Avoiding Babylon
Avoiding Babylon was started during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During these difficult and dark days, when most of us were isolated from family, friends, our parishes, and even the Sacraments themselves, this channel was started as a statement of standing against the tyrannical mandates that many of us were living under. Since those early days, this channel has morphed into an amazing community of friends…no…more than friends…Christian brothers and sisters…who have grown in joy and charity.
As we see it, our job here at Avoiding Babylon is to remind ourselves and those who enjoy the channel that being Catholic is a joyful and exciting experience. We seek true Catholic fraternity and eutrapelia with other Catholics who, like us, are doing their best to live out their vocation with the help of God’s Grace. Above all, we try to bring humor and joy to the craziness of this fallen world, for as Hillaire Belloc has famously said:
“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!”
Avoiding Babylon
Meditations for Advent 2024 - Day 15 - My Soul Magnifies the Lord
Ever wonder why Mary is celebrated as blessed across generations? Join us on this beautiful Gaudete Sunday, Day 15 of Advent, as we explore the profound peace and joy found in the Magnificat, "My soul magnifies the Lord. " We reflect on Mary’s humility and blessedness, inviting you to experience the celestial hymn that her soul sings. Through Bishop Bossuet's teachings, we delve into the true essence of Marian devotion and dispel common misconceptions, highlighting the universal recognition of her role in our spiritual journeys.
As Christmas approaches, we remember that Christ came to us through Mary, whom He entrusted to us as our spiritual mother. Embrace her significance in your life, especially during this season of anticipation and joy. Her role as the Mediatrix of all graces is not just a Catholic tradition but a universal call to honor her blessedness. So, let us celebrate her impact across generations and the amazing gift of her presence in our faith lives.
********************************************************
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
Merchandise: https://shop.avoidingbabylon.com
Locals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.com
RSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss
SpiritusTV: https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylon
Odysee: https://odysee.com/@AvoidingBabylon
Sancte, sancte, amare morti, decadas nos In taste. Bell of heaven. Good morning everyone and welcome to Day 15 of Advent. We have made it to the third Sunday of Advent, gaudete Sunday, and yeah, we are getting through it. So we will be doing one meditation today, since it's a Sunday, not the two we do throughout the week. We are on meditation 24 out of 40, day 15 out of 24. So we are well into the second half here, day 15 out of 24, so we are well into the second half here and, as I've done, we'll start with the prayer and then move into the meditation. And I have a very scratchy throat right now, so hopefully it's not too bad and please bear with me. So I'm going to throw up an image on screen and we will get going here.
Speaker 1:In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen, jesus, my Savior, true God and true man and the true Christ, promised to the patriarchs and the prophets from the beginning of the world and, in time, faithfully bestowed to the holy people you had chosen. You have said by your holy and divine mouth this is eternal life, that they know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Believing in these words, and with the help of thy grace, I wish to be attentive to the task of knowing God and knowing you. So do I draw as near to you as I can, with a lively faith, to know God in you and by you, and to know him in a manner worthy of God, that is, in a manner that leads me to love and to obey him, in accord with the words of your beloved disciple. He who says I know him but disobeys his commandments is a liar as well as your very own. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. To know you well, o my God and dear Savior, I wish always, with the help of thy grace, to contemplate you in all that befalls you and in all of your mysteries and, at the same time, to know your Father, who gave you to us, and the Holy Ghost that you both have sent to us. So do I wish to love you with the true faith, a faith working through love. Amen.
Speaker 1:Meditation 24. My soul magnifies the Lord. The initial transports of a soul taken out of itself and no longer knowing itself are followed by an ineffable calm, a peace surpassing all the senses and a celestial hymn. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. Luke 1.46.
Speaker 1:What is to be said about this divine canticle? What is to be said about this divine canticle? Its simplicity and loftiness rise above our intellect and invite us to silence rather than to speech. God himself must teach us what to think of it.
Speaker 1:Here we meet a soul who has left herself behind completely in glories, only in God, finding all her joy in him. She is at peace, for nothing can take away the one of whom she sings. My soul magnifies, my soul exalts the Lord After she has exhausted herself, celebrating his greatness, no matter how lofty her contemplation, she exalts him still more, rising higher and higher, above all things, until she is lost from view. My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. At the very name of Savior, my senses rejoice and I find in him the salvation I cannot find in myself, for he has looked upon the lowliness of his servant. If I were to think that it depended upon me to attract his regard, my lowliness and nothingness would deprive me of all hope and rest. Yet because he has looked upon me voluntarily and from pure goodness, I have an imperishable support in the mercy with which he has regarded me, for he is kind and generous. She declares her blessings, whose source she knows to be God and which can only come from God. And behold, she says, all generations shall call me blessed Luke 1.48.
Speaker 1:Having thus been raised to the highest contemplation, she begins to join her happiness to that of all redeemed peoples in the second part of her song. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name and his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. Luke 1, 49-50. She sees that her happiness is the happiness of all the earth and that she is carrying the one in whom all nations should be blessed. She considers the holiness and the power of god who is the cause of these wonders. The one who alone is powerful has accomplished in me a work worthy of his power alone. The god man, stripped of all possessions, yet Savior of the world, conqueror of the virtuous and victor over the proud and holy is his name.
Speaker 1:God is holiness itself. He is holy and he makes things to be holy. When does he appear more holy? But when his Son is also Mary's and when he pours out mercy, grace and holiness from generation to generation, upon those who fear him. If we wish to partake of this grace, let us be holy and we will proclaim with all the nations that Mary is blessed. And there is our meditation today, and just listen to that ending again, if we wish to partake of this grace, let us be holy and we will proclaim with all the nations that Mary is blessed. We sure don't do that anymore. All the nations, that Mary is blessed. We sure don't do that anymore.
Speaker 1:And I don't mean Catholics necessarily. I just mean all the nationsants who see her as a vessel or just the woman who gave birth to the person of Jesus, the human person of Jesus, which is, of course, heresy. But then you do. You do even have Catholics who are afraid to proclaim to everyone that Mary is blessed. They're afraid to proclaim how much we love and honor Mary. You know, you see it online all the time everyone going out of their way to deny that we worship Mary, not taking the time to explain what real worship is, what worship can and cannot mean, what it includes and doesn't include.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we worship Mary, guys, we do. We don't worship her as God, and the reason why the Protestants will never understand that is because they don't worship God as God. They worship God as they do a king Not king of the universe, I'm talking about a human, earthly king. They worship God as they do a president. They don't worship God as God we do, which is why we can also say that we worship Mary through hyperdulia. So don't be afraid to proclaim that to the whole world, to the Protestants, to everyone. Do it correctly. Don't cause confusion on purpose, even though it's sometimes fun to do on Twitter and see their heads explode.
Speaker 1:But but we, um, mary is blessed, and we should proclaim that to all the nations. Um, because we have to. Uh, as Bishop was way says, if we wish to partake of the grace of Jesus Christ, let us be holy and proclaim that Mary is blessed. We must do that if we wish to partake of the grace of Jesus Christ. Mary is the mediatrix of all graces, so keep that in mind here throughout Advent. Yes, christmas is, of course, the Advent of the coming of Christ, but Christ comes to us through his mother, through our mother. He gives us to her at the foot of the cross. She is our mother, and proclaim that she is blessed throughout the rest of Advent. I hope you have a great Gaudete Sunday and I will see you all again on Day 16, on Monday. So have a great day, great blessed and holy Sunday, and I'll see you tomorrow, thank you.
