Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas
Dear Faithful in Christ,
For centuries now, every twenty-five years the Church sets aside a graced time of Jubilee. These Jubilee Years are “a significant moment in the life of the Church in which she celebrates the year of messianic favor inaugurated by Christ through his Incarnation and Paschal Mystery” (cf. Lk 4:19, St. John Paul II, Tertio Millennio adveniente, nos. 11-16). The Year of our Lord 2025 is just such a Jubilee, and so it stands apart as a new opportunity to receive the Lord’s mercy, to give gratitude for graces received, and to look forward in hope to the new and abundant life God wills for his holy Church.
Traditionally, Jubilee years have been marked by special liturgical celebrations, pilgrimages, processions, and a renewed invitation to seek the Lord’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession. You may remember the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, in which Cathedrals all over the world had a special Holy Door. This year, only the Basilicas in Rome will have Jubilee doors, perhaps as a special encouragement to make pilgrimage to the Eternal City during the year. At the same time, the Bishops around the world have been encouraged by the Holy Father to designate special pilgrimage sites in their own dioceses, so that the spiritually rich tradition of pilgrimage can be maintained locally as well.
With this in mind, I am designating the Cathedral and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas, the Parish Church of Mount Calvary in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Parish Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Calgary, Alberta, to be the Jubilee sites for the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter for the duration of the Holy Year 2025. All the faithful, visiting one of these sites in pious pilgrimage, who go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, may obtain a plenary indulgence with remission and forgiveness of all their sins. This indulgence may be obtained for oneself or applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory. The Pastors of these parishes are already working on plans for special Jubilee events at which they will welcome visitors from all of our Ordinariate parish communities. Be sure to watch your own parish bulletins for more information about that.
We talk often about “practicing” our faith. Making a pilgrimage can be a wonderful practice for your family…something out of the ordinary that helps us experience God’s love and mercy in a new way. As we draw closer to the opening of the Jubilee Year 2025, resolve to celebrate this holy year of grace! God already has some particular grace in mind for His Church. All we have to do is receive it!
Advent blessings,
Bishop Steven Lopes
Cathedral and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas
Mount Calvary Catholic Church, Baltimore, Maryland
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Calgary, Alberta
2025 Holy Year Plenary Indulgence
During the Jubilee Year 2025, all the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin, who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holty Year, purified through the sacrament of Penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins. The Jubilee Indulgence can be obtained in the following ways:
- My making a pious pilgrimage to any designated Jubilee Site (in the Ordinariate: the Cathedral, Mt. Calvary Parish, and St. John the Evangelist Parish). A pious pilgrimage means: attending Mass there, participating in a celebration of the Divine Office or the Stations of the Cross, praying the rosary there, by going to Confession, or by praying in that church the pilgrimage prayers prepared for the Jubilee Year.
- By visiting one of the four papal Basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, The Basilica of the Holy Savior (St. John Lateran), St. Mary Major, or St. Paul Outside the Walls.
- By visiting one of the major Basilicas in the Holy Land.
- By participating in a parish mission, retreat, or formation class sponsored by the diocese or parish.
- By visiting for an appropriate amount of time someone in need or difficulty (the sick, elderly people, disabled people, prisoners).
- By undertaking a concrete act of charity or volunteer service for the benefit of others.
Ember Days follow an ancient practice of the church to pray for vocations to the priesthood. December 4, 6 and 7 are Ember Days of Advent this year. Please pray for our seminarians as they continue to respond to God's call.
Prayer for Embertide:
O ALMIGHTY God, look mercifully upon the world, redeemed by the blood of thy dear Son, and incline the hearts of all whom thou dost call to offer themselves for the sacred ministry of thy Church; that there may never be wanting a supply of fit persons to preach thy Word, and dispense thy holy Sacraments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Christian Francke
Saint Mary's Seminary
St. Thomas More, Scranton, PA
St. Thomas More, Scranton, PA
Andrew Yaremko
St. Mary's Seminary
St. Thomas More, Toronto, ON, Canada
Luke McDonald
Saint Mary's Seminary
St. Benedict's, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Brian Wehrle
St. Mary's Seminary
Annunciation, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Patrick Wallace
St. Joseph Seminary College
Our Lady of the Atonement,
San Antonio, TX
Michael Ullrich
Saint Mary's Seminary
Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX
Luis Araiza
Saint Mary's Seminary
Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX
Gabriel Mount
Saint Mary's Seminary
Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX
Preston Shaver
Saint Mary's Seminary
Christ the King, Towson, MD
Ian Calkins
Pontifical College Josephinum
Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX
Christopher Ullrich
Pontifical College Josephinum
Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX
Stir Up Sunday
Stir up thy strength, O Lord: and come and help us. Psalm 80:2b [Excita, Domine]
The Sunday Next before Advent is known to England and her diaspora as “Stir Up Sunday” and the day on which tradition says to prepare the Christmas pudding. Families would gather in the kitchen and each take turns stirring up the formidable list of ingredients, into which they would add a wish and perhaps a coin for good luck.
The day takes its name not from the pudding preparations, but from the Collect of the Day in both the Catholic and Anglican calendars:
STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people: that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
In the modern Roman calendar, the Sunday Next before Advent is now celebrated as the Solemnity of Christ the King; however, the weekdays between it and the First Sunday of Advent retain this beautiful Collect. Many other prayers for the Advent season have taken up this theme, beseeching God to stir up – to excite, quicken, kindle, renew, and (re)awaken – our hearts and His saving strength. Note that the Church asks God to stir us and Himself, that our covenant bond may be fortified and refreshed in this time of preparation.
The maturation of a Christmas pudding, like the maturation of a relationship, or the evangelization of culture, takes effort and time. We are often not prepared to bear the slow evangelization of persons and societies – of ourselves and our families - and quite ready to accept ready-made or quick-fix alternatives. This Advent, make the time, stir the pot.
Weekdays Next before Advent
STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people: that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Ember Friday in Advent
STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us: that we, who put our trust and confidence in thy mercy, may speedily be delivered from all our adversities; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Second Sunday in Advent
STIR up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of thine Only Begotten Son: that through his advent we may be worthy to serve thee with purified minds; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
From Advent Devotions in the St. Gregory Prayerbook
O LORD, stir up thy might, we beg thee, and come, that by thy protection we may deserve to be rescued from the threatening dangers of our sins and saved by thy deliverance; who livest and reignest forever. Amen.
O LORD, stir up our hearts that we may prepare for thy only begotten Son, that through his coming we may be made worthy to serve thee with pure minds; who livest and reignest forever. Amen.
O LORD, stir up thy power, we pray thee, and come; and with great might help us, that with the help of thy grace, thy merciful forgiveness may hasten what our sins impede; who livest and reignest forever. Amen.
STIR up thy strength, we beseech thee, O Lord, and come; that we who are weighed down by the burden of our sins, may be counted worthy of thy succour, and be saved at thine advent; who with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest, God, world without end. Amen.
Sapientiatide
While the traditional reckoning of the Advent Embers is in the Third Week of Advent (nearest St. Lucy’s day), the Ordinariate was given permission to shift them to the First Week of Advent. This was done to safeguard the full observation of the O Antiphons (Sapientiatide), from 17-24 December in the Ordinariate calendar.
Sapientiatide, is so named after the first of the seven traditional O Antiphons – O Sapientia – which are part of Vespers, in the Roman Divine Office. To these seven, the Sarum tradition adds O Virgo virginum on Christmas Eve, forming an octave of preparation leading to Christmas day. The O Antiphons are, perhaps, most widely from the verses of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; however, they have been the inspiration for many pieces of Advent poetry and prose over the centuries.
Guéranger remarks that the antiphons were appropriately assigned to the Vesper Hour because the Saviour came in the evening hour of the world and that they were attached to the Magnificat to honour her through whom He came. Each Antiphon addresses Jesus with a messianic title derived from the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, and whose initial letters, when read backwards (i.e. - from the perspective of Christmas Day), form a Latin acrostic "Ero cras" which means "Tomorrow I will be." After the Scriptural invocation, we beseech the Lord to come and free us from sin, death, and darkness. As one commentator put it: As we take the words and images of the prophets in our mouths, we join their cry for the coming of the babe of Bethlehem.
Together with Gaudete Sunday, Sapientiatide marks a shift in the Advent season. We continue to prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ, when he will come to judge the quick and the dead, and the world by fire; yet, even as our preparations intensify in this second half of Advent (and even as our earthly preparations for the holidays ahead intensify!), Holy Mother Church, in the prayers and biblical readings of Sapientiatide, reinvigorates her children and renews our zeal as she reminds us of the hope, the mercy, and the promise that accompanied Our Lord’s first coming at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.
Families can make up their own ceremonies using the O Antiphons and Scripture by singing or listening to O Come, O Come Emmanuel, adorning a Jesse Tree or Chrismon tree, or creating a variation of the Advent calendar. To pray the O Antiphons as they are prayed in the Divine Office, begin with the Antiphon, then pray the Magnificat, then repeat the Antiphon.
A good reflection and explanation of the liturgical catechesis of the O Antiphons can be found here: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/12/reading-o-antiphons-forward.html
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Advent Anthems: The Great O Antiphons
December 17 O Sapientia
O WISDOM, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come and teach us the way of prudence.
December 18 O Adonai
O ADONAI, and Leader of the house of Israel, who appearedst in the bush to Moses in a flame of fire, and gavest him the Law in Sinai: come and deliver us with an outstretched arm.
December 19 O Radix Jesse
O ROOT OF JESSE, which standest for an ensign of the peoples, at whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the Gentiles shall seek: come and deliver us, and tarry not.
December 20 O Clavis David
O KEY OF DAVID, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no man shutteth, and shuttest, and no man openeth: come and bring the prisoner out of the prison-house, and him that sitteth in darkness and the shadow of death.
December 21 O Oriens
O DAY-SPRING, Brightness of the Light everlasting and Sun of righteousness: come and enlighten him that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.
December 22 O Rex gentium
O KING OF THE NATIONS, and their Desire; the Corner-stone, who makest both one: come and save mankind, whom thou formedst of clay.
December 23 O Emmanuel
O EMMANUEL, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations and their Salvation: come and save us, O Lord our God.
December 24 O Virgo virginum
O VIRGIN of virgins, how shall this be? For neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? The thing which ye behold is a divine mystery.
Christ the King around the Ordinariate
Cathedral and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas
Our Lady and Saint John, Louisville, Kentucky
St. Timothy's, Sykesville, Maryland
Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter
Most Rev. Steven J. Lopes, Bishop
Vocation Information: vocations@ordinariate.net
Giving Information: giving@ordinariate.net