CONFRATERNITY OF ST.

ALBERT THE GREAT

SACRAMENTS AND SACRAMENTALS

Estis sal terr

Baptisms: Baptisms are by appointment. At least one parent as well as the sponsor (only one sponsor is required) must be practicing Roman Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively. Blessings: Religious articles are blessed on the first Sunday of every month after Mass. The Blessing of Expectant Mothers will take place on the second Sunday of every month after Mass. Catechism: Contact Jan Satola for details. Confession: Confessions are heard before Mass on Sunday and during Mass whenever a second priest is available. Confirmation: The Sacrament of Confirmation will be administered every year at a time appointed by the bishop. First Communion: First Holy Communions are made on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Funerals: Call Father for assistance in making arrangements with the funeral director. Last Rites & Sick Calls: Father Ramolla serves a wide area and must often travel far to administer these Sacraments. Please do not put off making arrangements until the last moment. Let us know if a church member is sick, hospitalized or in danger of death. Matrimony: If you are contemplating marriage, please make an appointment to speak with Father before setting a date.

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA MISSION

TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS CENTER

6811 Dublin Center Drive Dublin, Ohio 43017

Advent IV
December 18, 2011

Sede Vacante
a.s. mmxi

CONTACT INFORMATION 513 870 0222 Cell 513 746 0291 (Emergency) @ pastor@albertthegreat.org www.albertthegreat.org http://stanthonymission.blogspot.com/

Sunday December 18, 2011 Todays Mass Intention: Jack Heath ( Jeanne Heath) Todays Missal Settings: FORTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2ND COLLECT: Our Lady, PC, 3RD COLLECT: For the Church PREF: Holy Trinity,

Advent IV

Announcements
Welcome to Saint Anthony of Padua chapel at the Dublin Village
Center. After Mass, please join us for refreshments in the social hall, and feel free to talk to Father and our friendly parishioners to learn more about the traditional Latin Mass.

Calendar for the Week of 19 December

Month of the Immaculate Conception
DATE 19 DEC (MON) 20 DEC (TUE) 21 DEC (WED) 22 DEC (THU) 23 DEC (FRI) 24 DEC (SAT) 25 DEC (SUN) DAY Ferial Day Vigil of St. Thomas, Ap St. Thomas, Ap St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, V Ferial Day FAST Vigil of Christmas FAST Christmas Day Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ St. Anastasia MASS

Christmas Novena EnvelopesPlease fill out and place your novena

envelopes in the collection basket today or Christmas Day.

Quiet PleasePlease save your conversations for the Social Hall,

since people wish to pray before and after Mass, and the Blessed Sacrament will soon be reserved on the altar.

2012 CalendarsOur new traditional 2012 calendars are now

available after Mass for $7.00 in the Social Hall.

In your charity, please continue to pray for our friends Anne and
Larry Brugger, Sr., and for Peggy Miller. Peggy had a recent fall fracturing pelvis, and is currently recovering. Due to complications following her surgery, Anne has been moved to a nursing facility called Vancrest, south of Urbana on route 68, about a mile south of where route 55 crosses route 68. She is in good spirits and would enjoy a call from her friends at 937-652-4539.

LAST WEEKS STATISTICS

Attendance: 35 Collection: $ 520.00
______________ KEY TO SYMBOLS

11:00 AM6811 DUBLIN VILLAGE CENTER

Traditional day of complete abstinence (no meat)

NO Mass celebrated in Columbus Holy-Day of Obligation Mass celebrated in Columbus

Todays Epistle

(I Cor. 4:1-5) Brethren, Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. Here now it is required among the dispensers, that a man be found faithful. But to me, it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by man's day: but neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious to myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge not before the time, until the Lord come: who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise from God.
Why is this epistle read on this day? The Church desires by this epistle to impress those who received Holy Orders on Ember Saturday with the dignity of their office, exhorting them to fill it with becoming fidelity and sanctity, excelling the laity in piety and virtue, as well as in official dignity. She reminds the faithful of the terrible coming of Christ as judge, urging them, by purifying their conscience with a contrite confession, to receive Christ at this holy Christmas time as their Savior, so they wont behold Him, at the Last Day, as their severe judge. How should the faithful regard the priests and spiritual superiors? They should esteem and obey them as servants, stewards, and vicars of Christ; as dispensers of the holy mysteries (I Cor. 4:1); as ambassadors of the most High (II Cor. 5:20). Thus, God commands honor to priests (Ecclus. 7:31), and Christ says of the Apostles and their successors (Lk. 10:16): Who despiseth you, despiseth Me; St. Paul writes (I Tim. 5:17): Let the priests that rule well be esteemed worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. Can the priest dispense the sacraments according to his own will? No, he must have power from the Church, and must exercise his office faithfully, in accordance with the orders of the Church, and act according to the will of Christ whose steward he is. The priest dare not give that which is holy to dogs (Mt. 7:6), that is, he is not permitted to give absolution, and administer the sacraments to impenitent persons, under penalty of incurring eternal damnation. Why does St. Paul consider the judgment of men a small matter? Because it is usually false, deceptive, foolish, and is consequently not worth seeking or caring for. Man often counts as evil that which is in itself good and, on the contrary, esteems as good that which is evil. St. Paul says: If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10). Oh, how foolish, and what poor Christians, therefore, are they, who not to displease man, willingly adopt all silly customs, and fashions in dress, manners and appearance, making themselves contemptible to God, the angels, and saints. Recall the beautiful words of the Seraphic St. Francis: "We are, what we are in the sight of God, nothing more"; learn from them to fulfill your duties faithfully--be indifferent to the worlds judgment and praise. Why does not St. Paul wish to judge himself? Because no one, without a special revelation from heaven, can know if he be just in the sight of God or not, even though his conscience may accuse him of nothing, for "man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred" (Eccles. 9:1). Thus St. Paul goes on to say, that though he was not conscious of any wrong, he did not judge himself to be justified, God only could decide that. Man should certainly examine himself as much as is in his power, to find if he has anything within him displeasing to God; should he find nothing he must not judge himself more just than others, but consider that the eyes of his mind may be dimmed, and fail to see

that which God sees and will reveal to others at the judgment Day. The Pharisees saw no fault in themselves, and were saintly and perfect in their own estimation, yet our Lord cursed them.

Todays Gospel

(St. Luke 3:1-6) In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina, under the high priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of the Lord came to John the son of Zachary in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Why is the time in which St. John commenced to preach so minutely described? The Evangelist, contrary to his usual custom, describes the time minutely, and enumerates exactly, in their precise order, the religious and civil princes in office, that, in the first place, it could not be denied that this was truly the time and the year in which the promised Messiah appeared in this world, whom John baptized, and the Heavenly Father declared to be His beloved Son. Furthermore, it shows the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob (Gen. 49:10), that when the scepter would be taken away from Juda, that is, when the Jews would have no longer a king from their own tribes, the Savior would come. What is meant by: "The word of the Lord came to John"? It means that John was commissioned by divine inspiration, or by an angel sent from God, to preach penance and announce to the world the coming of the Lord. He had prepared himself for this work by a penitential, secluded life, and intercourse with God. We learn from his example not to intrude ourselves into office, least of all into a spiritual office, but to await the call from God, preparing ourselves in solitude and quiet, by fervent prayer and by a holy life, for the necessary light. What is meant by: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths"? It means that we should prepare our hearts for the worthy reception of Christ, by penance, amendment, and the resolution to lead a pious life in future. To do this, every valley should be filled, that is, all faintheartedness, sloth and cowardice, all worldly carnal sentiments should be elevated and directed to God, the highest Good, by firm confidence and ardent desire for heavenly virtues; the mountains and hills should be brought low, that is, pride, stubbornness, and ambition should be humbled, and the obstinate will be broken. The crooked shall be made straight, that is, ill-gotten goods should be restored, hypocrisy, malice, and double dealing be renounced, and our intentions turned to God and the performance of His holy will. And the rough ways shall be made plain, that is, anger, revenge, and impatience must leave the heart, if the Lamb of God is to dwell therein. It may also signify that the Savior put to shame the pride of the world, and its false wisdom by building His Church upon the Apostles, who, by reason of their poverty and simplicity, may be considered the low valleys, while the way to Heaven, formerly so rough and hard to tread, because of the want of grace, is now by His grace made smooth and easy.

SAINT GATIAN
First Bishop of Tours ( First Century) aint Gatian, a disciple of the Apostles and the first bishop of Tours, was sent to that city at the same time as Saint Denys to Paris, Saint Trophimus to Arles, Saint Martial to Limoges, Saint Saturninus to Toulouse, Saint Sergius Paulus to Narbonne, and Saint Austremoine into Auvergne. The Gauls in that region were addicted to the worship of their ancient idols, to which they had added the divinities of Rome. He found them enslaved to their various superstitions, and began to teach them the vanity of idols and the impossibility of a plurality of gods. After dispersing the false ideas and fears they had conceived concerning the gods of the empire, he presented to them the faith of the Gospel and the true God. He showed them the necessity of the Redemption and spoke of the Second Coming of the Saviour as Judge, when He will reward the virtue of those who have done good, and exile evildoers to a lamentable eternity. The Saint was often interrupted in his instructions by harassers, and when denounced to the magistrates, was mistreated and threatened with death; but no contradictions or sufferings were able to discourage or daunt this apostle. By his perseverance he gained several to Christ. He left the city, however, and established a sort of headquarters in a rude grotto surrounded by thorn bushes. There he celebrated the divine mysteries. His splendid virtues, until then unknown to this untaught populace, won many to recognition of the truth of the religion he taught. He traveled in the area, accompanied by his faithful disciples, to preach and to exercise mercy. There were, it seems, no illnesses which he did not cure, nor demons which he did not drive away with the sign of the Cross. The pagan altars began to be abandoned, and it was permitted to establish small oratories where the faithful could assemble. The people learned to sing the praises of the true God, and clerics were formed to officiate. Saint Gatian established outside the city, a cemetery for the burial of Christians. The holy bishop Gatian died at an advanced age, having seen Our Lord Jesus Christ come to him during his last illness to awake him from sleep and give him Holy Communion in Viaticum; he died seven days later. The Cathedral of Tours still possesses a few fragments of his relics, which Saint Martin had placed in that principal church, but which wars and persecutions scattered and destroyed in large part.

SAINT OLYMPIA of CONSTANTINOPLE

Widow and Deaconess ( ca. 440) aint Olympia, the glory of the widows in the Eastern Church, was born of a noble and illustrious family. Left an orphan at a tender age, she was brought up by Theodosia, sister of Saint Amphilochius, a virtuous and prudent woman. At the age of eighteen, Olympias was regarded as a model of Christian virtues. It was then that she was married to Nebridius, a young man worthy of her; the new spouses promised one another to live in perfect continence. After less than two years of this angelic union, Nebridius went to receive in heaven the reward of his virtues. The Emperor would have engaged her in a second marriage, but she replied: If God had destined me to live in the married state, He would not have taken my first spouse. The event which has broken my bonds shows me the way Providence has traced for me. She had resolved to consecrate her life to prayer and penance, and to devote her fortune to the poor. She liberated all her slaves, who nonetheless wished to continue to serve her, and she administered her fortune as a trustee for the poor. The farthest cities, islands, deserts and poor churches found themselves blessed through her liberality. Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, had a high esteem for the saintly widow and made her a deaconess of his church. The duties of deaconesses were to prepare the altar linens and instruct the catechumens of their sex; they aided the priests in works of charity, and they made a vow of perpetual chastity. When Saint John Chrysostom succeeded Nectarius, he had for Olympias no less respect than his predecessor, and through her aid he built a hospital for the sick and refuges for the elderly and orphans. When he was exiled in the year 404, he continued to encourage her in her good works by his letters, and she assisted him to ransom some of his fellow captives. Saint Olympias, as one of his supporters, was persecuted. When she refused to deal with the usurper of the episcopal see, she was mistreated and calumniated, and her goods were sold at a public auction. Finally she, too, was banished with the entire community of nuns which she governed in Constantinople. Her illnesses added to her sufferings, but she never ceased her good works until her death in the year 410. She outlived the exiled Patriarch by about two or three years. Reflection: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but in Heaven, where neither rust nor moth consume (St. Matt. 6:20).

Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Gurin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14.

Source: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Principal Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (Metropolitan Press: Baltimore, 1845), October-December, Vol. IV.