By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
Let your prayer for these final days of Advent and for the Solemnity of Our Lord’s holy birth be that our joy might be so great at receiving Him at Christmas that it will be as though we are receiving Him for the first time.
His grace is sufficient so as to grant us the new vision and deeper faith which enables our gratitude to grow and give us a deeper and stronger life in Him.
Urge your priest or pastor to proclaim the “The Nativity of Our Lord Christ from the Roman Martyrology,” otherwise known as the Christmas Proclamation, in the context of the parish Christmas vigil liturgy.
This text can also be proclaimed by the father of the family at home on Christmas Eve to initiate the family celebration of the feast.
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The Nativity Of Our Lord Jesus Christ From The Roman Martyrology
Introduction
The announcement of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord from the Roman Martyrology draws upon Sacred Scripture to declare in a formal way the birth of Christ.
It begins with creation and relates the birth of the Lord to the major events and personages of sacred and secular history. The particular events contained in the announcement help pastorally to situate the birth of Jesus in the context of salvation history.
This text, The Nativity Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, may be chanted or recited, most appropriately on December 24, during the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. It may also be chanted or recited before the beginning of Christmas Mass during the Night. It may not replace any part of the Mass.
(The musical notation is found in Appendix I of the Roman Missal, Third Edition.)
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The Nativity Of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Twenty-fifth Day of December,
when ages beyond number had run their course
from the creation of the world,
when God in the beginning created heaven and earth,
and formed man in his own likeness;
when century upon century had passed
since the Almighty set his bow in the clouds after the Great Flood,
as a sign of covenant and peace;
in the twenty-first century since Abraham, our father in faith,
came out of Ur of the Chaldees;
in the thirteenth century since the People of Israel were led by Moses
in the Exodus from Egypt;
around the thousandth year since David was anointed King;
in the sixty-fifth week of the prophecy of Daniel;
in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
in the year seven hundred and fifty-two
since the foundation of the City of Rome;
in the forty-second year of the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus,
the whole world being at peace,
JESUS CHRIST, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,
desiring to consecrate the world by his most loving presence,
was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and when nine months had passed since his conception,
was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah,
and was made man:
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
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I wish a most blessed and joy-filled Christmas to all our readers and thank you for your patient attention all year as we seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully in His Church for our salvation and for that of the whole world.
May our Lord abundantly bless you and your families as we adore and worship our Lord at His birth and prepare to welcome the New Year of Our Lord 2015.
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(Follow Fr. Cusick on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick and on Twitter at MCITLFrAphorism. Father blogs occasionally at mcitl.blogspot.com and APriestLife.blogspot.com. You can email him at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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