A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
Happy New Year's Eve! Tonight the Kirkos Caravan will be performing at Piety Hill. Wish you were here!
Liturgical: The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;
if they had been, they would have remained with us.
Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge.
I write to you not because you do not know the truth
but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.
1 Jn 2:18-21
Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.
Sanctoral: Pope Saint Sylvester I, Rome +335 A hugely important pope to the history of the Church, Pope Sylvester was the reigning pontiff during the legalization of Christianity by Emperor Constantine, he convoked the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, and he oversaw the building of the Basilica and baptistery of the Lateran, the Basilica of the Sessorian palace (Santa Croce), the Church of St. Peter in the Vatican, and several cemeterial churches over the graves of martyrs. He also established the Roman school of singing. On the Via Salaria he built a cemeterial church over the Catacomb of St. Priscilla, and it was in this church that he was buried when he died on December 31, 335.
We will be toasting him tonight with a traditional New Year's Eve drink, Sylvesterpunsch.
Human: In Scotland, December 31 is known as Hogmanay, the word children use to ask for their traditional present of an oatmeal cake (which is why this is also called Cake Day). It’s believed that Hogmanay originated with the invading Vikings who celebrated the passing of the winter solstice with much revelry.
Immediately after midnight it is traditional to sing Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne”—
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne.”
Along with fireworks, “First footing” (or the “first foot” in the house after midnight) is still common across Scotland. The first person to cross the threshold into one’s home, called the first footer, is an indication of the year to come. Although the tradition varies, if the first footer is tall and dark, the year will be a good one.
Of course, the entire spirit of a Hogmanay party is to welcome both friends and strangers with warm hospitality and of course lots of kissing all-around!
The Writer's Almanac edition today.
Natural: An extra second, or leap second, was added to clocks worldwide – 2005
Italian: Scansafatiche (lazybones)
Quote: "Eternal life will be like "immersing yourself in the ocean of infinite love where time -- a before and an after -- no longer exists. Fullness of life and joy: This is what we hope for and expect from our being with Christ."
—Pope Benedict XVI, in an Angelus address Nov. 2, 2008. Today is the dies natalis of Pope Benedict, who passed into life eternal in Vatican City in 2022.
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