Additionally, I've finally made a video of the USA Chaplet.
It's been several years since I've done videos, looks like I may be starting up again ... Please keep me in prayer. Blessings!
the gift of His Son, born of the Virgin Mary, promised from the dawn of time, the woman’s “offspring, Who shall crush the serpent’s head” (Gn 3:15) one day; proclaimed by the prophets: “The Virgin is with the child and shall bear a Son, and she will call Him Emmanuel” (Is 7:14) and fulfilled in time “The Word of God became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (J 1:14) and this “while they were there the time came for her to have a child, and she gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.” (Lk 2:67). | The Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on December 18th. A shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Expectation resides on St. Thomas Mount (the place where St. Thomas the Apostle was martyred) in Chennai, India. |
1. That nations would see that the Church has the right to freedom, and immunity from the state (Quas Primas, 32).Today, the same distrust of authority exists, although the problem has gotten worse. Individualism has been embraced to humility and service. Jesus said:
2. That leaders and nations would see that they are bound to give respect to Christ (Quas Primas, 31).
3. That the faithful would gain strength and courage from the celebration of the feast, as we are reminded that Christ must reign in our hearts, minds, wills, and bodies (Quas Primas, 33).
You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:42-45, NAB).and
Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?"... Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world,to testify to the truth (John 18:33b, 36-37).
Thus, Jesus knew the oppressive nature of secular kings, and in
contrast to them, he connected his role as king to humble service, and
commanded his followers to be servants as well. In other passages of
Scripture, his kingdom is tied to his suffering and death. While Christ
is coming to judge the nations, his teachings spell out a kingdom of
justice and judgment balanced with radical love, mercy, peace, and
forgiveness. When we celebrate Christ as King, we are not celebrating an
oppressive ruler, but one willing to die for humanity and whose
"loving-kindness endures forever." Christ is the king that gives us true
freedom, freedom in Him. Thus we must never forget that Christ radically redefined and transformed the concept of kingship.Christ the King Sunday used to be celebrated on the last Sunday of
October, but since the calendar reforms of 1969, the feast falls on the
last Sunday of Ordinary Time, which is the Sunday before Advent. It is
fitting that the feast celebrating Christ's kingship is observed right
before Advent, when we liturgically wait for the promised Messiah
(King).
And of course decades later we are still killing our little ones ... only it's become more blatant, Eternity is an awfully long time to lament over something that could have been easily remedied in this Valley of Tears if we but had eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that's open to the direction of the Holy Spirit. There are many passages of scripture that can point you in the right direction but I leave you some here as food for thought:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2 Timothy 3:1-4)
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. (Romans 1:26-27)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)