VOA: California Gears Up for Annual Rose Parade

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O'Sullivan Mike | Pasadena, California 30 December 2009

Photo: AP
Volunteer Paige Hergenreter works on a float named "All-Star Dreams" in Pasadena, Calif., 28 Dec 2009, in preparation for the Rose Parade
In California, preparations are underway for the annual Rose Parade, a colorful New Year's Day tradition. Volunteers are working around the clock to decorate parade floats with flowers, plants and other organic materials.

Hundreds of thousands of people will line the streets of Pasadena to see the flower-covered floats, marching bands and equestrian units. This is the 121st annual Rose Parade, and it will be seen on television by millions around the United States and in many other countries.

Hundreds of volunteers have come to Pasadena to help with decorations, including Cheryl Vanos, her children and other family members from eastern California. She is sorting through masses of dried green moss.

"We're helping to get all the stuff ready to go on the floats. I brought my kids from South Lake Tahoe and we figured that this would be something that they could do. We did it when we were kids," she said.

AP
Student volunteers help decorate the Cal Poly float in preparation for Tournament of Roses Parade, near Pasadena's Rose Bowl, California, 27 Dec 2009
They are decorating a float sponsored by the two campuses of California Polytechnic State University, known as Cal Poly. The display has a humorous theme, showing a lion, giraffe, and zebra getting haircuts. As with every float, each square centimeter of space must be covered with flowers or other organic material, including moss, seeds, bark and plant fiber.

Thirty-nine elaborate parade floats will celebrate a variety of themes, from the bicentennial of the war for Mexican independence to American major league baseball.

The overall theme of this year's parade is "2010: a Cut Above the Rest," and the New Year's procession will be led by grand marshal Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the celebrated airline pilot. Last January, Sullenberger's airliner lost both engines and he managed to safely land the troubled jetliner on New York's Hudson River, saving the lives of 155 people on board.

Frank Scalfaro of West Covina, California, is helping with his city's entry in the parade, which also has an aviation theme.

"This is our 12th entry. And this is the one that we're most proud of," he said.

AP
Volunteer Sally Murphy, center, works on a float named "Tuskegee Airmen" in Pasadena, Calif., 28 Dec 2009, in preparation for the Rose Parade
The float celebrates the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, a World War II unit of African-American pilots. The movable display, which is 15 meters long and five meters high, has two nearly life-sized models of fighter aircraft, covered with flowers, and flower-decked insignia.

"The float itself will have an eagle on it. So we have the eagle that represents freedom," he said. "We have the two P-51 aircraft, which is the aircraft the men flew later on in the war. We're going to have 16 riders, all original airmen," he explained.

Harlan Leonard is one of the former Tuskegee Airmen who will ride atop the float. He was a fighter pilot during the war, then served in the post-war Air Force, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He says the war-time unit helped break down racial barriers in the United States.

"The Tuskegee airmen, because of their achievements, contributed to our getting an integrated Air Force, and therefore opened the door to the opportunities. I was able to take advantage of those opportunities," he said.

Nearby, volunteer decorator George Torney of San Francisco is sorting and gluing yellow flower petals on the float that honors the airmen. He says that volunteers like him are assigned to different jobs according to their skills.

"Some are just sweeping and cleaning, carrying things. Other people, as you can see, are way up high up on the scaffolds putting wings on the eagles. We've worked on 10 or 12 floats, so we know basically how to go about this," he said.

For the volunteers, the meticulous work will continue through New Year's Eve, and the colorful results will be on display early New Year's morning.

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

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December 31, 2009

Lectionary: 204

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
1 Jn 2:18-21
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.


Responsorial Psalm
96:1-2, 11-12, 13


R. (11a) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name;
announce his salvation, day after day.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the LORD.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
The LORD comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!


Gospel
Jn 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.

The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas

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December 30, 2009


Lectionary: 203

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
1 Jn 2:12-17
I am writing to you, children,
because your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake.

I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the Evil One.

I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men,
because you are strong and the word of God remains in you,
and you have conquered the Evil One.

Do not love the world or the things of the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father but is from the world.
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away.
But whoever does the will of God remains forever.


Responsorial Psalm
96:7-8a, 8b-9, 10


R. (11a) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts;
worship the LORD in holy attire.
Tremble before him, all the earth.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!


Gospel
Lk 2:36-40

There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

BBC: Obama's America remembers Lincoln

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By Henri Astier
BBC News

In 2009 the US not only inaugurated its first black president - it also honoured the president who paved Barack Obama's way to the country's highest post.

Events across the nation marked the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, celebrating a man widely seen as the greatest US president - the secular saint who redeemed America's original sin of slavery.

Mr Obama has been compared to Lincoln - the lanky junior politician from Illinois who captured the presidency on the strength of his oratory, proving that anyone can make to the White House.

But amid the commemorations, it is easy to forget that Lincoln - a civil-war president - never lacked for critics. Even in this anniversary year, there has been vigorous debate over his legacy.

One lingering source of controversy among historians is Lincoln's moderation on the slavery issue. Harvard University's Donald Yacovone says complexities have been lost in celebrations that have focused on hero worship.
“ [Lincoln] supported enactment of the anti-fugitive slave law, he supported exclusion of black jurors and all basic civil rights ”
Donald Yacovone, Harvard University

"A lot of it is superficial," Mr Yacovone told BBC News. "A lot of it is blind to real, not imagined faults that Lincoln represented."

Mr Yacovone and Henry Louis Gates, one of the most prominent African-American scholars, have co-edited a volume of Lincoln's writings on race and slavery.

Despite his visceral hatred of slavery, Mr Yacovone says, Lincoln - like the overwhelming majority of his contemporaries - never believed in the equality of races.

"He supported enactment of the anti-fugitive slave law, he supported exclusion of black jurors and all basic civil rights," Mr Yacovone says.

He notes that African-Africans were cool about Lincoln in the 1860 election. The leading US black newspaper at the time reacted to his election by expressing "despair of our future".
ABRAHAM LINCON
# Born February 1809
# Representative for Illinois, 1847-1849
# Elected president 1860, pledging to keep slavery in the South
# Faced secession from 11 states 1861
# Proclaimed emancipation of all slaves 1863
# Assassinated April 1865

Lincoln believed until late in the Civil War that he did not have the right to abolish slavery where it existed, and that the only constitutional way to fight it was to oppose its extension.

He once said he might take 100 years to get rid of slavery.

"He was willing to have blacks endure that to preserve the Union and to avoid a Civil War," Mr Yacovone says.

Lincoln, moreover, supported the policy of "colonisation" - removing blacks from North America. "If you're a black American in 1860, what in that programme could you support?" Mr Yacovone asks.

The idea that Lincoln was a reluctant emancipator is not new. Several radical academics have argued this since the 1960s - as did a 2000 book, Forced into Glory, by the editor of Ebony Magazine, Lerone Bennett.

Enduring eloquence

To most historians such criticism is wide of the mark. Civil War scholar James McPherson says Lincoln's moderation was a matter of political necessity.

"Lincoln was a master of the art of the possible and he moved as fast as was possible on the slavery question without alienating support that he could not afford to lose along the way," he told BBC News.

“ We cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract ”
Gettysburg Address, 1863

Ronald White, author of A Lincoln: A Biography, says the idea that Lincoln was a man of his time and a moderate is a "truism".

Lincoln's main quality, he says, was his ability to change his mind. "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present," Lincoln said a month before the landmark Emancipation Declaration in January 1863. "As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew."

Mr White says: "Today we regard this as flip-flopping - but I'm all for people who flip-flop."

Another key to Lincoln's greatness, he adds, is his use of language. He is one of those few leaders whose words still strike a deep chord across the centuries.

On the first anniversary of 9/11, when New Yorkers looked for a historical text that would give voice to their feelings, Governor George Pataki, standing at Ground Zero, read Lincoln's Gettysburg address, which includes the words:

"We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

Lincoln may have had less than a year of formal education, Mr White says, but somehow his words last: "There's a timelessness about them".

Anti-politics

However perhaps the most heated recent Lincoln controversy has not been over race, but the nature of political greatness.

In a mammoth article in the New Republic magazine, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz criticised both the "defamatory image" of Lincoln as a racist and the "awestruck hagiographies that have become ubiquitous in this anniversary year".

“ The American intelligentsia for the most part is still looking for some kind of figure than can float above politics ”
Sean Wilentz Princeton University

"The American intelligentsia for the most part is still looking for some kind of figure than can float above politics, that can bring real principle to government, that was uncompromising. And they imagine great leaders of the past have had those attributes, which is just wrong," Mr Wilentz says.

This "do-gooder, liberal strand in American politics" - as Mr Wilentz describes it - is as old as the Republic but experienced a resurgence in the 1960s. "It's a high-minded politics that is in fact anti-politics," he says.

Among scholars, Mr Wilentz says, this bias has recently led fans to overemphasise Lincoln's skills as a writer - the result, he contends, is an "aestheticised president" that "now belongs to the English department".

Mistrust of conventional politics, he contends, has also led Lincoln sceptics to give credit for the abolition of slavery to activist figures - who are generally seen by many as the history-making heroes, as opposed to mere machine politicians.

Lincoln branding?

Mr Wilentz' article drew fierce responses, with some countering that his critique was motivated by bitterness at the outcome of the 2008 Democratic primaries (Mr Wilentz supported Washington insider Hillary Clinton against Mr Obama).

Perhaps inevitably, current politics and historical remembrance have become intertwined.

Mr Obama himself has encouraged parallels by quoting Lincoln in some of his early speeches.

For his swearing in, he chose the copy of the Bible Lincoln had used in 1861.

Whether or not such parallels are helpful is a matter of debate. Mr White believes current comparisons between Mr Obama's lengthy consultations on Afghan strategy and Lincoln's unhurried approach to making war decisions are valid.

"Lincoln would say to him - take your time'," Mr White says. "I'm afraid that our 24/7 news cycle doesn't give our leaders the time to really think about these issues."

Mr Wilentz is more critical of such parallels. Early comparisons between the 16th president and the 44th, he says, were "campaign branding".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8389148.stm

Published: 2009/12/29 15:21:14 GMT

The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

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December 29, 2009

Lectionary: 202

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
1 Jn 2:3-11
Beloved:
The way we may be sure that we know Jesus
is to keep his commandments.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.

Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you
but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
And yet I do write a new commandment to you,
which holds true in him and among you,
for the darkness is passing away,
and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says he is in the light,
yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light,
and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness;
he walks in darkness
and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.


Responsorial Psalm
96:1-2a, 2b-3, 5b-6


R. (11a) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
The LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty go before him;
praise and grandeur are in his sanctuary.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!


Gospel
Lk 2:22-35

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce)
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

NYT: Stendhal in Parma, Italy

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December 27, 2009

By ADAM BEGLEY

FROM a practical point of view, “The Charterhouse of Parma” makes a lousy guidebook. An ardent fan of all things Italian, and a brilliant, impressionistic travel writer, Stendhal could have bequeathed to the ages an unforgettable prose portrait of Parma, the small, sleepy, provincial northern Italian city where most of the action of his great novel takes place. But instead he made it up; his Parma is imaginary. He never mentions the unmissable monument, the six-story octagonal Baptistery of pink-and-cream Verona marble, built at the beginning of the 13th century, one of the world’s most elegant medieval buildings. In its place, so to speak, he erects a huge, forbidding tower, 180 feet high, that looms over the city, a prison where our hero, Fabrice del Dongo, is eventually incarcerated, and from which he makes a daring escape.

When it comes to Parma’s other claims to fame — Parma ham and Parmesan cheese — Stendhal is equally perverse. His 500-page novel is almost entirely devoid of food; in a post-Napoleonic tale of political intrigue and passionate romance, there are no banquets, no tête-à-tête dinners — no meals at all, really. On the rare occasions when food figures, the question is whether or not it’s poisoned (Fabrice has a collection of murderous enemies). This is deeply unfair: the certainty that one will always eat well is one of the great comforts of Parma, which is in the rich Po Valley and can plausibly claim to be the gastronomic capital of Italy. (The residents of Bologna might disagree.)

Never mind — if there’s one book you should take with you to visit this city (which anyone who loves Italy, art and food will want to do), it’s “The Charterhouse of Parma,” Stendhal’s masterpiece, less well known than “The Red and the Black” but even more astounding. Without ever describing Parma — not the stately palazzi, not the spacious piazzas, not even the impeccable Duomo — the novel evokes the place exactly, offering the tourist a glimpse into its secret soul.

The fact that Stendhal (né Marie-Henri Beyle) contrives to give us a feel for Parma without pausing for a single descriptive passage is a literary feat that reveals a curious truth about realism and the power of suggestion. Show us the effect a place has on those who spend time there, and there’s no need to supply brick-by-brick visual detail. The same goes for characters in a book: Show us how others react to them, and we feel we know them, that we would recognize them on the street. Consider, for example, Stendhal’s hero, an idealistic youth who survives his impetuous decision to run off at age 16 to fight for Napoleon, and whose subsequent career becomes the business of nearly everyone else in the novel. Though you might not notice on first reading, Fabrice is never described physically; we learn only that he’s a “fine-looking boy,” wildly attractive to women. Our best clue to how Stendhal sees him is a minor character’s remark that Fabrice has a “Correggio countenance.”

As it happens, Correggio is both Parma’s most famous painter and Stendhal’s favorite artist. A Renaissance genius, a master of soft color, warm light and vivid motion, Correggio decorated the dome of the Parma Cathedral with his dizzying “Assumption” (the Virgin Mary in a whirl of figures, ascending to the buttery glow of heaven at the top of the cupola), a hugely influential illusionistic extravaganza. That fresco and two others (the charming, playfully pagan, putti-infested bower in the Camera di San Paolo, and the majestic “Vision of Saint John” in the cupola of San Giovanni Evangelista) are in themselves an excellent excuse for a visit to Parma. The artist’s most characteristic touch is a gentle blur, as though the image were ever so faintly out of focus. Stendhal, who wrote a history of Italian painting, argued that Correggio’s “art was to paint even the figures in the foreground as if they were at a distance.” That paradoxical description hints at Stendhal’s own method: he prefers contour to detail, favoring a kind of figurative indistinctness that invites the reader’s imagination to fill in the blanks, to join in the creative endeavor.

If you’re wondering what this has to do with Parma, a tour of the Piazza del Duomo should help to explain. The first thing you notice, if you visit in the off-season (roughly October to May), is the nearly total absence of tourists in a square of rare beauty and antiquity, and a corresponding absence of commercial ventures associated with tourism. There are no cafes in sight, no souvenir kiosks, none of the clutter of signposts offering directions or dates or lessons in cultural significance. It’s a clean, broad public space, traversed on foot and bicycle (cars are banned from the historic center). The town’s prosperous-looking residents pay no more attention to the glorious monuments around them than you would to the post office on Main Street.

A visitor’s eye is naturally drawn to the Baptistery — especially when the sun is warming up the marble, spreading a salmon tint; to the red-brick bell tower shooting heavenward; and to the unadorned facade of the Duomo, so restrained and primly symmetrical that it verges on smug, basking in its own settled harmony. Bicycles lean unceremoniously next to the cathedral’s open door, propped up against the marble, a homey touch unthinkable in Florence, say, or Venice. Facing the Duomo and the campanile, cater-corner from the Baptistery, is the stern Palazzo Vescovile, the bishop’s palace, a muscular presence defined by ranks of sturdy Romanesque arches, which guards the more delicate structures across the way. The piazza is pleasant, calm, secure — but blank somehow, inscrutable, as though Parma politely but firmly declined to disclose anything more than its handsome surface.

The rest of the city is less gorgeous but equally standoffish, and pocked with ugly modern buildings (many of them the legacy of Allied bombing in World War II). Everywhere Parma flaunts its relaxed provincial pace and easy prosperity; though perfectly friendly, it seems indifferent to the notion of tourism. Piazza Garibaldi, the large square in the center, comes closest to buzzing, with a lively stream of pedestrians and cyclists and even the odd car. The square is well-stocked with cafes and restaurants, each with a generous umbrella-shaded terrace. Most of the cyclists seem to drain south out of the square into the funnel of the Strada Farini, an attractive street lined with bars and casual restaurants, some of them pumping Italian pop music into the mild evening air. Here the passeggiata mixes with the homeward commute of chic professionals on bicycles, and for an hour or so it seems possible, while you sit at a sidewalk table sipping prosecco, to take Parma’s pulse. But again, all you can tell is that the patient is healthy — self-satisfied, even — as it goes happily about its business.

What is the effect of Parma on the characters in Stendhal’s novel? The verdict is nearly unanimous, I’m afraid: over and over again, they pronounce it dull — they’re beset by “that implacable foe of small towns and minor courts, boredom.” Stendhal’s Parma is a principality ruled by a petty tyrant (Ranuce-Erneste IV), and his clever, resourceful prime minister, Count Mosca, who is the lover of Fabrice’s aunt Gina, the lovely Duchess of Sanseverina. All of them, at one point or another, confess that they’re bored by Parma.

Like Fabrice, the brilliant duchess is fatally attractive to the opposite sex, and the two of them are eventually snared in a knot of political and sexual intrigue. The tangle is made worse by the aunt’s passion for her nephew, whose fortunes are her obsessive concern. (The late Harry Levin, an eminent Harvard professor of comparative literature who considered “The Charterhouse of Parma” to be “perhaps the most civilized novel ever written,” pointed out with a wit worthy of Stendhal’s own dry humor that Fabrice’s relationship with his aunt “is a delicate blend of the nepotic and the erotic.”) All their scheming, and the wild drama it provokes, is a relief from what would otherwise be general tedium. The tower that looms over the principality of Parma reminds us that the dreary monotony of provincial life is itself a kind of prison house.

In 1816, more than 20 years before he wrote his novel, Stendhal made a note in his travel diary, dismissing the place with a shrug: “The sublime frescoes of Correggio caused me to stop in Parma, otherwise a fairly flat town.” The literal truth of that last remark is undeniable (though there are hills visible 10 miles to the south, and the Alps are 60-odd miles to the north, Parma itself is a pancake), but the figurative implication (the city’s a snooze) needs to be qualified: I can’t imagine how any tourist, staying for only a few days, would suffer from ennui. In addition to the marvels in and around the Piazza del Duomo, there’s a splendid Renaissance church, the Madonna della Steccata, with frescoes by the Mannerist Parmigianino (whom Stendhal rightly calls “the greatest painter of the region after the divine Correggio”); a half-dozen smaller churches; a Benedictine monastery with well-proportioned cloisters; a first-rate art museum; two pleasant parks, one graced with a citadel, the other with a ducal palace; a sufficiency of tidy, picturesque streets; and a surplus of very good restaurants.

Nonetheless, one eventually feels the need to escape. Stendhal proposes two alternatives: Milan and Lake Como — the big, brash city and the sublime natural landscape — each offering delights Parma can’t hope to provide.

Fabrice and Gina both grew up in the del Dongo castle on the shores of Lake Como, and periodically over the course of the novel they return to the lake to refresh themselves. Stendhal gives Gina an ecstatic Romantic soliloquy on the “sublime and charming aspects” of this famously enchanting location, which he assures us is in every way the equal of that other hallowed site, the Bay of Naples: “Everything is noble and tender,” she says to herself, “everything speaks of love, nothing recalls the defects of civilization ... Beyond these hills, whose crests afford a glimpse of hermitages one longs to take refuge in, one after the next, the astonished gaze perceives the Alpine peaks, ever covered with snow, and their austerity reminds one of life’s miseries, and just how much of them are necessary to one’s present joys. The imagination is stirred by the distant sound of the bell in some little hamlet ... [S]uch sounds, borne over the waves that sweeten them ... seem to be telling man: Life is fleeting, do not be so hard on the happiness which offers itself to you, make haste to enjoy it!”

I’m sorry to report that although Como’s natural beauty remains more or less intact, the defects of civilization — in the form of a rapacious tourist industry catering to well-heeled connoisseurs of picturesque scenery — have caught up with it. So I made haste to enjoy the happiness on offer some 50 miles to the south, in Milan, which, if you’re Stendhal, means going to the opera.

“I arrive at seven in the evening, harassed by fatigue, and run to La Scala” — that’s how Stendhal, in his travel writing, introduces us to Milan, and to the opera house he considered the foremost in the world. La Scala, he tells us, is Milan’s salon: “the only society is there.” Inevitably, it’s at La Scala that he chooses to bring together his two most memorable characters: in a box at the opera, Count Mosca meets Gina and falls in love. In other words, La Scala is where the cleverest man in Parma must go to encounter the captivating woman destined to become the chief ornament of Parma society.

A performance at La Scala, still a glittering social occasion crowded with fashionable Milanese, does in fact make Parma feel pokey. But if there’s a lesson in “The Charterhouse of Parma,” it’s not very different from the one Gina learns at Como — that life is fleeting and we mustn’t be hard on the happiness it offers. Fabrice finds his joy in prison, at the top of that forbidding tower Stendhal erected for the purpose of making escape seem all the more impossible. Shut up in his cell, Fabrice falls in love for the first time, with his jailer’s daughter, and finds himself in bliss; indeed, he’s so wonderfully contented that he resists all attempts to help him break out. He asks, “Who has ever escaped from a place where he is rapturously happy to fling himself into a dreadful exile ...?”

Go to Parma, make your way to the Piazza del Duomo as the evening sun strikes the upper reaches of the Baptistery, and ask yourself the same question.

THE SOUL, AND THE FOOD, OF A CITY

GETTING THERE

The most direct way to get to Parma from New York is to take a flight to Milan and then a connecting flight to Parma. Based on a recent Web search, round-trip fares in January start at about $800 on Alitalia. A cheaper, but marginally more complicated alternative is to fly to Milan and take the train to Parma, a journey that can take anywhere from a little over an hour to almost two hours, depending on which of the many daily trains you catch. (Details at www.raileurope.com/index.html) The tiny Parma airport is only a few miles from the city; a bus service runs to the center of town, and there are taxis, too.

Once you have reached the city center, everything is within easy walking distance — or you can rent a bike and pretend to be a native.

WHERE TO STAY

As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one truly satisfactory place to stay in Parma, Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati (Strada al Duomo, 7; 39-0521-386429; www.palazzodallarosaprati.it), which offers suites with kitchenettes in a handsome renovated palazzo right on the Piazza del Duomo. A small suite costs 180 euros for two, or about $257 at $1.43 to the euro. There are other hotels in Parma, but they’re soulless, modern affairs.

Hotel Torino (Borgo Angelo Mazza, 7; 39-0521-281046; www.hotel-torino.it) is friendly, unpretentious and fairly comfortable — and affordable, from 95 euros for a double, breakfast included.

WHERE TO EAT

Meals are a delight in Parma; if you’re on a diet, stay home. Lunch for two, with wine, of course, should cost you about 60 euros; dinner, with more wine, about 90 euros. There are fancy restaurants too, but what’s the point when so many unpretentious trattorias can dish up heavenly pasta?

La Filoma (Via 20 Marzo, 15; 39-0521-206181). The décor is a bit cutesy, but the food is impeccable. Try the risotto with prosciutto and Parmesan — it sounds too obvious, but the flavors will astound you.

La Greppia (Strada Giuseppe Garibaldi, 39/A; 39-0521-233686) is more formal than necessary, a little more expensive, and the menu more wide-ranging.

Sorelle Picchi (Strada Farini, 27; 39-0521-233528) is only open at lunchtime. Don’t miss the salami.

La Duchessa (39-0521-235962), on the Piazza Garibaldi, serves first-rate pizza.

WHAT TO READ

Richard Howard’s 1999 translation of “The Charterhouse of Parma” (Modern Library) is excellent, and the edition contains, as an added treat, Balzac’s review of the novel. “All those to whom Italy is dear,” he wrote, “will read La Chartreuse de Parme with delight.”

Stendhal’s autobiography is called “The Life of Henry Brulard” (NYRB Classics). The author’s real name was Marie-Henri Beyle, and over the course of his career, he used more than 200 pseudonyms. Needless to say, there’s nothing straightforward about his autobiographical impulse.

For an elegant critical appraisal of Stendhal’s work, see Harry Levin’s “The Gates of Horn: A Study of Five French Realists” (Oxford).

David Ekserdjian’s “Correggio” (Yale) is a breathtakingly beautiful coffee-table book, and also a learned treatise on the artist’s work. The only hitch is the $115 price tag.

ADAM BEGLEY, the former books editor of The New York Observer, is at work on a biography of John Updike.

Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs

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December 28, 2009


Lectionary: 698

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
1 Jn 1:5—2:2
Beloved:
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ
and proclaim to you:
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,”
while we continue to walk in darkness,
we lie and do not act in truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We are without sin,”
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.

My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.


Responsorial Psalm
124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8


R. (7) Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Had not the LORD been with us—
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive,
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.

Gospel
Mt 2:13-18

When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

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December 27, 2009

Lectionary: 17

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 or 1Sm 1:20-22, 24-28

God sets a father in honor over his children;
a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.
Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and preserves himself from them.
When he prays, he is heard;
he stores up riches who reveres his mother.
Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children,
and, when he prays, is heard.
Whoever reveres his father will live a long life;
he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.

My son, take care of your father when he is old;
grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him;
revile him not all the days of his life;
kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
firmly planted against the debt of your sins
—a house raised in justice to you.

or



In those days Hannah conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son
whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.
The next time her husband Elkanah was going up
with the rest of his household
to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband,
“Once the child is weaned,
I will take him to appear before the LORD
and to remain there forever;
I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite.”

Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him up with her,
along with a three-year-old bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,
and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy’s father had sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:
“Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD.”
Hannah left Samuel there.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

(cf. 1) Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants

around your table.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.

or

Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10.

(cf. 5a) Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
Happy they who dwell in your house!
Continually they praise you.

Happy the men whose strength you are!
Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.
Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
O LORD of hosts, hear our prayer;
hearken, O God of Jacob!
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of your anointed.
Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.

Reading II
Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17 or 1 Jn 3:1-2, 21-24

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Wives, be subordinate to your husbands,
as is proper in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives,
and avoid any bitterness toward them.
Children, obey your parents in everything,
for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children,
so they may not become discouraged.

or

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.

or

Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
And so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.


Gospel
Lk 2:41-52

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.

Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr

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December 26, 2009

Lectionary: 696

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said,
“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God.”
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,
and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”


Responsorial Psalm
31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab, 16bc and 17

R. (6) Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

Gospel
Mt 10:17-22

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”

The Nativity of the Lord Christmas: Mass During the Day

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December 25, 2009


Lectionary: 16

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Is 52:7-10

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,
announcing peace, bearing good news,
announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,
“Your God is King!”

Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry,
together they shout for joy,
for they see directly, before their eyes,
the LORD restoring Zion.
Break out together in song,
O ruins of Jerusalem!
For the LORD comforts his people,
he redeems Jerusalem.
The LORD has bared his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth will behold
the salvation of our God.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6

(3c) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

Reading II
Heb 1:1-6

Brothers and sisters:
In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways
to our ancestors through the prophets;
in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son,
whom he made heir of all things
and through whom he created the universe,
who is the refulgence of his glory,
the very imprint of his being,
and who sustains all things by his mighty word.
When he had accomplished purification from sins,
he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
as far superior to the angels
as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say:
You are my son; this day I have begotten you?
Or again:
I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me?
And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says:
Let all the angels of God worship him.


Gospel
Jn 1:1-18 or 1:1-5, 9-14

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,

grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.

or

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.

The Nativity of the Lord Christmas: Mass at Dawn

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Lectionary: 15

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Is 62:11-12

See, the LORD proclaims
to the ends of the earth:
say to daughter Zion,
your savior comes!
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
They shall be called the holy people,
the redeemed of the LORD,
and you shall be called “Frequented,” a city that is not forsaken.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12

A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name. A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.

Reading II
Ti 3:4-7

Beloved:
When the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

Gospel
Lk 2:15-20

When the angels went away from them to heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem
to see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

The Nativity of the Lord Christmas: Mass at Midnight

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December 25, 2009




Lectionary: 14

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Is 9:1-6

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13

(Lk 2:11) Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
They shall exult before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy. Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Reading II
Ti 2:11-14

Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.


Gospel
Lk 2:1-14

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The Nativity of the Lord: Christmas At the Vigil Mass

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December 24, 2009


Lectionary: 13

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Is 62:1-5

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines forth like the dawn
and her victory like a burning torch.

Nations shall behold your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
you shall be called by a new name
pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.
You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,
a royal diadem held by your God.
No more shall people call you “Forsaken,”
or your land “Desolate,”
but you shall be called “My Delight,”
and your land “Espoused.”
For the LORD delights in you
and makes your land his spouse.
As a young man marries a virgin,
your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
so shall your God rejoice in you.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29

(2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.
For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
He shall say of me, “You are my father,
my God, the rock, my savior.”
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.
For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Reading II
ACTS 13:16-17, 22-25

When Paul reached Antioch in Pisidia and entered the synagogue,
he stood up, motioned with his hand, and said,
“Fellow Israelites and you others who are God-fearing, listen.
The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors
and exalted the people during their sojourn in the
land of Egypt.
With uplifted arm he led them out of it.
Then he removed Saul and raised up David as king;
of him he testified,
‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.’
From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’”


Gospel
Mt 1:1-25 or 1:18-25

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham became the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.
Perez became the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab became the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz became the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.
Obed became the father of Jesse,
Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah became the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos,

Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the Babylonian exile.

After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Thus the total number of generations
from Abraham to David
is fourteen generations;
from David to the Babylonian exile,
fourteen generations;
from the Babylonian exile to the Christ,
fourteen generations.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.

or

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

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December 23, 2009

Lectionary: 199

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Mal 3:1-4, 23-24

Thus says the Lord GOD:
Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
But who will endure the day of his coming?
And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like the refiner’s fire,
or like the fuller’s lye.
He will sit refining and purifying silver,
and he will purify the sons of Levi,
Refining them like gold or like silver
that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.
Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem
will please the LORD,
as in the days of old, as in years gone by.

Lo, I will send you
Elijah, the prophet,
Before the day of the LORD comes,
the great and terrible day,
To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike
the land with doom.


Responsorial Psalm
25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14

R. (see Luke 21:28) Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.
All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy
toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,
and his covenant, for their instruction.
R. Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

Gospel
Lk 1:57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
“No. He will be called John.”
But they answered her,
“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

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December 22, 2009

Lectionary: 198

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
1 Sm 1:24-28

In those days,
Hannah brought Samuel with her,
along with a three-year-old bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,
and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy’s father had sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:
“Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD.” She left Samuel there.


Responsorial Psalm
1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

R. (see 1a) My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.
“My heart exults in the LORD,
my horn is exalted in my God.
I have swallowed up my enemies;
I rejoice in my victory.”
R. My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.
“The bows of the mighty are broken,
while the tottering gird on strength.
The well-fed hire themselves out for bread,
while the hungry batten on spoil.
The barren wife bears seven sons,
while the mother of many languishes.”
R. My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.
“The LORD puts to death and gives life;
he casts down to the nether world;
he raises up again.
The LORD makes poor and makes rich,
he humbles, he also exalts.”
R. My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.
“He raises the needy from the dust;
from the dung heap he lifts up the poor,
To seat them with nobles
and make a glorious throne their heritage.”
R. My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

Gospel
Lk 1:46-56

Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.”

Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months
and then returned to her home.

Major Snowstorm Blankets Northeastern US

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A major late-autumn storm is continuing to blanket parts of the northeastern United States, after dumping a record amount of snow on the nation's capital and other areas along the mid-Atlantic coast.

VOA News 20 December 2009
Photo: E. Monnac

Snow on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Sunday, 20 Dec. 2009

The U.S. National Weather Service warned of blizzard conditions for parts of southern New England on Sunday, with winds gusting up to 96 kilometers per hour and more than 40 centimeters of snow expected to fall.

The storm buried the Washington, D.C. area Saturday, breaking all local records for a December snowfall. Some other parts of the region were covered by nearly 60 centimeters of snow.

Authorities say the storm caused at least three deaths in the southern state of Virginia, and made travel difficult or impossible.

The storm also caused hundreds of flights to be canceled, disrupting busy pre-Christmas holiday travel. Officials say airport runways began to reopen early Sunday.

Public transportation was largely shut down in the Washington area, including outdoor stations of the region's Metrorail subway system.

Before the snowfall ended late Saturday in Washington, officials urged area residents to stay home and avoid driving because the storm was dropping snow faster than crews could clear it.

Snowplows had to clear the runway at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington so that President Barack Obama's plane (Air Force One) could land after his return trip from Copenhagen. The president later joked with reporters that he was glad to see the snow because it reminded him of his hometown, Chicago, where big winter storms are commonplace.

Many others were not so glad to see the snow. Retailers were forced to close on the Saturday before Christmas, normally a day of heavy shopping activity. And motorists on highways across the region were stranded by accidents and impassable roads.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

NYT: Holiday Tables: Bon Appétit to Guten Appetit

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December 20, 2009
Journeys

By GISELA WILLIAMS

DURING the holiday season, the already difficult task of deciding where to dine in Europe’s major cities becomes Herculean. Many restaurants, especially the more intimate, independently run places, are closed on Dec. 24 and 25; high-end hotel restaurants are more likely to stay open but can be stiff, expensive and full of tourists.

“Although I love Paris 365 days a year, Christmas can be a tricky time to visit,” Beth Marlin, the editor of Paris-Insider.com, wrote in an e-mail message. “The week between Christmas and New Years can be disappointing for tourists who expect everything to be open (museums, restaurants) according to a normal schedule. It is possible to arrive somewhere and find a sign in the window that says ‘Closed until after January 1st.’ ”

That doesn’t mean that tourists should avoid Paris during the holidays. On the contrary, Ms. Marlin writes: “A walk down the Champs-Élysées at night with the trees lit up, or along the Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré can be downright magical. With the right itinerary, it can be spectacular.”

Sometimes it’s a matter of planning. Take, for example, Le Jules Verne, Alain Ducasse’s restaurant nestled overheard in the Eiffel Tower. While it’s open on Christmas Eve and Christmas, only a few tables are available for lunch on Christmas Day.

Here are suggestions for places to eat in five European cities. Some are open on Christmas Eve, some on Christmas Day, some both. And many are offering special menus. (Call ahead for reservations and to check availability.)

PARIS

Just a skip away from Jules Verne is the well-regarded Au Bon Accueil (14, rue de Monttessuy, 75007; 33-1-4705-4611; www.aubonaccueilparis.com), a modern bistro owned by the restaurateur Jacques Lacipiere. The chef, Naobumi Assaki, turns out precise, elegant food in a friendly setting.

On Dec. 24 and 25, the restaurant will be offering a five-course Christmas lunch menu (60 euros a person, or $87 at $1.45 to the euro, without wine) that brings to mind the sort of fare a food-loving French family might dine on at home, including oysters, chicken with a turnip purée and black truffle jus, a selection of rich French cheeses and a dark-chocolate mille-feuille.

LONDON

The quintessential holiday meal in London is all about mince pies and puddings. Food-obsessed travelers can pick up preordered pies and puddings to go (until late afternoon on Dec. 23) at the widely acclaimed St. John Restaurant (26 St. John Street, EC1M; 44-20-7251-0848; www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk).

The Christmas Feasting menus being offered by Fergus Henderson, St. John’s pioneering chef, are available only until Dec. 23. But the Butlers Wharf Chop House (36e Shad Thames, SE1; 44-20-7403-3403; www.danddlondon.com) is open on Christmas Eve and for lunch on Christmas Day. Not only does the traditional British restaurant serve up an excellent holiday meal with all the fixings (mince pies included), it’s perched on the Thames and looks out over the Tower Bridge. The three-course meal is £170 for two, or $272 at $1.60 to the pound.

STOCKHOLM

On setting alone, Stockholm’s grand Operakallaren (The Royal Opera House, Karl XII:s torg; 46-8-676-5800; www.eng.operakallaren.se), situated near the banks of the Norrstrom and next to the Royal Palace, is a winner. But when it comes to the Christmas Eve Julbord — a holiday version of the traditional smorgasbord that includes specialties like glazed ham and rice porridge spiked with cinnamon — it’s the dining room of choice for many local families. In fact, according to the restaurant’s chef, Stefano Catenacci, a reservation there for lunch on Christmas Eve is so sought-after that the next opening for a table in the main dining room is in 2011.

Fortunately the Operakallaren has a lot of extra rooms. “We have space left, but not in the main dining room,” Mr. Catenacci said. “There are tables upstairs in the banqueting room, and just yesterday we chose to open up the opera bar, a small room where you sit up to 80 people.” The Julbord at Operakallaren starts at 750 kronor to 980 kronor a person, or about $110 to $140 at 6.95 kronor to the dollar.

ROME

Though fish plays a part in the Swedish Julbord, Christmas Eve in Rome takes it to another level: a seven-course dinner in which each dish contains a different type of seafood.

Jessica Stewart, the Rome manager for Context, a boutique travel company that organizes urban walking tours, recommends Casa Bleve (Via del Teatro Valle, 48-49; 39-06-686-5970; www.casableve.it), a palatial winte bar within the former courtyard of the 16th-century Palazzo Medici Lante della Rovere.

This is the first year that Casa Bleve will be serving its version of the traditional Christmas Eve fish feast (for 145 euros a person), and it sounds like one worth seeking out. Courses include a seared mackerel with buffalo’s milk burrata and roasted tomatoes, an octopus and chanterelle mushroom soup with fried purple potatoes and pasta stuffed with red shrimp on a bed of artichoke cream.

On Christmas Day, when most Roman families are eating leftovers at home, Ms. Stewart suggests booking a table at the popular Hostaria dell’Orso (Via dei Soldati, 25C; 39-06- 6830-1192; www.hdo.it), which is open on Dec. 24 and 25.

MUNICH

Around Christmastime, this Bavarian city becomes a winter wonderland, with its Baroque architecture and twinkling markets filled with red-cheeked locals catching up over sausages and mulled wine.

It’s also famous for one of the most decadent and delicious Christmas meals Europe has to offer: the traditional holiday roasted goose, typically served with dumplings and red cabbage. The century-old restaurant Spatenhaus an der Oper (Residenzstrasse 12; 49-89-290-7060), in an elegant historic building overlooking the opera house, will be offering freshly cooked goose on Dec. 24. Try it at lunchtime so you have a chance to walk off those calories. A meal is 24.90 euros a person.

Still hungry on Christmas Day after all that goose? Head to the city’s historic center to join the locals for a glass of beer and weisswurst at a beer hall like the Ratskeller (Marienplatz 8; 49-89-219-9890; www.ratskeller.com) or Weisses Bräuhaus (Tal 7; 49-89-290-1380; www.weisses-brauhaus.de).

Advent Weekday-Monday, December 21, 2009

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December 21, 2009

Lectionary: 197

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Sg 2:8-14 or Zep 3:14-18a

Hark! my lover–here he comes
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.
My lover speaks; he says to me,
“Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,
and come!
“For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!

“O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely.”

or



Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you,
he has turned away your enemies;
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
He will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.


Responsorial Psalm
33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21

R. (1a; 3a) Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R. Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
R. Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.

Gospel
Lk 1:39-45

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

Fourth Sunday of Advent

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December 20, 2009
Lectionary: 12

Reading 1
Responsorial Psalm
Reading 2
Gospel

Reading 1
Mi 5:1-4a

Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
and the rest of his kindred shall return
to the children of Israel.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19

(4) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

Reading II
Heb 10:5-10

Brothers and sisters:
When Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.’“

First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, :Behold, I come to do your will.”
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


Gospel
Lk 1:39-45

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”