Vigils Reading

Sermon One for the Coming of the Lord2 by St. Aelred of Rievaulx

Let us see how all the saints who lived before his first coming longed for him and let us follow their example, not the example of those who love the world. For scripture says: The world will perish and so will its unruly appetites. So those who love the world will perish together with the world when it perishes.

The Prophet Isaiah said with great longing: Would that you would burst the heavens, Lord, and come down. The prophet knew that Providence had determined the time of his coming, but he found it very difficult to endure such a delay. And therefore he longed for God, if it were possible, to anticipate the hour he had fixed.

It is as if he had said: I know, O Lord, that you are waiting for the time which you foresaw from the beginning. You are waiting until everything has been fulfilled which the holy ones have said must be fulfilled before your coming. But would that you would burst the heavens, Lord – that is, if only you would, if it were possible, break through that plan of yours which you have revealed to the heavens – that is, to your saints – and come. Look how many years have passed since you first promised us that he would come and still he does not come. It would seem that you are only deceiving us.

But what did Christ do in his compassion? Indeed, he did not let his prophet suffer such grief for long without great consolation. Listen to what the same prophet says a little further on: You come down and the mountains dissolved before your face. You hear something amazing in this. First he said:

Would that you would come down, Lord, and now he says: You came down and the mountains dissolved before your face, as though what he had been so longing for had already happened. Why is this? In my opinion, when holy Isaiah was in that distress over the devil’s pride and human wickedness, our Lord, to console him, showed him in spirit what we now see, namely, that the whole world would believe in him and kings and princes adore him, that all idols should be destroyed and those who were proud be made humble by the Lord’s coming. Surely this is what the prophet saw in spirit when he exalted and rejoiced.

Oh dearest brothers, if only we, now that we see this fulfilled, could feel as much joy as he felt when he saw that it was still having to be fulfilled. We now see it. We can turn to our Lord and say with great joy: Lord, you came down and the mountains dissolved before your face. This has now been fulfilled just as David also desired when he said: Touch the mountains and they will smoke. By the grace of the Holy Spirit he touched the mountains – that is, the proud of this world. And look how they dissolved, that is, how they were humbled. They began to weep for their sins. Do you not see this every day, brothers? Do you not every day see the proud of this world turning to the Lord in great confusion, with great fear humbling themselves and weeping for their sins? Of course, this happens every day, brothers. Even if it does not happen before our eyes every day, it is happening every day in the holy Church2Aelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 – p 61.