Weekday
2023-11-20
SEE YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU
From a homily by St Gregory the Great 2
◊◊◊
And it came to pass, as Jesus was approaching Jericho, that a blind man was
sitting by the roadside and begging… Jesus, stopping, asked him “What do you
want me to do for you?” He answered, “Lord, let me see!”…
But let us listen to what happened while the blind man shouted, “Those who
walked before reprimanded him to silence him.” What do those who precede the
arrival of Jesus represent, if not the crowd of carnal desires and the tempest of
vices, who, before the coming of Jesus in our heart, dispel our thoughts by their
assaults and hinder the calls of our prayer? Often, indeed, when we want to return
to the Lord after sinning, and strive to overcome…the vices of which we have been
guilty, the images of our past faults are pressed into our hearts; they blunt the tip
of our mind, disturb our soul and stifle the voice of our prayer. Yes, “those who
walked before reprimanded him to silence him,” since before the coming of Jesus
into our hearts, our past faults, whose memory strikes our thought, throw us into
trouble in the midst of our prayer.
Let’s hear what the blind man did then, before finding the light again… “He
cried out,” Son of David, have mercy on me!” See, he whom the crowd reprimands
in order to silence him cries again and again; it is thus that the more the storm of
carnal thoughts torments us, the more we must intensify our prayer… The crowd
wants to prevent us from shouting, since we often suffer even in prayer the
harassing memory of our sins. But it is necessary that the voice of our heart
persists with all the more force that the resistance which it meets is harder, in
order to control the storm of our guilty thoughts, and to touch, by the very excess
of its importunity, the merciful ears of the Lord… When we turn our minds from
this world to turn to God, and apply ourselves to prayer… we endure prayer as an
unwelcome and painful thing, the very thing we had done with delight…
But if we persevere insistently in our prayer, we stop in our soul Jesus who
passes… Indeed, as long as the crowds of images oppress us in prayer, we have the
impression that Jesus is passing; but when we persevere insistently in our prayer,
Jesus stops to give us light, since God is fixed in our heart, and the lost light is
restored to us…
Let us also notice what he says to the blind man who approaches: “What do
you want me to do for you?”… He wants us to ask for things, although in advance
he knows we will ask for them and he will give them to us. He exhorts us to pray
to the point of being unwelcome, who says, however, “Your heavenly Father knows
what you need before you ask him”… So the blind man immediately adds, “Lord,
let me see!” What the blind man asks of the Lord is not gold, but light. He does not
care to ask anything other than light, for even if it is possible for a blind man to
possess something, he cannot, without light, see what he has.
Let us imitate, dear brothers, this man… Let us not ask the Lord for deceitful
riches, earthly gifts, nor transient honors, but light; not the light circumscribed by
space, limited by time, interrupted by night… but let us ask for this light …which
does not begin with any beginning and is bounded by no end. But the way to reach
this light is faith. It is therefore with reason that the Lord responds immediately to
the blind man to whom he will give light: “See! Your faith saved you. “…
2 Accessed online: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/.

Presentation of the BVM
2023-11-21
THE VIRGIN AND THE TEMPLE
From the writing of Fr Yves Congar 3
◊◊◊
The only occasion on which the Gospels expressly mention the Virgin Mary
in connection with the Temple are in the account of her Purification and of the
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple
after four days’ absence on his part and three anxious searching by his parents. To
these very brief indications, the piety of Christians very soon added the idea of the
presentation of Mary in the Temple at the age of three to be consecrated to the
service of God. We are dealing here with a symbolical representation of a
profound spiritual reality about which the tradition and the doctrine of the Church
provide us with valid information. Mary, predestined to be the Mother of Jesus,
true God and true man, and to be worthy of her vocation, was prepared by the gift
of exceptional graces and lived with unfailing fidelity a most pure life of inner
consecration to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As the type of all faithful
souls and of the Church herself, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her
life the “presentation” which, for each one of us, is to begin by the service of faith
and to be consummated in heaven.
It is obvious that the tradition and doctrine of the Church may, without
falling prey to the imaginary productions of the apocrypha, propound statements
concerning the status of the Mother of God in relation either to the Jewish
messianic temple going far beyond what we are explicitly told in the three short
passages from the Gospel which narrate the incidents mentioned above. If Mary
is the Mother of God, she has a special relation to the body of Christ which is the
true temple — to his physical body and doubtless also, in a certain sense, to his
body the Church. She is herself a temple of God in a quite specific and sublime
way, both because Christ was within her from the moment of his conception until
that of his birth, and because of the exceptional spiritual gifts she received in
preparation for her divine motherhood and as a reward for her free acceptance of
this vocation, not only after the Annunciation but during the whole of her life.
Hence the liturgy — the Oriental liturgy in particular — shows a profound
understanding of the mystery of Mary when it constantly uses the texts concerning
the Temple and the tabernacle in order to express it.
3 The Mystery of the Temple,Westminster(Maryland) 1962, p.254-255.

St. Cecilia
2023-11-22
THE GRACE OF BEING A MARTYR
From “Story of a Soul” by St Thérèse of Lisieux 4
◊◊◊
It was night when we arrived and as we were all asleep we were awakened
by the shouts of the porters crying: “Rome! Rome!” It was not a dream, I was in
Rome!… One of my sweetest memories was the one that filled me with delight
when I saw the Colosseum. I was finally gazing upon that arena where so many
martyrs had shed their blood for Jesus… One thought raced through my mind: get
down into the arena!… I cried to Céline: “Come quick! We can get through!” We
crossed the barrier where there was an opening, the fallen masonry hardly
reaching up to the barrier, and we were climbing down over the ruins that
rumbled under our feet… We…threw ourselves on our knees on this sacred soil,
and our souls were united in the same prayer. My heart was beating hard when
my lips touched the dust stained with the blood of the first Christians. I asked for
the grace of being a martyr for Jesus and felt that my prayer was answered!… Papa,
seeing us so happy, didn’t have the heart to scold us and I could easily see he was
proud of our courage…
The Catacombs, too, left a deep impression on me. They were exactly as I
had imagined them when reading the lives of the martyrs. After having spent part
of the afternoon in them, it seemed to me we were there for only a few moments,
so sacred did the atmosphere appear to me. We had to carry off some souvenir
from the Catacombs; having allowed the procession to pass on a little, Céline and
Thérèse slipped down together to the bottom of the ancient tomb of St. Cecilia and
took some earth which was sanctified by her presence.
Before my trip to Rome I didn’t have any special devotion to this saint, but
when I visited her house transformed into a church, the site of her martyrdom,
when learning that she was proclaimed patroness of music not because of her
beautiful voice or her talent for music, but in memory of the virginal song she sang
to her heavenly Spouse hidden in the depths of her heart, I felt more than devotion
for her; it was the real tenderness of a friend. She became my saint of predilection,
my intimate confidante. Everything in her thrilled me, especially her
abandonment, her limitless confidence that made her capable of virginizing souls
who had never desired any other joys but those of the present life. St. Cecilia is like
the bride in the Canticle; in her I see “a choir in an armed camp.” Her life was
nothing else but a melodious song in the midst of the greatest trials, and this does
not surprise me because “the Gospel rested on her heart,” and in her heart reposed
the Spouse of Virgins!…
Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me
within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot
confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all. Like
You, my Adorable Spouse, I would be scourged and crucified. I would die flayed
like St. Bartholomew. I would be plunged into boiling oil like St. John; I would
undergo all the tortures inflicted upon the martyrs. With St. Agnes and St. Cecilia,
I would present my neck to the sword, and like Joan of Arc, my dear sister, I would
whisper at the stake Your Name, O JESUS. When thinking of the torments which
will be the lot of Christians at the time of Anti-Christ, I feel my heart leap with joy
and I would that these torments be reserved for me. Jesus, Jesus, if I wanted to
write all my desires, I would have to borrow Your Book of Life, for in it are reported
all the actions of all the saints, and I would accomplish all of them for You.
4
Story of A Soul: The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux. Trans. John Clarke, O.C.D. Washington, DC: ICS Publications,
1996. 163-165, 222-223. PDF ONLINE VERSION.

St. Columban/Thanksgiving
2023-11-23
THE GIFT OF HIMSELF
From “The Reed of God” by Caryll Houselander 5
◊◊◊
On the night before He died Christ took bread into His hands, blessed and
broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: “This is my Body.” The Blessed
Sacrament is Christ, the whole Christ. He was giving us Himself… Yet, in giving
Himself to the world, He deliberately chose to emphasize the body. Why? The
body is, for us, the means by which we can give ourselves wholly. We say: “God,
my thoughts are with you,” or “My soul goes with you.” And we know that, though
something of ourself is with the traveler, essentially we remain separate from
him… But when we give our body willingly to another as the means of deliberate
self-donation, then our union with the other is complete…
We surrender our intimacy, the secret of ourselves, with the giving of our
body; and we cannot give it without our will, our thoughts, our minds, and our
souls. Christ surrendered the secret of Himself to each one of us when He gave us
His Body. In Holy Communion this surrender of the secret of Himself goes on.
“With desire,” He said, “have I desired this hour.” The hour when He was to
consecrate bread, in order that not only to the whole race would He give His Spirit,
but to each individual, the gift of Himself. He had longed for it – that is what the
phrase means; longed for the moment when He would give us the Body that Mary
had given to Him in Communion. He waited thirty-three years in time for the Last
Supper; two thousand years for me…
He gave Himself through His body from the beginning to the end in tears, in
sweat, in weariness; with spoken words, with glances of love; walking the dusty
roads, visiting the homes of His friends and His enemies; in the gift of His blood.
The part that the pain and privation of His body played in our redemption we
know and meditate often: the poverty, the toil, the fasting, the crucifixion. We
think less often of the joy that should be ours through Christ’s body… No one ever
enjoyed life as he did. He gathered up the color, sound, touch, meaning of
everything about him and united it all to the exquisite sensitiveness, the most pure
capacity for delight.
Most people know the sheer wonder that goes with falling in love, how not
only does everything in heaven and earth become new, but the lover himself
becomes new. It is literally like the sap rising in the tree, putting forth new green
shoots of life. The capacity for joy is doubled, the awareness of beauty sharpened,
the power to do and enjoy creative work increased immeasurably. The heart is
enlarged, there is more sympathy, more warmth, in it than ever before. The lover’s
mind is vibrant with his new life, every sense quickened; and while his blood races,
an immense power of tenderness makes him so much the ruler and master of all
this passion of joy, that he is able to bestow it on another with such restraint, such
gentleness, that however frail she is, she can receive it…
Christ on earth was a human being in love. His love gave life to all loves. He
was love itself. He infused his life with all the grace of its outward and inward
joyfulness, with all its poetry and song, with all its gaiety and laughter and grace.
With His body He united Himself to the world… It is not in making our flesh
unfeeling that we hallow God’s name on earth but in offering it to God burning
with the flame of life. Everything can be put into the fire that Christ came to kindle;
and whether it be the bitter wood of sorrow or the substance of joy, it will burn
upwards with the same splendor of light.
5 The Reed of God, NY 1944, 84-87, 90.

St. Andrew & Companions
2023-11-24
THE MARTYRS’ SHARE IN CHRIST’S VICTORY
From a letter of St Paul Le-Bao-Tinh 6
◊◊◊
I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials
besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join
with me in his praises, “for his mercy is forever.” The prison here is a true image
of everlasting hell: to cruel tortures of every kind; shackles, iron chains, manacles;
are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts,
swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the
three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from
these tribulations and made them sweet, “for his mercy is forever.”
In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the
grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone — Christ is with me.
Our Master bears the whole weight of the cross, leaving me only the tiniest, last
bit. He is not a mere onlooker in my struggle, but a contestant and the victor and
champion in the whole battle. Therefore upon his head is placed the crown of
victory, and his members also share in his glory.
How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins,
and their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, “who are enthroned above
the Cherubim and Seraphim”? Behold, the pagans have trodden your cross
underfoot! Where is your glory? As I see all this, I would, in the ardent love I have
for you, prefer to be torn limb from limb and to die as a witness to your love. O
Lord, show your power, save me, sustain me, that in my infirmity your power may
be shown and may be glorified before the nations: grant that I may not grow weak
along the way, and so allow your enemies to hold their heads up in pride.
Beloved brothers, as you hear all these things may you give endless thanks
in joy to God, from whom every good proceeds; bless the Lord with me, “for his
mercy is forever.”… For “God chose what is weak in the world to confound the
strong, God chose what is low and despised” to confound the noble. Through my
mouth he has confused the philosophers who are disciples of the wise of this
world, “for his mercy is forever.”I write these things to you in order that your faith
and mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor toward the
throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart.
Beloved brothers, for your part “so run that you may attain the crown,” put
on the “breastplate of faith” and take up “the weapons” of Christ “for the right hand
and for the left,” as my patron Saint Paul has taught us. “It is better for you to enter
life with one eye or crippled” than, with all your members intact, to be cast away.
Come to my aid with your prayers, that I may have the strength to fight according
to the law, and indeed “to fight the good fight” and to fight until the end and so
finish the race. We may not again see each other in this life, but we will have the
happiness of seeing each other again in the world to come, when, standing at the
throne of the spotless Lamb, we will together join in singing his praises and exult
for ever in the joy of our triumph.
6 Le Clerge Tonkinois et Ses Pretres Martyrs, A. Launay (Paris: Paris Foreign Mission Society, 1925), pp. 80-83.

St. Catherine of Alexandria
2023-11-25
ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
From the writing of St Mechthild of Hackeborn7
◊◊◊
As the Soul wondered what praise she should offer God to honor his saints,
he told her, “Praise me because I am the crown of all saints.” She immediately
began to praise and bless the most blessed, ever-venerable Trinity as best she
could because he deigned to be the crown and marvelous dignity of the saints –
and by a singular privilege, he is the golden crown of all virgins. At once she saw
that the glorious Virgin and all the saints were wearing crowns of inconceivable
beauty. No words could express their glory… Now it is true that the beauty and
glory of all the saints is perfected by the blood of Christ, his innocence, and his
other virtues; and there is a tender intimacy and delight between the Lord and
every soul. Yet, by a special privilege, virgins enjoy God with a more delightful
intimacy, a greater pleasure, and a sweeter taste because he is their bridegroom…
On the Feast of the illustrious virgin Catherine, she appeared to the Soul in
a robe all patterned with golden wheels. At the top were two golden hands that
together held up the garment, symbolizing the blissful, undivided union of God
with her soul. Christ’s handmaid reverently greeted her with the antiphon
Hail, beautiful virgin. After this she asked, “Tell me, I pray, what is meant by that
verse we sing to you, whose face and beauty the Lord desired? What is that face of
yours that the Lord desired?”
“My face is the image of the venerable Trinity, which the Lord desired in me
because I had never corrupted it with serious sins. My beauty is that exceptional
beauty that Christ has given his faithful, inexpressibly beautifying them with the
color of his blood. And you should know that every time a person receives
communion, that beauty is renewed and increased. For example, someone who
receives communion even once doubles the beauty in her soul. But if a person
communicates a hundred or a thousand times, she increases the beauty in her soul
a hundred or a thousandfold.”
Then the virgin Mechthild prayed to St. Catherine for someone who was
devoted to her. She replied, “Tell her to recite for me the… antiphon ‘Come my
beloved, come and enter the chamber of your Bridegroom.’… Let her remind me of
the joy I had when Christ the King, my bridegroom, called me with those words.
For when that voice came to my ears, my heart was set ablaze with so much love
and I was dissolved in such unspeakable joy that all the horror of death was
reduced to nothing.”
7 Mechthild of Hackeborn. The Book of Special Grace. Trans. Barbara Newman. New York: Paulist Press, 2017. 111-113.

Skema
2023-11-26
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
34th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (I)
November 26 – December 2, 2023

Sun
26
Mon
27
Tue
28
Wed
29
Thu
30
Fri
1
Sat
2

Office
Christ the King
Weekday
Weekday
Office for Vocations
St Andrew
Office for the Dead
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Isa 33:2-22
Jud 13:12-20
Jud 14:1-10
Jud 14:11-15:13
1 Cor 1:18-2:5
Jud 15:14-16:17
Jud 16:18-25

Lauds
Jerm 23:1-6
Mal 2:10-16
Mal 2:17-3:5
Mal 3:6-12
Deut 30:8-14
Mal 3:13-18
Mal 3:19-24

Mass
160
503
504
505
684
507
508

1st
Ezek 34:11-12, 15-17
Dan 1:1-6, 8-20
Dan 2:31-45
Dan 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28
Rom 10:9-18
Dan 7:2-14
Dan 7:15-27

2nd
1 Cor 15:20-26, 28

Gospel
Matt 25:31-46
Luke 21:1-4
Luke 21:5-11
Luke 21:12-19
Matt 4:18-22
Luke 21:29-33
Luke 21:34-36

Vespers
Rev 3:14-22
2 John 1-6
2 John 7-13
3 John 1-8
1 Thess 2:8-13
3 John 9-15
Rev 1:1-8

Vigils Reading - Sunday Christ the King
2023-11-26
YOUR KINGDOM COME
From a notebook on prayer by Origen1
◊◊◊
The kingdom of God, in the words of our Lord and Savior, does not come for all to see; nor shall they say: Behold, here it is, or behold, there it is; but the kingdom of God is within us, for the word of God is very near, in our mouth and in our heart. Thus it is clear that he who prays for the coming of God’s kingdom prays rightly to have it within himself, that there it may grow and bear fruit and become perfect. For God reigns in each of his holy ones. Anyone who is holy obeys the spiritual laws of God, who dwells in him as in a well-ordered city. The Father is present in the perfect soul, and with him Christ reigns, according to the words: We shall come to him and make our home with him.
Thus the kingdom of God within us, as we continue to make progress, will reach its highest point when the Apostle’s words are fulfilled, and Christ, having subjected all his enemies to himself, will hand over his kingdom to God the Father, that God may be all in all. Therefore, let us pray unceasingly with that disposition of soul which the Word may make divine, saying to our Father who is in heaven: Hallowed be your name; your kingdom come.
Note this too about the kingdom of God. It is not a sharing of justice with iniquity, nor a society of light with darkness, nor a meeting of Christ with Belial. The kingdom of God cannot exist alongside the reign of sin.
Therefore, if we wish God to reign in us, in no way should sin reign in our mortal body; rather we should mortify our members which are upon the earth and bear fruit in the Spirit. There should be in us a kind of spiritual paradise where God may walk and be our sole ruler with his Christ. In us the Lord will sit at the right hand of that spiritual power which we wish to receive. And he will sit there until all his enemies who are within us become his footstool, and every principality, power and virtue in us is cast out.

All this can happen in each one of us, and the last enemy, death, can be destroyed; then Christ will say in us: O death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory? And so, what is corruptible in us must be clothed in holiness and incorruptibility; and what is mortal must be clothed, now that death has been conquered, in the Father’s immortality. Then God will reign in us, and we shall enjoy even now the blessings of rebirth and resurrection

1 Liturgy of the Hours. IV – Ordinary Time – Weeks 18-34. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1975. 576-577.

Vigils Reading
2023-11-27
THOSE WHO WOULD PRAISE GOD OVER ALL
From the commentary by St Cyril of Alexandria2
◊◊◊
And as He looked He saw the rich casting their gifts into the treasury: and He saw also a certain poor widow who cast in thither two farthings: and He said, Of a truth I say to you, that this poor widow has cast in more than they all…
What mouth will suffice for those who would praise God over all!… He counts as offerings, and takes to Himself, what we do for the brethren who are grieved by poverty. For He has said, “Verily I say to you, that whatsoever you have done to one of these little ones, you have done it to Me.”… Our deeds then are indeed done… to those who are our fellows and brethren, but God takes it to Himself, because He is loving to man, and counts it as spiritual fruitfulness, in order that He may have an occasion of showing mercy upon those who habitually thus act, and may free them from all sin. For it is written, that mercy glories against judgment.”…
Some of the rich then drew near, bringing the appointed gifts, and casting their offerings into the treasury: and as being possessed of great wealth, and ample riches, the gifts that each one offered were, as is likely, in themselves large: and yet, on the other hand, small, and not in proportion to the offerers’ means. And so after them there came in a woman oppressed by hard and unendurable poverty, and whose whole hope of sustenance lay in the kindness of the compassionate, and who by scraps scarcely and laboriously gathered a scant and miserable provision, barely sufficient for the day. And finally, she offered two farthings: for it was not possible for her to bestow more, but rather, so to speak, she had stripped herself

of all that she had, and was leaving the sacred courts with empty hands. Wonderful deed! She who constantly asked alms of others, lends to God, making even poverty itself fruitful to His honour.
She therefore vanquishes the rest, and by a just sentence is crowned by God… For it is God that receives, and requites it, not with equal, but rather with overflowing measure. “For good measure, He says, pressed down, and running over, shall they pour into your bosom.” And as the very wise Paul says, “God loves a cheerful giver.”…For love shown to poverty is not unfruitful, but is a debt that will be largely repaid.
We ought therefore to be diligent in fulfilling this duty, as being well assured, that if we distribute with bountiful hand, we shall benefit ourselves: for so the blessed Paul again teaches us saying, “But this, — he that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly: and he that sows with blessings shall also reap in blessings: every man as he is prepared in his heart.” And, as if to cut away the slothfulness of our good exertions, immediately he adds these words; “And God is able to make all grace abound in you, that in every thing always possessing every sufficiency you may abound in every good work…” For he who shows mercy to the poor, shall never be forsaken, but shall be counted worthy rather of indulgence from Christ, the Saviour of us all; by Whom and with Whom, to God the Father, be praise and dominion

2 Patristic Bible Commentary – https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/. Accessed online: Nov. 23, 2023.

Vigils Reading
2023-11-28
TO A PRIEST ABOUT THE WORLD CRISIS
From the “Missionary Letters” of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich3 ◊◊◊
You ask me, O man of God, where did today’s crisis come from and what does it mean? Who am I to be asked about such a great thing? “You should only speak when what you have to say is better than silence,” says St. Gregory the Theologian. And even though I believe that silence would be better right now, I will give you my opinion on it for the sake of my love for you.
Crisis is a Greek word, and it means judgment. In the Holy Scripture this word is used many times. The Psalmist says, “therefore, the godless will not stand up in judgment”. In another place, it says, “I sing of mercy and judgment”. Wise Solomon writes, “the judgment of all comes from the Lord”. The Savior Himself said that “the Father has given all judgment to the Son,” and later “now is the judgment of the world come”. Apostle Peter writes, “for it is time that the judgment of God’s house begin”. Replace the word judgment with crisis and read, “therefore, the godless will not stand up in crisis — I sing of mercy and crisis — the crisis of all comes from the Lord — the Father has given all crisis to the Son — now is the crisis of the world come — for it is time that the crisis of God’s house begin…
Now, the old word is replaced with the new – the understandable with the incomprehensible. When there was a drought, people would say, “God’s judgment!” When there was a flood, “God’s judgment!” When there was a war or a plague, “God’s judgment!” When there was hail, earthquakes, pests, mice and other troubles, again and every time – God’s judgment! And that means – crisis through droughts, crisis through floods, through wars, plagues… Today’s… economic trouble is also

considered by the people to be God’s judgment, but they don’t say judgment, but crisis. So that the trials are multiplied through confusion! For when we used an understandable word, judgment, we also understood the cause of the trouble; we knew the Judge who allowed the trials; and the goal of the trial was also known. However, as soon as we used the word crisis, a word incomprehensible to all and every one, nobody knows how to explain anything — why, where from, to what end? That is the only difference between today’s crisis and those crises of drought, flood, war, plague, insects or other pestilences.
Do you ask me about the cause of today’s crisis or today’s judgment of God? The cause is the same forever and ever. The cause of droughts, floods, plagues, and other whips of mankind is also the cause of today’s crisis. Apostasy of the people. The people have caused this crisis by the sin of apostasy, and God has allowed it in order to awaken the people, that they might come to their senses, become more spiritual and return to Him.
Through modern sins comes modern crisis. God really did use modern means to put some sense into modern people — He struck the banks, the stock markets, finances and currencies. He has overturned the tables of the exchangers around the world, just as He did a long time ago in the Temple in Jerusalem. He has created an unprecedented panic among the merchants and money exchangers. He lifts, casts down, stirs, confuses, frightens. All to make… men wake up, come to their senses and become more spiritual. So that being anchored in the harbors of material security, they might remember their souls; confess their transgressions and bow down to the Almighty God — the Living God. How long will the crisis last? As long as the people’s spirit remains unchanged. Until those haughty people who caused this crisis capitulate before the Almighty. Until the peoples and nations remember to translate the incomprehensible word crisis into their own languages so that they may say “God’s judgment!” You also, honorable father, ought to say “God’s judgment” instead of crisis and everything will be clear

3 Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Missionary Letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich. Trans. Hierdeacon Serafim. Grayslake, IL: New Gracania Monastery, 2008. 16-18.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2023-11-29
BEGINNINGS
From the writing of Servant of God Dorothy Day4
◊◊◊
It was in Chicago, where… in a glimpse of supernatural beauty… Mrs. Barrett, mother of Kathryn and six other little Barretts, who lived upstairs… gave me my first impulse toward Catholicism. It was around ten o’clock in the morning that I went up to Kathryn’s to call for her to come out and play… In the front bedroom Mrs. Barrett was on her knees, saying her prayers. She turned to tell me that Kathryn and the children had all gone to the store and went on with her praying. And I felt a warm burst of love toward Mrs. Barrett that I have never forgotten, a feeling of gratitude and happiness that still warms my heart when I remember her. She had God, and there was beauty and joy in her life.
All through my life, what she was doing remained with me. And though I became oppressed with the problem of poverty and injustice, though I groaned at the hideous sordidness of man’s lot, though there were years when I clung to the philosophy of economic determinism as an explanation of man’s fate, still there were moments when, in the midst of misery and class strife, life was shot through with glory. Mrs. Barrett in her sordid little tenement flat finished her breakfast dishes at ten o’clock in the morning and got down on her knees and prayed to God.
The Harrington family also lived in that block of tenements, and there were nine children, the eldest a little girl of twelve…Mary Harrington… One occasion… she told me of the life of some saint… I can only remember the feeling of lofty enthusiasm I had, how my heart seemed almost bursting with desire to take part in such high endeavor. One verse of the Psalms often comes to my mind: “Enlarge

Thou my heart, O Lord, that Thou mayest enter in.” This was one of those occasions when my small heart was enlarged. I could feel it swelling with love and gratitude to such a good God for such a friendship as Mary’s, for conversation such as hers, and I was filled with lofty ambitions to be a saint, a natural striving, a thrilling recognition of the possibilities of spiritual adventure.
I, too, wanted to do penance for my own sins and for the sins of the whole world, for I had a keen sense of sin, of natural imperfection and earthliness. I often felt clearly that I was being deliberately evil in my attitudes, just as I clearly recognized truth when I came across it. And the thrill of joy that stirred my heart when I came across spiritual truth and beauty never abated, never left me as I grew older.
The sad thing is that one comes across it so seldom. Natural goodness, natural beauty, brings joy and a lifting of the spirit, but it is not enough, it is not the same. The special emotions I am speaking of came only at hearing the word of God. It was as though each time I heard our Lord spoken of, a warm feeling of joy filled me. It was hearing of someone you love and who loves you

4 Day, Dorothy. Selected Writings: By Little and By Little. Ed. Robert Ellsberg. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2005. 9-12.

Vigils Reading - St Andrew
2023-11-30
O CROSS, SO LONG DESIRED
From a sermon by St Bernard5
◊◊◊
Today we celebrate the festival of St Andrew, and if we ponder it lovingly we shall find much for the building up of our souls…
You will surely have noticed how St Andrew, when he reached the place where the cross was prepared, was strengthened in the Lord, and began to utter those burning words, through the Spirit whom he had received in tongues of fire, along with the other apostles… His mouth spoke from the abundance of his heart, and that love which burned in his heart flashed forth as bright flame in his voice. And what did blessed Andrew say, when as I said, he saw in the distance the cross which had been prepared for him? ‘O cross,’ he said, ‘so long desired and now made ready for my eager spirit! With joy and confidence I come to you, therefore do you too receive me gladly, as the disciple of him who hanged on you; for I have always been your lover and have longed to embrace you’…
From where come such hitherto unknown joy and exultation? Whence such constancy in fragility? Whence, in a mere human, such spiritual ardor, such burning love, such vigor of soul? Far be it from us to imagine that it comes from his own strength. It is a perfect gift coming down from the Father of lights, for he alone does great wonders. It was indeed the Spirit, beloved brethren, who came to the aid of his weakness, through whom that love strong as death was poured into our hearts, indeed it is stronger than death. May God give us a share in it!… If we grow weary and sleep at vigils, it is only because of our feeble spirit. If the Holy Spirit is present, doubtless he helps our infirmity; what he did for St Andrew on

the cross and in his death, he will also do for us in our toil and penance: not only will he make these seem no longer burdensome, he will even make them a desire and a delight. ‘My Spirit’, says the Lord, ‘is sweeter than honey’, so that the bitterness of death, no matter how bitter, would not be able to lessen its sweetness…
Let us seek this Spirit, my brethren, let us do our utmost to gain him, or to possess him more fully if he is not already in us. Because ‘anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him’. ‘We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God’.
We must take up our cross with St Andrew, or rather, with him whom St Andrew followed, the Lord our Savior. The cause of his joy and exultation was that he was dying not only for his Lord but also with him, in like manner, that suffering with him he might reign with him. And we too, if we are to be crucified with him, let us listen with the ears of our heart to his voice saying: ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’… For in the cross is our salvation, provided we cleave to it firmly… To us who are being saved it is the power of God’. May he make us worthy too, victoriously to carry to the end whatever cross of repentance we have taken up in his name, he who is God above all, blessed through the ages

5 Deuxieme sermon pour la fete de St Andre, 1, 3-5, 7: PL 183, 509-512.

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2023-12-01
WAIL, FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR
From “Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah” by St Aelred of Rievaulx6 ◊◊◊
The prophecy calls the Day of Judgment the day of the Lord. On that day, the Lord appearing in power and majesty will render to each according to their works. That day, of course, begins for each of us when we leave the body. We will then receive either the firstfruits of beatitude in rest, or the beginning of damnation in the soul, which we will later also receive in the body.
This day will certainly come as desolation from the Lord… For what will that day not lay waste? Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb…and naked I will return there. Where, then, is the wealth, where are the pleasures, where are the heaps of gold or silver, where are the crammed storehouses, flowing from here to there? Where are the fruitful sheep and the fattened cattle, where the silk garments and the warhorses? All things are brought to nothing for the dying person. For when people die, they do not lay claim to anything, nor does their glory go down with them. That day overtakes and devours whatever strength was in their body, whatever enjoyment in their flesh, whatever pleasure in their senses, and whatever pleasing in their habits.
Happy is the mind from which the memory of this day does not fade. Solomon bears witness to how useful it is to meditate on death when he says, Child, always remember your last moments and you will never sin. For who would take pleasure in sinning if that hour were always before their eyes? Therefore, wail in repentance, O sinner, so that you are not compelled to wail in punishment. May the Lord’s Day in your memory make you bitter against the world’s pleasures so that it does not make

you bitter in experience… because…all hands will grow slack, and every human heart will waste away and crumble.
Those who work well send their good works before them to God. After they die, they may rest and boast in their works with slack hands. Likewise, those who work badly send their evil works before them to hell, where they will be forever punished. For torments will powerfully afflict those who are powerful in evil here, the cruel will be cruelly tormented, the stench of sulfur will plague those stinking of lust, the Tartar- ean flames will burn those whom avarice kindles, and never-dying worms will feed on those whom gluttony and drunkenness defile. Pay attention to yourself, O human! For as often as you sin, you send before you to hell the material for punishment with which you could be tormented. You yourself light the fire that will torment you, you provoke the stench that will torture you, you bring to life the worms that will consume you, you prepare the darkness that will blind you. Then your hands will grow slack, so that they are neither fit to work nor strong enough to resist, but can only passively suffer…
Therefore, everyone must wail. The wicked must wail to avoid the damnation that comes from continuing in their wickedness. The lazy and lukewarm must wail so that God does not spit them out of his mouth because they are neither hot nor cold. So too those who do good badly, so that they do not enter the land by two roads. But those who do good well should also wail, so that the hidden Judgment of God does not condemn them. Thus, the prophet says, Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as a desolation it will come from the Lord, so that the good may fear and the wicked may mourn upon glimpsing death nearby. May those who do not wish to wail in punishment thus learn to wail in repentance… Therefore, dear brothers, do not let this hour fade from your memory. If it has been a cause of fear, may it later become a gate of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord

6 St Aelred of Rievaulx. Homilies on the Prophetic Burdens of Isaiah. CF 83. Trans. Lewis White. Collegville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018. 78-83.

Vigils Reading - Memorial of B.V.M.
2023-12-02 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
COME MY SPOUSE, THOU SHALL BE CROWNED
From “The Glories of Mary” by St Alphonsus de Liguori7 ◊◊◊
After Jesus Christ our Saviour had completed, by His death, the work of redemption, the angels ardently desired to possess Him in their heavenly country; hence they were continually supplicating Him in the words… “Arise, O Lord, into Thy resting-place, Thou and the ark which Thou hast sanctified. Come, O Lord, come quickly, now that Thou hast redeemed men; come to Thy kingdom and dwell with us, and bring with Thee the living ark of Thy sanctification, Thy Mother, who was the ark which Thou didst sanctify by dwelling in her womb…”
Saint Anselm also says, ‘that it was precisely for this purpose that the Redeemer was pleased to ascend to heaven before His Mother that is, He did so not only to prepare a throne for her in that kingdom, but also that He might Himself accompany her with all the blessed spirits, and thus render her entry into heaven more glorious and such as became one who was His Mother.’… For this reason the Abbot Guarric supposes the Divine Word thus speaking: ‘To honour the Father, I descended from heaven; to honour My Mother, I reascended there that thus I might be enabled to go forth to meet her, and myself accompany her to Paradise…’
On first meeting her, and to console her, He said: “Arise, make haste, My love, My dove, My beautiful one, and come; for winter is now past and gone.” Come, My own dear Mother, My pure and beautiful dove; leave that valley of tears, in which, for My love, thou hast suffered so much. “Come… My Spouse… thou shalt be crowned. Come in soul and body, to enjoy the recompense of thy holy life. If thy sufferings have been great on earth, far greater is the glory which I have prepared

for thee in heaven. Enter, then, that kingdom, and take thy seat near Me; come to receive that crown which I will bestow upon thee as Queen of the universe…”
Then all the blessed spirits begin to bless and praise her; singing with far more reason than the Hebrews did to Judith: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou art the joy of Israel; thou art the honour of our people.” Ah, our Lady and our Queen, thou… art the glory of Paradise, the joy of our country, thou art the honour of us all…
All the angels then came to salute her; and she, the great Queen, thanked all for the assistance they’ had given her on earth, and more especially she thanked the archangel Gabriel, who was the happy ambassador, the bearer of all her glories, when he came to announce to her that she was the chosen Mother of God. The humble and holy Virgin, then kneeling, adored the Divine Majesty, and, all absorbed in the consciousness of her own nothingness, thanked Him for all the graces bestowed upon her by His pure goodness, and especially for having made her the Mother of the Eternal Word.
And then, let him who can, comprehend with what love the Most Holy Trinity blessed her. Let him comprehend the welcome given to His Daughter by the Eternal Father, to His Mother by the Son, to His Spouse by the Holy Ghost. The Father crowned her by imparting His power to her; the Son, His wisdom; the Holy Ghost, His love. And the three Divine Persons, placing her throne at the right of that of Jesus, declared her Sovereign of heaven and earth; and commanded the angels and all creatures to acknowledge her as their Queen, and as such to serve and obey her

7 St Alphonsus de Liguori. The Glories of Mary. Rockford, IL: TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC., 1977. 389-394.

Skema
2023-12-03
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
1st Week of Advent

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
December 3 – 9, 2023

Sun
3
Mon
4
Tue
5
Wed
6
Thu
7
Fri
8
Sat
9

Office
1st Sunday of Advent
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday
St Ambrose
Immaculate Conception
Advent Weekday

Vigils
Isa 6:1-13
Isa 7:1-17
Isa 8:1-18
Isa 9:7-20
Isa 10:5-21
Rom 5:12-21
Isa 13:1-22

Lauds
Micah 7:14-20
Isa 1:10-18
Isa 1:21-27
Isa 2:6-11
Isa 2:12-21
Judges 6:34-40
Isa 5:1-7

Mass
2
175
176
177
178
689
180

1st
Isa 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7
Isa 2:1-5
Isa 11:1-10
Isa 25:6-10a
Isa 26:1-6
Gen 3:9-15, 20
Isa 30:19-21, 23-26

2nd
1 Cor 1:3-9

Eph 1:3-6, 11-12

Gospel
Mark 13:33-37
Matt 8:5-11
Luke 10:21-24
Matt 15:29-37
Matt 7:21, 24-27
Luke 1:26-38
Matt 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8

Vespers
Rev 22:12-21
Rom 1:1-12
Rom 1:13-17
Rom 2:1-11
Rom 8:28-39
1 Jn 3:4-9
Rom 3:21-26

Vigils Reading - 1st Sun Advent
2023-12-03
PRAYING FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST
From a sermon by St John Henry Newman1
◊◊◊
Before Christ came, the faithful remnant of Israel were consoled with the promise that “their eyes should see” him, who was to be their “salvation.” “Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” Yet it is observable that the prophecy, though cheering and encouraging, had with it something of an awful character too.
This reflection leads us to a parallel thought concerning the state and prospects of all Christians in every age. We who are looking out for Christ’s coming, we are bid to look out, we are bid to pray for it; and yet it is to be a time of judgment. It is to be the deliverance of all saints from sin and sorrow for ever; yet they, every one of them, must undergo an awful trial. How then can any look forward to it with joy, not knowing (for no one knows) the certainty of his own salvation?
And the difficulty is increased when we come to pray for it, to pray for its coming soon: how can we pray that Christ would come, that the day of judgment would hasten, that his kingdom would come, that his kingdom may be at once, may come on us this day or tomorrow, when by so coming he would be shortening the time of our present life, and cut off those precious years given us for conversion, amendment, repentance, and sanctification? Is there not an inconsistency in professing to wish our judge already come, when we do not feel ourselves ready for him? In what sense can we really and heartily pray that he would cut short the time, when our conscience tells us that, even were our life longest, we should have much to do in a few years?

When we pray for the coming of Christ, we do but pray in the Church’s words, that he would “accomplish the number of his elect and would hasten his kingdom.” That is, we do not pray that he would simply cut short the world, but, so to express myself, that he would make time go quicker, and the wheels of his chariot speed on. Before he comes, a certain space must be gone over; all the saints must be gathered in, and each saint must be matured. Not a grain must fall to the ground; not an ear of corn must lose its due rain and sunshine. All we pray is that he should please to crowd all this into a short space of time; that he would “finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,” and “make a short work upon the earth”; that he would accomplish – not curtail, but fulfill – the circle of his saints, and hasten the age to come without disordering this. Indeed it cannot be otherwise.
All God’s works are in place and season; they are all complete. As in nature, the structure of its minutest portions is wrought out to perfection, and an insect is as wonderful as Leviathan; so, when in his providence he seems to hurry, he still keeps time, and moves upon the deep harmonies of truth and love. When then we pray that he would come, we pray also that we may be ready; that all things may converge and meet in him; that he may draw us while he draws near us, and makes us the holier the closer he comes. We pray that we may not fear that which at present we justly fear; that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming

1Parochial and Plain Sermons V, pp. 46-51; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year B; introduced and edited by John E. Rotelle, Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1995, pp. 14-15.

Vigils Reading
2023-12-04
THE COMING OF THE LORD
From a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny2 ◊◊◊
Come…Lord, save me and I shall be saved. Come and smile upon us and we shall find deliverance. We have waited for you, be our stronghold, our deliverer in time of trouble… Abraham, our father, was full of joy to see the day of Christ. He saw it – but in the lower regions – and rejoiced. In that day the coldness and hardness of our hearts will be greatly punished… if we do not look forward with joy of spirit to the anniversary of Christ’s birth… In fact Holy Scripture seems to insist we have such joy so that our spirit, lifted out of itself, may run to meet the arrival of Christ in transports of joy, and, straining forward impatient of delay, may strive to pierce the future even now…
I believe that when we are admonished in many places in Scripture to meet the coming of Christ it is not only the second coming that is referred to but the first also… Because just as in the second coming we shall go to meet him, our bodies rising up in exultation, so we must greet his first coming with hearts straining with desire and leaping with joy. For you know that in the resurrection, when we have put on new bodies, as the Apostle says, we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord…
In this fashion it may happen that before his actual coming the Lord may come to us, and before he arrives for the world in general he may pay us a friendly visit. “I will not leave you orphans,” he says, “I will come to you.” And indeed, be it for a person’s merit or ardent striving, that coming of the Lord to the individual is frequent in this middle time between his first coming and his final coming, conforming us to the first, preparing us for the last. He comes to us now of course so that his first coming will not have been in vain nor his last in anger against us. In this coming he is intent to reform our spirit of pride, making it conform to his humility which he manifested in his first coming, so that he might also refashion our lowly body, making it like to his glorious body which he will manifest when he comes again the second time… For “God loves mercy and truth; the Lord will give grace and glory,” granting grace through his mercy, conferring glory through his truth…

Into what a sweet and happy state of absorbed admiration of himself does he plunge and keep the soul contemplating him; all the inward man exclaims: “Lord who is like you?”…
Since then the first coming brought grace and the last will bring glory, this one indeed partakes both of grace and of glory; for in it, through the consolation of grace, we are given a foretaste of future glory… Utterly wonderful and lovable it is when God, the Love of the lover, is grasped even in the senses, when the Bridegroom embraces the Bride and they become one in the Spirit, as she is transformed into the same image in which as in a mirror she sees the glory of the Lord. How blessed are they who because of their burning love have already merited to receive this privilege. Blessed too are they whose holy simplicity leads them to hope for it… We who have not had experience of such a wonderful consolation are in the meantime encouraged by firm faith and a pure conscience to wait patiently for the coming of the Lord… that is, of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever

2 Liturgical Sermons – Guerric of Igny – Cistercian Fathers – vol.8 – pg. 10-13. Cistercian Publications.

Vigils Reading
2023-12-05
THE WOLF SHALL DWELL WITH THE LAMB
From a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx3 ◊◊◊
The prophet Isaiah said: “You came down and the mountains dissolved before your face.” Oh dearest brothers, if only we, now that we see this fulfilled, could feel as much joy as he felt when he saw that it was yet to be fulfilled. We see it now. We can turn to the Lord and say with great joy: “Lord, you have come down and the mountains dissolved before your face”. This has now been fulfilled. And look how the proud of this earth were dissolved, that is how they were humbled. They began to weep for their sins. Do you not see this every day, brothers? Do you not see the proud of this world turning to the Lord in great confusion, with great fear humbling themselves and weeping for their sins? Even if it does not happen before our eyes every day, it is happening every day in the holy Church.
Accordingly… we see what holy Isaiah says… is to happen at the Lord’s coming, he says: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the goat; the calf and the lion shall graze together and a little child will herd them.
Reflect how God has gathered you here – from what diverse parts of the country, from what diverse backgrounds. One of you, when he was in the world – what was he but a lion in his wealth and pride, despising others and vaunting himself as superior to them? Another of you – was he not like a wolf, living by plunder, trying to grab the property of others? The leopard is an animal characterized by changeableness; so were some of you in your slyness, your trickery, your deceit.

Again there are many in this community who reeked of wantonness. Those… were like goats, for the goat is an evil-smelling animal. There were some, too, who when they were in the world lived innocently; they can well be compared to lambs. There were yet others who in the simple lives they led were like sheep. Now look, brothers, in what harmony and peace God has gathered all of them together in one fellowship… Why has all this come about, except because our Lord came down and the mountains dissolved before his face…
And a little child shall herd them. Who is this little child if not he of whom Isaiah says: For us a child is born and a little one is given to us? It was he, surely, who herded Paul and made him go to Ananias. It was also he who herded the wolves and the lions who have come into this fellowship from the world and he still herds them along in front of himself towards all the things we do. He has to herd us ahead of himself, brothers, until we are in the condition of being able to follow him… Yet someone who has already often tasted how sweet our Lord is, who has begun to love him… that person is now following Christ. His shepherd has no need to herd him but has only to go before him and show him the way by which he wants him to follow. This person can say: I have run the way of your commandments now that you have enlarged my heart… Surely, brothers, we should not only follow, but run, after him

3 Aelred of Rievaulx – The Liturgical Sermons – Cistercian Fathers Series #58 – Cistercian Publications – Kalamazoo – 2001 pg 66.

Vigils Reading
2023-12-06
CHRIST SHOULD BE RECEIVED WITH GREAT REVERENCE
From “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis4 ◊◊◊
You command me to come to you with confidence if I want to be one with you, to receive the foodof immortality if I wish to obtain eternal life and happiness. “Come,” you say to me, “all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest”. What a sweet and loving word for a sinner to hear, when you, Lord my God, invite the poor and needy to Communion, your most sacred Body!… What does this loving condescension and friendly invitation mean?… How can I invite you into my house after having so often offended you? The angels and archangels stand before you in reverential awe, while the saints and the just tremble. And you say, “Come all of you to me”. If this was not said by you, Lord, who could believe it is true? And unless you had commanded it, who would dare approach?…
Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel, devoted seven years to building a magnificent temple to praise your name. And for eight days he celebrated the feast of its dedication, offering a thousand victims as peace offerings. Then with great solemnity, he brought the Ark of the Covenant with the sound of trumpets and great rejoicing into the place prepared for it. And I, the most unhappy and least among men, how can I admit you into my house, I, who hardly know how to spend one half-hour in devout prayer?…
The devout King David danced with all his might before the Ark of God, as he remembered all the benefits given in times past to his fathers. He made musical instruments of various kinds, composed psalms and ordered that they be sung with happiness, and he himself, inspired by the grace of the Holy Spirit, often sang them upon his harp… But here, in the sacrament of the altar, you are entirely present, my God…Christ Jesus. Here we receive the fruit of salvation abundantly each time that we reverently and worthily receive you. We are not drawn to this sacrament lightly, out of curiosity, or a desire to gratify our senses, but by a constant faith, a devout hope, and a pure charity.

O invisible God, Creator of the universe, how wonderfully you deal with us! You act so sweetly and so kindly toward us, your chosen, offering yourself to be received in this sacrament! This defies all human understanding and attracts to itself especially the hearts of the devout, and inflames their affection. Those truly faithful to you, who spend their entire lives trying to better themselves, often receive from this holy sacrament the great benefit of fervor and love of virtue… In this sacrament, spiritual grace is received, lost virtue is restored in the soul, and beauty marred by sin comes back again. Sometimes the grace received from the fullness of devotion is so great that not only the mind, but also the fragile body experiences an increase of strength.
Despite this, we must feel sorry about, and greatly lament, our lukewarmness and negligence because we do not go with greater fervor to receive Jesus Christ, in whom rests all the hope and merit of those who wish to be saved… For if this most holy sacrament were celebrated only in one place in the whole world and consecrated by only one priest, with how great a desire, do you think, would people wish to go to that place and to that priest of God, in order to see the divine mysteries celebrated? Now, instead, there are many priests and Christ is offered up in many places, so that God’s grace and love for us may appear so much the greater because this Holy Communion is so widely distributed throughout the world. I thank you, good Jesus, eternal Shepherd, because you have willed to feed us poor exiles with your precious Body and Blood, and that you invite us to partake of these mysteries by words you yourself said, “Come to me, all who are weary and bear heavy burdens, and I will give you rest”

4 Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ – Revised Translation. Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2015. 326-332.

Vigils Reading - St Ambrose
2023-12-07
THE BODY IS CHRIST’S
From the writing of St Ambrose5
◊◊◊
It is a marvelous thing that God rained manna on the fathers, and they were fed by daily nourishment from heaven. Therefore, it is said: ‘Man has eaten the bread of angels.” But yet all those who ate that bread died in the desert, but this food which you receive, this ‘living bread, which came down from heaven,’ furnishes the substance of eternal life, and whoever eats this bread ‘will not die forever’; for it is the body of Christ…
Perhaps you may say… how do you tell me that I receive the Body of Christ?’… The people of the fathers were thirsty; Moses touched the rock; and water flowed forth from the rock. Did not grace work contrary to nature for the rock to throw forth water which its nature did not have… But if the benediction of man had such power as to change nature, what do we say of divine consecration itself, in which the very words of our Lord and Saviour function? For that sacrament, which you receive, is effected by the words of Christ. But if the words of Elias had such power as to call down fire from heaven, will not the words of Christ have power enough to change the nature of the elements? You have read about the works of the world: ‘that He spoke and they were done; He commanded and they were created.” So, cannot the words of Christ, which were able to make what was not out of nothing, change those things that are into the things that were not? For it is not of less importance to give things new natures than to change nature.

But why do we use arguments? Let us use His own examples, and by the mysteries of the Incarnation let us establish the truth of the mysteries… It is clear that the Virgin conceived contrary to the course of nature. And this body which we make is from the Virgin. Why do you seek here the course of nature in the body of Christ, when the Lord Jesus himself was born of the Virgin contrary to nature? Surely it is the true flesh of Christ, which was crucified, which was buried; therefore it is truly the sacrament of that flesh.
The Lord Jesus himself declares: “This is my body.” Before the benediction of the heavenly words another species is mentioned; after the consecration the body is signified. He Himself speaks of His blood. Before the consecration it is mentioned as something else; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say ‘Amen,’ that is, ‘It is true.’ What the mouth speaks, let the mind within confess; what words utter, let the heart feel.
Christ then feeds His Church on these sacraments, by which the substance of the soul is made strong… Therefore, the Church also, seeing so much grace, urges her sons, urges her neighbors to come together to the sacraments, saying: ‘Eat, my neighbors, and drink and be inebriated, my brethren.’ What we eat, what we drink, the Holy Spirit expresses to you elsewhere, saying: “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.’ Christ is in that sacrament, because the body is Christ’s..

5 St Ambrose. Theological and Dogmatic Works. Trans. Roy J. Deferrari, PH.D. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1963, 21-27.

Vigils Reading - Immaculate Conception
2023-12-08
MARY REVEALS HER NAME
From the final writing of St Maximilian Kolbe6
◊◊◊
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. These words fell from the lips of the Immaculata herself. Hence, they must tell us in the most precise and essential manner who she really is. Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception? Not God, of course, because he has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded fromAdam’s rib. Not the Incarnate Word, who exists before all ages… You, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by original sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate Conception.
If the fruit of created love is a created conception, then the fruit of divine Love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a divine “conception.” The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the “uncreated, eternal conception,” the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe. The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the “conception” that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the three Persons by which they can be distinguished one from another. But they are united in the oneness of their Nature, of their divine existence. The Spirit is, then, this thrice holy “conception,” this infinitely holy, Immaculate Conception.
In what does this life of the Spirit in Mary consist? He himself is uncreated Love in her; the Love of the Father and of the Son, the Love by which God loves himself, the very love of the Most Holy Trinity. He is a fruitful Love, a “Conception.” Among creatures made in God’s image the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being. He makes her fruitful, from the very first instant of her existence, all during her life, and for all eternity.

This eternal “Immaculate Conception” (which is the Holy Spirit) produces in an immaculate manner divine life itself in the depths of Mary’s soul, making her the Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary’s body is kept sacred for him; there he conceives in time…the human life of the Man-God. And so the return to God (which is love)…by the Spirit the Son becomes incarnate in the womb of the Immaculata; and through this Son love returns to the Father. In the Holy Spirit’s union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings; in one there is all the love of the Blessed Trinity; in the other, all of creation’s love. So it is that in this union heaven and earth are joined; all of heaven with all the earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love…
If among human beings the wife takes the name of her husband because she belongs to him, is one with him, becomes equal to him and is, with him, the source of new life, with how much greater reason should the name of the Holy Spirit, who is the divine Immaculate Conception, be used as the name of her in whom he lives as uncreated Love, the principle of life in the whole supernatural order of grace

6 H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, OP. Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit. Trans. Richard Arnandez, FSC. Libertyville, IL: Franciscan, Marytown Press, 1977. 2-5.

Vigils Reading
2023-12-09
CHRISTIAN UNITY
From the writing of Matthew the Poor7
◊◊◊
It is because the Christian seeks God that he seeks unity; he feels it present in his soul, according to the measure in which he feels the presence of God. Christian unity is, therefore, a supreme demand of faith; we seek it because it is entreating us from the bottom of our hearts. Yet, since all do not have the same awareness of God, unity is not approached from the same angle; it expands or contracts within men in proportion to their hearts’ relationship with God. Some do not feel it at all; others even deny it. It is a test of faith…
The unity of men is an ideal that surpasses human strength if it is sought at a divine level. It flows, as a necessity, as an inevitable and direct consequence, from the union of man with God… The first commandment says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and the second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Scripture affirms here that the second commandment springs from the first… The second without the first would have no value; it would indeed be near to sin…
If there were indeed a spiritual renaissance, a deep fervor for the faith, unity would have taken the form of a collective and individual return to God, a sweeping movement for conversion, repentance, and begging God for forgiveness — as has always happened to God’s people after a period of half-heartedness or aberration…

In order for us to secure for the weak and persecuted Churches the true meaning of “Christian unity” in their journey through history and in their encounters with temporal situations, and in order for the divine consciousness to rise in them, the first necessity is that they should understand that Christian unity is a state of divine weakness over against the world — like that of their Master, who surrendered His infinite power to be crucified by anyone who wished and in whatever way they wished.
Christ, desiring to reveal to us “the strength of His weakness”… drew His disciples’ attention to it at the very moment of His testing, although He was being subjected to the most appalling trials that a defenseless man could endure… The Church that has temporal power cannot taste a crucifixion that is forced upon it, for one cannot be crucified except through weakness, like the Master of all, who “was crucified in weakness”… The cross in our life is a foundation; the cross is “the power of God for salvation. . .” and His “power is made perfect in weakness”. With our free will we pray for weakness, and we bear it without fear if it comes to us, for with weakness there is always grace… We wish and we pray that the Churches may have a unity, divine both in appearance and in essence, a unity above the realm of time

7 Matthew the Poor. The Communion of Love. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984. 224-225, 231-234.

Skema
2023-12-10
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
2nd Week of Advent

Mass Readings: Sunday (B), Weekdays (II)
December 10 – 16, 2023

Sun
10
Mon
11
Tue
12
Wed
13
Thu
14
Fri
15
Sat
16

Office
2nd Sunday of Advent
Advent Weekday
Our Lady of Guadalupe
St Lucy
St John of the Cross
Advent Weekday
Advent Weekday

Vigils
Isa 14:1-21
Isa 27:1-13
Prov 8:32-9:11
Isa 30:15-26
Isa 32:1-20
Isa 34:1-17
Isa 35:1-10

Lauds
Isa 4:2-6
Isa 10:20-27a
Sir 4:11-18
Isa 12:1-6
Isa 55:6-12
Zeph 3:14-20
Isa 11:10-16

Mass
5
181
690A
183
184
185
186

1st
Isa 40:1-5, 9-11
Isa 35:1-10
Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Isa 40:25-31
Isa 41:13-20
Isa 48:17-19
Sir 48:1-4, 9-11

2nd
2 Pet 3:8-14

Gospel
Mark 1:1-8
Luke 5:17-26
Luke 1:39-47
Matt 11:28-30
Matt 11:11-15
Matt 11:16-19
Matt 17:9a, 10-13

Vespers
Rom 5:1-11
Rom 6:1-11
Gal 3:23-29
Rom 6:16-23
Rom 7:14-25
Rom 8:1-6
Rom 8:9-17

Vigils Reading - 2nd Sun of Advent
2023-12-10
PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD
From a sermon by St Francis de Sales1
◊◊◊
NOW, since our divine Savior is near, what must we do to prepare for his
coming? St. John tells us this when he says in his preaching, that we must do
penance. All must do this without exception, for as we are all sinners, we all have
need of penance.
But that is too general: let us hint at certain particular features. St. John has
pointed out some in the Gospel. “Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten out his
paths,” he says, “every valley is to be bridged, and the rough paths made into
smooth roads.”
“Do penance,”
… that is to say, humble these mountains of pride, fill these
lukewarm and faint-hearted valleys because salvation is at hand. Now these
valleys that this glorious saint wishes us to fill are simply fear, which, when it is
too great, leads us into discouragement. The sight of great faults committed brings
with it a certain dread, an astonishment and a fear which depresses the heart.
These are the valleys which must be filled with confidence and hope for the coming
of our Lord.
“Humble the mountains and hills,” says the glorious St. John. What are these
mountains but presumption, pride and that self-esteem which is a great hindrance
to the coming of our Lord, who is accustomed to humiliate and reduce the proud;
for he penetrates the depth of the heart in order to discover the pride which is
hidden therein.
Level the roads, straighten those which are crooked so as to make them
even, which is as if he said: Correct so many dodging and crooked intentions, so as
to have only that of pleasing God in doing penance, which should be the end
towards which we ought to aim. As the sailor, when he guides his ship, always has
his eye on the compass to see if he is going straight to his goal, so we ought always
to have our eyes open to see what acts of penance we can undertake, so that we
may come to that heaven to which we aspire.
To smoot the paths is to calm moods by the mortification of the passions,
inclinations and aversions. How desirable it is, this equality of spirit and mood,
and how we ought to work faithfully to acquire it! For we are more variable and
inconstant than words can tell. We find people who are now in a good humor,
talking pleasantly and joyfully: but in a twinkling, you find them vexed and
unquiet. You will find others to whom it is necessary to speak now in this manner,
now in another; such men are at present mild-hearted, who a moment after, for
little reason, will be impatient. In short, what does one see among men except
continual oddities and inequalities of spirit which are the tortuous, rugged ways
which we must make straight before the coming of our Lord.
But in order to do it well, we must go to the school of the glorious St. John
the Baptist and beg him to receive us as his disciples, and if he does so he will put
us into the hands of our divine Savior, who in turn will put us into those of the
Eternal Father who will give us his grace in this world and his glory in the next,
where we shall praise him eternally.

Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent, Trans., Lectionary and Martyrology, ed. Encalcat Abbey, Dourgne-Tarn 1956, 27-28.3

Vigils Reading
2023-12-11
THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux2
◊◊◊
At the first coming John the Baptist cries out like a herald— or rather, as his
herald— Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world! He
does not say ‘diseases of the body ’ or ‘vexations of the flesh’, but ‘sin’, which is a
disease of the soul and a corruption of the mind. Behold him who takes away the sins
of the world. [Take away] from where? From the hand, from the eye, from the
neck…from the very flesh on which it has been so deeply impressed. He takes sin
away from the hands when he wipes out the sins they have committed. He takes it
away from the eye when he purifies the purpose of the heart. He takes it from the neck
when he sets aside abusive domination, as is written: You have vanquished the rod of
their oppressor as on the day of Midian…
You grasp why Christ came and what a Christian’s purpose should be. For this
reason, O body, do not anticipate the time! You can hinder the soul’s salvation, you
cannot bring about your own… Let the soul work now for itself—or rather, you work
with it— because if you suffer with it you will also reign with it. To the degree you
hinder its restoration, you hinder your own, because you cannot be restored at all
until God sees his image re-formed in your soul. You have a noble guest, O flesh, noble
indeed, and your welfare depends entirely on its welfare. Honor so great a guest! You
are dwelling in your own land, but the soul is a pilgrim, an exile, lodging with you.
I ask you, if someone noble and powerful should want to lodge with them,
would any peasant not willingly sleep in some corner of the house— or under the
stairs or even in the ashes— giving up the best place to the guest, as is appropriate?
And you, therefore, do likewise. Take no notice of your own slights or inconvenience
so long as your guest can stay with you with honor. The honor is yours if for his sake
you meanwhile present yourself as being without honor.
And in case you look down on or undervalue your guest because it seems to
you to be a pilgrim and a stranger, think carefully about what you gain from the
presence of this guest. This is who grants sight to the eyes and hearing to the ears;
who supplies sound to the tongue, taste to the palate, movement to all your limbs…
Indeed… just as soon as the soul departs the tongue will fall silent, the eyes will see
nothing, the ears will go deaf, the whole body will stiffen, and the face will lose its
color. In a short time the whole corpse will decay and become putrid; all its
attractiveness will turn to corruption.
Why then do you distress and wound this guest for the sake of some transient
pleasure which you could not even experience except through it? Besides, if it confers
so much on you when it is an exile, estranged from its master’s face because of
hostilities, what all will it give you when it has been reconciled? Do not, O body, do
not impede this reconciliation; abundant glory is prepared for you from it. Patiently—
or rather, gladly— surrender yourself to everything. Omit nothing that seems capable
of furthering this reconciliation. Say to your guest: Your Lord will remember you and
restore you to your former position. Just remember me!… Then all our longings are
going to be fulfilled and the whole earth shall be filled with the majesty of the Lord.
To this glory, to this happiness, to this peace which surpasses all understanding may
he in his mercy lead us. May he not disappoint us in our expectation, he who is the
Saviour we expect Jesus Christ our Lord, who is over all, God blessed forever
2 Bernard of Clairvaux. Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season. CF 51. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications,
2007. 36-40.5

Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Guadalupe
2023-12-12
THE APPEARANCE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
AT GUADALUPE
From the first written Aztec account of the apparition3
◊◊◊
Upon his reaching the top of the hillock, Juan Diego catches sight of a
woman, one who has been taking her stand there. She beckons him to come on,
closer up to herself. Upon reaching her presence, he greatly marvels at her
extreme, her surpassing, her perfect wonderfulness.
Her garments are as the sun, gleaming, glittering. Even the boulder, the crag,
on which she takes her stand sparkles in resplendence, like fine emerald jade or a
bangle when it shines, like the swarming glow of a rainbow in the gloom. Even the
soil, the brambles and prickles and the rest of the varied weeds that struggle to
survive there are shining like emerald, like divine turquoise, to the tip of every
leaf; are glittering like the golden scourings of the gods up every stalk and twig and
thorn.
In her presence he prostrates; he listens to her utterance, her declaration.
These are as of one who sets others at ease, one whose manner is to attract, one
whose attitude is to esteem. She addresses him: “Do listen to me, my littlest one,
Juanito!…
“Do know this, do be assured of it in your heart, my littlest one, that I
myself, I am the entirely and ever Virgin Saint Mary, Mother of the True Divinity,
God Himself: Because of Him, life goes on, Creation goes on; His are all things afar,
His are all things near at hand, things above in the heavens, things here below on
the earth. How truly I wish it, how greatly I desire it, that here they should erect
me my temple! Here would I show forth, here would I lift up to view, here would I
make a gift of all my fondness for my dear ones, all my regard for my needy ones,
my willingness to aid them, my readiness to protect them. For truly I myself, I am
your compassionate mother, yours, for you yourself, for everybody here in the
land, for each and all together, for all others too, for all folk of every kind, who do
but cherish me, who do but raise their voices to me, who do but seek me, who do
but raise their trust to me.
For here I shall listen to their groanings, to their saddenings; here shall I
make well and heal up their each and every kind of disappointment, of exhausting
pangs, of bitter aching pain… Therefore, to realize all that my clemency claims, go
to the palace of the Bishop of Mexico, and say that I sent you to make manifest to him
my great desire; namely, that here in the valley a temple should be built to me. Tell
him word for word all that you have seen and heard and admired. Be assured that I
shall be grateful and that I will reward you, for I will make your life happy and cause
you to become worthy of the labor you have taken and the trouble you perform to
do what I enjoin you. Now you have heard all my bidding, least of my sons. Go and
do your utmost.’
“At this point he bowed before her and said, ‘Lady, I go to do your bidding. As
your humble servant, I take my leave of you.’ Then he went on to accomplish her
will, taking the causeway that leads directly to Mexico City.
3 GUADALUPE, a translation of the NICAN MOPOHUA by Fr Martinus Cawley, OCSO; CARA Studies on
Popular Devotion, vol.II; Guadalupan Studies Monograph No. 6.7

Vigils Reading - St Lucy
2023-12-13 08:00 - 17:00
THE HISTORICAL MEETING POINT OF MARTYRDOM
AND MONASTICISM
From the writing of St Christian de Chergé4
◊◊◊
From the beginnings of Christian monasticism, there has been both
continuity and discontinuity between the monastic choice and martyrdom. As we
know, there is continuity in time: during the first centuries of persecutions there
were certainly vocations to the solitary life, dedicated to prayer and intercession
for all. It is easy to imagine John the Evangelist withdrawing into solitude and
inspiring followers. But the threat was there for them and for everyone, and there
was need to sustain believers’ courage and faith in that direct form of sequela
Christi—the offering of martyrdom—to which they left themselves exposed by the
very fact of being Christian. And there is discontinuity, because Constantine’s
“peace of the Church” was needed in order for monasticism to find its specific
place, when laxity and ease were quickly undermining the vitality of gospel
witness.
It was indeed the gospel that incited Anthony to “lose his life” in a way
different from the shedding of blood through “pagan” hatred. Paganism was not
dead; it transplanted itself in the Church, where “secularization” made rapid
headway. Anthony, therefore, would be “pursued” by the Word. He heard it and
embodied it by following it literally and on the spot. It happened as quickly as the
fall of the ax on the neck of Cecilia or Lucy. But for Anthony it was only the first
step of the Pasch, the passing over. It then took dozens of years for the letter to be
truly rewritten in terms of the spirit, in order to find, following Jesus’ example,
Cahier de Tibhirine 1, Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Aiguebelle, p. 449. Trans. Fr. Elias Dietz, OCSO.9
ways of combining time and eternity, the earth and the things above. Anthony and
many others instinctively returned to the place of the first Passover, the desert, for
this unique kind of martyrdom.
Earlier persecutions had singled out towns—and even big cities—to offer
the spectacle of faith to the crowds in the arenas as if it were a game. The
persecutions faded away, but the Adversary remained and continued to have his
fun. He, then, was the one to take on directly. Anthony’s combat was not against
people, pagans or not, but against the traditional Enemy of humankind, whom he
confronted as a solitary, confident that he could contribute to conquering him
where he is most rampant.
This flight from the spirit of the world and this fierce but humble solitude
will become, strangely enough, “the seeds of Christianity,” to use the phrase
Tertullian applied to the early martyrs. It is to this drop by drop spending of flesh
and blood in the desert that we must constantly return, in order to sustain the
specific fruitfulness of our lives here and now
4 Christian de Chergé, Dieu pour tout jour. Chapitres de Père Christian de Chergé à la communauté de Tibhirine [1986–1996], Les

Vigils Reading - St John of the Cross
2023-12-14
LOVE OF THE CROSS
From an essay by St Edith Stein
◊◊◊
We hear repeatedly that St. John of the Cross desired nothing for himself but
to suffer and be despised. We want to know the reason for this love of suffering. Is
it merely the loving remembrance of the path of suffering of our Lord on earth, a
tender impulse to be humanly close to him by a life resembling his? This does not
seem to correspond to the lofty and strict spirituality of the mystical teacher. And
in relation to the Man of Sorrows, it would almost seem that the victoriously
enthroned king, the divine conqueror of sin, death and hell is forgotten. Did not
Christ lead captivity captive? Has he not transported us into a kingdom of light and
called us to be happy children of our heavenly Father?
The sight of the world in which we live, the need and misery, and the abyss
of human malice, again and again dampens jubilation over the victory of light. The
world is still deluged by mire, and still only a small flock has escaped from it to the
highest mountain peaks. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is not yet
over. The followers of Christ have their place in this battle, and their chief weapon
is the cross…
The entire sum of human failures from the first Fall up to the Day of
Judgment must be blotted out by a corresponding measure of expiation. The way
of the cross is this expiation. The triple collapse under the burden of the cross
corresponds to the triple fall of humanity: the first sin, the rejection of the Savior
by his chosen people, the falling away of those who bear the name of Christian…
The Savior is not alone on the way of the cross… The archetype of followers
of the cross for all time is the Mother of God. …Everyone who, in the course of time,
has borne an onerous destiny in remembrance of the suffering Savior or who has
freely taken up works of expiation has by doing so canceled some of the mighty
load of human sin and has helped the Lord carry his burden.… The disciples, both
men and women, who surrounded [the Savior] during his earthly life, assist him
on the second stretch. The lovers of the cross whom he has awakened and will
always continue to awaken anew in the changeable history of the struggling
church, these are his allies at the end of time. We, too, are called for that purpose…
But because being one with Christ is our sanctity, and progressively
becoming one with him our happiness on earth, the love of the cross in no way
contradicts being a joyful child of God. Helping Christ carry his cross fills one with
a strong and pure joy, and those who may and can do so, the builders of God’s
kingdom, are the most authentic children of God. And so those who have a
predilection for the way of the cross by no means deny that Good Friday is past
and that the work of salvation has been accomplished. Only those who are saved,
only children of grace, can in fact be bearers of Christ’s cross. Only in union with
the divine Head does human suffering take on expiatory power. To suffer and to
be happy although suffering, to have one’s feet on the earth, to walk on the dirty
and rough paths of this earth and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father’s
right hand, to laugh and cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly sing
the praises of God with the choirs of angels — this is the life of the Christian until
the morning of eternity breaks forth

5 from The Hidden Life, volume 4 of The Collected Works of Edith Stein, edited by L. Gelber and Michael Linnsen; ICS Publications, 1992, pp. 91-93.11

Vigils Reading
2023-12-15
CHRIST IS WITH US
From “Love Letters from Cell 92”
– The correspondence between
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his fiancé Maria von Wedemeyer6
◊◊◊
[Tegel] 13 December, 1943
Without abandoning all hope that things may yet take a turn for the better
just in time, I must now write you a Christmas letter. Be brave for my sake, dearest
Maria, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide. We shall
both experience a few dark hours – why should we disguise that from each other?
We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question
of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity, we should be
subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to
understand. How hard it is, inwardly to accept what defies our understanding;
how great is the temptation to feel ourselves at the mercy of blind chance; how
sinister the way in which mistrust and resentment steal into our hearts at such
times; and how readily we fall prey to the childish notion that the course of our
lives reposes in human hands!
And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that
we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our
ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light
because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger,
wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us;
whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed
as love and rules the world and our lives. We must learn to say: “I know how to be
abased and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the
secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him
who strengthens me”
– and this Christmas, in particular, can help us to do so. What
is meant here is not stoical resistance to all extraneous occurrences, but true
endurance and true rejoicing in the knowledge that Christ is with us.
Dearest Maria, let us celebrate Christmas in that way. Be as happy with the
others as a person can only be at Christmas-time. Don’t entertain any awful
imaginings of me in my cell, but remember that Christ, too, frequents prisons, and
that he will not pass me by. Besides, I hope to find myself a good book for
Christmas and read it in peace. May you do likewise. A little oblivion is
permissible in view of everything else. First one has and finally one is entitled to
forget it; but the reverse order would be mistaken and unproductive. Dearest
Maria, let’s not talk of what we both feel; we know it, and every word merely makes
the heart heavier. Above all, let us be careful not to feel sorry for ourselves; to do
so would truly be a blasphemy on God, who means us well. For all our difficulties,
let us say, with Isaiah: “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it”
– even in this Christmas

6 Love Letters From Cell 92 – The Correspondence between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria von Wedemeyer. Ed. Ruth-Alice von
Bismarck and Ulrich Kabitz. Trans. John Brownjohn. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995. 133-135.13

Vigils Reading
2023-12-16
ON REPENTANCE
From the writing of St Silouan the Athonite
◊◊◊
Glory be to the Lord that He gave us repentance. Through repentance we
shall all, every one of us, be saved. Only those who refuse to repent will not find
salvation, and therein I see their despair, and shed abundant tears of pity for them.
They have not known through the Holy Spirit how great is God’s mercy. But if
every soul knew the Lord, knew how deeply He loves us, no one would ever
despair, or murmur against his lot. Every soul that has lost peace should repent
and the Lord will forgive her her sins, and there will be joy and peace in the soul…
Here is a token of forgiveness: if you detest sin, it means the Lord has forgiven you
your sins…
The truly repentant man readily bears every affliction – hunger and
nakedness, cold and heat, sickness and poverty, humiliation and exile, injustice
and slander; for his soul is turned with longing towards God, and he has no care
for earthly things but prays to God with a pure mind. But the man who is attached
to worldly goods and riches can never have a mind pure in God, since in the depths
of his soul he is constantly preoccupied with his possessions; and if he does not
repent whole-heartedly, and mourn at having grieved God, he will die bearing the
burden of his passions, without having come to know the Lord…
Let us not be distressed over the loss of worldly goods: such losses are a
small matter. My own father taught me this early in life. When some misfortune
happened at home, he would remain serene. When our house caught fire and the
neighbours said, ‘Ivan Petrovich, your house is burnt down!’ he replied, ‘With
God’s help I’ll build it up again.’ Once we were walking along the side of our field,
and I said, ‘Look, they’re stealing our sheaves!’ ‘Aye, son,’ he answered me, ‘the
Lord has given us corn and to spare, so if anyone steals it, it means he’s in want.’
…
The Lord is quick to forgive the sins of the merciful. The merciful man bears
no ill-will. He will suffer injury or the loss of his goods with unconcern, for he
knows the mercy of God, and no one can take the Lord’s mercy from us: it comes
from on high; it is of God… But we here below are swept about like dust before the
wind, while our minds cling to the things of this world… A little wind can blow it
out like a candle; but the spirit of the saints glowed with fire like the burning bush,
fearless of the wind… The love of God is a consuming fire. For the love of God the
saints bore every affliction…
All my desire is to learn humility and the love of Christ, that I may offend no
man but pray for all as I pray for myself… This is the law we have: if you forgive
others, it is a sign that the Lord has forgiven you; but if you refuse to forgive, then
your own sin remains with you. The Lord wants us to love our fellow-man; and if
you reflect that the Lord loves him, you have a sign of the Lord’s love for you… If
you do not feel pity for the sinner destined to suffer the pains of hellfire, it means
that the grace of the Holy Spirit is not in you, but an evil spirit. While you are still
alive, therefore, strive by repentance to free yourself from this spirit.

7 Saint Silouan the Athonite. Trans. Rosemary Edmonds. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1999. 345-
352.15
