Monday, January 2, 2012


  


The Blessed Virgin Became the Mother of God
This Virgin became a Mother
while preserving her virginity;
and though still a Virgin
she carried a Child in her womb;
and the handmaid of His Wisdom
became the Mother of God.


You alone and your Mother
are more beautiful than any others;
for there is no blemish in you,
nor any stains upon your Mother.
Who of my children
can compare to the beauty of these?



Excerpt from Ephraim of Nisibis, Nisbene Hymns 27, no. 8, in FEF I: 313, no. 719.




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JANUARY 2012
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     Best wishes for a Happy New Year replete  with God's           blessings and Prosperity
Mis mejores deseos para un Feliz Año Nuevo lleno de bendiciones de Dios y la prosperidad
Meilleurs vœux pour une heureuse année remplie de bénédictions de Dieu et la prospérité
Pagbati para sa manigong Bagong Taon sagana sa Diyos bendisyon at kasaganaan
Die besten Wünsche für ein frohes neues Jahr voller Gottes Segen und Wohlstand
I migliori auguri per un Felice Anno Nuovo pieno di benedizioni di Dio e la Prosperità
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Saturday, December 24, 2011

UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN......THE WORD WAS MADFE FLESH AND GOD LIVED AMONGST US!


Xewqat sbieh ghal Milied tassew hieni ta’ Sliem, Ferh  u Barka, kif ukoll is-Sena l-Gdida Tajba ta’ Sahha, Risq u Mhabba. Il-Mulej iberikkom.

Wishing you a Very Happy Christmas of Peace, Joy and Blessings, as well as a Happy New Year of Health, Prosperity and Love.
God Bless you.

En vous souhaitant un très joyeux Noël de la Paix, joie et les bénédictions, ainsi que d'une Bonne Année de la santé, la prospérité et l'Amour.
Que Dieu vous bénisse.


Wir wünschen Ihnen ein frohes Weihnachtsfest des Friedens, der Freude und Segen, sowie einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr Gesundheit, Wohlstand und Liebe.
Gott segne Sie.

Vi auguriamo un felice Natale di pace, gioia e benedizioni, così come un Felice Anno Nuovo di salute, prosperità e amore.
Dio vi benedica.

Le deseamos una muy Feliz Navidad de paz, alegría y bendiciones, así como un Feliz Año Nuevo de la Salud, prosperidad y amor.
Dios los bendiga.

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A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (VIII)

The time was fulfilled

"The time of the coming of the Messiah has been foretold by the state of the Jewish people, by the state of the pagans, by the state of the temple, by the number of years: it needed four monarchies, the removal of the scepter from Judah and the seventy weeks to coincide, and all this before the second Temple was destroyed." (Blaise Pascal - Pensées 708 and 709.)

The pagans also had the advantage of additional signs; there was a intense focusing of attention, a pinnacle of waiting never before seen in the history of the world exactly around the time when Jesus appeared. It is a proven fact of history: however inexplicable it may seem, that the world's attention, in the first century, was concentrating on a single point, that far-off province of Rome.

This unique feeling of waiting was one which Mary carried above all other in her heart, in her prayers at the Holy of Holies. This was fulfilled for her and for all Christians with the coming of the Savior when the preordained time had come. But for those who have not recognized it, the missing of this rendezvous will long remain a question. As the Talmud itself notes, "All dates that have been calculated for the coming of the Messiah have now passed" (Sanhedrin Treatise 97). And, suffering from this disappointment, the scholars of Israel resort to trying to reinterpret the expectation of the Messiah.

However, the time was fulfilled, and the kingdom of God close at hand (cf. Mk 1:15). The vicissitudes of human existence seemed to be suspended for a second and to stand still when Augustus offered the world one of the rare periods of peace in History, the 25 years of the Pax Romana, as the star announcing the coming of the Prince of Peace shined brightly over Palestine.



Source: Jesus Hypotheses by Vittorio Messori, Saint Paul Pubns. (1978)
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Friday, December 23, 2011


December 8 - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception




A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (VII)

The astrologers’ expectancy

It now seems to be established scientifically that the astrologers from Babylon were also awaiting the birth of the “ruler of the world” from the year 7 B.C. Kepler, one of the fathers of modern astronomy, observed in December 1603 the very bright alignment of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. With his calculations, he was able to establish that the same phenomenon (which produces an intense and dazzling light in the star-filled heavens) also must have occurred in the year 7 B.C. Then he discovered that an ancient commentary on the Scriptures by the Rabbi Abarbanel recalled that, according to Jewish belief, the Messiah was due to appear precisely at the time when the light from Jupiter and Saturn shone as a single beam in the constellation of Pisces.

Yet hardly any significance was attached to Kepler’s discovery simply because it had not been established with certainty that Jesus had been born before the traditional date, following a mistake by Denys Petau. More than two centuries later, the Danish scholar Munter was to discover and decipher a mediaeval Hebraic commentary on the “seventy seven-day periods” in the Book of Daniel which alluded to the belief referred to by Kepler. In 1902, the Planetary Table was published that is today preserved in Berlin: an Egyptian papyrus that contains the exact movements of the planets between 17 B.C. and 10 A.D. This draws attention to the alignment between Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C., visible in its entire splendor across the Mediterranean region.

Lastly, in 1925, a description of Sippar’s Stellar Calendar was published: a baked earth tablet with cuneiform inscriptions from the ancient settlement of Sippar, on the Euphrates, which was the center of an important school of astrology in Babylon. Remarkably, on this “calendar” are marked all of the heavenly movements and alignments of the year 7 B.C. Why was this? Because, according to the Babylonian astrologers, this alignment that can only be observed every 794 years occurred three times in 7 B.C. ? on May 29, October 1 and December 5. And they considered Jupiter to be the planet of the world’s rulers, Saturn as the planet of those who protect Israel and the constellation of Pisces as the sign of the end of time, that is, the beginning of the Messianic era. (...)

Indeed, it is now certain, that between the Tigris and the Euphrates, not only was a Messiah expected that would emerge from Israel, but that amazingly he would be born in an age and at a time that had been predetermined.



Source: Jesus Hypotheses by Vittorio Messori, Saint Paul Pubns. (1978)




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December 7 - Vigil of the Immaculate Conception




 

A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (VI)

The wondrous child proclaimed by the Sibyl of Cumae

While the Blessed Virgin was on earth, the Romans’ expectancy may also have been nourished by the great oracle reported by Virgil in the fourth Eclogue of his Bucolics: “We have reached the last era in the oracle of the Sibyl of Cumae: the long sequence of the ages starts afresh. The Virgin comes to dwell with us, and the rule of Saturn is restored. The first born of the new age is already on his way from high heaven. A new-born child born in the reign of the Emperor Augustus shall end the iron race and shall raise a race of gold for the entire world.”

The Blessed Virgin from whom the Son of God would come certainly did not know about this oracle, but Jesus, born under the rule of the Emperor Augustus indeed transformed the iron of oppression into love that is symbolized by gold. And at several of the world’s shrines (such as Longpont, Nogent sous Coucy and Chartres) the Virgini Pariturae: the Virgin who is to give birth, was worshipped, amazingly enough even before the birth of Christ.



Source: Jesus Hypotheses by Vittorio Messori, Saint Paul Pubns. (1978)




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