O Antiphons

Don't forget the O Antiphons begin tomorrow. For an explanation of these, see the Fish Eaters entry here. Also, for ideas of how to celebrate this time in the Liturgical Year, O Night Divine blog is an excellent resource!
Catholic Culture has several ideas, here and here.

The "O Antiphons"

December 17
O Wisdom, Who didst come out of the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.

December 18
O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, Who didst appear to Moses in the flame of the burning bush, and didst give unto him the Law on Sinai: come and with an outstretched arm redeem us.

December 19
O Root of Jesse, Who dost stand for an ensign of the people, before Whom kings shall keep silence, and unto Whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: come to deliver us, and tarry not.

December 20
O Key of David and Sceptre of the house of Israel, Who dost open and no man doth shut, Who dost shut and no man doth open, come and bring forth from his prison-house the captive that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.

December 21
O Dawn of the East, Brightness of the Light Eternal and Sun of Justice, come and enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

December 22
O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of them, Thou Cornerstone that dost make both one, come and deliver man, whom Thou didst form out of the dust of the earth.

December 23
O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of the Nations and their Saviour, come to save us, O Lord our God.

Retreat, RETREAT!!

Yes, I am retreating! I have not been on an Ignatian Retreat in about 6 years. I am looking forward to the peacefulness, but I am also in panic mode trying to get everything here ready for me to be gone for 8 (yes, 8) days. I am tempted to cancel - there is just too much to do with school, Christmas, and, and, . . . I learned from my first retreat to ignore this temptation. I never went when my older kids were little (under 6) because I could not leave them. Then during the retreat I realized that this was going to help them as much as it helped me. I should have been there much sooner. I went every two years after that, then when Michael came along, all those feelings came back - I just could not leave him. I am still having those feelings, but I know in my heart that I will be a better mom, wife, and Catholic on my return.
So, I am gone for a while. Keep the watch and please let me know what all I miss! Your prayers are very much appreciated.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I am retreating in warm, sunny, Phoenix! It will be a nice break from the 40ish weather we have been having here in NC!
I have scheduled some liturgical season posts to go up while I am away,

Homeschooling

Finally a chance to write about homeschooling!
We began with a serious schedule in September and for the most part still maintain it except on Mondays when we deliver Meals on Wheels which often runs over the allotted scheduled time. And there are those days where we are just not in the mood to school, but nevertheless, we have met our goals for the first semester in the basic subjects.
I try to almost always use Catholic materials in schooling, yet when I first looked into the Spell to Write and Read program, I was impressed enough to investigate it further. After speaking with some people that use it, I decided this was the program I wanted to use with my then 4 year old. After studying it more deeply, I was intimidated! I actually had the materials for a year before I started teaching just the single phonograms. Then I hit a block. I study the Yahoo group files, I studied the books, and I floundered. Finally, I went to a 2-day intensive seminar on how to teach reading, writing, and spelling using this program. It was just what I needed and I have not looked back. (Although the Catholic curriculums still make me blink every once in a while.) At first I was bored because we spent several weeks learning to write all the single phonograms (sounds) in cursive (using the companion Cursive First program). When it finally came time to pull out my Wise Guide to Spelling along with my Spell to Write and Read teacher's book, I was more than excited to apply the many things I learned from the seminar.
Now, after 12 weeks, we are on the "D" list of 20 spelling words and we love it. Michael is "reading" 80 spelling words now fairly fluently. The hard thing with this program is that reading is somewhat delayed which is the opposite of what I have always striven for. Yet he, rather WE, are learning the why's and what's of spelling. At first I thought there was no way he would get the markings, rules, and other "complicated" aspects down, but he grasps them much easier than I do. The intimidation came back yesterday as I realized that I would be teaching the reference page on the "Silent Final E' today. It just seems like a lot for a 5.5 year old to comprehend. I reviewed my own working notebook from the seminar and studied the section in the book. I only taught the first 3 reasons for a silent, final "e" this morning, and my son loved it. His words, "This is lots of fun!" Wow, who would have thought learning about why E is silent at the end of words could be fun???
OK, who can name the five reasons for the silent E?

Bishop Malooly's Explanation

Now we have a Bishop talking about following his "own conscience". What about Church teachings?

From Lifenews.com:
http://lifenews.com/state3691.html

Joe Biden’s Bishop Expands on Decision Not to Deny Communion Over Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 7, 2008

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Dover, DE (LifeNews.com) -- Bishop W. Francis Malooly has expanded on his previous comments that he will not deny communion to incoming Vice-President Joe Biden because of his pro-abortion position. Malooly says he can do more good by not alienating Biden and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

"My own conscience tells me I have a better chance of helping someone if I don't alienate" that person, he said during a conference for young Catholics over the weekend.

Bishop Malooly said he was following the lead of most of the other Catholic bishops in the United States who have not revoked the sacrament for pro-abortion elected officials and have instead adopted a more conciliatory approach to changing their hearts and minds on abortion.

According to a report in the Wilmington News-Journal, Bishop Malooly, who was recently installed as the head of the Catholic Church in Delaware and Maryland’s eastern shore, said his dealing with pro-abortion politicians who deviate from pro-life Catholic teachings is nothing new.

He said as the auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Baltimore that he dealt with the contentious communion issues.

Malooly told the newspaper that "I don't know everyone's conscience” and can't make decisions about abortion and communion on a broad basis but must confront people who are out of step with the church one-on-one.

Last month, Malooly said he wouldn't deny Biden communion even though several of his fellow bishops have done so.

"I won't politicize the Eucharist," Malooly said. "I don't want to alienate people. I want to change their hearts and minds."

Malooly said he spoke with Biden in September on the day before his installation as the new bishop and the two agreed to discuss the issue of abortion and Catholic pro-life teachings at a later date.

Biden attends church weekly and has received communion at his hometown church in Delaware.

A Few Advent Things

For those who are not making a Jesse Tree in their homes, Catholic Culture has an online Jesse Tree. This gives you a short meditation and appropriate readings. Just click on the day of Advent.

For more info on the Jesse Tree see here.

Another great Advent resource is found at Domestic Church here.