Lockdowns in the light of Advent: Advice from a hermit on how to cope
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Summary
In this episode, Father Maximilian Mary Dean is back to talk about what we can do to prepare for a possible Christmas Day lockdown in the United States due to coronavirus. He talks about the role of St. Joseph and Our Lady during Advent and the longing for the coming of Christ.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show where we're very pleased to have back
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Father Maximilian Mary Dean. He is that hermit who spoke to us at the beginning of the lockdown in
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March and he's back again to tell us what we might do during this time of potential lockdown
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for Christmas. You're going to want to stay tuned for this one to hear all of his ideas,
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deprived of all the news and all the new videos that we put out. May God bless you. And let's begin
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as we always do with the sign of the cross. Father, if I can get you to lead us in the sign of the cross.
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Amen. Amen. Father Maximilian, thank you for being with us again on this episode of the John
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We wanted to talk to you again because, I mean, you talked to us last time about what we can do
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in terms of lockdown. We seem to be coming to that situation again, and yet we're in the midst of,
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or just the beginning of Advent season, where we're hoping and preparing for the coming of Christ
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and the great celebrations that Christmas brings to us. And yet there's a lot of people with a lot
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of worry about coronavirus, yes, but also about the possibility of no church services, no mass
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at Christmastime. And it's a great heartache for a lot of people. So if you can talk to us about that.
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Yeah, I think it adds a whole different dimension to Advent for us, doesn't it? Advent, as you know,
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I mean, the word, we use it in the Our Father, Adventiat Renium Tum, you know,
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Thy kingdom come, Thy kingdom come. So it's about coming, the coming of Jesus.
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And so I think, obviously, we can focus in a very special way on the precious coming of our Lord
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and go with the church in that sort of time machine, which is the liturgy, and takes us back
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to all the desires, the prayers, the longings of the people of Israel for the coming of Jesus.
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And certainly with people not able to go to Mass, should increase that longing.
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And we just, we think of, and especially we think of St. Joseph and Our Lady during the time of Advent
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as really the models, the ones who lived out so deeply, so beautifully and profoundly that longing
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of Israel for the Messiah, even before, you know, even before they knew that they were chosen
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to be the father and mother of the Holy Family, that they were longing, perhaps more than anybody
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else in the history of Israel for the coming of Christ. So I think, John Henry, in answer to your
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question, certainly I think turning to St. Joseph and Our Blessed Lady during this period of Advent
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Advent, and seeking to unite our hearts to their hearts in that longing for the coming of Christ.
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At Christmas, the longing even for His coming at the end of the world, you know, yeah, it's a fearful
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thought to have to confront our Maker, the Just Judge. And yet, as St. Teresa of Avila says,
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if we love Him above all things, it's a great consolation to go out and meet Christ the Lord.
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And so that Second Coming, we need to long and pray for that as well, because when our Lord comes,
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He will come as King, He will come as Conqueror, He will come with His victory over sin, Satan, and death.
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He will come, there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more disease, no more death,
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no hatred, none of those things when He comes. And those who stand at His right hand will be
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welcomed forever into the kingdom of His joy. So we long for that coming as well.
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And the bridge, and this is what's so hard, even just to hear you say that people might actually be
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without Mass for Advent, even Christmas, that really the bridge from His first coming at Bethlehem
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to His final coming in glory is the Holy Eucharist. I mean, that's what bridges those two comings,
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because we receive Christ Himself who came at Bethlehem, Christ Himself who's coming in glory.
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We receive Him body, blood, soul, and divinity into our souls, into that cradle, that Bethlehem of our souls,
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but also the throne, where He can be King and reign gloriously in our lives.
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Yeah, so it's just, it's devastating. We went through this, I know we talked back, and it was during Lent,
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scenario that we went through where people weren't allowed to go to Mass, etc.
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And I just, I pray that doesn't happen again. I pray that doesn't happen again.
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Or if it is, it's just in certain areas, and that we can, you know, just pray through that.
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Absolutely. Now, you mentioned St. Joseph there. I think it's very interesting.
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If you can delve a little bit more into that, the, you mentioned the period of Advent being one of longing,
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which is exactly what, you know, we're really called to do in a big way now,
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particularly for those who have no access to the Holy Sacrifice, the Mass,
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for those who do, offering it up for your brothers and sisters who are without the Holy Sacrifice,
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It's always been a privilege to go and attend, to go and hear the Holy Sacrifice, the Mass,
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to go be there at Calvary. But today, more so than ever, we should be able to appreciate
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how special this is. There are people all over the world right now.
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We just got an email the other day from someone in United Arab Emirates.
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She said to us, you know, she had just experienced her third Mass since March.
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Her kids aren't even able to come with her. They forbid children under nine from coming into the church at all.
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So they're all at home, and she's there by herself, the third Mass only since March.
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This is a daily Mass or so. These things are horrific and very troublesome.
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So value, appreciate the Mass for what it is, and offer it up for those brothers and sisters of yours who have no access.
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But Father, if you could tell us about St. Joseph's longing, as you mentioned there,
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and in relation to what we can learn from him this Advent.
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First, John Henry, let me tie this in. You know, St. Maximilian Mary Colby, who's my patron saint,
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obviously, I mean, as a priest who was very close to the heart of our Blessed Mother
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and labored very feverishly with over 750 friars in Poland at that time.
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And as you know, the Nazis saw him and his newspapers and whatever, his speaking the truth as a threat,
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And so they destroyed the monastery and arrested him and I think over 30 other brothers.
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And he was in Auschwitz, as were these brothers.
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And the reason I bring that up is, I mean, here you have a priest who also had adoration throughout the day for the brothers.
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And he was not only deprived of visiting the tabernacle, but as a priest deprived even of celebrating Holy Mass.
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And before he was ever arrested, he once said to the brothers, he told them how efficacious a spiritual communion is.
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He said, in some ways, it can be, and in circumstances like we're describing,
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he says, in some ways it can be even more efficacious than an actual sacramental communion.
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Now, obviously, the sacrament, you can't outdo the sacrament,
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but he's just talking about when you, by divine providence, are deprived of Holy Communion,
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you can dispose yourself, and of course, our Lord can give these special graces.
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So that's one thing I would highly encourage all of us to do,
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is to frequently make spiritual Holy Communion.
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If we can't go to Mass, sometimes we're able to watch Mass on TV,
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or even just in the day, to unite ourselves with the Masses being offered throughout the world.
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Over 400,000 priests are offering Mass every day.
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And what that means is that about every second,
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three priests are consecrating Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,
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Three other priests at that moment are consecrating the precious blood,
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and three other priests are distributing Holy Communion.
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In other words, the Mass is the presence of Jesus,
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and we can unite ourselves to that spiritually.
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we know that the priests are offering Holy Mass.
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And so that's the first thing I would just say,
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And that obviously ties in with the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph.
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St. Joseph would have longed with all his being,
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and it's the tradition that he had made a vow of virginity,
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or any idea that he was going to get married to the Queen of Heaven and Earth,
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in longing for and praying for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah,
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the coming of his reign of peace, of his redemption.
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And then after he realized that he had been chosen,
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and that he was actually espoused to the Mother of the Messiah,
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and that she was a living tabernacle in his home,
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because he realized that she was a living tabernacle,
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And Our Lady had to sit him down and talk to him and say,
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And so Venerable Mother Maria Greta recounts how
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so he no longer genuflected to her when she was looking,
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and that in him is the fullness of divinity in his body,
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Like, his longing was already second only to the Blessed Mother
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but now that the Messiah was dwelling in her womb,
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to feast his eyes on the King of kings and Lord of lords,
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And so I think that that is a tremendous lesson
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that certainly St. Joseph experienced many difficulties,
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both before, during, and after the birth of Christ.
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and then he had the distress of not being able to find,
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the town where the Messiah was supposed to come,
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he couldn't find a place fitting for the King of Heaven
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can certainly instruct us and give us special graces