High Altar and the Menorah - Happy Hanukkah

“I am the light of the world.” John 8:12

“I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5

December 6, 2015

Sundown last night marked the beginning of Hanukkah. For the next eight days in Jewish homes all around the world a special Hanukkah candelabra or menorah will be lit. The Catholic Church takes much of her Tradition from the Jews. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1096 tells us, “In its characteristic structure the Liturgy of the Word [our Mass] originates in Jewish prayer….as well as those of our most venerable prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer, have parallels in Jewish prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers also draw their inspiration from the Jewish tradition.”


In fact, if an ancient Jew happened to walk into a Catholic Church, they might find the furnishings and even the arrangement of the church quite familiar. Whereas in the Old Testament the Jewish Temple had three parts, the outer court, inner court and Holy of Holies, our church patterns this with the vestibule, nave, and sanctuary. Upon viewing the High Altar adorned with three candles on either side of the Crucifix or tabernacle they might be reminded of the menorah which God commanded Moses to make.

“You shall make a lampstand of pure beaten gold, its shaft and branches with its cups and knobs and petals springing directly from it. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, three branches on one side, and three on the other.” (Exodus 25:31-32)

These lampstand’s were so important to the Jewish people that when the Roman emperor Titus conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 70AD, his conquest was memorialized by his brother Domitian in an Arch that depicted his troops carrying away the menorah from the Temple.

In the Catholic Church on the High Altar you will see the fulfillment of the seven branch lampstand or menorah with Christ as the vine and light of the world, on the Crucifix or in the Tabernacle, representing the center candle. There is imagery simply in the way we arrange our candles.

Blessings this Advent Season
Lynn’s Timeless Treasures


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Art
Photo High Altar Santa Clara Mission
Photo Arch of Titus, Rome
Photo High Altar Wikipedia

First Sunday of Advent - November 28

November 28, 2010

First Sunday of Advent

The start of Advent falls on the Sunday closest to the Feast of Saint Andrew, November 30. This year Advent begins today November 28, it is also the beginning of the Church’s liturgical year, her “New Year’s Day,” a time when the Church asks us to prayerfully reassess where we are spiritually. It also begins the Christmas cycle, where we prepare our hearts for the arrival of Our Lord.

Each year the Advent readings focus on two events, the anniversary of Our Lord’s First Coming in Bethlehem on Christmas, and his Second Coming, Judgment Day. This Sunday all three readings point to the end of the world. They remind us to wake up, be ready, and maintain our relationship with God so that we might be ready to meet him when he comes.

Whether or not the world ends during our own lifetime, is not for us to know but these readings could just as easily be a reminder that our individual lives will come to an end. It is this period of Advent that gives us a time to reflect on how we are preparing for our own personal Judgment Day. Are we striving to live out the purpose of our existence; God’s reason for giving us life, our reason for being? Are we using the gifts God graciously bestowed on us for his glory and for his purpose?

First Reading Isaiah 2:1-5
Responsorial Psalm 122
Second Reading Romans 13:11-14
Gospel Matthew 24:37-44

“Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour or night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also much be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Matthew 24:41-44) We do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return, but we do know what we must do in the meantime, be awake and ready.

Tonight light the first candle in your Advent Wreath.

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