THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST NEWSLETTER | MARIAN FEAST DAY
8 DECEMBER 2023 | SENT by SUBSTACK DELIVERY | PACIFIC STANDARD TIME (San Diego, California, United States) Friday, December 8, 2023 - FIRST EDITION, 6:55 pm
Dear Readers & Friends in Christ:
Fr. Elias Mary Mills join Amelia and her Rosary mentor, Dr. Blythe Kaufman at 9 AM EST today, when our podcast captured Live Record materials that will be featured in our video library to keep teaching the “why” behind our prayers. Fr. Mills recorded the full Joyful Mysteries of the Solemn Rosary and answered all of Amelia’s questions!
I hope you enjoy today’s post and if you want to join Fr. Mills, Dr. Kaufman, our guests, and Zosia and Amelia for the upcoming segments of the Consecration journey, please visit https://theholyrosary.substack.com.
Pray with Children’s Rosary ® tomorrow on Radio Maria USA for our monthly Rosary.
800 years after the first Greccio Live Nativity Scene
Fr. Mills reminded Amelia and Dr. Kaufman of something very important!
Today marks the first day of an indulgence1 each of us can receive if we pray before a nativity scene starting Dec. 8th at a Franciscan Chapel / Church, because it is the 800th anniversary of the Rule of St. Francis (1223) and his creation of the Nativity scene in Greccio2.
The Franciscans talk more about the Nativity scene here:
Dedicated to retracing Christ’s footsteps, Francis considered creating a living Nativity to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Without his good friend John—a man who knew how to get things done in the real world—Francis’ hope and aspiration to experience consolation in a faithful re-creation of the Incarnation likely would have remained a silent thought in the solitude of his cell. As a colleague of mine often remarks, “Francis couldn’t organize lint in his pocket.” Organizing a living Nativity was beyond Francis’ capability, but it was not beyond John’s.
Fifteen days before Christmas, Francis summoned John and told him he wanted to have a living Nativity scene, complete with animals, hay, a manger, and a baby. He wanted to see, touch, and smell all there was to sense in the baby’s own awkward place, lying in an animal’s food trough. Just as Francis himself was experiencing discomfort and anguish—both physical and emotional—he wanted to share in the experience of the baby Jesus. He knew that it would be through visceral engagement, using all his senses, that he would find solace, hope, and compassion. Although he usually sought solitude, he asked to experience this in community, and he asked his friend John to make it happen.
Celano offers little detail about the work John brought to this task. Celano tells us that when “the day of joy” had arrived, Francis found all things had been prepared: “The manger is prepared, the hay is carried in, and the ox and the ass are led to the spot. . . . Out of Greccio is made a new Bethlehem.”3
SEE: https://aleteia.org/2023/11/28/st-francis-nativity-scenes-and-plenary-indulgences-check-this-out/
PAGE 1: “In order to promote the spiritual renewal of the faithful and increase the life of grace, we ask that the faithful receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions from 8 Dec 2023 the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to 2 February 2024, Feast of the Presentation in the Temple of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by visiting the churches run by Franciscan families throughtout the world and stopping in prayer in front of the nativity scenes set up there. Likewise…”
ADMIRABLE SIGNUM
IN AN APOSTOLIC LETTER “ADMIRABILE SIGNUM”, the Holy Father notes
THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF THE NATIVITY SCENE
1. The enchanting image of the Christmas crèche, so dear to the Christian people, never ceases to arouse amazement and wonder. The depiction of Jesus’ birth is itself a simple and joyful proclamation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The nativity scene is like a living Gospel rising up from the pages of sacred Scripture. As we contemplate the Christmas story, we are invited to set out on a spiritual journey, drawn by the humility of the God who became man in order to encounter every man and woman. We come to realize that so great is his love for us that he became one of us, so that we in turn might become one with him.
Fr. Mills also talked about the Immaculate Conception, and this links to the 2024 theme in Lourdes: https://www.lourdes-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Theme_pastoral_Lourdes_2024_EN.pdf
The words of the instruction by Our Lady of Lourdes was “to come [here] in procession.”
Thus, the 2024 meditation (at Lourdes) starts naturally with:
1) The procession
2) The link between the procession and the chapel
3) The link between the priests, the chapel and the procession
4) But also with the initial « Go tell » What makes the Lourdes 2024 meditation so particular, is to be focused on the word procession which, in this context, means also a pilgrimage.
But why are these two words so close ?
Because the Immaculate Virgin used this word when she spoke to Bernadette Soubirous and it is a word from the Lourdes patois.
However, as there were very few words in this language, the same term can have several meanings. In the present case, this is particularly easy to understand because, as we can notice, a procession is, in a way, nothing else but a pilgrimage, whereas a pilgrimage can be considered as a longer procession over a period of one or several days.
Today’s video houses more procession highlights from last evening’s Rosary pilgrimage on the Camino. Fr. Mills mentioned that in his earlier ministry to a Portuguese community from the Azores in North America, he was exposed to the beauty of processions for various Marian feasts and Saint days, etc.
DOGMAS OF OUR LADY
Today we remember that in 1854, Pius IX solemnly proclaimed: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.” This is a dogma of the Faith is one of the 4 Marian dogmas outlined below: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55423/the-four-marian-dogmas:
Divine Motherhood
Perpetual Virginity
Immaculate Conception
The Assumption
FOR THE SICK, HOMEBOUND, HOSPITALIZED, SUFFERING & THOSE ALONE:
Help teach caregivers show patients how-to-download the audio app by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception that teaches the Rosary here:
DOWNLOAD THE MARY APP (AN APP FOR OUR LADY):
WATCH THE MASS with the MARIAN FATHERS OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
ABOUT THE SERMON:
For the Marian Fathers, this is an important day in their history. Fr. Chris, the narrator of the Rosary Hour Podcast, leads the Holy Mass (without glasses)!
Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Pray the Rosary Every Day.
The Rosary Hour Podcast w/ Children’s Rosary Teams
NOTE: If you cannot travel to Assisi or another Franciscan Church, “those who are sick or unable to participate fully can equally benefit from the gift of plenary indulgence, offering their sufferings to the Lord or carrying out practices of piety.”
SEE: https://ofsaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/800%C2%B0-Greccio-Indulgenza-ENG.pdf
FOOTNOTES
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/greccio-and-the-first-live-nativity-800-years-of-tradition/ EXCERPT USED for EDUCATIONAL USE PURPOSES ONLY in the SCHOOL OF OUR LADY.
Fr. Elias contributes to RHP efforts to rediscover the "Why" behind our prayers at today's Digital Café session & talks of nativity scene indulgence starting 8 Dec. Info in today's video.