2nd Sunday in Advent

I took such a visceral pleasure in spotting a "prothonotary warbler" at Mass yesterday, that I forgot to post the following:

"Purple II class -- Second Sunday of Advent --
Station at the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem

The Apostles enjoyed the wonderful privilege of praying with Christ. We enjoy the same privilege in the official worship of the Church. we pray with Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body.

After Bethlehem and the manger comes Golgoths with the cross already shining far off over the peaceful country of Ephrata, where already shining far off over the peaceful country of Ephrata, where the Incarnate Word first appeared upon earth. The station is therefore at the Sessorian Basilica - the Roman counterpart of the Martyrdom at Jerusalem. Here was kept the Holy Cross which the Empress Helena had presented to the Church in Rome. Many allusions are made today to Jerusalem in the Liturgy.

The Prayer is inspired by the famous cry of the Baptist, "prepare ye the way of the Lord," so we pray to God to pour His grace into our hearts. This preparation consists in the spirit of contrition purifying the soul and in the sincere purpose of obedience to the divine precepts.

In the Epistle [Romans 15, 4-13] St. Paul in a few touches sketches the mission of the Redeemer to esptablish all mankind in one single family, the church. The Gospel testifies to the divinity of Christ by deeds rather than by words.

The Eucharistic grace for which we beg in the Postcommunion is that the holy bread, the memorial of the death of Our Lord, may destroy in us the germs of evil and may nourish us unto everlasting life. - SM"