Welcome to enunciation radio’s Faith with reasons the program that examines what the church teaches and why Faith with reasons well welcome aboard glad you could make it glad you could join us today Ron Finn here along with Shane Stanfield and uh happy to be here for this December 6th show number 472 Shane
Stanfield how are you I’m wonderful how about yourself good good are you all you all having a good Advent so far so far so good oh you know we’re first weekend so mhm and it’s the short one yeah but you got to get it all in because it’s
You know the short one three weeks and a half a day yeah supposedly the the shortest Advent that we’re that we that we’re that we that we have in the in the uh life of the church yeah absolutely so um we’ve got a wonderful guest in studio today we’ve been talking
About we’ve been talking about Professor Pete uh the Bible teacher at Lord’s University Peter silio uh who uh whenever he’s here it becomes the smartest person in the room absolutely you know because whenever I’m here by myself no you are I got here early and I
Was the smartest person in the room but I I relinquished that we see it takes two of us and we’re still I I don’t think we’re still quite there yet that’s right so uh professor of theological studies at L University uh you lead the uh the ma and theology course yes you’re
You’re inviting people to the next go Hort for getting their masters you know it is yeah things the calendar all these things you’ve been talking about um we had been looking at and we still are looking at maybe combining the Masters in theology with the Masters in Education because everybody knows our
You know the dases is desperately in need of wonderful theology teachers yeah but we also have a new president who said well maybe we can just do both h right and so the key is coffee right we have a cup that says perk atori here and you know it might seem like pergatory
For you but call me up and let’s have coffee and see what you’d like to do anything from maybe that combined degree to the Masters in theology to Tuesday night Greek class we’ve started but we’re still working on that alphabet so there is plenty of time uh to join that
Too and hey the last time I was here we got people in I see the name Liz eie and I saw Liz last night uh and so she’s already I just got the books don’t quiz me yet all in due time and I I was like
Come on the Greek alphabet we have like drunk frat initiates reciting this as well as four and fivey olds in a so how’s everything going for you well we start uh we started our exams at l words and uh I hope I pass U but um as
You can see I’m in desperate need of a haircut but I thought I would leave it long just so I have something to pull out of my head well there you go well I’m begging students to turn something in that’s the Einstein look I kind of like it well well that’s that’s where
The similarities end I’m you know the advantage of coming into the studio is you can kill T birds with one stone you just go next door is true but I’m afraid that would be heresy oh if I said that was that was supposed to be for this morning so okay
Wow that’s all I can say my goodness uh let’s see I I’ve got something for that I believe yeah that’s there we go anyhow it’s well heresy just actually comes from a word meaning you picked up something bad really and so that’s kind of my audition for word of the dayce you
Know um so was that Greek or is that what that is Greek and they often did think of bad theology or uh bad belief as almost like an illness who’s famous for slapping a heretic at the Council of NAA but none other than St Nicholas and
Today is his day that’s right which we should we should kick it off by talking about talking about St nickol a little bit yeah we were talking about that this morning and kind of musing to ourselves is I mean is that a legend is did that
Really happen you know I he was a bishop right yeah so imagine that you know a bishop going after another bishop and popping him in the face or the nose or something so we don’t have really great sources and we actually think that he was became so popular in southern Italy
That his body of course was was was stolen and Relics start showing up in southern Italy and of course St Nicholas Day is very very big there but we we really don’t have that many great sources about him but of course the Legends are that of course he is a he is
A defender of the faith at uh NAA in 325 and that he suffered he was able to speak from his experience supposedly ordained a bishop in southern turkey at a very young age around uh around the age of 20 um soon after that he was in around uh ad300 he was actually
Imprisoned under Diocesan persecutions but then released under Constantine wow and so he had every right to speak because he’d already suffered for the faith I’m I’m sure he’s probably very fortunate that he made it out of that yes yes and uh not only did he never
Back down but he kept going after that and so we have stories of Miracles and calming of the sea but perhaps he’s most famous for really hating this practice of women having to come with dowes in order to secure good husbands and so we have this story
About how when he was Bishop he would specifically raise money and gather money um for the secret purpose of giving it away to poor families so that fathers could secure good families for their daughters and so as not to shame the fathers he as Legend goes would drop
The gold in stockings at night and that’s where we get the story of gifts and stockings and as St Nicholas became more and more famous and his reputation traveled North St Nicholas became cant Claus and so yes Virginia there really is a Santa Claus it’s a shorten form of
St Nicholas absolutely wow yeah very very cool and it all comes from his love of family and his mission to protect women from being forced into trafficking or terrible lives and really that’s where we have this idea of giving Christmas gifts in Santa Claus right it’s someone standing up for the faith
Intellectually but also as a pastor in the way he lived it out and gave gifts so for those of our listeners that aren’t familiar with the the the purpose of the Diary yep so the money of the I say money um is presented to the family of the of the
Um the groom of the groom yes and and because that is was um was it was it a form of law was it a form of tradition was it a way of honoring was it a way to set them up as a um you know is a is a
Gift or D all of the above all of the above it’s one of the reasons why you tend to have families um not marry outside of their economic rank because marriage really was a a sort of bonding of families and the uh young man not as young as his wife right so
You know maybe 18 1920 or older would present himself uh perhaps through his father to the father of the woman and he would have to show that he could support her and offer a sort of gift um a bride price in some cultures to the Father of the
Bride the uh her father then would send and what would be her inheritance if she were a man which she wasn’t of course with her as a dowry at the wedding and so they kind of had to be relatively equal the groom showed that he was a standup guy and could support the
Father’s daughter and that he was very interested in bonding families okay and he had the father had put all this money into his daughter and he should get a little refund on that cost of college and stuff so the groom comes up with a bride price
And then the father in turn says well my sons inherit from me so the daughter comes with a delate to show that I’m a standup guy and so it really was this sort of bonding between families but no pay no play yeah and St Nicholas thought that was just
Dehumanizing and you can’t have a family of faith if you don’t have families and family values and really that’s where stockings and Christmas presents come from and I did hear something similar to this um and it might even even been uh today because we are celebrating um his
His feast day today but the the idea that there were there were a lot of widows that that had daughters that had not been married and they and they couldn’t marry because the widows didn’t have a source of income very little exed yeah yeah so so this was a the way for
Um the daughters to be married off and it would be less less less stressful for the you know another less less less miles to feed he is every bit as much of a pastor yeah um and and real agent of social change as he is a famous Theologian yeah that’s great that’s
Great Professor Pete’s in studio Peter silio is here and uh boy oh boy I love it this time of year when you come in because there’s so much to talk about there’s Advent and there’s there’s Christmas and and all these wonderful Advent Saints lights St Nicholas and so
Forth uh but uh we’re we’re into Advent now and uh we won’t be very long it’s just the way the calendar Works was thinking about that it seems like in in our secular culture we start looking ahead to Christmas you know it used to be Christmas in July now Christmas
Starts in July Black Friday was November 1st I think I think you’re right um and uh it’s just I just have this feeling that in a way it’s it’s strange it’s almost backwards that we start getting ready for Christmas so soon and yet I have this feeling Advent has just
Started but it’s going to be over before you know it yeah um I don’t know if that’s because I uh love the season of Advent or because I looked at the calendar and we have to get back to Lords earlier than any other school think or a little above probably
All the above so for so for those haven’t been paying attention we we we celebrate the the the S the third Sunday of Advent um on the on on obviously the Sunday which is actually Christmas Eve that’s the fourth Sunday right so we’ve got so 17th right is that if I’m doings
Well isn’t but isn’t it the third isn’t it the third third Sunday is on Sunday and then they have to celebrate the fourth Sunday at the opening of the the vigil yes yes yeah it’s it’s uh yeah the vigil mass on Saturday night it would be the
Fourth Sunday of Advent and of course in the morning on Christmas Eve would be the fourth Sunday of Advent yes and then once you hit 4:00 yes then it’s the the vigil mass for Christmas I remember this from when I was a little kid I just
Remembered that you know I got to keep the the and they’re still tight I had to wear my stretchy pants but I have I just remembered this Sunday I guess we have to go to noon mass as usual but then I can’t get changed I can watch a football
Game or two because we’re going back MH for Christmas Eve on the same day and that’s the way it is this year it’s like we either go Saturday for the Sunday vigil and then Sunday evening for the Christmas vigil MH or we go Sunday Sunday or we
Could go Sunday Monday or we could go as far apart as Saturday Monday but we’re getting a lot of church in there absolutely and I’m thinking midnight mass this year I don’t know it there’s always this sort of divide uh in in my family you know are we going to do um the
4:30 or are we going to do midnight and it really just depends on the number of kids and the age of kids you know if if you’re like I am and you you know have no talent but you got to be in the in in in the Christmas Eve uh play at mass
Then you know I was third owl then that’s where we’re going but I feel sorry for those kids that were fourth and fifth all yeah I know so tell us about Advent uh the origins of Advent or or where where it comes from um because you know these
Things well it’s all you know it’s when you start reading about Advent the first thing that any historian is going to say it’s kind of tough to trace and so um it’s always a a quest to kind of find these these primary sources but you cannot have Advent until you
Forever set the date of December 25th for Christmas that pretty much stands to reason because you’re saying well how far do we have to go back from the 25th to get ready for the 25th and we read in Clement of Alexandria it’s interesting that he doesn’t really take
A stand but he says a lot of people say it’s the 25th of this month a lot people say it’s the 25th of that month and it’s not until about 200 that we get two different historians uh Church historians will say you know what it’s December 25th and soon after they
Do Constantine in 336 forever memorializes Christmas as December 25th so by 3:36 you have this agreement of December 25th for Christmas and then really in just a generation you have a number of uh church leaders like St Martin of tour saying well we have to get ready for the coming of Christ on
December 25th and so St Martin of Tours begins talking about a 40-day period of prayer fasting and almsgiving and soon after um you have a a following Bishop in tours say well starting with St Martin’s day in November on November 11th that’s going to Mark our day of
Preparation and in the East you have St Phillip right around that same time and the East wants to say well it’s actually going to be definitely 40 days um and in the west it volleys for about 2300 years between the month of December or 40 days similar to lent because and we really
Forget this right Advent similar to lent and it’s only second to lent in terms of how important it is for prayer fasting and almsgiving which is preparation absolutely to Mark Advent just the same way uh we would in Lent so a lot of the things that we’ll talk about in a couple
Months with lent okay really come up with kind of the lent to prepare for Christ’s coming and that’s and that’s where you hear that that uh Advent is also a penitential season absolutely absolutely and of course the word Advent comes from Latin adventum and the interesting thing about that I was I was
Mentioning this to Ron is that adventum in Latin Bibles is used to translate the Greek word parusia which refers to Christ’s coming back right and so we really are we find ourselves right between Christ’s coming and his coming back and the season of Advent in both directions says are you
Right ready right First Gospel from first Sunday of Advent are you ready watch this is advent and we’re right between Christ’s cradle and Christ’s return and Advent the word itself captures both sides of that and it’s important for people to know that it’s not necessarily Christ’s second coming
Even though we are preparing for that but it’s it’s our own meeting of Christ at our death presuming that we’ll we’ll pass before Christ absolutely return so it’s our Advent so it’s our Advent yeah I mean it’s equally important because because we must be ready because we
Don’t know when we’re going to die I mean we could be taken at any time so you you you have to be prepared for that that’s true and you know imagine if Jesus says so this you know I’m I’m glad you’re looking for the I’m looking
You’re looking out for your own soul but how’s that world of mine you left behind how’s that doing is that even more ready for my return and then oh boy I don’t know and so that’s part of the alms giving really is it’s it’s a wonderful
Way for us to prepare the world for Christ’s return just like the prayer and the fasting certainly helps the world but it’s it’s also for us the almsgiving is really to help the world get ready for Christ’s return we got to do both so so we’re actually reading this I mean
This this appears in the Liturgy too I mean the Liturgy is getting or has been getting it’s getting darker I mean there’s there’s there’s more severity of of of of what what is to come you know what what we need to be preparing for and I think it correlates nicely I mean
All these things that you that you recognize at some point the little light bulb comes on and you realize that the church does things for reason and um absolutely and and and here we have a time of year at least in the nor north northern hemisphere when December 21st I
Think is the winter solstice and the days are are getting they’re coming to the shortest the short I should say yeah the days are becoming the shortest on the on the 21st and then and then after that they’ll start to they’ll start to get you know longer and longer but it’s
Interesting that it correlates with with the readings um you know uh you’ve got very dark days um it’s uh it’s just I find it interesting that there’s I find this correlation interesting yes and you know that’s something when you look at while setting the date uh for Christmas
You always hear that thing well the Christians were just trying to mask pagan holidays and that’s not really true at all the most you ever get is this very Jewish and Christian Outreach to the world saying I’m glad that everyone from Persia to Rome to Germany has all of these festivals of
Celebrating light coming into the world you sensed something but we have the very revelation of God and we can fill in those Shadows right it’s not about s n it’s about s o n and the human being who was also the very very light of God so you’ve sensed
Some things with these Evergreens and these feasts celebrating the days getting longer but we’re going to tell you about the real light coming into the world that we came to know ourselves right from the revelation of God that’s part of it you know the evangelization process that we’re all engaged in you
Use something that somebody’s already familiar with and absolutely show them the real meaning behind it absolutely and not in a not in a harsh way but saying you know you you you you’re really smart you got this on your own let me take you the rest of the way so
Do you happen to know the significance of the 25th because I’ll take you back to what you said before as the beginning of Advent um there was there was some discrepancy as well it’s the 25th of this month or the 25th that so where’s the where’s what’s the significance of
The 25th well uh because it’s one of two months they couldn’t figure that out sexus J Julius Africanus and I forget if it’s ad 2011 or 205 he reasons that the world was created on March 25th kind of looking at Jewish tradition and so he says well that must be when Christ was
Conceived and so 9 months later it must be Christ’s birth and he’s the first one who really starts talking about that and and also hpus of Rome say same time we’ll talk about December 25th as as far as we can tell this is when Jesus was born somewhat for different reasons and
Some people say well that passage was sort of manipulated from holus to create a sort of consensus but it’s from their writings that it really does hold to December 25th such that Constantine can say discussion’s over now maybe Constantine had some political motivations but he receives it from from
The best authority of the church no that but that is fascinating it’s fascinating to know because you know there was the significance of the 25th and again you say it correlates to um U the the belief that it was that that the world began it’s you know on the 25th of March so
You’re just moving forward N9 months and you’re going to take a month for a month so you just assume what got to be the 25th of December yes fascinating yep absolutely it also reminds us though that the first thing that Christians talk about is Christ risen from the dead
Right it takes a while to sort of say well you know what if Christ isn’t back right away and his the people who knew him are dying we need to sort of pray about Christ’s Life as a model for our lives and that’s through when we get prayer reflection the guidance of the
Holy Spirit probably Mary okay stories about well here is how Jesus was born fascinating yeah fascinating Peter cilio in in studio with us the Bible teacher at Lords and host of Bible basics here on Annunciation radio you’ve had a couple of Advent related questions in the last couple of weeks and it’s great
To be able to learn a little bit more about all of that um when we think about Advent and the Bible I there’s no there’s no set instruction in the Bible on that but look at the readings that all you know point to preparation period it’s kind of like you were saying the
Church has been doing something last 2000 years right we have uh a really great exercise routine right you might say oh I’m going to this trainer I’m going to that trainer that’s more for after Christmas but if you think of um really what the church puts forward for us it’s
Just wonderful consciously wonderful and experienc driven training to get ready with uh the daily readings uh trying to get to mass um I love the O antons right that we start I think on December 17 right and in the East right there are uh some folks who say well the most intense
Period of preparation begins on December 17th and in the west we have the great o anteon starting then um is just let me ask you this is that what they refer to as the second part or this because I I’ve heard Advent described as the the
First part and the second part of the it’s the seven days in particular um uh Christmas Eve that’s sometimes called the preparation in eastern churches and I I think that might that might be it and again even when you start talking about a preparation period right you have this tradition of maybe
Just seven days no maybe 40 days uh no just December and that’s where our that’s where our Advent of four weeks comes from I I only ask because I just I was listening just the other other day to the morning program um of course before and and and Dave I was going to
Say you wouldn’t have heard any that profound offering but but they were they were discussing um as a doctor that had um had come forth with a more accurate Latin trans um translation for a hymn oh interesting and and it is it is it is
For I if I if I remember correctly it was for or intended um to be used or recited during the what I thought he said the first part of Advent and I never referred to I never heard of Advent referred to as parts I think it’s
The one that they use for the morning uh prayer for the L of the hours and uh it is a uh a different translation M whereas the original translation was really it’s Cadence and rhyme rhy you know versus you know these aren’t really there to rhyme and make a nice little
Song out of it but but I remember he made a point of saying that that goes until the 16th of December and then o antar start at the 17th I’m thinking well maybe that’s the second part because see I don’t know so I had to ask definitely if it’s the 17th of December
That’s kind of we have seven days left and it’s it’s kind of like we’ve had two weeks of penance and one week of joy and now it’s one more last big push but not to the mall no right which there might be a few of us struggling at
The mall at that point but that’s true that’s true hopefully not the case but we can’t uh you know light that purple candle too early no that’s can’t on the Advent so if we if we look at um uh Advent in the Bible we we really don’t
Look at it any other way if if I understand you correctly other than looking at the Liturgy I mean we’ve been we’ve been we’ve been practicing or we’ve been uh I guess through our our readings daily readings and and and the the the readings on Sunday are our our
Preparation for Advent I mean even though it’s not you know there’s there’s as Ron mentioned before it’s not it’s not called out in the Bible that this is this starts and this is what the practice entails but but we’re we’re pulling um our readings of Advent um quite profound readings and then they’re
All they all they all um they’re all relative to one another but they are very relative to Advent ABS we trying to do an advent absolutely um Paul doesn’t really talk it much at all about Jesus’s life and Mark begins his gospel um certainly with the Old Testament MH it’s
Really Matthew and Luke and through reflection John that we can really focus on maybe in the next half hour we have to pick that up on the the next great place to to pick it up here when we finish our break here on faith with reasons Shane Stanfield Ron finin and
The star of the show Peter cilio star yeah so hopefully you’ll stick around and uh stick around for part twoo every day abortion affects the lives of thousands of women but for every woman affected there is a man who has also lost a child too often we as
Men don’t think we can feel hurt or sadness over this loss but there is help and there is hope if you are someone you know has experience with abortion please reach out to the Joseph Ministry at 419 299 6660 or visit Catholic Charities nw.org for more information God wants
You to return to him and to experience the love and mercy that is waiting you as his beloved Son Catholics acknowledged that the deposit or rule of faith is sacred scripture and Apostolic tradition as manifested in the living teaching authority of the Catholic church in rejecting the papacy and teaching authority of the Catholic Church the Protestant reformers thought they found the rule of faith in the Bible individual private interpretation Guided
By the holy spirit yet the Bible denies that it is sufficient as the church’s rule of Faith Paul acknowledges that much Christian teaching is to be found in the tradition that is handed down by Word of Mouth in 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Timothy 2:2 he instructs Us in 2 Thessalonians
2:15 to stand firm and hold to the Traditions which you were taught by us either by word of mouth or by letter examining the truths of the Catholic faith this is Faith forensics dorg every weekday afternoon at 3 join us for our live and interactive Divine Mercy Chaplet do you have something or
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Here at anunciation Radio we’re praying for You now back to Faith with reasons here on anunciation radio hey welcome back here Shane Stanfield uh Ron Finn and today we’re U blessed to have Peter silio he’s director of theology assistant professor of theological studies at Lord University and of course uh host here at Daily series called
Bible basics at anunciation Radio he also contributes to social justice in the Bible and this is on the Catholic Charities um uh Annunciation radio weekly program of Faith alive and uh we began I should say we we concluded our our first half hour uh talking about um
You know Advent in the Bible and of course it’s not something that’s cited into the Bible and a practice that was that was really established um two 300 years yes you know later when they when they when they nailed down the date forward for Christmas and then and
Establish this preparation time so so uh where’s this where’s this called on the Bible and what the church has been doing is it’s it’s been taking this time of Advent it’s time of um preparation and actually using uh in a daily and a weekly basis this the you know these
These beautiful readings you know um you know our first reading in our in our in our in our gospel tying them together because we’re we’re we’re pulling out uh you know currently reading Isaiah um there’s there’s um uh there’s a lot that’s going on here and you were saying
When at the conclusion of the the first half um the the the gospel talking about Mark and you you you were concluded with John and so I’ll let you take it off from there well with the um really the organic development of this season of preparation
Advent um you start to see in the church during that time more and more Reflections on again the True Light coming into the world and that’s how John begins his Gospel of course you start to reflect on Joseph and Mary Matthew tells the backstory through Joseph Luke tells the backstory through
Mary and so just as we’re journeying through Advent white we use those gospels to reflect on well what must they be doing uh to get ready for the very first Christmas and of course they would have been only thinking about and reading their scripture at the time and
At the time their Bible you know was was Torah right trying to get through how strange this and different and unusual this must have been right Matthew tells us well here’s what Joseph is kind of going through and here is how Mary is reflecting and of course we get The
Magnificat before Jesus is even born we get big chunks of the Hail Mary just before the magnificant on the lips of Elizabeth yeah and so you wonder well how could she greet Mary as blessed among women um since as far as we know she couldn’t have known what has already happened yet
Somehow she did since that greeting for Mary was on her lips even though Mary had just had this audience with Gabriel Where She Says Yes to God as soon as she gets to Elizabeth which Gabriel told her about she didn’t know Elizabeth greets her with the Hail Mary well how did she
Know so you can tell that the holy spirit is working to prepare a lot of people sure who are saying yes to God and so we look at those people and what they must be doing in our Reflections and in our readings uh as we prepare for
Advent or as we go through Advent so maybe we can touch touch on um on on on some of the what would be the uh the first readings uh you know daily what we’re seeing because we we are we are now um uh beginning to read um you know
Obviously prophecy you know of of of of the the coming of Christ um and and and so this again as I referred to before this this had to be in the back of their minds because I mean if this is it I mean this this they knew they knew what to expect
They just didn’t know when they were hopeful it would happen at some point but um obviously we’re talking about Mary and we’re talking about Elizabeth they didn’t expect it was it would involve them not probably the first time they heard Tor yeah yeah yeah but but um
But it’s it’s something that they were all familiar with and they were all hope for and their history too a lot of The Magnificat um comes from Hannah and uh Samson’s mother uh now on the lips of Mary and she probably didn’t have uh you know a cell phone where she could just
Draw this up she probably wasn’t taught to read but it had meant so much to her that she was able to remember and rehash in her own heart we hear kind of after Jesus is 12 years old and he’s lost and and they go back to Galilee Mary has to
Sort of again rehash these things in her heart so she has this very attentive heart right from the beginning and so she’s able to recall these scriptures that have just been part of her life um in trying to make sense of what seems just incredible yeah yeah what amazing
Uh just an amazing um uh experience to to to share what they um what they went through at that at that point point and of course where we’re counting that you know during the during the Christmas readings and of course I mean Matthew begins our whole new testament with a
Superfast review of the whole Old Testament where he just plugs Jesus in and and says this is Jesus Son of Abraham son of David ABR Abraham became the father of and goes all the way up to Jesus’s time and uh I’ll often use that I’ll say okay we’ll see see if you’re
Ready for your Old Testament final turn to page one of the New Testament and we don’t use page numbers but turn to the very first page in the uh New Testament if these names are a little bit more familiar to you now than they were at the beginning of the semester well
You’re probably in good shape and Matthew consciously does that to plug Jesus into the very best of all that God has been promising and doing well that’s fascinating well for them I mean he’s born into a culture where genealogy is theology right and so when you see Matthew’s genealogy you’re beginning the
Whole new testament and certainly Matthew’s perspective on Jesus as saying this is what God has been doing and it goes right to what God is doing with Jesus and by extension us the church yeah wonderful now we mentioned um the O anant and and of course this is the this
Is the beginning of the um of the the the fourth the last the final week of Advent don’t even say o antons I don’t have my shopping done right we’re already on the second o and I haven’t gotten anything so so we’re we’re we’re trying
To push this home and and and and it’s the icing on the cake let’s let’s let’s talk about what are they I mean I love these o an I’m going to defer to Ron because he really was talking at length about them and that’s when I really said
Wow these are something to talk about well and obviously they’re they’re coming they’re bibl biblical and and each day we’re presented with a different a different perspective yes for these seven days yes and they’re generally chanted right yep and they’re often chanted uh along with there’s always a tradition of reading
And rereading parts of The Magnificat and so you hear this chant and then you hear Mary’s Prayer right along with it um and so it’s if you can’t make it to church those days try to make it at least some of the days and um you’ll get them right on almost any
Web page I think you could even Google them but USCCB of course kind of places them uh front and center those days and so it’s just a Wonder we always kind of end with you know homework you know and every year uh since really Ron was was
Talking about him the O anapon are just things we can really privately start to do now each and every day yeah you can’t read them without without you know that tune coming to mind you know come come Emmanuel exactly for each of those uh each of those days so it you say they’re
Biblical are are we reciting for those that aren’t familiar with with with the O anant I mean is is it is it a are we reciting a Psalm are we okay so we’re reading reciting Psalms and now you say you’re you’re also at the same time recalling part of the the magnific yes
Usually there ‘s this tradition of reading The Magnificat um right after you hear or sing this uh this chant okay and the chant changes every day for for the seven days well the the certainly the words do okay yeah yeah um I know Ron’s looking it up yeah
I always like to have them um but again I I’m careful because I’m going to start singing them and I as long as I don’t start singing now oh my and uh these do come up uh each year and I have seen different versions of it they’re
Not the same in every place but uh for the most part if you’re on an official Church Source they’re going to match yes um uh methodists anglicans uh Presbyterians and lutherans um are largely going to share um a lurgical calendar with us um and just as a side
Note the very first Advent wreath was actually from Martin Luther uh wow and so uh he definitely believed in church Seasons yeah so if we ever get you know a little bit of maybe fundamentalist criticism you can about being too earthy uh we can say well you know I mean you
Mean like that Lutheran Advent wreath that we love so much we actually touched we actually touched on that with a with a guest of a recent show and uh and I was I was kind of amazed the the number of Protestant churches out there that um have have borrowed the lurgical season
From the Catholic church because they they see the richness in it they see and especially at Christmas um uh the Puritans specifically I mean for a time a brief time under uh Puritan rule in England you were fined if you got caught celebrating Christmas because it was
Considered too Catholic Oh and even in America since Christmas had come back in a big way in England Christmas was kind of looked down upon early on in America as being too English and it really wasn’t until you have a lot of Protestant churches losing membership to those Catholics because those Catholics
At Christmas are so much fun do it too you know you know now that you say this I mean I think it’s important for our listeners just to sit back and think about that Christmas is a Catholic Church feast day it absolutely is absolutely is you know and and and and
It’s really if you think about it it’s the it’s the secular world that’s hijacked our feast day for Santa Claus and the and the Frosty the Snowman and the I mean the the whole well what did I I just commented on last week I was I was astounded because I had gotten into
The car and and and of course these it was the day after the day after Thanksgiving and the and the person on the radio announces well you know it’s it’s officially the first day of Christmas and I just like oh it’s just cringe because you know it’s Black Friday it’s the shopping forist
Christmas and all and it’s like give me a break but that’s where’s the prayer fasting ands get yeah yeah but but you know that’s it it really it’s just the opposite you know they’ve hijacked Christmas now you have to start somewhere because uh you can’t secularize what’s not sacramental in
Nature right you do so very true but but but but what you just said there I think is is what brought this to mind because that’s why they would forbid it because it’s a Catholic feast day and it’s you know we we keep just sort of organically
This year it sort of keeps coming up that you know to really keep this tradition we really do have to see it as uh as second only to lent in terms of a prayerful time of we’re preparing ourselves and our world for this and it’s a little bit like these people who
Go crazy uh on Marty gr before lent you know I feel like saying you realize you just signed on to 40 days in the desert after this that’s the only reason why you’re you’re allowed to go a little crazy here did you read the fine print those beans and
P and all that stuff um but you you know it’s it’s absolutely the case and in fact um Christmas wasn’t even always called Christmas it was in both East and West Latin and Greek as it still is the Feast of the birth of Christ um you know
In Greek today like you say kala christena or stug right good uh birth of Christ to you um and uh in the west of course it’s the Nativity a good Latin word it’s not until 1066 I think 1066 1063 I forget my notes but there was always this sort of
Tendency maybe with the cycle of seasons to overdo the celebration and underdo the preparation and so the church comes out and says remember this Advent is a season of preparation and the only way you can begin to celebrate is by going to the Christ mass that is the only way to end your
Fast and begin the celebration with the Christ mass and so that is where we get the actual word Christmas it’s from hey don’t jump the gun on Black Friday yes right and and to think they had that problem back in 106 absolutely the first Mall get out there early get the
Shiniest Rock available yes and the church is so good is so wonderful at at preparing all the time they don’t it’s not a one and done with our church no you know we always look forward to what’s coming and then we we reflect on it and we work toward it and then we
Embrace it yeah that’s true very true and and that’s the I think that’s at least in our household I’m still trying desperately to to keep the decorations down and not put them up until the very very end I know it’s a big Downer for especially for the kids
Because you know you see the rest of the family everybody’s out in the whole celebration mode but you you have such difficulty focusing on Advent when you’ve got Christmas music playing in the background and and and literally the celebration it’s already begun absolutely you know you just drive down
The street and you see the flashing lights and the big blow up whatever in the front lawn and and people have begun the celebration and of course December 26th everything December 26th everything is raining and there are those dead Evergreens in the in the curb yeah yeah and then everything comes down
And and that’s really the time where our celebration kicks off yes exactly exactly Holy Family coronation um we’re just beginning um uh uh presentation of Jesus in the temple 40 days later and then of course they got to get out of Dodge because herod’s on the war path and he kind of figures
Out that those Magi have tricked him well speaking of the celebrations afterwards we might get we might as well get into that so you know we we have Christmas day talk about jumping the gun here so we have there is this thing called lunch you know I mean how far do
We want to go but we do have uh we we we obviously we have we have Christmas day so the you know the the next the next thing that we’re we’re celebrating is um is the is is The Epiphany cor well we have uh Holy Family Holy Family we have
Uh holy day of obligation with the coronation of Mary January 1st January that’s new year new year day then we have Epiphany arrival of the Magi yep yep and then Christmas season um uh concludes with baptism officially which is the day after the Epiphany right M
Okay um and so you that’s a wonderful calendar and I think the way the calendar Falls it is it’s appropriate because right after Jesus is baptized he goes into the Wilderness and I think the way our calendar Falls will be be I think we have an early Easter this year oh so
We’re going to go right into lent we pretty much have a short Christmas too don’t we yeah which uh to me doesn’t make sense if you’re going to have the shortest Advent you should had the longest Christmas I don’t know how that work but somehow the retailers are happy
Because they have a longer time somehow between Thanksgiving and Christmas they were saying how happy oh they are and so there’s that secular world yeah so as far as um it can work because you know if you’re expecting a gift from me I’m in a very prayerful mood but if
You’re giving me a gift you can go secular all all you want oh yeah pretty much it it’s funny how that works I want to pray for you but what’s your shirt size exactly so I don’t know if you U did we lose track of O anapon
Were you going to add something there were we going to hear you sing I can’t wait for December 17th I just because you’re you’re looking at uh at really the different Expressions you know the root of Jesse and the Key of David and um you know the the various
Manifestations ways to look exactly at Christ I think is what amazes me about it and and again I like the tun yeah well I know you were over there looking and I know changed gears and we moved down I thought well maybe Ron wanted to share something maybe you wanted to sing
I you was well you plus you also get that in the Gospel reading surrounding Jesus’s birth is so many Illusions to scripture not that God didn’t already keep his promises but that God finds a way to fill them to overflowing in other words Isaiah for all he knows could be
Talking about Hezekiah as say an Emanuel figure a king to be born little does even he know that the very words he uses God finds a way to expand to a whole new level that safety under Hezekiah is going to be salvation under Emmanuel Jesus Oh
Beautiful so um getting back to the the origins of of Advent um you said that it was it was just it was established after um it was somewhere in the 300s because Constantine established Christmas um and we know the time of const Constantine was 3 well 3:36 is when const I mean you
Have this the history of Constantine boy do we need notes in his father and the way the emperor the empire was broken up into halves each with two people in charge of each half and then after Constantine his children sort of Waring for power that sort of thing but we know
That by 336 Constantine establishes is in is in control and establishes uh December 25th as the day uh of uh Christ’s birth and then without any edicts from Constantine already you have the Council of Saragosa in 380 having to talk about well how do we prepare for December 25th so already within a
Generation this is already just bubbling up in the church East and West organically and and of course the a sense of the faithful so where the East and West I think you you mentioned this before that you know there there are differences and of there are differ
Today obviously but but um they were at the time they were they were they were rather consistent on coming up with a preparation time yes yes and usually you know the East is always going to say well we came up with it first here it seems to catch hold in the west with
Greater Clarity uh than in the East it’s not until um a a local Council in Constantinople in the 1100s that the East is officially going to say starting from the end of the Feast of St Phillip all the way through um December 25th is our preparation our our fast that
They’ll call second only to lent and what date specifically is tied to the Feast of um I have it’s either I think it’s I believe it’s it’s St Phillip and I think that’s going to be no I got I should check my notes here somewhere November
Uh let me see I know I have it here it’s either the 15th or the 11th and I get St Martin of Tours in the west uh confused with St Philip in the East okay um uh but I forget which one is the 15th uh
And which one is the 11th I want to say St I want to say St Philip in the is the 11th of November and St Martin of Tours is the 15th of November and those become the sort of early goal posts for when should we start lent and then in the
West it really gets short into the month of December and that’s where our are are four weeks instead of 40 days comes in because in the East they love 40-day fast because it can remind people of Lent and that might be where some of the confusion comes from is that well how
How can lent how can lent change you know and it’s not so much that lent changes it depends on more of when Christmas Falls yes as opposed to it being close to a weekend or not including the weekend and that’s where we have to make up from time because
Because we’re essentially talking about the first Sunday of December yes of of of beginning and that’s where you’re saying it’s the month of December so it’s recognized 500 you start to get Church Council say well let’s just keep it in this last month and um and that kind of takes hold
In the west as opposed to this idea if it is a feast if it is a fast similar to lent it must be 40 days okay interesting yes so St Martin of Tours is the 11th oh it’s the 11th it’s 11th okay I get them backwards I tell you works pretty well
And then St Philip is November 15th for the East here it is as soon as you give it to me it’s right there absolutely well I I’m I’m witnessed to it there’s quite a stack of papers here so oh every year it just grows like my waistline and my memory recedes like the
Hairline on top of it so although I still see I see you occasionally out running around do you see the bill collector behind me no I knew you must be running for that’s what’s coming in January okay okay so Christmas gift uh note to self for Peter uh new tennis shoes there
You go that’s true some running shoes Groucho marks glasses something like yeah I just love talking with people who’ve actually heard of Groucho marks I I’m I’ll mention that in class and if the students aren’t already sleeping they like well grou your marks isn’t he the guy who invented
Communism or something like that you know so as we prepare for Christmas uh obviously um the readings will change uh and and really kind of come to fruition at Christmas and and the uh the week following Christmas uh so tell us a little bit in the Bible you know where
Christmas obviously we get the same readings every year yes for the most part um so it it is leading us again this Christmas is a time of preparation also absolutely a certain degree absolutely I mean we’re joyous we’re celebrating we’re feasting oh that’s after the fasting is done we Feast right
True um but it’s also you know we’re kind of waiting through that point too that’s true that’s very very true one thing we can look at is well uh Jesus Mary and Joseph were every bit as busy and really every bit as pressured and threatened after the 25th
As before um Luke gives us a journey to Bethlehem Matthew doesn’t mention a journey to Bethlehem but he mentions that Journey from Bethlehem Luke will say well Jesus is presented in the temple but the temple isn’t in Bethlehem it’s in Jerusalem and so they have to go there
And then of course Joseph is told by an Angel that he should leave both Bethlehem and Jerusalem and flee to Egypt because Herod the socalled so named by the Roman senate King of the Jews uh is trying to kill his son his Earthly son Jesus and so they’re still
In preparation mode um and I know that that can be very very helpful for us that you know our lives don’t get easier because Jesus is with us but they get better they get more meaningful and so we really at Christmas we think of it is an end no We’ve Only
Just Begun that’s certainly the way it is uh for Jesus Mary and Joseph so that that was quite a hike to go from Bethlehem to absolutely Absol and it’s interesting that we kind of see that rout on the news a lot with all of the
Fighting yes um we see that same sort of Highway that they might have traveled and uh you know sometimes will’ll especially in the Old Testament read some fairly challenging or graphic passages about you know a woman in judges being cut up into 12 pieces and
People will say well how can that be in the Bible it’s as bad as our headlines today and we’re getting it wrong how could something be a warning to us in the Bible and we’re still having it in our headlines oh yeah 3,000 years later what have we learned from Christ in
Christmas yeah wow yeah that’s that’s tough it really is but uh boy oh boy make it a joyous season it can’t be over already it’s I know it fast 30 right I know it’s pretty quick uh but but Professor Pete always a pleasure and he always us a lot to think
About that yeah a lot of food for thought there oh for sure yeah always gets the juices flowing so yeah thanks for getting this ready next week father Dwight long Ander will be with us author of The Secret of the Bethlehem Shepherds yeah yeah and we had him on recently on
Another book and I can’t wait to talk about this one uh coming up uh but uh Peter thank you so much we’ll be listening for more great information on Bible basics maybe I’ll run into you at the grocery store again thanks for listening the Faith with reasons here on anunciation radio
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