Vigils Reading – Memorial of BVM

ABOUNDING IN EVERY DELIGHT

From a homily by Amadeus of Lausanne7

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EAT, MY FRIENDS, drink and be inebriated, beloved. I invite you to the table of wisdom and to libations of wine which she [wisdom] has mixed for you in the bowl. I invite you to the banquet of the glorious lady, to the feast of the Mother of God. Happy he who, received at such a banquet, shall shine forth in the marriage garment amidst the guests. The bread of life will be set before him, strengthening, filling, satisfying him with its wondrous sweetness, and the wine of gladness, the wine coming forth from the fruit of the vine, truly the wine of the resurrection pressed from the tree of the Lord’s passion… hung upon the bar of wood… Abounding then in every delight he will invite others with him to the feast, saying, ‘Eat, my friends, drink and be inebriated, beloved.’

I, too, brothers, invite you to this feast… Eat the bread of life, drink the wine of gladness, be inebriated with the joy of the resurrection. This inebriation is the height of sobriety. It blots out remembrance of the world and always stamps upon the mind the thought of God’s presence. Everyone drunk with this forgets all things and remembers only the charity of God… Therefore, be you also drunken… Rejoice in her joy, you who have mourned with her grief…

For he has risen and he has raised up his mother’s soul. She lay as in a narrow tomb of grief while the Lord lay in the sepulchre. As he arose, her spirit lived again and, waking as if from deep slumber, she saw in the morning light the sun of justice and the rays of his rising… She feasted her eyes upon the glowing flesh of the risen Lord and in her heart perceived the glory of his godhead, so that within and

without, leaving and entering, she enjoyed the pasturage of true and everlasting felicity. Beside herself, therefore, forgetting self for joy, she clung with all her heart to the Father of spirits and bound fast to God she poured out upon him her whole self and was wholly flooded in the immensity of his love…

Therefore, O blessed lady, you have your joy, the object of your desire and the crown of your head have been granted you. He has brought to you the sovereignty of heaven through his glory, the kingdom of the world through his mercy, the subjugation of hell through his power. All things with their diverse feelings respond to your great and unspeakable glory: angels by honor, men by love, demons by terror. For you are venerated in heaven, loved in the world, feared in hell…

And you, glorious lady, saw your Son rising from hell. You saw with your blessed eyes your son’s glory. You saw and you fainted. Your flesh and your heart failed. You turned to water when you heard the voice of your beloved son speaking to you. His word became like a fire burning in your bones. Therefore inflamed by the divine words you became wholly like a fire and you offered yourself as a sweet sacrifice to God. O phoenix, sending forth perfume more pleasing than cinnamon and balsam, sweeter than nard delighting the king by its presence. O phoenix, gathering together all chosen beauties, surrounded by… fire, that you may fill the heaven of heavens and the angelic powers of heaven with a wondrous sweet incense… This incense… comes forth from the censer of Mary’s heart and sweetly surpasses every perfume