Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey

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

Skema
2024-01-14
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
January 14 – 20, 2024

Sun
14
Mon
15
Tue
16
Wed
17
Thu
18
Fri
19
Sat
20

Office
2nd Sunday
SS Maur & Placid
Weekday
St Anthony
Weekday
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Num 12:1-15
Num 13:1-3, 17-33
Num 14:1-25
Num 16:1-24
Num 16:25-35
Num 17:1-15
Num 17:16-28

Lauds
Eccles 2:18-23
Eccles 2:24-3:8
Eccles 3:9-15
Eccles 3:16-22
Eccles 4:1-6
Eccles 4:7-12
Eccles 4:13-17

Mass
65
311
312
313
314
315
316

1st
1 Sam 3:3b-10, 19
1 Sam 15:16-23
1 Sam 16:1-13
1 Sam 17:32-33, 37, 40-51
1 Sam 18:6-9; 19:1-7
1 Sam 24:3-21
2 Sam 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27

2nd
1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20

Gospel
John 1:35-42
Mark 2:18-22
Mark 2:23-28
Mark 3:1-6
Mark 3:7-12
Mark 3:13-19
Mark 3:20-21

Vespers
2 Cor 4:1-6
2 Cor 4:7-18
2 Cor 5:1-10
2 Cor 5:11-15
2 Cor 5:16-21
2 Cor 6:1-13
2 Cor 6:14-7:1

Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday Ordinary
2024-01-14
BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD
From a commentary by St Basil of Seleucia1
◊◊◊
Spurred on by the testimony of John the Baptist, the glorious apostle
Andrew left his teacher and ran to the one pointed out by him. John’s words
were his signal, and, moving more swiftly than John could speak, he
approached the master with obvious longing, his companion, John the
Evangelist, running beside him. Both had left the lamp to come to the sun.
Andrew was the first to become an apostle. It was he who opened the gates
of Christ’s teaching. He was the first to gather the fruits cultivated by the
prophets, and he surpassed the hopes of all by being the first to embrace the
one awaited by all. He was the first to show that the precepts of the law were in
force only for a limited time. He was the first to restrain the tongue of Moses,
for he would not allow it to speak after Christ had come. Yet he was not rebuked
for this, because he did not dishonor the teacher of the Jews, but honored more
the sender than the one sent. In fact Andrew was seen to be the first to honor
Moses, because he was the first to recognize the one he foretold when he said:
The Lord God will raise up for you from among your kindred a prophet like
myself. Listen to him. Andrew set the law aside in obedience to the law. He
listened to Moses who said: Listen to him. He listened to John who cried out:
Behold the Lamb of God, and of his own accord went to the one pointed out to
him.
Having recognized the prophet foretold by the prophets, Andrew led his
brother to the one he had found. To Peter, who was still in ignorance, he
revealed the treasure: We have found the Messiah for whom we were longing.
How many sleepless nights we spent beside the waters of the Jordan, and now
we have found the one for whom we longed! Nor was Peter slow when he heard
these words, for he was Andrew’s brother. He listened attentively, then
hastened with great eagerness.
Taking Peter with him, Andrew brought his brother to the Lord, thus
making him his fellow-disciple. This was Andrew’s first achievement: he
increased the number of the apostles by bringing Peter to Christ, so that Christ
might find in him the disciples’ leader. When later on Peter won approval, it was
thanks to the seed sown by Andrew. But the commendation given to the one
redounded to the other, for the virtues of each belonged to both, and each was
proud of the other’s merits. Indeed, when Peter promptly answered the master’s
question, how much joy he gave to all the disciples by breaking their
embarrassed silence! Peter alone acted as the mouthpiece of those to whom the
question was addressed. As though all spoke through him, he replied clearly on
their behalf: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In one sentence he
acknowledged both the Savior and his saving plan.
Notice how these words echo Andrew’s. By prompting Peter the Father
endorsed from above the words Andrew used when he led Peter to Christ.
Andrew had said: We have found the Messiah. The Father said, prompting
Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, almost forcing these words
on Peter. “Peter,” he said, “when you are questioned, use Andrew’s words in
reply. Show yourself very prompt in answering your master. Andrew did not lie
to you when he said: We have found the Messiah. Turn the Hebrew words into
Greek and cry out: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

1 Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – NY -1993 – pg 72-73.3

Vigils Reading - SS Maur & Placid
2024-01-15
SAINTS MAUR AND PLACID
From the Dialogues of St Gregory the Great2
◊◊◊
The holy man, St Benedict, having returned to Subiaco, long continued to
shine by his virtue and miracles, and assembled a great number of solitaries
who consecrated themselves to the service of God, so that, with the aid of our
Lord Jesus Christ, he built twelve monasteries, placing in each twelve Religious
with an Abbot to govern them. He retained with himself only a few of his
disciples who, he thought, still needed his presence to be better formed to
perfection. It was at this time that many persons in Rome, conspicuous for their
nobility and virtue, began to visit him and offer their children that he might
mold them to piety, and teach them to live for God alone. Aequitas and
Tertullus, who had the honor of being Roman Patricians, came to see the saint
and confided to his care their two children; the former was distinguished for
spotless innocence of life, and merited, though young, to be chosen by his
master to assist him in his functions. As to Placid, being only a boy, he was
subject to the weaknesses inseparable from tender age…
The venerable Benedict being one day in his cell, the boy Placid…went out
to fetch water from the lake, but, when dipping his pitcher into the water, not
taking sufficient heed, his body followed the vessel and he fell into the lake. The
waves immediately bore him out from the land as far as the usual flight of an
arrow. The saint, who was in his cell, knew of the sad accident at that very
instant, and at once calling Maurus, his disciple, said to him: “Brother Maurus,
run with all speed; the boy who went to fetch water fell into the lake and has
been already carried off a long distance.”
The thing wonderful and unheard of since that instance of the Apostle
Peter! Maurus having asked and received the blessing, ran to the lake to execute
the order of his Abbot. Thinking he was treading upon dry land, he advanced to
the very place whither the waves had carried off the child, and laying hold of
him by the hair, brought him back with great haste to the shore. Having reached
the land, he began to reflect on what he did, and casting a look behind, saw that
he had been running over the waves. He was astonished thereat and very much
afraid, seeing that he had performed what he would not have dared to undertake
if he had been aware of what he was doing. Having returned to the monastery,
he narrated the whole occurrence to the Abbot. The venerable Benedict did not
attribute this miracle to his own merit, but to the obedience of the disciple.
Maurus, on the other hand, said he was only fulfilling a command, and could
have no share in a miracle which he unconsciously performed.
During this pious dispute arising from the humility of the holy Abbot and
his disciple, the boy rescued from peril presented himself as arbitrator, and put
an end to the contest thus: “When I was being drawn out of the waves, I saw the
Abbot’s robe above my head, and it seemed to me that it was he who delivered
me from the water.”
…
An ancient tradition says that the monk Maurus was sent into Gaul by the
same holy Father. There, according to the same tradition, he founded a
monastery at Glannofol; after having governed it for a long time, he died in the
Lord in a good old age, renowned for his sanctity and miracles… while Placid
died a martyr’s death in Sicily in 541, a few years before the death of St Benedict
himself.

2 from the LITURGICAL READINGS compiled and adapted at St Meinrad’s Abbey (St Meinrad , IN, 1941) pp. 311-313.5

Vigils Reading
2024-01-16
DIVINE LOVE
From “The Four Hundred Chapters of Love” by Maximus the Confessor3
◊◊◊
When through love the mind is ravished by divine knowledge…then,
according to the divine Isaiah, it comes in consternation to a realization of its
own lowliness and says with conviction the words of the prophet: Woe is me for
I am stricken at heart; because being a man having unclean lips, I dwell in the
midst of a people with unclean lips and I have seen with my eyes the King, the
Lord of hosts. The one who loves God cannot help but love also every man as
himself even though he is displeased by the passions of those who are not yet
purified. Thus when he sees their conversion and amendment, he rejoices with
an unbounded and unspeakable joy.
The passionate soul is impure, filled with thoughts of lust and hatred. The
one who sees a trace of hatred in his own heart through any fault at all toward
any man whoever he may be makes himself completely foreign to the love for
God, because love for God in no way admits of hatred for man.
“The one who
loves me,” says the Lord,
“will keep my commandments” and “this is my
commandment, that you love one another.” Therefore the one who does not love
his neighbor is not keeping the commandment, and the one who does not keep
the commandment is not able to love the Lord…
The one who has acquired divine love in himself does not grow weary of
closely following after the Lord his God, as the divine Jeremiah says; rather he
endures nobly every reproachful hardship and outrage without thinking any evil
of anyone. When you are insulted by someone or offended in any matter, then
beware of angry thoughts, lest by distress they sever you from charity and place
you in the region of hatred. Whenever you are suffering intensely from insult or
disgrace, realize that this can be of great benefit to you, for disgrace is God’s way
of driving vainglory out of you.
As the memory of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does
not bring about the illumination of knowledge in the soul. As the light of the sun
attracts the healthy eye, so does the knowledge of God draw the pure mind to
itself naturally through love… The soul is pure when it has been freed from the
passions and rejoices unceasingly in divine love… For he recalls his former
worldly life and different transgressions and the temptations bedeviling him
from his youth, and how the Lord delivered him from all these things and made
him pass from this life of passion to a divine life. And so with fear he receives
love as well, ever thankful with deep humility to the benefactor and pilot of our
life.

Maximus the Confessor. Selected Writings. Trans. George C. Berthold. New York: Paulist Press, 1985. 36-40.7

Vigils Reading - St Anthony
2024-01-17
HE KEPT HIS HEART WATCHFUL
From the writing of Nikiphorus the monk4
◊◊◊
Once two brothers were on their way to visit St Antony, but on the journey
their water gave out and one of them died and the other was near to dying.
Unable to go any further, he too lay down on the ground and awaited death. But
Antony, seated on the mountain, called two monks who happened to be with
him and said to them urgently, ‘Take a jar of water and go as fast as you can
along the road leading to Egypt: two men were on their way here, but one has
just died and the other will also die if you don’t hurry. This was revealed to me
as I was praying.’
The monks set off; and finding the one man dead they buried him, while
they revived the other with water and brought him to the elder. It was about a
day’s journey off. Should you ask why Antony did not speak before the first man
died, I would say that the question is inapt: the decision about death rested not
with Antony but with God, and He allowed the first man to die and sent a
revelation to St Antony about the second. The miracle happened to St Antony,
and to him alone, because while seated on the mountain he kept
his heart watchful, and so the Lord showed him what was happening a long way
off.
Do you see how through watchfulness of heart St Antony was able to
perceive God…? For it is in the heart that God manifests Himself to
the intellect…as fire that purifies the lover and then as light that illumines
the intellect and renders it godlike.
We cannot be reconciled with God and assimilated to Him unless we
first…enter into ourselves, in so far as this lies within our power. For the miracle
consists in tearing ourselves away from the distraction and vain concerns of the
world and in this way relentlessly seizing hold of the kingdom of heaven within
us
4 https://orthodoxchurchfathers.com/fathers/philokalia/nikiphoros-the-monk-from-the-life-of-our-holy-father-
antony.html. Accessed: Jan. 11, 2024.9

Vigils Reading
2024-01-18
UNCEASING PRAYER AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE
By Elder Paisios of Mount Athos5
◊◊◊
In regards to unceasing prayer, if you want, use a simple method if you
are a simple person… Unfortunately, some people don’t have as their aim the
putting off of their old man, repentance, humility and the placing of asceticism
as a supporting means for the sanctification of their soul in order to sense deeply
their sinfulness and feel profoundly the need for God’s mercy, and say with
sweet pain, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. Instead, they begin with arid
ascesis and pursue divine pleasures and divine lights… When they believe that
they have become holy, immediately the enemy approaches…
Therefore, my brother, ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing
else, neither for divine lights, nor miracles, nor prophecies, nor spiritual gifts –
– nothing but repentance. Repentance will bring you humility, humility will
bring the Grace of God, and God will have in His Grace everything you need for
your salvation, or anything you might need to help another soul.
Things are very simple and there is no reason why we should complicate
them. If we regard matters in this way, we will feel…prayer as a necessity and
will not grow weary. We will…feel a sweet pain and then Christ Himself will
shed His sweet consolation inside our heart.
Thus prayer does not tire but invigorates. It is tiresome only when we do
not enter into its meaning and do not understand the sense given it by our Holy
Fathers. Once we comprehend the need of God’s mercy, the desire of this
hunger will compel us, without pressuring ourselves in prayer, to open our
mouth like a nursing infant, and we will feel, simultaneously, all the security
and joy of a baby in its mother’s embrace…
We should be in frequent contact with God and, if possible, in “constant
vigilance” for more safety in order to continuously have an abundance of divine
strength. Of course, the enemy does not rest and is constantly attacking us in a
variety of ways. However, we can turn it to our advantage, and render him into
an unpaid worker, who assists us in our unceasing prayer. For example, when
he brings us evil or blasphemous thoughts, we should start the Jesus Prayer and
say to the devil: “It’s good that you pricked at me, for I had forgotten my Christ”.
When we do this, even if we were to keep the devil near, he won’t remain, since
he is not so dumb as to work for free and to bring benefit to our soul.
If we want to engage in fine and painstaking work, let us take, in order,
the most difficult passions we have, and whatever fault we detect during the
day, and humbly ask for God’s mercy so that we can be redeemed… In this way,
the passions are uprooted…
When someone first gets to know himself and becomes conscious of his
great sinfulness and the great benevolence of God, his heart breaks even if it is
as hard as granite. Then, real tears flow naturally and man does not pressure
himself neither in prayer nor in order to shed tears. Humility and <gratitude>
continually work to “drill” on his heart, and the wellsprings increase, and God’s
hand constantly caresses His hardworking grateful child.

5 Elder Paisios of Mount Athos. Epistles. Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Monastery “Evangelist John the
Theologian, 2002. 71-73.11

Vigils Reading
2024-01-19
THE WAY OF REPENTANCE
From the writing of Jacob Boehme6
◊◊◊
When…a man finds within himself a hunger, so that he would eagerly repent,
but finds in himself no proper sorrow for his past sins, and yet a hunger for sorrow
(as the poor, captured soul ever groans, fears itself and acknowledges itself as guilty
of sins before God’s judgement), he can do no better than to gather sense, mind
and all reason together into one and…when he feels a desire to repent he is to make
a powerful resolution, that in this hour, in this minute, he will enter into
repentance, and leave his godless way, give no attention to any worldly power and
honour and, if it must be, leave all for true repentance and esteem nothing.
And [he] is to make such a firm and stern resolution for himself that he will
never again leave [repentance], even if the whole world considers him a fool; and
that he will wish to lead his mind obediently away from the beauties and pleasures
of this world into the sufferings and death of Christ, under His cross, and order his
whole hope to the coming life and enter into Christ’s vineyard, in righteousness
and truth to do God’s will, and begin and complete all his work in this world in
Christ’s spirit and will. For the sake of Christ’s word and promise by which He
promised us heavenly reward, he should eagerly suffer and bear all misfortune and
suffering, so that he may be counted among the community of Christ’s children…by
the blood of Jesus Christ.
He is strongly to consider, and completely wrap his soul [in the idea] that he
has made the resolution to gain the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that according
to His true promise God will give him the noble pledge of the Holy Spirit as a
beginning so that in himself he might be reborn in Christ’s humanity, according to
the heavenly divine being, and that the spirit of Christ might renew his mind…and
strengthen his weak faith so that in his soul’s desire… he might receive…from the
sweet fountain, Jesus Christ, the water of eternal life…
He is to consider fully the great love of God, that God does not wish the death
of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. And he is also to [consider] how
Christ, in a friendly manner, calls poor sinners to Himself, since He desires to
revive them; and that God sent His son into the world to seek and to make holy
that which was lost, the poor, repentant, converted sinner; and how, for the sake
of the poor sinner, He gave His life unto death, and for him died in our humanity,
taken on [for us].
He is to consider strongly also that God in Christ Jesus will more readily hear
[him] and receive him into grace than he himself wants to come to Him; and that
in the love of Christ, in the very precious Name JESUS, God can desire no evil, that
there is no glimpse of wrath in this Name, but that He is the highest and deepest
love and faithfulness… so that He would pour His sweet love into us so that the
Father’s wrath, which was enflamed in us, might be put out and changed into love.
All of this occurred for the sake of the poor sinner so that he might again gain the
open gate of grace.
In such a consideration he should firmly imagine that at this hour and
moment he stands in the presence of the Holy Trinity, and that God is truly present
in him and outside of him… Thus, he is to know and believe for certain that he
stands, with his soul, before the face of Jesus Christ, before the holy Godhead, and
that his soul has turned from God’s face; and that he now, this hour, wishes to turn
his soul’s eyes and desire to God, and, with the poor, prodigal and returning son
[desires to] come to the Father.

6 Jacob Boehme. The Way to Christ. Trans. Peter Erb. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. 31-34.13

Vigils Reading - Memorial of BVM
2024-01-20
ALL WHO HUNGER AND THIRST
From a homily by Ogier of Locedio7
◊◊◊
How sweet and delightful it is, ever to call to mind our heavenly mother,
that fragrant spikenard, about whom roses waft the scent of Paradise!… For
thus sang Mary, Queen of the world and Mother of Humility: He cast down the
mighty from their thrones and raised up the lowly… Therefore be meek of
heart, you who wear the habit of humility: let what your habit professes
outwardly preserve you inwardly in virtue… Thus you will be pleasing to God,
who emptied himself and, accepting the form of a servant, gave himself up to
suffer, dying on the rood, lest humankind die and for ever live in the abyss of
savage cruelty…
Whatever your past, take no pleasure in what is displeasing to your
Creator, but in him alone, whom you have vowed yourself to please in all your
actions. If you have lived chastely, if you have not strafed the citadel of humility
with bolts of pride, then you will be comely and beautiful in the sight of the Most
High. He himself — who filled the hungry with good things and sent away the
wealthy empty-handed –– will find it good to be your spouse.
How blessed the hungry whom the Lord fills with his lasting goodness…
All who hunger and thirst for justice will be fed by the Bread of Angels that came
down from heaven to give life to the world. These hungry ones Jesus does not
turn away empty-handed; he satisfies their desires with his goodness, by
enriching them with the good of everlasting life. They are indeed rich when they
share in the wealth of joy in the glory of heaven. There true wealth lies, where
no one is wretched or poor; for there dwell glory and life, utter joy, and total
bliss. With such good things the author of goodness will fill those who in this
life have rid themselves of sin, who suffer torment in order to possess Him, and
who find no pleasure except in the true joy of God, and the supreme bliss of
Christ.
He enriches holy paupers with his ineffable goodness, but he
impoverishes the wicked wealthy, and sends them away empty. Death separates
the rich from their passing wealth, but when the poor of Christ pass on, they
gain eternity… The true pauper has nothing of mortal sin. Even if he has earthly
riches, he reckons them as worthless, because he does not yet possess the true
wealth of the Lord Jesus. To see him, to hold him: this is the desire towards
which he labors with all his heart.
The rich…are those whose lives are doubly mortal: they covet passing
gains, and neglect to live for God. O what an evil wealth is the enormity of sin
and vice, which plunders the soul of divine riches! The greater the accumulation
of such wealth, the more its possessors will be cast down and despised by Christ,
who will dismiss them empty-handed, saying: Depart from me, workers of
iniquity; in truth I tell you, I do not know you!… Let us rid ourselves of worldly
wealth and sin. Let the rich whose true wealth is Christ bestow their goods on
the poor and needy, so that they—and we—may join the company of the angels
in the Kingdom of his Father, and he says those wondrous words of welcome:
Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you before the
beginning of the world… This promise of eternal inheritance knows no end, for
believers will want for nothing at the end of time, but will enjoy beatific glory
for ever and beyond. May the Mother of glory deign through her merits to bring
us to that bliss.

7 Ogier of Locedio. In Praise of God’s Holy Mother. CF 70. Trans. D. Martin Jenni. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian
Publications, 2006. 111, 120-122, 128.15

Skema: Week 3 of Ordinary Time
2024-01-21
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
January 21 – 27, 2024

Sun
21
Mon
22
Tue
23
Wed
24
Thu
25
Fri
26
Sat
27

Office
3rd Sunday
Weekday
Weekday
St Francis de Sales
Conversion of St Paul
SS Robert, Alberic & Stephen
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Num 20:1-13; 21:4-9
Num 21:21-35
Num 22:2-21
Num 22:22-40
Acts 26:1-23
Lev 26:3-13
Num 22:41-23:12

Lauds
Eccles 5:1-6
Eccles 5:7-11
Eccles 5:12-19
Eccles 6:1-6
Sir 39:1-10
Ezek 34:23-31
Eccles 6:7-12

Mass
68
317
318
319
519
606, 322, 815.8
322

1st
Jon 3:1-5, 10
2 Sam 5:1-7, 10
2 Sam 6:12b-15, 17-19
2 Sam 7:4-17
Acts 22:3-16
Sir 44:1,10-15
2 Sam 12:1-7a, 10-17

2nd
1 Cor 7:29-31

Heb 11:1-2, 8-16

Gospel
Mark 1:14-20
Mark 3:22-30
Mark 3:31-35
Mark 4:1-20
Mark 16:15-18
Mark 10:24b-30
Mark 4:35-41

Vespers
2 Cor 7:5-10
2 Cor 7:11-16
2 Cor 8:1-7
2 Cor 8:8-15
1 Jn 4:13-21
2 Cor 4:7-18
2 Cor 9:6-15

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
2024-01-21
THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S LOVE
From a commentary by St Caesarius of Arles1
◊◊◊
In today’s gospel, beloved, we heard the exhortation to repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now the kingdom of heaven is Christ, who, as we
know, is the judge of good and evil and scrutinizes the motives for all our
actions. We should therefore do well to forestall God’s judgment by freely
acknowledging our sins and correcting our wrongheaded attitudes; for by
failing to seek out the needful remedies and apply them, we place ourselves in
danger. And our knowledge that we have to account for the motives behind our
shortcomings makes the need for such a change of heart even greater.
We must recognize the greatness of God’s love for us; so generous is it
that he is willing to be appeased by the amends we make for our evil deeds,
provided only that we freely admit them before he has himself condemned
them. And though his judgments are always just, he gives us a warning before
he passes them, so as not to be compelled to apply the full rigor of his justice. It
is not for nothing that our God draws floods of tears from us; he does so to incite
us to recover by penance and a change of heart what we had previously let slip
through carelessness. God is well aware that human judgment is often at fault,
that we are prone to fleshly sins and deceitful speech. He therefore shows us the
way of repentance, by which we can compensate for damage done and atone for
our faults. And so to be sure of obtaining forgiveness, we ought to be always
bewailing our guilt. Yet no matter how many wounds our human nature has
sustained, we are never justified in giving ourselves over to despair, for our Lord
is magnanimous enough to pour out his compassion abundantly on all who
need it.
But perhaps one of you will say: “What have I to fear? I have never done
anything wrong.” On this point hear what the apostle John says: If we claim to
be sinless, we deceive ourselves and are blind to the truth. So let no one lead
you astray; the most pernicious kind of sin is the failure to recognize one’s own
sinfulness. Once let wrongdoers admit their guilt and repent of it, and this
change of heart will bring about their reconciliation with the Lord; but no sinner
is more in need of the tears of others than the one who thinks he has nothing to
weep for. So I implore you, beloved, to follow the advice given you by the holy
Scripture and humble yourselves beneath the all-powerful hand of God.
As none of us can be wholly free from sin, so let none of us fail to make
amends; here too we do ourselves great harm if we presume our own innocence.
It may be that some are less guilty than others, but no one is entirely free from
fault; there may be degrees of guilt, but no one can escape it altogether. Let
those then whose offenses are more grievous be more earnest in seeking
pardon; and let those who have so far escaped contamination by the more
heinous crimes pray that they may never be defiled by them….
1
Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1999 – pg 74-75.

Blessed Madeleine Delbrel
2024-01-22
WHEREVER LOVE IS PRESENT
From the writing of Blessed Madeleine Delbrêl 2
◊◊◊
Anywhere we are, God is there, too. The space where we join him is the
place of our love, a love that does not want to be separated from God, that wants
to encounter God. Whoever has not tried to know who Jesus is – truly, fully,
presently – will not desire him. He will desire him less than a child desires an
orange from the grocery store.
But those who have struggled to climb toward the mystery of God, who
thought him possible, who believed him possible, who, in the end, believed him
to be true, who found the joy of joys in this truth; those who had to make room
in themselves for still more joy in knowing that this mystery was made
perceptible to the eyes of men in a man who was both man and God; those who
know that this man will remain with them until the end of time, with his body,
with his blood, with his glory, those who believed and who still believe in all
this, we who believe it – will we lack the desire to find him wherever he says he
can be found? To knock down or pierce through all the obstacles that would
keep us from being with him forever, ever more deeply? It is this desire that
makes prayer and that makes it anywhere. Wherever love is present, it carries
within itself this desire. To love God enough to want to be with him, to carry
within ourselves the desire of this love, gives us strength enough to cut through
even the hardest, most hectic of lives, so that in prayer we can reach the One we
love.
A few minutes of such prayer will give us to God and give us God more
than hours of powerful meditation if they are not preceded by a free and living
desire. The retreat to the desert can be…at the end of the day, after we have
spent all day “digging” a well toward these few brief moments; in contrast, this
same desert could be without retreat if we put off our desire to meet the Lord.
Our comings and goings – and not only the big ones, but also those we make
from one room to the next – the moments when we are required to wait…are
moments of prayer prepared for us, as long as we are prepared for them. To
waste them through lack of preparation can rightly be called a small fault. But
if one day we find that, with the Lord, it is not a question of sin but one of love,
perhaps we will realize that we have been strange lovers.
2 Delbrêl, Madeleine. The Dazzling Light of God. Trans. Mary Dudro Gordon. San Francisco: Ignatius Press,
2023. 119-120.
