Monday, March 18, 2024

FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: Instruction of St. Augustine

 

FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY:

Instruction of St. Augustine

 

The Carmelite nun Sister Clare Mary was greatly 

responsible for Pope Clement X raising the rank of St. 

Joseph's feast 19 March to that of a double of the second 

class and providing a revised office for that feast.


It was not misleading of the angel to say to Joseph: Do not be afraid to take thy wife Mary to thyself. Although she had not known his bed and never would, Joseph could still call her his wife, because at her betrothal she had pledged herself to be his wife. The term had not become obsolete or deceptive, merely there had been no carnal union in the past and there would be none in the future. She was more of a joy to her husband as a virgin, and the relationship was a more sacred and wonderful thing. As her Fruit came to her without her husband's help, their partnership did not extend to the realm of childbearing, but they were partners all the same because they had pledged their word to each other.

 

Because this marriage resting on plighted troth was a true marriage, they were deservedly called Christ's parents. It was not simply that Mary was called his mother but that Joseph was called his father, just as he was called the husband of Christ's mother. He was both these things spiritually, not physically. But whether we envisage Joseph as Christ's father spiritually or Mary as his mother both spiritually and physically, we have to admit that both of them were the parents of the lowly element in him, not of the exalted: they were the parents of his weak human nature, not of his divinity and his strength. The gospel is not misrepresenting the situation when it says: His mother said to him, My Son, why hast thou treated us so? Think, what anguish of mind thy father and I have endured, searching for thee. As he wanted to make it clear that they were not his only parents, and that he also had a Father who had begotten him without his mother's aid, he answered: What reason had you to search for me? Could you not tell that I must needs be in the place which belongs to my Father? Fearing that this question might give a false impression, and that people might think Christ meant that Mary and Joseph were not his parents at all, the evangelist goes on to say: These words which he spoke to them were beyond their understanding; but he went down with them on their journey to Nazareth, and lived there in subjection to them. l Thus, if we ask who he was subject to, the answer is: his parents. And if we ask who was subject to his parents, the answer is: that same Jesus Christ, who though his nature is, from the first, divine, yet did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted. If, then, he lived in subjection to Mary and Joseph, who were far below the rank of Godhead, it must have been because he dispossessed himself, and took the nature of a slave, which was his parents' nature. But since when Mary bore him she was not reaping a harvest sown by Joseph, it is clear that they could not both have been the parents of his servile nature unless they actually were husband and wife, even though they had had no carnal knowledge of each other.

 

It was right, too, that when the lists of Christ's ancestors came to be drawn up, the series of generations should be made to center on Joseph, as in fact it was. Otherwise, an injustice would have been done to the male partner in the marriage, the more prominent of the two. This did not involve tampering with the truth. Joseph too, as well as Mary, belonged to the line which the prophets had said would produce the Christ—they were both of the line of David.

From the commentary on the penitential psalms (1555) by St John Fisher, bishop and martyr

 


From the commentary on the penitential psalms (1555) by St John Fisher, bishop and martyr

If anyone should sin, we have an advocate before the Father

Christ Jesu is our bishop, his most precious body is our sacrifice, which he offered upon a cross for the redemption of all the world.
  The blood shed for our redemption was not the blood of goats or calves as in the old law, it was the very blood most innocent of our savior Jesus Christ.
  The temple wherein our bishop did sacrifice was not made by man’s hand but only by the power of God, he shed his precious blood for our redemption in the face of all the world, which is the temple made only by the hand of God.
  This temple has two divers parts, one is the earth whereon we inhabit, the other is not yet known to us mortal creatures.
  First he did sacrifice in the earth when he suffered his passion. After, in a new clothing or garment, the vesture of immortality, and with his own precious blood he entered into sanctum sanctorum [the Holy of Holies] that is to say into heaven when he shewed his said most precious blood before the throne of his father which he shed for all sinners 7 times.
  By this holy sacrifice almighty God must needs have pity and execute his mercy to all true penitents and this sacrifice shall continue not only year by year as the manner was of Jews, but also it is daily offered for our comfort, and every hour and moment for our most strong succor, wherefore saint Paul says Having obtained eternal redemption.
  By it we are redeemed for ever. Every contrite and true penitent person not willing to fall again but with a full purpose to continue in virtuous living is partaker of this holy sacrifice.
  As saint John shews in his first epistle: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Guigo, Fifth Prior of Chartreuse: Two Writings on Solitude

 




Guigo, Fifth Prior of Chartreuse: Two Writings on Solitude

Guigo (1083-1136) entered the Carthusian monastery of Grande Chartreuse in his early twenties and died there as its fifth successor to St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusian order. Guigo compiled the order's constitution, or "customs," and is credited with several miscellaneous writings, including his own Meditations.

The first of the two writings below is a little essay tracing the role of solitude in the spiritual formation of monastic predecessors back to the Old Testament.Of the Letter on solitude, composed just before Guigo's death, translator Thomas Merton has written that it is

a masterpiece of its kind. ... It contains some of the classical tropes on the solitary life; the otium negotiosum, or the contemplative leisure which is more productive than any activity; the militia Christi, in which the monk, soldier of Christ, fights not against others but against his own passions, overcoming the world in himself, offering his bod-ily life in sacrifice to Christ. The hermit, sitting alone in silence and poverty, is the "true philosopher" because, as Guigo says in another place, he seeks “the truth in its nakedness, stripped and nailed to the Cross."

Both texts are copyright, Trustees of The Thomas Merton Legacy Trust, with the Letter specifically credited to Thomas Merton as translator.


1. Praise of Life in Solitude.

In praise of solitude, to which we have been called in a special way, we will say but little; since we know that it has already obtained enthusiastic recommendation from many saints and wise men of such great authority, that we are not worthy to follow in their steps.

For, as you know, in the Old Testament, and still more so in the New, almost all of God's secrets of major importance and hidden meaning were revealed to His servants, not in the turbulence of the crowd but in the silence of solitude; and you know, too, that these same servants of God, when they wished to penetrate more profoundly some spiritual truth, or to pray with greater freedom, or to become a stranger to things earthly in an ardent elevation of the soul, nearly always fled the hindrance of the multitude for the benefits of solitude.

Thus -- to illustrate by some examples -- when seeking a place for meditation, Isaac went out to a field alone (Genesis 24:63); and this, one may assume, was his normal practice, and not an isolated incident. Likewise, it was when Jacob was alone, having dispatched his retinue ahead of him, that he saw God face to face (Genesis 32:24-30), and was thus favored with a blessing and a new and better name, thus receiving more in one moment of solitude than in a whole lifetime of social contact.

Scripture also tells us how Moses, Elijah and Elisha esteemed solitude, and how conducive they found it to an even deeper penetration of the divine secrets; and note, too, what perils constantly surrounded them when among men, and how God visited them when alone.

Overwhelmed by the spectacle of God's indignation, Jeremiah, too, sat alone (Jeremiah 15:17). He asked that his head might be a fountain, his eyes a spring for tears, to mourn the slain of his people (cf. Jeremiah 9:1); and that he might the more freely give himself to this holy work he exclaimed, "O, that I had in the desert a wayfarer's shelter!" (cf. Jeremiah 9:2), clearly implying that he could not do this in a city, and thus indicating what an impediment companions are to the gift of tears.

Jeremiah also said, "It is good for a man to await the salvation of God in silence" (Lamentations 3:26) - which longing solitude greatly favors; and he adds, "It is good also for the man who has borne the yoke from early youth" (Lamentations 3:27) — a very consoling text for us, many of whom have embraced this vocation from early manhood; and yet again he speaks saying, "The solitary will sit and keep silence, for he will lift himself above himself" (Lamentations 3:28). Here the prophet makes reference to nearly all that is best in our life: peace, solitude, silence, and ardent thirst for the things of heaven.

Later, as an example of the supreme patience and perfect humility of those formed in this school, Jeremiah speaks of "Jeering of the multitude and cheek buffeted in scorn, bravely endured."

John the Baptist, greater than whom, the Savior tells us, has not arisen among those born of women (Matthew 11:11), is another striking example of the safety and value of solitude. Trusting not in the fact that divine prophecy had foretold that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and that he would go before Christ the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah (cf. Luke 1:11-17); nor in the fact that his birth had been miraculous, and that his parents were saints, he fled the society of men as something dangerous and chose the security of desert solitude (cf. Luke 1:80); and, in actual fact, as long as he dwelt alone in the desert, he knew neither danger nor death.

Moreover the virtue and merit he attained there are amply attested by his unique call to baptize Christ, and by his acceptance of death for the sake of justice. For, schooled in sanctity in solitude, he alone of all men became worthy to wash Christ (cf. Matthew 3:13-17) -- Christ who washes all things clean -- and worthy, too, to undergo prison bonds and death itself in the cause of truth (cf. Matthew 14:3-12).

Jesus himself, God and Lord, whose virtue was above both the assistance of solitude and the hindrance of social contact, wished nevertheless, to teach us by his example; so before beginning to preach or work miracles he was, as it were, proved by a period of fasting and temptation in the solitude of the desert (cf. Matthew 4:1-11); similarly, Scripture speaks of him leaving his disciples and ascending the mountain alone to pray (cf. Matthew 14:23). Then there was that striking example of the value of solitude as a help to prayer when Christ, just as his Passion was approaching, left even his Apostles to pray alone (cf. Matthew 26:39-44) -- a clear indication that solitude is to be preferred for prayer even to the company of Apostles.

We cannot here pass over in silence a mystery that merits our deepest consideration; the fact that this same Lord and Savior of mankind deigned to live as the first exemplar of our Carthusian life when he retired alone to the desert and gave himself to prayer and the interior life; treating his body hard with fasting, vigils and other penances; and conquering the devil and his temptations with spiritual arms (cf. Mat thew 4:1-11).

And now, dear reader, ponder and reflect on the great spiritual benefits derived from solitude by the holy and venerable Fathers -- Paul, Antony, Hilarion, Benedict, and others without number — and you will readily agree that for the spiritual savor of psalmody; for penetrating the message of the written page; for kindling the fire of fervent prayer; for engaging in profound meditation; for losing oneself in mystic contemplation; for obtaining the heavenly dew of purifying tears, -- nothing is more helpful than solitude.

The reader should not rest content with the above examples in praise of our vocation; let him gather together many more, either from present experience or from the pages of Holy Writ.

2. The Solitary Life

Letter to the Reverend N. Guigo by the least of those servants of the Cross who are in the Charterhouse to live and to die for Christ.

One man will think another happy. I esteem him happy above all who does not strive to be lifted up with great honors in a palace, but who elects, humble, to live like a poor country man in a hermitage; who with thoughtful application loves to meditate in peace; who seeks to sit by himself in silence.

For to shine with honors, to be lifted up with dignities is in my judgment a way of little peace, subject to perils, burdened with cares, treacherous to many, and to none secure. Happy in the beginning, perplexed in its development, wretched in its end. Flattering to the unworthy, disgraceful to the good, generally deceptive to both. While it makes many wretched, it satisfies none, makes no one happy.

But the poor and lonely life, hard in its beginning, easy in its progress, becomes, in its end, heavenly. It is constant in adversity, trusty in hours of doubt, modest in those of good fortune. Sober fare, simple garments, laconic speech, chaste manners. The highest ambition, because without ambition. Often wounded with sorrow at the thought of past wrong done, it avoids present, is wary of future evil. Resting on the hope of mercy, without trust in its own merit, it thirsts after heaven, is sick of earth, earnestly strives for right conduct, which it retains in constancy and holds firmly for ever. It fasts with determined constancy in love of the cross, yet consents to eat for the body’s need. In both it observes the greatest moderation for when it dines it restrains greed and when it fasts, vanity. It is devoted to reading, but mostly in the Scripture canon and in holy books where it is more intent upon the inner marrow of meaning than on the froth of words. But you may praise or wonder more at this: that such a life is continually idle yet never lazy. For it finds many things indeed to do, so that time is more often lacking to it than this or that occupation. It more often laments that its time has slipped away than that its business is tedious.

What else? A happy subject, to advise leisure, but such an exhortation seeks out a mind that is its own master, concerned with its own business disdaining to be caught up in the affairs of others, or of society. Who so fights as a soldier of Christ in peace as to refuse double service as a soldier of God and a hireling of the world. Who knows for sure it cannot here be glad with this world and then in the next reign with God.

What else? A happy subject, to advise leisure, but such an exhortation seeks out a mind that is its own master, concerned with its own business disdaining to be caught up in the affairs of others, or of society. Who so fights as a soldier of Christ in peace as to refuse double service as a soldier of God and a hireling of the world. Who knows for sure it cannot here be glad with this world and then in the next reign with God.

Small matters are these, and their like, if you recall what drink He took at the gibbet, Who calls you to kingship. Like it or not, you must follow the example of Christ poor if you would have fellowship with Christ in His riches. If we suffer with Him, says the Apostle, we shall reign with Him. If we die with Him, then we shall live together with Him. The Mediator Himself replied to the two disciples who asked Him if one of them might sit at His right hand and the other at His left: “Can you drink the chalice which I am about to drink?” Here He made clear that it is by cups of earthly bitterness that we come to the banquet of the Patriarchs and to the nectar of heavenly celebrations.

Since friendship strengthens confidence I charge, advise and beg you, my best beloved in Christ, dear to me since the day I knew you, that as you are farseeing, careful, learned and most acute, take care to save the little bit of life that remains still unconsumed, snatch it from the world, light under it the fire of love to burn it up as an evening sacrifice to God. Delay not, but be like Christ both priest and victim, in an odor of sweetness to God and to men.

Now, that you may fully understand the drift of all my argument, I appeal to your wise judgment in few words with what is at once the counsel and desire of my soul. Undertake our observance as a man of great heart and noble deeds, for the sake of your eternal salvation. Become a recruit of Christ and stand guard in the camp of the heavenly army watchful with your sword on your thigh against the terrors of the night.

Here, then, I urge you to an enterprise that is good to undertake, easy to carry out and happy in its consummation. Let prayers be said, I beg you, that in carrying out so worthy a business you may exert yourself in proportion to the grace that will smile on you in God’s favor. As to where or when you must do this thing, I leave it to the choice of your own prudence. But to delay or to hesitate will not, as I believe, serve your turn.

I will proceed no further with this, for fear that rough and uncouth lines might offend you, a man of palaces and courts.

An end and a measure then to this letter, but never an end to my affection of love for you.


Saturday, March 16, 2024

Carthusian Prayer

 Does not prayer often mean returning gradually and simply to true silence? Certainly, not by doing anything or imposing some kind of yoke or burden on ourselves but, on the contrary, by letting all our activity subside, little by little, into that true interior silence that will begin to assert itself and resume its rightful place. Once we have heard this silence we thirst to find it again. We must, however, free ourselves from the idea that we can of ourselves reproduce it. It is there; it is always there even if we no longer hear it. Indeed, there are days when it is impossible to recapture it, for the mill of the mind is grinding and it is impossible to stop the workings of the imagination and the senses. Yet, silence does abide in the depths of our will as a peaceful and tranquil acceptance of the noise and disturbances that hinder our coming to serenity of mind. Normally, though, it should be possible by means of a certain physical and intellectual asceticism (breathing, posture, etc.) to calm the undisciplined impulses of the mind in order to achieve at least a little stillness. All the same, silence is more profound than all accepted forms of meditation: lectio divina, lights from the Lord that help us penetrate his mysteries, reflection on themes that merit our attention, etc. All this is good and helps us to approach the truth. It is all very necessary in its own time.

Silence, however, is deeper still and nothing can replace it. There are days when we must forego silence ín order to give our spirit the nourishment it needs. Yet we must not become light-headed with the wine of a partial truth which becomes clear to us; our thirst is deeper still and aims at a truth as near as possible to absolute Truth. Only silence, even if it is darkness, draws us to total light. Indeed, even the work of God only reveals to us its riches if it is the bearer of silence. The Divine Office only achieves its balance when it breathes forth in the depth of our soul the silence contained in the eternal Word.

We cannot, therefore, do anything. There is nothing to give. God does not wait for us to give Him little gifts. He has no use for bulls or wild rams; what He wants is the spiritual sacrifice of our hearts. Must we say, therefore, that if we have nothing to give that is outside of us, we must give our very selves? Not even that. He does not ask us to become agitated, to invent formulas or methods for offering ourselves. Besides, if we really thought about it, what could that possibly mean? To go out of ourselves? But that would be to lose ourselves, to renounce being our-selves, taking our soul in our hands and offering it to God. If it is then not a question of our making a formal offering, should we, therefore, be receiving a gift from the hands of God? Not that either. We do not receive a gift from God, whether little or great; it is God Himself that we receive. Yet what does this mean? Does He come to us in regal splendor, arrayed in majesty? In reality, we know that when we are silent God does not speak to us, nor does He reveal Himself in any way, and yet He gives Himself.





 

We do not receive a gift from God, whether little or great; it is God Himself that we receive.

God gives Himself to me. Yet, we must be careful not to act like frogs and puff ourselves up in an attempt to become as big as God. The gift of God is not something foreign to us; in a way, it is not different from us at all. For God, to give Himself to us is to give us to ourselves. He gives me my being as child of God, ever springing forth anew Experience shows that silence brings us back to ourselves. The danger would be to turn in on ourselves, and find contentment in a sort of self-complacency. To be truly oneself is to drink deeply at the wellsprings of our being, or more exactly, to be the spring nourished and sustained at the heart of God Himself. God creates us in love and it is our being that we receive from Him in love. At one and the same time, we become ourselves and we receive God Himself. In fact, we are God, not through pantheism or monism, obviously, but by shared sonship. God begets me even before I know or desire ít; but He also gives me his Spirit who allows me to receive this gift, of which I cannot clearly say whether it is He or I myself. It is simply a question of being oneself, or better, of becoming oneself at every moment, together with the Son who, from all eternity, in one unchanging moment receives his being from the Father.

We are asked, therefore, to establish a relationship, not to achieve an end, or to realize an objective or to reach a goal. The aim, if we must use this word at all, is rather to be free from every concrete goal which might seem to be its own justification. There is nothing other to hope for or aim at than developing a true relationship with God in which we depend unconditionally on Him and do not seek any other support apart from Him. The gifts of God are important no longer; what we can get for ourselves has no more interest; only one thing really counts: to have a genuine relationship of love with God. This brings in no ‘returns’. We do not seek to be enriched or to enrich others, even less to enrich God. It is a kind of all-inclusive relationship in which we lose all the limited goals in which we are continually tempted to find our security. Thus, not only our mind and our activity, but our very being risks finding itself cut off from what gives it pleasure in life. Nevertheless, is there anything in these comforts which can still appear interesting or worthwhile, when compared with this supreme luxury of being pure dependency, nothing but the begotten of the Father?

Nonetheless, it would be wrong to believe that we can attain this attitude of dependence in its purest form by distancing ourselves from creation. On the contrary, it is only by passing through a creature that we can enter the heart of God. The pure relatedness of which we are speaking is, in fact, the establishment of a relationship of dependence on the risen Christ: the Man-Jesus, Son of God not only by birth but by the power of the Spirit who raised Him from the dead to take his place as Son at the right hand of the Father. By his very being, He is the one who depends on the Father, and on whom we depend. The Paschal mystery is precisely the crucial moment in which his humanity, in giving itself to us without reserve, found itself in a state of complete dispossession which enabled Him to be fully receptive to the Father, to receive the name above all other names.

There is, therefore, a presence of Jesus in the Spirit which is at the heart of all true prayer. It is not necessarily a felt awareness, but a real correspondence between his heart and ours, between our humanity, its flesh and blood earthiness, and the humanity of the Son of Man who through the Resurrection assumed the creation in its fullness and dominion over the universe. Prayer is not, then, an elegant stroll along the high places of the spirit, but, as was said above, a return to the deepest source of our entire being; flesh, soul and spirit. This source is the Divinity which comes to us in the Spirit sent by the risen Son from the bosom of the Father.
Benedictus Deus

Friday, March 15, 2024

TO HIS CARTHUSIAN SONS A Letter of Saint Bruno to the monks of the Grande Chartreuse




TO HIS CARTHUSIAN SONS A Letter of Saint Bruno to the monks of the Grande Chartreuse, France, written from the Hermitage Of The Tower in Calabria, Italy at about 1099 

To MY BROTHERS whom I love in Christ above everything else, greetings from your brother, Bruno. Now that I have heard from our dear brother Landuin a detailed and moving account of how firm you are in your resolve to follow a path of life so commendable and in accord with right reason, and have learned of your ardent love and unflagging zeal for all that pertains to moral rectitude and the fullness of Christian maturity, my spirit rejoices in the Lord. I truly exult, and am swept away by my impulse to praise and thanksgiving; yet, at the same time, I bitterly lament. I rejoice, as is only right, over the ripening fruit of your virtues; but I blush, and bemoan my own condition, since I wallow so listless and inactive in the filth of my sins. “REJOICE, THEREFORE, MY BELOVED BROTHERS, THAT YOU HAVE REACHED A QUIET ANCHORAGE IN THE SECURITY OF A HIDDEN HARBOR.” 13 Rejoice, therefore, my beloved brothers, over the lot of overflowing happiness that has fallen to you, and for the grace of God that you have received in such abundance. Rejoice that you have succeeded in escaping the countless dangers and shipwrecks of this storm-tossed world, and have reached a quiet anchorage in the security of a hidden harbor. Many would like to join you, and many there are also who make a considerable effort to do so, but fail in their attempt. What is more, many are shut out even after having attained it, since it was not in the plan of God to give them this grace. Therefore, my brothers, count it a certitude, proven time and time again: whoever has once experienced such an enviable good, and subsequently lost it for whatever reasons, will grieve over his loss to the end of his days, if he has any regard or concern for the salvation of his soul. 

“…LAY MONKS, BROTHERS SO CLOSE TO MY HEART… YOU ARE CAREFUL AND ZEALOUS TO OBSERVE A GENUINE OBEDIENCE, …THE ORIGINAL KEY TO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AND ITS FINAL STAMP OF AUTHENTICITY, DEMANDING AS IT DOES DEEP HUMILITY AND OUTSTANDING PATIENCE, AS WELL AS SINCERE LOVE FOR THE LORD AND OUR BROTHERS…” 

As regards you lay monks, brothers so close to my heart, I have only this to say: My soul glorifies the Lord, since I can perceive the glories of His mercy toward you from the account of your beloved father and Prior, who boasts a great deal about you and rejoices over you. I share in this joy, since God in His power never ceases to inscribe on your hearts, however little education you may have, not only love, but understanding, of His holy law. For you show by your lives what it is you really love, and what you know. 

That is to say, 14 when you are careful and zealous to observe a genuine obedience, conceived not only as the carrying out of God’s commands, but as the original key to the spiritual life and its final stamp of authenticity, demanding as it does deep humility and outstanding patience, as well as sincere love for the Lord and our brothers, then it is clear that you are gathering with relish no less than the most delectable and lifegiving fruits of Holy Scripture. So, my brothers, abide in that which you have attained, and avoid like the plague that baneful crowd of would-be monks who in reality are as empty as can be, peddling their writings, and speaking in hushed tones about things they neither cherish nor understand, but rather contradict by their words and actions. They are lazy, and wander from place to place, slandering all those who are conscientious and dedicated, and imagining themselves worthy of praise if they blacken the name of those who really are. To them, anything resembling discipline or obedience is loathsome. As for our brother Landuin, I had intended to keep him here on account of his rather serious and recurrent illnesses; but he would have none of it, claiming that there could be nothing worthwhile for him, no health or joy nor zest for life, apart from you. With repeated signs, and a veritable gushing fountain of tears for you, he laid before me how much you mean to him, and the unadulterated affection he bears for you in the Lord. As a result, I have not wanted to force the issue, lest I cause grief either to him or to you, who are so dear to me for your maturity and excellence of spirit. Wherefore, my brothers, I am very serious in my request, at once humble and insistent, that you manifest by your deeds the love you bear in your heart for your Prior and beloved father by kindly and attentively providing him with everything he needs for the various requirements of his health. He may be unwilling to go along with what your loving solicitude may dictate, preferring to jeopardize his life and health rather than be found lacking in some point of external observance. After all, this is normally inadmissible, and he might blush to hold the first rank among you, and yet trail in these matters, fearing that some of you might become negligent or lukewarm on his account. Yet, I hardly think there is any danger of that; so, I hereby grant you the necessary authority to take my place in this particular, and respectfully compel him to accept whatever you accord him for his health. 

15 As for me, brothers, I would have you know that the only desire I have after God, is to come and see you. As soon as I can, God willing, I will do just that. Farewell!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

From a sermon of Saint Leo the Great, pope In praise of charity

 


From a sermon of Saint Leo the Great, pope

In praise of charity

In John’s gospel the Lord says: By this love you have for one another, everyone will know you are my disciples. In a letter by John we read: My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.
  So the faithful should look into themselves and carefully examine their minds and the impulses of their hearts. If they find some of the fruits of love stored in their hearts then they must not doubt God’s presence within them, but to make themselves more and more able to receive so great a guest they should do more and more works of durable mercy and kindness. After all, if God is love, charity should know no limit, for God himself cannot be confined within limits.
  What is the appropriate time for performing works of charity? My beloved children, any time is the right time, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace. Charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.
  As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ destroyed our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings — that is, our works of mercy. What God in his goodness has already given to us, let us give to those who have sinned against us.
  And to the poor also, and to those who are afflicted in various ways, let us show a more open-handed generosity so that God may be thanked through many voices and the needy may be fed as a result of our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than the support that is lavished on his poor. Where God finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognises the reflection of his own fatherly care.
  Do not be put off giving by a lack of resources. A generous spirit is itself great wealth, and there can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed. His hand is present in all this activity: his hand, which multiplies the bread by breaking it and increases it by giving it away.
  When you give alms, do not be anxious but full of happiness. The greatest treasure will go to the one who has kept the least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides seed for the sower will give bread for food, provide you with more seed, and increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

ANTIPHONS AND RESPONSORIES: St. Gregory the Great

 






ANTIPHONS AND RESPONSORIES

Beatus Gregorius in cathedra Petri sublimatus, Vigilantis nomen factis implevit. 


Pastor eximius pastoralis vitae specimen tradidit et regulam.

 

Dum paginae sacrae mysteria panderet, columba nive candidior apparuit.

 

Gregorius monachorum speculum, pater Urbis, orbis deliciae.

 

Gregorius, respiciens Anglorum juvenes, ait: Angelicam habent faciem et tales Angelorum in coelis decet esse consortes.

 

R. Gregorius ab annis adolescentiae suae, Deo coepit devotus existere. * Et ad supernae vitae patriam totis desideriis anhelavit.

 

V. Pauperibus opes distribuens, Christum pro nobis egenum, egenus ipse sequutus est. * Et ad supernae vitae patriam totis desideriis anhelavit.

 

R. Sex in Sicilia monasteria constituens fratres illic Christo servituros aggregavit; septimum vero intra Romanae urbis muros instituit: * In quo et ipse militiam est coelestem agressus.

 

V. Mundum cum flore despiciens, dilectae solitudinis locum quaesivit. * In quo et ipse militiam ccelestem aggressus est.

 

R. Ad summi Pontificatus apicem quaesitus, quum ad sylvarum et cavernarum latebras confugisset, * Visa est columna lucis a summo coeli usque ad eum linea recta refulgens.

 

V. Tam eximium pastorem sitiens populus jejuniis et orationibus ad coelum insistebat. * Visa est columna lucis a summo coeli usque ad eum linea recta refulgens.

 

R. Ecce nunc magni maris fluctibus quatior, pastoralis curae procellis illisus: * Et quum priorem vitam recolo, quasi post tergum reductis oculis viso littore suspiro.

 

V.  Immensis fluctibus turbatus feror, vix jam portum valeo videre quem reliqui. * Et quum priorem vitam recolo, quasi post tergum reductia oculis viso littore suspiro.

 

R. E fonte Scripturarum moralia et mystica proferens, fluenta Evangelii populos derivavit: * Et defunctus adhuc loquitur.

 

R. Velut aquila perlustrans mundum amplitudine charitatis majoribus et minimis providet. * Et defunctus adhuc loquitur.

 

R. Cernens Gregorius Auglorum adolescentulos, dolebat tam lucidi vultus homines a tenebrarum principe possideri Tantamque frontis speciem, mentem ab interins gaudiis vacuam gestare.

 

V. Ex intimo corde trahens suspiria, lugebat imaginem Dei ab serpente deturpatam. * Tantamque frontis speciem mentem ab internis gaudiis vacuam gestare.

 

R. Quum Joannes episcopus arroganter primae Sedis jura dissolvere tentaret, surrexit Gregorius fortis et mansuetus: * Apostolica fulgens auctoritate, humilitate praeclarus.

 

V.  Petri claves invictus asseruit, et cathedram principalem illaesam custodivit. * Apostolica fulgens auctoritate humilitate praeclarus

 

R. Gregorius praesul mentis et nomine dignus an tiquas divinae laudis modu lationes renovans Mitotantis Ecclesiae voeemtrium phantis Sponsae concentibus sociavit ft

 

R. Sacramentorum codi cem mystico calamo rescri bens veterum Patrum institute posteris transmisit. * Militantis Ecelesiae vo cem triumphantis Sponsae concentibus sociavit.

 

R. Stationes per Basilicas et Martyrum Coemeteria ordinavit: * Et sequebatur exercitus Domini Gregorium praeeuntem

 

V. Ductor coelestis militiae arma spiritualia profe rebat. * Et sequebatur exercitus Domini Gregorium praeeuntem.

The blessed Gregory, being raised to the chair of Peter, fulfilled, by his actions, the meaning of his name, the Watchman

This glorious Pastor was the model, and wrote the rule, of the pastoral life.

 

While he was interpreting the mysteries of the sacred volume, there was seen upon him a dove whiter than snow.

 

Gregory was the mirror of monks, the father of the holy city, and the favourite of mankind.

 

Gregory looks upon me youths from Anglia, and says : They have the faces of angels, and such children must needs be companions of angels in heaven.

 

R. From his early youths. Gregory was devout in God’s service, * And with all his heart sighed after the land of heavenly life.

 

V. He distributed his wealth to the poor, and became poor himself, after the example of Christ, who made himself poor for us. *And with all his heart sighed after the land of heavenly life.

 

R. Six monasteries did he found in Sicily, and put in them communities of brethren, who should serve Christ; a. seventh also he founded within the walls of Rome’s city, * Wherein he, too, enrolled himself in the heavenly warfare.

 

V. He despised the world with its flowers, and sought out a place of· solitude most dear to his soul.  * Wherein he, too, enrolled himself in the heavenly warfare.

 

R. When they were in search of him to set him on the throne of the Papal dignity, he fled to the woods and eaves and hid himself; * But a bright pillar of light was seen to shine upon him, in a straight line from the high heavens.

 

V. The people, in their eager desire to have so excellent a pastor, besieged heaven with their fastings and prayers. * But a bright pillar was seen to shine upon him, in a straight line from the highest heavens.

 

R. Lo! now I am tossed by the waves of the great sea, and am buffeted by the storms of pastoral care: *  And when I remember my former life, I sigh like one that looks back on the shore he has left behind.

 

V. I am carried to and fro on huge waves, which scarcely permit me to see the port I sailed from.  *And when I remember my former life, I sigh like one that looks back on the shore he has left behind.

 

R. He drew moral and mystical interpretations from the Scripture fountain, and made the streams of the Gospel flow upon the people: * And being dead, he yet speaketh.

 

V. Like an eagle flying from one end of the world to the other, he provided for an. both little and great, by his large-hearted charity.  * And being dead, he yet speaketh.

 

R. As he gazed on the boys of Anglia, it grieved him to think that such bright-faced youths should be in the power of the prince of darkness: * And that they who had such comely faces, should have souls devoid of interior joy.

 

V. Deeply did he sigh, and. from his inmost soul, grieve that the image of God should be disfigured by the old serpent.  * And that they who had such comely faces, should have souls devoid of interior joy.

 

R. When John, the bishop. arrogantly strove to interfere with the rights of the first See, bravely and meekly did Gregory rise up, * Radiant with apostolic authority, and humble exceedingly.

 

V. Unflinchingly did he defend the keys of Peter, and guard from insult the principal Chair.   * Radiant with apostolic authority, and humble exceedingly.

 

R. Gregory, a Pontiff great in merit and name, restored the ancient melodies used in the divine praise, * And united the songs of the Church militant with those of the bride triumphant.

 

V. His mystic pen transcribed the book of the Sacraments, and handed down to posterity the institutions of the ancient fathers. * And united the songs of the Church militant with those of the bride triumphant.

 

R. He regulated the Stations to be made at the basilicas and cemeteries of the martyrs: * And the army of Christ went in procession, with Gregory at their head.

 

V. He was the leader of the heavenly warfare, and gave to all their spiritual armour.  * And the army of Christ went in procession, with Gregory at their head.