VATICAN INSIDER: BISHOP ADAM PARKER EXPLAINS AD LIMINA VISITS
Don’t miss Vatican Insider this weekend because Bishop Adam Parker, auxiliary of Baltimore, who is in Rome with U.S. bishops from Regions 4 and 5 of the USCCB for their long overdue ad limina visit, is mt guest this week. Normally these mandatory visits occur every five years but the last time U.S. bishops were here was late 2011 and 2012.
Bishop Parker will explain what the term “ad limina” means, how bishops prepare for their visit, what actually takes place when they are in Rome and what it is like to sit in the presence of the Pope for several hours for a no-holds-barred (Francis’ words) give and take of tough questions, comments, etc.
With Bishop Lori (in back) of Baltimore
IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at http://www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio, or on http://www.ewtn.com. OUTSIDE THE U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” VI airs at 5am and 9pm ET on Saturdays and 6am ET on Sundays. On the GB-IE feed (which is on SKY in the UK and Ireland), VI airs at 5:30am, 12 noon and 10pm CET on Sundays. Both of these feeds are also available on the EWTN app and on http://www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: https://www.ewtn.com/radio/audio-archive (write Vatican Insider where it says Search Shows and Episodes)
ADVENT SERMON: MARY IN THE ANNUNCIATION: BLESSED IS SHE WHO BELIEVED
The Preacher of the Papal Household, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, gave his first Advent reflection this morning in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Apostolic Palace. His sermon highlighted Mary in the Annunciation, “Blessed is She Who Believed.”
”Every year,” he began, “the liturgy leads us to Christmas with three guides: Isaiah, John the Baptist and Mary, the prophet, the precursor, the mother. The first announced the Messiah from afar, the second showed him present in the world, the third bore him in her womb. This Advent I have thought to entrust ourselves entirely to the Mother of Jesus. No one, better than she can prepare us to celebrate the birth of our Redeemer.
“She didn’t celebrate Advent, she lived it in her flesh. Like every mother bearing a child she knows what it means be waiting for somebody and can help us in approaching Christmas with an expectant faith. We shall contemplate the Mother of God in the three moments in which Scripture presents her at the center of the events: the Annunciation, the Visitation and Christmas.”
To read the rest of Father Cantalamessa’s beautiful reflection, click here: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-12/raniero-cantalamessa-first-advent-sermon-2019-mary.html