A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
Valentina is not the only talented artist-in-residence, as this photo demonstrates! Every day this semester, Hannah and Casey have beautified our community whiteboard with their amusing illustrations and caricatures of the staff and students. I always mean to capture the art for posterity, but often miss the chance. As the semester officially ends tomorrow, I Carpe Diemed today, as instructed in today's date box.
Liturgical: Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Wisdom of our God Most High,
guiding creation with power and love:
come to teach us the path of knowledge!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.
December 17 marks the beginning of the O Antiphons, the seven jewels of our liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ. The Church in these following Golden Nights travels through the centuries recalling the longing for the Redeemer. Today begins with O Wisdom (O Sapientia).
Sanctoral: St. John of Matha (1160-1223), priest and founder of the Hospitaler Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of Captives (Trinitarians or Redemptionists) to ransom Christian prisoners of the Moors (the Mathurins).
St. Josep Manyanet y Vives (1833-1901), priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sons of the Holy Family and the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Both were dedicated to serving Christian family, teaching, and parish ministry.
Human: It's the day that The Nutcracker ballet was performed for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia (1892). Czar Alexander III, in the audience, loved the ballet, but the critics hated it. Tchaikovsky wrote that the opera that came before The Nutcracker "was evidently very well liked, the ballet not. ... The papers, as always, reviled me cruelly." Tchaikovsky died of cholera less than a year later, before The Nutcracker became an international success.
The Writer's Almanac today.
Natural: Today would mark the beginning of the seven-day celebration of Saturnalia in ancient Rome. For the winter festival, the Romans made and exchanged gifts, decorated their homes with holly and ropes of garland, and carried wreaths of evergreen branches to honor the god Saturn.
Italian: Schiaccianoci (nutcracker)
Quote:
First O Antiphon: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
Symbols: All-Seeing Eye and the Lamp
Come, and teach us the way of prudence.
Traditional Antiphon: O Wisdom, who came from 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.
O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter, suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.
Vespers Antiphon: O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.
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