Archive for December 4th, 2009

A Catholic Roundup Advent- December 5 with Edgar Guzman

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Last year, on December 12, Mercedes and Edgar from the Spanish podcast: Lecturas Del Dia (daily readings)  shared a wonderful history of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Today, Edgar explains the Latin American tradition of Las Posadas.  Edgar and Mercedes live in Mexico City with their infant daughter Anna.  They are awaiting the arrival of their second child. Music By Lionel Valdellon and Ray Sisson.

Posada float, Oaxaca

Lyrics of “ask for” Posada.

Afuera:
En nombre del cielo
Os pido posada
Pues no puede andar
Mi esposa amada
Adentro:
Aquí no es mesón
Sigan adelante
Yo no puedo abrir
No sea algun tunante
Afuera:
No seas inhumano
Tennos caridad
Que el Rey de los cielos
Te lo premiará
Adentro:
Ya se pueden ir
Y no molestar
porque si me enfado
Os voy a apalear
Afuera:
Venimos rendidos
Desde Nazaret
Yo soy carpintero
De nombre José
Adentro:
No me importa el nombre
Déjenme dormir
Porque ya les digo
Que no hemos de abrir
Afuera:
Posada te pide
Amado casero
Por sólo una noche
La reina del cielo
Adentro:
Pues si es una reina
Quien lo solicita
¿Cómo es que de noche
Anda tan solita?
Afuera:
Mi esposa es María
Es reina del cielo
Y madre va a ser
Del divino verbo
Adentro:
¿Eres tú José?
¿Tu esposa es María?
Entren peregrinos
No los conocía
Afuera:
Dios pague, señores
Vuestra caridad
Y que os colme el cielo
De felicidad
Adentro:
Dichosa la casa
Que alberga este día
A la virgen pura
La hermosa María

¡Entren santos peregrinos!
¡Reciban éste rincón!
Que aunque es pobre la morada
¡Se las doy de corazón!

¡Cantemos con alegría!
¡Todos al considerar!
¡Que Jesús, José y María
nos vinieron hoy a honrar!
————- Outside – Joseph asks:
(In the name of heaven)
(I request you grant us shelter)
(Given that she cannot walk)
(She my beloved wife)
Inside – “Probable” host answers:
(This is not an Inn)
(Please continue ahead)
(I can not open)
(You may be a robber)

Outside – Joseph replies:
(Please do not be inhumane)
(grant us charity)
(Since the King of heavens)
(Will prize you for that)
Inside – Still “probable” host answers:
(You can already go away)
(and do not bother)
(because if I get upset)
(I will beat you up)
Outside – Joseph insists:
(We come exhausted)
(From Nazareth)
(I am a carpenter)
(Named Joseph)
Inside – Still unconvinced host replies:
(I don’t care about your name)
(Let me go to sleep)
(Because, as I said)
(We shall not open)  Outside – Joseph expects reasoning:
(She asks you shelter)
(Dear innkeeper)
(for just one night)
(She, the queen of heaven)

Inside – Almost convinced host asks:
(So, if she’s a queen)
(who is asking for it?)
(how is it that at night)
(she travels so alone?)  Outside – Joseph answers:
(My wife is Mary)
(She’s the Heavenly Queen)
(And she’ll be mother)
(Of the divine word)

Inside – Convinced host finally offers shelter:
(Are you Joseph?)
(Is your wife Mary?)
(Come in, pilgrims)
(I did not know you)
Outside – Joseph gratefully says:
(May God pay, sirs)
(your charity)
(And may heaven swamp you)
(With happiness)
Inside – Host replies:
(Happy be the house)
(That this day hosts)
(The pure virgin)
(The beautiful Mary)
(Come in, holy pilgrims!)
(Receive this corner!)
(Because, even though the place is poor)
(I offer it to you from my heart!)

(Lets sing with joy!)
(Everyone at the thought!)
(That Jesus, Joseph and Mary)
(Came today to honour us!)

Join us tomorrow and every day until December 26 for more reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities.

  1. Send me your feedback on the blog at http://cc.ductapeguy.net by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-337-0611.

  2. Go to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar

Subscribe to CatholicRoundup (RSS).

Subscribe on the Itunes Music Store

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A Catholic Roundup Advent- December 4 with Sarah Reinhard

Sarah Reinhard lives in Ohio on a small farm with her husband, two children, and various pets and animals. You can read more of her writing at snoringscholar.com. We had the pleasure of spending a wonderful evening with her family last summer.  

Today she brings us the first of her special Advent series on CatholicMom.com , entitled,

Advent and the Immaculata

As we approach a holy day that I inevitably forget about and fail to plan for, despite the fact that I am not only a convert (which is supposed to give me some sort of free pass to remembering these sorts of things, isn’t it?) and that I have worked for many years in a parish office.

It’s such an important holy day that it’s a Holy Day of Obligation; we have to attend Mass.

Mother Mary gets not one, but two of these Holy Days of Obligation in her honor, within a month of each other. The first is on December 8, when we celebrate her Immaculate Conception.

Does your priest remind everyone every year that we’re actually honoring Mary’s conception and not Jesus’? I understand the confusion. It’s Advent. We’re waiting for that important birth. If we’re going to go to Mass through the week, isn’t it for that birth? Isn’t it related, somehow, to Advent?

Well, yes, it is. But…

It takes a while to get your mind around it, doesn’t it?

We are joyful, ecstatic, and positively beside ourselves about that birth in late December. We can’t wait to rejoice. We are looking for the star in the sky, just waiting for the first hint. We are decorating and listening to special music and sending greeting cards near and far. There’s supposed to be something special in the air and even in the secular realm that flirts with atheism, you’ll catch a smile and a softened attitude.

It seems anti-climactic to take our focus from Jesus to His mother. Yeah, we love her. Yeah, she’s great. Yeah, she deserves a crown and all of that.

But if it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have all this Advent preparation. If she hadn’t said “Yes,” there would be no Christmas. If she were not conceived, we would not have a cause for joy.

This holy day that seems to slip in and surprise me, every single year, is a reminder of my heavenly family history. It’s also inspiration for my aspirations. Mary was perfect – preserved from original sin, but not from the harrowing effects of it (death and suffering) – and because of her perfection, she was fit to bear the King.

I sometimes feel like Mary is a distant figure from a remote far-off village in another time and another place. She can feel like a role model for other people, but not for me. There’s intimidation in all that perfection.

But when I go to Mass next week, and when I offer myself to the One who gave her to me, I’ll feel it again.

“Only say the word…”

She reaches out her hand…

“…and I shall be healed.”

…and she pats my shoulder, pointing to her Son. He’s there, right beside her, chubby and cute and begging to be cuddled.

Celebrating the Immaculate Conception requires us to make extra effort. If all we do is go to Mass, we’ve done all she would ever ask us to do. Can I do something more for her this year? Maybe I’ll remember to wear a blue sweater, since blue is her color. Perhaps we’ll say a Hail Mary around our dinner table, explaining to our girls that Mary was once a baby in her mommy’s tummy too. There’s a chance that one of the young artists in my life will be inspired to draw and make a card.

But the best gift I can give her is the one I give her Son when I ask Him to take me and heal me at Mass.

Last year, Sarah Reinhard contributed four wonderful articles to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar: on  December 2, December 8, December 15, and January 1 .

Join us tomorrow and every day until December 26 for more reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities.

  1. Send me your feedback on the blog at http://cc.ductapeguy.net by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-337-0611.

  2. Go to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar

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