January 2009 Archives

Today, January 30th, is the eighty-sixth anniversary of the death of Blessed Columba Marmion. Dom Marmion's liturgical memorial is observed, not on his anniversary of death, but rather on the anniversary of the date he received the abbatial blessing, October 3, 1909. For that momentous occasion he chose the first Sunday of October, which was kept, at that time, as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here is a page of Blessed Columba Marmion at his best:

An Economy of Mercy

For some time past God has been making me see in magnificent light that His Majesty's whole plan, His whole "economy towards us is an economy of mercy. It is our miseries which, united to Christ's sufferings and infirmities, draw down all the graces He gives.

Our Miseries Become Those of Christ

God has been giving me for some time past a strong light, and this light is shed over my whole life. When God looks upon this poor world, upon this multitude of the miserable, incredulous and sinful, what does He feel? "I have compassion on the multitude" (Mk 8:2). Our miseries excite His mercy. Not only that, but as we, through our baptism, are members of Christ, our miseries are His. He has taken them all upon Him. He has assumed them and rendered them divine, and the Father, in looking upon our miseries and weaknesses, sees those of His Son which cry out to Him for mercy. "Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor" (Ps 40:2)

God Supplies the Remedy

The abyss of our miseries is very great, greater even than we think. But God's mercy is infinite like God Himself. If we lay open our soul to Him with all its infirmities and sins, His Divine gaze penetrates this abyss of which we cannot see the bottom. His gaze goes into the most hidden recesses and brings us strength and light. There is only this Divine gaze that is able to penetrate into our inmost being and sound the depth of our woes. God alone too can supply the remedy and we may be assured that He will do so.

Union With God, Letters of Spiritual Direction by Blessed Columba Marmion selected and annotated by Dom Raymond Thibaut, is now available from Zacchaeus Press at a special price. I recommend it.

Today, January 27th, is observed as Holocaust Remembrance Day. Radio Vaticana has two feature broadcasts marking this observance. You can listen to them here and here.

Associated Press notes the feature programs with the following release:

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican is highlighting Pope Benedict XVI's record of condemning the Holocaust and anti-Semitism amid an outcry that he rehabilitated a bishop who claims that no Jews were gassed during World War II. Vatican Radio aired a lengthy program Tuesday to mark Holocaust remembrance day. It recalled Benedict's 2006 visit to Auschwitz, his 2005 visit to the main synagogue in Cologne, Germany, and other remarks over the years in which he has denounced the "insane, racist ideology" that produced the Holocaust. The Vatican has been intensifying its defense of Benedict after Jewish groups voiced outrage that he lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Update:

Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, has forbidden Bishop Williamson to speak on political or historical matters. Go to Rorate Caeli for the text of Bishop Fellay's communiqué.

Priestly Union with the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday, in my entry for the feast of Saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen, the founding abbots of Cîteaux, I alluded to the mystical espousal of Saint John Eudes to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Already as a young man, John Eudes placed a wedding band on the finger of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was a portent of things to come. As a priest, a reformer of the clergy, and an outstanding preacher, he experienced the fruitfulness that results from what one must dare to call a spousal intimacy with the Mother of God.

Saint John Eudes presents this grace as something to which all priests should aspire. To describe it he uses the French word alliance: covenant, bond, or union. Significantly, the same word is used to designate a wedding ring. I decided to translate the following passage from his Memorial on the Life of Ecclesiastics:

The Eternal Father

Consider that priests have a special alliance with the most holy Mother of God. This because, just as the Eternal Father made her participate in His divine paternity, and gave her the power to form in her womb the same Son whom He begets in His bosom, so too does He communicate to priests that same paternity, giving them power to form this same Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and in the hearts of the faithful.

The Son

As the Son made her [the Virgin Mary] His cooperator and coadjutrix (helpmate) in the work of the redemption of the world, so too does He make priests His cooperators and coadjutors in the work of saving souls.

The Holy Ghost

As the Holy Ghost, in an ineffable manner, associated her [the Virgin Mary] with Himself in the most divine of His operations, and in the masterpiece of His that is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, so too does He associate priests with Himself to bring about an extension and a continuation of this mystery in each Christian, in whom the Son of God, in some manner, incarnates Himself by means of Baptism and by the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Mediatrix of All Graces

Just as the Eternal Father gave us His Son through her [the Virgin Mary], so too does He give Him to us through His priests. Even as all the graces that come forth to us from the Heart of God pass through the hands of Mary, so too are they given us by the ministry of priests. This in such wise that, just as Mary is the treasurer of the Most Holy Trinity, priests too bear this title.

The Sacrifice of Christ

Finally, it is through her that Jesus was offered to His Father at the first and last moment of His life, when she received Him in her sacred womb, and when she accompanied Him to the sacrifice that He made of Himself on the cross; and it is by means of priests that He is immolated daily upon our altars.

Mother of the Sovereign Priest

This is why priests, being bound by so intimate an alliance and so marvelous a conformity to the Mother of the Sovereign Priest, have very particular obligations to love her, to honour her, and to clothe themselves in her virtues, in her spirit, and in her dispositions. Humble yourselves that you should find yourselves so far removed from this. Enter into the desire to tend thereto with all your heart. Offer yourselves to her, and pray her to help you mightily.

San Bernardo alle Terme

One of my favourite churches in Rome is San Bernardo alle Terme. It is a luminous round church, built in 1598 on the site of the hot steam baths of Diocletian. Immense paintings by an artist named Odazj dominate the two side altars: the one on the right is dedicated to Saint Bernard, the one on the left to Saint Robert of Molesmes, the first abbot of Cîteaux. The first time I visited the church of San Bernardo I was so taken by the magnificent painting of Saint Bernard in the embrace of Jesus Crucified that I failed to understand the significance of the one depicting Saint Robert. It was on a later visit that I discovered it. It has, with the passing of time, become rich in meaning for me.

Saint Robert of Molesmes and the Virgin Mother

Saint Robert, whom we celebrate today with his two immediate successors, Saints Alberic and Stephen, was the founding abbot of the New Monastery at Cîteaux in 1098. The painting in the church of San Bernardo alle Terme shows Saint Robert clothed in his white cowl. Abbot Robert's face is entirely recollected; his head is bowed, illustrating the twelfth step of humility in Chapter Seven of the Holy Rule. At the center of the painting we see the Virgin Mother of God in all her beauty. Her face is radiant. She wears a rose coloured dress with a blue mantle and pale brown veil. The Infant Jesus, leaning on her knee, is in conversation with an angel. Angels surround the Queen of Heaven on all sides, fascinated and thrilled by what she is doing.

Mystical Espousal to the Virgin Mary

Our Lady is placing a wedding ring on Saint Robert's finger. Robert, overwhelmed by so tender a love, offers her his right hand. The painting depicts the Mystical Espousal of Saint Robert to the Virgin Mary, a theme not often represented in art. Even in the annals of holiness, mystical espousal with the Virgin Mary is not encountered very frequently. We hear of it in the lives of Saint Edmund of Canterbury, of the Premonstratensian Saint Hermann-Joseph of Steinfeld, and of the Dominican Alain de la Roche. In the seventeenth century, Saint John Eudes wrote of Our Lady as the spouse of priests, and bound himself to her by means of marriage contract. Does not the liturgy attribute to Our Lady the words of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs: "love them that love me" (Prov 8:17)?

Saint Joseph

In the painting I am describing it is clear that the initiative is Our Lady's. She appears to have drawn Saint Robert upward to herself to receive this ineffable grace binding him to her. Now, the most extraordinary detail, to my mind is this: just above Saint Robert and a little to his right, none other than Saint Joseph is looking on! He is pointing to his staff, the top of which has flowered into a pure white lily. What does this mean? Saint Joseph is saying that intimacy with the Virgin Mary is the secret of holy purity. He is pointing to his flowering staff to say that one bound to Mary, as if by a marriage bond, will be pure. She is the Virginizing Bride. One who obeys the injunction of the angel to Joseph -- "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost" (Mt 1:15) -- will find that she communicates the grace of a fruitful purity to those who bind themselves to her in a permanent and exclusive way.

Not Good for Man to Be Alone

Already in the second chapter of Genesis, God said to Adam, "It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a help like unto himself" (Gen 2:18). The complement to this word of God to Adam is the word of Jesus Crucified to John: "After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own" (Jn 19:27). Every union of a man with a woman, even, and I would say especially, the union of hearts and souls, is ordered to a spiritual fecundity. "Whoso findeth me, findeth life," says Our Lady, "and shall obtain favour of the Lord" (Prov 8:35).

Saint Benedict

Perhaps this is why the artist shows the Patriarch Saint Benedict, the father of a progeny too great to be numbered, accompanied by an angel holding his pastoral staff and the open book of his Rule, in the lower left hand corner of the painting. Saint Benedict gazes upon what is happening to Saint Robert with an expression of gratitude and wonder.

New Beginning and Authentic Renewal

What exactly is the message of this extraordinary painting? You may recall what Pope Benedict XVI said on the occasion of his visit to the abbey of Heiligenkreuz in September 2007:

Where Mary is, there is the archetype of total self-giving and Christian discipleship. Where Mary is, there is the pentecostal breath of the Holy Spirit; there is new beginning and authentic renewal.

Saint Robert's mission was to launch a new beginning at Cîteaux; it was to foster an authentic renewal of life according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. He could not do this apart from Mary.

Mediatrix of All Graces

In the Gospel given us for this feast, Our Lord says: "I have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain" (Jn 15:16). Robert's mystical espousal with the Virgin Mother is the promise and guarantee of spiritual fruitfulness. The same Jesus who says, "Without me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5), wants us to understand that, by reason of the Father's mysterious over-arching plan, without Mary, the Mediatrix of All Graces, we can do nothing. "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman" (Gal 4:4). Just as the first creation required the presence and collaboration of Eve at Adam's side, so too does the new creation, and every particular manifestation of it, be it personal or corporate, require the presence and collaboration of Mary, the New Eve, at the side of Christ, the New Adam.

Our Lady and the Holy Spirit

Cîteaux was a new creation, a particular corporate manifestation of the Kingdom of God in all its newness. The same may be said of every authentic reform and renewal of monastic life, sacerdotal life, and apostolic life in the history of the Church. Whenever and wherever the Blessed Virgin Mary is welcomed and loved, she attracts a mysterious descent of the Holy Spirit. Our Lady prays for us at every moment, saying, "Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps 103:30).

Saint Robert's Legacy

In 1099, one year after the foundation of the New Monastery at Cîteaux, Saint Robert was obliged, by a bull of Pope Urban II, to return to the abbey of Molesme as abbot. He remained there until his death in 1111. Saints Alberic and Stephen Harding succeeded him as abbots of Cîteaux. Abbot Robert's love for Our Lady, the Virgin Mother who had placed a ring on his finger, was part of his legacy. Cîteaux flourished because Mary was present there, present as she was in the house of Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse; present as she was in the house of Saint John, the Beloved Disciple; and present as she was in the midst of the apostles on the first Pentecost.

Earthen Vessels

Weakness, fear, tribulation, and humiliations are unavoidable in the Christian life. Each of us carries the precious gifts of God in his own peculiar frailty. Saint Paul says:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God, and not of us. In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not (2 Cor 4:7-9).

The Blessed Virgin Mary is accustomed to carrying earthen vessels. The secret of holiness is to place our weakness in her immaculate hands.

All Things Made New

She who placed a wedding ring on Abbot Robert's finger will not deny us the grace of a fruitful intimacy with her Most Pure Heart. It is with His Mother, and through her, that Our Lord fulfills the promise made to Saint John on Patmos: "Behold, I make all things new" (Ap 21:5).

Happy Onomastico to novice Brother Stephen of the Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank! Be sure to visit him at Sub Tuum today!

Collect

Almighty and ever-living God,
who are Yourself the reward exceeding great
of those who leave all things for the sake of Christ Your Son,
grant, we beseech You,
that by the example and prayers
of the holy abbots Robert, Alberic, and Stephen,
we too may hasten with all fervour and zeal
to the fullness of eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Preface

Truly it is right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

Knit together in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
the blessed abbots Robert, Alberic, and Stephen
chose to be poor with the poor Christ,
and so went forth to a desert wilderness
to abide in the place you had prepared for them.

Schooled in all things by the Rule of Saint Benedict, their father,
they sought only to live in peace
according to the truth of the Gospel.

Setting nothing before the love of Christ,
and zealous for the praise of your Majesty,
their example drew many
to take up the strong and glorious weapons of obedience.

And so, on their feast day, we join with them to adore you
and with heart and mind in harmony with our voices,
in the sight of the angels
we sing the ageless hymn of your praise:

Pioneers of A Fresh Start

For Cistercians and Benedictines, January 26th is the feast of the Holy Abbots of Cîteaux, Robert, Alberic, and Stephen. They were the pioneers of a new beginning, men "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph 4:3). Saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen were indomitable believers in the possibility of beginning again. When they went forth to start afresh at Cîteaux, they were already seasoned monks, "men truly wise" (ExC, I).

A New Beginning in Compunction

The account of their deliberations is given in the Exordium Parvum, a chronicle dating from about the year 1119: "Inspired by the grace of God, these men, while still living in Molesme, often spoke to each other, lamented, and were saddened by the transgression of the Rule of Saint Benedict, the Father of Monks" (ExP, III). Their new beginning was conceived in compunction. Every hope of starting afresh enters through a heart pierced by the Word and brought by the Holy Spirit to a godly sorrow.

They Came to Cîteaux

They realized that they themselves and the other monks had promised by a solemn vow to observe this Rule, yet they had by no means kept it; and therefore they had knowingly committed the sin of perjury (ExP, III).

They spoke amongst themselves and asked one another how they were to fulfill the verse: 'I will fulfill my vows to you, vows which I made with my own lips' (Ps 65:13-14). . . . After common deliberation together with the father of that monastery, Robert of blessed memory, twenty-one monks went out to try to carry out jointly what they had conceived with one spirit. Eventually . . . they came to Cîteaux, which was then a place of horror, a vast wilderness (ExP, I).

Exodus and Transitus

The exodus from Molesme to Cîteaux took place on Palm Sunday 1098, coinciding that year with the feast of the Transitus of Holy Father Benedict on March 21st. Every new beginning is at once an exodus a going forth, and a transitus, a passing-over: a reliving of the Paschal Mystery. This is as true of the many secret new beginnings prompted by grace as it is of the more visible ones.. To leave behind what is old -- especially old hurts, resentments, and prejudices -- is to seek God in poverty of spirit.

General Intercessions

That the Church in East and West
may persevere in seeking the unity willed for her by Christ
from whom the whole Body is joined and knit together
to be built up in charity (cf. Eph 4:16),
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That missionary zeal will conquer the world for Christ.,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That the thoughts of the powerful of the earth may be turned from war
and opened to the making of peace,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That those who journey in darkness
may be given friends and companions to lead them by the hand;
and that those whose hearts are hardened against Christ and the Church
may be touched by an inbreaking of grace,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That we who partake of these Holy Mysteries
may be illumined by the same light
that blazed before the eyes of Saint Paul on the road to Damascus,
and, like him, live by faith in the Son of God
who loved us and gave himself up for us (Gal 2:20),
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

Collect at the General Intercessions

Almighty and ever-living God,
who, by a wonderful inbreaking of your grace,
opened the heart of the blessed Apostle Paul
to the knowledge of your will,
to the bright vision of the Just One,
and to the sound of his voice (cf. Ac 22: 14);
mercifully grant that we,
having received in Baptism the sight that comes from faith,
may walk as children of the light and of the day (1 Th 5:5),
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:3).
Through Christ our Lord.

General Intercessions

That the Church may never be without gentle shepherds
according to the meek and humble Heart of Christ:
servants of unity and of peace,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That the leaders of nations may turn from every project of war and destruction
and search for the means to a just and lasting peace,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That the discouraged may be granted
the blessed assurance of peace of heart;
that those sorely tempted against hope
may be delivered from their trial;
and that those who mourn the death of a loved one
may be comforted in their grief,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That the Sisters of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary
may persevere sweetly in their vocation to be gentle "daughters of prayer,"
witnessing to all the peace of the devout life,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

That we, by the intercession of Saint Francis de Sales,
may respond to the voice of Christ
who calls to Himself those whom He desires,
to the Lord we pray, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.

Collect at the General Intercessions

Holy God, who called your bishop Francis de Sales
from the torment of a restless heart
to the blessed assurance of your abiding love,
and by his ministry renewed your Church in patience and kindness:
grant us something of the unfailing gentleness
by which he touched even the most hardened hearts,
that we may serve you with serenity
and praise you with a humble gladness.
Through Christ our Lord.

My confessor said something to me today that reminded me of a prayer that impressed me back in the days of my monastic youth, and still does: The Act of Love of Father Jean-Baptiste Muard (1809-1854), founder of the Society of Saint Edmund and of the Benedictine Abbey of La-Pierre-Qui-Vire. Thirty-seven years ago, if I am not mistaken, my excellent Novice Master told me that he said this prayer every day after Holy Communion. It is extraordinary the way certain things lodge themselves in one's memory.

Desiring to love Thee, my God, as much as is possible to a feeble creature,
I desire that all my thoughts, all my wishes, all my sentiments,
all my aspirations, all the pulsations of my heart,
all my movements, be so many acts of love.

I desire that every character I trace in writing,
every word, every letter, I read be to me so many acts of love.

Would that I could offer Thee each day as many acts of most fervent love
as there are grains of sand on the sea-shore,
leaves on the trees of the forest,
atoms in the air, and created things, and multiply them to infinity.

I offer Thee, my God, in compensation for my weakness,
all the acts of love of all the angels and all the saints in heaven and earth;
all the acts of love. of the most holy Virgin and, above all,
the acts of love for Thee of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alas ! my God, that I cannot love Thee as Thou deservest to be loved;
give me, then, the heart of a Seraph or, rather,
fill my heart with the love of all the Seraphim,
the love of all the Saints, the love of all hearts,
and increase it ever more and more
that I may love Thee as much as I desire to love Thee. Amen.

Rainbow Over Gaza

This AP photo shows a rainbow over Gaza today, 18 January 2009. In the context of what is happening in the Mideast, today's Collect (2nd Sunday Per Annum) could not be more suitable. I have learned by experience that the liturgy of the Church provides us with the very prayer we need at the moment we most need it. The liturgy is, in fact, the great means by which the Holy Ghost "helpeth our infirmity, for we know not how to pray as we ought" (Rom 8:26). This, of course, is why it is so important to have accurate translations of the received liturgical texts.

Peace: the Tranquility of Order

The Latin text uses the verb moderor. It is perhaps best translated here by the English verb to order, meaning to set aright. Peace is, according to Saint Augustine, "the tranquility of order."

Collect

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui caelestia simul et terrena moderaris,
supplicationes populi tui clementer exaudi,
et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus.

Almighty and everlasting God,
Who order all things both in heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the supplications of your people,
and in our time, grant us your peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

This morning at the Third Nocturn of Vigils, Saint Augustine offered a splendid commentary on today's Gospel. I will hold it in my heart all day. This is what He said:

Arise to Come to Him Continually

Modo ergo quod illum sequuntur isti duo, non quasi non recessuri sequuntur; sed videre voluerunt ubi habitaret, et facere quod scriptum est: Limen ostiorum eius exterat pes tuus; surge ad illum venire assidue et erudire praeceptis eius. Ostendit eis ille ubi maneret; venerunt et fuerunt cum illo.

On the present occasion these two followed Him, not as those who were not again to leave Him, but to see where He dwelt, and to fulfill the Scripture: Let your foot wear out the threshold of His doors; arise to come to Him continually, and be instructed in His precepts. (Sirach 6:36-37) He showed them where He dwelt: they came and remained with Him.

Blessed Day and Blessed Night

Quam beatum diem duxerunt, quam beatam noctem! Quis est qui nobis dicat quae audierint illi a Domino? Aedificemus et nosmetipsi in corde nostro, et faciamus domum quo veniat ille, et doceat nos; colloquatur nobis.

What a blessed day they spent, what a blessed night! Who can make known to us those things which they heard from the Lord? Let us also build in our heart, and make a house into which He may come and teach us, and have converse with us. (Tractate on Saint John's Gospel 7, 9)

That He May Have Converse With His Priests

This is an extraordinarily evocative text for one called to a life of Eucharistic adoration. I should like to see the passage from Sirach carved in stone over the door of the chapel of perpetual adoration that I hope to see built here: "Let your foot wear out the threshold of His doors; arise to come to Him continually." Does this word not speak to your heart? This is what the Cenacle of the Eucharistic Face of Jesus is meant to be: "a house into which Our Lord may come and teach His priests and deacons, and have converse with them."

An Appeal

Unfortunately, we still lack adequate financial support for the project. There have been a few generous donations, but nowhere near enough to begin construction. Who knows? Someone may read this text of Saint Augustine today and be moved to make a substantial gift toward the building of the Cenacle. I can be contacted at: cenacle at sbcglobal dot net.

Friday of the First Week of the Year I

Hebrews 4:1-5, 11
Psalm 77: 3 & 4bc, 6c-7, 8
Mark 2:1-12

Toil and Rest

There is a paradox in today's reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. On the one hand, we enter into the Sabbath-rest of God by means of toil, i.e. the active life; and on the other hand, every work of ours is ordered to rest in God, i.e. the contemplative life. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council made this clear in Sacrosanctum Concilium:

It is of the essence of the Church that she be both human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation, present in this world and yet not at home in it; and she is all these things in such wise that in her the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek " (SC, art. 2).

Six days of work preceded God's holy Sabbath. The world and all it contains was created for man and given to him in view of his participation in the Sabbath-rest of God. "God saw everything that He had made, and found it very good" (Gen 1:31).

The Active life

Saint John Cassian calls the labor by which we enter into God's rest the active life. The active life engages us in the disciplines by which, sustained by a constant flow of actual graces, we dispose ourselves for the Work of God in us by doing whatever we can to uproot our vices and cultivate the virtues.

God works in us while we are at rest: still, quiet, and abandoned to His purifying and healing action. The psalm says, "Is it not in the hours of sleep that the Lord blesses the man He loves?" (Ps 126:2). Sleep is an image of confident repose in God. "Bear me witness that I kept my soul ever quiet, ever at peace. The thoughts of a child on its mother's breast, a child's thoughts were all my soul knew" (Ps 130:2).

The Christian life is not, however, all repose; those who hold that fall into the heresy of quietism. Nor is it all works; those who hold that fall into the heresy of activism, a misguided self-reliance condemned by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical excoriating the errors of Americanism. Our Lord says, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). And in the same Gospel of Saint John he says, "Walk while you have the light of life" (Jn 12:35).

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

The classic question asked of the Desert Fathers was this: "What must I do to be saved?" The sense of the question is this: "What must I do to be saved by God?" and not, "What must I do to save myself?" Abba John answered the question, saying:

I think it best that a man should have a little bit of all the virtues. Therefore, get up early every day and acquire the beginning of every virtue and every commandment of God. Use great patience, with fear and long-suffering, in the love of God, with all the fervour of your soul and body. Exercise great humility, bear with interior distress; be vigilant and pray often with reverence and groaning, with purity of speech and control of your eyes. When you are despised do not get angry; be at peace, and do not render evil for evil. Do not pay attention to the faults of others, and do not try to compare yourself with others, knowing that you are less than every created thing. Renounce everything material and that which is of the flesh. Live by the cross, in warfare, in poverty of spirit, in voluntary spiritual asceticism, in fasting, penitence and tears, in discernment, in purity of soul, taking hold of that which is good. Do your work in peace. Persevere in keeping vigil, in hunger and in thirst, in cold and nakedness, and in sufferings.

Abba John's sagacious reply is very similar to Chapter Four of the Rule of Saint Benedict: The Instruments of Good Works. All of these "instruments" or "practices" are the toil of the active life by which we "strive to enter" into the rest that God has prepared for us, "walking while we have the light of life." And even when we fail miserably in putting the first 72 of Saint Benedict's "instruments" into practice, there remains still one -- the 73rd -- and it is the most important one of all: "And never to despair of God's mercy."

Toward the Most Holy Eucharist

Everything we do by way of toil, mortification, and active virtue is nothing more than a humble preparation for the Work that, in all the sacraments, in the Divine Office, and supremely in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, God does in us and for us. The Church herself suggests this by commanding us to fast before Holy Communion. Every act of self-denial, every refusal to judge another, every effort of ours in the daily spiritual combat, however small, has a Eucharistic finality. The ascetical life is ordered to a transforming and fruitful participation in the sacramental grace of the Holy Sacrifice. There, all that we cannot do of ourselves and by ourselves, is given to us superabundantly. "My grace is enough for thee," says the Lord, "my strength finds its full scope in thy weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). It is in this spirit that I often say the inspired prayer of Mother Yvonne-Aimée of Malestroit:

O mon Jésus,
faites en moi tout ce que vous voulez trouver
afin que vous puissiez tirer de mon néant
tout l'amour et toute la gloire
que vous aviez en vue en me créant.

O my Jesus,
do Thou in me whatsoever Thou desirest to find in me,
so as draw out of my nothingness,
all of the love and all of the glory
that Thou hadst in view in creating me.

"Humble Access"

We come to Holy Mass battle-scarred and weary. And we come to the altar not by great leaps and bounds, but humbly, by bowing low, striking our breast, and taking little steps. In the mysteries of His adorable Body and precious Blood, Our Lord fulfills His promise to us in a way surpassing all our imaginings: "Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28).

The First Benedictine Oblates

In the Benedictine tradition, January 15th is the feast of the young disciples of Our Father Saint Benedict, Maur and Placid. Who are Maur and Placid and how do we know them? Saint Gregory the Great introduces them in his Life of Saint Benedict. He explains that after the holy Benedict had established his twelve monasteries at Subiaco, noble Christians came from Rome, presenting their sons to be raised and educated among the monks. These boys, offered by their parents to God, were the first "Oblates." Among them were Maur, an adolescent, the son of Euthicus, and Placid -- practically a toddler -- son of the patrician Tertullus. Maur quickly became Abbot Benedict's helper whereas Saint Gregory specifies that Placid was in "early childhood."

A Little Hand Wrapped in the Corporal

Picture for a moment the rite of their Oblation. It is intimately tied into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We know exactly what was done from Chapter 59 of the Rule.

If it happens that a nobleman offers his son to God as a monk, and the child is still of tender age, the parents should make out the petition. . . . They should wrap this petition and the boy's hand together with the Mass offering in the altar cloth (the corporal) and offer him in that way" (RB 59:1).

I see Maur, a serious lad, conscious of what is happening when his hand is wrapped together with the offerings of bread and wine in the altar cloth. And I see, little Placid; his father probably had to lift him up in his arms to reach the altar. The poor little fellow must have been in awe of the solemn fuss being made of him.

A Eucharistic Vocation

The vocation of the Benedictine Oblate is essentially Eucharistic. The very word "oblate" is used to refer to the bread and wine placed upon the altar, the oblata, as well as to those who are ritually identified with the offering, the Oblates themselves. The Benedictine Oblate lives from the altar, and returns to the altar. Like the bread and wine destined to become the Body and Blood of Christ, the Oblate is offered at the altar and then given from the altar to live out his mystical identification with Christ, the hostia perpetua, by a life of conversion and obedience.

When Saint Benedict Prayed By Night

Saint Benedict obviously recognized the potential in Placid and Maur. Saint Gregory tells us that he chose the boy Placid to accompany him in a long nocturnal prayer on the mountain. "Accompanied by the little Placid," he says, "Benedict climbed the mountain. Once at the summit, he prayed for a long time." The solitary prayer of Saint Benedict imitates that of Jesus. "Jesus, rising early before dawn, went off to a deserted place where he prayed" (Mk 1:35). It is worth pondering how Placid's experience of seeing Saint Benedict pray by night must have marked him for life. Little boys are sensitive to such things.

Placid Rescued From the Water

The most famous story of Maur and Placid has to do with the little fellow going to fetch water in the lake. He falls into the water. Saint Benedict is made aware of the situation by a kind of charismatic clairvoyance. He sends Brother Maur to rescue the child Placid. Maur, having received his abbot's blessing, runs over the surface of the water, grabs Placid by the hair, pulls him out, and then runs back over the water to dry land, carrying the little one in his arms. Saint Benedict attributes the miracle to Maur's obedience. Maur says it was due to the virtue of Saint Benedict. Then the little Placid pipes up and settles the debate. "When you pulled me out of the water, he says, I saw over my head Father Abbot's hood, and I saw that it was he who pulled me from the water."

They Persevered

What is most significant, I think, in the story of Maur and Placid is that these two lads persevered in seeking God. If Maur and Placid persevered over a lifetime in seeking God, they surely suffered temptation and darkness, never despairing of the mercy of God. Maur and Placid, tested by suffering, became able to help those who are being tested. Perhaps this is why they became patrons of Benedictine novitiates everywhere.

Two Wise Old Nonni

The sign of the mature monk -- the nonnus, to use Saint Benedict's word for a senior in the monastery -- or of the mature nun -- the nonna -- is in their capacity for compassion, in their ability to identify with weakness, to sympathize with suffering, and above all in their refusal to judge.

We know nothing of the old age of Saints Maur and Placid but I see them as two wise old nonni. I see their youthful faces grown wrinkled and their beards white but in their eyes dances the flame of their first love, the interior fire kindled from the altar, set ablaze by the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist on the day of their Oblation. It is the fire of the Eucharist that, burning in us, will consume all that is harsh, unbending, and ready to judge, leaving only the pure flame of a mercy that gives warmth and light. The Eucharistic vocation of Saints Placid and Maur bears witness to what Abba Joseph said to Abba Lot: "You cannot be a monk unless you become like a consuming fire."

The Cross: A Way of Life

Saint Aelred, the English 12th century abbot of Rievaulx, has long been a dear friend. "Our order", he wrote, "is the Cross of Christ." In saying this, Saint Aelred uses the word order to signify, not an institutional organization, but a way of life. For Saint Aelred, the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the very pattern of monastic life.

The Spacious Peace of Charity

Plagued all his life by bad health, Aelred administered his abbey of more than six hundred monks from the infirmary, often gathering the brethren around his bed for familiar spiritual chats. Saint Aelred used to say:

It is the singular and supreme glory of the house of Rievaulx that above all else it teaches tolerance of the infirm and compassion with others in their necessities. All whether weak or strong should find in Rievaulx a haunt of peace, and there, like the fish in the broad seas, possess the welcome, happy, spacious peace of charity.

Christ, the Dearest Friend of All

Saint Aelred saw friendship not as a threat to community but as the cement of community. For Aelred, every true friendship opens onto the sweet love of Christ, the dearest friend of all. "God is friendship," he said, "and he who dwells in friendship, dwells in God and God in him."

The Bruised Reed

One cannot read what Holy Father Benedict says in the Rule concerning the abbot without thinking of Saint Aelred: "Let him keep his own frailty ever before his eyes and remember that the bruised reed must not be broken" (RB 64). Saint Aelred's Pastoral Prayer reveals a man conscious of his own infirmity and full of confidence in the mercy of Christ:

You know, Lord, my heart. You know that my desire is to devote wholly to their service whatever you have given your servant; to spend it completely for them. You know also that I am ready to be myself wholly spent, poured out, for them. May all I perceive and all I utter, my leisure and my occupation, my thoughts and my actions, my prosperity and my adversity, my life and my death, my health and my sickness, yes all that I am be spent on them, be poured out for them, for whom you yourself did not disdain to be poured out. Grant me, Lord, through your grace that is beyond our understanding, grant that I may bear their infirmities with patience, that I may have loving compassion for them, that I may come to their aid effectively. Taught by your Spirit may I learn to comfort the sorrowful, confirm the weak and raise the fallen. May I be myself one with them in their weaknesses, one with them when they burn at causes of offense, one in all things with them, and all things to all of them, so that I may gain them all. And since you have given them this blind leader, this unlearned teacher, this ignorant guide, if not for my sake then for theirs teach him whom you have made to be their teacher, lead him whom you have bidden to lead them, rule him who is their ruler.

His Last Words

Saint Aelred's biographer and friend, Walter Daniel, describes the abbot's death. Saint Aelred's last words were, "Festinate, for Crist luve." Walter Daniel explains: "He spoke the Lord's name in English, since he found it easier to utter, and in some way sweeter to hear in the language of his birth." "Festinate, for Crist luve." Hasten, for Christ's love! I want to make Saint Aelred's words at the hour of his death my own as I approach the adorable mysteries of Christ's Body and Blood. Holy Father Saint Aelred, obtain for us today a threefold grace: willingly to go to Christ our Physician, tenderly to love Christ our Friend, and fervently to adore Christ our God.

For study and meditation: proper texts for the Mass of Saint Aelred, Abbot.

Entrance Antiphon

MR
The Lord is my inheritance and my cup; he alone will give me my reward.
The measuring line has marked a lovely place for me;
my inheritance is my great delight (Ps 15:5-6).

or GR, Caritas Dei, 248.

The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
V. My soul, give thanks to the Lord,
all my being, bless his holy name (Rom 5:5; Ps 102:1).

Collect

O God,
who gave the blessed Abbot Aelred
the grace of being all things to all men,
grant that, following his example,
we may so spend ourselves in the service of one another,
as to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Prayer Over the Oblations

Most merciful God,
who, in the Blessed Abbot Aelred,
deigned to make an end of the old self
and to create a new self according to your own desire,
mercifully grant
that we also, renewed in like manner,
may offer this, the acceptable sacrifice of our atonement.
Through Christ our Lord.

Preface

Truly it is right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

Tenderly you drew Saint Aelred
to the school of your service
where, having tasted of the sweetness of your love,
he became the gentle father of many sons,
a merciful shepherd to the weak,
and a model of spiritual friendship.

Inflamed by the love of Christ,
he embraced the Cross
as the pattern of monastic conversion,
and so attained the repose of those who love you,
the true and eternal Sabbath of the blessed.

And so, on his feast day, we join with him to adore you,
and with all the company of Angels and Saints,
sing the ageless hymn of your praise:

Communion Antiphon

MR
What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,
with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake (2 Cor 4:5).

Postcommunion

Almighty God,
we beseech you
that, fortified by the strength of this sacrament,
we may learn, from the example of the Blessed Abbot Aelred,
to seek you above all things,
and to bear, while we are yet in this world,
the imprint of the new self.
Through Christ our Lord.

El Greco's painting of the Baptism of the Lord has, at least to my eyes, a Chagall-like quality. Whereas one would expect a predominance of blues and greens, suggestive of water and vegetation, El Greco uses a palette in various tones of gold, yellow, and brown. Is it dawn or is it dusk? Is it the beginning of the new dispensation, or the end of the old?

Saint John the Baptist seems to be gazing into the heavens. He sees the heavens opening and the Holy Spirit descending. The light from the Holy Spirit seems to be falling directly into the shell he is using to pour the water of baptism over Jesus' head. Instead of dipping the shell into the river, El Greco shows the Baptist lifting up the shell to receive in its hollow, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Anointing from above.

The Invitatory

This morning's Office of Vigils began with a glorious Invitatory Antiphon in the soaring seventh mode. The summit of the melody stretches with a glorious quilisma over the word, Pater. The presence of the Father is all-pervasive in today's Office.

Christum, Filium dilectum, in quo Pater sibi complacuit,
venite, adoremus.

Christ, the beloved Son, in whom the Father takes delight,
come, let us adore.

The Great Responsory

The First Nocturn's responsory after the First Lesson is grandiose. It is the same Great Responsory in the third mode given for First Vespers in the Antiphonale Monasticum (p. 112) to open the celebration of the whole feast:

Hodie in Jordane baptizato Domino,
aperti sunt caeli
et sicut columba super eum Spiritus mansit,
et vox Patris intonuit:
* Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi complacui.
V. Caeli aperti sunt super eum,
et vox Patris audita est.
* Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi complacui.

Today, the Lord is baptized in the Jordan,
the heavens are opened,
the Spirit, in the form of a dove, rests upon Him,
and the Father's voice resounds:
* This is my beloved Son, in whom my love delights.
V. The heavens opened above Him, and the Father's voice was heard:
* This is my beloved Son, in whom my love delights.

The repetition of the response, "This is my beloved Son, in whom my love delights," makes the whole piece a contemplation of the Trinity. One "hears" the love of the Father for the Son in every note of the melismas that adorn the key words: Hic, dilectus, and complacui.

The Mystery of Water

The Reading of the Second Nocturn was taken from Tertullian's Treatise on Baptism. The fourth lesson is a lyrical tribute to the role of water in the whole economy of salvation. It evokes certain liturgical texts, notably the solemn blessing of water in the night of Pascha. Here is my translation:

What favour water has with God and with His Christ!
Thus is the meaning of baptism confirmed.
Numquam sine aqua Christus!
Never does Christ appear without water!

Christ Himself is immersed in water.
Invited to the wedding feast, it is water that inaugurates the first-fruits of His power.

When He preaches, it is to invite the thirsty to His everlasting water.
When He teaches of sacrificial love (agapé), He recognizes the cup of water offered to one's neighbor as a work of love.

He rests beside a well of water.
He walks upon the waters, freely crossing over its waves.
He serves His disciples with water, by washing their feet.

These signs of baptism extend even to His Passion.
When He is condemned to the death of the cross, water appears:
it is for the hands of Pilate.
When He is pierced by the soldier's lance, water gushes from His side.

Our Holy Father gave an extraordinary catechesis yesterday on Romans 12:1. A certain Irish priest friend of mine should be very pleased! The titles are my own. Here is the text of His Holiness:

Your Bodies: A Living Sacrifice

2. The second passage about which I would like to speak today is found in the first verse of Chapter 12 of the Letter to the Romans. We have heard it and I repeat it once again: "I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship."

The Oblation of Our Selves

In these words, an apparent paradox is verified: While sacrifice demands as a norm the death of the victim, Paul makes reference to the life of the Christian. The expression "offer your bodies," united to the successive concept of sacrifice, takes on the worship nuance of "give in oblation, offer." The exhortation to "offer your bodies" refers to the whole person; in fact, in Romans 6:13, [Paul] makes the invitation to "present yourselves to God." For the rest, the explicit reference to the physical dimension of the Christian coincides with the invitation to "glorify God in your bodies" (1 Corinthians 6:20): It's a matter of honoring God in the most concrete daily existence, made of relational and perceptible visibility.

Living, Holy, Pleasing to God

Conduct of this type is classified by Paul as "living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God." It is here where we find precisely the term "sacrifice." In prevalent use, this term forms part of a sacred context and serves to designate the throat-splitting of an animal, of which one part can be burned in honor of the gods and another part consumed by the offerers in a banquet. Paul instead applied it to the life of the Christian. In fact he classifies such a sacrifice by using three adjectives. The first -- "living" -- expresses a vitality. The second -- "holy" -- recalls the Pauline concept of a sanctity that is not linked to places or objects, but to the very person of the Christian. The third -- "pleasing to God" -- perhaps recalls the common biblical expression of a sweet-smelling sacrifice (cf. Leviticus 1:13, 17; 23:18; 26:31, etc.).

Man Adores and Glorifies the Living God

Immediately afterward, Paul thus defines this new way of living: this is "your spiritual worship." Commentators of the text know well that the Greek expression (tçn logikçn latreían) is not easy to translate. The Latin Bible renders it: "rationabile obsequium." The same word "rationabile" appears in the first Eucharistic prayer, the Roman Canon: In it, we pray so that God accepts this offering as "rationabile." The traditional Italian translation, "spiritual worship," [an offering in spirit], does not reflect all the details of the Greek text, nor even of the Latin. In any case, it is not a matter of a less real worship or even a merely metaphorical one, but of a more concrete and realistic worship, a worship in which man himself in his totality, as a being gifted with reason, transforms into adoration and glorification of the living God.

In the Roman Canon

This Pauline formula, which appears again in the Roman Eucharistic prayer, is fruit of a long development of the religious experience in the centuries preceding Christ. In this experience are found theological developments of the Old Testament and currents of Greek thought. I would like to show at least certain elements of this development. The prophets and many psalms strongly criticize the bloody sacrifices of the temple. For example, Psalm 50 (49), in which it is God who speaks, says, "Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for mine is the world and all that fills it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer praise as your sacrifice to God" (verses 12-14).

And in the Miserere

In the same sense, the following Psalm 51 (50), says, " for you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart" (verse 18 and following).

With Contrite Heart and Humble Spirit

In the Book of Daniel, in the times of the new destruction of the temple at the hands of the Hellenistic regime (2nd century B.C.), we find a new step in the same direction. In midst of the fire -- that is, persecution and suffering -- Azariah prays thus: "We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; As though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly" (Daniel 3:38ff).

The Acceptable Holocaust

In the destruction of the sanctuary and of worship, in this situation of being deprived of every sign of the presence of God, the believer offers as a true holocaust a contrite heart, his desire of God.

Disincarnate Worship: A Danger

We see an important development, beautiful, but with a danger. There exists a spiritualization, a moralization of worship: Worship becomes only something of the heart, of the spirit. But the body is lacking; the community is lacking. Thus is understood that Psalm 51, for example, and also the Book of Daniel, despite criticizing worship, desire the return of the time of sacrifices. But it is a matter of a renewed time, in a synthesis that still was unforeseeable, that could not yet be thought of.

The Offering of the Body

Let us return to St. Paul. He is heir to these developments, of the desire for true worship, in which man himself becomes glory of God, living adoration with all his being. In this sense, he says to the Romans: "Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).

Paul thus repeats what he had already indicated in Chapter 3: The time of the sacrifice of animals, sacrifices of substitution, has ended. The time of true worship has arrived. But here too arises the danger of a misunderstanding: This new worship can easily be interpreted in a moralist sense -- offering our lives we make true worship. In this way, worship with animals would be substituted by moralism: Man would do everything for himself with his moral strength. And this certainly was not the intention of St. Paul.

True Worship in Christ

But the question persists: Then how should we interpret this "reasonable spiritual worship"? Paul always supposes that we have come to be "one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28), that we have died in baptism (Romans 1) and we live now with Christ, through Christ and in Christ. In this union -- and only in this way -- we can be in him and with him a "living sacrifice," to offer the "true worship." The sacrificed animals should have substituted man, the gift of self of man, and they could not. Jesus Christ, in his surrender to the Father and to us, is not a substitution, but rather really entails in himself the human being, our faults and our desire; he truly represents us, he assumes us in himself. In communion with Christ, accomplished in the faith and in the sacraments, we transform, despite our deficiencies, into living sacrifice: "True worship" is fulfilled.

Christ's True Sacrifice Made Present

This synthesis is the backdrop of the Roman Canon in which we pray that this offering be "rationabile," so that spiritual worship is accomplished. The Church knows that in the holy Eucharist, the self-gift of Christ, his true sacrifice, is made present. But the Church prays so that the celebrating community is really united to Christ, is transformed; it prays so that we ourselves come to be that which we cannot be with our efforts: offering "rationabile" that is pleasing to God. In this way the Eucharistic prayer interprets in an adequate way the words of St. Paul.

Christ: the High Priest Who Has Given Himself Up

St. Augustine clarified all of this in a marvelous way in the 10th book of his City of God. I cite only two phrase: "This is the sacrifice of the Christians: though being many we are only one body in Christ" "All of the redeemed community (civitas), that is, the congregation and the society of the saints, is offered to God through the High Priest who has given himself up" (10,6: CCL 47,27ff).

The Priestly Service of the Gospel

3. Finally, I want to leave a brief reflection on the third passage of the Letter to the Romans referring to the new worship. St. Paul says thus in Chapter 15: "the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in performing the priestly service (hierourgein) of the gospel of God, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the holy Spirit" (15:15ff).

At the Center of the Priesthood

I would like to emphasize only two aspects of this marvelous text and one aspect of the unique terminology of the Pauline letters. Before all else, St. Paul interprets his missionary action among the peoples of the world to construct the universal Church as a priestly action. To announce the Gospel to unify the peoples in communion with the Risen Christ is a "priestly" action. The apostle of the Gospel is a true priest; he does what is at the center of the priesthood: prepares the true sacrifice.

Christ, Priest and Victim, Draws All Things to Himself

And then the second aspect: the goal of missionary action is -- we could say in this way -- the cosmic liturgy: that the peoples united in Christ, the world, becomes as such the glory of God "pleasing oblation, sanctified in the Holy Spirit." Here appears a dynamic aspect, the aspect of hope in the Pauline concept of worship: the self-gift of Christ implies the tendency to attract everyone to communion in his body, to unite the world. Only in communion with Christ, the model man, one with God, the world comes to be just as we all want it to be: a mirror of divine love. This dynamism is always present in Scripture; this dynamism should inspire and form our life.

A wise and dear friend wrote me from her cloister for the feast of the Epiphany. By God's providence, our lives, with their changes and chances, have been intertwined for over twelve years. Reflecting on the mystery of my call to Tulsa, she says:

Do you you know the poem The Wise by Brother Antoninus, O.P.? It is a favorite of mine and I thought of you as I read it today. All that has gone before in your life was not so much a search, but a preparation. What you have been called to fits perfectly.

I thank my friend for her message. Here is the poem:

The Wise

Miles across the turbulent kingdoms

They came for it, but that was nothing,

That was the least. Drunk with vision,

Rain stringing in the ragged beards,

When a beast lamed, they caught up another

And goaded west.

For the time was on them.

Once, as it may, in the life of a man,

Once, as it was, in the life of mankind,

All is corrected. And their years of pursuit,

Raw-eyed reading the wrong texts,

Charting the doubtful calculations,

Those nights knotted with thought,

When dawn held off, and the rooster

Rattled the leaves with his blind assertion---

All that, they regarded, under the Sign,

No longer as search but as preparation.

For when the mark was made, they saw it.

Nor stopped to reckon the fallible years,

But rejoiced and followed,

And are called "wise", who learned that Truth,

When sought and at last seen,

Is never found. It is given.

And they brought their camels

Breakneck into that village,

And flung themselves down in the dung and dirt of that place,

And kissed that ground, and the tears

Ran on their faces, where the rain had.

The Epiphany of the Lord

Today is the festival of adoration par excellence. The venite, adoremus of the Invitatory antiphon, sung again to the same 4th mode melody used on Christmas, had a penetrating resonance. The verb to adore occurred again and again in this morning's long Office of Vigils, and will recur throughout the day.

Saint Peter Julian Eymard

Saint Peter Julian Eymard chose to begin his great life work of Eucharistic adoration with solemn exposition on January 6, 1857. "At last," he wrote, "our Divine King shall ascend His throne, and we shall form His royal court; we shall then be His bodyguard." Immediately after Mass, Father Eymard, in surplice and stole, made the first hour of public adoration as a member of his new Congregation.

Destined to Adore

For her part, Mère Mectilde du Saint-Sacrement (1614-1698), foundress of the Bénédictines du Saint-Sacrement, writes:

This feast becomes us more particularly than any other, according to the spirit of our holy vocation, which destines us to adore, as they [the Magi] did, the same Jesus Christ in the august sacrament of the altar, which contains all the other mysteries of His life. This is why you can adore Him there with the holy kings as a little child in the crèche.

Mamie Kirby Brennan and Children

Today is the 90th anniversary of the death of my great-aunt Mamie Kirby Brennan and of her two children, one year old Edward and four year old Edna. They died during the epidemic of the Spanish Influenza that swept through New Haven, Connecticut in January 1919. Here is the obituary notice that appeared in the local newspaper ninety years ago:

BRENNAN -- Sad indeed was the sudden death of Mrs. Mamie Kirby Brennan, which occurred on Saturday morning, January 4th, and scarcely had her spirit fled ere her little babe, Edward, one year old reach out his tiny hands and joined his mother in death. The little daughter, Edna, aged four years, soon followed and the triple funeral was held on Tuesday morning from their late home on Lamberton Street and later from St. Peter's Church.

As the two hearses passed side by side to their last resting place followed by the grief-stricken husband and relatives it caused many an eye to moisten with tears when the thought that this once happy little family had been parted in so short a space of time. One little baby of two years is all that is left to comfort the sorrowing husband and father.

Mrs. Brennnan was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Kirby, who died some years ago and left her a mere child. Her devoted aunt, Mrs. Mary Kirby Halligan, tenderly cared for her through her girlhood and watched her grow to womanhood endowed with all the graces of a Christian woman. She was married to Mr. Edward Brennan five years ago and three children were born to them. It seems sad to think that life held so much for the young wife and mother, but God doeth things for the best. God was merciful to also call the little babes that were laid in her arms that enfolded them in death even as she had done in life. Universal sympathy is extended to the sad hearts that will ever mourn the loved ones who have gone on before.

In a happy little homestead
Amid love and tender care
Dwelt this loving little family
With future hopes fond and fair,
But one day Death summoned
The gentle mother to her long rest
With one babe laid beside her
And the other clasped to her breast.

The days will be filled with sorrow,
The nights so sad and drear
For the grieving hearts so bereft
Who will shed many a silent tear:
But in God's holy Kingdom
Far above the starry sky
Dwells this saintly mother and her babes
In that beautiful land on high.
-- L.B.F.

The above verses are dedicated to this dear mother and to her babes, also to her sorrowing husband, and to her devouted aunt, Mrs. Mary Halligan.

(Mrs. Louise B. Flanigan)

The Feast That Came Back

The feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, established by Pope Innocent XIII in 1721, disappeared (along with a lot of other things) from the Roman Missal of 1970, and was happily restored to the third typical edition of the Roman Missal by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II in 2002.

Ant. ad introitum (Ph 2,10-11)

In nómine Iesu omne genu flectátur, caeléstium, terréstrium et infernórum; et omnis língua confiteátur quia Dóminus Iesus Christus in glória est Dei Patris.

Collecta

Deus, qui salútem humáni géneris in Verbi tui incarnatióne fundásti, da pópulis tuis misericórdiam quam depóscunt, ut sciant omnes non esse, quam Unigéniti tui, nomen áliud invócandum. Qui tecum.

Super oblata

Largitátis tuae múnera deferéntes, quaesumus, Dómine, ut sicut Christo usque ad mortem obodiénti salutíferum nomen dedísti, ita nobis eius virtúte muníri concéde. Per Christum.

Ant. ad communionem (Ps 8,2)

Dómine, Dóminus noster, quam admirábile est nomen tuum in univérsa terra!

Post communionem

Hóstia sumpta, Dómine, quam Christi nomen honorántes tuae obtúlimus maiestáti, grátiam tuam, quaesumus, nobis infúndat ubérrime, ut et nostra in caelis esse scripta nómina gaudeámus. Per Christum.

Here are the Propers of the Mass for the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, for study purposes only, of course.

Entrance Antiphon

At the Name of Jesus every knee should bend
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth
and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10-11).

The Introit calls upon the whole universe to reverence and glorify the adorable name of Jesus -- "in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" (Ph 2:10). At Mass and in the Divine Office, we reverence the Name of Jesus with a bow of the head. Not only does the outward gesture express what is inside; it also structures and shapes what is inside in a way consonant with the faith of the Church.

Collect

O God, who in the incarnation of your Word
established the salvation of the human race,
give to your peoples the mercy they earnestly implore,
that all of them may know the Name of your only-begotten Son,
and call upon no other.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

In the Collect we confess that the salvation of all nations is in Jesus Christ and no other. We beseech the Father to give to all peoples the knowledge of the Holy Name of Jesus, so that everyone on earth may call upon that saving Name.

General Intercessions

That, from the rising of the sun to its setting,
the Church may proclaim the Most Holy Name of Jesus
with reverence and awe,
to the Lord we pray: Christ, hear us. R. Christ, Graciously hear us.

That Christians working in the service of states and nations
may honour the Holy Name of Jesus
and, in the grace of that Name, seek peace and justice for the world
to the Lord we pray: Christ, hear us. R. Christ, Graciously hear us.

That, following the teaching of Saint Bernard,
those tossed on the seas of doubt may find security
in the Name of Jesus;
the discouraged, new hope;
and the sick, a powerful remedy for soul and body,
to the Lord we pray: Christ, hear us. R. Christ, Graciously hear us.

That we who reverence the Name of Jesus
may offer fitting reparation
for the blasphemies committed against that Most Holy Name
and, in the communion of the whole Church,
confess that there is no other Name under heaven
whereby we are saved,
to the Lord we pray: Christ, hear us. R. Christ, Graciously hear us.

Collect at the General Intercessions

O God, who in the holy Name of Jesus
have given us a light in every darkness,
food for every hunger,
and medicine for every affliction;
mercifully grant that we may find
no Name more agreeable in the singing,
more welcome in the hearing,
and more comforting in thought
than the Name of your only-begotten Son
Jesus Christ who is Lord forever and ever.

A tender and burning love for the Name of Jesus found expression in the lyrical preaching of the twelfth century Cistercian Fathers. In the medieval Cistercian pharmacy of souls, the Holy Name of Jesus was the miracle medicine: the antidote for coldness of heart, bitterness, sadness, fear, lust, greed, vengeance, and every manner of spiritual ill.

Offertory Antiphon

I will praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify Your Name forever;
for You, O Lord, are sweet and mild:
and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon You, alleluia (Ps 85:12, 5).

Prayer Over the Oblations

As we set forth, O Lord, the gifts received from your bounty,
we pray that as you bestowed on Christ obedient unto death
the Name that brings salvation,
you would also, in the power of that Name, keep us safe.
Through Christ our Lord.

The Prayer Over the Oblations calls the Name of Jesus, "the Name that brings salvation." The Name of Jesus brings healing, wholeness, health, peace and well-being. The Ambrosian Missal offers a magnificent Preface of the Holy Name.

Preface

(Ambrosian Missal, Votive Mass of the Holy Name of Jesus)

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always, here and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You sent your only-begotten Son to us,
bearing the wondrous Name that tells of salvation,
so that he might set us free
from the tyranny of our ancient foe,
and by consecrating us as your adoptive sons,
might call us to share the everlasting glory of your kingdom.

This is the Name of our thanksgiving;
before this Name all knees must bend;
this is the Name we invoke
as a refuge amid the perils of this life
and at the hour of death as our comfort and hope.

We join with all creation to praise his Name
as with the choirs of heaven
we sing the ageless hymn of your glory:

Communion Antiphon

O Lord, our Lord,
how wonderful is your Name
through all the earth (Ps 8:2).

The Communion Antiphon echoes the Invitatory that opened Vigils. During Holy Communion the Church would have us sing: "O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is your Name through all the earth (Ps 8:2). To begin the daily round of praise, we sang: "The most admirable Name of Jesus, which is above every name: O come, let us adore."

Or:

All the nations You have made shall come and adore before You, O Lord,
and they shall glorify Your Name:
for You are great, and do wonderful things:
You alone are God, alleluia (Ps 85: 9-10).

Postcommunion

Having received the sacrificial gifts, O Lord,
which we offered to your majesty
in honor of the the Name of Christ,
we pray you to pour forth your grace more lavishly upon us
that we may rejoice in having our names written in heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.

The Postcommunion draws upon to Luke 10:20: "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." We cherish the Holy Name of Jesus during this life because we know that Jesus, the Divine Friend, our Perfect and Faithful Friend, cherishes our names, and calls each of us by name. When Saint Teresa of Avila in prayer said to Our Lord, "I am Teresa of Jesus," He answered saying, "And I am Jesus of Teresa." Today's feast is, above all, an invitation and an opportunity to enter more deeply into the friendship of Jesus. He would have us call Him by His Name. Nothing so establishes intimacy between the soul and Jesus Christ as the ceaseless repetition of His adorable Name. Enter into the grace of today's feast. Imitate the saints. Let the Name of Jesus be your warmth, your sweetness, and your song.

Of all the English translations of Jesu, Dulcis Memoria that I have read and prayed, the one done by Gerard Manley Hopkins remains my favourite.

Jesu, Dulcis Memoria

Jesus to cast one thought upon
Makes gladness after He is gone,
But more than honey and honeycomb
Is to come near and take Him home.

No music so can touch the ear,
No news is heard of such sweet cheer,
Thought half so dear there is not one
As Jesus God the Father's Son.

Jesu, their hope who go astray,
So kind to those who ask the way,
So good to those who look for Thee,
To those who find what must Thou be?

To speak of that no tongue will do
Nor letters suit to spell it true:
But they can guess who have tasted of
What Jesus is and what is love.

Jesu, a springing well Thou art,
Daylight to head and treat to heart,
And matched with Thee there' nothing glad
That men have wished for or have had.

Wish us Good Morning when we wake
And light us, Lord, with Thy day-break.
Beat from our brains the thicky night
And fill the world up with delight.

Who taste of Thee will hunger more,
Who drink be thirsty as before:
Wat else to ask they never know
But Jesus' self they love Him so.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
And a sweet singing in the ear
And in the mouth a honey zest
And drinks of heaven in the breast.

Thou art the hope, Jesu, my sweet,
The soul has in its sighing-fit;
The loving tears on Thee are spent,
The inner cry for Thee is meant.

Be our delight, O Jesu, now
As by and by our prize art Thou,
And grant our glorying may be
World without end alone in Thee.

In the Liturgy

For the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, I invite the readers of Vultus Christi to join me in meditating the Iubilus Rithmicus de Amore Iesu, better known as the hymn, Dulcis Iesu Memoria. The Church sings portions of the hymn on January 3rd, feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, but also at Lauds on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, at Vigils (or Office of Readings) on the solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, and at Lauds on August 6th, feast of the Transfiguration.

Authorship

For years this beautiful poem on the mystical love of Jesus was attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvux (1091-1153). The earliest manuscripts of the text are, however, of English origin and date from the 12th or early 13th century: one is a Missal from Lesnes Abbey near Greenwich, written between 1178 and 1220, the other is a book of Laudes in the Bodleian Library.

Increasingly, specialists are advancing the hypothesis that author of Iesu, Dulcis Memoria may have been none other than Saint Aelred, Cistercian Abbot of Rievaulx, even if the Benedictine scholar Dom André Wilmart, while sympathetic to an Aelredian authorship, stopped short of positively ascribing the text to him. There is, however, general agreement that the author of the Iubilus was an English Cistercian monk of the 12th century.

The hymn was, somewhat arbitrarily, divided into three sections for liturgical use in the Office of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. The translation here is by Father Edward Caswall.

At Vespers

Jesu, the very thought of thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest!

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than tby blest name,
O Saviour of mankind!

O hope of every contrite heart!
O joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind thou art,
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah this
Nor tongue nor pen can show:
THe love of Jesus, what it is,
None but his lovers know.

Still using Father Caswall's translation, I am giving only a selection of the twenty-four verses that make up this section of the hymn. Father Caswall renders the text with a certain liberty; it is not a literal translation. He does capture, nonetheless, something of the delicacy and sweetness of the Latin.

At Lauds

O Jesu, thou the beauty art
Of angel worlds above;
Thy name is music to the heart,
Enchanting it with love.

For thee I yearn, for thee I sigh;
When wilt thou come to me,
And make me glad eternally
With the blest sight of thee?

O Jesu, love unchangeble,
For whom my soul doth pine!
O fruit of life celestial!
O sweetness all divine!

I was fifteen or sixteen years old when, thanks to a fervent Trappist laybrother at Saint Joseph's Abbey, I discovered a lovely English translation of Dulcis Iesu Memoria in a small black-covered volume called The Cistercian Day Hours. The laybrother in question encouraged me to pray the hymns of The Cistercian Day Hours as he did, savouring them and learning them by heart. I no longer have a copy of The Cistercian Days Hours at hand, and suspect that it is long out of print.

The second section of the Iubilus Rithmicus de Amore Iesu was assigned to Matins. The translation here is Father Caswall's.

At Matins

O Jesu, King most wonderful!
Thou conqueror renowned!
Thou sweetness most ineffable!
In whom all joys are found!

Stay with us, Lord, and with thy light
Illume the soul's abyss;
Scatter the darkness of ournight,
And fill the world with bliss!

Jesu, thy mercies are untold,
Through each returning day;
Thy love exceeds a thousandfold
Whatever we can say.

For over thirty years now, my dear old friend Father Jacob, O.P. and I have renewed our consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God annually on January 1st. Experience has taught me the wisdom of entrusting the new year to Our Blessed Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces. Readers of Vultus Christi may want to join me in asking the Mother of God again today to open her hands over the entire year.

I offer today my translation of the sublime prayer of Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo (+667). This prayer, taken from his treatise De virginitate perpetua Sanctae Mariae, is one of the earliest expressions of total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In it, heralding an expression that Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort will make famous, the Bishop of Toledo declares himself the slave of Mary, Handmaid of the Lord. He also emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit with theological keenness and tender piety.

To illustrate the prayer, I chose Murillo's painting of the Virgin Mother bestowing on Saint Ildephonsus a splendid (blue and gold!) chasuble woven in heaven, to reward him for having written so beautifully in defense of her perpetual virginity.

Prayer of Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo, Bishop

The Abundance of the Sweetness of Thy Son

I come to thee, only Virgin Mother of God,
and fall prostrate before thee,
who alone didst cooperate in the Incarnation of God.
I humble myself before thee,
who alone wert found to be the Mother of my Lord.
I pray thee, who alone wert found to be the handmaid of thy Son:
obtain that my sins be wiped away;
command that I be cleansed of the wickedness of my deeds,
and, that I may love the glory of thy virtue,
reveal to me the abundance of the sweetness of thy Son.

Thou Art His Co-Worker in My Redemption

Bestow upon me the gift of proclaiming the true faith of thy Son,
and of defending it.
Grant that I may cleave to God and to thee,
that I may serve thy Son and thee,
that I may be His bondsman and thine;
His, because He is my Creator,
and thine, because thou art the Mother of my Creator;
His, because He is Lord of the angelic powers,
and thine, because thou art the handmaid of the Lord of All;
His, because He is God,
and thine because thou art the Mother of God;
His, because He is my Redeemer,
and thine because thou art His co-worker in my redemption.

The Body by Which He Healed My Wounds

That which He wrought for my redemption,
verily He formed in thine own person.
That He might be my Redeemer,
He became thy Son.
That He might be the price of my ransom,
He became incarnate of thy flesh.
The Body by which He healed my wounds,
He took from thee so that He, in it, might be wounded.
The mortal Body by which He took away my death,
He took from thy mortality.
The Body by which He brought my sins to nought,
He received sinless from thee.
This nature of mine that ahead of time, in Himself,
He placed above the angels in the glory of His Father's right hand,
He assumed -- humbling Himself -- out of thine own true body.

I Am Thy Slave

Therefore, I am thy slave,
because Thy Son is my Master.
Therefore thou art my Lady,
because thou art the handmaid of my Lord.
Therefore I am the slave of the handmaid of my Lord,
because thou, my Lady, didst become the Mother of my Lord.
Therefore I have become thy slave,
because thou didst become the Mother of my Maker.

By the Holy Spirit

I pray thee, I pray thee, holy Virgin,
may I, by the Spirit through Whom thou didst give birth to Jesus,
have Jesus and hold Him.
By that Spirit through Whom
thou didst conceive this same Jesus in thy flesh,
may my soul receive Jesus.

Let the Spirit gift me with the knowledge of Jesus,
this Spirit by Whom it was given Thee to bear Jesus and to give Him birth.
Let the Spirit in Whom thou didst declare thyself the handmaid of the Lord,
choosing that it should be done unto thee according to the Angel's word,
grant me to proclaim the heights of Jesus with lowliness.

To Love Jesus and to Fear Him

In the Spirit thou didst adore Jesus as thy Lord
and gaze upon Him as thy Son;
in that same Spirit may I love Him.
And may I fear this same Jesus,
with that reverence by which He, truly being God,
became subject to His parents.