This is the view from the window directly across from my cell. Looking west across the terrace and gardens of Santa Croce, I can see the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in the morning light. I shall never grow accustomed to seeing such sights. In Jam, Christe, Sol Iustitiae, the hymn at Lauds during Lent, we sing:
O Christ, Thou Sun of Justice, come,
Pierce with Thy rays our mental gloom;
With virtue light our souls once more,
And unto earth Thy day restore.
Dom Mark Daniel Kirby is Prior of Silverstream Priory, under the patronage of Our Lady of the Cenacle, in Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland.
The ecclesial mandate of the fledgling Benedictine community is to intercede for the sanctification of priests by "persevering with one mind in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus" (Acts 1.14) and in adoration and reparation before the Eucharistic Face of Christ. The community celebrates the Sacred Liturgy (Mass and Divine Office) according to the traditional rites in Latin and with Gregorian Chant.
What a view !
Who could grow accustomed to such a sight ?
I lived in Rome many years ago (I wish I lived there still).
There was no experience like that of a sunlit Roman morning : at about 6 am., before the heat and dust of the day, and the noise of the traffic.
Such mornings always filled me with joy and hope.
Sol iustitiae !
What an apt hymn of praise.
O Roma felix !