Happy Liturgical New Year!

So technically, Saturday night was the new (liturgical) year. But more importantly, it's Advent! A season always full of hope and anticipation for our Savior's birth but one that also never fails to give me a renewed sense of hope for what lies ahead of us in the new (calendar) year.

I got out the Advent Wreath a few days ago--at the same time I pulled out Thanksgiving decorations from the attic--and fortunately stumbled across a set of new Advent candles at church last Sunday. We always pull out the big artificial tree the first week of Advent too and get the (white) lights on but leave the decorations off until Christmas Eve. We call it our "Advent Tree" (complete with purple ribbon) but this year I'm determined to make it into a Jesse Tree.

Today, being November 30 and the feast of St. Andrew, begin two different of my favorite novenas of all time. The first is a novena of the Immaculate Conception. I never fail to marvel at the beauty of this feast nor the significance of it in the life of the infertile Catholic. It does, after all, commemorate the earth-shatteringly miraculous conception of an IMMACULATE woman, Mary the Mother of God in the womb of her mother, St. Anne--who was thought to be barren. St. Anne happens to be my namesake but little did I know the significance this saint was to have for me later in life.

Novena to the Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Virgin! Mary, conceived without sin! Remember, thou wert miraculously preserved from even the shadow of sin, because thou wert destined to become not only the Mother of God, but also the mother, the refuge, and the advocate of man; penetrated therefore, with the most lively confidence in thy never-failing intercession, we most humbly implore thee to look with favor upon the intentions of this novena, and to obtain for us the graces and the favors we request. Thou knowest, O Mary, how often our hearts are the sanctuaries of God, Who abhors iniquity. Obtain for us, then, than angelic purity which was thy favorite virtue, that purity of heart which will attach us to God alone, and that purity of intention which will consecrate every thought, word, and action to His greater glory. Obtain also for us a constant spirit of prayer and self-denial, that we many recover by penance that innocence which we have lost by sin, and at length attain safety to that blessed abode of the saints, where nothing defiled can enter.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

V. Thou are all fair, O Mary.
R. Thou art all fair, O Mary.
V. And the original stain is not in thee.
R. And the original stain is not in thee.
V. Thou art the glory of Jerusalem.
R. Thou art the joy of Israel
V. Thou art the honor of our people.
R. Thou art the advocate of sinners.
V. O Mary.
R. O Mary.
V. Virgin, most prudent.
R. Mother, most tender.
V. Pray for us.
R. Intercede for us with Jesus our Lord.
V. In thy conception, Holy Virgin, thou wast immaculate.
R. Pray for us to the Father Whose Son thou didst bring forth.
V. O Lady! aid my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.

Let us pray

Holy Mary, Queen of Heaven, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and mistress of the world, who forsakest no one, and despisest no one, look upon me, O Lady! with an eye of pity, and entreat for me of thy beloved Son the forgiveness of all my sins; that, as I now celebrate, with devout affection, thy holy and immaculate conception, so, hereafter I may receive the prize of eternal blessedness, by the grace of Him whom thou, in virginity, didst bring forth, Jesus Christ Our Lord: Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, in perfect Trinity, God, world without end. Amen.

The second novena is one of the sweetest, most beautiful and nostalgic prayers that will always conjure in my mind the image of my father leading our family in the following prayer after our family rosary each night leading up to Christmas. You say it 15 times a day from Nov. 30-Dec 24. As I child, I marveled at the words "piercing cold" and would imagine how difficult and humbling yet powerfully thrilling the experience of Jesus' birth must have been.

Christmas Novena

Hail and blessed be the hour and the 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,
through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother.

Amen.
(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew, on November 30, until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)

[Imprimatur: +Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York, New York, February 6, 1897.]

And finally, today is the feast of St. Andrew--brother of St. Peter and one of the first to respond to the call "Come follow Me". He was a fisherman and tradition calls for us to celebrate this great saint by serving a seafood dish at the dinner table. Being a good midwesterner at heart, I don't care much for seafood, but I saw this recipe from Alton Brown and have always wanted to try it. I can't believe I came home with a whole (and blissfully gutted!) fish...head and tail still attached. The boys are thrilled and can't quit poking looking at it. They've been singing the following song all afternoon.

Fish heads! Fish heads!
Roly poly fish heads!
Fish heads! Fish heads!
Eat them up...YUM!

We'll see how it turns out.