Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

Vigils Reading - 3rd Sunday Advent
2023-12-17
THE AUTHENTIC WITNESS
From the writings of Fr Jean Danielou
◊◊◊
As John the Baptist was the Lord’s precursor even before his birth, so
also he was the forerunner of Christ’s public life. After the desert period came
the crowning moment of a life spent preparing the way for Christ. There was a
man named John sent by God, who came as a witness to testify to the light,
so that through him all might believe.
This text shows that the essential mission of John the Baptist was to bear
witness to the light, to point to Jesus. His was a pre-eminent role in the
preparation for the coming of Christ and of Christ’s own work. John it was who
paved the way for our Lord’s public life and teaching by predisposing the souls
of his hearers to receive it. One might say he was an educator of souls; his task
was…to do the preliminary chiseling that would make them more receptive to
Christ’s message. Our Lord’s teaching would have been too strong for souls not
previously prepared for it. They needed some schooling in advance. Their
interests had to be re-directed; it was necessary to wean them from worldly
habits and to arouse a spiritual dissatisfaction in their hearts.
That was John the Baptist’s assignment. Sent to people utterly heedless
of the things of God, it was his task to awaken in them sufficient concern to
disturb their subtle ways and to stir up their initial goodwill, so that they might
be capable of understanding Christ.
John the Baptist thus joins the long succession of those who have taken
part in the work of preparing for the Lord’s coming, those who, like John, were
withdrawn by God from the things of this world and mysteriously admitted to
the divine plans, in order that they might blaze the way for God among the
people. John in his turn will move among his contemporaries to mark out the
Lord’s way, smoothing paths and leveling hills. But for such a mission he must
from the outset be possessed by the Lord in the depths of his being, since it is
a hard furrow he will have to plow. The people of the Baptist’s generation were
absorbed in the same pursuits as the people of our own day. St. Luke describes
them in a memorable passage: the soldiers engaged in violence and false
charges, and the tax collectors in demanding more than their due.
Such is human nature. It was so in the time of John, and it is the same
today. Preoccupied with worldly affairs, people are completely heedless of
God. As one goes here and there in the world it is very painful to experience
the utter indifference of the rank and file. To shake the world out of this [kind
of] vision, who can rouse the masses from their inertia? They have to be
authentic witnesses. A witness is someone who has first been granted an inner
vision; God has introduced him to the divine viewpoint so that he can pass on
what he has seen to others.
So it was with John the Baptist. God first admitted him to his own
council, revealing to him the mystery of the divine plan, drawing him into the
desert to share with him his own joy. Then came the essential part of his
vocation: he was a witness to Christ; that is to say, he was the one who pointed
out Christ to the people
1 Le mystère de l’Avent, Paris 1948, pp. 82-84; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year A; introduced
and edited by John E. Rotelle, Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1995, pp. 18-19.3

Vigils Reading
2023-12-18
“O ADONAI”
THE LORD WHO LOVED US FIRST
From the writings of William of St Thierry
◊◊◊
You alone are the Lord. By ruling us you save us and we are saved by
serving you. Lord, you save your people and bless them, but what does it mean
to be saved by you if not to receive the grace of loving you and of being loved
by you? And so, Lord, you willed the Son at your right hand, the man you made
strong for your service, to be called Jesus, which means Savior, for he will save
his people from their sins, and indeed salvation is to be found in him alone.
He taught us to love him by first loving us, even to the extent of dying on the
cross. By loving us and holding us so dear he aroused our love for him who first
loved us to the very end…
One seldom meets a person who can say: “I love you, in order that you
may love me!” This is what really happened. You loved us first to make us love
you, not because you needed our love, but because we could not be what you
created us to be, except by loving you.
In many ways and on various occasions you spoke to our ancestors
through the prophets. Now in these last days you have spoken to us through
the Son, your Word, by whom the heavens were made, by whose breath the
whole heavenly host came to be.
By speaking through your Son you made the extent of your love for us as
plain as day. You did not spare your own Son but gave him up for all of us. And
he himself loved us and gave himself up for us. This Lord is your Word to us,
your omnipotent Word. While all things were in profound silence (that is, in
the depths of error) he came from his royal throne, the stern conqueror of error
and gentle apostle of love. You wanted us to love you because otherwise our
salvation would not have been just, and we could not do so unless you made it
possible. Therefore, Lord, you loved us first. For our part, we love you with the
love you yourself have given us. Your love is your goodness. It is the Holy Spirit.
By his inspiration, by keeping us from harm and by providing for our needs, he
unites God to us and us to God

William of St Thierry. On the Contemplation of God. CF 3. Trans. Unknown (Different from CF 3). 51-53.5

Vigils Reading
2023-12-19
WHEN PRAYER IS SILENCED
From a commentary by Servant of God Dolindo Ruotolo
◊◊◊
Zechariah was Priest of the eighth class… Elizabeth, his wife was also of priestly
birth. They lived in a holy manner, and they did not have children, because Elizabeth was
sterile. In those times to be sterile was the greatest disgrace, because every woman hoped
to be the mother of the awaited Messiah. Being both old, notwithstanding all the prayers
to God to conceive a son, now they had lost all hope… But what prayer is useless before
God? Even when it seems not granted, even when it seems now absurd to even think that
it can be granted, is instead granted in a way far above any expectations, and blooms like
a blooming tree in spring…
It was the hour of the Vespers, and Zechariah entered the Sanctuary to offer
incense. The multitude of the people fervently prayed, asking to be freed, since they were
oppressed by foreign domination… Zechariah, on hearing the lamentations of his people,
lifted with more eagerness his heart to the Lord, and considering his own affliction, deeply
humiliated himself… He put the incense on the flame, and in the solemnity of the
moment… his prayer, like the spiral of the perfumed smoke of the incense, rose highly…
When all of a sudden… a mysterious fright took hold of him: on the right side of the
Altar…a human figure had appeared, most beautiful, majestic… The Angel spoke to him;
his words peaceful and penetrating… <Zechariah’s> prayer was granted and Elizabeth
would have a son…
Instead of exulting and thanking God, <Zechariah> said with great distrust and
unbelief: “How shall I know this?”
… It was the manifestation of the “I”, the “I” that
pretends to raise himself to be the judge in the plans of God; the “I” that chokes the most
delicate germs of grace, assuming to want to evaluate everything with his own idea; it was
the word of his own mind in opposition to the word of God; thus, and rightly so, Zechariah
was deprived of his word and became mute. The Angel became stern, his majesty flashed
like a thunderbolt. Zechariah had not considered in answering him that he was speaking
with a superior being… Now the Angel called him up to reality, telling him: “I am Gabriel
(which means the strong one of God), and I stand before God.”
In pronouncing those words… a ray of divine majesty enveloped him. He was the
strong one, the expression of the true strength, something immense, deep… towering… It
was a celestial word, that made its meaning known and by saying it, it made it alive. These
words hit Zechariah like a thunderbolt of extraordinary power; they…made him dumb…
and his dumbness became a sign of truth: he showed with a visible punishment that what
he heard, was not a deception.
What a lesson for us, who are used to oppose with great ease the plan of God with
our own plans… Here our program comes before the grace that can touch and transport
us… thus our spirit faints and our prayer remains mute… We believe that it is our
graciousness to comply… instead it is all a gift of God. When we are not worthy of the
Lord because of our pride, we cannot believe and speak to God… Our words of faith and
the voice of our prayers are the measure of our soul; as soon as our soul is misled, by the
proud misery of our “I” or by the degradation of our senses, we lose our word, the interior
word that makes us to say “I believe” and the exterior words that can speak to God… When
a faithful person does not know how to speak to God, he needs to purify or renew himself,
because his spiritual muteness is a sign of an interior paralysis… This should be the path
followed by a hardened soul: to pray, to attempt to do some work of sacred zeal…
Pessimism is always deadly for the life of the spirit. Yet, hope and abandonment to the
Divine Mercy is the secret of a great life.

Ruotolo, Dolindo. The Sacred Scripture – The Gospel According to Luke. Trans. Giovanna I. Ellis. Accessed online, 2014.7

Vigils Reading
2023-12-20
“O KEY OF DAVID”
From a treatise by St John Chrysostom
◊◊◊
Christ had the power to set the human race free from all evils, not only
the Romans, but the Persians, and simply every race of barbarians. And he
succeeded in doing this with no force of arms, nor expenditure of money, nor
by starting wars of conquest, nor by inflaming men to battle. He had only
eleven men to start with, men who were undistinguished, without learning, ill-
informed, destitute, poorly clad, without weapons or sandals, men who had but
a single tunic to wear. …He was able to persuade so many nations of men to
pursue the true doctrine, not only in what concerns the present life but also the
life hereafter. He succeeded in winning over these men to drag down their
ancestral laws, to tear out their ancient customs, long and deeply rooted as they
were, and to plant in their place other ways, which led them from the easy-
going life to his own program of austerity. And he succeeded in doing this when
the whole world was waging war against him, when they jeered at him, and
forced him to endure the most shameful death of the cross.
These successes are not confined to the cities. They have spread to the
desert, the villages, the fields, the islands, the ship basins, and harbors. Not
only simple citizens and petty rulers but even those who wear the imperial
crown have shown great faith and served as subjects to him who was crucified…
I do not wish you to suspect that what I say had not been foretold.
Therefore, I must bring forward as evidence the books of the Jews, the
Scriptures, over which the Jews have kept such careful guard, and set before the
eyes of those who are still unbelieving the predictions and testimonies about
<how> Christ would become man and still stay God. “This is our God; no other
will be compared to him. He has discovered the whole way of understanding,
and has given it to Jacob, his servant, and to Israel, his well-beloved. Since
then he has appeared on earth and moved among men.”
Do you see how, in a few words, the prophet made it altogether clear that
Christ, still remaining God, became man, that he moved among men, and that
he is, himself, the Lawgiver of the Old Testament? For the prophet said: “He
has discovered the whole way of understanding and has given it to Jacob, his
servant, and to Israel, his well-beloved.” For here the prophet shows that,
before his coming in the flesh, he arranged and disposed all things, that he did
all things by giving the Law, by exercising his providence, and by granting to
men the blessings of his care.

Demonstration Against the Pagans That Christ is God. Trans. Paul W. Harkins, Fathers of the Church Series, vol. 73.
Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1985. pp. 191ff.

Vigils Reading - 175 year Anniversary
2023-12-21
GETHSEMANI ABBEY:
ITS FOUNDATION
From the account of Dom Eutropius Proust
◊◊◊
We arrived at Gethsemani on the twenty-first of December, at two P.M.
… The cold was excessive, and all we could do the first days was to gather
firewood in the forest with which to warm ourselves. We also collected or
shucked a field of corn that had remained. In the mornings and evenings we
shelled the corn in the workshop, while one of the brothers, in a loud voice, read
a spiritual book. Such were our occupations during these first days.
We improvised a dormitory, refectory, chapter-room… choosing for this
purpose the most suitable places. The old cabins were torn down to make room
for a kitchen, adjoining the refectory. But the kitchen was so exposed to the
weather that, when it rained, all our dishes were not sufficient to collect the
water… The little chapel used by the Sisters of Loretto served us for a church,
but, as a great number of people flocked to our offices, attracted by the novelty
of the religious ceremonies, which, notwithstanding our poverty, we conducted
with great solemnity, our chapel was much too small. We were obliged to
enlarge it one-half, which we did, with the debris of the old cabins…
It is impossible to describe the impression produced on these sylvan
inhabitants on seeing our religious ceremonies and hearing for the first time the
solemn and majestic chant of La Trappe. At the approach of grand feasts, the
rumor spread far that on that day the Trappists of Gethsemani would have
beautiful ceremonies, a thing which generally brought vast assemblies… The
people came from Bardstown and neighboring villages to see us and satisfy
themselves of that which had been said in the journals concerning those
extraordinary solitaries of Gethsemani…
One of the salutary effects that our presence created was the elevation of
the negro-slave in his own estimation… These unfortunate slaves were
astonished to see priests in the morning at the altar, and sometimes later at the
plough…devoted to all kinds of agricultural work. In thus seeing men who were
venerated in their country, work like themselves, they are honored before their
own eyes, and the humble occupation of labor is elevated. They realized at last
that manual labor does not degrade, nor work enslave the tiller of the soil.
Thus, from the commencement, we gained the good will of all our
neighbors… There was not, even amongst the Protestant ministers themselves,
a single one who did not show us some marks of good will… “These are the good
citizens, ” they would say, “who have just come from Europe. They are French,
who bring us excellent methods of farming. They are going to effect much good
in our country. It is not necessary to disturb them; but on the contrary to hold
them in high esteem.”… So you see that in a short time Gethsemani put on a
new aspect

Dom Eutropius Proust. Gethsemani Abbey: Its Foundation. Messenger Magazine, 1898. (Complete manuscript
available in CSQ 2021).11

Vigils Reading
2023-12-22
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

Vigils Reading
2023-12-23
IF YOU KNEW THE GIFT OF GOD
From the writing of St Elizabeth of the Trinity
◊◊◊
What is the gift of God if not Himself?… The beloved disciple tells us: “He
came to His own and His own did not accept Him.” St. John the Baptist could
still say to many souls these words of reproach: “There is one in the midst of
you, ‘in you,’ whom you do not know… If you knew the gift of God…”
There is one who knew this gift of God, one who did not lose one particle
of it, one who was so pure, so luminous that she seemed to be Light itself. One
whose life was so simple, so lost in God that there is hardly anything we can say
about it.
Faithful Virgin, “who kept all these things in her heart.” She remained so
little, so recollected in God’s presence, in the seclusion of the temple, that she
drew down upon herself the delight of the Holy Trinity: “Because He has looked
upon the lowliness of His servant, henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed!” The Father bending down to this beautiful creature, who was so
unaware of her own beauty, willed that she be the Mother in time of Him whose
Father He is in eternity. Then the Spirit of love who presides over all of God’s
works came upon her; the Virgin said her fiat: “Behold the servant of the Lord,
be it done to me according to Your word,” and the greatest of mysteries was
accomplished. By the descent of the Word in her, Mary became forever God’s
prey.
It seems to me that the attitude of the Virgin during the months that
elapsed between the Annunciation and the Nativity is the model for interior
souls, those whom God has chosen to live within, in the depths of the bottomless
abyss. In what peace, in what recollection Mary lent herself to everything she
did! How even the most trivial things were divinized by her! For through it all
the Virgin remained the adorer of the gift of God! This did not prevent her from
spending herself outwardly when it was a matter of charity; the Gospel tells us
that Mary went in haste to the mountains of Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
Never did the ineffable vision that she contemplated within herself in any way
diminish her outward charity. For… if contemplation “continues toward praise
and towards the eternity of its Lord, it possesses unity and will not lose it.
If an order from Heaven arrives, contemplation turns towards men,
sympathizes with their needs, is inclined towards all their miseries; it must cry
and be fruitful. It illuminates like fire, and like it, it burns, absorbs and devours,
lifting up to Heaven what it has devoured. And when it has finished its work
here below, it rises, burning with its fire, and takes up again the road on high.

Elizabeth of the Trinity. I Have Found God, The Complete Works: Volume One. Trans. Sister Aletheia Kane, O.C.D. ICS
Publications, 1984. 110-111.15

Skema
2023-12-24
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
4th Sunday/Christmas Octave

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
December 24 – 30, 2023

Sun
24
Mon
25
Tue
26
Wed
27
Thu
28
Fri
29
Sat
30

Office
4th Sunday of Advent
Nativity of the Lord
St Stephen
St John
Holy Innocents
5th Day in Christmas Octave
6th Day in Christmas Octave

Vigils
Isa 44:1-8, 21-23
*vigil and midnight Mass
Acts 6:1-15
Wis 7:21-8:1
Exod 1:6-22
Song 1:1-11
Song 1:12-2:7

Lauds
Isa 63:15-19
Baruch 3:36-4:4
2 Chron 24:17-22
Prov 8:22-30
Baruch 4:21-29
Isa 51:1-8
Isa 52:8-12

Mass
11
16
696
697
698
202
203

1st
2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
Isa 52:7-10
Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59
1 John 1:1-4
1 John 1:5-2:2
1 John 2:3-11
1 John 2:12-17

2nd
Rom 16:25-27
Heb 1:1-6

Gospel
Luke 1:26-38
John 1:1-18
Matt 10:17-22
John 20:1a, 2-8
Matt 2:13-18
Luke 2:22-35
Luke 2:36-40

Vespers
2 Pet 3:8-14
1 John 4:7-16
Acts 7:51-8:2
Acts 4:13-20
1 Pet 4:12-19
Col 1:1-8
Phil 2:1-11

*Midnight Mass: 1) Isa 9:1-6 2) Titus 2:11-14 Gospel) Luke 2:1-14

Vigils Reading - 4th Sunday Advent
2023-12-24
YOU SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON
From a commentary by St Bede the Venerable
◊◊◊
Today’s reading of the gospel calls to mind the beginning of our
redemption, for the passage tells us how God sent an angel from heaven to a
virgin. He was to proclaim the new birth, the incarnation of God’s Son, who
would take away our age-old guilt; through him it would be possible for us to be
made new and numbered among the children of God. And so, if we are to
deserve the gifts of the promised salvation, we must listen attentively to the
account of its beginning.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named
Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house
of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. What is said of the house of David
applies not only to Joseph but also to Mary. It was a precept of the law that
each man should marry a wife from his own tribe and kindred. Saint Paul also
bears testimony to this when he writes to Timothy: Remember Jesus Christ,
risen from the dead, descended from David, as preached in my gospel. Our
Lord is truly descended from David, since his spotless mother took her ancestry
from David’s line.
The angel came to her and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have
found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear
a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his
father David.” The angel refers to the kingdom of the Israelite nation as the
throne of David because in his time, by the Lord’s command and assistance,
David governed it with a spirit of faithful service. The Lord God gave to our
Redeemer the throne of his father David, when he decreed that he should
take flesh from the lineage of David. As David had once ruled the people with
temporal authority, so Christ would now lead them to the eternal kingdom by
his spiritual grace. Of this kingdom the Apostle said: He has delivered us from
the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
Son.
He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever. The house of Jacob here
refers to the universal Church which, through its faith in and witness to Christ,
shares the heritage of the patriarchs. This may apply either to those who are
physical descendants of the patriarchal families, or to those who come from
gentile nations and are reborn in Christ by the waters of baptism. In this house
Christ shall reign for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. During this
present life, Christ rules in the Church. By faith and love he dwells in the hearts
of his elect, and guides them by his unceasing care toward their heavenly
reward. In the life to come, when their period of exile on earth is ended, he will
exercise his kingship by leading the faithful to their heavenly country. There,
for ever inspired by the vision of his presence, their one delight will be to praise
and glorify him

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 16-17.3

Vigils Reading -Nativity of the Lord
2023-12-25
TODAY A SAVIOR HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU
From a commentary by St Aelred of Rievaulx
◊◊◊
Today, in the city of David, the Savior of the world is born for us: he is
Christ the Lord. That city is Bethlehem. We must run there as the shepherds
did when they heard these tidings, and so put into action the words we
traditionally sing at this season: They sang of God’s glory, they hastened to
Bethlehem.
And this shall be a sign for you: you will find the child wrapped in
swaddling bands and lying in a manger. Now this is what I say: you must love.
You fear the Lord of angels, yes, but love the tiny babe; you fear the Lord of
majesty, yes, but love the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes; you fear him
who reigns in heaven, yes, but love him who lies in the manger.
What sort of sign were the shepherds given? You will find the child
wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It was by this that they
were to recognize their Savior and Lord. But is there anything great about being
wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a stable – are not other children also
wrapped in swaddling clothes? What kind of sign, then, can this be?
Indeed it is a great one, if only we understand it rightly. Such
understanding will be ours if this message of love is not restricted to our
hearing, but if our hearts too are illuminated by the light which accompanied
the appearance of the angels. The angel who first proclaimed the good tidings
appeared surrounded by light to teach us that only those whose minds are
spiritually enlightened can truly understand the message.
Much can be said of this sign; but as time is passing, I shall say little, and
briefly. Bethlehem, the house of bread, is holy Church, in which is distributed
the body of Christ, the true bread. The manger at Bethlehem is the altar of the
church; it is there that Christ’s creatures are fed. This is the table of which it is
written, You have prepared a banquet for me. In this manger is Jesus, wrapped
in the swaddling clothes which are the outward form of the sacraments. Here
in this manger, under the species of bread and wine, is the true body and blood
of Christ. We believe that Christ himself is here, but he is wrapped in swaddling
clothes; in other words, he is invisibly contained in these sacraments. We have
no greater or clearer proof of Christ’s birth than our daily reception of his body
and blood at the holy altar, and the sight of him who was once born for us of a
virgin daily offered in a sacrifice for us.
And so let us hasten to the manger of the Lord. But before drawing near
we must prepare ourselves as well as we can with the help of his grace; and then,
in company with the angels, with pure heart, good conscience, and unfeigned
faith, we may sing to the Lord in all that we do throughout the whole of our life:
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth; through our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever

2 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 18-19.5

Vigils Reading - St Stephen
2023-12-26
THE GIFT OF LOVE
From a sermon by St Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe
◊◊◊
Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal king; today we
celebrate the triumphant suffering of a soldier. For yesterday our king, nobly
arrayed in flesh, proceeding from the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary, deigned
to visit this world; today a soldier, leaving the confines of the body, made his
way in triumph to heaven.
Our king, though he is the Most High, for our sake came in humility; yet
he could not come empty-handed. It was indeed a generous gift that he brought
for us, one by which he not only abundantly enriched us but gave us the strength
to do battle and never be vanquished. What he brought was the gift of love,
which was to lead us to become sharers in the godhead. He brought it only to
expend it, without in any way diminishing his own store; while turning the
poverty of his followers into riches he remained himself, as by a miracle, fully
possessed of his own inexhaustible treasury.
Love then, the same love that brought Christ down from heaven to earth,
raised Stephen from earth to heaven; the same love shown first in the king was
reproduced in its splendor in the warrior.
And so Stephen, in order to earn his right to the crown his name signifies,
armed himself with love, and by that same love won every battle. It was love of
God that made him yield not an inch, love of his neighbor that led him to
intercede for those who stoned him. It was through love that he was able to
expose those in error so that they might change their ways; through love that he
prayed for those who stoned him so that they should not be punished. Trusting
only in love, he overcame Saul’s cruel rage, and the very man who had been his
persecutor on earth he won as his companion in heaven. That same holy and
untiring love longed to win over by prayer those whom it could not convert by
persuasion…
Love is therefore the source and origin of every good, an unrivalled
protection, the road that leads to heaven. Those who walk in love can be neither
lost nor afraid; love is the guide and protector, and brings them to the end of
their journey. For this reason, beloved, since Christ has set up a stairway of love
by which every Christian can mount up to heaven, keep a firm hold on love
alone; love one another, and by growing in love climb together up to heave

3 Sermon 3,1-3,5-6: CCL 91A, 905-909. cf. A Word in Season, I (1st series) p132f.7

Vigils Reading - Holy Innocents
2023-12-28
CHILDREN OF GOD
From the letters of St Cyprian of Carthage
◊◊◊
The martyrdom of children marked the very beginning of Christ’s life: for
his name’s sake, all those of two years old and under were put to death. Too
young to fight, they were yet able to win a martyr’s crown, and by their
innocence bear witness to the innocence of all who shed their blood for Christ.
When even such as these make martyrs, clearly no one is immune from the peril
of persecution.
What a shameful thing it would be for Christ’s servants to recoil from
suffering when their Master suffered first; for us to be unwilling to endure
something for our sins, when he, though sinless, endured so much for us! The
Son of God suffered in order to make us children of God; will the children of
this world refuse to persevere in that sonship through suffering? If we have to
bear with the world’s hatred, we must remember that Christ bore it before we
did. We may have to endure insults, exile, torture in this world, but the Creator
and Lord of the world knew them first in harsher form, and warned us of them,
saying, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you. If you
belonged to the world, the world would love its own. But you are not of the
world; I chose you out of it, and therefore it hates you. Remember the saying I
gave you, ‘The servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecute me, they
will persecute you also.” Our Lord and God practiced all he taught, so there can
be no excuse for a disciple who hears his teaching but does not act on it…
Let these be the sentiments, dearly beloved brethren, that ever abide in
your hearts. And may we thus make ready our arms by fixing our thoughts, day
and night, on this reflection, by holding before our eyes and turning over
constantly in our minds and our hearts what tortures are inflicted upon the
wicked, what rewards are merited by the just, what the Lord threatens by way
of punishment to those who deny, what, by contrast, He promises by way of
glory to those who confess. If the day of persecution should come upon us whilst
we meditate upon and contemplate these thoughts, then the soldier of Christ,
being thus instructed by His precepts and counsels, shows no fear in the face of
battle but is now ready for his crown.

5 St. Cyprian of Carthage. The Letters of St. Cyprian of Carthage – Vol. 3 (Letter 58). Trans. G.W. Clarke. New York:
Newman Press, 1986. 64-65, 68.11

Vigils Readings - 5th day in Christmas Octave
2023-12-29
WHY CHRIST HAD TO BE BORN
From the missionary letters of St Nikolai Velimirovich
◊◊◊
You have asked why Christ had to be born, grow and be tormented? Why
did he not suddenly appear out of the Heavens in the form of a grown man, like
Apollo does in Hellenic fairy tales? A completely inappropriate comparison!
How can one compare a true man with a phantom and the true man with made-
up monsters?
As much as heaven is above the earth, so much is the wisdom of God
beyond the reason of man. According to the wisdom of the Most High, Christ
had to come into the world as a child and as a youth and as a mature man, so
that He could be accessible to everyone and gain everyone. Had He never been
a child, His words would have been pale and cold –
“Let the children come to
me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” And also the
other saying,
“Indeed I say to you, if you do not return and become as children,
you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
…
Christ could have undoubtedly appeared to the world as you imagine. But
had He done that, He could not have been for the human race what He wanted
to be, that is, the Teacher and Savior of all, and an example to all generations.
A thought torments you. You think that the Lord has magnified the
mystery of His being for our reason by His unusual birth. But would His
mystery not be far greater and less comprehensible had He suddenly appeared
among men, outside of any kinship with them? Would the world then not talk
of Him as of an apparition? In that case, His person, and along with it His
teaching and sacrifice, would lose their true foundation and true meaning. For
if He had been an apparition, who would listen to and imitate an apparition?
The Lord also had to be born, exactly in the way in which He was, in order
to show us the possibility and point out the importance of our spiritual rebirth,
which is in the center of His teaching about man. According to His word, “If
one is not born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” As He was born of
the Holy Spirit from the body of Mary the Virgin, so can we be spiritually born
of the Holy Spirit in the purity of our soul. Great Orthodox elders have always
taught that the rebirth of a man is conditioned by a virginal purity of the soul.
In other words, souls which completely cleanse themselves, even from impure
thoughts, come to resemble the pure Virgin, and are deemed worthy by God’s
goodwill to become the habitation of Christ. If Christ’s birth from the Virgin
Mary is not easily comprehended by the human mind, it is fantastically
beneficial and inspiring for all those who desire a spiritual and mortal rebirth
of their being.
So, be at peace and thank the eternal Wisdom that the Savior of mankind
had appeared as He Himself thought it was best. And exclaim with Apostle
Paul, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and understanding of God!

6 Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Missionary Letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Trans. Hierdeacon Serafim. Grayslake, IL:
New Gracania Monastery, 2008. 177-179.13

Vigils Reading - 6th day in Christmas Octave
2023-12-30
A MORE GRACIOUS VISITATION
OF THE LORD AT CHRISTMAS
From the writing of St Gertrud the Great
◊◊◊
O unattainable height of marvellous power! O depth of the abyss of
inscrutable wisdom! O immense breadth of desirable love!… Even in my
wandering exile I was allowed…to experience again the foretaste of the most
pleasing delights and sweetest pleasures, by which anyone who clings to God
becomes one spirit with him. The boundless nature of his blessedness, spread
abroad so abundantly, permitted me, just a speck of dust, to have the audacity
to lap up some of its droplets, in the way I shall describe.
On that most holy of nights, when by the sweetening dew of divinity the
heavens rained down honey on the whole world, my soul, drenched like
Gideon’s fleece with dew on the threshing-floor of the convent, was intent by
meditation, and through the practice of certain devotions, on being present and
offering help at the heavenly birth, at which the Virgin brought forth her son,
true God and true man, like a ray of light. As in a moment of revelation my soul
realized that it had been offered, and had received, in place of its heart so to
speak, a tender little boy. In him there lay hidden the gift of complete
perfection, which is truly the best endowment…
Then my soul perceived a meaning that defies explication in the sweet
words, ‘God shall be all in all’. It felt that it held within itself the Beloved,
installed in the heart, and it rejoiced that it was not without the welcome
presence of its Spouse, with his most enjoyable caresses. Offered the honeyed
draughts of the following, divinely inspired words, it drank them in with a thirst
that could not be satisfied: ‘Just as I bear the stamp of the substance of God the
Father in regard to my divine nature, so you bear the stamp of my substance in
regard to my human nature, for you receive in you deified soul the outpourings
of my divine nature, just as the air receives the sun’s rays. Penetrated to the
very marrow by this unifying force, you will become fit for a more intimate
union with me’
.
O noble balm of the divine, sending out streams of love on every side,
flourishing and flowering for ever, but to be spread everywhere when time shall
come to an end! O true power of the invincible hand of the Most High, when a
vessel so fragile and disgraced by its own imperfection contained so precious a
liquid to be poured out! O proof most clear of the abundance of God’s loving-
kindness! It did not shrink from me, who wandered so far into the pathless
wastes of my sins, but rather made known to me, as far as I was capable of it,
the sweetness of that most blessed union.

7 Gertrud the Great of Helfta. The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness – Books 1 & 2. CF 35. Trans. Alexandra Barratt.
Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991. 116-118.15

Skema
2023-12-31
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
Christmas Season

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
December 31, 2023 – January 6, 2024

Sun
31
Mon
1
Tue
2
Wed
3
Thu
4
Fri
5
Sat
6

Office
Holy Family
Mary Mother of God
SS Basil & Gregeory
Christmas Weekday
St Elizabeth Ann Seton
St John Neumann
Christmas Weekday

Vigils
Prov 31:10-31
Sir 24:1-12, 19-22
Song 4:1-5:1
Song 5:2-6:3
Song 6:4-7:10
Song 7:11-8:7
Isa 49:1-13

Lauds
Sir 26:1-4, 13-16
Wis 7:7-12
Isa 60:1-7
Isa 60:10-14
Isa 60:15-22
Isa 62:1-7
Isa 62:8-12

Mass
17
18
205
206
207
208
209

1st
Gen 15:1-6; 21:1-3
Num 6:22-27
1 John 2:22-28
1 John 2:29-3:6
1 John 3:7-10
1 John 3:11-21
1 John 5:5-13

2nd
Heb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19
Gal 4:4-7

Gospel
Luke 2:22-40
Luke 2:16-21
John 1:19-28
John 1:29-34
John 1:35-42
John 1:43-51
Luke 3:23-38

Vespers
2 John 4-9
Rev 11:19-12:6
Col 1:15-20
Col 1:21-23
Col 1:24-29
Col 2:1-7
2 Tim 1:6-14

Vigils Reading - Holy Family Sunday
2023-12-31
THE DUTIES OF EACH MOMENT
From “Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
◊◊◊
There are remarkably few extraordinary characteristics in the outward
events of the life of the most holy Virgin, at least there are none recorded in holy
Scripture. Her exterior life is represented as very ordinary and simple. She did
and suffered the same things that anyone in a similar state of life might do or suffer.
She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth as her other relatives did. She took shelter
in a stable in consequence of her poverty. She returned to Nazareth from whence
she had been driven by the persecution of Herod, and lived there with Jesus and
Joseph, supporting themselves by the work of their hands. It was in this way that
the holy family gained their daily bread. But what a divine nourishment Mary and
Joseph received from this daily bread for the strengthening of their faith! It is like
a sacrament to sanctify all their moments. What treasures of grace lie concealed
in these moments filled, apparently, by the most ordinary events. That which is
visible might happen to anyone, but the invisible, discerned by faith, is no less than
God operating very great things… God reveals Himself to the humble under the
most lowly forms, but the proud, attaching themselves entirely to that which is
extrinsic, do not discover Him hidden beneath, and are sent empty away.
He who knows that a certain person in disguise is the king, behaves towards
him very differently to another who, only perceiving an ordinary man, treats him
accordingly. In the same way the soul that recognises the will of God in every
smallest event, and also in those that are most distressing and direful, receives all
with an equal joy, pleasure and respect. It throws open all its doors to receive with
honour what others fear and fly from with horror. The outward appearance may
be mean and contemptible, but beneath this abject garb the heart discovers and
honours the majesty of the king. The deeper the abasement of his entry in such a
guise and in secret the more does the heart become filled with love. Ah! how the
sight of God, poor and humble, lodged in a stable, lying on straw, weeping and
trembling, pierced the loving heart of Mary! Ask the inhabitants of Bethlehem
what they thought of the Child. You know what answer they gave, and how they
would have paid court to Him had He been lodged in a palace surrounded by the
state due to princes.
Then ask Mary and Joseph, the Magi and the Shepherds. They will tell you
that they found in this extreme poverty an indescribable tenderness, and an
infinite dignity worthy of the majesty of God. Faith is strengthened, increased and
enriched by those things that escape the senses; the less there is to see, the more
there is to believe…
Those souls that have this disposition adore God with redoubled love and
respect in each consecutive humiliating condition; nothing can hide Him from the
piercing eye of faith. The louder the senses proclaim that in this, or that, there is
no God; the more firmly do these souls clasp and embrace their “bundle of myrrh.”
Nothing daunts them, nothing disgusts them. Mary, when the apostles fled,
remained steadfast at the foot of the Cross. She owned Jesus as her Son when He
was disfigured with wounds, and covered with mud and spittle. The wounds that
disfigured Him made Him only more lovable and adorable in the eyes of this tender
Mother. The more awful were the blasphemies uttered against Him, so much the
deeper became her veneration and respect.

1 Jean-Pierre de Caussade. Abandonment to Divine Providence. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal
Library, 2001. 7, 17.3

Vigils Reading - Mary Mother of God
2024-01-01
LOOK TO MARY
From the letters of Adam of Perseigne
◊◊◊
You, Lady, are my all. In your hands has been stored for me the fulness
of all good. With you have been hidden the unfailing treasures of truth and
grace, of peace and pity, of salvation and wisdom, of glory and of honor. You
are my anchor amid the billows, port in shipwreck, support in tribulation,
comfort in grief. You are, for those who are yours, aid in oppression, help in
time of crisis, temperance in prosperity, joy in time of waiting, refreshment in
toil…
When you conceive the sun of righteousness, you like the moon are
illumined by the good office of the blazing sun. The moon borrows from the sun
the light which the nature of its gross body denies it. Therefore whatever beauty
it possesses it has through the gift of its borrowed splendor. When you bring
forth the sun of righteousness, you are compared to the sun because of the close
likeness. Just as the body of the sun is not injured or diminished when it puts
forth its rays, so the bringing forth of the holy birth does not violate the mother.
And what, you who are glorious as the sun, what is your offspring but the eternal
splendor of a certain sun?…
Therefore, dear friend, all our confidence lies in the childbearing of our
Virgin and though I may be unworthy I shall not cease to dwell upon her praises.
If you stand in need of mercy, it is found in full measure in the heart of the
Virgin. If you reverence the truth, give thanks to the Virgin, since from the
ground of her virgin flesh the truth which you worship has arisen. No less give
thanks to the Virgin if you follow after peace, since from her is born for you the
peace which passes all understanding. If you pursue justice, see that you are
not ungrateful to the Virgin, for at the opening of her womb justice looked forth
from heaven. If your faith is shaken by some assault from an enemy, turn your
eyes upon the Virgin and that in which was wavering will be firmly fixed. If the
lust of the flesh delights you, turn your gaze upon the Virgin, and the danger to
your chastity is removed. If pride disturbs your spirit, turn your gaze upon the
Virgin, and by the merit of her unsullied humility your swelling spirit will
subside. If you are set on fire by anger’s torches, lift your eyes to the Virgin and
you will grow gentle through her calm. If ignorance or error have led you astray
from the way of life, look to Mary, star of the sea, and in her light you will be led
back to the path of truth… In every peril the goodness of the Virgin comes to
<our aid>. Give thanks…for us the Virgin brought forth, ours is the birth, for
us the child was born and to us the son was given.

2 Adam of Perseigne. The Letters of Adam of Perseigne. CF 21. Trans. Grace Perigo. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian
Publications, INC, 1976, 72-75.5

Vigils Reading - SS Basil & Gregory
2024-01-02
CHRIST AMONG US
From a homily by St Basil the Great
◊◊◊
God is on earth, God is among us, not now as lawgiver – there is no fire,
trumpet blast, smoke-wreathed mountain, dense cloud, or storm to terrify
whoever hears him but as one gently and kindly conversing in a human body
with his fellow men and women. God is in the flesh. Now he is not acting
intermittently as he did through the prophets. He is bringing back to himself
the whole human race, which he has taken possession of and united to himself.
By his birth he has made the human race his own kin.
But how can glory come to all through one man? How can the Godhead
be in the flesh? In the same way as fire can be in iron: not by moving from place
to place but by the one imparting to the other its own properties. Fire does not
speed toward iron, but without itself undergoing any change it causes the iron
to share in its own natural attributes. The fire is not diminished and yet it
completely fills whatever shares in its nature. So is it also with God the Word.
He did not relinquish his own nature and yet he dwelt among us. He did not
undergo any change and yet the Word became flesh. Earth received him from
heaven, yet heaven was not deserted by him who holds the universe in being.
Let us strive to comprehend the mystery. The reason God is in the flesh is
to kill the death that lurks there. As diseases are cured by medicines and
assimilated by the body, and as darkness in a house is dispelled by the coming
of light, so death, which held sway over human nature, is done away with by the
coming of God. As ice formed on water covers its surface as long as night and
darkness last but melts under the warmth of the sun, so death reigned until the
coming of Christ; but when the grace of God our Savior appeared and the Sun7
of Justice arose, death was swallowed up in victory, unable to bear the presence
of true life. How great is God’s goodness, how deep his love for us!
Let us join the shepherds in giving glory to God, let us dance with the
angels and sing… The Lord is God and he has appeared to us!

Vigils Reading
2024-01-03
THE ETERNAL SON
From the writing of St Mechthild of Magdeburg
◊◊◊
I saw and still see three Persons in the eternal heights before God’s Son
was conceived in the body of St. Mary. They were then known and seen by all
the holy angels in their distinctness, in their completeness, in their name, and
in how the Three were one God. No matter how good the angels’ eyes were, they
saw neither bone nor flesh nor color nor the glorious name Jesus. This was
miraculously hidden from them in the breast of the eternal Father. They called
the Father the uncreated eternal God, the Son wisdom with no beginning, the
Spirit of them both they called right knowledge of truth.
The fiery angels of the highest order, who are suspended opposite the
loving Godhead in the breath of the whole Trinity, served and were witness to
the blissful decision when God became man. Gabriel brought only the name
down at the Annunciation. He was entrusted with neither bone nor flesh nor
blood. The Second Person — that was always the eternal Son. Although he had
not yet assumed human nature, he had always been ours but had not been given
to us before Gabriel brought the message… Although Adam’s nature was broken
and changed and his inheritance lost forever, God never gave up on him. Hence
we were and still are able to return. God has kept his noble loving nature intact…
He cannot withhold himself. God immediately cast Lucifer from himself into
the eternal prison, but he pursued Adam, asked him where he was, and brought
him back to the path. Lucifer had only a single nature in God. When he
destroyed it, he could not return.
Man has a complete nature in the Holy Trinity, and God saw fit to fashion
it with his own divine hands. When his holy efforts on our behalf went for
naught, he was forced back within himself by a threefold delight. For this reason
he wanted to restore us with his own feet and his own hands so that we would
have great oneness with him. If man had remained in paradise, God would have
been immediately visible to him, would have greeted his soul and refreshed his
body. Thus did I see God come from heaven to paradise, like a great angel.
Also, this same nature forces God to greet us with knowledge and with
holy intimacy to the extent that we are prepared through holy virtues and true
innocence. When I reflect that divine nature now includes bone and flesh, body
and soul, then I become elated in great joy, far beyond what I am worth. But
angels are to some degree formed according to the Holy Trinity, but they are
pure spirits. The soul alone with its flesh is mistress of the house in heaven, sits
next to the eternal Master of the house, and is most like him. There eye reflects
in eye, there spirit flows in spirit, there hand touches hand, there mouth speaks
to mouth, and there heart greets heart. Thus does the Lord and Master honor
the mistress at his side. But the princes and the vassals — these are the holy
angels — these the Master keeps in full view. All service and all praise the angels
engage in are offered totally to the mistress as well as to the Master.

3 Mechthild of Magdeburg. The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Trans. Frank Tobin. New York: Paulist Press, 1998. 156-
158.9

Vigils Reading - St Elizabeth Ann Seton
2024-01-04
DEATH OF A HUSBAND AT CHRISTMAS
From the collected writings of St Elizabeth Ann Seton
◊◊◊
With God for our Portion there is no Prison in high walls and bolts — no
sorrow in the Soul that waits on him tho’ beset with present cares, and gloomy
Prospects… For this freedom I can never be sufficiently thankful, as in my
Williams case, it keeps alive what in his weak State of Body would naturally fail
— and often when he hears me repeat the Psalms of Triumph in God, and read
St. Paul’s faith in Christ with my Whole Soul, it so enlivens his Spirit that he
also makes them his own, and all our sorrows are turned into joy. Oh well may
I love God. Well may my whole soul strive to please him, for what but the strain
of an Angel can ever express what he has done and is constantly doing for me.
While I live, while I have my being in Time and thro’ Eternity let me sing praises
to my God…
Every promise in the Scriptures I could remember and suitable Prayer, I
continually repeated to him which seemed to be <William’s> only relief. When
I stopped to give anything <he would say> “Why do you do it, what do I want,
I want to be in Heaven, pray, pray for my Soul“
…
The hard struggle ceased…a quarter past seven when the dear Soul took
its flight to the blessed exchange it so much longed for… I often asked him when
he could not speak, “You feel my love that you are going to your Redeemer” and
he motioned yes with a look…of Peace. At a quarter past 7 on Tuesday morning
27th December — his Soul was released — and mine from a struggle next to
death…
I had done all — all that tenderest love and duty could do. My head had
not rested for a week. Three days and nights the fatigue had been incessant and
one meal in 24 hours… In all this it is not necessary to dwell on the mercy and
consoling presence of my dear Redeemer, for no mortal strength could support
what I experienced…
My William often asked me if I felt assured that he would be accepted and
pardoned, and I always tried to convince him that where the soul was so humble
and sincere as his, and submission to God’s will so uniform as his had been
throughout his trial, that it became sinful to doubt one moment of his reception
through the merits of his Redeemer…
The night before his death praying earnestly for him that his pardon
might be sealed in Heaven and his transgressions blotted out… I continued on
my knees and leaned my head on the chair by which I knelt and insensibly lost
myself… I had a dream… A little angel at some distance held open a division in
the sky. A large black Bird like an eagle flew towards me and flapped its wings
round and made everything dark. The angel looked as if it held up the division
waiting for something the Bird came for. And so alone from every friend on
Earth, walking the valley of the Shadow of death we had sweet comfort even in
our dreams — while Faith convinced us they were realities.

4 Elizabeth Bayley Seton. Collected Writings: Volume I – Correspondence and Journals 1793-1808. Ed. Regina Bechtle, S.C.
and Judith Metz, S.C. New City Press: Hyde Park, NY, 2000. 265, 274-276.11

Vigils Reading - St John Neumann
2024-01-05
THE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF ST JOHN NEUMANN
◊◊◊
The fourth Bishop of Philadelphia was a well-known and respected figure
in the life of the city even though he moved in and about it quietly… A rather
short man, he was just over five feet, two inches in height… As a young priest he
had a rugged constitution; but the incessant calls he made on his physical
resources took their toll, which became noticeable with the advancing years…
So reserved was he that even those with a just estimate of true values were liable
to be unimpressed. One old lady who ardently admired him declared, “Oh, to
see that humble little creature you never would think he was a bishop.” To
appraise him adequately, one had to see him at close range; then the
outstanding qualities of the man shone to the best advantage…
One class of people was his special concern – the poor. His generosity to
them became so proverbial that those working in the rectory complained that
the poor imposed upon him, oftentimes overdoing appeals for aid… On one
occasion when a poor beggar, caught red-handed coming back a second time,
was despoiled of her gift, the bishop intervened and allowed her to keep it,
saying that if she repeated her call she must indeed be badly off… When one
woman begged Neumann for a dollar, he was forced to confess that he did not
have a dollar to his name. Just then another woman called on him and asked
him to say a Mass for her giving him a five-dollar stipend. The bishop quickly
put the five dollars into the poor woman’s hands and said, “See what God sent
you!”
Another story illustrates well the bishop’s way with youngsters. Two
small girls were sent by the Sisters of the Holy Cross with a message for the
bishop. When he entered the parlor, he found the little ladies in wide-eyed
admiration of a very beautiful marble statue of a child in a cradle… The bishop
commented on it and playfully suggested that he would give the statue to the
one who could carry it home. When the statue, twenty-five or thirty pounds in
weight, proved too much for the youthful admirers, one of them ran home and
returned with a little wagon to claim the prize. Considering himself
outmaneuvered fairly, the bishop surrendered his precious piece of marble,
which she carried to her home…
Besides the poor and children, the bishop had a special care for the sick…
Frequently in his visits to the hospital, he might be seen going through the
wards from bed to bed, addressing words of consolation and encouragement to
all the patients, irrespective of age, condition or religion. And he would most
earnestly exhort the Sisters engaged with the sick to regard them as the
suffering members of Jesus Christ and lavish on them every care and
attention…
All his life he had a deep sense of his own nothingness… Neumann knew
that of himself he was nothing and could do nothing… Even the slightest
deviation from the highest form of service to God and man was proof positive
that of himself he could do nothing but sin. This basic conviction and the habits
of soul rooted in it were the solid foundations of all his other virtues…
Though Neumann was bishop only seven and three-quarter years… he
labored through every part of the diocese, and has, undoubtedly, done more for
its better organization and for the spread of piety throughout the various
Congregations than might have been otherwise done in even ten or twenty years
by another individual… He spared himself in nothing.

5 Curley, Michael J. C.SS.R. Venerable John Neumann, C.SS.R. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America
Press, 1952. 361-362, 366-370, 373, 376.13

Vigils Reading
2024-01-06
GOD AND FLESH
From the homilies of St Gregory Palamas
◊◊◊
HIS IS THE FESTIVAL of the virgin birth! Our address must be exalted
therefore in accordance with the greatness of the feast…for nothing done by God
from the beginning of time was more beneficial to all or more divine than
Christ’s nativity…
The pre-eternal and uncircumscribed and almighty Word is now born
according to the flesh, without home, without shelter, without dwelling, and
placed as a babe in the manger, seen by men’s eyes, touched by their hands, and
wrapped in layers of swaddling bands. He is not a spiritual creature coming into
being after previously not existing; nor flesh which is brought to birth but will
soon perish; nor flesh and mind united to form a rational creature, but God and
flesh mingled unconfusedly…
David, who is a forefather of God on account of Him who has now been
born of his line, hymns God somewhere “Thy hands have made me and
fashioned me”
… God formed human nature out of the earth with His own hand
and breathed His own life into man, whereas everything else He brought into
being by His word alone. He then allowed man to be governed by his own
thoughts and follow his own initiative, because he was a rational creature with
a sovereign will. Left alone, deceived by the evil one’s counsel and unable to
withstand his assault, man did not keep to what was in accordance with his
nature, but slid towards what was unnatural to it. So now God not only forms
human nature anew by His own hand in a mysterious way, but also keeps it near
Him. Not only does He assume this nature and raise it up from the fall, but He
inexpressibly clothes Himself in it and unites Himself inseparably with it and
was born as both God and man: from a woman, in the first instance, that He
might take upon Himself the same nature which He formed in our forefathers;
and from a woman who was a virgin, in the second, so that He might make man
new.
If He had been born from seed, He would not have been a new man and,
being part of the old stock, and inheriting that fall, He would not have been able
to receive the fullness of the incorruptible Godhead in Himself and become an
inexhaustible source of hallowing. And so, not only would He not have been able
to cleanse, with abundance of power, our forefathers’ defilement caused by sin,
but neither would He have been sufficient to sanctify those who came later. Just
as water stored in a tank would not be sufficient to provide a large city with
enough to drink continuously, but would require its own spring… in the same
way, neither a man nor a holy angel who, by sharing in grace…would suffice to
sanctify everyone at all times… Creation needed a well man, containing its own
spring, that those who drew near it and drank their full might remain
undefeated by the attacks of weaknesses and deprivations inherent in the
created world. So…the Lord Himself came and saved us, being made a man like
us for our sake, and continuing unchanged as God.
Building now the new Jerusalem, raising up a temple for Himself with
living stones, and gathering us into a holy and worldwide Church, He sets in its
foundation, which is Christ, the ever-flowing fount of grace. For the Lord’s
eternal fullness of life, the all-wise and omnipotent divine nature, is made one
with human nature…that the Lord might instil into it wisdom and power and
freedom and unfailing life.

6 St Gregory Palamas. The Homilies. Trans. Christopher Veniamin. Waymart, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing, 2009.
477, 481-482.15

Skema
2024-01-07
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
1st Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
January 7 – 13, 2024

Sun
7
Mon
8
Tue
9
Wed
10
Thu
11
Fri
12
Sat
13

Office
Epiphany of the Lord
Baptism of the Lord
Weekday
St William of Bourges
Office for Vocations
St Aelred
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Isa 60:1-22
Joshua 3:1-17
Num 1:1-4, 44-54
Num 6:1-21
Num 6:22-7:11
Num 9:15-23; 10:33-36
Num 11:1-6, 10-30

Lauds
Isa 49:13-23
Acts 19:1-7
Eccles 1:1-11
Eccles 1:12-18
Eccles 2:1-3
Eccles 2:4-12
Eccles 2:13-17

Mass
20
21
306
307
308
309
310

1st
Isa 60:1-6
Isa 55:1-11
1 Sam 1:9-20
1 Sam 3:1-10, 19-20
1 Sam 4:1-11
1 Sam 8:4-7, 10-22a
1 Sam 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1

2nd
Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6

Gospel
Matt 2:1-12
Mark 1:7-11
Mark 1:21-28
Mark 1:29-39
Mark 1:40-45
Mark 2:1-12
Mark 2:13-17

Vespers
Rev 21:22-27
Col 2:8-15
2 Cor 1:1-7
2 Cor 1:8-11
2 Cor 2:14-3:3
2 Cor 3:4-11
2 Cor 3:12-18

Vigils Reading - Epiphany of the Lord
2024-01-07
IN SEARCH OF GOD
From a commentary by St Leo the Great1
◊◊◊
Dearly beloved, the day on which Christ first showed himself to
the Gentiles as the Savior of the world should be held in holy reverence among
us. We should experience in our hearts the same joy as the three wise men felt
when the sign of the new star led them into the presence of the king of heaven
and earth, and they gazed in adoration upon the one in whose promised coming
they had put their faith. Although that day belongs to the past, the power of the
mystery which was then revealed has not passed away; we are not left with a
mere report of bygone events, to be received in faith and remembered with
veneration. God’s bounty toward us has been multiplied, so that even in our
own times we daily experience the grace which belonged to those first
beginnings.
The gospel story specifically recalls the days when, without any previous
teaching from the prophets or instruction in the law, three men came from the
far east in search of God; but we see the same thing taking place even more
clearly and extensively in the enlightenment of all those whom God calls at the
present time. We see the fulfillment of that prophecy of Isaiah which says: The
Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all nations, and the whole world
has seen the salvation that comes from the Lord our God. And again: Those
who have not been told about him shall see, and those who have not heard shall
understand. When we see people being led out of the abyss of error and called
to knowledge of the true light, people who, far from professing faith in Jesus
Christ, have hitherto devoted themselves to worldly wisdom, we can have no
doubt that the splendor of divine grace is at work. Whenever a shaft of light
newly pierces darkened hearts, its source is the radiance of that same star,
which impresses the souls it touches by the miracle of its appearance and leads
them forward to worship God.
If on the other hand we earnestly ask ourselves whether the same
threefold oblation is made by all who come to Christ in faith, shall we not
discover a corresponding gift offering in the hearts of true believers? To
acknowledge Christ’s universal sovereignty is in fact to bring out gold from the
treasury of one’s soul; to believe God’s only Son has made himself truly one with
human nature is to offer myrrh, and to declare that he is in no way inferior to
his Father in majesty is to worship him with frankincense.

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 26-27.3

Vigils Reading - Baptism of the Lord
2024-01-08
THE WATERS WILL BE SANCTIFIED
From a commentary by St Ephrem the Syrian2
◊◊◊
Today the Source of all the graces of baptism comes himself to be baptized
in the river Jordan, there to make himself known to the world. Seeing him
approach, John stretches out his hand to hold him back, protesting: Lord, by
your own baptism you sanctify all others; yours is the true baptism, the source
of perfect holiness. How can you wish to submit to mine?
But the Lord replies, I wish it to be so. Come and baptize me; do as I wish,
for surely you cannot refuse me. Why do you hesitate, why are you so afraid?
Do you not realize that the baptism I ask for is mine by every right? By my
baptism the waters will be sanctified, receiving from me fire and the Holy Spirit.
Unless I am immersed in them they will never be empowered to bring forth
children to eternal life. There is every reason for you to let me have my way and
do what I am asking you to do. Did I not baptize you when you were in your
mother’s womb? Now it is your turn to baptize me in the Jordan. So come, then,
carry out your appointed task.
To this John answers, Your servant is utterly helpless. Savior of all, have
mercy on me! I am not fit even to unfasten your sandal straps, let alone to lay
my hand upon your venerable head. But I hear your command, Lord, and in
obedience to your word I come to give you that baptism to which your own love
impels you. Man of dust that I am, let deepest reverence enfold me when I
behold the height to which I have been called — even to laying my hand on the
head of my Maker!
See the hosts of heaven hushed and still, as the all-holy Bridegroom goes
down into the Jordan. No sooner is he baptized than he comes up from the
waters, his splendor shining forth over the earth. The gates of heaven are
opened, and the Father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. All who are present stand in awe as they watch the Spirit descend
to bear witness to him. O come, all you peoples, worship him! Praise to you,
Lord, for your glorious epiphany which brings joy to us all! The whole world has
become radiant with the light of your manifestation.

2 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 28-29.5

Vigils Reading
2024-01-09
PERFECT TRUST IN GOD
From “Unseen Warfare” by St Theophan the Recluse3
◊◊◊
It is very important not to rely on our own efforts in this unseen warfare. At
the same time, if we merely give up all hope of ourselves and despair of ourselves
without having found another support, we are certain to flee immediately from the
battlefield or to be overcome and taken prisoner by our enemies. Therefore,
together with complete renunciation of ourselves, “we should plant in our heart a
perfect trust in God and a complete confidence in Him. In other words we should
feel with our whole heart that we have no one to rely on except God, and that from
Him and Him alone can we expect every kind of good, every manner of help, and
victory. Since we are nothing, we can expect nothing from ourselves, except
stumblings and falls, which make us relinquish all hope of ourselves. On the other
hand, we are certain always to be granted victory by God, if we arm our heart with
a living trust in Him and an unshakable certainty that we will receive His help…
The following thoughts will help you to be grounded in this hope and,
thereby, to receive help: 1) God is Omnipotent and can do all that He chooses,
and therefore can also help us… 2) God, being Omniscient and Wise, knows all
in the most perfect manner, and therefore knows fully what Is best for the salvation
of each one of us… 3) God is infinitely Good and comes to us with ineffable love,
always desirous and ready…from moment to moment to give us all the help we
need for complete victory in the spiritual warfare which takes place in us, as soon
as we run with firm trust to the protection of His arms.
And how is it possible that our good Shepherd, Who for three years went in
search of sheep that had gone astray, calling so loudly that His throat became
parched, and following ways so hard and thorny that He shed all His blood and
gave up His life; how is it possible, I repeat, that now, if His sheep follow Him, turn
to Him with love and call for His help with hope, He should fail to turn His eyes to
the lost sheep, take it into His divine arms and, placing it among the heavenly
angels, make a welcoming feast for its sake? If our God never ceases to search
diligently and lovingly for the blind and deaf sinner (like the woman for the piece
of silver in the Gospels), how is it possible to suppose that He would abandon him
now when, like a lost sheep, he cries out calling for his Shepherd? And who will
ever believe that God, Who, according to the Revelation, constantly stands at the
door of a man’s heart, and knocks, wishing to come in and sup with him, and
bestow His gifts upon him, who will believe that this same God should remain deaf
and refuse to enter if a man opens to Him the door of his heart and invites Him in?
And the fourth method of maintaining a lively trust in God and of attracting
His speedy help is to review in our memory all the instances of speedy divine help
described in the Scriptures. These instances, which are so numerous, show us
clearly that no one, who put his trust in God, was ever left confounded and without
help.
Armed with these four weapons, enter the battle with courage…and wage
war watchfully with the full conviction that victory will be granted you. For with
their help you will most certainly acquire perfect trust in God, and this trust will
never fail to attract God’s help… These two together will in the end make
complete distrust of yourself deeply rooted in you… Without any self-reliance, led
only by your trust in God, take care always to preserve an attitude in which the
consciousness and feeling of your weakness always precede in you the
contemplation of God’s omnipotence, and let both alike precede your every action.

3 Theophan the Recluse. Unseen Warfare. Accessed online:7

Vigils Reading - St William of Bourges
2024-01-10
SAINT WILLIAM,
ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES, FRANCE
From “In the Valley of Wormwood” by Thomas Merton4
◊◊◊
Seek peace and follow after her. The search for interior and exterior peace,
for himself and for others, is more or less the dominating theme of…Saint William
of Bourges… William de Donjean came from the family of the Counts of Nevers and
was born at the castle of Arthel near Nevers, probably about 1140… Going on to
Paris where he completed his studies for the priesthood, he became a canon there
also, but he renounced all that a brilliant career in the Church held out to him and
retired to the strictest Order he could find: the Order of Grandmont… After a short
golden age…the Order of Grandmont fell into a decline…notorious in the Church
for its incessant internal quarrels, dissensions, rebellions and scenes of violence…
About the time Saint William became a member of the Order, matters had already
reached a crisis… Having entered the Order about 1164, and made his profession,
he left it again about 1170. The peace he had sought, and which the Rule of
Grandmont had seemed to promise, was not to be found here. He made his way to
the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny…
Saint William so impressed all with his virtues and talents that he was soon
chosen as Prior of Pontigny. Some years later, about 1184, he became abbot of
Fountains-Jean, a thriving community of over two hundred monks with many lay
brothers, but he did not remain there long. In 1188 he was abbot of Chalis. He was
the admiration of all for his sanctity which made itself evident by the extraordinary
interior peace and spiritual joy which he radiated and which affected all who came
in contact with them…
The fame of his virtues and sanctity made it impossible for him to remain
longer in the cloister which he loved… In 1199 the Cathedral Chapter of Bourges,
having come to a deadlock in their efforts to select a new archbishop, drew up a list
that included several Cistercian abbots and submitted it to Odo of Sully, Bishop of
Paris, with the intention of accepting his choice as final… The archbishop…placed
three of the best names on slips of paper under the altar cloth while he said Mass,
and then afterwards in the presence of two other bishops, he took one of the papers.
The name on it was William of Chalis… Saint William made himself remarkable
from the very outset as a prelate who refused to maintain a private army and resort
to force in order to keep order in his diocese… William relied first on the example
of a life of uncompromising abnegation and ceaseless prayer and then on preaching
of the word of God and showing mercy and pardon to his enemies…
On the feast of the Epiphany, 1209, Saint William must have had a
presentiment that his end was near… He received the Body of Christ…kneeling on
the floor with his arms out in the form of a cross. After that… he entered into his
agony. He was then taken from his bed and placed on a haircloth and heap of ashes
in the middle of the floor, according to the Cistercian usages, and there he gave up
his soul to God…
His process was introduced, strangely enough, not at the suggestion of the
Cistercians but of the Grandmontines. The Prior of Grandmont, speaking of his
own memory of Saint William as a member of that Order, praised his holiness of
life to Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council… Saint William’s canonization
took only nine years… It was completed in 1218… At the present day…his life is
practically unknown. Yet he is one of our greatest saints, and we have much to
reflect upon and imitate in his perfection of Christ-like charity and apostolic love
of souls, which seeks to win men to the kingdom of God by love and mercy and
purity of life and prayer….

4 Merton, Thomas. In the Valley of Wormwood – Cistercian Blessed and Saints of the Golden Age. CS 233. Ed. Patrick Hart.
Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2013. 19-20, 22-24, 26, 28-30.9

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2024-01-11
FRATERNAL CHARITY
From the book “My Sister Saint Thérèse” by Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face 5
◊◊◊
Fraternal charity…was one of Thérèse’s favourite themes. She left no stone
unturned, therefore, to impress on her novices the supreme importance of this
virtue in community life… In order to encourage me in the practice of virtue,
Thérèse confided to me one of the sacrifices she was called upon to make during
her first years at Carmel.
As one of the former prioresses could not endure any fragrant odour,
<Thérèse>, in deference to her, had always been very careful not to have any sweet-
smelling flowers…at her cloister-shrine of the Child Jesus. It happened that, one
day, just as she was about to place a lovely rose before the statue of the Holy Child,
she heard the Mother calling her, and Thérèse knew why… My humble little sister
confessed when relating the incident to me, “I had a strong desire to let this good
nun go ahead and actually complain before I should tell her that it was only an
artificial flower. But at that same moment, Jesus was tugging at my heart for a
sacrifice of this little selfish satisfaction, and He won out. Holding up the flower, I
exclaimed gaily: ‘See, Mother, how well they imitate nature nowadays! Wouldn’t
you think that this rose had just been freshly gathered from the garden?’ Oh! If
you only knew how happy I was after that act of charity, and how marvellously it
strengthened my character.”
One day in the Infirmary during her last illness, my sister called my attention
to the soft, downy linens which the infirmarian, Sister Stanislaus always had at
hand for the benefit of her patients. “Souls should be treated with the same tender
care,” the Saint said, “but why is it that we forget this so frequently, and allow those
about us to go on unnoticed in the endurance of sharp, interior pain? Shouldn’t
the spiritual needs of the soul be attended to with the same charity, with the same
delicate care which we devote to our neighbour’s bodily necessities?… How
tenderly we should not only love them but also show our love for them.” Whenever
she happened to find any sister in a disagreeable mood or at fault in any other way,
Thérèse would extend herself to be only the more amiable, obliging and
affectionate; in this way she endeavoured to restore peace to an agitated heart
which, she knew, must be suffering…
Believing that I was too self-centered at times, our dear Saint said to
me…
“This tendency to fall back on self makes the soul barren and incapable of the
practice of virtue… Whenever we find ourselves a prey to such self-introspection,
we should have immediate recourse to external works of charity. <God> often
permits us to become obnoxious to ourselves precisely that we might get away from
self. Our only escape, then, is to go on a visit to Jesus and Mary by the performance
of charitable works.”
…
Thérèse frequently urged us to practise great charity in judging others, for,
as she used to point out to us, that which seems to be a fault in another is often an
act of heroism in the sight of God. The unfinished task of a nun who may be over-
tired or suffering interiorly, she told us, often brings more glory to God than a duty
meticulously completed by another nun robust of soul and body. In other words,
it is effort and not success that counts most with God…
When the tuberculosis had spread to all parts of her body causing
indescribable suffering, we were imploring heaven one day in tears to give our dear
little sister some relief when she said to us: “I am asking God that all the prayers
being offered for me may serve rather for the salvation of souls and not for the
alleviation of my sufferings.” And I can still hear her declare: “No, I never would
have thought it possible to suffer so much… never, never! I can only explain it by
my intense desire to save souls.”

5 Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face. My Sister Saint Thérèse. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1959. 124, 129-132, 137-
138, 148-149.11

Vigils Reading - St Aelred
2024-01-12
AELRED’S LAST DAYS
From “The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx” by Walter Daniel6
◊◊◊
As he lay in bed he talked constantly in gasps, and day by day his body got
feebler, until at last on 3 January he ordered all the monks to be summoned to
him, and made them this allocution:
‘Often I have begged your permission when I had to cross the sea, or it
was my duty to hasten to some distant region, or I had occasion to seek the
king’s court; and now by your leave and with the help of your prayers I go hence,
from exile to the fatherland, from darkness to light, from this evil world to God;
for the time has come when he, who redeemed me of himself without me, and
deigned by his grace to bind me more closely to himself in the bonds of a better
life among you, will take me to himself… We have a good Lord and now it
pleases my soul to see his face…
’
The most pious father added: ‘I have lived with a good conscience among
you, for as I lie here, as you see, at the point of death, my soul calls God to
witness that, since I received this habit of religion, the malice, detraction or
quarrel of no man has ever kindled any feeling in me against him which has
been strong enough to last the day in the domicile of my heart… By the grace of
Christ I have commanded my spirit that no disturbance to the patience of my
mind should survive the setting of the sun.’ At these words we all wept… and
most of all when he, weeping, said to us, ‘God who knows all things knows that
I love you all as myself, and, as earnestly as a mother after her sons…
To wait by his bedside during those days was, I confess, an awe-inspiring
experience… He would say…
‘Hasten for the love of Christ, hasten.’ When I said
to him ‘What, lord?’ he stretched out his hands, as to heaven, and fixing his eyes
like lamps of fire upon the cross which was held there before his face, said,
‘Release me, let me go free to him, whom I see before me, the King of Glory.
Why do you linger?… Hasten, for the love of Christ, hasten’
… In all my life I
have never been so stricken to the heart as I was by those words, so often
repeated, so awfully uttered, by such a man at such an hour, by a good man at
the point of death. And these words kept proceeding from his mouth through
three whole days…
I sat with him on that <last> day and…said to him in a low voice, so that
nobody would notice us, ‘Lord, gaze on the cross; let your eye be where your
heart is.’ And immediately raising his eyelids and turning his pupils to the
figure of truth depicted on the wood, he said to him who suffered death for us
upon the tree, ‘You are my God and my Lord, You are my refuge and my Saviour.
You are my glory and my hope for evermore. Into your hands I commend my
spirit.’ He uttered these words clearly as they are written, although for two days
he had not spoken so many words, nor afterwards did he speak three words
together… He died about the fourth watch of the night before the Ides of
January, in the year of the Incarnation one thousand and sixty-six… the fifty-
seventh year of his life…
Whenever I think of him then, I am still overcome by joy and wonder at
the gracious recollection… My God! He did not die ‘in darkness, as those that
have been long dead,’ not so, Lord, but in your light, for in his light we see your
light.

6 Daniel, Walter. The Life of Aelred of Rievaulx. CF 57. Trans. F.M. Powicke. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications,
1994. 133-135, 138-139.13

Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
2024-01-13
OF MARY’S CHARITY TOWARDS HER NEIGHBOUR
By St Alphonsus de Liguori7
◊◊◊
Love towards God and love towards our neighbour are commanded by the
same precept: “And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth
God love also his brother.” Saint Thomas says that the reason for this is, that he
who loves God loves all that God loves. Saint Catherine of Genoa one day said,
‘Lord, Thou willest that I should love my neighbour, and I can love none but
Thee.’ God answered her in these words: All who love Me love what I love.” But
as there never was, and never will be, any one who loved God as much as Mary
loved Him, so there never was, and never will be, any one who loved her
neighbour as much as she did…
For Christ, who is love itself, inspired the Blessed Virgin with charity in
its highest degree, that she might succour all who had recourse to her. So great
was Mary’s charity when on earth… as was the case at the marriage-feast of
Cana, when she told her Son that family’s distress: “They have no wine,” and
asked Him to work a miracle. O, with what speed did she fly when there was
question of relieving her neighbour! When she went to the house of Elizabeth
to fulfil an office of charity, “she went into the hill-country with haste.” She
could not, however, more fully display the greatness of her charity than she did
in the offering which she made of her Son to death for our salvation. On this
subject Saint Bonaventure says,
‘Mary so loved the world as to give her only-
begotten Son.’ Hence Saint Anselm exclaims, ‘O blessed amongst women, thy
purity surpasses that of the angels, and thy compassion that of the Saints!’
Great was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was still in
exile on earth; but far greater is it now that she reigns in heaven. Saint Agnes
assured Saint Bridget that there was no one who prayed without receiving
graces through the charity of the Blessed Virgin. Unfortunate, indeed, should
we be, did not Mary intercede for us! Jesus Himself, addressing the same Saint,
said,
‘Were it not for the prayers of My Mother, there would be no hope of
mercy.’ Blessed is he, says the Divine Mother, who listens to my instructions,
pays attention to my charity, and, in imitation of me, exercises it himself
towards others: “Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at
my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.
”
Saint Gregory Nazianzen assures us that ‘there is nothing by which we can
with greater certainty gain the affection of Mary than by charity towards our
neighbour. Therefore, as God exhorts us, saying, “Be ye merciful, as your Father
also is merciful,” so also does Mary seem to say to all her children, ‘Be ye
merciful, as your Mother also is merciful.’ It is certain that our charity towards
our neighbour will be the measure of that which God and Mary will show us:
“Give, and it shall be given to you. For with the same measure that you shall
mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.
” Saint Methodius used to
say,
‘Give to the poor, and receive paradise.’ For the apostle writes, that
charity…
“is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come.
”
O Mother of Mercy, thou art full of charity for all; forget not my miseries;
thou seest them full well. Recommend me to God, who denies thee nothing.
Obtain me the grace to imitate thee in holy charity, as well towards God as
towards my neighbour.

7 St Alphonsus de Liguori. The Glories of Mary. Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1982. 477-480.15
