Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of December 20, 2010!
Congratulations to Diana Pisana!

Diana will receive a copy of Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers, a $18.95 value.

The Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers
by Janet Claussen, Pat Finan, Diana Macalintal, Jerry Shepherd, Susan Stark, Chris Wardwell

Whether middle schoolers encounter this book as part of the Catholic Connections program in faith formation or pick it up out of curiosity, The Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers offers great guidance and aims to help young teens learn about all the central aspects of the Catholic faith, including God, revelation, faith, Jesus the Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, liturgy and sacraments, Christian morality and justice, and prayer.

Catholic Connections Handbook for Middle Schoolers
ISBN: 978-0-88489-994-5, paper, 552 pages

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

This past Sunday we celebrated the fourth Sunday of Advent, and now we are in the final week of preparation (both spiritually and physically) for the arrival of Christmas. In our home this means that the Christmas tree has been set up, presents are tucked away waiting to be wrapped, and "Christmas dresses" for my daughters have been selected. It also means that we look for time to pause and reflect on the true significance of the Christmas miracle that we celebrate. For this week’s Servant Leader, I thought it would be good to simply provide a moment for you to pause and reflect on Christmas. The excerpt below is from Saint John Baptist de La Salle’s meditation for Christmas Eve. Saint Mary’s Press is a Christian Brothers ministry, so we continually turn to the teachings and wisdom of De La Salle to guide us. I pray that his words may nourish you and allow you a moment to be in awe of the amazing gift we remember each Christmas. Have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful start to the New Year. As always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry. The Servant Leader will resume on Monday, January 10, 2011.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

Meditation 85.3 (December 24: For the Vigil of the Nativity of Jesus Christ)

"Since we know that Jesus Christ is going to come into us today, and since we recognize him for what he is, let us prepare for him a dwelling place worthy of him, and let us dispose our hearts to receive him in such a way that he may be pleased to make his home there! With this in view let us apply ourselves to detach our hearts from all that is profane and earthly in them. The earthy soul, says Saint Paul, speaks with affection of the things of the earth, and does not know how to speak of anything else. But the same apostle says, the heavenly person speaks of the things of heaven and rises above everything else. It is for this purpose that the Son of God has come to earth and wishes to come into our hearts, to make us share in his nature and help us become altogether heavenly persons." (John Baptist de La Salle)

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Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: World Day of Peace Prayer Service
From Ministry Ideas for Celebrating Advent and Christmas with Teens, Families, and Parishes

Preparation
January 1 is a day of celebration, with multiple layers in the secular world and in the Church. The first day of the calendar year celebrates World Day of Peace. Pope John Paul II has used this day to issue messages of peace; likewise, the United Nations invites the world to observe the day as "One Day in Peace" (www.oneday.net). And on the first day of the calendar year, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

This prayer service focuses on the message of peace brought by the angels to the shepherds, "peace on earth and good will to all" (adapted from Luke 2:14), and how Mary pondered those words in her heart. Designed for New Year’s Day, the service can be used any time of the year, but is especially appropriate for a gathered session during the Christmas season.

Readings for January 1:
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Cycles A, B, C: Numbers 6:22–27, Galatians 4:4–7, Luke 2:16–21

Suggested Time
20 minutes

Gather the following items:

1. a basket
2. Catholic Youth Bibles or other bibles, one for every two participants
3. fabric or a tablecloth to cover a prayer table
4. a large candle
5. a cross
6. traditional and contemporary pictures, statues, or icons of Mary, the mother of
God
7. pens or pencils, one for each participant
8. chairs, one for each participant
9. hymnals

Photocopy resource 10, "Challenges to and Chances for Peace." If possible, use card stock. Make enough copies so that each participant will receive one question when the resource is cut into individual slips. Duplicates are okay. Place the cut-up slips and the pens or pencils in a basket in the prayer space.

Photocopy resource 11, "Pope John Paul II’s Messages of Peace to Young People." Highlight individual statements and distribute to four volunteer readers. Tell them that when you signal them, they will read in turn the statement highlighted on their sheet, pausing a few moments between statements.

Select a reader to proclaim Luke 2:8–21.

Choose a concluding song on the theme of peace.

Create a prayer space with a small table or a large box, covered with fabric. Place a large candle and a cross on the table. Arrange traditional and contemporary pictures, statues, or icons of Mary on the prayer table as a visual element. Place a basket with pens or pencils and the slips of paper with the questions from resource 10 in the prayer space. Arrange chairs in a circle or semicircle around the prayer table.

Procedure

1. Light a candle and welcome the participants, calling the group to prayer by inviting all to center themselves in the peace of Christ. Then offer these or similar comments:

On January 1 the Church celebrates the person of Mary, the mother of God. The Gospel reading (for all three cycles) begins with the visit from poor shepherds, who convey the words of the angels, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, / and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (Luke 2:14). Though all who had heard this message were amazed at what the shepherds told them, "Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).

When someone ponders something, they think and reflect on it very seriously. For the next few minutes, let us treasure and ponder the promise of peace that the angels so joyfully brought to all humankind: "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth" (adapted from the Sacramentary, p. 365).

How can we, as individuals, help bring about the peace of God that Mary modeled for us?

2. Invite the participants to come forward and take a slip of paper from the basket in the prayer space. Ask them to read the question on their slip of paper and spend a few minutes "pondering" how their particular example is a challenge to or a chance for peace in our time. Allow 1 to 2 minutes for silent reflection.

3. Invite the reader to proclaim Luke 2:8–21 slowly and prayerfully as others follow along in the Bible. Allow a few moments of silence to follow.

4. Ask the participants to turn to one person in the group who has a different question from the one they picked and to share with that person the chance for peace or the challenge to peace on their slips of paper. In light of the Gospel reading, ask them to discuss what Mary’s response might be to this challenge to or chance for peace.

5. After everyone has had a chance to share their thoughts, invite comments from the large group about the chances for or challenges to peace that came up in the partner discussions. Direct the discussion toward how we might respond as Mary would to the challenges to peace in our world today. How can we turn those challenges into chances for peace?

6. Conclude the sharing of chances and challenges by making the following points about Mary and the topic of peace:

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a model for peacemaking. As Jesus’s mother and first disciple, she exemplified the Gospel message of nonviolence that her son Jesus preached and lived. When faced with conflict, Jesus and Mary responded with compassion instead of competition, spirit of the law over the letter of the law, relationship instead of control, humility over power, and service over dominance (adapted from Craig Larkin, A Certain Way, p. 80).

Pope John Paul II has great devotion to Mary, the mother of God, and the kind of peacemaking she modeled for us. In his message on the World Day of Peace 2002, he reminds us of the need for justice and forgiveness as the necessary ingredients of peacemaking.

John Paul II also has great faith in young people as peacemakers. In fact, he believes that young people have a unique opportunity to be builders of peace in this world. Listen to the words he has spoken on World Youth Days of recent years. Signal the readers who have been given statements by Pope John Paul II to read his words slowly and distinctly, pausing a few moments between statements.

7. Ask the participants to take their slips of paper and write on them one resolution they can realistically do this year to make a difference in bringing about peace and goodwill to all. After they have finished, ask them to keep the slip of paper as a bookmark and put it in a place where they can see it, remember, and live out their resolution.

8. Conclude the session with the following remarks:

Pope John Paul II, in his message on the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2003, calls us "gestures of peace": "Gestures of peace spring from the lives of people who foster peace first of all in their own hearts. . . . Gestures of peace create a tradition and a culture of peace. Let us now share with one another a gesture of peace. Let that gesture carry forth into the world, bringing peace" (no. 9).

9. End the prayer service by singing the song you have preselected.

Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
December 26, 2010
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Opening Prayer
Thank you, Jesus, for embracing our humanity by taking on human form and becoming a member of the family of Joseph and Mary. Teach us to be more engaged members of our own families by being more charitable to others each day. Amen.

Context Connection
Matthew continues to use in chapter two of his Gospel the pattern he established in chapter one: an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, the angel gives Joseph a command and explains why he should obey, Joseph carries out the command, and the narrative closes with a quote from the Old Testament.

The angel commands Joseph, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him" (2:13). Joseph does as the angel tells him, fleeing by night to Egypt with Jesus and Mary. Matthew concludes by saying, "This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, 'out of Egypt I have called my son'" (2:15). This quote from the prophet can be found in Hosea 11:1. Sunday's Gospel does not include verses 16-18, the account of Herod's massacre of boys two years old and younger. Herod was known to be a ruthless king, even killing family members to preserve his position. This account is told as part of the Gospel on December 28, when the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Innocents.

At this time in history, Egypt was a place of exile for many individuals from Israel. Most of them were waiting for the death of Herod so they could return to Israel. The Romans had captured Egypt in 30 BC. Herod's kingdom did not extend into Egypt but it did border Egypt. As a carpenter, Joseph would have been able to find work quite easily in Egypt.

The time of exile in Egypt for the Holy Family is short--just a couple of years, until Herod dies. Once again, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream to let him know that Herod has died and that Joseph and his family can return to Israel. The angel commands Joseph to, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead" (2:20). Upon the death of Herod, the Romans split Herod's kingdom among his three sons. Archelaus was given Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. Herod Antipas, whom Jesus refers to as "the fox," was given Galilee and Perea. And Philip was given Iturea and Trachonitis. See map 6 in The Catholic Youth Bible®.

When Joseph "heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee" (2:22). Archelaus's reputation was similar to his father's. He was cruel and quick to suppress any challenge to his throne. After only a short time as king, the Romans dethroned Archelaus and replaced the role of king with that of governor--one of the most famous being Pontius Pilate.

The Holy Family settled in Nazareth, a small town in the Galilee area: "There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, 'He will be called a Nazorean'" (2:23). This is why Jesus is associated with Nazareth and why he begins his public ministry in Galilee.

Tradition Connection
Jesus shows us the importance of family by choosing to be born into the family of Joseph and Mary. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary" (paragraph 1655). The Catholic Church, in recent writings, places emphasis on the importance of family by referring to it as the "domestic church." The family is considered a sacred community where parents, by word and example, are the first evangelizers of their children. Their vocation as parents is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus's love to their children through their words and deeds.

The Christian family "is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament"1 (Catechism, paragraph 2204). As a whole, united in love, the family makes up an important component of society. It is within this domestic community that we learn how to be productive members of other communities throughout our lives. "The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society" (Catechism, paragraph 2207). It is in family that we come to know how to care for others--to be other oriented. This understanding of self-giving, one that Jesus models in the Gospels, should be the cornerstone of family life: "The family should live in such a way that its members learn to care and take responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor" (Catechism, paragraph 2208). Authentic family life naturally spills over its own boundaries and affects everyone who comes into contact with it. It is true that Christian charity begins in the family, or should we say it is learned in the family.

In choosing to be an active member of the family of Joseph and Mary, Jesus heightens the dignity of family life. The domestic church not only serves its own members but also the whole Church and society.

Wisdom Connection
Throughout Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is presented as the new Moses. Early on, Matthew wants his readers to understand that the future promise of the People of God rests with Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, who has been called from Egypt to live, work, and die in the land of God's own people. God is acting through Jesus, as God did through Moses, but in a new way, to bring about the salvation of all people.

Through the genealogy listed in chapter one, Matthew demonstrates continuity between Jesus and the Jewish tradition. Then in chapter two, Matthew directs our attention to how Joseph's actions, guided by the angel, fulfill what the prophets had spoken. Note that Matthew does not say that Jesus discontinues the covenant of the Old Testament. Rather, the history of Jesus and Christianity is grounded in the Old Testament. The New Testament does not make the promises of God to the Israelites obsolete. The Vatican Council II documents speak of God's covenant with the Jews as never having been revoked. (See Nostra Aetate, no. 4, at http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html.) Each Sunday the first reading is usually taken from the Old Testament because the Old Testament sheds light on the New Testament and, likewise, the New Testament gives fuller meaning to the Old Testament.

Acknowledgments
The scriptural quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

The quotations labeled Catechism are from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America. Copyright © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

The Lord's Prayer is taken from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Copyright © 1988 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
1. Cf. Ephesians 5:21--6:4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Peter 3:1-7

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

December 22 is the memorial for Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.

Saint Frances Cabrini was born in Italy in 1850. Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heartwith a mission to minister to the poor in schools and hospitals. Sent by Pope Leo XIII, Mother Cabrini traveled to the United States to continue her work. In the United States, she reached out to immigrants and continued to establish schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She later became a U.S. citizen and was the first U.S. citizen to be canonized.

For more information on Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-frances-xavier-cabrini/