Vigils Reading

RISE UP, BE ENLIGHTENED

From a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx

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Rise up, be enlightened, Jerusalem, for your light has come. This is the

Jerusalem which the Lord Jesus, who is the true and highest peace, is building

up out of living stones, the Jerusalem that aspires to the vision of him and

believes with utter certainty that it shall find its happiness in that vision. It is the

holy Church. It is each and every holy gathering, each and every holy soul. Rise

up, he said, be enlightened, Jerusalem.

Rightly was it told: Rise up, for it was lying prostrate. Rightly is it told, Be

enlightened, for it was blind. It was lying prostrate, blind, in darkness, in error,

in sin. Therefore it was told: Rise up, because he who would raise it up had

already stooped down. It is told: Be enlightened, because he who would

enlighten it was already present. What else does that new star proclaim from the

heavens but Rise up, be enlightened? The sign of the Lord’s birth has appeared

in the heavens so that we may rise from the love of earthly things to heaven. And

this sign takes the form of a star so that we may know that by his birth we shall

be enlightened…

The three kings of whom we have spoken came to Jerusalem and asked:

Where is he who is born King of the Jews? As soon as Herod heard those words

he was dismayed. Why, if not because he was earth and darkness covered the

earth? He was afraid of losing his earthly kingdom. Because all he sought was an

earthly kingdom, he thought that the newborn king would seek only an earthly

kingdom…

But now lying prostrate in carnal desires and in the darkness of iniquities

is a matter for great agitation, for the true light that enlightens every one

coming into the world, Christ Jesus, has now come. We cannot have further

excuse for our sins, for Christ, who takes away the sins of the world and justifies

the wicked, now speaks to us openly. Someone who follows me does not walk in

darkness but will have the light of life.

And what is the way by which he walks and which leads to him? Let him

tell you himself: Anyone who chooses to come after me must deny himself, take

up his cross and follow me. The apostle also points out the way that leads to

Christ; it is, he says, through many tribulations that we must enter the

kingdom of heaven. Again, the Lord tells us in the Gospel: Blessed are the poor

in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the way by which Jesus walked and by which we shall come to him:

the renunciation of our own will, the imitation of Christ’s passion, the hardships

of the present life, and voluntary poverty. This is the way which sacred Scripture

shows us, which, as we said, appeared to the three kings.