when it is heard and responded to it brings a peace and a joy that the world cannot give. St. Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is peace and joy. This Advent we pray that we might enter more fully into the Lord’s peace and joy.
In our first reading passage today, from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the prophet spoke of how everything would have turned out well for the people of God if they had trusted in Him and followed His path, instead of the fate that they had endured, the sufferings, humiliations and challenges that they had encountered because of their lack of faith and disobedience, their refusal to follow the path which the Lord had instructed and shown them, and which He has constantly reminded them through His many prophets and messengers. God wanted all of His people to know that it is in Him alone that they could find true joy, purpose and satisfaction in life, and nothing could replace Him or His truth and ways. The people of God had grown wayward because they allowed themselves to be swayed by the temptations of sin and evil, by the allures of worldly glory and pleasures, the many attachments and distractions present all around them, in all the things which had been presented to them, and the pressures and coercions by which they were tempted to abandon God and betray Him for the pagan gods and false idols. The Lord nonetheless continued to care for all of them, sending them help and reminders along the way, despite them hardening their hearts and minds, stubbornly refusing to follow His path, and preferring instead to embrace the discordant ways and demands of the world.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded to keep ourselves holy and worthy of God, staying away from the many temptations and persuasions of the world, all of which can lead us down the wrong path in life. Each and every one of us as Christians have been called to dedicate ourselves to the Lord with ever more commitment, focusing our lives and our whole existence upon Him. We should not allow the distractions and the waywardness of this world from turning us towards our downfall and destruction. It is important that all of us must keep in mind that each and every one of us are God’s beloved people, and as such, we should always strive to be good and holy, just as He is holy. We are called to emulate the Saints and the Holy men and women, particularly the Saint we celebrate today, Saint Lucy of Syracuse, Virgin and Martyr. May the Lord our most loving God and Creator, Whose patient and enduring love have been the reason for our joy and celebration, our hope and salvation, continued to be with us and bless us, and empower us in our journey towards Him, in our Advent commemorations and efforts. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us the grace to remain faithful and allow the many ways we have been graced through the birth of Jesus to flow through us and to bless and grace the lives of others. May He continue to help and lead us down the right path, and bless our Advent journey, as well as our good efforts and endeavours. Amen🙏
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF DECEMBER:
MONTH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: The month of December is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Chosen before time to be the Mother of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, God created Mary perfect and full of grace, preserving her from the stain of Original Sin. Mary Immaculate is the most beautiful fruit of the work of redemption accomplished by her Son, thereby making her the perfect model of holiness for all Christians.
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/months/10_1.cfm
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER – FOR PILGRIMS OF HOPE: We pray that this Jubilee Year strengthen our faith, helping us to recognize the Risen Christ in our daily lives, and that it may transform us into pilgrims of Christian hope.
https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2024
PRAYER FOR PEACE ~ POPE FRANCIS:
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/
PRAYER INTENTIONS: Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints during this special season of Advent, we humbly pray for God’s grace and mercy as we prepare for the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Praying for hope, faith, love, joy and peace in our world today, as we face these incredibly challenging times. We pray for our children and children all over the world, we pray for their health, safety and well-being, we particularly pray for those who have no one to care for them and those who are terminally ill, we pray for God’s Divine healing upon them. We pray for all parents, all mothers, wives, those going through challenges in their marriages, Victims of verbal and spousal abuse, and we pray for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy, and all those who preach the Gospel. We pray for Vocation to the Priesthood and Religious life. We particularly pray for all Youths and all Seminarians. For the Church, for persecuted Christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Amen 🙏
Let us pray:
My glorious Lord Jesus, I acknowledge Your divine presence in my life and in the world all around me. Help me to be more attentive to the countless ways that You speak to me and come to me each and every day. As I discover You and Your holy word, fill me with joy. As I see my sin and the sins of the world, give me true sorrow so that I will work tirelessly to combat my own sin and bring Your love and mercy to those who are most in need. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe….have mercy on us. Our Blessed Mother Mary; St. Lucy ~ Pray for us🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all.
We pray for the safety and well-being of all those traveling during this season of Christmas. Have a blessed, safe, and grace-filled 2nd Week of Advent and relaxing weekend🙏
Blessings and love always, Philomena💖
Daily Reflections | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/
Foundation | https://gliopiepehe.org
Sir G.L.I Opiepe’s Health and Education Foundation |