Mark will receive a copy of The Catholic Youth Prayer Book, Second Edition, a $15.95 value.

by Joanna Dailey

As I write this, I am living in the afterglow of the National Catholic Youth Conference held this past weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana. What a conference! This was the first opportunity I’ve ever had to attend, and I thank Saint Mary’s Press for sending me! As I wandered the halls and the exhibits, heard the talks, and trekked back and forth from Lucas Oil Stadium with the other 23,000 youth and adult participants, I could not help but think of this passage from the writings of Saint Paul on the role of the ministers and proclaimers of the faith:

"What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building" (1 Corinthians 3:5-9, NABRE).

I watched the Apollos and the Pauls at this conference, raising banners and flags high, with their little groups of teens following, often dressed in identical hats or T-shirts (to more easily count you, my flock!). These ministers had planted and watered long and hard to get their teens to this conference, and would be planting and watering long and hard afterwards to enable it to bear fruit in young lives. At the final liturgy, Archbishop Tobin of Indianapolis asked the adult ministers to stand and be recognized: Well done, good and faithful servants!

The many imaginative hats deserve a mention: Archbishop Tobin noted that his favorite was the upside-down ice cream cone. I was impressed by the simple class of the black snap-brim fedoras from Newark, and the elegant velvet creations from Ohio that looked like slices of pumpkin pie, complete with a dollop of cream on top. I asked the group if this hat was in honor of Thanksgiving. They said, no, it was because the largest pumpkin pie in the world was baked near their hometown. I was also delighted to see the familiar green foam-rubber Statue of Liberty crowns worn by the teens from the Archdiocese of New York: a little trip down memory lane for me!

As I looked out over the crowd at the stadium, filled stem to stern with teens from all over the country (Archbishop Tobin called it "a national parish"), it was easy for me to see the image suggested by Saint Paul: "Yes," I said to myself, "You are truly God’s field. And God will cause the growth."

The O Antiphons

As we are beginning Advent, I wanted to call your attention to the O Antiphons. These are the antiphons for the Song of Mary, and are sung at Vespers beginning Tuesday, December 17, with O Wisdom. They are also included in the Mass as the Alleluia verse before the Gospel. The O Antiphons link important Old Testament images and prophecies to the birth of Jesus Christ. Each antiphon begins with O, as in, O Wisdom, O Root of Jesse, etc. These antiphons are also the basis of the Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." The first letters of the Latin texts, when read in reverse order (Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia), spell out the phrase ero cras ("I will be [there] tomorrow").

A wonderful chart of the O Antiphons, in English and in Latin, with their scriptural references, can be found at http://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Advent-O-Antiphons.htm. This was compiled by Father Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D. The O Antiphons are a great teaching tool to link the Old Testament with the New Testament, and, spiritually, to prepare us to greet the Savior with all the anticipation of the ancient prophets. Underneath the chart, Father Just gives suggestions on singing the verses of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" so that they are distributed among the Advent Sundays. With all the beautiful verses available, it is a shame to sing the first verse only, over and over again, every Sunday.

See Make It Happen in this newsletter to include the O Antiphons in your Advent atmosphere.

Blessings on your ministry!

Peace and joy,

Joanna

P.S. Digital Advent Resources: For those of you with mobile devices, Sister Caroline Cerveney, SSJ, suggests this: iPhone Advent! Use iPhones to celebrate Advent. See this link for ideas.

You may also want to visit this Web site for more Advent ideas: http://digitalcatechesis.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Overview: The O Antiphons can be a visual and educational focal point for Advent. These wreaths can be made by each individual student, to use at home, or eight wreaths (one for each O Antiphon) can be made and added to the classroom space each day. Or, make one and change the O Antiphon label each day.

Materials needed:

• Cardboard
• Ruler
• Green and red construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Hole-punch
• Good vellum 8½ x 11 ivory paper
• Felt-tip black pen

Ahead of time, draw several holly leaves on green construction paper, using a cardboard template of a holly leaf as a guide. Cut out the leaves. Hole-punch a piece of red construction paper. The "dots" that fall from the hole-punch will be used as holly berries.

On cardboard, draw a circle 15 to 20 inches in diameter. Cut it out. Then draw an inner circle about 2 inches away from the inside edge of the cardboard circle. Cut out the center of the cardboard so that you are left with a round circle, like a wreath. Paste the green leaves to this circle. Then paste the red berries to the leaves, about 3 berries to each leaf.

Cut 8 strips of vellum paper, each about 2 inches wide and spanning the diameter of your wreath. Write the O Antiphon title on each strip in fancy lettering: O Wisdom, O Key of David, etc.

Tape the O Antiphon across the center of the wreath, placing the tape on the back of the paper and on the front of the wreath. If you are making 8 wreaths, give each one its own O Antiphon. If you are making only one wreath, change the O Antiphon to the proper antiphon for each day.

The Second Sunday of Advent
December 8, 2013
Matthew 3:1-12

Opening Prayer

Jesus, your words make it clear that we need to live out our Baptism in significant and profound ways. In the final assessment of our lives, it is the fruit of good deeds that will count. Send your Holy Spirit to guide us throughout our lives so that we can be doers of good deeds--doers of the Word. Amen.

Context Connection
In Sunday's Gospel, Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist, a preacher who calls the Jews to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (3:1). We acknowledge John as the last of the great prophets who directly preceded Jesus. Matthew tells us that John preached in the desert or wilderness of Judea. This area is located east of Jerusalem and slopes down to the Dead Sea. The Essenes, noted for writing the Dead Sea Scrolls, are believed to have settled in this area during the time of John. Some scholars speculate that John may have had some contact or association with this Qumran community.

Matthew draws attention to John by connecting him with the prophet that Isaiah speaks of when he says, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (3:3). Matthew also makes connections between John and other Old Testament characters: "Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist" (3:4). This would have recalled for the Jews similar references to Elijah (See 2 Kings 1:8), as well as Samson and Samuel. These individuals represent the Old Testament tradition of the revolutionary mode of renewing society through resistance to injustice. John's message is one of radical conversion of the whole person to the will of God. This is symbolized by a baptism of total submersion into the waters of the Jordan River.

Matthew furthers his point by introducing us to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew holds a lot of contempt for the Pharisees and the Sadducees throughout his Gospel. He calls them a brood of vipers. Vipers are a genus of snakes, often used in the Scriptures to represent evil. Some vipers are venomous, whereas others are not. If a venomous viper strikes, the bite is fatal. In comparing this group of Pharisees and Sadducees to vipers, Matthew wants his audience to always be on guard--not allowing their deception to deliver a fatal blow. By calling them a brood of vipers, Matthew is also calling into question the Pharisees' and Sadducees' honor. In Jewish society, honor is associated with birthright. But how could these individuals have honor if their paternity is associated with snakes? Matthew's Gospel has more to say about the Pharisees and Sadducees, none of which is flattering. To read more about these two religious groups, see the "Did You Know?" article in The Catholic Youth Bible® (Matthew 3:7).

John talks of his baptism as one of repentance that produces good fruit. The true sign of conversion is in a person's actions, not in her or his heritage. Even those who claim to be children of Abraham will not be counted among the saved if they are not repentant and their actions do not demonstrate sincerity of heart and a total turning toward God. For John, baptism is a symbolic action signifying that conversion of heart has taken place. God's power surpasses the laws of natural lineage. John stresses that baptism speaks of an interior change that bears its witness through good actions: "Bear fruit worthy of repentance" (3:8).

Sunday's Gospel ends with Matthew showing clearly that even this great preacher, John the Baptist, is subordinate to Jesus: "But one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals" (3:11). The one who is to come, Jesus, will baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit and fire. The Baptism that Jesus offers will have consequences for the Final Judgment. Matthew describes Jesus' coming as the harvester with the winnowing fan in his hand separating the grain from the chaff. This is an image used in the Scriptures to describe the Final Judgment. At harvest the farmer gathers the grain into barns, and the chaff is destroyed by fire. Matthew makes this parallel with the Final Judgment. Those who produce good fruit through a life well-lived will be gathered into the Kingdom of God, but those whose lives have produced chaff rather than good fruit will be separated out and destroyed.

Tradition Connection
When we pray the Nicene Creed we acknowledge that Jesus will judge the living and the dead when he comes in glory. This is called the Final Judgment, or the Last Judgment. It will occur when Jesus Christ comes again. The Last Judgment will be a judgment of the whole human race. The image of the Final Judgment that Matthew uses in Sunday's Gospel is the farmer winnowing the grain to separate the chaff from the kernels, or fruit of the grain. Later on, in chapter 25, Matthew uses profound scriptural images to define in greater detail the Final Judgment (verses 31-36). Every person will be held accountable for his or her actions. Those who live as Jesus lived--performing the corporal works of mercy--will be welcomed into God's eternal Kingdom. Those who do not follow Jesus' example will be sent into eternal punishment.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about the Final Judgment in this way:

Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching.1 Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light.2 . . . Our attitude about our neighbor will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love.3 On the last day Jesus will say: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me"4 (Paragraph 678).

The Final Judgment will come at the end of the world. However, we believe that each person, at the moment of death, has a particular judgment: "The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith" (Catechism, paragraph 1021).

The Catechism also says: "Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven--through a purification5 or immediately,6--or immediate and everlasting damnation"7 (paragraph 1022).

Wisdom Connection
Matthew's Gospel calls Christians to embrace the radical conversion that was preached by John the Baptist and Jesus. This conversion is made manifest through the fruit of one's good deeds. John the Baptist is held up as a great prophet that prepared the way for Jesus. However, his greatness is secondary to that of Jesus the Christ. Christians who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and allow their Baptism to be made evident in the world through good deeds will be like the grain at harvest. Just as the grain, the good fruit of the harvest, is gathered into barns after it is winnowed, so will the faithful followers of Jesus be gathered to Christ at the Final Judgment.


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.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1. Cf. Daniel 7:10; Joel 3-4; Malachi 3:19; Matthew 3:7-12.
2. Cf. Mark 12:38-40; Luke 12:1-3; John 3:20-21; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 4:5.
3. Cf. Matthew 5:22; 7:1-5.
4. Matthew 25:40.
5. Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) 857-858; Council of Florence (1439): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, 1304-1306; Council of Trent (1563): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, 1820.
6. Cf. Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, 1000-1001; John XXII, Ne super his (1334): Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, 990.
7. St. John of the Cross, Dichos 64.

The Third Sunday of Advent
December 15, 2013
Matthew 11:2-11

Opening Prayer

Jesus, we know your true identity is that of the Christ, the Messiah. Open our eyes to your healing presence today. Help us to recognize that you continue to make the blind see and the deaf hear, you enable the lame to walk, and raise the dead to new life. Amen.

Context Connection
John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus because he is unable to go himself. John has been arrested by Herod Antipas and imprisoned in the fortress at Machaerus. We are first informed of John's arrest in chapter 4 of Matthew (verse 12). John instructs his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"(11:3). John wants to know if Jesus really is the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus gives an interesting response: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them" (11:4-5). These acts of healing, which Jesus performs, are recorded in chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew and foretold in Isaiah 29:19, 35:5-6, and 61:1. Jesus gives this answer to John's disciples, and they take it back to John in prison.

Then Jesus addresses the crowd that is gathered around him--many who may have been followers of John but since John's imprisonment now follow Jesus. Jesus asks them, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?"(11:7). He suggests that they did not go out to see a reed blowing in the wind nor a person dressed in fine clothes, but that the crowd went out into the wilderness to see a great prophet, John the Baptist. John was an unbending prophet, no reed blowing in the wind. He was a person who clearly understood the call for repentance and living a life of values consistent with the law of God. John dressed as a prophet. His clothes were basic and without refinement--in contrast to the fine garments of the members of the court of Herod Antipas.

Jesus affirms the crowd for going into the wilderness to see the prophet: "Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you'" (11:9-10). This quote evokes the writings of the prophet Malachi (3:1, 4:5). It compares John to the great prophet Elijah, who was to return to earth as a sign of the coming of the Lord, the Messiah. Jesus acknowledges that John is the greatest of all the prophets, but adds that it is the Son of Man who is the fulfillment of John's message. Jesus is the one who will usher in a new era in salvation history and establish God's Kingdom on earth.

Tradition Connection
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of John the Baptist in this way: "John is 'Elijah [who] must come.'1 The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of '[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord'"2 (paragraph 718).
For Catholics, John is the last of the great prophets of the Old Testament. He is the one who points directly to Jesus and helps us to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. John comes from a long line of prophets beginning with Elijah:

John the Baptist is "more than a prophet."3 In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah.4 He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel; he is the "voice" of the Consoler who is coming.5 As the Spirit of truth will also do, John "came to bear witness to the light"6 (Catechism, paragraph 719).

Matthew helps us recognize Jesus as the Messiah by pointing out Jesus' power to heal. These healings are signs that the prophets, especially Isaiah, said would help us recognize the Messiah when he comes: "By freeing some individuals from the earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness, and death,7 Jesus performed messianic signs" (Catechism, paragraph 549). We believe that Jesus' death on the cross and his Resurrection from the dead are final proof that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God the Father: "The kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ's cross: 'God reigned from the wood'"8 (Catechism, paragraph 550).

Wisdom Connection
Matthew wants Jesus' followers to understand the true identities of John the Baptist and Jesus. John is the one that the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly through the prophet Malachi, speak of as the messenger who will prepare the way before the Lord--the Messiah. John is the last of the great prophets of the Old Testament. He is the one who, through his preaching and baptism, made ready the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah.

As for Jesus, Jesus is the Christ--the Messiah. When John's disciples ask Jesus if he is the Messiah, they do not receive a direct answer. Rather, Jesus tells them to examine what they see and hear about Jesus and then draw their own conclusions. Jesus points John's disciples to Isaiah's vision of a healed and redeemed humanity (35:5-6). This passage, from the first reading for the third Sunday of Advent, serves as proof that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.

The Messiah comes as a Savior who empowers and strengthens the weak, making them strong so they can live a new life of redemption in God. The Savior comes and brings healing to a world sick with sin.

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.

Endnotes cited in quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1. Matthew 17:10-13; cf. Luke 1:78.
2. Luke 1:17.
3. Luke 7:26.
4. Cf. Matthew 11:13-14.
5. John 1:23; cf. Isaiah 40:1-3.
6. John 1:7; cf. John 15:26; 5:35.
7. Cf. John 6:5-15; Luke 19:8; Matthew 11:5.
8. Liturgy of the Hours, Lent, Holy Week, Evening Prayer, Hymn Vexilla Regis: "Regnavit a lingo Deus."

This saint, also known as Saint John Damascene, is one of the Fathers of the Eastern Church. He was educated by a monk whom his father had saved from death from Saracen conquerors. Active in the Church as a monk and later ordained a priest, Saint John wrote three Treatises on the Veneration Due to Images against the iconoclasts who wanted to destroy all icons and other images of Christ, Mary, and the saints. Saint John Damascene is known as the great poet of the Eastern Church, and the canons he composed are used in the Eastern Church liturgy on Easter, the Ascension, and on Saint Thomas’s Sunday. Because of his defense of icons, he is known as "The Doctor of Christian Art." Pray to Saint John Damascene to help preserve his home city of Damascus in Syria, and to help all of the Syrian people to find peace. Saint John’s feast day is December 4.

Read more about Saint John Damascene at http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=66.