Free Downloadable Creches....Awesome!

Take a look at these beautiful down loadable Christmas Creches on the Paper Model Kiosk site.   Many are free, some cost a small fee.  All are beautiful and so easy to make or give!

 Clube Amigos do Presépio founder Celso Battistini C. Rosa of Brazil shares a vintage crèche from his collection. 

"A crèche," Celso says, "doesn't just continue an old tradition — it reveals the true meaning of Christmas. Because it reminds us that the Babe was born for us all; because it allows us to recognize that God invited everyone — rich and poor, magi and shepherds — to the manger.

"When I was a child, I simply couldn't wait to put up the

Christmas nativity in our house. I kept asking my Mom if I could start, and she would say, 'We have to clean the house first; that will take about a month.'

"Do you know how long a month is for a child? I didn't understand why
we had to wait for so long to start decorating. Nowadays, I smile remembering Christmases past, and I tell my children, 'We'll start putting up our creches even though the house may not be clean!'

"And I try to instill in my children not just an appreciation of nativities as art—but make them aware of their message…"

Visit them on the web at http://www.papermodelkiosk.com/shop/index.php

Do you have Scapular medal?

I have always found it difficult to wear the brown scapular because the cords don't stay in place and are shifting from one side to the other.  If I manage to put up with this for several weeks, I'll lose it or it will break on me.  For this reason, my wearing of the scapular has been sporadic throughout my life.  I had heard about Scapular medals but never saw any.  I have now found some beautiful medals and love to wear them on chains or beaded necklaces. 

Here is the document in which St Pius X introduced the Scapular Medal:

Holy Office December 16, 1910

For the future all the faithful already inscribed or who shall be inscribed in one or other of the real Scapulars approved by the Holy See (excepting those which are proper to the Third Orders) by what is known as regular enrollment may, instead of the cloth scapulars, one or several, wear on their persons, either round the neck or otherwise, provided it be in a becoming manner, a single medal of metal, through which, by the observance of laws laid down for each scapular, they shall be enabled to share in and gain all the spiritual favors (not excepting what is known as the Sabbatine Privilege of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel), and all the privileges attached to each.

The right side of this medal must show the image of Our Most Holy Redeemer, Jesus Christ, showing His Sacred Heart, and the obverse that of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. It must be blessed with a separate blessing for each of the scapulars in which the person has been enrolled and for which the wearer wishes it to suffice. Finally, these separate blessings may be given by a single sign of the cross (unico crucis signo), whether in the act of enrollment or later at the convenience of those enrolled, it matters not how long after the enrollment or in what order they may have taken place; the blessing may be given by a priest other than the one who made the enrollment, as long as he possesses the faculty, ordinary, or delegated, of blessing the different scapulars- the limitations, clauses, and conditions attached to the faculty he uses still holding their force. All things to the contrary, even those calling for special mention, notwithstanding"

Holy Office, Rome, December 16, 1910

Here are some lovely examples of Scapulars that you can find in my shop: 

Antique Reproduction Scapular Medal

Back side

Front side

Back side

Front side

Bronze Scapular Medal Key Chain 

Here is a scapular medal that I have put on a key chain.  But it could readily be put on a chain to be worn as a Scapular.

Feast of St. John of the Cross

 St. John of the Cross grew up amongst great poverty. When he was 14 he took a job in a hosptial caring for people who had incurable diseases and madness. Later, he joined the Carmelite Order and was asked by St. Teresa of Avila to help reform the order.  But when he tried some monks locked him in a dark, damp cell.  There he was imprisoned for 9 mths before he escaped with the writings he had produced during this time.

His life of poverty and persecution could have produced a bitter cynic. Instead it gave birth to a compassionate mystic.,

His books include:

Ascent of Mount Carmel

Dark Night of the Soul

and A Spiritual Canticle of the Soull and the Bridegroom Christ

"What more do you want, o soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfaction and kingdom -- your beloved whom you desire and seek? Desire him there, adore him there. Do not go in pursuit of him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and you won't find him, or enjoy him more than by seeking him within you." --St. John of the Cross

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Dec 12

Photograph of actual image, preserved in the Basica on Tepeyac Hill.

On December 9, 1531, Nahuan Mexican named Juan Diego beheld a vision of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill. The Virgin beseeched him, in his native language, to build a Church on the hill. Juan Diego rushed to the bishop’s residence, but it took three days for him to persuade the kindly but understandably skeptical bishop that the apparition was genuine. Juan Diego relayed to Mary the bishop’s request for a sign, and on December 12, the Virgin bade Juan Diego to gather Castilian roses (which were not indigenous to Tepeyac and couldn’t have grown there in winter, anyway) from the hill. Juan Diego found the roses and, when he released them from his tilma (cloak) before the bishop’s startled eyes, they both beheld the now-famous image of Guadalupe divinely imprinted on the fabric.
  The Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the biggest day of the year for Mexicans and many across the continent.

(Adapted from the following...
http://anexamen.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/peregrinajes-y-posadas-2/)

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

"I am the Immaculate Conception."

Today being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception I wanted to discuss the meaning of the Immaculate Conception because it is one term which is misunderstood by many people.   The term refers to Mary being conceived without any stain of original sin.

Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eve, that sin has been passed down to all of mankind, except Our Lord, and Our Lady.   Our Lord is sinless because He is God.  Our Lady was preserved from this sin because it was God's desire that Our Lord be conceived within a spotless vessel.  Would it be fitting for God to dwell in anything unclean?  The answer is 'No' and this has been the understanding that has been widely held since the early church.  It was written in many Church documents prior to its infallible proclamation by Pope Pius IX in 1854.  (See the documented early writings at this link, http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/maryc3a.htm)

Pope Pius IX proclaimed the doctrine as such, "the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin."

One of the reasons that Catholics have become confused is because todays Gospel reading is that of the
Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive and bear a Son and He will be called Jesus.   This reading is quite appropriate because the fact that Mary will bear the Savior is the reason she was Immaculately conceived.  But unfortunately because the reading is also about Our Lords conception, it causes people to think that it is His conception that this feast refers to.  There is no specific bible passage that discusses the Immaculate Conception of Mary, because this doctrine is not found specifically in Scripture but is based on what the Church has always believed to be true.  This is the teaching tradition of the Church; and of course, the Catholic Faith is based on Scripture and Tradition.

The Church has chosen Dec 8 as the day to celebrate this event, because it is 9 months prior to Mary's birthday which is Sept 8.

Feast of St. Andrew ---Christmas Novena begins!

Today is the feast of St. Andrew and it is a wonderful Advent tradition to begin the following Novena and recite it each day until Christmas Eve.

 Christmas Novena

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew, on November 30th, until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)

Here one of the St Andrew Chaplets which I made for this Novena.  The Purple Jasper beads are befitting the liturgical colors of the Advent season.