It’s a sort of chain-letter kind of thing:

1. Make this Novena to St. Jude
2. Publish in a newspaper the results OR leave a copy (or LOTS of copies) of this novena in Church

Lots of church vestibules constantly see these sorts of things, sometimes with stern warnings to not remove the novena material and so forth.

Why do some Catholics do such a thing?  Well, in a word, superstition.  There are lots of superstitious things that well-meaning (although mistaken) Catholics do.

For example, even more popular than the St. Jude Novena (NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL, BY THE WAY!) is the goofy practice of burying a statue of St. Joseph in order to sell your home (HE WORKS FASTER IF YOU BURY HIM UPSIDE DOWN!).

And, of course, often enough the home is sold, or the novena request is granted, thus reinforcing through lived experience and the resulting word-of-mouth how effective such activities are.

Thankfully Joseph and Jude are both Jewish; so they can smile when I say, oy vey!

Leave the propaganda at home and just pray the novena, people.  And for God’s sake quit burying St. Joseph in the ground – not only disrespectful, but a violation of the First Commandment for sure, and likely the Fourth Commandment to boot.

By the way, throughout antiquity it was very common to take artifacts from those defeated in battle, or from conquered sites.  The Romans were very proficient at this.  Shown here is a closeup detail from the Arch of Titus, one of the triumphal arches found in the Roman Forum. The relief shows Roman soldiers taking the candelabra (menorah, in Hebrew) [מְנוֹרָה‎] after destroying the Temple in the year 70.  We know that this depicts the menorah from the Temple, because it is seven-branched, unlike the nine-branched menorah used during Hanukkah.

And, before any of you share your smart-alec remarks — I know, I know, only Deacon Chris would mix Husker football with a teaching-aside regarding menorahs.

MESSIANIC TITLES OF THE “O” ANTIPHONS

(at right is shown the star marking the place in Bethlehem where Christ entered the world)

Tomorrow indeed our Lord comes to us.  He comes not as a conquering hero, but rather, as a vulnerable, darling child born in a cave.  Kept warm by the livestock that share their shelter with Him.  God has touched our world — and changed it forever.

Merry Christmas to all of you – please remember to keep the “Mass” in Christmas.  We’d love to celebrate this holy event with you at Mass.  God bless you who seek the one who comes.

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

Blessed are we to have such a God!  How marvelous is our Lord Jesus who enters our world to save us!

It is only through love that our God comes to us as one of our own.  The creator becoming a creature is a truly humbling thing, if we spend a moment and think about that.

Any among you that have artistic talent can relate to how remarkable this is:  when you paint or sculpt or throw pottery do you ever wish to that you could enter the piece?

Of course inanimate objects aren’t the same as people; but it gives us a glimpse into the love that is beyond our understanding that motivates our God to send his Son to us, to die for us, and to save us.

Blessed by the Lord, the God of Israel, He maintains all things and keep the world spinning at every moment.  Thank you for the gift of You!

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 children of Israel awaiting their messiah did not expect him to come for the gentiles, for the nations, but rather, exclusively for Israel.

But our God oftentimes suprises us with unexpected actions.  The gift of God-with-us is too great for any one tribe, for any one clan.  It’s an eternal gift that comes anew each year and sanctifies all time and all things.  The Lord pours out his love and care for all to experience.

If we want to be close to the King of the Universe, we need merely avail ourselves of the mysteries He left for us – the holy Sacraments.  Encounter your God by going to Confession this week – prepare your heart to receive the eternal gift of your loving Heavenly Father.

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

Many of us stumble about through life with little direction.  Easily moving from one fad to another.  Why is that?  What is so difficult about maintaining a steady course?

We stumble about in darkness – most of us not all the time, but nearly every one of us some of the time.  Doubts and discouragement are part of the human condition, and no one is exempt from them.

Last year when letters to her spiritual director and journal entries were made public, Mother Teresa was in the spotlight of the media for a short time.  Reporters pounced on the fact that this holy woman had doubts – doubts about God’s care for her, doubts about her faith in Him.  

Blessed Mother Teresa is not unique – many of the greatest (holiest) saints among us endured [sometimes looooong] periods of doubt.  Of trouble with their faith, of discouragement and feelings of isolation, of being alone.  But they continued on, just as Mother Teresa did with her work, her prayer, her ministry to Christ.  And that makes all the difference.

If we doubt and worry and feel alone — but continue the course of our lives, we’ll work through it, and most likely become holier and wiser for it.  If we let it consume us, and destroy all hope within us, then the end will never seem to appear.

Whenever you find yourself in the darkness of doubt, and struggling with your faith, pray to the Radiant One for the gift of hope.  Our Lord Jesus is waiting to illuminate your path, and wrap his loving arms of comfort around you.  Let the Son shine upon you, and warm your face with his radiance.

O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate 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.

There is a beautiful icon showing Christ’s decent into Hades to bring the righteous dead into heaven.  The icon depicts our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ pulling Adam and Eve from Hades into heaven.  This is what our Lord did after dying on the cross, and before he rose on Easter morning.

Keys are important symbols today, and were even more so in ancient Israel.  The keeper of the keys held the authority of them.  This tradition carries on in our modern-day verbiage of the Successor of Peter holding the keys entrusted to the Blessed Apostle by Jesus.  These keys are shown on the flag of Vatican City State, incidentally.

Jesse trees are fun, because it’s a good exercise for us to contemplate the genealogy of Jesus.  To be precise, the genealogy of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.

Tonight’s antiphon makes reference to the flower of Jesse’s stump:

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.

Jesse is the father of King David, from whose line the messiah would spring forth.  Many Jews did not recognize Jesus as the messiah because they were awaiting a conquering military hero, as was David.  But we must remember David was the youngest, simplest of Jesse’s sons – certainly the most unlikely to become king.  He was happy to care for the flock, as a faithful shepherd.

But God calls whomever He wishes, and in ways we do not often understand.  Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, and many of the Prophets, were all from simple, unassuming backgrounds.  I think God likes it that way – the simple hearted, humble person does not get in God’s way – they become an instrument for the Holy Spirit to work through and with.

Obviously Joseph was this sort of man, and his Davidic lineage fulfilled the prophesy written in Isaiah 11:1 – “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.”

And, of course, no one was more docile and obedient to the Holy Spirit than Mary.  The cooperation of a young, simple, holy Jewish teenager changed the world forever.  I pray that we might learn humility from all the docile souls in the Davidic line.  We too can change the world by becoming instruments of the Holy Spirit, letting our God animate our actions.

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 out your mighty hand to set us free.

For whatever reason, the Lord chooses to reveal himself to Moses and the people with a male personality.  This is unique to Judaism – all other religions of the near Middle East had either a chief goddess or at least a pantheon of gods and goddesses.  This God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is different He is singular — no other gods or goddesses needed or allowed.

He chooses a ragamuffin clan in the desert to be his own.  He cares for them and protects them, even though they forsake Him time and time again.  He teaches them in simple ways, ways that they can understand.  And they repeat a cycle over and over:

• The children of Israel cling to their God – things go well
• The children of Israel are on the top of the world – they drift from their God
• The children of Israel don’t need God – everything goes to pot
• The children of Israel repent – God liberates them and the cycle begins again

Let us pray today that our own country realizes the continuous mistakes we make.  We cling to possessions and stuff, and not to the One who called us and apportioned us and adopted us as His precious sons and daughters.  You see, false gods aren’t just people; they’re things, too. May the Lord God of Israel liberate us from our greed and from the distractions that obscure our adoration of Him.

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.

Wisdom is an oft-misunderstood notion, particularly in our modern age.  The ancient Greeks considered wisdom among the greatest virtues to strive for.  In fact, the word philosophy in Greek means “lover of wisdom.”  But what is wisdom, and why should we seek it?

Wisdom is the combination of intelligence and discretion.  It’s one thing to know facts and concepts and methods, that’s intelligence.  But it’s equally important to know when to use those bits of information, and in what circumstances they are useful.

Wisdom is learned through experience, and typically, a trait associated with life experience.  In Sacred Scripture we see the Holy Spirit associated with Wisdom, and a section of the Old Testament is called the Wisdom literature.

All the O Antiphons make reference to revealed truths of the Messiah, traits, characteristics, prefigurement, and titles of our Lord.  All those who seek the King born in the city of bread should begin with wisdom.

The Psalmist teaches us “the fear of the Lord is the first stage of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10)  May we all advance in wisdom through adoration of the one true God.