Our problem is we always spend Christmas with extended family. We may travel to Houston/El Paso/Wichita Falls, we may have two to 14 people (and a dog!) come stay with us. We might be in Austin alone (doubtful). We want to create a stable, family tradition, but it’s hard when the expectation is to either host a big group or travel.

Epiphany is our solution.

Benward's Door: Adoration of the Magi. photocredit: flickr/sacred_destinations

Yesterday, after the normal Sunday routine, we gathered near the tree. We read from the Gospel of the day about the Magi visiting Jesus and sang We Three Kings. We explained to Olivia that the Magi brought gifts to Jesus because they were so excited to see him, how a star told them where to go, pointed out the star on the Christmas tree and so on. Then, we give the girls their presents.

We like this for a few different reasons:

• Stability: While Christmas is different every year, we’ll only be in Austin for Epiphany. I’m doubtful that anyone visiting that weekend would have Epiphany traditions that would difficult to accommodate without changing up our tradition.
• Catechetical: While giving us directly the opportunity to teach about that aspect of the Christmas story, in addition to the decorations still being up, it reinforces that Christmas is a season that begins—not end—on December 25th.
• Desecular: Christmas gift giving is crazy. The commercials, the movies, everything seemingly ties getting and giving a truck full of presents every year. We can’t completely fight it. There will be presents on Christmas, no matter where we spend it, but I haven’t seen a movie or story that promotes extreme materialism on Epiphany. We hope not having to compete with the secular Christmas expectation in our society, a small gift could have a bigger meaning.

I like using ritual-style books for ceremonies; hardcover, a simple cover, sturdy. As a domestic church, it makes sense to me that, like a parish church, some books are for use during a ritual while others for study, planning, etc. In addition to having a copy of Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers compiled by the USCCB, we bought a pew hymnal. We have the 3rd edition of Worship, a GIA hymnal that has a 80/20 split between organ-based and guitar/piano-based music. Specifically, we have the pew edition that includes the three-year cycle of Sunday/holiday readings. I picked up our copy with my parish upgraded to these hymnals about 10 years ago, but you can order one online through GIA.

I like having a hymnal so we have the majority of the music we sing at church easily accessible, as well as the Sunday readings, in a format that is obviously geared toward ritual celebration.

The first year of our Epiphany tradition went well and we were satisfied. Do you have any unique ways to celebrate the Christmas season?

The post Epiphany appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

photocredit: flckr/fotokatolik

The Twenty-fifth day of December

when ages beyond number had run their course from the creation of the world, when God in the beginning created heaven and earth, and formed man in his own likeness;

when century upon century had passed since the Almighty set his bow in the clouds after the Great Flood, as a sign of covenant and peace;

in the twenty-first century since Abraham, our father in faith, came out of Ur of the Chaldee;

in the thirteenth century since the People of Israel were led by Moses in the Exodus from Egypt;

around the thousandth year since David was anointed King;

in the sixty-fifth week of the prophency of Daniel;

in the one hundred and ninty-fourth Olympiad;

in the year seven hundred and fifty-two since the foundation of the City of Rome;

in the forty-second year of the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus,

the whole world being as peace,

JESUS CHRIST, eternal God and Son of the eternal father, desiring to consecrate the world by his most loving presence, was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and when nine months had passed since his conception, was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah, and was made man:

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

The post The Twenty-fifth Day of December appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Savior of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.

The post O Emmanuel appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man, come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

The post O Rex Gentium appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The post O Oriens appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the hate of heaven: come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death; and lead your captive people into freedom.

The post O Clavis David appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O Flower of Jesse’s stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

The post O Radix Jesse appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch our your mighty hand to set us free.

The post O Adonai appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.

The post O Sapientia appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

photocredit: flickr/boston_public_library

I’ll post the antiphon for the day at 5:00 p.m., so you can pray along with the Church throughout the world. You’ve heard of most of these before as they form the basis of the seven verses of O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

The origin of the antiphons isn’t clear. There is a reference about them from around 500 A.D., with it believed they have been part of the church’s life since the earliest days. According to Fr. William Saunders, they are important as they serve two functions. First, they each highlight a title for the Messiah and second, they refer to the prophesy of Isaiah concerning the coming of the Messiah. He has listed all seven and the corresponding prophesy.

In some ordos, this begins “Late Advent”. Christmas is sneaking up on us quickly at La Casa de Kraft. May we slow down and prepare ourselves to celebrating the coming of Christ.

The post O Antiphons appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

I wanted to pass along a little
nugget from this morning’s Vatican news briefing. Pope Benedict XVI
will be extending a plenary indulgence for all who are attending WYD in
Sydney and a partial indulgence for all who pray for the spiritual
goals and happy outcome of WYD.

To receive the partial indulgence, all you need to do is pray for
the success of WYD and the three “normal” things needed for an
indulgence — confession, communion and praying for the Pope’s
intentions.

As the Catechism reminds us, an indulgence is a remission before God of the
temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. In
other words, even though our sin is forgiven, there remain temporal
punishment (i.e. purgatory). An indulgence pardons us from the
remaining temporal punishment. An indulgence can be “partial”–removing
some of the time–or “plenary”–removing all of our temporal punishment.

This is one of those aspects of our faith that not everyone will
get excited about and admittedly, it isn’t the easiest concept to
grasp, but one of the various options the Church gives to us to help us
to become closer to God.

You can read more
about the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican office whose only job is
to handle matters of indulgences and issues of the “internal forum”
(i.e. stuff to be talked about under the seal of confession) at their
website.

Below is the news brief from the Vatican Information Service:

PLENARY
INDULGENCE FOR 23RD WORLD YOUTH DAY

VATICAN CITY, 5 JUL 2008 (VIS) – According to a
decree made public today and signed by Cardinal James Francis Stafford and
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, O.F.M. Conv., respectively penitentiary major
and regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Benedict XVI will grant the
faithful Plenary Indulgence to faithful who “gather at Sydney,
Australia, in the spirit of pilgrimage” to participate in celebrations for 23rd World
Youth Day, and Partial Indulgence to “all those who,
wherever they are, will pray for the spiritual goals of this meeting and
for its happy outcome”.

  The English-language decree reads:
“The youth meeting held in the year 2005 in Cologne, offered the
Apostolic Penitentiary an opportune occasion, with the authority of the
Supreme Pontiff, to open wide to youth the spiritual treasures of the
Church, with the aim of gathering singular fruits of
sanctification.

  “Hence, this year, from 15 to 20
July, in Sydney, ‘in the great southern land of
the Holy Spirit’ (according to the expression of John Paul II), will
celebrate the 23rd World Youth Day, with the theme: ‘You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my
witnesses’.

  “Indeed”, the decree adds, “young people
gathered around the Vicar of Christ will participate in the sacred
functions and above all have recourse to the Sacraments of Reconciliation
and the Eucharist. In the Sacraments received with a sincere and humble
heart, they will earnestly desire to strengthen themselves in the Spirit,
and, confirmed by the Chrism of salvation, will openly witness the faith
before others even to the ends of the earth. May God grant that the very
presence of the Supreme Pontiff among the young people gathered in
Sydney
express and render it such”.

 
The indulgences may be gained in the following
ways:

 
“The Plenary
Indulgence is granted to the faithful who will devotedly participate at
some sacred function or pious exercise taking place during the 23rd World
Youth Day, including its solemn conclusion, so that, having received the
Sacrament of Reconciliation and being truly repentant, they receive Holy
Communion and devoutly pray according to the intentions of His
Holiness.

  “The Partial Indulgence is granted
to the faithful, wherever they are during the above-mentioned meeting, if,
at least with a contrite spirit, they will raise their prayer to God the
Holy Spirit, so that young people are drawn to charity and given the
strength to proclaim the Gospel with their life.

  “So that all the faithful may more
easily obtain these heavenly gifts, priests who have received legitimate
approval to hear sacramental confessions, should welcome them with a ready
and generous spirit and suggest public prayers to the faithful, for the
success of the same World Youth Day”.

PENT/DECREE
INDULGENCES/WYD                                   
VIS 080707
(460)

The post Indulgences for World Youth Day appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

More to come later, but the Diocese of Austin officially has Chrism and the other sacred oils to be used this weekend and for the rest of the year.

The post More to Come: Chrism Mass 2008 appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

ZENIT is reporting that Knights of Columbus founder Fr. Michael McGivney has been deemed “Venerable” by the Catholic Church. The decree, authorized by Pope Benedict XVI and published on Saturday, recognizes the heroic virtue of Fr. McGivney and moves up one step closer to the highest honor of the Church—sainthood.

Fr. McGivney, in the 1800′s, seeing the plight of widows and children after the death of the husband, founded the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal order for Catholic men so that they can join together, enhance their spirituality and their faith, and very importantly, assist in the financial security of their families. The Knights of Columbus’ insurance is one of the highest-rated products in the country and the Knights give billions of dollars to charity for everything from scholarships (one of them helped to finance my freshman year at UT) to the technical equipment and uplink to transmit papal events from the Vatican to the world.

As a card-carrying member, it gives me great pleasure to know that such a group of men exist.

The post The Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

US News and World Reports has an interesting article on on the return of many faiths to more traditional routes.
In Catholic circles, the Pope’s letter authorizing broader use of the Mass of 1962 is one obvious sign of the trend, but also in new church architecture, the increase of popular devotion of the laity, receiving communion on the tongue instead of the hand and more.
The article describes that this trend is not isolated to the Catholic church, or even the Christian faith. It appears that society in general is wanting to return to the stability provided by ritual within one hectic and crazy world.
One challenge within campus ministry, I suppose with the church in general, is how to embrace and hold the hand of the extremely pious student, while also being open and able to connect to the student who is discerning his or her spirituality at the same time.

The post The Return of Tradition appeared first on Brandon Kraft.

It has been tough not writing on here over the past week. At first, I was thinking too much about proposing to write and then, I didn’t want to write a public article until a few people were notified.
Personally, I’m really excited to begin this next phase of life with a person that I love completely.
The notion of an engagement period, as best as I know, originated in 1215 during the Fourth Lateran Council by Pope Innocent III. Canon 51 of the Council says

Since the prohibition of the conjugal union in the three last degrees has been revoked, we wish that it be strictly observed in the other degrees. Whence, following in the footsteps of our predecessors, we absolutely forbid clandestine marriages; and we forbid also that a priest presume to witness such. Wherefore, extending to other localities generally the particular custom that prevails in some, we decree that when marriages are to be contracted they must be announced publicly in the churches by the priests during a suitable and fixed time, so that if legitimate impediments exist, they may be made known. Let the priests nevertheless investigate whether any impediments exist.

In other words, the original point of the engagement was to allow the public to know of the forthcoming marriage and give them ample time to state any impediments to marriage (one is already married, the couple are too close on the family tree, etc).
Traditionally, banns would be published (or proclaimed) by the parish priest in all impacted parishes (the one of the groom, the bride, and the one in which the marriage would take place) for the three holy days proceeding the rite. This was a further way to help ensure the legitimate status of the wedding, plus a nice way to foster community by helping everyone know of these events in the life of the parish. On the universal level, I know the Council of Trent promoted the use of the banns and in the United States, local councils promoted their use as late as the 1890s. They are now, as we know, not commonly done, but I’m not aware of if this was by decree or general disuse.
So, if anyone has any reason that we cannot be wed, speak up!

The post I’m engaged! appeared first on Brandon Kraft.