Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => The Sacred: Catholic Liturgy, Chant, Prayers => Topic started by: Hobbledehoy on December 22, 2011, 07:39:22 PM
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On the Sunday before Christmas, the Greek Church commemorates the sacred Genealogy of the Word Incarnate, whilst honoring with salutary predilection the Virgin Mother of God, as will be seen in these pages taken from the Byzantine Missal for Sundays and Feast Days with Rites of Sacraments, and Various Offices and Prayers published at Birmingham, Alabama, by St. George's R. C. Byzantine Church in 1958, (having been printed at Tournai, Belgium, by Société Saint Jean l' Evangéliste, Desclée & Cie).
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/platonic123/Sacred%20Texts/GeneologyofChristByzantineMissal1.jpg)
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/platonic123/Sacred%20Texts/GeneologyofChristByzantineMissal2.jpg)
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/platonic123/Sacred%20Texts/GeneologyofChristByzantineMissal3.jpg)
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/platonic123/Sacred%20Texts/GeneologyofChristByzantineMissal4.jpg)
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/platonic123/Sacred%20Texts/GeneologyofChristByzantineMissal5.jpg)
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To observe how our dear Roman Church anticipates the sacred Day of Christmas, please see this post (http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php?a=topic&t=16855&min=10#p2).
Note especially Cardinal Schuster commentary upon account in the Gospel Lesson, also found in the Divine Liturgy aforementioned, of the hesitation of St. Joseph in espousing himself unto the great Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary.
It was not that he doubted or thought ill of the Blessed Mother, for, having himself vowed perpetual virginity, he could not have thought such things, as St. Paul would later write to Titus, "All things are clean to the clean: but to them that are defiled, and to unbelievers, nothing is clean: but both their mind and their conscience are defiled" (cap. i., 15). Rather, he beheld the Mystery of the Incarnate Word and the virginal and divine Maternity of Mary, and was overwhelmed with sacred dread at the contemplation thereof, with a similar pious terror and wonder that seized the Prophets of old when they foresaw the glories of the Incarnate Word: "O Lord, I have heard the report of Thee, and was afraid; I heard, and mine inmost parts shuddered, my lips quivered at the report" (Hab. cap. iii. 2, 16). Because St. Joseph was much purer and holier than the Prophets, he knew the grandeur of these Mysteries much more clearly and had a more profound and abiding humility and self-knowledge whereby he understood how unworthy he was of such Mysteries, being a finite creature who is as nothing before the eternal and infinite Deity, his sanctity notwithstanding.
St. Joseph's own fiat to the Angel's command gave testimony to his utter self-detachment and filial abandonment to the designs of Divine Providence, and the greatness of his humility and magnanimity, contraries which coalesced into a generous act of praise and self-abasement in his great zeal and love for Jesus and Mary. He truly was made worthy for the great offices of Spouse and Guardian of the Virgin Mother of God and of legal Father and Guardian of the Word Incarnate, to which he had been predestined from all eternity
To take St. Joseph as our exemplar is the best way to prepare for Christmas and to celebrate with holy joy and earnest devotion the sacred festivities of Yuletide.
For more information on St. Joseph, please consult this post (http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php?a=topic&t=16002#p0) and this post (http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php?a=topic&t=15677#p0) in the Library sub-forum.