Vigils Reading

RAISE YOUR HEADS,

BECAUSE YOUR REDEMPTION IS DRAWING NEAR

From the writings of St Rafael Arnaiz6

◊◊◊

There are many ways to wait for the God who is to be born among human beings.

There are many ways that the world celebrates the event of God’s coming…

Christmastime in La Trapa… Joy in the liturgy, hope in the songs we sing in church,

hymns that speak of love and gentleness of heart. Thinking, in the silence of the temple,

about Mary’s humility, Joseph’s chastity… God’s love. The harmonious blend of angels’

melodies and shepherds’ ballads… Christmas in La Trapa… Frankincense and myrrh

offered up by souls who quietly live their lives in the divine service… the gold of

sacrifices. No loud cheers or external expressions or music or drums…The parties, the

joy, the music, the drumbeat… he carries all that in his heart, which loves Jesus so

much, in a joyful silence… an inner song… a quiet, silent love.

During this time, he meditates upon the great mysteries of his faith… and

very, very deep within his soul, he delights in the consolations that the Child

Jesus offers him through sacred Scripture… In peace and quiet, he meditates

upon the psalms, the hymns, and the whole liturgical arsenal that the church

provides for this season. He contemplates with amazement how the young

woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, and

how the uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain.

You don’t need to make noise to love God. You won’t mind solitude,

silence, austerity, penance, or any amount of suffering if you know that the

wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing…

Everything balances out in this world… In the perfect harmony of creation,

every person and thing follows the path that God has laid out before them.

What a joy it is to know we are rooted in His will… Wherever we might go,

wherever we are, so long as we don’t separate our heart from Jesus’ heart, what

do we have to fear?… The world is very small, and God is so great that it cannot

contain Him… But no matter, God has made Himself small in order to save

humanity… To God, the whole world is a vast temple… and the Son has come

down into it, and it is in this world that He does the will of His Father…

Now that Christmas is approaching, and perhaps my struggles on this

front are harder, God is calling me to account. Without letting anyone else

overhear, He is saying to me very softly, “What does it matter?”

… And then I

come to see the poverty of this world, the brevity of this life… we must make

good use of it… We must not waste time…thinking about our past joys that will

never come back again. And then the soul comes to understand and

contemplate the only truth… and that is Christ. Christ, who transforms the

world into a great big stable! Christ, with Joseph and Mary… Christ, made

human for love of humanity… Christ, born among the animals and hay, with no

shelter or clothing, in great solitude… And faced with the thought of an

incarnate God, faced with the grandeur of His boundlessness, the soul

stretches…and the voice of Christ sweetly draws me in, speaks to me of love, and

makes me forget all my cares.

Today, at prayer, a little monk was thinking about this. Looking around

him, he could not help but close his eyes as he realized that nothing in this world

will remain… Leaving behind his feelings and sorrows, he lifted his eyes to

heaven and heard his soul cry out clearly… “Brother!…Brother!…Love

Christ…As for everything else…what does it matter?”

… “The Lord is now near;

come, let us adore him.

 

Saint Rafael Arnaiz. The Collected Words. MW 61. Trans. Catherine Addington. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian

Publications, 2022. 502-506.13