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diff --git a/39223.txt b/39223.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..adfff6d --- /dev/null +++ b/39223.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5108 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ortus Christi, by Mother St. Paul + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ortus Christi + Meditations for Advent + +Author: Mother St. Paul + +Release Date: March 21, 2012 [EBook #39223] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORTUS CHRISTI *** + + + + +Produced by Karina Aleksandrova, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + ORTUS CHRISTI + + + + +Works by the same Author: + + + SPONSA CHRISTI + Meditations on the Religious Life. + + PASSIO CHRISTI + Meditations for Lent. + + MATER CHRISTI + Meditations on Our Lady. + + DONA CHRISTI + Meditations for Ascension-tide, Whitsun-tide and Corpus + Christi. + + +LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. + +London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. + + + + + ORTUS CHRISTI + + _Meditations for Advent_ + + BY + MOTHER ST. PAUL + + RELIGIOUS OF THE RETREAT OF THE SACRED HEART + HOUSE OF RETREATS--BIRMINGHAM + AUTHOR OF + "SPONSA CHRISTI," "PASSIO CHRISTI," "MATER CHRISTI," + "DONA CHRISTI," ETC. + + PREFACE BY + REV. JOSEPH RICKABY. S.J. + + + "_Ambulabunt gentes in lumine tuo et reges in splendore ortus tui._" + (Is. lx. 3). + + + LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. + 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C. 4 + FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET, NEW YORK + BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS + 1921 + + + + +Nihil obstat + + JOSEPHUS RICKABY S. J. + Censor deputatus. + +Imprimatur + + [+] EDUARDUS ILSLEY + Administrator Apostolicus. + +Die 19 Aprilis 1921. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Reading these Meditations we discover with surprise how much spiritual +food is obtainable from a study of the lessons and liturgy of Advent. +Mother St. Paul is always a heart-searcher. She presses self-reform upon +souls, who to the eye of outward observers and perhaps in their own +conceit, have little or nothing to amend. We must always be following +Christ, and Christ is ever moving forward. Deliberately to stand still +is to widen the distance between ourselves and Him, an ungenerous, not +to say a dangerous thing to do. What are called here Meditations may +well be taken for daily spiritual reading in preparation for Christmas. +Advent after all is a season of joy, and these Meditations must be taken +in a joyful spirit. Courage and enthusiasm in the cause of Christ is the +supreme need of all Catholics who really _love His coming_. (2 Tim. IV. +8) + + JOSEPH RICKABY, S. J. + + St. Beuno's College. + + + + +NOTE. + + +Although there are twenty-eight Meditations given in this book they will +not all be needed every year, for the length of Advent varies between +twenty-two and twenty-eight days. The Third Sunday of Advent _may_ fall +as late as December 17th (the first day of the "Great O's") and the +Fourth Sunday of Advent be Christmas Eve. The plan suggested, which will +suit all years, is to use No. 1 on Advent Sunday and the rest according +to choice till December 17th; from then to December 24th Nos. 21-28 +should be used. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + 1. Ortus Christi (_Advent I_) 1 + + 2. Our Lady's Rest 6 + + 3. My Sins--A Triptych 11 + + 4. The Last Judgment 16 + + 5. Traders and Talents 21 + + 6. Stir up! 27 + + 7. St. John the Baptist, 1 His Preparation 33 + + 8. St. John the Baptist, 2 His Mission 39 + + 9. St. John the Baptist, 3 His Testimony 44 + + 10. St. John the Baptist, 4 His Martyrdom 49 + + 11. St. John the Baptist, 5 His Character 53 + + 12. "Incarnatus est" 58 + + 13. "Ex Maria Virgine" 63 + + 14. "The Lord is nigh" (_Advent III_) 67 + + 15. The Interior Life, 1 Humility 73 + + 16. The Interior Life, 2 Oblation 77 + + 17. The Interior Life, 3 Imprisonment 81 + + 18. The Interior Life, 4 Hiddenness 85 + + 19. The Interior Life, 5 Prayer 89 + + 20. The Interior Life, 6 Zeal 93 + + 21. O Sapientia! _December 17th._ 99 + + 22. O Adonai! (_Expectation of Our Lady_) + _December 18th._ 104 + + 23. O Radix Jesse! _December 19th._ 110 + + 24. O Clavis David! _December 20th._ 114 + + 25. O Oriens! (_Feast of St. Thomas_) + _December 21th._ 118 + + 26. O Rex Gentium! _December 22nd._ 123 + + 27. O Emmanuel! _December 23d._ 127 + + 28. Christmas Eve _December 24th._ 130 + + + + +PRAYERS. + + +Deus, qui de beatae Mariae Virginis utero, Verbum Tuum, Angelo +nuntiante, carnem suscipere voluisti: praesta supplicibus Tuis ut qui +vere eam Genitricem Dei credimus, ejus apud Te intercessionibus +adjuvemur. + +O God Who didst please that Thy Word should take flesh, at the message +of an Angel, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant to Thy +suppliants that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be +helped by her intercession. + + (Collect for the Annunciation, said at Mass every day during + Advent.) + + +Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosae Virginis Matris Mariae corpus +et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu +sancto cooperante, praeparasti: da, ut cujus commemoratione laetamur, +ejus pia intercessione, ab instantibus malis, et a morte perpetua +liberemur. + +Almighty, everlasting God, Who by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost +didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother Mary to +become a habitation meet for Thy Son; grant that as we rejoice in her +commemoration, we may, by her loving intercession, be delivered from +present evils and from everlasting death. + + (Collect said at Office after the _Salve Regina_.) + + +Conscientias nostras, quaesumus Domine, visitando purifica, ut veniens +JESUS Christus Filius Tuus Dominus noster cum omnibus Sanctis, paratam +Sibi in nobis inveniat mansionem. + +Purify our consciences, we beseech Thee O Lord, by Thy visitation, that +when Thy Son JESUS Christ our Lord shall come with all His Saints, He +may find a mansion prepared in us for Himself. + + (Little Office B. V. M. Vespers for Advent.) + + + + +PRAYER OF VEN. FATHER OLIER. + + + O JESUS, vivens in Maria, + Veni et vive in famulis Tuis, + In spiritu sanctitatis Tuae, + In plenitudine virtutis Tuae, + In veritate virtutum Tuarum, + In perfectione viarum Tuarum, + In communione mysteriorum Tuorum; + Dominare omni adversae potestati, + In Spiritu Tuo, ad gloriam Patris. + Amen. + + O JESUS, living in Mary, + Come and live in Thy servants, + In the spirit of Thy sanctity, + In the fulness of Thy strength, + In the reality of Thy virtues, + In the perfection of Thy ways, + In the communion of Thy mysteries. + Dominate over every opposing power, + In Thine own Spirit, to the glory of the Father. + Amen. + + (300 days, once a day, Pius IX, Oct. 14 1859.) + + + Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis. + Mater Christi, ora pro nobis. + Vas spirituale, ora pro nobis. + Vas honorabile, ora pro nobis. + Vas insigne devotionis, ora pro nobis. + Turris Davidica, ora pro nobis. + Turris eburnea, ora pro nobis. + Domus aurea, ora pro nobis. + Foederis arca, ora pro nobis. + Janua coeli, ora pro nobis. + + + + +ORTUS CHRISTI. + + =Advent Sunday.= + + "=Arise=, be enlightened, ... for thy light is come, and the + glory of the Lord is =risen= upon thee.... The Lord shall + =arise= upon thee ... the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, + and kings in the brightness of thy =rising=" (ortus). + + (Is. LX. 1-3). + + +_1st Prelude._ A picture of the first streaks of dawn. + +_2nd Prelude._ Grace to arise because the Light has come. + + +POINT I. THE RISING OF CHRIST. + +The Church begins her new liturgical year with the words: "_Ad Te levavi +animam meam_"--To Thee have I lifted up my soul ("Introit" for +to-day)--as though she were straining her eyes to try to see something +on the horizon. She cannot see anything very definite yet, but she is +full of hope. _Deus meus, in Te confido, non erubescam_--My God I trust +in Thee, let me not be ashamed, do not let me lift up my eyes in vain, +she cries; and she keeps on looking. This will be her attitude all +through the season of Advent, an attitude of expectancy, of waiting, of +hope, of trust, of prayer. We know for what she is waiting--the _Ortus +Christi_--the Rising of Christ. "The Lord shall arise upon thee" is the +promise. "To Thee have I lifted up my soul" is her response. What is in +her mind when she sees those first streaks of light? They are to her an +earnest of what is coming, an earnest of the Advent of her Lord. St. +Bernard says that His Advent is threefold, that He comes in three +different ways: (1) In the flesh and in weakness, (2) in the spirit and +in power, (3) in glory and in majesty. + +The Church knows how much these three Comings mean to her children, and +so at the first sign of dawn she forgets the long weary night, and calls +to each one: "_Arise_, be enlightened for thy light is come, and the +glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." "Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go +ye forth to meet Him." + +Let us then begin our Advent in the spirit of the Church. Let us arise +once more as she bids us, rouse ourselves that is, to look with her at +the dawn, while we say to ourselves: "Behold He cometh leaping upon the +mountains, skipping over the hills. Behold He standeth behind our wall, +looking through the windows, looking through the lattices." As we look +we hear the voice of our Beloved, He is speaking to His Church. What has +He to say as soon as He comes in sight? "_Arise_, make haste, my love, +my dove, my beautiful one, and come" (Cant. II. 8-10). It is the same +injunction: "_Arise_." + + +POINT II. THE RISING OF THE CHURCH. + +If the Bridegroom is rising, it is evident that the Bride must do the +same. He is rising to come to His Bride, she must rise to go to Him. +How? By meditating on His Advents; by thanking Him once more for them; +by asking herself what use she has made of them hitherto, what use she +intends to make during this New Year that is beginning; by preparing +herself for them; by remembering that as His Bride she has a very real +share in each. + +1. The _past_ Coming, "in the flesh and in weakness." We shall think +about this coming more especially at Christmas, for which the season of +Advent is a preparation. "The bright and morning star" (Apoc. XXII. 16) +will by then have risen in all its fulness. The Word will be made Flesh +and once more we shall _rise_ in the "quiet silence" of the night to +worship our God "in the flesh and in weakness." + +2. The _present_ Coming, "in the spirit and in power"--His Coming in +grace to the soul, to dwell with it by His Spirit. "In _power_"--because +only He Who is omnipotent could work such a stupendous miracle as the +miracle of grace. This miracle could never have been worked, had it not +been for the first Coming. "The Word was made Flesh" that He might by +His death redeem His people and restore to them the kingdom of grace +which they had lost in Adam. This second Coming is to prepare us for the +third. + +3. The _future_ Coming, in "glory and in majesty" when He shall "come +again with glory to judge both the living and the dead," and when all +will be forced to _rise_ and go to meet Him whether they will or not. It +is those, who have _risen_ voluntarily to meet their God in His second +Coming, who will have no fear of the third. The second Coming, then, the +Coming in grace, is the most practical one for us as we begin our +Advent, and upon it we will meditate in our third point. + + +POINT III. THE DWELLING OF THE BLESSED TRINITY WITHIN US. + +This is what God's Coming in grace means--a soul in the state of grace +is the host of the Blessed Trinity, neither more nor less. "_We_ will +come to Him and will make our abode with him," (St. John XIV. 23) and +from the moment that grace enters, the soul becomes the abode of God the +Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. + +It was at the moment of Baptism that our souls were raised to the +dignity of being hosts of God Himself. What happened then? God added to +the natural gifts with which He had endowed man _super_natural ones, +summed up in the gift of grace. What is that? A participation in His own +life, something which makes us "partakers of the _Divine_ nature." (2 +Pet. I. 4). He created man thus in the beginning, for He meant man +always to possess supernatural as well as natural gifts. He meant always +to live with man and talk and walk with him in the paradise of his soul; +but Adam chased out the Divine Guest and lost this miraculous privilege +for all his children. God, however, could not rest content to be outside +the souls which He had created solely that He might live in them, and He +devised a way (the first Coming of Christ) by which He might get back to +the dwelling which He cherished so much. We need not follow the +beautiful story of the Redemption through all its wondrous steps, we +know it well enough; we will take it up at Baptism, when the divine gift +of life which Adam lost was restored to the soul, when God came back to +His chosen dwelling, and the soul regained its responsible position of +host to the Blessed Trinity. When Satan had noticed that the soul was +left exposed, that it was a human soul only, with nothing divine about +it, he naturally had taken possession, as he does of all empty houses; +(St. Matt. XII. 44) so at Baptism the Priest said: "Depart from him, +thou unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Ghost." Where the Holy +Ghost is, there are also the Father and the Son. The Blessed Trinity, +then, waits to take possession of each soul, waits to come back to Its +own, waits to restore the privilege that man had at the beginning. + +Thus the new creation takes place, and the soul is no longer a human +soul only, but divine, for the Divine Life within has made it one with +Itself. Does man realize this privilege and rise to it? No! For the +greater part of Christians we are obliged to say: No. As soon as they +come to years of discretion, they invite back the unclean spirit and +chase out their Divine Guest. What base ingratitude! And what folly! +But God, who is rich in mercy is not repelled by such conduct; His one +thought is to go back to His Temple which has been so profaned, and the +scheme of Redemption included a method, (the Sacrament of Penance,) +whereby, if man would, he could drive out the devil and invite back the +Divine Guest. Is God angry? Does He upbraid? Does He allude to the past +and throw doubts on the future? No, He _loves_, and all He asks in +return is love. Such is our Guest! + +Now what is my side of this great question? I am, or if I am not, I can +be, a Temple of God. God is living within me. How much do I think about +it? I often talk about recalling the Presence of God, but it is His +Presence _within_ me that I have to recall. I make Acts of Contrition, +of Love. To Whom? To the God within me. Do not let me forget that my +heart is an altar where I can, whenever I will, adore God. He is there +to walk with me and talk to me as He did to Adam of old. He wants me to +live side by side with Him, and talk to Him as naturally as I do to my +friend. + +Let me try this Advent, as one of the best ways of preparing for the +Coming of Christ at Christmas, and for His Coming in judgment, to +_realize_ what the supernatural life means, what _God in me_ means, what +it means to be the host always of God Himself. The realization will +transform my life, will alter my point of view, will change me from a +mediocre Christian into one who is filled with a great idea and who is +occupied with it every moment of his time--an idea which is ever +stimulating him to aim higher. _God in me_--then I am never alone, my +life is intimately bound up with God's life. I am a partaker of His +nature. O my God, forgive me for having thought of it so little; help me +to _rise_ to my great privileges. I thank Thee for letting a few streaks +of Thy Divine Light reach my dark soul, and by the time that the Sun of +Justice has risen in all His splendour this Advent, may my soul be +flooded with the new light which the realization of the Divine Presence +within it, will surely bring. + +_Colloquy_ with God within me. + +_Resolution._ To realize this truth to-day, and every day more and more. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "We will come to Him and make our abode with Him." + + + + +OUR LADY'S REST. + + "In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et in hereditate Domini + morabor." + + In all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the + inheritance of the Lord. + + (Ecclus. XXIV. 11). + + +_1st. Prelude._ A statue of Our Lady. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to "abide in the inheritance of the Lord." + + +That the Church intends us to spend the season of Advent with our +Blessed Mother is quite evident to anyone who takes the trouble to study +the Liturgy. The Bridegroom is coming, but it is through the +Virgin-Mother that He will come; and if we would be amongst the first to +greet Him, if we desire a large share of His grace, if we would have no +fear of His judgments, we must keep close to Mary. + + +POINT I. "I SHALL ABIDE IN THE INHERITANCE OF THE LORD." + +The Church applies these words to Mary; let us try to see what they mean +and how far we may copy her in her determination. "The inheritance of +the Lord," what is it? The words bear many interpretations but we +cannot be wrong, surely, in thinking that this inheritance was Mary's +own soul; it was indeed "the inheritance of the Lord," an inheritance to +which the Blessed Trinity had a special right, the Father because He had +created her in grace, the Son because He had saved her from the stain of +original sin, the Holy Ghost because He had ever sanctified her and kept +her "full of grace." But what was it that made _this_ inheritance more +pleasing to God than any of the other souls which He had redeemed? +Mary's correspondence with grace we naturally answer; but what do we +mean by that? We mean, or we ought to mean, that Mary realized to the +full that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost lived +within her; and hence her resolution to abide in "the inheritance of the +Lord," never to leave her Divine Guest, never to forget that she was the +host and that it was her privilege to entertain. This is surely the +secret of Mary's life and of her correspondence with grace. She dwelt in +closest union with the God who dwelt within her. + + +POINT II. "IN ALL THINGS I SOUGHT REST." + +Where did she seek this rest, this calm of which her whole life speaks? +Within her own soul with her Divine Guest, in other words Mary lived an +_interior_ life. She preferred a life inside with God, to one outside in +the world. Hers was a continual realization of God's Presence--of God's +Presence within her; and it was this realization which enabled her to +find rest in every circumstance of her chequered life. She did not allow +outward events to mar her interior calm. Her Divine Guest was always +there and to Him she could always turn. The consequence was that she was +never agitated, disquieted, excited, anxious, troubled. She dwelt "in +the inheritance of the Lord," and there she sought rest in all things +whether it was in: + +The joy of the Archangel's visit, or the difficulty of her visit to +Elizabeth. + +The anguish of the reception at Bethlehem, or the joy at the birth of +her Son. + +The Angels who sang: _Glorias_ at His birth, or the neighbours who made +unkind remarks. + +The shepherds who came to worship in their poverty, or the Wise Men in +all their pomp and splendour. + +The ecstasy caused by her Babe's smile, or the distress caused by His +tears. + +The words of the Angel: "Of His Kingdom there shall be no end," or the +words of Simeon: He shall be "a sign which shall be contradicted." + +The peaceful home-life with JESUS and Joseph, or the hurried flight into +Egypt. + +The anguish of losing Him (Desolation), or the joy of finding Him +(Consolation). + +The active work for the little household, or the times of contemplation +at JESUS' feet. + +The long, happy days at Nazareth with her Son, or the sad day when He +left His Mother's roof. + +The account of His success: "All men go to Him," or the account of His +failure: "They all forsook Him and fled." + +The cry: "Hosannah, blessed is He!" or the cry: "Crucify Him, crucify +Him! it is not fit that He should live." + +The agony of watching Him suffer and die, or the delight of seeing His +glorified Body. + +The pain of being left in exile on earth, or the joy of hearing Him say: +"Arise, My fair one and come, the winter is over." + + * * * * * + +_In omnibus requiem quaesivi._--Not that all these things were the same +to her, not that she was indifferent or did not care, she cared more +than anyone else could, for her heart was perfect and therefore more +delicate and sensitive than any other except the Sacred Heart of JESUS. +What then was her secret? That she lived with the Blessed Trinity, and +that made her see God's Will in all that happened to her, and see it so +vividly that she almost lost sight of the particular circumstances, and +hardly knew whether they were painful or joyful. The pain was a joy +because it was God's Will, and the joy was only a joy because it was +God's Will; so she never wanted to change any thing. She sought rest in +the holy habitation, the home of the Blessed Trinity; she pondered +things over in her heart, that is, she talked about them with her Divine +Guest. + + +POINT III. THE CHILD OF MARY. + +The child must copy the Mother. How is it with me? Surely if anyone +ought to realize the Divine Presence within, it is a child of Mary! How +far do I copy Our Lady in her interior life? What do I know of that deep +calm within, into which I can always retire and seek rest, and where I +can, if I will, rest so entirely that outward circumstances make little +difference? If I have made the same resolution as Our Lady; namely, to +"abide in the inheritance of the Lord;" pain and anxiety and difficulty +will be an actual source of joy, because they afford an excuse for an +extra visit to the Home within, and for longer conversations than usual +with my loved Guest. If a difficulty or a humiliation or something that +I do not like comes in my way, I shall not be troubled, my first thought +will be with my Divine Guest. _He_ has permitted this, even planned it. +I will go and talk to Him about it, find out what He means, what He +wants me to do and how I can best act in the circumstances to gain glory +for Him. This is what is meant by the interior life, and it _can_ be, it +_ought_ to be, far stronger than the exterior. It means a holy +indifference to everything except God's Will; it means rest and peace +about everything that happens, without any desire to have things +altered; it takes all anxiety and disquiet and perplexity out of life +and leaves a great calm which nothing has the power to disturb _except_ +a will in opposition to God's Will. + +_In omnibus requiem quaesivi._--Is it so very hard? Perhaps, for it +means the spiritual life, and that means a continual battle against +self; but it is a battle worth fighting. To fight is not only the way to +"_seek_ rest," but it is also the surest way to obtain it; for they +alone who are continually fighting to keep the enemy out can hope to +detain their Divine Guest within. + +_Colloquy_ with Mary. Help me, my Mother, to dwell, this Advent, in "the +inheritance of the Lord," and when outward things are too much for me +and I am apt to behave in a manner unworthy of a child of thine, do thou +lead me by the hand into the place of rest and calm, where God Himself +dwells, and where I shall see things from His point of view. + +"O God, who didst please that Thy Word should take flesh, at the message +of an angel, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant to Thy +suppliants, that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God may be +helped by her intercession." + +(Collect to be said every day at Mass from Advent to Christmas Eve.) + +_Resolution._ To "abide in the inheritance of the Lord" to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "In all things I sought rest." + + + + +MY SINS--A TRIPTYCH. + + "The night is past, and the day is at hand; let us therefore + cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of + light." + + (From the "Epistle" for the First Sunday of Advent). + + +_1st. Prelude._ The Foot of the Cross where my sins have all been laid. + +_2nd. Prelude._ The grace of contrition and firm resolution. + + +It is clear from the words which she has chosen for her "Epistle" for +the First Sunday of Advent that the Church intends us during this solemn +season to think about sin,--the darkness of the past night and the light +of the day that is coming and our duty with regard to both. It is not +sin in the abstract, but our own personal sins that we are to consider. +"Let _us_ cast off the works of darkness." If the Apostle Paul included +himself in that "_us_," we need not fear to do the same. It is meet, +when we are thinking on the one hand of Him Who is coming to save us +from our sins and on the other of His coming to judge us "according to +our works," that we should give some thought to those sins. Nothing will +better help us to understand the mercy of the Saviour and the justice of +the Judge than a meditation upon our own sins. God _forgets_ the sins He +has forgiven, but it is better for us, more wholesome and more +humiliating, to remember them sometimes. David says: "My sin is always +before me" (Ps. L. 5). The object of this meditation, then, is not to +cause trouble in the soul--trouble about sins that are _forgiven_ can +only come from the devil--but to excite in us a deeper contrition, more +gratitude and a greater watchfulness. + + +POINT I. A TRIPTYCH--MY SINS. + +Am I to consider all the sins of my life? The subject seems so vast, it +is difficult to know how to condense it so that I may be able to bring it +within my grasp. All sin may be summed up in one word--disobedience--_non +serviam_. It was the sin of the Angels, it was the sin of our first +parents and it is at the root of every sin that has ever been committed. +God says: Thou shalt not, the sinner says: I will. God says: Do this and +thou shalt live; the sinner says: I will not, I would rather die. Sin is +man's will in opposition to God's Will. This thought simplifies the +subject and makes it easier for me to call up the sins of my life and +look at them. Let me make a picture of them--a triptych, a picture, that +is, with three panels side by side, the middle one shall be called +_Places_, that on the right hand _Persons_ and that on the left _Work_. + +1. _Places._ As I look at the middle picture I see it consists of +numbers and numbers of small ones, each representing some place that is +familiar to me--there is the house where I was born, there the school I +attended, houses I have visited, hotels where I have stayed, gardens, +playgrounds, lonely roads, walks on cliffs, villages, towns, churches, +the sea-side, trams, omnibuses, trains, boats, bicycles, carriages, +stations.... I am fascinated and cannot help looking still, though the +variety and number are almost bewildering. Each picture is so familiar; +some awaken sweet and precious memories, from some I quickly turn away +my eyes. All can witness to my presence, how many can witness also to my +sins? "Indeed the Lord is in this place, and _I knew it not_." (Gen. +XXVIII. 16). That may to some extent be true and if so there is One who +is always ready to say: "Father, forgive them for they know not what +they do." _I_ know how much I knew, and the best thing, the only thing +for me to do is to make an Act of Contrition. + +2. _Persons._ I turn to the right hand panel and there are crowds and +crowds of _faces_, each one familiar--father, mother, brothers, sisters, +relations, servants, teachers, scholars, friends, enemies, priests, +confessors, acquaintances ... what impression have I left upon each of +these? If they could be called up and asked: "What did you think of so +and so?" what would they have to say? They would have something, for I +left _some_ impression--and yet _none_ of them know me as I really am. +The three Persons of the Blessed Trinity have been near me _always_ and +always observant. They really know me. What have _They_ to say? "If +Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand it?" (Ps. +CXXIX. 3). + +This picture makes me sad! That is just what Our Lord wants from this +meditation. Let me offer once more my heartfelt contrition and He will +be glad that I had the courage to open the triptych. + +3. _Work._ As I turn to the panel on the left I feel that I can breathe +more freely--my work will certainly give satisfaction! It is something +to be proud of; I have always got on well; I have never been idle and I +have had a certain measure of success, and I feel that in that respect +at any rate my life will bear inspection. But this picture too, as I +look at it, seems to be divided up. Yes, I can see quite clearly all the +different works upon which I have been engaged. All are very familiar +and bring back for the most part happy memories, but some of them seem +to be labelled.--What is it that is written across them? "_You did it to +Me._" And all the rest that have no labels? They do not count--so +evidently considered the One Who put on the labels. He left them, passed +them over, there was nothing there _for Him_. But that hospital that +was founded is not labelled, nor that legacy promised for a charitable +purpose! Surely some of these without labels are "good works!" And these +that are labelled are such insignificant things, things I should never +have remembered at all if they were not in the picture--a kind word, a +smile, a hasty word kept back because I knew it would pain _Him_, +suffering cheerfully borne because I wanted to be like Him who suffered +for me. Why these and not those? Because He prefers _little_ things? No, +but because of the motive. Had the hospital been built out of love for +Him and His sick, had it been built for the glory of God and not for the +glory of self, it too would have been labelled. Had the hasty word been +kept back that others might notice my self-control, it would _not_ have +been labelled. What counts with God is the intention with which a thing +is done. If it is done out of love for Him, no matter how insignificant +it is, yea, no matter how badly done, it will surely be labelled "_You +did it to Me_," and it will last when the mighty works that men have so +much praised are crumbling in the dust, labelled with another label _You +did it not unto Me_. Have I not need to make another Act of Contrition +as I think of my works, my love of gain, my ambition, love of praise and +success, of the motives of my so-called works of charity, of the times +in which I have allowed my work to take the first place in my life, +while my soul had to take the second? + +I shut up my triptych and leave it at Thy Feet O my JESUS, where the +Blood from Thy Wounds may ever drip upon it, while I with Magdalen stoop +and bathe Thy Feet with my tears. + + +POINT II. THE TRIPTYCH.--GOD'S MERCIES. + +As I look up, I see my triptych opened again and all the thousands of +little pictures seem to be transformed. Each one is speaking to me of +God's goodness and tenderness and love. How good it is to turn away from +my own misery to His infinite mercy; yea, more--to recognize that the +one is the cause of the other! And this is what He wants. If the sight +of self does not lead me instinctively to look at Christ, it is a very +dangerous thing, for it can only lead to despondency and discouragement. +The object of looking at self and its deeds is so to look that +everything good or evil may shrivel up and disappear, till self is there +no longer, but Christ only and all _He_ has done either for or through +me. As I gaze now at the picture, I no longer see the places on earth +which have known me for short periods of time, but my place in Heaven +which by His mercy, if I persevere to the end, is to know me through all +eternity; not my dear ones as I saw them on earth, but as they are now +in my heavenly country waiting for me; not my innumerable sins of +omission, nor my "good works" done to please self, but the work of Him +who always pleased His Father, work which has made up for all my +omissions, and which shines through every thing that I have done for +Him, making it, too, acceptable to His Father. It seems to me now that I +want to linger over the picture, for His mercies are indeed infinite, +and I shall never be able to thank Him enough for them. + +But does He, the God of infinite mercy and plenteous redemption, never +look at my pictures? He says: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will +remember their sin no more" (Jer. XXXI. 34); and it is true. He will +never open my triptych for the sake of looking at my sins, but may He +not open it for the joy of seeing each of those thousands of pictures +shining with pearls--the tears of contrition? Do not let me disappoint +Him. This is the chalice of consolation which I can offer to the Sacred +Heart in reparation. + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS thanking Him for making me look at my triptych and +for all that He has taught me in it. + +_Resolution._ Never to look at my sins without at once seeing +_Christ_--a sight which will necessarily produce humility, gratitude and +contrition. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "My sin is always before me" but "Thou shalt give +joy and gladness.... and my mouth shall declare Thy praise" (Ps. L. 5, +10, 17). + + + + +THE LAST JUDGMENT. + + "The powers of Heaven shall be moved; and then shall they see + the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and + majesty." + + (The "Gospel" for the 1st. Sunday of Advent.) + + +_1st. Prelude._ The Last Day. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to meditate upon it. + + +The Church invites us during Advent to turn our thoughts towards the +Second Coming of Christ--His Coming in judgment at the end of the world. +The subject of the Last Judgment is perhaps one which we are rather +inclined to avoid in our Meditations; but it is one about which Our +Blessed Lord said a great deal; it is continually mentioned, too, in the +Epistles and in the Apocalypse, and as we shall most certainly take a +part in that last great scene of the world's drama, it is surely well +for us to have a rehearsal from time to time. + + +POINT I. THE COMING OF THE JUDGE. + +_When will He come?_ God "hath _appointed_ a day wherein He will judge +the world in equity by the Man whom He hath appointed." (Acts XVII. 31). +The day then is _fixed_, "but of that day and hour no one knoweth, no +not the Angels of Heaven, but the Father alone." (St. Matt. XXIV. 36). + +_How will He come?_ He "shall so come as you have seen Him going into +Heaven" (Acts I. 11), the Angel told the Apostles who had just watched +His Ascension. He will come, that is, in His beautiful Resurrection +Body, dazzling with brightness and glory, with the wounds in Hands and +Feet and Side. He will come "with much power and majesty" (St. Matt. +XXIV. 30) for He will come to judge, not to preach penance nor atone for +sin; He will come unexpectedly "as a thief in the night" (1 Thess. V. 2) +"at what hour you think not" (St. Luke XII. 40); He will come "with +thousands of His Saints" (Jude 14) for all those "who have slept through +JESUS will God bring with Him" (1 Thess. IV. 13); He will bring, too, +"all the Angels with Him" (St. Matt. XXV. 31); He will come "with the +voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thess. IV. 15); +He will come "with the clouds" (Apoc. I. 7); He will come "in the glory +of His Father with His Angels" (St. Matt. XVI. 27); He will come "as +lightning" (XXIV. 27) and before Him will come His Cross--"the sign of +the Son of man" in the heavens (verse 30), every eye shall see it. What +different emotions that sign will excite! + + +POINT II. THE EFFECTS OF HIS COMING. + +"Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him. And all the +tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of Him" (Apoc. I. +7). + +"We shall all rise again." (1 Cor. XV. 51). + +"The sea will give up the dead that are in it, and death and hell ... +their dead that are in them." (Apoc. XX. 13). + +"The dead who are in Christ shall rise first." (1 Thess. IV. 15). + +"We shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and +this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. XV. 52). + +"He shall send His Angels with a trumpet, and a great voice, and they +shall gather together His elect from the four winds." (St. Matt. XXIV. +31). + +"Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with +them (those who died in Christ) in the clouds to meet Christ." (1 Thess. +IV. 16). + +"Then shall He sit upon the seat of His Majesty," (St. Matt. XXV. 31) +and "render to every man according to his works." (chap. XVI. 27). + +Then "the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements +shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it +shall be burnt up." (2 Pet. III. 10). And all these events are to take +place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye!" (1 Cor. XV. 52). + +With the vivid words of Scripture before us, it is not difficult to make +a picture of the scene--the sign of the Cross where all can see it; the +voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God heralding the approach of +the Judge; the Son of Man, coming in the clouds with all His Angels and +thousands of His Saints (all those from Heaven and Purgatory); the cries +of those to whom His coming is as that of "a thief in the night" (1 +Thess. V. 2); the shouts of joy of "the children of light" (verse 5); +the opening of the graves, the sea giving up its dead and the reunion of +each soul, whether from Heaven, Purgatory or hell, with its body; the +changing of the bodies of those who are living on the earth into +Resurrection bodies; then the great multitude of the elect clothed in +their bodies of immortality rising to meet their Lord in the air; then +"the great white throne" set up and He who is "appointed by God to be +Judge" (Acts X. 42) taking His seat upon it, "His garment ... white as +snow ... His throne like flames of fire ... thousands of thousands" +ministering to Him (Dan. VII. 9, 10); the dead, great and small, +standing in the presence of the throne (Apoc. XX. 12), "ten thousand +times a hundred thousand" standing before Him. (Dan. VII. 10). + + +POINT III. THE JUDGMENT. + +(1) _The Separation._ Quickly the Angels separate that vast multitude +into two companies--those on His right Hand and those on His left, the +sheep and the goats, those who are to enter into life everlasting and +those who are to enter into everlasting punishment (St. Matt. XXV. 46); +those who have been faithful over the few things entrusted to them and +those who have hidden their Lord's talent; those whose lamps are burning +and those whose lamps are going out. There is fixed a great chaos +between the two companies, so that they who would pass from one side to +the other _cannot_, it is too late. (St. Luke XVI. 26). + +(2) _The books._ "And the books were opened ... and the dead were judged +by those things which were written in the books, according to their +works." "And another book was opened, which is the book of life," and +only "they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb" shall enter +Heaven. (Apoc. XX. 12, XXI. 27). "Every man's work shall be manifest" (1 +Cor. III. 13); "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render +an account for it in the day of Judgment" (St. Matt. XII. 36). Then will +be seen, and _all_ will acknowledge it, the triumph of right over wrong, +the triumph of the Kingdom, the triumph of Christ; then will be +adjusted all that we have so often longed to adjust but could not, for +"let both grow together till the harvest" was the King's order. Then +will seeming injustices be explained and crimes that have called to +Heaven for vengeance receive their just reward. Then will the unanimous +cry be: "The Lord He is God," and all will be forced to add: "He doeth +all things well." + +(3) _The Sentences._ There are only two: (1) "Then shall the King say to +them that shall be on His right Hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, +possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the +world." He tells them why they are to have such a blessed reward--they +have been faithful subjects of their King during their lives on earth, +they have ministered to His needs, lived for Him and not for self. They +seem surprised, they cannot remember doing acts of charity to their King +and He explains: "As long as you did it to one of these My least +brethren, you did it to Me." (St. Matt. XXV. 40). The sentence "Come" is +pronounced on those who lived their lives for their King, who did all +they had to do, no matter what it was, for Him, thus uniting themselves +with Him, and now He will unite Himself with them for all +eternity--"_Come_!" + +(2) "Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left Hand: +Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." And again He gives +His reasons for this terrible punishment--they would not acknowledge Him +as their King, would not serve Him, lived for self instead of for Him +and His brethren: "As long as you did it _not_ to one of these least, +neither did you do it to Me" (verse 45). During their lives they +separated themselves from the King and His interests: "We will not have +this Man to reign over us;" now He will separate Himself from them for +all eternity.--"_Depart from Me!_" + +Then He "will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind +it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into My barn." (St. +Matt. XIII. 30). "The Angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked +from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire" +(verses 49, 50). "Then shall the just shine as the sun in the Kingdom of +their Father. He that hath ears to hear let him hear" (verse 43). + +_Colloquy._ + + Inter oves locum praesta, + Et ab hoedis me sequestra, + Statuens in parte dextra. + (Among the sheep grant me a place, + separate me from the goats, + placing me on Thy right Hand). + +_Resolution._ To remember "the doctrine ... of eternal judgment" (Heb. +VI. 2) to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He shall come again to judge the living and the +dead." + + + + +TRADERS AND TALENTS. + + "A man going into a far country called his servants and + delivered to them his goods; and to one he gave five talents, + and to another two, and to another one, to every one + according to his proper ability; and immediately he took his + journey." + + (St. Matt. XXV. 14). + + +_1st. Prelude._ JESUS telling this parable to His disciples. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to learn the lessons from it which He intended. + + +POINT I. THE TALENTS. + +It is Christ Himself Who is the Author of this parable and He told it to +show us how we are to prepare for His Coming. Every word of it is of +importance and bears some instruction or warning for Advent. + +The "_man going into a far country_" is the Man-God, He Who came from +Heaven to take our human nature and to redeem us to God by His Blood. +His work of Redemption is finished and He is going back to His own +country--"_A far country_"--implying that He will be gone a long time. + +(He) "_called His servants_." They are His own servants, He has created +them, He has bought them with His Blood, they belong to Him--their +service, their time, their very lives are His, and this not because they +are _slaves_ forced to labour, but because of their own free will and +out of love and gratitude to Him who has bought them from the cruel +slavery of sin, they have said: "I love my Master ... I will not go out +free" (Ex. XXI. 5). + +"_And (He) delivered to them His goods._" They are _His_ goods not the +servants', they all belong to Him and He entrusts them to His servants +to take care of them and to do the best they can with them while He is +gone. What are these "goods?" All the good things which God has given to +man--his life, his preservation, his Baptism, his christian education, +intellect, faith, health, rank, wealth, talents, conscience, +opportunities of doing good, position,--and all have to be traded with, +for the Master to Whom they belong. His "goods" include too what the +world would label "evils"--ill-health, difficulty, failure, poverty, +incapability; these have to be traded with too, and there is often a +higher profit to be made out of these than out of the others. They are +all the Master's goods and He delivers them to His servants. + +"_To one He gave five talents and to another two and to another one, to +every one according to his proper ability._" He knows His servants, and +He knows exactly the strength and capability of each. He measures each +burden before imposing it and calculates each sum before giving it. This +servant can manage five, this one two, this can only manage one. It is +no disgrace to have only one talent, the ability of the servants is the +Master's affair, not the servants'. They cannot turn to Him and say: +"Why hast Thou made me thus?" (Rom. IX. 20). He makes each one according +to His own Will and endows him according to His Will too. What the +servant has to remember is that he is responsible for all that is +entrusted to him, that he _can_ trade with it and that it is not too +much for him, it is "according to his proper ability," and that though +his Master will never try to reap where He has not sown, He _will_ +expect to reap where He _has_ sown, He will expect a harvest from each +talent. + + +POINT II. THE TRADERS. + +"_He that had received the five talents went his way and traded with the +same and gained other five._" He lost no time, he loved his Master and +he loved the "goods" because they belonged to his Master and because +they had been lent by Him. The whole of their value lay in the fact that +they were the Master's; he felt responsible, he must not only take care +of them but put them to the best account, and so he set to work at once +to trade with them, and he did well, for he gained _cent per cent_! + +"_And in like manner he that had received the two gained other two._" +There was no jealousy, no thinking the Master partial or that He had +underrated his powers in only giving him _two_ talents. He loved and +trusted his Master; the two talents were very precious because they were +His and because He had chosen them out with such love and care, giving +the servant just what he could manage, no more and no less. He went and +traded and did as well as the first, _cent per cent_. + +Thus the good servants, that is those who love, who have said, I _will_ +not go out free, are always trading for their Master. They say to +themselves: This talent, this time, this opportunity, this health, this +strength belongs to my Master not to me, I must use it for Him. They +forget sometimes; the Master is so long away and they act as if the +goods were their own, and even trade with them for their own profit, +using their talents to attract people to themselves rather than to their +Master! But as they really love Him and want to "trade" for Him only, +they see the dishonesty of their trading and they do their best by acts +of reparation to restore to Him His own. When He comes back, He will not +expect perfection but _effort_. Some, He says, will gain "a hundred +fold" but for our consolation and encouragement He adds: "some +sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold" (St. Matt. XIII. 8). + +"_But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, +and hid his lord's money._" He lost no time either, his mind was made up +at once, he would take no trouble, make no effort, would hide his +Master's talent and forget all about it; he wanted no responsibility, he +could not be troubled with "trading." His Master could not expect much +from him, he argued, because he had entrusted so little to him, he knew +he was not capable of doing _much_, but he would do nothing at all. He +did not waste or spoil his Master's goods, his sin was one of +_omission_--you did it _not_ to Me. He dug in the earth instead of +laying up treasure in Heaven. + + +POINT III. THE RECKONING. + +"_After a long time the Lord of those servants came and reckoned with +them._" Each servant must come up before Him to give an account and to +be judged according to his works. + +"_Lord, Thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained +other five over and above._" + +"_Lord, Thou deliveredst two talents to me, behold I have gained other +two._" The Lord gives exactly the same answer, the same reward to each, +showing clearly that what counts in the reckoning is not the _number_ of +good works but the spirit and intention and motive with which they are +done, be they many or few. + +"_Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful +over a few things, I will place thee over many things._" The reward is +not given to the most capable, nor to those who have the most or the +greatest talents, but to those who have been _faithful_ over the few +things entrusted to them. They have traded with their talents for God's +glory and for the salvation of their own souls. They have realized that +each thing entrusted to them was a "good," whether it was sickness or +health, poverty or riches, prosperity or adversity, and they have said +about each: This belongs to the Master, how can I best use it for Him? +Now they find that the merit of each action done, each suffering borne +for Him, has been carefully stored up. + +"_Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord._" It is His joy, His interest, +His glory that the faithful servant has studied on earth, now he shall +share them for ever. + +"_He that had received the one talent came and said: Lord, I know that +Thou art a hard man_" expecting the impossible, "_and being afraid I +went and hid Thy talent in the earth; behold here Thou hast that which +is Thine._" He could have traded and made _cent per cent_ as the others +had done and earned the "_Euge_" ("Well done!") He not only did not do +this, but he put all the blame on his Master Who with such care had +given him just the talent that was suited to his ability. He was +_afraid_, he said, afraid of what? Of his Master because He was hard and +unjust? No, this was only an excuse, he knew his Master and he knew it +was not true. What he was afraid of was hard work, effort, ceaseless +watching against temptation. It was far less irksome to bury the talent +and live a life of ease, letting things just take their course, and +hoping all would come out right in the end; but at the end things were +not right, for he had nothing to give to his Master, the one talent +_was_ the Master's, he knew that quite well: "Behold here Thou hast that +which is Thine." + +"_Wicked and slothful servant_"--wicked, because he had robbed God of +His rights; slothful, because he would not raise a finger to serve his +Master. + +"_Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it him that hath +ten._" It is a solemn thought that a grace refused by one may be handed +on to another who is more faithful. + +"_To everyone that hath shall be given_" is a principle of the Kingdom. +He ever giveth "grace for grace" (St. John I. 16). For every grace used +He gives "more grace"--"he shall abound." + +"_From him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be +taken away._" There is such a thing as a last grace, a last opportunity. +God has nowhere pledged Himself to give the grace of repentance; grace +is ever a free gift and He is not unjust if He withholds it. I can never +say: I will sin and repent after! To sin is in my power, but to repent +is not. Our Lord speaks of sinners filling up the measure of their +iniquity (St. Matt. XXIII. 32). Had Herod reached the limit, filled up +the measure? Is that why Our Lord refused to speak to him? We do not +know, but we do know that it is possible for a sinner to sin to such an +extent--not necessarily by gross sin, but by steadily refusing God's +grace and the opportunities offered to him--that what he has, that is, +his opportunities, will be taken from him. + +"_The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness._" He +ever shunned the light and now it will _never_ be his. He was +_unprofitable_, that was his sin, he did nothing for his Master. All +sins, however terrible, will be forgiven if the sinner turns to God and +repents, because his repentance shows that he is "trading," though he +may often fail in his business; but the unprofitable servant carries on +no trade with God at all, he leaves Him out altogether. There is nothing +for God to do but to leave him out in the "exterior darkness" which he +has deliberately chosen. + +_Colloquy_ with the Master, Who though He is a "long time" coming, is +never far from those who are trading for Him. + +_Resolution._ Never to leave the Master out of anything I do. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Well done good and faithful servant!" + + + + +STIR UP! + + "I think it meet ... to stir you up by putting you in + remembrance." + + (2 Pet. I. 13). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Paul writing to Timothy: "Stir up the grace of God which +is in thee" (2 Tim. I. 6). + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to stir myself up this Advent. + + +On the Sunday before Advent and nine times during the Advent Masses, the +Church puts on the lips of her children this prayer: _Stir up, O Lord_. +Let us try in this Meditation to catch her spirit which runs all through +the Advent season and see what it is that she wants God to stir up. + + +POINT I. HIS OWN MIGHT. + +We ask Him during Advent to stir up His might for four different +reasons. + +(1) _To protect and deliver us._ "Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee O +Lord and come: that by Thy protection we may deserve to be delivered +from the threatening dangers of our sins and by Thy deliverance be +saved." (The "Collect" for Advent Sunday.) + +We ask Him to show His might by _protecting_ us from dangers and by +_delivering_ us from sin. We want to spend a good Advent, we want to +prepare well for His Coming, then there rise up before us the +"threatening dangers of our sins"--those old temptations that are sure +to come back again as soon as we begin to put forth fresh effort. Are we +to be discouraged, to dread them, to say we are sure to fall again, and +thus give the enemy a hold over us? No, but to believe that our God Who +is coming will protect us in the day of battle, that though to humiliate +and to strengthen us, He may still permit the temptations, yet He will +Himself be our shield and buckler, and will deliver us if we trust in +His strength and not in our own--"Stir up Thy might, O Lord, and come to +protect and deliver." + +(2) _To free us from adversity._ "Stir up Thy power, we beseech Thee O +Lord and come, that they who confide in Thy mercy may be more speedily +freed from all adversity" (The "Collect" for Friday in Ember week). + +The adversity from which the Church prays to be freed here is probably +the same as she continually teaches us to pray for deliverance from in +her Litanies: war, pestilence, famine, floods, earthquakes--all things +which damage the peace of nations and the produce of the earth, great +national disasters. From all such the world will never be free till the +Advent of her Lord, till God stirs up His power and comes to save it. +Meanwhile for our consolation we can remember that it is when God's +judgments are in the earth that the nations learn justice (Isaias XXVI. +9). Adversity is a great teacher and trainer for Heaven, and as we +advance in the spiritual life we see more and more that many things +which are adversity to the body are prosperity to the soul. We should +naturally like to be freed from the adversity of sickness, poverty, +failure, loss of friends, of health and strength, but all these +adversities have their work to do. "These are they who came out of great +tribulation," and it is probable that but for the tribulation many would +never "have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of +the Lamb" (Apoc. VII. 14). Let us strive to be amongst those who _trust_ +Him, who _confide_ in His mercy, who believe that He knows what is best +for them, and who gladly let Him arrange all for them. He _will_ stir up +His power and speedily free them one day, but it will not be till the +flail of adversity has done its work and the corn is ready to be +garnered in the heavenly barns. + +(3) _To save us._ "Stir up Thy might O Lord and come to save us." + +In the Masses for the third week, that is Ember week, the prayer occurs +five times, twice in the Mass for the third Sunday and three times in +that for Ember Saturday. The time of the birth of the Saviour is drawing +nearer, and the Church is beginning to be importunate. Stir up Thy +_might_; for though He is coming as a little helpless infant, He is God +"mighty to save." + +(4) _To accelerate His Coming._ "Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee O +Lord and come; and succour us with great power, that by the help of Thy +grace, the indulgence of Thy mercy may accelerate what our sins impede." +(The "Collect" for the 4th. Sunday of Advent). + +We ask Him to stir up His might in _coming_. His Advents show His +Omnipotence. Only a _God_ could come to this world to save it, only a +_God_ could come to a soul and raise it to the supernatural state. These +are miracles and we ask Him to stir up His might to come and work them. +It is our sins that hold Him back and hinder His work both in our own +souls and in the world. We want them to do so no more and so we ask for +His succour and indulgence. + + +POINT II. OUR WILLS. + +"Stir up the wills of Thy faithful, O Lord, we beseech Thee; that +earnestly seeking after the fruit of good works, they may receive more +abundant helps from Thy mercy." (The "Collect" for the Sunday before +Advent). + +Here we pray for something which it is far more difficult to "stir +up"--our own wills. We are not sufficiently in earnest; the might and +the mercy of God are there waiting to help us, but we have not the +energy nor the desire to receive them. We weaken our wills by yielding +to temptation, by deliberately going into occasions of sin, by allowing +ourselves to be careless about rules and resolutions, by letting things +drift and contenting ourselves with a low standard. Advent is a time to +rectify all this, to pull ourselves up and make a fresh start, and if we +are in earnest, we shall gladly join in the prayer: "Stir up the wills +of Thy faithful, O Lord," stir up _my_ will. It is not a prayer to be +said lightly for it means much--a will stirred up to "seek after the +fruit of good works" means constant and continued effort; it means +mortification, suffering, death to self; it means a determination to do +or suffer _anything_ rather than run the _least_ risk of committing the +_least_ sin; it means constant unremitting attention to little +things--to the smallest duties, the least prickings of conscience; it +means hard work. _Dare_ I say this prayer? If I am _really_ anxious for +"the fruit of good works," I shall dare anything. Fruit is impossible +without hard work either in the natural or the spiritual world. + +"Who is sufficient for these things?" Certainly I am not, but the +consolation is that the work is _co-operative_. As soon as I pray: Stir +up my will, O God, because I want to bring forth fruit to Thy glory; He +will be there giving me "_more abundant helps_" from His mercy. God does +not expect me to work alone, nor to suffer alone, nor to make efforts +alone. What He wants is a good will. He is coming "to men of good will," +and nothing can prove that I am one of them, better than a fervent +prayer that my will may be stirred up, cost what it may. The "abundant +helps" will immediately be at my service; and when it seems sometimes as +if, in spite of all my efforts, the day is going to be lost, I will hold +on still, remembering that the help is "_more_ abundant" when the need +is greater. The stores of His mercy are infinite and He ever gives +_more_ to the generous soul. + + +POINT III. OUR HEARTS. + +"Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Thy only-begotten +Son: that by His Coming we may be worthy to serve Thee with purified +minds." (The "Collect" for the 2nd Sunday of Advent). + +Here lies the secret; if our _hearts_ are stirred up there will be +little difficulty about our _wills_. If I _love_, I shall gladly make +efforts, no trouble will be too much, no work too exacting, no sacrifice +too great, no mortification too hard. "_If you love Me, keep My +commandments._" My will is to be stirred up to _seek_, but my heart is +to be stirred up to _prepare_. It is my King Who is coming, He Who has a +right to my heart, and He is quite sure to pass by my way, for to win my +heart and make it all His own is one of the special reasons of His +Coming. No pains, no cost shall be spared in my preparation; my heart +shall be decorated with the flowers that I know He loves and hung with +banners which shall speak of my gratitude for all He has done. This is +the preparation of the heart--the preparation of _love_; and it will not +stop at my own heart, for if I really love my King I shall take an +interest in all the work that He is coming to do; I shall try to prepare +His way for Him in the hearts of others; I shall let them know that +JESUS of Nazareth is going to pass by. Perhaps I shall have no +opportunity of speaking about His visit, but the careful preparations I +am making will not go unnoticed--each thing that I do out of love to Him +will in some way or another spread His Kingdom in the hearts of men. + +_Colloquy._ With my King Who is coming. + +_Resolution._ To do something _to-day_ in preparation. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Stir up!" + + + + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (1) + +HIS PREPARATION. + + "This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my Angel + before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee." + + (St. Matt. XI. 10). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Picture of the Naming Day of St. John the Baptist who is +on Our Lady's knee, while Elizabeth and the kinsfolk are discussing the +name and Zachary is writing on a tablet; St. Joseph is looking on. + +_2nd. Prelude._ The spirit of penance. + + +Often during Advent the Church directs our thoughts to the great +Precursor of JESUS Christ, to him who was sent to prepare His ways. On +four occasions she chooses for the "Gospel" in the Mass, passages which +relate to St. John the Baptist and his work of preparation. If we would +prepare well for the coming of our King, we cannot do better than +meditate on St. John the Baptist and try in our small measure to prepare +as he did. + + +POINT I. THE PREPARATION BEFORE HIS BIRTH. + +(1) _A prophecy._ Four hundred years before the Precursor's birth, +Malachias prophesied of him: "Behold I send My angel," that is My +_messenger_; and Our Lord tells us expressly (His words are noted by +three of the Evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke) that this +messenger was John the Baptist, who was sent by God to prepare the ways +of the Messias. + +(2) _His miraculous conception_--for his parents were both "well +advanced in years." Both his father and mother were "just before God +walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without +blame;" and they had their cross to bear--the "reproach" of having no +son and therefore no hope of the Messias being born to them; but this +did not prevent them from praying, as all fervent Israelites prayed, for +the coming of the Messias. The answer to their prayer was nearer than +they thought. One day as Zachary was performing the most solemn part of +his priestly office--offering incense on the golden altar that stood +"over against the veil" which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of +Holies--he saw an angel standing on the right side of the altar, who, +after he had calmed his fear, told him that his prayer was heard, that +the Messias was coming, and that his wife Elizabeth was to bear him a +son who was to be His Precursor, "he shall go before Him." The angel +then prophesied many things about this child, which all show how careful +was God's preparation of His Precursor: + +"Thou shall call his name John" (the Grace of God). Only those who had +an important future before them were named by God Himself before their +birth. + +"Many shall rejoice in his nativity." Many--both angels and men. + +"He shall be great before the Lord." Great in sanctity and great in +office. + +He "shall drink no wine nor strong drink." He shall be a Nazarite, one +separated and consecrated to God by a vow. + +"He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's +womb"--that is, he shall be cleansed from the stain of original sin and +put into the state of grace before his birth as was Jeremias (Jer. I. +5). + +"He shall convert many" by preaching penance and telling of Him who +takes away sin. + +"He shall go before Him ... to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people." +Zachary listened but he could not believe that what he heard was true, +though Gabriel, who stands before God, had been sent expressly to him +with the message of good tidings. He asked for a sign and He received +one which not only proved to him that God can do what He wills as He +wills, but also that He expects His children to trust Him. + +When at length Zachary appeared from behind the curtain to the waiting +and wondering people, instead of giving them the accustomed blessing +(Num. VI. 24, 26), he made signs to them and remained dumb and they +understood that he had seen a vision. God dealt severely with Zachary +because he was so closely bound up with the Advent of the Messias. He +had to be taught, and we through him, that the least venial sin may +hinder God's work and designs, and that if we would be His instruments +used by Him for the preparation of the Coming of His Son, we must be +absolutely faithful about little things, full of confidence in God, +setting no limit to His power and never doubting His dealings with us. + +(3) _He was filled with the Holy Ghost._ Six months later, Elizabeth who +had been waiting in solitude and silence for God to fulfil His designs, +received a visit from the Mother of God, and the Precursor and the +Messias Who was to come were brought into close contact. We cannot doubt +that it was at that moment when, as Elizabeth said "the infant in my +womb leaped for joy," that John was "filled with the Holy Ghost." Thus +God cleansed His Precursor before his birth from the stain of original +sin, again showing us that those who are to prepare for the Coming of +His Son must be distinguished by their purity. + +(4) _By the holiness of his mother and his home._ His mother taught by +the Holy Spirit was the first to recognize Our Lady as the Mother of +God; she was saluted by Our Lady and ministered to by her. She had the +unspeakable privilege of having Our Lady with the blessed Fruit of her +womb JESUS living under her roof for three months. A home where the +Mother of God was welcomed and honoured--such was the home God chose for +the Precursor of His Son. + + +POINT II. THE PREPARATION AFTER HIS BIRTH. + +"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came to +bear witness of the Light, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people." +(The "Gradual" for the Vigil of St. John the Baptist). The Feast of the +Nativity of St. John the Baptist is a Double of the First Class with an +Octave, for Mary and her Son were present at his birth and he was "great +before the Lord." + +The eighth day was the day of circumcision and the naming day. Everybody +naturally was calling him Zachary, but his mother who knew from her +husband that the name was fixed, said: "Not so, but he shall be called +John." They would not have it and appealed by signs to the deaf and dumb +father, who wrote: "John _is_ his name," for "he was so named of the +angel before he was conceived." At that moment Zachary's penance came to +an end and "he _spoke_ blessing God." This fresh miracle was soon +"noised abroad" and the people asked in fear: "What an one, think ye, +shall this child be?" Zachary, "filled with the Holy Ghost," used his +loosed tongue to sing his beautiful hymn of praise to God who had +remembered His holy testament, and had allowed "the _Orient_ from on +high" to visit them. And then addressing his little son, he said: "And +thou child shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt +go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways." + +He began to "prepare His ways" by a life of hardship, solitude and +penance, having no fixed home, living on what he could find in the +deserts--locusts and wild honey, and wearing as a garment camels' hair +with a leathern girdle. Tradition tells us he began all this at a very +early age and he continued it "until the day of his manifestation to +Israel," that is, until the day he left his solitude and began to +preach--nearly thirty years later. He had thirty years' preparation for +his life's work, like Him whose way he was preparing, and he was +preparing it no less as a solitary in the deserts than as the great +preacher of penance by the Jordan. + +What lessons can we learn for our own preparation for the Coming of +Christ this Advent? + +1. That because we are going to be amongst those who in some way or +other "prepare His ways," God has occupied Himself with our preparation +even before we were born. Either by surrounding us with good, or by +bringing good out of evil or by some of His many ways which are not our +ways, He has had a hand in all that concerns us. We have first firmly to +believe this, and secondly to co-operate with all God's designs for us, +as John did. + +2. That if we would prepare the ways of Christ we must be familiar with +His Mother, accustomed to receiving her salutations and to returning +them. That we must have her to live with us and take an interest in all +that concerns us. Who could better help us to prepare for the Coming of +her Son than His own Mother? + +3. That we must be filled with the Holy Spirit and never turn Him out of +our hearts by sin. It would be useless to try to prepare the way for +Christ if we had not the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. + +4. That penance in one form or another must have a share in our +preparation for the Coming of Christ. All we know of John from the time +of his infancy till he began his mission is that "he was in the +deserts." It was not that he preferred such a life, but he felt that it +was the one most suited to his own preparation for the Messias, for +during those long years in the deserts he was preparing the way of +Christ in his own heart; during his mission he prepared it in the hearts +of others. Solitude, fasting, lack of ease and comfort, coarse +clothing--these were the allies which John chose to aid him in his +preparation for the Coming of the King, for His "Kingdom is not of this +world" and "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (2 Cor. X. 4). He +was consecrated to God, and he separated himself from everything that +might interfere with his entire consecration. + +_Colloquy._ + + (1) With God the Father Who has chosen me to prepare the ways + of His Son. + + (2) With Him Who is coming. + + (3) With God the Holy Ghost Who is co-operating with me. + + (4) With Our Lady who is ready to let me do all my work by her + side. (Ecclus. XXIV. 30). + + (5) With St. John the Baptist who will obtain for me, if I ask + him, the spirit of penance. + +_Resolution._ To examine myself to-day as to the place penance is having +in my Advent, and if it has none, to fix at least _one_ daily +penitential act. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He was in the deserts." + + + + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (2) + +HIS MISSION. + + "In those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the + desert of Judea.... preaching the baptism of penance unto + remission of sins." + + (St. Matt. III. 1. and St. Mark I. 4). + + +_1st. Prelude._ John preaching and baptizing by the Jordan. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Gratitude to the "Friend of the Bridegroom" for pointing +Him out to the Bride. + + +POINT I. THE PROPHET. + +When John was about thirty years of age the "word of the Lord" (St. Luke +III. 2) reached him in his solitude, just as it had done all the +prophets of old from Samuel down to Malachias, but since then, that is +for a period of four hundred years, God had spoken through no prophet. +As a result of this "word" the "Prophet of the Highest" came into all +the country about the Jordan--a large area--and began his mission. His +arrival made a great stir and the people flocked to see and hear him. +There "went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the country about +Jordan." All classes went--publicans, soldiers, even the Pharisees and +Sadducees, for if this man were really a prophet sent from God, it +behoved _them_ to know all about him. What did the multitudes see? A man +wearing a "garment of camels' hair and a leathern girdle about his +loins," whose food consisted of locusts and wild honey--a man as the +Angel Gabriel had prophesied "in the spirit and power of Elias" (see IV +Kings I. 8). What did they hear? A voice of one crying in the desert: +"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths." (St. Matt. +III. 3). And what were their conclusions? That this was he who was +spoken of by Isaias the prophet (verse 3), that he was "sent from God" +(St. John I. 6) and that he "came for a witness, to give testimony of +the light" (St. John I. 7). What light? The "Light of the world." John +came to proclaim that the dawn which the world had been so long watching +was on the point of giving place to day, that the "Sun of justice" was +even now rising with "health in His wings" for those that feared God's +name, and that they must go forth to meet him (Mal. IV. 2). + +I too must go forth. What am I going to do to-day which will prove to +myself, to my Guardian Angel, to my Patron Saint, to Mary my Mother and +to Him Who is coming that I am preparing the way of the Lord? + + +POINT II. HIS PREACHING. + +John came "preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins" +(St. Luke III. 3). His voice was like that of a herald proclaiming a +great event that was close at hand. "Do penance, for the kingdom of +heaven is at hand" (St. Matt. III. 2). The Messias is coming to set up +His Kingdom. He Whom you have so long expected is close to you, prepare +for Him. Then John told them shortly and explicitly how to prepare: (1) +"To believe in Him Who was to come" (Acts XIX. 4). (2) To repent of +their sins and bring forth fruits worthy of penance such as fasting and +self-denial (St. Mark II. 18). (3) To confess their sins (St. Mark I. +5). (4) To be baptized as a sign of hope that their sins had been +forgiven. John's baptism could not wash away sin, for it was no +sacrament, St. Paul, as well as St. Mark and St. Luke, called it the +"Baptism of penance" (Acts XIX. 4). It was a baptism which proclaimed to +all that he who submitted to it acknowledged himself to be a sinner and +a penitent. + +John the Baptist was greatly in earnest, for the time was short; he +spoke very plainly to those whom he noticed coming to be baptized out of +curiosity or human respect without any repentance or intention of doing +penance. He warned them of the wrath of God which would fall upon +sinners who persisted in their sin, of the folly of thinking that all +was well with them because they had Abraham for their father; he told +them that every tree which did not yield good fruit would be cut down +and cast into the fire, that He Who was coming and was even now so nigh +would divide all people into two classes--the wheat and the chaff, and +that the great winnowing fan was already in His Hand. + +The people then began to feel uncomfortable and alarmed, and anxious to +make sure that they were not going to be blown away as chaff, or burnt +"with unquenchable fires" by the Mighty One Who was coming; and +different classes began to ask John what they must do. His answers were +singularly appropriate and confirmed the opinion that he was indeed a +prophet. To the people generally he counselled charity, kindness and +brotherly love as the best possible preparation; to the public +tax-collectors, who grew rich on the sums that they demanded in excess +of the fixed tax, that they should do nothing more than that which was +appointed; to the soldiers, that they should avoid violence and calumny +and be content with their pay (St. Luke III. 10-14). He showed clearly +by his straight and simple answers that the best way for us to prepare +for Him Who is coming, is to look into our daily life and occupations +and change anything and everything that we know He would find faulty. + + +POINT III. HIS BAPTISM. + +One after another the people made up their minds to change their evil +lives and bad habits. They made their good resolutions and as a proof of +their sorrow for the past and firm purpose of amendment for the future, +they went into the Jordan confessing their sins, and John baptized them. +He told them then that He Who was coming was mightier than himself, and +that He would baptize them with the Holy Ghost and fire. "Then cometh +JESUS from Galilee to the Jordan unto John to be baptized by him!" Where +had He come from? Straight from His home, from Nazareth, from His +Mother. He had come to fulfil John's prophecy, to begin His public +ministry to the people, and He would begin it by identifying Himself +with them. They were sinners, coming to confess their sins and He would +be numbered with the transgressors (Isaias III. 12). "But John stayed +Him, saying: I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me?" +(St. Matt. III. 14). Though they were cousins it is probable that they +had not met since their early childhood. One had lived in the seclusion +of Nazareth and the other in the seclusion of the desert. "I knew Him +not," (St. John I. 31, 33) John said. It was probably the fact of +someone coming for the baptism of penance who had no sins to confess +that made John suspect and then protest; but he could not resist the +gentle, authoritative words: "Suffer it to be so now, for so it becometh +Us to fulfil all justice." Then when He had gone out of the water John +saw a wonderful sight--he described it himself: "I saw the Spirit coming +down as a dove from Heaven and He remained upon Him; and I knew Him not, +but He Who sent me to baptize with water said to me: He upon Whom thou +shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, He it is That +baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw; and I gave testimony, that +this is the Son of God." (St. John I. 32-34). He knew Him now--there was +no longer any doubt, no more time of waiting and preparation, He Who +should come had come. God Himself pointed Him out to the faithful +Precursor--a voice from Heaven said: "This is My beloved Son in Whom I +am well pleased" (St. Matt. III. 17). What a reward for John after his +life of solitude and penance and mortification--to be in close contact +with the Son of God, to see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and +to hear the Voice of God the Father, and thus have the seal set to his +mission! "And I saw; and I gave testimony." + +And what have the waters of Jordan to say? That He, over Whose Sacred +Head they closed, has, by the contact of His precious Body, sanctified +them and all other waters and given them power, when they are in contact +with His mystical Body to wash away sin. JESUS went down to John in the +Jordan not to _receive_ a gift, but to _impart_ one. From henceforth the +waters will bring forth abundantly and God will say of His new creation, +as He did in the beginning, that it is good. All three Persons of the +Blessed Trinity were present at this new creation, the Holy Spirit +brooded over the face of the waters for this new baptism was the Baptism +of the Holy Ghost, the Voice of the Lord was upon the waters (Ps. +XXVIII. 3), the Voice, that is, of the Father proclaiming that He was +well pleased, not only with His "Beloved Son" but with this first act of +His public ministry; for in Him He saw a countless multitude coming out +of the sanctified water, and of each one He will say: "_This_ is My +beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." + +"O Almighty Eternal God, preside over the mysteries of Thy great mercy, +preside over Thy sacraments and send forth the Spirit of adoption to +regenerate the new people, whom the font of Baptism brings forth to +Thee" (Prayer for the Blessing of the Font on Holy Saturday). + +_Colloquy._ "Grant we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that Thy servants may +walk in the way of salvation; and by following the exhortation of +Blessed John the Precursor may securely attain the possession of Him +Whom He foretold, Our Lord JESUS Christ." (Collect for the Vigil of St. +John the Baptist). + +_Resolution._ To "prepare His ways" to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Blessed John the Baptist ... pray to the Lord our +God for us." + + + + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (3) + +HIS TESTIMONY. + + "This man came for a witness to give witness of the Light, + that all men might believe through Him." + + (St. John I. 7). + + +_1st. Prelude._ "John stood and two of his disciples and beholding JESUS +walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God." (verses 35, 36). + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace so to hear his testimony that we follow JESUS. + + +POINT I. "THAT HE MAY BE MADE MANIFEST THEREFORE AM I COME" (verse 31). + +This was all John wanted, all he cared about, it was his vocation, it +was the point of his long years of mortification, the reason for his +preaching and baptism; he was a man of one idea--the Christ is coming, I +must manifest Him to the people. This man came for a witness to give +testimony of the Light (verse 7). When the people wondering asked him: +Art thou the Christ? Art thou Elias? Art thou the prophet? his answer +was: No, I am only a voice proclaiming His coming. I, He? Oh, no, I am +not worthy to be His slave. He is the Light, the Light of the whole +world. "I saw the Spirit coming down as a dove from Heaven and He +remained upon Him.... And I saw; and I gave testimony that this is the +_Son of God_" (verses 32-34). + +Let me look at my preparation for His coming this Advent and see whether +I am in any way following in the footsteps of the great Precursor. Can I +be said to be a person of one idea--that of manifesting my Lord to +others? When people want to make much of me and my work and ask who I +am, is my one thought to turn their eyes from me to Him Who is coming? +Am I really persuaded that I am only here to make Him manifest? _Is_ He +being made manifest to others through me? Do those with whom I come in +contact leave me, with a greater knowledge of Him, with a greater desire +for His coming, with more anxiety about the salvation of their souls and +with more zeal for that of others? Do my words and deeds, does my very +manner, speak to them of Him and make them think of Him? "Art thou the +Christ?" In one sense, yes, for I am or ought to be another Christ +(_alter Christus_), living His life, doing His work and representing Him +in the world. + + +POINT II. "BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD." + +This is He, behold Him! He is the Lamb of God. He it is to whom all the +lambs that have been sacrificed point; their blood could not wash away +sin, but "behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world." You are +sorry for your sins, you have confessed them and I have baptized you as +a sign that they are forgiven, now there is One among you who takes them +away. Behold the Lamb of God! This was what John said when he saw JESUS +the day after His baptism; he said the same thing the next day when he +saw Him walking by the Jordan; two of his disciples were with him, +Andrew and John (probably), and when they saw their master pointing to +JESUS and saying: "Behold the Lamb of God!" they did what John meant +them to do, they left their master and followed _Him_. How well had the +faithful Precursor prepared the way in their hearts! How thoroughly he +had done his work! How absolutely he had effaced himself! There was no +doubt, no hesitation in the minds of his disciples, no wondering whether +John would mind; "_they followed_ JESUS," and John had the joy of seeing +JESUS turn and speak to them: "What seek you?" And then the joy of +hearing them call _Him_ Master. "Master, where dwellest Thou?" "Come and +see." Then the Friend of the Bridegroom saw the three going away +together, and he knew that his mission had not been in vain, the Bride +was beginning to join the Bridegroom. + + +POINT III. "HE THAT HATH THE BRIDE IS THE BRIDEGROOM." + +It was not for nothing that Andrew and John spent that day with JESUS. +They told others what they had found: "We have found the Messias, which +is being interpreted the Christ," and they brought their companions one +by one to JESUS, with the result that very soon the Baptism of the Holy +Ghost was taking place in the Jordan as well as the Baptism of Penance, +and the people instructed by John left the less for the greater. + +There were "busybodies," as St. Paul calls them (1 Tim. V. 13), even in +those days, people who could not let others alone, who could not +understand the situation or pretended that they could not; they "came to +John and said to him: Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to +Whom thou gavest testimony, behold He baptizeth and all men come to +_Him_" (St. John III. 26). They were words calculated to stir up +jealousy and ill-feeling; but John was too humble and too great to be +disturbed by them, his answer was characteristic: "You yourselves do +bear me witness, that I said that I am not Christ, but that I am sent +before Him. He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom." There is the +proof that all I have been telling you is true. He has the Bride, the +people all go to Him, you see for yourselves that He _must_ be the +Bridegroom; "but the Friend of the Bridegroom, who standeth and heareth +Him, rejoiceth with joy because of the Bridegroom's voice. This my joy +therefore is fulfilled." It was enough for "the Friend of the +Bridegroom" to hear His Master's voice. The necessity for him and his +preaching was fast passing away and he knew it. He had been for a time +the great man, the popular preacher, the one every one talked about, +whose advice everyone sought, now he must stand aside and see his +disciples gather round another master, himself not in the group at all. +It is a position most workers in God's vineyard find themselves in +sooner or later, they have to give place to others, to watch others +reaping the fruit of their labours, to see those whom they have taught +going to other teachers, those who have sought their advice seeking it +elsewhere. How do they bear this difficult situation? How am I going to +bear it when my turn comes? Am I going to pose as a martyr, craving for +and expecting every one's sympathy? Am I going to put difficulties in +the way of those who succeed me, and make it hard for those to whom it +has been my privilege to minister? Some are even jealous and show their +displeasure by criticizing those who succeed them! What was John's +attitude? All he wanted was his Master and His Will. He was the "Friend +of the Bridegroom." He was satisfied to stand on one side, and his cup +of joy was full when he heard his Master's Voice. "He must increase" in +the minds of the people "and I must decrease." Let me learn a lesson +from John the Baptist and make my sacrifice beforehand, remembering that +nothing matters so long as I am the friend of the Bridegroom, can hear +His Voice and see the souls I have tried to help following Him. These +are joys, real joys, and they are perhaps never fully realized till the +cool shade of the background is reached. + + +POINT IV. JOHN'S TESTIMONY OF HIMSELF. + + 1. I am sent before Him (St. John III. 28). + + 2. I am the voice (chap. I. 23). + + 3. I baptize with water (verses 26, 31). + + 4. I am not worthy (verse 27). + + 5. I am come that He may be made manifest (verse 31). + + 6. I ought to be baptized by Thee (St. Matt. III. 14). + + 7. I knew him not. (St. John I. 31). + + 8. I saw the Spirit coming down ... and He remained upon Him + (verse 32). + + 9. I saw (verse 34); (that is, I understood). + + 10. I gave testimony that this is the Son of God. (ibid.) + + 11. I am not the Christ (verse 20). + + 12. I must decrease (chap. III. 30). + +_Colloquy_ with St. John the Baptist. + +_Resolution._ To bear my testimony. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Behold the Lamb of God!" + + + + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (4) + +HIS MARTYRDOM. + + "Herod the Tetrarch, when he was reproved by him for + Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evils which + Herod had done, he added this also above all, and shut up + John in prison." + + (St. Luke III. 19, 20). + + +_1st. Prelude._ John the Baptist in Prison. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to be faithful unto death. + + +POINT I. JOHN IN PRISON. + +John knew no fear where right was concerned. His duty was to make the +paths straight for Him who was coming and it mattered little to him +whether he rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees at the Jordan or Herod in +his palace. Herod, however, could not brook such plain speaking and he +had (at first) a mind to put him to death (but) "he feared the people, +because they esteemed him as a prophet" (St. Matt. XIV. 5). Herodias +also had "laid snares for him and was desirous to put him to death and +could not" because of Herod who knowing that John was "a just and holy +man" (afterwards) protected his life (St. Mark VI. 19, 20). So John was +shut up in prison; Josephus tells us that it was at a place called +Machaerus on the east of the Dead Sea where Herod had a castle. + +Let us go and visit John in that lonely prison, where he was cast quite +at the beginning of Christ's ministry. His long years of preparation in +the desert, his fearless, outspoken preaching, his generosity and +humility in giving place to his Master, his important office of +Forerunner of the Messias, his vision of the Blessed Trinity--are they +all to end thus? Is this how God treats His friends? Is this the reward +for fidelity and loyalty? Yes, St. John would be the first to answer, +these are ever God's ways, "He must increase, I must decrease." John had +indeed been specially favoured and he was specially favoured in prison +too. It is not everybody whom God can trust with a trial such as this. +John was still preparing the ways of the Lord, no longer by an active +life, but by a life of suffering, solitude and privation. His patience +and his perfect submission to God's Will no doubt prepared the ways of +Christ in the hearts of many. + +If He is to increase, I _must_ decrease, it is only natural. Yes, it is +natural for the saints to reason like this, but what about me? I want to +be a saint. I often perhaps ask God to make me one, perhaps I even tell +Him to use any means He likes, not to spare me. Does not this solve many +a problem? God is only taking me at my word; the beginning, the middle +and the end of the process of saint-making is _humility_. "I must +decrease," and if I ask to be a saint, He will give me the humiliations +and the sufferings which alone can teach me humility and unite me to +Himself. What then does it matter, if I have to suffer physically or +morally, if a career of usefulness in His service is suddenly cut short, +if I have to stand on one side and see the work I love and for which my +whole life has been a preparation, being done by another, if those I +have taught do not seem to understand, if my life is full of little +things I dislike and which seem made to annoy me--all these and +everything else that can possibly happen to me are the direct result of +my God-given wish to be a saint. Let me ask St. John the Baptist for +courage to continue my prayer this Advent and to accept joyfully for Him +Who is coming all that it entails, saying, to myself when something +seems to happen on purpose to annoy me: "This is to help to make me a +saint," and then seeing to it that it does. + + +POINT II. THE END. + +Vengeance still rankled in the breast of Herodias for John had said to +Herod: "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." She laid +her plans and awaited her opportunity; it came on Herod's birthday; he +gave a supper for the princes and tribunes and chief men of Galilee, and +she made her daughter come in and dance till they were all so pleased +that Herod swore to the girl: "Whatsoever thou shalt ask I will give +thee, though it be the half of my kingdom." Herodias knew Herod and +expecting that this would happen had told her daughter to do nothing +without consulting her. "What shall I ask?" she said to her mother, who +replied without any hesitation: "The head of John the Baptist." Herodias +was evidently afraid that the king would change his mind and that her +wicked plans would after all fail, for she impressed upon her daughter +the necessity of haste. The girl went back _immediately, with haste_ to +Herod, and said: "I will that _forthwith_ thou give me in a dish the +head of John the Baptist." Herod was very sorry, for he was interested +in his prisoner, also he knew him to be "a just and holy man" (St. Mark +VI. 20) and he hesitated before such a crime; but he had taken an oath +and to break it before his guests would be inconsistent with his +dignity, besides "he would not displease" the girl, so he acted at once +as Herodias had bidden him: "he sent and beheaded John in the prison, +and his head was brought in a dish, and it was given to the damsel, and +she brought it to her mother." + +"Faithful unto death."--"O Lord, Thou hast set on his head a crown of +precious stones" ("Communion" for the feast of the Beheading of St. John +the Baptist, August 29th). + +"And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and came and +told JESUS," told the Bridegroom that His "friend" was dead. "Which +when JESUS had heard, He retired from thence by a boat, into a desert +place apart." + +"Faithful unto death," I must be too, if my preparation this Advent is +to be anything like that of St. John the Baptist. He died to self long +before his cruel death in the prison; his whole life from the day he +went into the desert as a little child was a living death: "As dying and +behold we live" (2 Cor. VI. 9). This is how St. Paul describes the state +of all those who "_will_ live godly in Christ JESUS" (2 Tim. III. 12). +It is the death of "the old man," the death of self; the "I" must ever +be decreasing, ever receiving the blows which will one day, probably not +before the soul's last day on earth, cause its death. Such is the +prospect I have before me, if I would copy John the Baptist and be +faithful unto death. What is my consolation and strength? That JESUS +knows and sympathizes. Not one of the blows which cost me so much, not +one of the sufferings, not one hour of desolation or loneliness or +temptation or misunderstanding or unkindness, or any of the many things +which are conspiring together for the death of "the old man," are lost +upon Him. He knows, He cares, He sympathizes and He is glad, for in +proportion as the "I" is decreasing, _He_ is increasing in my soul. + +_Colloquy_ + + (1) With John in the prison. + (2) With JESUS in "a desert place apart." + +_Resolution._ To be "faithful unto death" to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings and I was +not ashamed" ("Introit" for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the +Baptist). + + + + +ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. (5) + +HIS CHARACTER. + + "What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with + the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft + garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live + delicately, are in the houses of kings. But what went you out + to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a + prophet, for ... among those that are born of women, there is + not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is + the lesser in the Kingdom of God, is greater than he." + + (St. Luke VII. 24-28). + + +_1st. Prelude._ JESUS talking to His disciples about John. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to stand by and listen and learn. + + +POINT I. HIS HUMILITY. + +One day when John was in prison his disciples came and told him that +they had heard that JESUS was working a great many miracles and that His +fame was spreading all through the country. At Capharnaum He had healed +a centurion's servant, and at Naim He had raised a widow's son to life; +and the people were all glorifying God and saying: "A great prophet is +risen up among us, and God hath visited His people" (St. Luke VII). This +news sounded like music in John's ears; it was just what he wanted; it +was a proof that his life's work had not been in vain: "He _must_ +increase." The disciples however who brought the news did not take at +all the same view of the case. They were not pleased that another should +take the place of their master while he languished in prison. John knew +that had they been quite sure that JESUS was the Messias, such thoughts +could have had no place in their minds, and so to strengthen their +faith he sent two of them to JESUS with the question: "Art thou He that +art to come or look we for another?" hoping no doubt that they might see +some miracles for themselves, or at any rate that personal contact with +JESUS would clear away their doubts. + +See the beautiful humility of John's character, there is no thought for +himself; he is only anxious still to point out the Lamb of God and to +remove all obstacles from His path in the hearts of all; he is still the +voice crying with no uncertain sound. It happened (not by chance) that +just when the two disciples arrived many miracles were being worked by +JESUS, and in answer to their question, which they were probably now +rather ashamed to put, He said: "Go and relate to John what you have +heard and seen;" and He added: "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be +scandalized in Me." Surely after that the disciples could never again +stumble in their faith, and it must have been with joy in their hearts +that they told their master of all they had seen and heard. + + +POINT II. CHRIST'S TESTIMONY OF JOHN. + +When the messengers had gone, JESUS began to talk to the people about +His faithful Precursor, whom they all knew so well. "What went you out +in the desert to see?" He asked them. Was it "a reed shaken with the +wind?" Was it "a man clothed in soft garments" and living delicately? +Was it "a prophet?" On another occasion He spoke of him as "a burning +and a shining light" (St. John V. 35). What praise this was on the lips +of the Master! The four points He picked out are characteristics that He +appreciates not only in John but in all who are preparing for His +Coming. Let us see where we stand with regard to them. + +1. _A determination of purpose._ "What went you out into the desert to +see? A reed shaken with the wind?" No, but a man of one idea, and who +pursued that idea through all difficulties and opposition and failure, +not counting the cost. I want to copy John the Baptist. I want to +prepare the way of the Lord in my heart, how shall I do it? Not by +allowing myself to be a reed shaken with the wind, trying very hard for +a day or two and then giving all up and saying it is no use; not by +making good resolutions and then quietly dropping them because they have +been broken. No, but by a steady, determined effort, in spite of many +failures, to overcome in myself everything which I know will be a +hindrance to my King pursuing His way in my soul. He is never +disappointed by my failures; these are more than made up for directly I +tell Him that I am sorry. What pains His loving Heart is cessation of +effort, giving up the fight, running away from the enemy instead of +standing up to be knocked down again, if my Captain thus wills to give +me another opportunity of meriting, and of practicing humility. Saints +are not made by victories all along the line, but by repeated failures +humbly and patiently accepted, with a firm determination that each +failure shall be the _last_. But what is the use when I know I shall +fail again? I do not know; I need not fall, it is my own fault if I do. +To do less than have a firm determination about the future, would be to +lay down my arms. Every effort made for God leaves me holier, and as +long as I keep on trying I am making progress in the spiritual life, +though I cannot see it. + +2. _Self-sacrifice._ "But what went you out to see? A man clothed in +soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live +delicately are in the houses of kings." John prepared for the Coming of +his King by a life of self-sacrifice, every day giving up for the sake +of Him Who was coming all the things that were just as dear to his +nature as they are to mine. What part is self-sacrifice taking in my +preparation for my King this Advent? I have no need to go into the +desert or live the life of a hermit. It is the little tiny acts of +self-sacrifice known only to my King and me which are so pleasing to +Him. It is wonderful what notice He takes of little things which are +done out of love to Him. If we could promise Him a certain number of +these little acts every day--perhaps six or ten, or even _one_--and mark +them down to ensure their being remembered, it would be a preparation +very precious in His sight. To do a hard thing just because it is hard, +to keep silent when I could say something sarcastic or clever but not +quite charitable, to bear little physical sufferings without letting +everybody know about them, to be cheerful and bright when I am feeling +tired and moody, to accept all that happens to me as coming straight +from God's Hands, especially all the little crosses that come to me +through others--these are the things that will make me a saint and I +cannot keep Advent or any other season better than by practicing them. +Nothing is too small for my King to notice. Let me then be generous and +give Him all I can, remembering that as long as the little act _costs_ +me something, it is sure to be acceptable to Him; "He must increase, I +must decrease," and it is by self-sacrifice that this great work will +slowly but surely be accomplished in my soul. + +3. _Fidelity to duty._ "But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I +say to you, and more than a prophet for ... amongst those that are born +of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he +that is the lesser in the kingdom of God is greater than he." John was +more than a prophet, because he not only prophesied of Christ as so many +other prophets had done, but he was the last of the prophets, the +immediate Forerunner of the Messias. No office could be greater than +this and no one else ever held it, it was unique and made John "more +than a prophet." Nevertheless, Our Lord said: "He that is the lesser in +the kingdom of God is greater than he"--_lesser_ in holiness and in +office, but _greater_ in dignity and privilege, because he is a member +of the Holy Catholic Church and a partaker of her Sacraments. +Thanksgiving that I am a member of the Holy Catholic Church should often +find a place in my heart, and especially during Advent when the Church +begins again to spread out before me all the treasures of her Liturgy +and when my thoughts and meditations are centred round Him Who is coming +to be incarnate for that Church, to die for it, to make a plan which +will enable Him to be with it "all days, even to the consummation of the +world" (St. Matt. XXVIII. 20), and finally to judge it that He may +"present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or +any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. V. +27). + +If my privileges are greater than those of St. John the Baptist, my +responsibilities are greater also. As I think how faithfully he +fulfilled one of the greatest offices ever entrusted to man, let me +remember that I too have a special office given me to fulfil, and it is +no less important for me to fulfil it faithfully, than it was for St. +John. It may be that my office is a very lowly one, that I have only one +talent, but JESUS is taking notice how I am trading with it. What have +His messengers to say when He asks: "What went you out to see?" Let the +season of Advent inspire me to be up and doing--faithful in that which +is least, living as one who has to give an account of each talent, each +occasion of merit, each opportunity of influencing another, each +inspiration of grace. + +4. _Light giving._ "He was a burning and a shining Light." This was the +secret of John's greatness, of his humility, of his courage, of his +zeal. His heart so burned with love for God and zeal for His service +that it shone out on all with whom he came in contact. + +Let me make one last examen on myself here. Do I feel sometimes that my +influence on others is very small, that my light seems to be hidden +under a bushel, that try as I will, I cannot make any impression? May it +not be that I am thinking too much about the shining of the light and +too little about the burning? The candle must _burn_ before it can +_shine_. If my heart is in constant touch with the Sacred Heart of JESUS +it will burn with His love and zeal, and the shining will follow as a +matter of course, I need not trouble about it; but if I allow anything +to separate my heart from His, even ever so little, the fire in my heart +will die down; there may be a little glow left, unless I leave it too +long, but there is not enough to "shine before men." "What went you out +to see?" What answer would those with whom I live, those who know me +best, have to give? + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS and St. John the Baptist. + +_Resolution._ To win the approval of JESUS to-day by the way in which I +prepare for His Coming. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "What went you out to see?" + + + + +"INCARNATUS EST" + + Regem venturum Dominum venite adoremus. [Come let us adore + the King our Lord Who is to come.] + + +_1st. Prelude._ Picture of the Annunciation. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to understand the mystery of the Incarnation. + + +POINT I. VENITE ADOREMUS. + +"Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come." These are the +opening words of the Invitatory which the Church uses every day at +Matins during the first fortnight of Advent. Let us turn then from the +Precursor, who has taught us so many lessons, to JESUS Christ Himself. +What is He doing during these months of waiting before Christmas? He, +too, is preparing, preparing for the work for which He has already come +into the world, although He is not yet manifest. John the Baptist has +pointed Him out to me: "Behold the Lamb of God!" Now I will do what his +disciples did--leave "the Friend of the Bridegroom" for the Bridegroom +Himself. He has become incarnate for me; it behoves me then to keep as +close to Him as possible, to love Him with all my heart and to copy Him +as far as I can. He is God and therefore there can be nothing imperfect +about Him; from the first moment of the Word being made flesh in the +womb of His Mother till "she brought forth her first-born Son" on +Christmas day, His faculties, His reason, His intelligence, His +sensibilities were all in a state of perfection; He knew the past, the +present, and the future; and He, the Source of grace, was pouring forth +grace on all around Him. Directly we understand this, we feel that we +must draw near, not only to adore but to sympathize, to wonder, to love, +to learn, to imitate. For those who understand the Incarnation, His work +did not begin on Christmas Day, but on the Feast of the Annunciation, +when Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me +according to Thy word." What happened at that moment? The Holy Ghost +overshadowed her, the Body of Our Lord was formed from her pure blood, +God created the human Soul to dwell in it, and by the act of the +Incarnation that Soul and Body became the Soul and Body of the Word, the +Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; Mary became the Mother of God and +Gabriel worshipped before the Tabernacle of the Word made flesh. + +Mary was the next to adore; Joseph, Elizabeth, John, Zachary followed, +and there may have been other privileged ones to whom Our Lord Himself +revealed His secret; but the world at large went on as usual--it "knew +Him not." The same thing happens every day in our midst. When the priest +with his God hidden on his breast passes on his way to give the Bread of +Life to some sufferer, only a few privileged ones know the secret and +offer their silent adoration. _Venite adoremus._ + + +POINT II. DIVINE ADORATION. + +It was a _new life_ that Our Lord entered upon at the moment of the +Incarnation. He had had His Divine Life from all eternity, but God had +never before been man. He now for the first time could express Himself +through a human body. God could adore with human lips, could love with a +human heart, could suffer through human senses, could plan with a human +intelligence, could reason with a human mind. The consequence of the +union of the two natures was that the human nature was perfect, more +than perfect--it was Divine, and God received at the moment of the +Incarnation, the first perfect human act of adoration, the first perfect +human act of love, of humility and of all the other virtues. The God-Man +could adore perfectly, because being God He knew God and knew what +adoration was fitting for God; it was God adoring God and yet it was a +human act, the act of a man like ourselves. At that moment God received +what He wanted from one of the human race. The first breath drawn by His +Son Incarnate made it worth His while to have created man in spite of +the Fall. He received not only reparation but all He expected from the +human race when He first created it. He was satisfied, and would have +been satisfied even if that first moment had also been His last on +earth. The Incarnation would have done its work, the justice of God +could have required no more--a human will was perfectly submissive to +His Will, a human heart beat in unison with His, a human creature +offered itself as a victim for the race: "Behold, I come to do Thy Will, +O My God," I have desired it. (Ps. XXXIX. 8, 9). God received at the +moment of the Incarnation a higher act of worship than He had ever +received from all the nine choirs of Angels, and that act was a _human_ +act. Did the Angels who fell understand this and was this the cause of +their rebellion? It is true that this first moment of the Incarnation +would have more than satisfied God, but it was not enough for the +God-made-Man. He would go on, on even to the death of the cross, not to +satisfy His Father's justice, but His own love, and to show to those +whom by His Incarnation He had made His brethren to what lengths love +can go. Every breath He drew was as perfect as the first--a perfect +offering, a perfect act of adoration; every beat of His Heart until He +said: "Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit," was a perfect act of +love; every act, every thought, every word perfect, because they were +the acts, thoughts and words of _God_. + + +POINT III. THE PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. + +What have I to do with these sublime truths? Everything, for He was +incarnate _for me_. What does it mean? It means that He is my Brother +and that He is giving to God what God must have, but what I cannot give +Him; and that all I have to do is to unite myself to Him and to offer my +imperfect acts of adoration, love, humility with His perfect ones. He +has given Himself to me, that I may give Him back to God--a perfect +offering with which God will be entirely satisfied. My God, I cannot +adore Thee as I should, though I desire to do so with my whole heart, +but JESUS is there incarnate for me, He is adoring Thee perfectly for +me, accept His adoration and mine with it. My God, I love Thee, but I +cannot love Thee enough, I cannot love Thee as I ought, I cannot love +Thee as Thou deservest to be loved, but JESUS is incarnate for me, He +has a human Heart which is loving Thee _perfectly_; I put my heart +inside His, accept His love and mine with it. My God, I want to be +perfectly submissive, perfectly humble, a perfect victim, but great +though my desires are, I cannot arrive at the perfection which Thou dost +require. Oh, look upon my Brother incarnate for me, accept all His +perfections; let me offer my little struggles and desires and efforts +with all that He is doing, for is it not all for me? "_Through_ Him and +_with_ Him and _in_ Him." + +Let me go to Nazareth to Mary; she will welcome me for she knows that He +has become incarnate _for me_. The Angel has just left her to take back +her _Fiat_ to Heaven. I will take his place and on bended knees before +that holy shrine where the new Life has just begun, I will meditate. +Never before perhaps have I so felt the need of thanksgiving, of +adoration, of wonder, of love. All I offer now and from henceforth must +pass through Mary to her Son, Who will offer my gifts with His own to +His Father. + +_Colloquy_ with God-Incarnate. + +_Resolution._ To thank God often to-day for the Incarnation. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin +Mary and was made Man." + + + + +"EX MARIA VIRGINE" + + "Apud me est fons vitae." [In me is the Source of life.] + + +_1st. Prelude._ Mary, just after the Angel had departed from her. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to understand Mary's part in the Incarnation. + + +POINT I. MARY SHARES ALL WITH HER SON. + +All the joy that the Incarnation brought to the Blessed Trinity, Mary to +a great extent must have shared. There was the joy of God the Father, +because He saw His designs in creating man fulfilled, His justice +satisfied and a human creature doing Him perfect homage and bringing Him +so much glory. There was the joy of God the Son, because at last He was +united to our human nature, because He being God had nevertheless a +human Soul and a human Body, to which He could unite all the Divine +perfections, and by means of which He could carry out all His Father's +designs for the lost human race. There was the joy of the Holy Spirit +Who had overshadowed Mary and by His Divine power created in her a Soul +and a Body so beautiful that they were worthy to be taken by the Eternal +Word and for ever united to the Divinity. The Holy Ghost saw now a human +Soul into which He could pour _all_ the grace that would be needed by +the whole human race. Of His fulness all were to receive (St. John I. +16). + +And what was the means whereby all this joy was given to the Blessed +Trinity? The Body which had been formed from the most pure flesh and +blood of Mary. She had lent herself at God's request to be the +instrument used, and now she was the Tabernacle where the God-Man lay +hidden. As He shared His life with His Mother, since it was her blood +which was coursing through His Veins, so He shared all His acts with +her. That first perfect act of adoration made by a human Soul to God was +shared by Mary--she adored too. That first whole-hearted oblation of a +human Soul to God was shared by Mary when she said her: "_Fiat mihi +secundum verbum Tuum_." That first perfect act of love from a human +Heart was shared by Mary for how close was the union between the Sacred +Heart of JESUS and the most pure heart of Mary! When JESUS made acts of +reparation of humility, of conformity to His Father's Will, Mary made +them too--she could not but do so, for her life was so closely bound up +with that of her Son; He became the mainspring of all she did. It was +the charity and humility in _His_ Heart that made her go to visit her +cousin Elizabeth and make herself her handmaid; it was _His_ salutation +that made hers so powerful with regard both to Elizabeth and to the +infant John; it was the thanksgiving in _His_ Heart which overflowed +into hers and made her sing her _Magnificat_. That Mary spent the nine +months in adoration we may well believe, but she spent them also in +union with her Son, sharing all with Him and giving us a perfect model +of the interior life--which means not only that God shares in the acts +of the soul, but also that the soul shares in the acts of God, +Emmanuel--God with us--in order that we may be "with the King for _His_ +works" (1 Paralip. IV. 23). + + +POINT II. MARY MY EXAMPLE. + +He was incarnate for me, and His Mother is my Mother; it is to her that +I must look now to teach me how to spend these days before His birth. +Teach me, my Mother, to follow the great example which you set. Teach +me, too, to rejoice in the wonders of the Incarnation. Who should be +more filled with joy than I for whom He was incarnate? Teach me what the +interior life means, teach me to allow Him to be the mainspring within +me of all I do, so that the life which I live is not mine but His, the +words which I speak not mine but His,--JESUS acting, thinking, speaking +through me. This is the interior life which Mary understood so well and +lived so perfectly during her time of waiting. There is, however, +another side to the interior life, and this is the one we want to +meditate about more especially, while we are thinking of the Son of God +incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. He has taken human nature, +my nature, and joined it to the Godhead. He has made Himself a partaker +of my human nature in order that I may be a partaker of His divine +nature. I must not only think, then, of His working in and through me, +but of my working in and through Him. Mary entered into and shared not +only His Acts of adoration and love and praise, but also the work He had +come to do, His plans for the Redemption of the world. "They dwelt with +the King for His works, and they abode there" (1 Paral. IV. 23). How +true this was of Mary! It is in this that I must try to copy her. "I +will abide in the Tabernacle of the Most High," and I will offer myself +for _His works_, His interests shall be mine, He shall feel that _one_ +soul at least, sympathizes and cares and intends to co-operate in the +great work He has come to do. + +Let me, then, as the season of Advent is fast passing, ask myself once +again: Am I doing all I can for the spread of the Kingdom which He came +to this earth to set up? Am I trying to look at the world with the eyes +of love with which He regarded it, when He first made Himself incarnate +for it? Am I helping His poor, tending His sick, instructing His +ignorant, bringing Home His sheep, loving His little ones, comforting +His sorrowful ones? Such are "His works," and if I would do them, I must +dwell with the King and learn to do them in His way--I must live an +interior life. + + +POINT III. ALL PASSES THROUGH MARY. + +It is only those who do not understand the Incarnation who stumble over +this statement. What could be more natural? If He chose to redeem the +world through Mary, to do all His great works which depend on the +Incarnation--such as the foundation of the Church with all her +Sacraments--through Mary, is it strange that when I want to help the +King in His works, I should do the same and put my little gifts for the +King into her hands? Rather would it be strange if I wanted to work on a +different plan from my King's. She is the _Janua coeli_, _the Turris +Davidica_, _the Sacrarium Spiritus Sancti_; the Tabernacle where He was +incarnate for me. Through her and by means of her, He hands me all the +graces I receive. What more natural than that I should make use of such +a messenger to take back my offerings? And do they lose in the +transaction? Surely they must gain, first because she will purify them +and add to them her own merits and graces, and secondly because a gift +presented by His own Mother cannot but be enhanced in value. + +Blessed Grignon de Montfort says: "God has chosen her for the treasurer, +steward and dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and all +His gifts pass through her hands; and according to the power she has +received over them, as St. Bernardine teaches, she gives to whom she +wills, as she likes, and as much as she likes, the graces of the Eternal +Father, the virtues of JESUS Christ and the gifts of the Holy Ghost." We +may, if we like, "do all our actions with Mary, in Mary, by Mary, for +Mary, in order to do them more perfectly with JESUS, in JESUS, by +JESUS, and for JESUS, our Last End."[1] + +If I am a child of Mary in anything more than in name, I shall not +hesitate to use this great privilege which is offered to me, knowing +that by so doing, not only will the value of my prayers and penances and +actions be enhanced in God's sight, but my merits and graces will be +increased. Mary will see to it that her children who thus trust her have +a Benjamin's portion. + +_Colloquy_ with Mary, asking her to obtain for me during this waiting +time the grace to trust her with all my secrets for her Son. + +_Resolution._ To dwell "with the King for His works" to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ Janua coeli, ora pro nobis. + + + + +"THE LORD IS NIGH" + + "Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. + Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh. Be + nothing solicitous; but in everything by prayer and + supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made + known to God. And the peace of God which surpasseth all + understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ JESUS." + + (Phil. IV. 4-7). + (The "Epistle" for the Third Sunday of Advent). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Before the Tabernacle. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to remember the Presence of God. + +The Lord is nigh because by His grace He is within us, because by His +omnipresence He is "not far from every one of us" (Acts XVII. 27), +because in the Blessed Sacrament He is with us "all days, even to the +consummation of the world" (St. Matt. XXVIII. 20) and because it may be +_to-day_ that He will come in judgment. In consequence of this nearness +of our God to us, from whatever point of view we regard it, St. Paul +tells us that there are certain practices which are incumbent upon us. + + +POINT I. "REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS." + +To rejoice _always_--this is my duty, because the Lord is nigh. When joy +is absent from me, it is because faith in His nearness is absent. When +clouds hide the Sun of Justice, and I am disposed to be sad and +despondent, let me make an Act of Faith in His Presence: My God, I know +that Thou art within my soul, because I have reason to believe that I am +in the state of grace. My JESUS, I believe that Thou art there in the +Tabernacle. My God, I believe that Thou art truly present behind every +person and every circumstance and every trial. My JESUS, I believe that +it may be to-day that Thou wilt summon me to stand before Thee as my +Judge.... I shall find that Acts of Faith, such as these, will help to +dispel the despondency and send me on my way rejoicing. How can I do +anything but rejoice when I think of the Divine Inhabitation? Can I be +sad when I realize the presence of JESUS in the Blessed Sacrament of the +Altar and all that means to me? Can I allow circumstances and trials to +depress and crush me when I know with what infinite love and care they +have been arranged for me by Him who hides _Himself_ in each one of +them? And if the thought that the Lord is nigh in judgment can hardly in +itself be a thought that brings joy, yet, when I know how much value He +sets on joy, I should like Him to find me rejoicing when He pays that +always unexpected visit to my soul. The Lord is nigh, therefore +_rejoice_. To rejoice _in the Lord_ is always possible, it only means a +realization of the supernatural, and as soon as that is realized, +everything is seen in a different light. "In Thy light we shall see +light" (Ps. XXXV. 10), and "at Thy right hand are delights even to the +end" (Ps. XV. 11). It is just because the Lord is nigh that I cannot but +rejoice, and it is only when I forget His Presence that the clouds have +the power to chill and depress me and rob me of my joy. St. Paul is +afraid that I _may_ forget, and so he adds: "_Again_ I say: Rejoice." + + +POINT II. "LET YOUR MODESTY BE KNOWN TO ALL MEN." + +The Greek word which is translated "modesty" means more, it means +fairness, kindness, gentleness, moderation, self-restraint, not +insisting on strict justice. These are the qualities by which I am to be +known to all men, _because_ the Lord is nigh. He is within me--always if +I will by His grace and often by the Blessed Sacrament. I may truly be +said to "bear God in my body." What follows? I am His representative to +the world; He is living His life in the world through me; if people want +to know something about God and what He is like, they ought to be able +to find out by watching my life. + +The Lord is nigh--my gentleness has to recall this fact to others. "The +servant of the Lord must not wrangle, but be mild towards all men." (2 +Tim. II. 24). He must not stand up for his rights, though strictly +speaking he may have them; he must not be wedded to his own opinions and +ever anxious to give them; he must not argue and strive to show that he +is in the right, which means that everybody else is in the wrong. No, if +he does these things, he is giving an altogether false representation of +Christ Who is within him, of the Lord Who is so nigh. + +Some people are gentle by nature, but it is not this natural quality of +gentleness, often a mark of weakness of character and will, which is to +be known to all men. It needs a strong will and much self-restraint to +show the gentleness of Christ; it means the temper kept in check when +slighting, insulting or unkind words are said; it means keeping silence +when misjudged or falsely accused because "JESUS was silent;" it means +keeping back the cutting word or the stinging sarcasm and letting them +die away before His Presence; it means giving up a cherished plan or +desire and letting no one except Him Who asks for the sacrifice know +what it costs; it means being able to let a matter drop, though we may +be in the right--such is the gentleness of Christ, which we have to make +known so that by our behaviour others may be attracted to Him Who is so +nigh. What a point it would give to our preparation for His Coming this +Advent, if each day found us striving to let our gentleness win others +to Him and make them long to know the Babe of Bethlehem. + + +POINT III. "BE NOTHING SOLICITOUS." + +Take no thought, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need. Do +not be solicitous, careful, anxious about anything, there is no need for +the Lord is nigh. He knows what is best for His child. He can alter +things if He likes, leave all to Him. All worry and anxiety only come +really from want of faith. Does a child worry when its father is near? +No, it leaves everything to him without any care. The Lord is nigh, be +nothing solicitous. The way may seem blocked, but it is not blocked to +Him; the Lord is still nigh, "He knoweth my way" (Job XXIII. 10), is it +not enough? + +Let me love and trust and continually talk to Him Who is so near; let me +remember that I am never alone, that the difficulties and problems and +sorrows of life concern _two_, that the responsibility is _shared_, +that the important business of life is a _joint_ one. Surely with such a +Partner, One who is never absent but always nigh, I need be in _nothing_ +solicitous. + + +POINT IV. "IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING, +LET YOUR PETITIONS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD." + +The conclusion I arrived at in the last point is a just one, but I am +not on that account to do nothing. He must have my active co-operation +and whether I am working for my own salvation or for the salvation of +others or, which ought to be the case, for both, I must in _everything_ +I do, let my petitions be made known unto God, that is, I must never act +on my own responsibility. I am going to see such and such a person, come +with me; I have this letter to write, tell me what to say; I have a +difficult matter to settle, give me the necessary wisdom and tact; I am +going to rest, or to take my food or my recreation, I want Thee with me +all the same--such must be my requests. What about my mistakes, the +things I forget and leave out, the faults that I mean with all my heart +not to commit, but which I am always falling into all the same? Ah, it +is here that the inestimable benefit of having such an all-powerful +Partner comes in. Instead of bewailing my incapability, which only makes +me still less capable, I must make my requests known to Him. What sort +of requests will these be? I have committed that fault, made that same +mistake again, please forgive me and correct it; I have forgotten to say +something I meant to say, please say it for me; I have been stiff, +unyielding, ungracious, discourteous, harsh, severe, please make up for +my deficiencies and whatever happens do not let them judge Thee by Thy +representative, make them understand that He for whom I am working is +never anything but gracious and gentle, that He never breaks the +bruised reed nor quenches the smoking flax; do not let me spoil Thy +work. Such are the prayers and supplications by which I should +continually be making known my needs to Him Who is always nigh. + +And what about the thanksgiving? This is most necessary, otherwise, +ashamed though I am to confess it, I shall be attributing the successes +to my own powers and skill and capability! It seems hardly credible, but +unfortunately past experience tells me that it is all too true. In order +to guard against such a distorted and absurd view of things, St. Paul +tells us not to forget the _Thanksgiving_. The Lord is nigh, let me turn +to Him and say: _Deo gratias_, for it is He Who has prevented my +awkwardness from spoiling His work. He loves to be thanked and He +notices when He is not. Let me be thoroughly persuaded that the work +_is_ all His, and that if anything succeeds that _I_ do, it is only +because He has allowed _His_ success to pass through me, thus +thanksgiving will not only be easy but natural. But who is ever going to +persuade me that no glory is due to me? "Who is sufficient for these +things?" He Who condescends to be my Co-worker. He can do even that, if +I love Him sufficiently to _want_ Him to have all the glory. + + +POINT V. THE RESULT--PEACE. + +"The peace of God which passeth all understanding (shall) keep your +hearts and minds in Christ JESUS." This will be the result, not of Our +Lord being nigh, but of our _realization_ of His nearness. A great peace +will _keep_, that is, take possession of, our hearts and minds. +Everything will be right because it comes straight from God's Hands. +"_My_ peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth do I give unto you" +(St. John XIV. 27). God's peace passes the understanding of the world, +it has nothing to compare with it. It passes the understanding of God's +children too. It is one of the mysteries with which He blesses His own +and makes life possible for them in a world of turmoil. + +_Colloquy_ with Him Who is nigh. + +_Resolution._ To remember that I am never alone. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "The Lord is nigh." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[Footnote 1: "The Secret of Mary unveiled to the devout soul" by +Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort.] + + + + +THE INTERIOR LIFE. (1) + +HUMILITY. + + "I am Thy servant, I am Thy servant and the son of Thy + handmaid." + + (Ps. CXV. 16). + Janua coeli, ora pro nobis. + + +_1st. Prelude._ The Gate of Heaven. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to enter that gate and learn. + +We are going now to keep very close to Mary. She is passing all these +precious days in communion with her Son and He is teaching her what +conformity to Himself means. But she has Him not for herself alone but +for all those for whom He has made Himself incarnate and has come to +die. The time passed within that "Gate of Heaven" was the first stage of +His earthly journey and He was there for me, for my learning. He was +already my Model. Let me go, then, to-day to the "Gate of Heaven," go to +Mary and ask to be allowed to study some of those heavenly lessons which +were so dear to her heart. _Janua coeli, ora pro nobis._ "Remember, O +most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any who +implored thy help or sought thy intercession were left unaided. Inspired +with this confidence I fly unto thee.... O, Mother of the Word Incarnate +despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me." + + +POINT I. THE HUMILITY OF JESUS. + +We cannot contemplate this stage of Our Lord's life without being struck +first of all by the humility and self-abasement of it, by the way in +which in some sense He _annihilated_ Himself that He might do His +Father's Will. St. Paul says: "He emptied Himself ... being made in the +likeness of men" (Phil. II. 7). He stripped Himself, robbed Himself of +all that He possessed: _Semetipsum exinanivit_. We know that Mary, His +created Home, was chaste and pure, that no breath of sin had ever +touched her, that the Holy Spirit Himself had overshadowed her and had +undertaken the preparation and the adornment of the earthly Tabernacle +of the Word; but pure and holy though she was, Mary was only a creature +and He was the Creator. He was God and she was one of the human race. +His place was on the highest throne of Heaven and yet "He abhorred not +the Virgin's womb" but there lived hidden from the sight of all, like +any other infant and yet wholly unlike, because He had full possession +of His faculties and intelligence. In the manger He will be _seen_, and +so will be loved, pitied and worshipped; there will be many consolations +which will go far to lessen and soften His humiliations, but _here_, He +is alone, hidden; His very existence not even suspected. He has +annihilated Himself, made Himself nothing. He could have taken our +nature, had He so wished, without all these humiliations; why then did +He despise not the Virgin's womb? Because this is to be His principle +all through His life, He will love "unto the end." He will leave +nothing undone that He could possibly do. He came to do His Father's +Will and He will do it thoroughly. He will bear all the humiliations +because He wants to be my Model and to teach me that there is only one +way of learning humility. + + +POINT II. THE HUMILITY OF MARY. + +Mary, though she cannot see Him, is sharing intimately all His +humiliations. She knows as no one else can all He is going through; and +because she is His Mother she feels more intensely than anyone could +what His humiliations are, she can never forget them. She shares all +with Him and He lets her; her sympathy is His consolation. Of all the +virtues of the interior life, humility is the one which is the most +strongly marked in Mary, and perhaps more strongly during these nine +months than at any other time. It was her humility which attracted the +Eternal Word from Heaven to take up His dwelling in His earthly +Tabernacle. It was her humility which made her visit her cousin +Elizabeth. It was her humility which made her sing in her _Magnificat_ +of the great things God had done for her and how He had regarded the low +estate of His handmaid. It was her humility which made her ready to +suffer any humiliation rather than disclose God's secret to St. Joseph. +It was her humility which made her incapable of resenting all the +humiliations she had to bear at Bethlehem on Christmas Eve--and all this +humility, all this power to bear humiliations, came from the fact that +she was living an interior life, living a hidden life with her Son, +looking at everything from His point of view and not from her own. + + +POINT III. "LEARN OF ME." + +Now let me turn from the interior life of JESUS and Mary to my own. +JESUS lived His interior life for me. If He allowed Mary to share it, He +will allow me, for He said once that He counted as His Mother all those +who do His Will. His Will is quite clear: "Learn of me for I am +_humble_." Dare I go to the "Gate of Heaven" and say that I want to +learn to be humble, that is, that I want to copy JESUS and Mary in their +humiliations? It takes a great deal of courage to ask for humiliations, +and perhaps it is almost impossible to do so without some pride lurking +in the request; but what I can do is to be so anxious to learn to be +humble as He bids me, that I ask for strength to bear the humiliations +that He sends. How _do_ I bear them? Do I say: Oh well, it is a +humiliation, I must bear it! or, Oh well, I shall never learn humility +without humiliations! or: I am always getting humiliations, some people +are, but I gladly accept them! All such speeches have their source, not +in humility but in pride. Can we imagine Mary talking like this? +Humiliations will never do their blessed work of making me humble if I +thus use them to attract attention to my supposed virtue. A humiliation +is spoiled the moment it sees the light; it has no strength left in it +wherewith to produce humility. Do I want to be humble? Then let me go to +that quiet retreat where JESUS is humiliating Himself for me, let me +take all my humiliations there. When I am left out, forgotten, despised, +when my help is unasked, my opinion disregarded, when things are said of +me that are hard to bear, when reflections are made on my actions, let +me go at once to where JESUS is hidden and hide myself and my pain +there, my one fear being lest anyone but He should suspect my pain, and +this not from stoicism or natural self-restraint, so pleasing and +consoling to self, but because I am afraid of spoiling my chance and +preventing the humiliation from doing its work. If I can only deposit it +safely in His Heart before another sees it and robs me of my jewel, all +will be well. He who suffered all those humiliations for me, will know +how to ease my pain, He will tell me what a consolation it is to Him +that His child understands and is trying to make a faithful copy. + +_Colloquy._ O Mary, "Gate of Heaven" keep the gate wide open and beckon +me in whenever you see me in danger of falling through my pride. You +know the dangerous moments, please forestall them for me, and when I am +safe, and listening to the Sacred Heart beating for me, the pain of the +humiliation will be turned into joy and perhaps I shall make Him feel +that His humiliations have not been in vain. + +_Resolution._ To examine myself to-day on how I take my humiliations and +to resolve how I will take them for the future. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Learn of Me for I am humble." + + + + +THE INTERIOR LIFE. (2) + +OBLATION. + + "Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldest not, but a Body Thou + hast fitted to Me. Holocausts for sin did not please Thee. + Then said I: Behold I come. In the head of the book it is + written of Me, that I should do Thy Will, O God." + + (Heb. X. 5-7). + + +_1st. Prelude._ "Thy holy Tabernacle, which Thou hast prepared from the +beginning" (Wisdom IX. 8). + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to be generous. + + +POINT I. THE OBLATION OF JESUS. + +As soon as the Word had taken possession of His earthly home, He began +to live His new life--a life in all its fulness of knowledge and of +grace and which will ever remain at its highest point, a life of +infinite worth, a life lived for others, a life abounding in merits and +satisfactions, a life of contemplation and yet of activity, a life to be +studied carefully by all who seek to live an interior life and +specially by those who for the love of their Incarnate God hide +themselves in the cloister. + +This new life was before everything else a life of _oblation_. The first +act of the Word Incarnate was to offer Himself to His Father: Here I am; +I have come to do Thy Will and I have come to do it not for Myself but +for all creation; I offer Myself to do what it cannot do and to satisfy +Thy claims. He made Himself, then, from the first moment of His +existence a _Victim_--a Victim laid on the altar. This was His first +posture, and He will keep it not only during this first stage of His +life, but all through His life and all through His Sacramental life, +whether the Host is offered to God at the Holy Mass or is living Its +life of a Victim in the Tabernacle; and in Heaven He will still be "the +Lamb as it had been slain." + +With the oblation of Himself, so acceptable to the Father, the Victim +offers all that concerns Him, all for which He has come to this earth, +all His designs for man's salvation. He submits all His plans for His +great building, the Holy Catholic Church, of which He offers Himself to +be the Chief Corner-stone, dwelling in it as its life throughout all +time. He offers Himself also to bear all the effects of His oblation and +to drink the chalice to the dregs. He offers Himself as a Surety for the +whole human race and for it He offers all His merits and satisfactions. +He keeps nothing back--the whole of the life just begun is offered for +the glory of God and the salvation of the world. It is a whole +burnt-offering, a holocaust offered at its very beginning to Him Who +"spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." (Rom. +VIII. 32). + + +POINT II. THE OBLATION OF MARY. + +Mary lived her life with her Son and to her He communicated His secrets. +It is impossible to imagine that He did not reveal to her His plans and +designs which were the reason of His coming to this earth, and how He +was going to carry them out. She knew, then, that she was the Mother of +a Victim; and when He offered Himself to God, she joined in, offering +herself and her Son for all that He wished. "Behold the handmaid of the +Lord!" Here I am, I offer myself to Thee, do what Thou wilt with me. +This was Mary's attitude all through her life from the time when her +_Fiat_ was a sign for the Incarnation to take place, till she stood on +Calvary's Hill assisting at the offering of the Victim. Truly had the +Mother of Sorrows caught the spirit of her Son; all through her life she +regarded Him as a Victim. When He was forty days old she formally +offered Him to God, and her life though bound up with His was +nevertheless detached from Him, as from something given to another. Now +at this early stage of His life, Mary is learning her lesson and gaining +her strength. She is doing it by leading an interior life, hidden with +her Son. + +O my Mother, as I come to-day to the holy Tabernacle "prepared from the +beginning" where the Sacred Victim lies hidden, help me to make my life +one with His as thou didst, help me to detach myself from everything for +His sake and to say my _Fiat_ whenever He asks for it. + + +POINT III. LEARN OF ME. + +If I want to live an interior life, I must model it on the life of JESUS +hidden in the womb of His Mother. He wants me to lead it for He is ever +saying: Learn of Me Who led this life for you. An interior life must be +essentially a life of oblation. This is its foundation: the offering of +the soul as a holocaust to God and then regarding itself as a victim, +all it has and does and is and thinks and plans, belonging not to itself +but to God. It lies on the altar waiting to be consumed; it is not +surprised when it is treated as a victim and feels the flames, not +surprised, that is, when it is forgotten and thought nothing of; its +life is _hidden_, how should people remember it! If it has to suffer, it +considers it the most natural thing in the world for a victim. If its +plans are all frustrated, it knows that it is lying there on the altar +to do God's Will, not its own, and that this is only the fire consuming +the victim; if it did _not_ happen thus the victim might indeed be +surprised and anxious, wondering whether God had accepted its sacrifice. +"Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your +reasonable service" (Rom. XII. 1). The sacrifice is ever _living_, and +ever being consumed. The victim feels keenly all the many processes by +which God shows that He has accepted the offering, but if it copies its +Model, there will be no complaint, no drawing back of the offering, no +wishing that it had chosen an easier course, no wondering whether it had +made a mistake in its vocation; rather will there be joy in its heart +because in its humble way it is like its Master, and each fresh touch of +the fire will be to it a fresh proof that God has not forgotten it, but +has taken it at its word and counts on it to be all that it promised to +be. What is necessary for all this? Only one thing: _Love_. If I love, I +can do it. "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given Himself +an oblation for us." + +O my little JESUS, hidden there for me and offering Thyself for me, +teach me to be generous, teach me to love Thee as Thou deservest; help +me to lie quietly and unresistingly on the altar. I am not alone. Thou +art there, bearing all with me and giving me the necessary strength to +bear all for Thee. Help me to sacrifice willingly all my cherished +desires and tastes, all my will. Thou didst withhold nothing from me, +help me to withhold nothing from Thee. So shall I make Thee some +reparation for all the time wasted in the past, for all the sins +committed against Thy love; so only can I obey Thy command: "Learn of +Me," and make some little return for Thy infinite love. + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS and His blessed Mother. + +_Resolution._ To offer myself as a victim to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and +hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God." +(Eph. V. 2). + + + + +THE INTERIOR LIFE. (3) + +IMPRISONMENT. + + "I was in prison and you came to Me." "Lord when did we see + Thee ... in prison?" + + (St. Matt. XXV. 36, 39). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Turris Davidica. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to visit Him in His prison. + + +POINT I. DEPENDENCE. + +Our blessed Lord's life, during the nine months, was a life of +imprisonment. He chose for Himself a position of dependence, +helplessness and inability. He Who was the Light of the world chose to +live in darkness; He Whom the Heavens cannot contain chose a more +cramped position than any prisoner has ever had to endure; He Who was +infinite allowed Himself to be confined; He Who was immortal took a +mortal body. He endured all the sufferings that helplessness and +inability and immobility entail; and we have to keep reminding ourselves +that He was fully alive to all His sufferings. We are not making an +imaginary picture, but trying to realize what were the actual facts of +those nine months. His Mother understood, let us try to do the same. +Let us go to the "Tower of David" where Our Lord is kept a prisoner and +let us remember that He is there for us. Let us not be amongst those to +whom He will have to say sadly: "I was in prison and you did not visit +Me." Later on, at the end of His life, He will allow His own people to +take Him prisoner and will stand still while they put the chains on His +wrists and will allow Himself to be dragged where they wish. Later on +still He will choose to be imprisoned in the little Host and to make +Himself to the end of time our Prisoner of Love. + +Thy imprisonments were all voluntary, my JESUS, they were all suffered +out of love and out of love for me. Oh, may these visits that I am +paying Thee during the blessed season of Advent result in my imbibing +more of the spirit of my imprisoned Master. Mine too is a voluntary +imprisonment; I am His captive because I said: I will be His servant, "I +will not go out free" (Ex. XXI. 5). I gave up my liberty, preferring to +be His prisoner rather than the devil's free man. Naturally He takes me +at my word, but oh, sometimes prison-life is very hard to bear! He +chains me to a bed of sickness, where I must lie still and see the work +I long to do left undone or, what is perhaps harder still, badly done; +He gives me great desires and no means of fulfilling them; He fills me +with plans and schemes for His glory and then seems to make it +impossible for them to be realized; He trains me, as I think, for some +particular position and then detains me in another for which it seems to +me I have not the least aptitude; He sets limits to my strength; He +seems to keep me always in the background; He appears to use everybody +else except me for His work; He seems to cramp my efforts and allow me +no scope for the talents He has given me. + +The Divine Prisoner Himself answers my plaints: My child, all these +things only prove that you are My prisoner, that I have taken you at +your word and that I do with you as I wish. Your time is not lost any +more than Mine was. By doing My Will, however inscrutable it may seem to +you, you are doing far more for Me than if you were doing your own. +Trust me, be patient, bear and suffer all for Me, Who am a Prisoner for +you. I love you to be dependent on Me, I love you to walk by faith, I +love you to trust Me, and so I am constantly doing little things to +remind you that you are My prisoner. Strive to be a prisoner of love as +I am, that is (1) one who is in prison for love of another, (2) one who +loves his chains, (3) one whose every act in prison is done to please +Me. + + +POINT II. DARKNESS. + +How much darkness adds to the sufferings of prison life! It was a +suffering which JESUS living in Mary endured for me; and yet while He, +the Light of the world was there, her blessed womb was flooded with +light, with the light of Heaven itself. + +What light this thought throws on my interior life! The suffering of +darkness! It is a suffering which He inflicts upon many of His prisoners +of love. "Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the +voice of His servant, that hath walked in darkness and hath no light? +Let him hope in the name of the Lord and lean upon his God." (Is. L. +10). If only I can make myself believe that the darkness is permitted by +Him there will be a ray of light at once in the darkness because God is +there, "Surely God is in this place." But how can I be sure that the +darkness is permitted by Him? If I am living the interior life, if my +intention is to please Him in all that I do, and if, however badly I +succeed, I never willingly take back that intention, then _I am pleasing +God_; and if I am pleasing God, I am one of His own dear children, just +as really as was His Son Who did always the things that pleased Him. If +I am one of His children I know, for He has told me so, that _nothing_ +can happen to me without His knowledge and His permission, yea His +arranging. So if I have to walk in darkness rather than in light, if +desolation is my spiritual lot and consolation is almost unknown to me, +if a veil hides God's face and my continual cry is: "Oh, that I might +know and find Him" (Job XXIII. 3), if prayer seems impossible, if I have +a distaste, almost a repugnance for all spiritual things, if even Our +Lady seems to desert me, if at times I am on the brink of despair, +tempted even to think that my soul will be lost, if, in short, darkness, +thick darkness has settled down on my soul--what then? "Let him _hope_ +in the name of the Lord and lean upon his God." But how can I hope in +darkness, how can I lean upon Someone Who is not there? By faith, that +is by saying all the time: This darkness is _His_ doing, therefore it is +what He wants for me. "I, the Lord create darkness!" That makes all the +difference. + +Faith, as it always does, lets a streak of light into the darkness; God +is there and it is only to make the soul more sure of this that He +permits the darkness. If the soul can find and recognize God in the +darkness then it knows Him very intimately and this is what God wants--a +love so great that it detects the Beloved One at once. Does darkness +make any difference to the intercourse of those who love? They rather +prefer it, so that all may be shut out except each other. This is what +God wants from those whom He is teaching to be interior--He puts them +into prison and leaves them in the dark. Are they going to be unhappy, +to repine and complain, longing for consolation and all the sweet things +with which God fed them when they hardly knew Him? Not if they have +faith; and if their faith is strong, they will hardly be able to +distinguish desolation from consolation, God's absence from His +presence, yea the very darkness itself from the light! For is it not +their God who is the cause of all that is happening to them, and is not +that enough for those who love? They only want His Will, not their own, +and His Will is to keep them in prison and in the dark and so to unite +them more closely to Himself Who for their sake faced for nine months +the darkness of the womb. In the terrible moments when despair seems so +near us, let us hold on to the fact that we _want_ to please God and +therefore that we are His children and that He loves us and is arranging +everything--this is the little ray of hope in the darkness, the line of +light, and in it we read the words: "I give them life everlasting and +they shall not perish for ever; and no man shall pluck them out of My +Hand." (St. John X. 28). + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS, the Light of the world, imprisoned in darkness +for me. + +_Resolution._ To lean upon my God in times of darkness. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "I form the light and create darkness." (Is. XLV. +7). + + + + +THE INTERIOR LIFE. (4) + +HIDDENNESS. + + "Verily, Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the + Saviour." + + (Is. XLV. 15). + + +_1st. Prelude._ JESUS hidden in Mary. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace so to find Him that I may live the hidden life. + + +POINT I. "THOU ART A HIDDEN GOD." + +He was hidden in the womb of His Mother; all through His life and death +on earth, His Divinity was hidden except to a very few; in His +Eucharistic life He will hide Himself to the end of time in the little +Host. He seemed to love hiding when He was on earth and when He did +reveal Himself, it was something like a child playing at hide and seek. +He hid Himself from the Samaritan woman till He had heard all her story +and then said suddenly: "I am He (the Messias) Who am speaking with +thee" (St. John IV. 26). The blind man whom He cured had not the least +idea Who He was till JESUS, hearing that he had been reviled and cast +out of the Synagogue, went and talked to him about the Son of God and +then said in the middle of the conversation: "Thou hast both seen Him, +and it is He that talketh with thee" (chap. IX. 37). From Mary Magdalen +at the sepulchre He deliberately hid Himself under the form of a +gardener that He might have the joy of suddenly surprising her with His +presence. Perhaps the most touching story of all is that of the two +disciples going to Emmaus; out of His very love for them, He blindfolded +them and then made them look for Him, while He put them off the scent by +pretending that He knew nothing about all the things that had been +happening in Jerusalem; and then when His moment was come "their eyes +were opened and they knew Him." (St. Luke XXIV. 31). He treats His +children in the same way still, He constantly hides Himself from them, +leaves them alone to fight and struggle in desolation, solitude and +spiritual darkness, and then sometimes shows by His sudden presence how +near He has been all the time. + +Let me consider two questions: + +1. _How does He hide Himself?_ (1) Behind obstacles that He makes: +suffering, desolation, darkness, temptation, scruples, failure +(spiritual as well as temporal), uncongenial people and +surroundings--all those many forms of the cross which the true disciple +knows so well. Let us remember that _He_ is hidden in them, it will make +all the difference. (2) Behind obstacles that we ourselves make. This +is not so consoling. He has every right to hide Himself from me, but I +have no right to make His coming to me difficult by obstacles that I put +in His path, and yet how often I do it! Self is the great obstacle. I am +taken up with myself, with my own shortcomings and miseries and failures +and weaknesses, with my imagination (how it runs away with me, away from +Him!) and my fears, my introspection--uselessly looking into myself to +see how I am advancing. What are all these but obstacles which keep God +at a distance? The soul that attracts Him is the soul that is occupied +with Him, not with self. + +2. _Why does He hide Himself?_ Why does He deliberately set up obstacles +which prevent the soul from seeing Him? Why does a mother hide from her +child? Is it not for the joy of seeing it look for her and for the +consolation she is going to give it in letting herself be found? It is +the same with our God Who hides Himself. He wants to make us look for +Him, He wants to increase our love, our desire and our merit, He wants +to make us strong in faith and confidence, while acknowledging our +helplessness and dependence and nothingness without Him. + + +POINT II. "YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD." + +Though JESUS was hidden in Mary, He was never hidden from her. This was +(1) because Mary never put any obstacle between herself and JESUS--her +thoughts were all with Him and never with herself, and (2) because her +faith and love and desire were so strong that she at once overcame all +obstacles, which He in His love and desire for her merit put in her way +as was the case during the three days' loss. JESUS and Mary are the +models of my interior life. Like Mary I must try to surmount all +obstacles, welcome every sword that pierces, leave self and seek Him. +Like JESUS in Mary I must strive to lead a hidden life. + +How is it to be done? There is only one way--to have God always before +my eyes, and self only there to be sacrificed. If I make this my rule, +it will simplify my life and be the quick solution of many problems. Why +this _dryness_ in prayer? To bring God to my mind and to give me an +opportunity of sacrificing self with its love of spiritual consolation +and sensible enjoyment. The very dryness makes me thirst after God: "As +the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after +Thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when +shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Ps. XLI. 1-3). This is +what God wants--to see the soul longing and thirsting for Him. That is +why He puts the obstacle of dryness between Himself and the soul, and +hides Himself behind it while He watches the soul struggling to forget +itself and saying: "O my soul why dost thou disquiet me? Hope thou in +God, for I will still give praise to Him" (verse 12). This is how the +faithful soul overcomes the obstacles--not by praying to have them +removed, but by a firm faith that God is in them. So with +temptations--why these terrible temptations, when God could so easily +remove them? Because He is the Master and He knows what is best. If the +temptations were removed, the soul would soon be wrapped up in +self-complacency and self-satisfaction. Temptations properly used keep +the soul close to God, it sees God hidden in them and forgetting all +about its treacherous self, it turns to Him Who alone can save it from +falling, it keeps God only in view and makes the sacrifice of self. The +same principle holds good for all the many obstacles behind which God +hides. If they are properly used they are no longer obstacles, but +stepping-stones by means of which we pass to Him. God everywhere and +self nowhere! God everything and self nothing! God, not self, the object +of all I do and think and plan! And that not because I can feel Him and +see Him and enjoy Him, but because my faith tells me that though hidden +_He is there_. This was the principle of Mary's life hidden with her +Son. He was the cause, the direct cause, of all her troubles, of all the +many swords that pierced her most pure heart, yet never was there a life +hidden with Christ as was Mary's and the reason was that she forgot +herself and saw JESUS only. + +"_Your_ life is hid with Christ in God." Are these words of St. Paul +true about me? Let me read the whole verse and then I shall know: "For +_you are dead_, and your life is hid with Christ in God." _When_ self is +dead, then I shall be able to say _God only_, and till then, God be +thanked, I can hide my miserable self in Him and tell Him that I want it +to be sacrificed though I so seldom have the courage to do it. + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS hidden in Mary. + +_Resolution._ To see my hidden God everywhere and self nowhere. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Why hidest Thou Thy Face?" (Job XIII. 24). + + + + +THE INTERIOR LIFE. (5) + +PRAYER. + + "Behold I come that I should do Thy Will: O my God, I have + desired it, and Thy law in the midst of my heart." + + (Ps. XXXIX. 8, 9). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Vas spirituale. Vas insigne devotionis. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to "pray without ceasing." (1 Thess. V. 17). + + +POINT I. THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. + +Amongst all the lessons that JESUS living in Mary teaches us, that on +prayer must ever hold a foremost place. What is Prayer? "The lifting up +of the heart and mind to God," the Catechism tells us. To love God, +then, and to think about Him is to pray. JESUS lived in Mary uniquely to +do the Will of His Father. He and the Father were _one_--one heart, one +mind. He took pleasure in all that concerned His Father: "Hallowed be +Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in +Heaven." He taught us to pray in the same way, taking our thoughts away +from ourselves to our Father, and when we do ask for something for +ourselves, letting it be just a short prayer for mercy or for help, +acknowledging our weakness and misery and nothingness, while we keep our +eyes fixed on our Father--He God, I His creature; He everything, I +nothing. "God be merciful to me a sinner," this prayer contains all we +need. + +O my little JESUS, Who didst think of me in Thy communion with Thy +Father, for Thou didst come to do His Will, and His Will was that I +should be saved, teach me to think of Thee and to love Thee so much that +my life, too, may be one perpetual prayer, that is, that communion with +God may be the attitude of my soul. + + +POINT II. MARY'S SPIRIT OF PRAYER. + +She was ever holding colloquies with her God within her, pondering +things over in her heart, that is, talking them over with Him from Whom +she had no secrets and between Whom and her soul she put no obstacles. +Her life was spent with Him; whatever her duties might be, everything +was done with Him, that is prayer. If duties or conservation demanded +all her attention for a while, did it matter? No, for He was there all +the same. He, in her, carried on the blessed converse with His Father; +there was never any separation between Mary and the Blessed Fruit of her +womb, JESUS. She would come back to Him with all the more joy, and tell +Him what she had been doing and saying. Oh, blessed life of union +between JESUS and Mary! Teach me, my Mother, what prayer is. Thou didst +understand it so well. It was prayer that made thy life interior for +thou wast ever communing with Him Who was _within_ thee. "O Mother of +the Word, despise not my words." + + +POINT III. "LEARN OF ME." + +When we think of JESUS praying for nine months to His Father, when we +think of Mary's nine months' colloquy with JESUS, we begin to think that +there is something wrong about our methods of prayer, that they need +re-modelling. Let us try to understand something of what His prayer was. +We think of Him, and quite rightly, as talking over with His Father all +His plans for man's salvation, praying for each individual thing that +would be connected with it through all time. We love to think that He +prayed particularly for each one of us. But all this was not the +_essence_ of His prayer, if it were, we might well be discouraged and +feel that we could never copy such a model; our distractions and +fatigues, our ignorance and want of memory, to say nothing of our times +of dryness and distaste for prayer would make such prayers, except +perhaps now and again in times of consolation, impossible for us. Am I +to turn away sadly then from Mary this time, saying: It is too hard for +me, I cannot copy thy Son here? No, rather let me ask what was the +essence of His prayer? What was it which lay behind all? It was the +_intention_. And what was that? We have meditated upon it many times: +"_Behold I come to do Thy Will, O my God._" The essence of His prayer +was: Thy Will be done and I am here to do it. Naturally there are many +different ways of doing that Will, and many degrees in the perfection +with which it is done; and that is why we are quite safe in picturing to +ourselves JESUS in the womb of His Mother forgetting no single detail; +or perhaps a truer picture would be a union with His Father so perfect +that everything lay open before them both, and that there was no need to +talk about what was so evident. Now let me apply all this to myself and +I shall find that instead of being discouraging it is most encouraging, +instead of making my prayers harder it will make them far easier. What +is my intention in my prayers? Is it not to please God and to do His +Will? What does my Morning Offering mean, but that the prayers, work and +sufferings of the day are all offered to Him? I form then my _intention_ +for the day, and as long as I do not deliberately take back that +intention, it is there, even if I forget to renew it each morning. Now +let me see how this works out in practice. I pay a Visit to our Lord, +perhaps I am too tired to think about Him, I may even sleep in His +presence; perhaps I am so busy that I find it impossible to keep away +distracting thoughts; perhaps I am more taken up with the spiritual book +I am reading than with Him--the time is up and I go, thinking, perhaps, +what is the good of paying Him a Visit like that? There is great good +even in that Visit which all the same might have been so much more +perfect. What was my intention in paying it? Certainly to please Him. +Then I _have_ pleased Him. It was a pleasure to Him to see me come in +and sit with Him, even though I was occupied with my own concerns most +of the time. We are too much taken up with asking _how_ we say our +prayers, but the important question is _why_ do we say them. To go and +sit in His presence, because He is lonely or because I am tired and I +would rather sit with Him than with anyone else is _prayer_, even if I +say nothing. What God is doing for me is of far more importance to my +soul than what I am doing for God; and all the time that I am there, +whether I am thinking of Him or not, He is impressing His image on my +soul, and this is true, if I am in the state of grace, not only of my +stated times of prayer, but of all the day long and the night too. What +God wants in our prayers is simplicity. To help us to understand what +simplicity is, let us think of a little child with its mother. The +mother gives it something to play with or something to do. Is she very +much concerned about _what_ the child is doing or _how_ it is doing it? +Not at all, that is of no consequence; nothing it does can be of any +real _service_ to the mother; but there is something that concerns her +very much, and that is whether her child loves her, is happy to be with +her, and wants to please her. We are only children and God is more +tender than the tenderest mother. It makes very little difference to Him +what we are doing while we are with Him or even how we do it (how can +our little services make any difference to Him!); but whether or no we +love Him, whether or no we care to be with Him, whether or no we want to +please Him, these things make all the difference. + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS and Mary about prayer. + +_Resolution._ To try to live more in the spirit of prayer. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Let nothing hinder thee from praying _always_" +(Ecclus. XVIII. 22). + + + + +THE INTERIOR LIFE. (6) + +ZEAL. + + "Behold I come that I should do Thy Will. O my God, I have + desired it, and Thy law in the midst of my heart." + + (Ps. XXXIX. 8, 9). + + +_1st. Prelude._ JESUS living in and working through Mary. + +_2nd. Prelude._ The grace of zeal according to His methods. + +There is a very close connection between prayer and zeal; the more +perfect the prayer, the greater necessarily will be the zeal. Why? +Because prayer is identifying oneself with the mind and Will of God, and +doing everything with the unique intention of pleasing Him. What are the +Will and pleasure of God? The salvation of the world for which He became +incarnate--The closer we unite ourselves to God in prayer, the dearer +will His intentions be to us. The best workers are those who pray best, +those who enter most deeply into God's Will and plans. When we find our +zeal flagging, it would be well to examine ourselves on our spirit of +prayer. + + +POINT I. THE ZEAL OF JESUS LIVING IN MARY. + +This zeal showed itself at once. No sooner had He become incarnate than +He inspired His Mother to take a difficult journey into the "hill +country" to visit her cousin Elizabeth. The zeal of JESUS showed itself +first of all, as it naturally would, on His Mother and filled her spirit +with the humility and charity and forgetfulness of self which were +needed for the journey. It then effected Elizabeth and filled her with +the Holy Ghost, but these were only the overflowings of His zeal on His +way to make what Father Faber calls His "first convert." The soul of +John the Baptist, His chosen Precursor, was very precious to Him and as +yet it lay unconscious at a distance from God in darkness and the shadow +of death. One of the first acts of God Incarnate was to deliver that +soul from prison and let it see what great things He had in store for +it. At the sound of the voice of the Mother with her Child, a change was +wrought in that dark soul; it was set free from the curse of original +sin, it was flooded with grace, it was brought nigh to God, the Holy +Ghost with all His gifts took possession of it and as a consequence, it +leapt in the womb in joy and gratitude and adoration. + +The voice of Mary directed by her Child had simultaneously worked two +miracles of grace. Elizabeth heard the salutation first, but it was the +leaping of the Babe in her womb which made her understand that the +Incarnation had taken place, and cry with a loud voice: "Blessed art +thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb." + +If the zeal of JESUS was so powerful during the first hours of His life, +what must it not have effected during the nine months! How many souls +without knowing (as St. John the Baptist did) the cause, were brought +nearer to Heaven by the presence of the Incarnate God in the world! + + +POINT II. MARY'S ZEAL. + +We have no need to dwell at any length on the zeal of her whom JESUS +used as His instrument during the nine months. Mary's was a zeal which +compelled her to spend and be spent in the service of those whom JESUS +loved; and the secret of its force was the interior life which she lived +with her Son--a perfect union of will and purpose with His. + +Let me try to copy my Mother in her interior life and then I may hope +that her Son will use me too as an instrument of some of His zeal for +souls. He must use someone, for He has made Himself as dependent now in +the Tabernacle as He was during the time that He lived in Mary. He has +deliberately put Himself in the position of _needing_ instruments for +His work and He will naturally choose those who are most imbued with His +spirit and who are willing to adopt His methods. Such an instrument was +Mary. She put no obstacles in His way, because she had no will apart +from His, her zeal was only a reflexion of His. + + +POINT III. "LEARN OF ME." + +If I am to fashion my zeal after the pattern of the zeal of JESUS, I +must be careful to see that my methods are the same as His. What were +His? + +(1) _Solitude._ Such was His solitude that no one but Mary knew that He +was there. He chose solitude not only during this first stage but during +the greater part of His life on earth, and He chooses it still in His +Eucharistic life. It must then be a very necessary accompaniment to +zeal. "_Learn of Me._" What am I to learn? That if my zeal is to be +efficacious I must live a hermit's life far from the haunts of men? Not +necessarily. It would be possible to do this without finding the +solitude that begets zeal; and it is quite possible to find the +necessary solitude even in the midst of the world's tumult. To say that +I have no opportunities for doing good because I am in uncongenial +surroundings, or because I am obliged by my circumstances to lead a +lonely life or to live where there is apparently no scope for work for +souls is to fail to understand what zeal is. Why do people shut +themselves up in convents, cries the world, when they might do so much +good outside? Uniquely because of their zeal for souls--they have +sufficient courage to adopt Our Lord's methods. If I am one whom He has +trusted with the trial of loneliness in my life, let me cultivate a +devotion to Him in His Mother's womb, and let me take heart and be of +good courage. All the activity in the world that is of any use is of use +because of the prayer that is behind it. _Whose_ prayers who shall say? +They may be _mine_ if I live an interior life, for those who live in the +retreat of their own heart with God have a limitless scope for their +zeal. + +(2) _Silence._ Zeal for God and His work does not depend then, on words. +I need not be troubled because I am not eloquent, or because I have an +impediment in my speech, or because I never know what to say. How could +such things matter to God, the Omnipotent God! He could alter them in a +moment if necessary. The Word Himself Who could have spoken so +attractively and with such power was silent for most of His life. The +time He chose for His Incarnation was "while all things were in quiet +silence and the night was in the midst of her course" (Wisdom XVIII. +14); and He is silent still in the Tabernacle; He loves silence, and the +more the soul is interior, the more it will adopt His method of silence +and the more it will understand what a marvellous help it is to zeal. +How can this be? Because the silence that we choose to keep for God +means shutting out all else, that we may talk to Him alone. Could there +be a better method than this for making us zealous for the work so dear +to His Heart? + +(3) _Obedience._ Think of His obedience in the womb of His Mother. His +very Incarnation was an act of obedience, He waited for Mary's _Fiat_. +His waiting for nine months was purely an act of obedience to the laws +of nature, for His Soul and Body were perfect from the moment of His +conception. All the time that He lived in Mary, He obeyed all whom she +obeyed--St. Joseph, the Roman Emperor, the people at Bethlehem. He gave +up His own Will to others. + +This was His method of being zealous. This is how He did the work that +He had come to do. Can I adopt this method? It is not easy. I do so love +to follow my own sweet will especially when I am working for the souls +of others. I feel that no one has a right to dictate to me, that my work +ought to be spontaneous, not cramped nor confined nor limited nor any +other adjective that the devil can persuade me to use, if only he can +make me believe that it is a blessed thing to be independent! If my zeal +for God is to be worth anything, let me follow the methods of God +Incarnate in the womb of His Mother and be absolutely obedient to God, +to His Holy Church and to those whom I ought to obey. + +(4) _Poverty._ "You know the grace of our Lord JESUS Christ, that being +rich, He became poor for your sakes, that through His poverty you might +be rich" (2 Cor. VIII. 9). In His zeal for our wealth, He made Himself +poor, He deliberately adopted poverty as one of His methods in His life +of zeal. Poverty is the voluntary laying aside of all that we might +have, in order that our purpose may be single. All can do this whether +rich or poor, for all have much that they would rather not lay on one +side, and _all_ have _self_. Let us think what the Eternal Word was as +God, and then what He was in Mary's womb, and we shall understand what +poverty means. If we are to be zealous in His service, we must not only +understand, but copy. + +(5) _Patience._ Patience is a twofold grace, that of _waiting_ and that +of _suffering_, both are a great aid to zeal. The Eternal Word's zeal +for the salvation of men had existed in all its perfection and all its +fulness from all eternity, yet think how long He waited! When the +conditions were changed and He had at length become incarnate, He still +waited patiently for nine months, and after that He waited for thirty +years! This was zeal, zeal in its _perfection_. Is my zeal tempered with +patience? Am I patient with souls, patient with myself, patient above +all when God says: _Wait_, do nothing? + +JESUS showed His patience in the womb of His Mother not only by waiting; +but by suffering, as we have already seen, all the inconveniences that +were incident to His new existence. He doubtless also forestalled all +the sufferings that were in store for Him and offered them all to His +Father. Zeal without the aid of suffering cannot go far and it was one +of the methods He chose. If I have not courage enough to _choose_ it, I +must, if my zeal is to be at all like His, be ready for it when He +chooses it for me. + +It will probably be seen one day that those whose lives have been lives +of suffering, and who have never been able to do any active work for +Him, are those whose zeal has effected the most for His glory and His +Kingdom. + +Those of us who are not entrusted with this wonderfully blessed gift of +suffering, can at any rate offer to Him for souls all the many little +inconveniences and incommodities of our lives, and so copy to some small +extent the life of JESUS hidden in Mary. + +O my little JESUS, help me, at whatever cost to self, to copy Thee. + +_Colloquy_ with JESUS hidden in Mary, asking Him for grace, so to adopt +His methods that He may use me as an instrument of His zeal. + +_Resolution._ Not to shrink from adopting His methods. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Every one that hath zeal ... let him follow Me" (1 +Macc. II. 27). + + + + +O SAPIENTIA! + + December 17th. + + "O Wisdom Who camest forth from the mouth of the Most High, + reaching from end to end mightily, and disposing all things + sweetly, come and teach us the way of prudence!" + + (_Vide_ Wisdom VIII. 1). + + +_1st. Prelude._ The Tabernacle of the hidden God. + +_2nd. Prelude._ The grace of prudence. + + +For seven days before the Vigil of Christmas, the Church makes use of +seven solemn antiphons, commonly known as the "Seven O's," because they +all begin with "O." One is sung every day at Vespers reminding us that +Our Lord is to come in the evening of the world's history. They are a +sort of cry or invitation of the Church, addressing her Bridegroom by +some spiritual title and begging Him to come. Before and after the +_Magnificat_ is the time the Church chooses for these solemn antiphons +in order to keep constantly before our minds the truth that He is coming +by Mary. As the days of Advent draw nearer to their close, this truth is +plainly marked in the Mass. The Epistle, Gospel and Communion for Ember +Wednesday (in the third week) are all full of Mary; the Gospel for Ember +Friday gives the account of the Visitation; the Mass for the Fourth +Sunday of Advent, as if the Church were loath to leave her out, brings +Mary in at the Offertory and Communion; and that for the Vigil of +Christmas devotes its Gospel to her. Let us then as we meditate on these +great antiphons look in the direction of Mary where our King is as yet +hidden, remembering that it is she who when Christmas comes, is going to +shew unto us the Blessed Fruit of her womb JESUS. + + +POINT I. "O WISDOM THAT PROCEEDEST FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MOST HIGH." + +He is the _Eternal_ Wisdom, and He has now become the _Incarnate_ +Wisdom. It is to Him that the Church is calling to-day. He is the +"Wisdom of God" (1 Cor. I. 24) and the Source of all wisdom; and yet as +man the Spirit of God has rested upon Him and filled His human Soul with +the seven-fold gifts, of which Wisdom is the first. This gift enabled +Him as man to know all mysteries, all God's secret designs and plans, +and to enjoy to the full all His perfections. The subject is so vast +that it seems impossible for me to meditate about it, but I will take +one of the many things which the Holy Scriptures say about Wisdom, one +which will lead me again to the Sanctuary where I would be. + +"God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom" (Wisdom VII. 28). He +so loved His poor fallen world that He gave His only begotten Son to be +incarnate for it, and now all He asks from His children in return is +their love and that they should show it by dwelling with Him. He came to +be _Emmanuel_, God with us. He tabernacled among us, and what His Father +asks is that we should not shun Him and live far away from Him, but that +we should dwell with Him. Let me keep close then in spirit to His +blessed Mother, the Tabernacle where my God is hidden, and let me keep +close in reality to the Tabernacle on the Altar where He is expecting my +confidences as surely as He expected those of His Mother; let me treat +Him as my Friend to Whom I can tell everything that concerns me--how +anxious I am to desire Him to come and yet how little desire I seem to +have. There is a way of dwelling with Him which is even closer still: +"He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in +him" (St. John VI. 57). This is the extension of the Incarnation, the +way that Infinite Wisdom devised by which poor fallen man could +nevertheless dwell with Wisdom. + +O Eternal Wisdom, help me to make better use of this Thy most wonderful +plan for continuing the Incarnation! He was incarnate for me in the womb +of the Blessed Virgin, but He is incarnate for me in a more special and +personal way each time that I receive Him in Holy Communion. By means of +my Communions and their effects I can dwell always without any +interruption in the tabernacle of the Most High, for it is of me that +Eternal Wisdom speaks when He says: "My Father will love him, and We +will come to him and will make Our abode with him." (St. John XIV. 23). + + +POINT II. "REACHING FROM END TO END MIGHTILY AND DISPOSING ALL THINGS +SWEETLY." + +Wisdom "can do all things" (Wisdom VII. 27) and it is God hidden in the +womb of Mary, Who is reaching from end to end of the earth and ordering +the whole world to be enrolled everyone in his own city. Why was this? +Because the Roman Emperor wanted to know the number of the subjects in +his vast empire just to satisfy his ambition? This is the answer the +world would give, but in this case the children of Light--the children +of the Incarnate Wisdom know better. The world is being agitated, though +it does not know it, not by the command of any earthly monarch, but by +the King of kings Who is about to be born and Who must fulfil a certain +prophecy as to His birthplace. The prophet Micaias said of Him: "His +going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. And thou, +Bethlehem Ephrata art a little one among the thousands of Juda; _out of +thee shall He come_" (chap. V. 2); and Mary, the mother who had been +destined from all eternity to give birth to Him Who was "from the days +of eternity," was living quietly at _Nazareth_ making all her +preparations for His birth there. But could not God have devised means +to send Mary to Bethlehem without disturbing the whole world? Yes, but +He would show to those who have eyes to see, that wisdom "_can_ do all +things," that though He is to all appearances helpless, hidden and +dependent, yet it is He and not any other Who is King of the whole +world, and that even now before His birth He can reach from end to end +of it mightily and do what He will therein. And so "there went out a +decree from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled ... +everyone in his own city," and Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem and it +so happened (as we should say) "that when they were there, her days were +accomplished, that she should be delivered" (St. Luke II. 1-6) and the +King was born in _Bethlehem_. Sweetly He had ordered all things to suit +His divine purpose. + + +POINT III. "COME AND TEACH US THE WAY OF PRUDENCE." + +Come, my little King, Who art nevertheless the Eternal Wisdom, come and +teach me this heavenly prudence. I know Thy power and I know Thy +gentleness. I know, that is to say, that Thou _canst_ do everything and +that Thou art disposing sweetly everything in my life; but I want Thee +to come and teach me to put my knowledge into practice. If the whole +world could be set in motion by Thee just in order that one little +desire of Thy Divine Providence might be fulfilled, shall I not be ready +to own that Thou art indeed the King, that whatever may happen in the +earth, it is the Lord Who _reigneth_; and in my own life when things +seem, as they sometimes do, inexplicable and beyond all human ken, Oh! +come and teach me that the way of prudence is to lie still like a little +child in its mother's arms, not to try to fathom nor to understand, but +to say: I am in the Arms of the Eternal Wisdom, Who can do all things, +Who loves me with an infinite love and Who is disposing all things +sweetly, gently, mercifully for my sake. + +This is the lesson the Child yet unborn would teach. His Mother +understood, for, as we have seen, one principle guided the two lives; +but it was not easy for her to have all her plans disarranged, to hear +that she and her husband must take a long journey perhaps of two or +three days, to know that her Son could not be born in her own little +home so dear to her with all its hallowed memories, to know that she +could not lay Him in the little cradle that she had so lovingly prepared +for Him nor surround Him with the little comforts that she had been able +to provide. All this would have been much even for a rich mother to give +up, and Mary was poor and she knew that she and Joseph would have to +take just what they could get and no more. Yet in Mary's heart there +was no anxiety, no murmuring, no hesitation, no regret even. Why? +Because the Babe within her taught her prudence, taught her, that is, +that God's ways are best, that it was He Who was ordering all things +sweetly, and that if her plans were upset, it simply meant that they did +not happen to be God's plans; and she willingly gave up hers for His. + +O Mary as I kneel before the Tabernacle where Thy Son as yet lies +hidden, present my petitions to Him. Tell Him that, cost what it may, I +do want His Will to be done, I do want to realize that it is He Who is +ordering all things sweetly for me and that though the way is often +difficult it is _His_ way and therefore mine--"the way of prudence." + +_Colloquy_ with the Incarnate Wisdom. + +_Resolution._ "I purposed therefore to take her (Wisdom) to me to live +with me, knowing that she will communicate to me of her good things" +(Wisdom VIII. 9). + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "O Sapientia! ... come and teach us the way of +prudence." + + + + +O ADONAI! + + December 18th. Feast of the Expectation of Our Lady. + + "O Adonai and Leader of the House of Israel! Who appearedst + to Moses in the fire of the flaming bush and gavest him the + law on Sinai. Come and redeem us by Thy outstretched arm." + + (Ex. VI. 3, III. 1-9, XX. 18-22). + + +_1st. Prelude._ The Tabernacle of the Hidden God. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to expect and desire with Mary. + + +POINT I. "O VIRGO VIRGINUM!" + +We think again to-day of the Mother as well as of the Son. There is +another "O" which is in the Vespers of the Feast of the Expectation +together with the "_O Adonai_!" and that is "_O Virgo virginum_!" We +appeal again then to Mary asking her to show us how to wait, how to +desire, how to love, how to worship. Let us try to think what her +feelings must have been during these last few days. She is preparing for +her journey, putting together the few necessaries that they could take, +packing up the little "swaddling clothes," and all the time thinking of +nothing but her Son, Whose Face she is now so soon to see. The joy of +the expectation is so great that it overshadows all else--she can talk +of and think of nothing but His birth, now so near, and it is to _Him_ +that she talks. All her secrets, all her longings, all her hopes, all +her words of love and joy are for Him. This is the interior life. + +As the great day approaches is my interior life becoming more intense? +Are all my desires centred on the little One Who is coming? Am I +continually holding converse with Him, telling Him all that is in my +heart? Is He the centre of all my preparations for Christmas? Is the +real Christmas joy, that is, the joy caused by the thought of His +Coming, so great that it puts into the shade all difficulties, sorrows, +disappointments and inconveniences? Mary's troubles were all caused by +JESUS. If it had not been for the prophecy which said He must be born in +Bethlehem she would not have had to leave her home at such an +inconvenient moment and at such an inclement season of the year. + +When shall I learn that all my troubles come directly from JESUS too, +and from my union with Him? When I do, I shall have peace, the peace +which Mary had and which a really interior life cannot fail to produce. +If I find that my peace is easily disturbed by passing events, let me +examine my conscience as to my interior life and I shall probably find +the reason. + + +POINT II. O ADONAI ET DUX! + +O Lord and _Leader_! "Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel, Thou that +_leadest_ Joseph like a sheep!" ("Introit" for Advent II and "Gradual" +for Advent III). This is the idea in the Church's cry to-day, she is +saluting her General. He it is Who though as yet hidden is nevertheless +leading all. He it is Who slowly though surely has been leading the +world through many phases till it is ready for its Creator to come and +live upon it. He it is Who has led Joseph like a sheep--carefully +watched over the chosen nation, because He Himself, when the time came, +was to be born in it. He it is Who led the prophets, carefully guiding +their hands to write of Him and making their prophecies more and more +lucid as the day approached. He it is Who is now leading the whole world +and placing everybody in his own city. He it is Who is leading Joseph +away from Nazareth. He it is Who is leading His own Mother over every +step of that difficult and tiring journey, letting the joy in His own +Heart overflow into hers; and He is _my_ Leader too. With such a +General, nothing will be overlooked in my life; everything will be +arranged in wisdom and love. I need have no fear, no anxiety on that +account; but such a Leader expects a whole-hearted, unswerving +allegiance from His followers. He expects not only their obedience, but +their loyalty and their love. Does He demand these by force? No, for He +is a _Leader_, not a driver. "He calleth His own sheep by name and +_leadeth_ them.... He goeth before them and the sheep follow Him" (St. +John X. 3, 4). What are His methods? The Incarnation with all its +consequences. He made Himself a _man_, not an angel, because He wanted +to attract man to Himself, to win his love. He identified Himself with +man, because He wanted man to identify himself with Him. The church, the +Holy Eucharist, the Tabernacle, Holy Communion, His Sacred Heart--all +these are to attract men to follow Him. He is there in each of these +going before and leading men on. He is appealing to them now from the +womb of His Mother, suggesting to them that they should choose suffering +and humiliation and the hidden life, because He chose them and loved +them and submitted to them for us; they were His methods, and His object +in becoming incarnate for us was to win our love to such an extent that +we should take Him as our Leader and adopt His methods. + +Oh! come, little Leader, come and redeem us. I for one am determined to +follow wheresoever Thou dost lead, "in what place soever Thou shalt be, +my Lord King, either in death or in life there will Thy servant be" (2 +Kings XV. 21). "Behold I have given Him for a Leader" (Is. LV. 4). + + +POINT III. THE OUTSTRETCHED ARM. + +The outstretched arm is a sign (1) of _power_. The little One Whom we +are expecting, though so winning and gentle and loving, is nevertheless +the Almighty and All-powerful God. He it is Who said: "I made the earth +and the men and the beasts that are upon the earth by My great power and +by My stretched out arm" (Jer. XXVII. 5). He it is Who said of those who +would not acknowledge Him as their King: "I will Myself fight against +you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm" (chap. XXI. 5). He +it is Who "with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm" delivered His +people of old out of the land of Egypt (Deut. XXVI. 8). He it is Who +gave the law on Sinai, when "the thunders began to be heard and +lightning to flash and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the +noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud and the people ... feared." +Why? Because "the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai in the very top of +the mount" (Ex. XIX. 16, 20). He came then in power to give with His own +outstretched arm His commandments to His people; but now He is coming in +the silence of the night to win them by His love and no one will be +afraid of a little Child. + +Oh! come, and redeem us by Thy stretched out arm. Come in all Thy might +to save us from our sins--our past sins and the evil habits they have +left, our present attachment to venial sins which we are ashamed of, but +are obliged to confess lingers still; come and deliver us from our +countless imperfections: "Lord if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean" +(St. Matt. VIII. 2). + +The outstretched arm is also a sign (2) of _pity_, of _yearning_, of +_longing_. A mother stretches out her arms to receive her babe taking +its first tottering steps, to welcome her prodigal, to protect those in +danger, to help in every time of need. + +When God was longing to deliver His people of old from the cruel bondage +in Egypt, He attracted Moses' attention by a burning bush, so that He +could tell him of His yearnings towards His people. Moses saw that the +bush was on fire and was not burnt and he said: "I will go and see why +the bush is not burnt" (Ex. III. 2-3). That bush hid two mysteries which +were beyond Moses' power of reason, but God revealed them later to His +Saints. The fire that burned was the Divinity and the bush which was +impregnated by the fire and yet not burnt was the Sacred Humanity. +Again, the bush was a figure of Mary who though she received the God-Man +into her sacred womb yet remained a virgin--the bush held the flame of +fire which lighted the whole world and yet remained intact. Moses though +he did not see the things which we see, nevertheless saw a "great sight" +and "when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, He called to him out +of the midst of the bush" and told him not to come too near and to take +off his shoes for the ground was holy. He then told him Who He was and +why He had come: "I have seen the afflictions of My people.... I have +heard their cry ... and knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver +them" (verses 7, 8). It was the Heart of God yearning for His children. +His Hands were stretched out in pity and love, but His hour was not yet. +He waited and "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son" +(Gal. IV. 4); and now we are kneeling before the Sanctuary wherein He +has still a few days to wait; we have turned aside to see the "great +sight," we know that we are treading on holy ground. "_Rubum quem +viderat Moyses incombustum conservatam agnovimus tuam laudabilem +virginitatem_; _Dei genitrix intercede pro nobis._" In the bush which +Moses saw unconsumed, we acknowledge thy admirable virginity preserved: +intercede for us, O Mother of God. (Little Office. B. V. M.--A Christmas +antiphon). + +As we keep near to the Burning Bush we wonder more and more at the +mystery; we ask why, but we never receive a satisfying answer, for who +can fathom the mystery of the love of God? The Word is silent yet. Could +He speak, we should hear the same words as Moses heard, for the Heart of +God changes not: "I have seen the afflictions of My people.... I am come +down to deliver them." How intense were His yearnings! How great was His +expectation! Let me try to make Him some little return by my desires and +my yearnings for Him! Oh! come, little Saviour, come and redeem us by +Thy outstretched Arm! + +_Colloquy_ with Him Who is so soon to come. + +_Resolution._ To wait with His Mother to-day asking her to give me some +of her desire. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "A little Child shall lead them" (Is. _XI._ 6). + + + + +O RADIX JESSE! + + December 19th. + + "O Root of Jesse! Who standest as the ensign of the people, + before Whom Kings shall keep silence and unto Whom the + nations shall make their supplication, come and set us free, + tarry now no longer." + + (Vide Is. XI. 10 and Apoc. XXII. 16). + + +_1st. Prelude._ The Tree of Jesse so often seen carved on cathedral +porches and painted on windows, and in Missals. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to rally under the Standard of the Tree of Jesse. + + +POINT I. THE ROOT OF JESSE. + +"There shall come forth a Rod out of the Root of Jesse, and a Flower +shall rise up out of his Root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest +upon Him: the Spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding, the Spirit of +Counsel and of Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and of Godliness; and +He shall be filled with the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord" (Is. XI. +1-3). St. Jerome says that the Branch is Our Lady and the Flower her +Son, Who says of Himself: "I am the Flower of the field and the Lily of +the valleys" (Cant. II. 1); and a responsory dating from the middle ages +says: "_R._ The Root of Jesse gave out a Branch: and the Branch a +Flower; and on the Flower resteth the Holy Spirit. _V._ The Virgin +Mother of God is the Branch, her Son is the Flower, and on the Flower +resteth the Holy Spirit." + +So once again, if we would find the Flower we must first find the Branch +which bears it. The Flower is still in bud but presently it will open, +and its beauty and fragrance will fill the whole earth and attract all +men to it: "What manner of one is thy Beloved of the beloved, O thou +most beautiful among women?" "My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out +of thousands" (Cant. V. 9, 10). I can understand that thy beautiful Lily +is white, for I know that such is His purity that even the heavens are +not pure in His sight, but why is His apparel _red_? (Is. LXIII. 2). +Because He is "clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood: and His name +is called: _The Word of God_" (Apoc. XIX. 13). Even now, before His +delicate petals are unfolded, they are marked with the Cross. + +O Root of Jesse, can ever tree compare with thine--one of whose branches +was found worthy to bear a Flower so fair! There are further beauties as +we gaze--a heavenly Dew is resting on the Flower, it is the Holy Spirit +Himself, Who at that blest moment when He overshadowed the Branch poured +out all His choicest gifts upon the Flower. As God, the seven-fold gifts +were His from all eternity, and directly the Humanity was united to the +Eternal Word, the divine perfections belonged to it, so that as man "He +was made unto us the _Wisdom_ of _God_" and could understand all +mysteries. By the gift of _Understanding_ He knew and entered into all +God's plans for the Redemption of the world. The gift of _Counsel_ +showed Him exactly what was the Will of His Father which He had come to +do. The gift of _Fortitude_ gave Him the strength to carry out His +Father's Will and to say ever: Not My Will but Thine be done. His +_Knowledge_ was so profound that He preferred poverty to riches, and to +be despised rather than to be honoured; He knew as Man the true worth of +the thing which as God He had created. The gift of _Piety_ established +that tender relationship between Him and His Father which He wished us +to have when He taught us to say: _Our Father_; it included also His +perfect relationship with His Mother and St. Joseph. The gift of _Fear_ +gave Him as Man a reverence and respect for the majesty of God. (_Vide_ +Heb. V. 7). + +It was thus that the heavenly Dew rested on the heavenly Flower. + +O my JESUS, come and tarry no longer! I know that Thou hadst no need of +any of these gifts; they rested on Thee because Thou art my Model and +Thou wouldst show me how to use them. + + +POINT II. THE ENSIGN OF THE PEOPLE. + +It is the Tree of Jesse which stands as an ensign, about which Our Lord +says: "I am the Root and Stock of David" (Apoc. XXII. 16). He then is +the Standard-bearer and the Standard is His Cross. "Bearing His own +Cross He went forth" (St. John XIX. 17). He is the "_sign_ which shall +be contradicted" by His enemies (St. Luke II. 34), but when the sign of +the Son of Man shall appear in the Heavens (St. Matt. XXIV. 30) it will +bring joy and hope to the hearts of all those who love His Coming (2 +Tim. IV. 8). "My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands," +or according to another translation: "My beloved is white and ruddy a +_Standard bearer_" (Cant. V. 10 A. V. Margin), chosen for His strength +as well as for His beauty. To Him shall the nations make supplication, +for He said: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all things +to Myself" (St. John XII. 32). + +There are only two standards in the world--that of JESUS Christ and that +of the devil. Both leaders want me to enlist; both are trying to win me; +but by what different means! The devil strives to entrap me with the +silken threads of sin which seem so insignificant and harmless, but +which if I allow myself to be trapped by them, he will twine into a +thick rope and hold me fast; while JESUS draws me to Himself with the +cords of love. Both are infinitely more powerful than I am, and yet all +depends on _me_, that is, on my will. The cords of love are far +stronger than the cords of hate, so I need not be afraid of the devil's +capturing me against my will; but on the other hand JESUS will not draw +me with the cords of love against my will. "_If thou wilt_, ... come," +is His method. There _are_ chains, there _is_ a cross, but all is love. +A little Child holds the Standard, a little Child leads, and all He asks +is that we should follow Him and do as He does. + +Come, then, little JESUS, set up Thy Royal Standard, come, tarry no +longer. I am longing to show Thee that I am not going to be a soldier in +name only; longing to show Thee that I understand that a soldier who has +pledged himself to fight under Thy Standard must adopt Thy methods, that +if I would be a soldier on whom Thou canst count, I must be really +mortified, really poor, really ready to give up my own will and my own +methods, really anxious to have humiliations because I know that there +is no other way of attaining the beautiful virtue of humility. I am +longing to show Thee that I understand that those who march under Thy +Standard must be marked by the Cross. Oh! come, and set me free from all +that keeps me from offering myself whole-heartedly for Thy service. Come +and cut all the many little cords that still bind me to the service of +self. Thy Mother wants Thee, the Angels are longing to look upon Thy +Face, the world wants Thee though it knows it not, and I am longing to +want Thee too. Oh! teach me to want Thee more. + +_Colloquy_ with the Branch and the Flower. + +_Resolution._ To examine myself to-day as to my attachments. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Come and set us free, tarry now no longer." + + + + +O CLAVIS DAVID! + + December 20th. + + "O Key of David and Sceptre of the House of Israel! Who + openest and no man shutteth; Who shuttest and no man openeth; + come and bring forth from his prison-house the captive + sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death." + + (Isaias XXII. 22, Apoc. III. 7, Gen. XLIX. 10, Heb. I. 8). + + +_1st. Prelude._ The little King with the Key and the Sceptre. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to respond to the Key and the Sceptre. + + +POINT I. THE KEY OF DAVID. + +"I will lay the Key of the House of David upon His shoulder" (Is. XXII. +22). "To the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia write: These things +saith the Holy One and the True One, He that hath the Key of David, He +that openeth and no man shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth: I know +thy works. Behold I have given before thee a door opened which no man +can shut, because thou hast a little strength." (Apoc. III. 7-8). + +The Babe unborn has already had the Key laid upon His Shoulder. He +already has authority. Soon, very soon now, He will come to use it. How +will He use this Key and what is it? It is the Key of authority but it +is also the Key of love. (1) He is coming to unlock the gates which hold +the human race fast in ignorance and sin, to be its Redeemer, to give it +"a door opened which no man can shut," to give it a chance if it will of +walking out of its prison-house into the liberty wherewith Christ alone +can make it free (Gal. IV. 31). (2) He is coming to put His golden Key +of love into the hearts of men, to open those doors which are shut +against Him and which none but He can open, for none but He can give +grace. Each little child whose heart is filled with grace at its Baptism +is only able to receive it because the little Child with the golden Key +has opened its heart. "Thou hast opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all +believers." Come, then, O Key of David, come and begin Thy blessed work +on earth. Thou hast already put Thy magic Key into the heart of St. John +the Baptist and doubtless of many another; come and tarry not, come and +found Thy Church and pass on the wondrous power of the keys to those +with whom Thou wilt leave Thy authority. (3) He is coming to open with +His Key of love His own most Sacred Heart. None but He can open that +vast treasure-house of love, and none but He can shut it. It will be +there for a refuge for all His children in all time--a standing memorial +of His love. What does He ask in return? Only that when we hear Him put +His golden Key into our hearts, there may be a response: "My Beloved put +His Hand through the key-hole and my heart was moved at His touch. I +arose up to open to my Beloved" (Cant. V. 4-5). The rising up to let Him +in is our part, He puts in His Key and unlocks, that is, He removes all +obstacles by His grace, but we must respond to that grace for though He +has unlocked the door He will not force an entrance. "Behold I stand at +the door and knock," and then He waits, waits for our correspondence and +for our love. "My son, give Me thy heart," He wants it, He has used His +Key of love to obtain it, but He will not take it, it must be a free +gift of love. + +At the last great Advent the door of His mercy will be shut against all +those who have refused Him an entrance into their hearts, and when He +shuts, no man can open. "Lord, Lord, open to us," and the answer will +come through the eternally locked door: "I never knew you, depart from +Me." + +Oh! come, Divine little One, come with Thy Key while yet there is time +and unlock the many hearts which still find no place for Thee, no time +to attend to Thee waiting so patiently, no desire to give Thee an +invitation this Christmas; and give them grace to respond. + + +POINT II. THE SCEPTRE OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. + +The little One Who is to come not only has a Key on His Shoulder, but a +Sceptre in His Hand. The word used for Sceptre (_shebet_) in the Hebrew +has four distinct meanings and we can apply them all to our Lord and +Saviour, JESUS Christ. It is: + +(1) a rod of _command_, a sign of _royalty_ (Esther IV. 11, Ps. XLIV. +7); + +(2) a rod of iron, a rod of _correction_ (Ps. II. 9, Prov. XXII. 15); + +(3) the _shepherd's_ rod or wand (Lev. XXVII. 32); + +(4) the _flail_ which separates the grain from the chaff (Is. XXVIII. +27). + +(1) _A sign of royalty._ He is my King--how much that says to me! He has +authority over me and a right to command me, a right to my service from +every point of view; but He will not exact it from me. He stretches out +His Sceptre of mercy in token of clemency. He wants my service, but He +wants it to be the outcome of my love and so He uses His Sceptre to +attract me. He brings Himself down to my level, He calls Himself my +Brother, my Friend. He tells me that if I will throw in my lot with Him +and do as He does, one day I shall share His Kingdom and reign with Him. +Such is my King and such is the meaning of His Sceptre. "Where is He +that is born King of the Jews?" Thou art as yet hidden, O my little +King, but Thou wilt be _born_ a king for "Thy throne, O God, is for ever +and ever, a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom" (Heb. I. +8). What is my response going to be to that Sceptre stretched out once +again? That of a loyal, whole-hearted, loving subject or that of one +who is still hesitating between the service of self and the service of +the King? + +(2) _A rod of correction._ For His enemies it is a "rod of iron," but +for His children a rod of love, for what son is there whom the father +doth not correct? "Whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth; and He scourgeth +every son whom He receiveth. Persevere under discipline. God dealeth +with you as with His sons." (Heb. XII. 6-7). We are not to "faint" nor +"be weary" nor "neglect the discipline," not to be inclined to give all +up and choose an easier path; no, but to regard the discipline as a +"consolation," (verse 5) a proof of love, a sign that we are really the +children with whom He does what He likes, instructing us according to +His own pleasure (verse 10). + +Oh! my little King, come with Thy rod of correction, come and make me a +saint and do not spare me in the making. He that spareth the rod +spoileth the child. I do not want to be a spoilt child, but a child on +whom Thou canst count, that is, a child to whom Thou canst say what Thou +wilt and whom Thou canst criticize as thou wilt, by the mouth of whom +Thou wilt, a child whom Thou dost not _consider_ because Thou art sure +of its love, sure, that is, that it loves Thee and Thy ways better than +self and its ways. + +(3) _A shepherd's staff or crook._ As it had been prophesied of Him that +He should be a king, so it had also been prophesied that He should be a +shepherd: "I will save My flock ... and I will set up one Shepherd over +them and He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd" (Ezech. +XXXIV. 22, 23, and XXXVII. 24). "He shall feed His flock like a +shepherd, He shall gather together the lambs with His arms, and shall +take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with +young" (Is. XL. 11). "I am the Good Shepherd;" even now while He is yet +in the womb of His Mother He is counting His sheep, calling them out, +knowing each one by name, thinking of the great fold which He is going +to make, of the one shepherd to whom He will entrust the great work of +feeding His sheep, of the "other sheep" whom He "must bring" into the +fold sooner or later. Even now He is planning to lay down His life for +His sheep "that they may have life and have it more abundantly." + +(4) _The flail_ which separates the chaff from the good grain, the +_tribulum_ which causes "great _tribulation_" on earth's threshing +floor, but which is used only for the good of the grain and ensures its +being gathered into the heavenly garners. Oh! my little King, Who art +coming to bring peace make me understand that I shall never have peace +till I am fully persuaded that all my _tribulation_, all my troubles, +trials and afflictions are directly caused by Thee, that it is Thou +Thyself and no other Who dost use the threshing instruments to separate +me from all that is not pleasing to Thee. + +Come then, and with Thy Key of love unlock the prison-house and bring +forth the captive sitting in darkness and then with Thy Sceptre rule +him, correct him, guide him and afflict him. + +_Colloquy_ with Him Who has the Key and the Sceptre. + +_Resolution._ To rise up and open to my Beloved. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ O Clavis David! + + + + +O ORIENS! + + December 21st. Feast of St. Thomas. + + "O Orient! (Dawn of the East, Rising Sun. Dayspring) + Splendour of the Light Eternal and Sun of Justice, come and + enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of + death." + + (Is. IX. 2, Zach. III. 8, VI. 12, Mal. IV 2, + St. Luke I. 78). + + +_1st. Prelude._ "The light of the morning when the sun riseth" (2 Kings +XXIII. 4). + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to tread always the "Way of Peace." + + +POINT I. THE ORIENT. + +"Behold I will bring my Servant the Orient." (Zach. III. 8). Now God has +kept His promise for Zachary has already sung: "The Orient from on high +has visited us." But where is He, this Servant of God Who has come to do +His Will, this Man Who is also God, this Splendour of the Light Eternal +and Sun of Justice? As yet He is hiding His light, but "fear not for on +the fifth day Our Lord will come unto you" (Antiphon of the _Benedictus_ +for to-day). He will come and He will not tarry; but when He comes He +will still hide His light under the swaddling clothes and the +helplessness and dependence of a little babe. Why is this, O Orient? +Thou art the Light Eternal and the Sun of Justice and yet Thy rising +seems to make so little difference in the world. Hardly any know that +Thou hast risen. My child, it is true that I am the Light of the world, +true that I am the bright and morning Star, but the light can only reach +the world by faith. Those who have faith like Zachary and his wife and +infant son know that I have visited them, not because they have _seen_ +me, but by faith. It is the same with my own sweet Mother: "Blessed art +thou that hast _believed_" (St. Luke I. 45). It will be the same when I +am born in a few days' time. Most will see nothing beyond a babe in +swaddling clothes, but to a chosen few who have the gift of faith the +Sun of Justice will have risen, the Star will have appeared, their cry +will be: "Behold a Man," even the Man-God, "the Orient is His name." It +will be the same all through My life on earth, only the few will +recognize the Light of the world; most will not come to Me, but will +prefer darkness rather than light. It will be the same with My +sacramental life in the Church. I shall be there, but only the eye of +faith will detect Me. The Sun of Justice has risen with health in His +Wings, but only very gradually will He make Himself felt in a world that +is sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. + +And why, O Orient, Splendour of the Light Eternal, why dost Thou not +cast Thy bright beams over the whole world at once that all may know and +recognize Thee as the Dayspring which has risen? + +Because, My child, I love faith and it is by faith that I intend men to +know Me. I do enlighten "every man that cometh into this world" (St. +John I. 9), that is I give to each sufficient light to save his soul, to +one more, to another less, and I shall judge according to the light I +have given; but what I want from all is co-operation, I want their +faith, I want them to believe, not because they can see and understand, +but because by means of My grace in their hearts and especially by means +of the revelation given to My Church I enlighten their minds. Yes, the +Sun has risen with health in His Wings, and gradually He will increase +in strength till the "uttermost parts of the earth" respond to His +light. It is a work of time just as it is a work of time in each +individual soul. The soul does not see clearly as soon as the light +enters; there is a period when men seem like trees walking (St. Mark +VIII. 24); but if only it will respond and hold on by faith, the time +will come when it will see all things clearly. + +O Orient, come and enlighten those that sit in darkness and in the +shadow of death with the light of faith. It is faith that is needed on +the earth, it is faith that is needed in each individual soul. It is +faith that I need, more faith, more confidence in Thy dealings. Many +shadows are still cast on my soul by sin--even a wilful imperfection +casts a shadow. Oh What need I have of Thee, O Orient from on high, to +come and visit me and chase away the shadows of the night! "Till the day +break and the shadows retire" (Cant. II. 17, IV. 6). + + +POINT II. ST. THOMAS. + +It is a coincidence, if not something more, that puts the antiphon _O +Oriens!_ on the same day as the Feast of St. Thomas. It was on account +of St. Thomas' _doubt_ that the great principle was given to the Church: +"Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." It is on +account of St. Thomas' _faith_ that countless Indulgences are granted +every day to the faithful who make use of his words: "My Lord and my +God" when their sight shows them nothing but a little Host elevated by a +priest. It was St. Thomas' _zeal_ which made him go to the Indies and +proclaim that the Orient had visited His people and that God had become +incarnate for men. "Thou didst make all the Indies shine with much +light" (Hymn of the Greek Church to St. Thomas), and that light was the +light of faith in Him Whom they had not seen. It is St. Thomas who comes +to-day to revive our flagging faith, to introduce us to the Babe of +Bethlehem and tell us that He is indeed the Orient though He is hiding +His light, to warn us to give no heed to temptations against the faith, +to tell us that when we are contemplating the humility and nothingness +of our God and the temptation comes to us, as it did to him to say: +Unless I see for myself, "I will not believe," to remember the words of +the Master: "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." + +O blessed Saint Thomas! who art now in the land of light and vision, +intercede for us that we may be as little children, believing all we are +told and quietly waiting till the day dawn and the Orient arises in all +His majesty and strength, _preparing_ as a giant to run His course, but +for the moment hiding everything under the form of a helpless babe. We +do not ask for sight but for the light which will lead us to Him, the +light of faith, so that when we see Him wrapped in swaddling clothes and +lying in a manger we may cry out with you: "My Lord and My God." + + +POINT III. THE WAY OF PEACE. + +The Orient visited us not only "to enlighten them that sit in darkness +and in the shadow of death," but also "to direct our feet into the way +of peace" (St. Luke I. 79). And what is the way of peace but the way of +_faith_, which He is coming to light up? Nothing can bring peace to this +dark and sin-stricken world but faith. The Sun of Justice is rising with +health in His Wings and that health is faith. It is the remedy for all +ills. Men try every other remedy but they leave out God and His faith +and the result is that the world remains in chaos. The Light has risen, +the Orient has visited us, but men shut their eyes to the light and +prefer the darkness, because their deeds are evil. + +The _Way of Peace_ is made by the Prince of Peace, it is the Highway to +the Heaven of Peace. Am I on it? Yes, for I am one of "the household of +faith" and can never thank Him sufficiently for having directed my feet +into the City of Peace. But this is not all. Many people, even those of +the "household of faith" have very little real peace in their lives. +They spend their time in complaints, regrets, criticisms, anxieties. Is +this what the King of Peace intends? Oh no! He is ever there waiting to +direct their feet towards the "green pastures" and "the still waters," +but the Way of Peace is the way of faith, of trust and confidence. Until +I can really trust Him, the peaceful pastures can never be mine, I can +never lie down in them and rest. I am His sheep, but I do not wholly +trust my Shepherd. If I did, I should believe that whatever He chose and +arranged for me was the best; I could not _complain_ of what He had +planned for me, however hard it might be. I could not criticize His +arrangements and want to make my own. May my trust be so absolute this +Christmas that it is apparent to everyone that I possess the peace which +the Babe of Bethlehem comes to bring. O Orient come once more and +direct my feet into the way of peace. + +_Colloquy_ with the Orient. + +_Resolution._ "Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him." (Job. +XIII. 15). + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ O Oriens! + + + + +O REX GENTIUM! + + December 22nd. + + "O King of nations and their desired One and the Corner-stone + that makest both one, come and save man whom Thou didst form + out of slime!" + + (Gen. XLIX. 10, Agg. II. 8, Isaias XXVIII. 16, Gen. II. 7). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Mary and Joseph on the road to Bethlehem. "Behold thy +King will come to thee.... He is poor and riding upon an ass." (Zach. +IX. 9). + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to welcome my King. + + +POINT I. "THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS SHALL COME." + +King of nations He has always been, for He created them; in Him they +live and move and are. (Acts XVII. 2). He has been in His earth ever +since He created it, governing it, sustaining and preserving the life +which He gave, co-operating always with His creatures. We must not think +of Him as creating the world and then leaving it to do the best it could +till the time came for Him to be incarnate. That is a false idea. His +delights were _always_ to be with the children of men and though the +Orient did not begin to dawn till the time of the Incarnation, the Light +had been in the world all along; the Sun of Justice had existed from all +eternity. "He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the +world knew Him not." (St. John I. 10). But though it knew Him not, the +world had enough light to desire Him. Ever since God at the time of +man's fall had made His great promise concerning the Woman and her Seed, +He that was to come had been to the nations "their desired One." That +promise had been carefully cherished, handed on from father to son till +Moses came and recorded it in the book of Genesis; and though of +necessity one nation had to be selected to which the Woman and her Seed +were to belong, yet the promise was given to all nations and all claimed +their share in it. The chosen _nation_ through whom all the others were +to be blessed was Abraham's. Through him and his seed the great promise +was to be fulfilled (Gen. XII. 3). The _time_ was hinted at in the +patriarch Jacob's blessing to Juda: "The sceptre shall not be taken away +from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that is to be sent +and He shall be the expectation of nations" (Gen. XLIX. 10). The house +or _family_ which was to have the joy of realizing the promise was +David's; the _place_ where the Woman was to bring forth her Seed was +Bethlehem. Here "she that travaileth shall bring forth" and here "shall +He come ... that is to be the Ruler in Israel" (Mich. V. 2-3). Each +subsequent prophecy or promise developed and enlarged the original one +given in Eden, but in that one the nations had all that they needed upon +which to build up their hopes and nourish their desires--the Woman and +her Seed, the "Child with His Mother"--and though the promise _belonged_ +to the chosen nation (Rom. IX. 4), the first great promise had been +handed down through the other nations and they knew enough to make them +_desire_, enough to find the Light if they sought it as did the Wise +Kings of the East. + +O King of nations, as I look back through the ages and see the Child and +His Mother so clearly set forth in promise and prophecy, in type and +example, when I think of Thy plans for the redemption of the world, made +from all eternity and gradually unfolding as the fulness of time +approached, when I think of the nations all desiring Thy coming, when I +think of the intense desire of Thy loving Heart, there is one thing that +seems to jar and to be out of harmony with the rest, and that is the +lamentable want of desire in my own heart! The time is very short now, +the Child with His Mother are already on the way to Bethlehem. Oh! Let +me multiply my Acts of Desire that my little King when He comes may be +indeed _my_ "desired One" too. "I sat down under His shadow, Whom I +desired." (Cant. II. 3). + + +POINT II. THE CORNER-STONE THAT MAKETH BOTH ONE. + +"Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a +corner-stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundations" (Isaias +XXVIII. 16), "the stone which the builders rejected" (Ps. CXVII. 22). + +This is one of the promises confided to the chosen nation. Our Blessed +Lord claims it as applying to Himself (St. Matt. XXI. 42, St. Luke XX. +17), and St. Peter and St. Paul both speak of it as if it were well +known. (Acts IV. 11, 1 Peter II. 6-8, Rom. IX. 33, Eph. II. 20). + +He is the Corner-stone Who is coming to make both one (Eph. II. 14), +both the Jews to whom belongs the promise (Rom. IX. 4) and the Gentiles +who are "co-partners of His promise" (Eph. III. 6). He is coming to +preach peace to them that are far off as well as to them that are nigh, +coming to make "the strangers and foreigners" feel that they are +"fellow-citizens with the saints and the domestics of God," coming to +weld all together into one great building of which He Himself is to be +the chief Corner-stone, binding together the two walls (Jews and +Gentiles), supporting each stone and keeping each in its place, a holy +temple in the Lord, "a habitation of God in the spirit." Such is the +picture St. Paul draws for us (Eph. II), and such is the picture which +the antiphon for to-day brings before our minds. "All one in Christ +JESUS." He is the King of all nations, the Desired of all nations, the +Corner-stone of the whole building; with Him there is neither Jew nor +Gentile (Gal. III. 28). + +Let me tell Him even now before He comes how I long to share in the +great work so dear to His Sacred Heart, let me offer myself to +co-operate with Him in His designs for the human race which He loves so +well. + +Let me be ready to labour, to suffer, to pray, to spend and be spent, if +only I may thus bring Him a few stones for His Holy Temple. I was +"sometime afar off" but now have been "made nigh by the Blood of Christ" +(Eph. II. 13). "What shall I render?" (Ps. CXV. 12). + + +POINT III. COME AND SAVE MAN WHOM THOU DIDST FORM OUT OF THE DUST. + +"Their desired One" Who has never been far from the hearts of His +children, knows the need of the nations. He Who formed man out of the +dust knows his need of a Saviour. What are the desires of the nations +compared with His desire? From all eternity He has desired the time to +come when by taking the nature of man He could fulfil their desires and +be to them both a King and a Saviour. Very soon now will the Angels be +telling the glad tidings to man: To you is born the Saviour. Very soon +will the heavenly choirs be singing the praises of the new-born King, +and the question will be asked even by distant nations: "Where is He +that is born King?" + +Oh! come, little King, come and fulfil the desires of all hearts. Thou +hast given them and Thou also must satisfy them. Art Thou really the one +desire of my heart, around which all my hopes centre? If Thou wert not +there, I know that life would be nothing but a blank. Come and create a +greater desire than ever after the perfection Thou wouldst have, and +then show me how to follow after it. "In what place soever Thou shalt +be, my Lord King ... there will Thy servant be" (2 Kings XV. 21). To-day +then I will journey with Thy blessed Mother, for surely the closer I +keep to her, the greater must be my desires. + +_Colloquy_ with "the desired One." + +_Resolution._ Grace to desire Him more ardently. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ O Rex Gentium! + + + + +O EMMANUEL! + + December 23rd. + + "O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expectation and + Saviour of the nations! Come and save us, O Lord our God." + + (Is. VII. 14, VIII. 8, XXXIII. 22, St. Jas. IV. 12). + + +_1st. Prelude._ Mary and Joseph in the temple at Jerusalem. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to worship with them. + + +POINT I. EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. + +On the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem lies Jerusalem and we may be quite +sure that a happy event for Mary and Joseph on this long and tiring +journey now nearing its end would be their visit to the Temple, near +which Mary, and probably Joseph too, had spent most of her life. We may +think, then, of Mary to-day taking her Son into His own Temple. We may +think of the joy of the Angels as they lifted high the gates to let the +hidden King come in. In the Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple was the +Ark of the Covenant, inside which were the Tables of God's law and upon +which was manifested the presence of the All-Holy. But here kneeling in +the Temple, in the women's court afar off, was the real Ark of the +Covenant of which the other was only a type, hiding within her chaste +womb the new Lawgiver Whose Presence was known only to the Angels who +were worshipping round His Shrine, and to Mary and Joseph the only +earthly worshippers in the Temple that day who understood. + +Here was the Virgin with her Son, the prophecy was fulfilled--God with +us. "His name shall be called _Emmanuel_." + +Yet Mary and Joseph were not the only worshippers in the Temple that +day--there was a Human Soul worshipping God as He had never been +worshipped before. The Heart of Jesus now so near the end of the first +stage of Its existence on earth was offering to God all Its homage and +all Its love, offering to Him all the work that had been done during the +nine months passed in the holy "Ark of the Covenant," all the +humiliation and self-abasement, the silence and dependence, the +suffering and patience, the satisfaction and merit. He had been doing +all the time the things that pleased His Father, the things that He had +made Himself man to be able to do. Now He is waiting--and the very +waiting is another Act of worship--waiting for the moment to come when +He can take the next step in His earthly journey, waiting with His +Mother whose intense desire is only second to His Own. + +O Emmanuel! God with us! I feel that I must go too to Thy Sacred Courts +to-day and make one more worshipper before that Holy Shrine. Advent is +nearly over, my time of preparation is well-nigh at an end. What have I +to offer as I kneel in adoration? Feeble desires, broken resolutions, +failure again in the thing I did so want not to fail in this Advent, +good intentions, but little else. Dare I come and kneel there where all +is so holy and so perfect? Yes, for He is _Emmanuel_, God incarnate for +me. Let me hand Him through His Mother all my poverty and wretchedness +and weakness and failure, together with my contrition and repentance +and love, and in exchange He will hand me His forgiveness and the +promise to offer my inadequate worship, together with His own Divine +perfections, to His Father, Who will be satisfied. This is what +_Emmanuel_ means. + + +POINT II. OUR LAWGIVER. + +"The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King +He will save us." (Is. XXXIII. 22). + +He is our King, therefore He has a right to make laws for us. And who +could be a better Judge of how the laws are kept than He Who made them? +Am I afraid at the sterner aspect which things seem to have taken? There +is no need, for He is still our _Emmanuel_, but He can only be thus our +Friend and Companion by being also the One Who has an absolute right to +make laws for us and to expect our obedience. "You are My _friends_, if +you do the things I command you" (St. John XV. 14). The reason for _all_ +His titles is that He wills to _save_ us. He is first of all the Saviour +and then, in order that our salvation may be accomplished, He makes +Himself our King, our Lawgiver and finally our Judge. "If you love Me, +keep My commandments." Such is our Lawgiver's appeal. Surely His +commandments are not grievous. He Who did always the things which +pleased His Father, asks us to try to do the same. + +O my little Lawgiver, accomplishing so silently and so perfectly the +Will of Thy Father, command me and I will obey, give Thy orders through +whom Thou wilt; be they hard or easy, be they in accordance with my will +or contrary to my whole nature! I will think of Thy perfect submission +to Thy Father's Will during those nine months for me and will say: I, +too, will do always the things which please Him no matter what they +cost. + + +POINT III. THE EXPECTATION OF THE NATIONS. + +JESUS is waiting, Mary is waiting, the Angels are waiting, all nations, +all the earth, and Heaven too is waiting--waiting for our Emmanuel to +come and save us. The empty manger speaks of the Church's expectation +to-day. We can count the hours now, all things are ready. Oh! come and +save us! Come and begin Thy blessed work over again, come and save the +many who as yet know Thee not and who are expecting everything this +Christmas _except_ a Saviour. May the sight of the empty crib remind me +to look well into my preparations to-day to see that nothing is wanting +in the welcome I am going to give to the King! + +_Colloquy_ with our Emmanuel. At the Incarnation, at Thy birth, all +through Thy life, Thou didst dwell _with us_; on every altar Thou hast +promised to be _with us_ all days; in Holy Communion Thou hast said I +will dwell _with them_; in the hour of death I will fear no evil for +Thou wilt be _with me_; and Thou hast secured Heaven for me by Thy +prayer: "Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given Me be _with Me_ +where I am." "Emmanuel, _God with us_." + +_Resolution._ Grace to expect Him to-day in all that I do. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ O Emmanuel! + + + + +CHRISTMAS EVE. + + "This day you shall know that the Lord will come and save us: + and in the morning you shall see His glory." + + (Ex. XVI. "Introit" for Christmas Eve). + + +_1st. Prelude._ The stable and the manger waiting for JESUS. + +_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to make my final preparations. + + +POINT I. MY PREPARATION--LAST TOUCHES. + +To-day Mary and Joseph arrive at their journey's end. We think of them +footsore, weary, homeless; we think of the discouragement and rebuffs +that they meet with as they hear on all sides that there is no room for +them; but do we think enough of the intense joy that reigned in Mary's +heart, a joy communicated to her by her Son? He is rejoicing that His +hour is come; the very refusals of His people to receive Him and His +Mother are to Him a sign that His work has begun and is already being +opposed. Mary shares His joy; she is absorbed by one thought--soon she +will look upon His Face--and that thought is so great that there is +scarcely room for any other in her heart. And Joseph? Can we imagine him +anxious and disturbed and worried? No, it is impossible--he is with +JESUS and Mary, he has lived his life close to them for nine months, he +has imbibed their spirit. If his joy is not as intense as theirs, his +_peace_ is unruffled; he has brought the Mother with her Child to +Bethlehem as he was told to do, and he knows that God will take care of +His own. + +My first lessons, then, for to-day are apparent. In the morning I shall +see His glory; the point of Advent is reached, my preparation is nearly +over. I was told to get ready for Him, I was told to come to Bethlehem, +I have been trying to do so, trying to keep up with Mary and Joseph on +their journey; often, I am obliged to admit it, it has been a following +afar off, but still by God's grace, I _am_ following and I know that +to-day He is coming to save us and that to-morrow I shall see His glory +for He will come to me in Holy Communion. He will be born again in my +heart and make me understand once more that He is incarnate for me. Are +my joy and my peace so great that nothing has the power to touch them? +There are many occupations that must of necessity claim my time and my +attention to-day, as there were many coming and going on the roads that +led to Bethlehem; there are many things to be thought about in my last +preparations for Christmas--it was so with Mary and Joseph too. Almost +certainly I shall have to-day, as they had, things that try and weary +me, perhaps suffering, temptation, slights and even insults. Shall I +receive them as last and most precious opportunities for adding the +finishing touches to my preparation, for gaining a victory where I have +perhaps so recently lost one, for making reparation to my King and for +uniting myself more closely to Him and His Mother? Will the thought that +He is coming be so absorbing that the difficulties of the way are hardly +noticed or are welcome as a reminder that I too am journeying to +Bethlehem? If I cannot aspire to the joy of JESUS and Mary, I can at +least aim at the peace of St. Joseph. + + +POINT II. HIS PREPARATION. + +_His_ preparation is coming to an end too. Let me go over in my mind +once again all that He had to plan and to do by way of preparation +before He could come to me in Holy Communion. It was for this that the +Incarnation was a preparation. In order to feed me with His Flesh and +Blood, He had to become incarnate. This is the point of Christmas, and +it is the point of contact between JESUS and my soul. To-morrow Mary in +an ecstasy of joy will look upon His Face and press Him to her heart; +to-morrow Joseph, full of awe and wonder, will take Him in his arms; +to-morrow the Angels will sing their _Glorias_ as they gaze upon their +God incarnate; to-morrow the shepherds will adore and offer Him their +gifts; and to-morrow I too shall touch Him very closely for I shall +receive into my body and into my heart His Body and Blood, His Soul and +His Divinity. He will be with me and I with Him. It is for this that I +have been making my preparations and it is for this that He has been +making His. How long has He been preparing? Not only during Advent, not +only during the nine months, not only since the great promise was given +in Eden, not only since the time when there was war among the Angels +because of the Incarnation--I am getting beyond time already and farther +back than that I cannot go for my mind is finite; but His is infinite +and just because it is infinite there never was a time when the +Incarnation was not in His mind, and there never was a time when I, His +child, was not in His mind, and also there never was a time when He did +not see the blest moments when He should bring the two into contact and +make me understand personally what the point of the Incarnation is. +These blest moments are my Communions and surely one of the most blest +must be my Christmas Communion when He Who comes to me and Who feeds me +with Himself is the Child Who was born at Bethlehem, He Who had been so +long expected, the Seed of the Woman, the Orient from on high, the Star +of the East, the Desired One of the nations, the Root of Jesse, the King +of the Gentiles with His Key and His Sceptre, Emmanuel, God with us. + +_Colloquy._ I kneel at the door of the empty stable and offer Thee my +heart, O my little JESUS! I have tried to make room for Thee; I have +made my poor little preparations with Thy blessed Mother; I have taken +long journeys to get to Thee; but my body is not fit to be Thy temple +and my heart is treacherous and faithless. I am ashamed to have so poor +a shelter to offer Thee. If it were not that Thou didst ask for it, I +dare not offer it. Oh! Thou Who didst not refuse the manger-bed, come to +my heart, look at the contrition and the humiliation and the reparation +and the aching longing to be what Thou dost want, and forget the +faithlessness and the failures and the weakness. Come, my little King, +incarnate for me, come and save me, if I were not a sinner I should not +need a Saviour. + +_Resolution._ To keep very near to Mary and Joseph to-day. + +_Spiritual Bouquet._ "In the morning you shall see His glory." + + + * * * * * + + + BOKSTEL--HOLLAND + ELECTRISCHE DRUKKERIJ WILHELM VAN EUPEN + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious spelling and punctuation errors were repaired, but unusual +period spellings and grammatical usages were retained. + +Headings and scripture references were inconsistently formatted and have +been standardized, but variations in book titles and abbreviations were +retained. + +Where punctuation in contents page entries and chapter headings in +original did not agree, the contents page entries were corrected. + +He, Him, His, etc. when referring to "Jesus" and "God" are capitalized +throughout the original, and "Jesus" placed in small caps. The few +exceptions have been changed to conform to the majority. + +Contents page--ditto marks were used in the original. The marks were +replaced by actual repeated words as follows: chapters 8-11, St. John +the Baptist; chapters 16-20, The Interior Life; chapters 22-24 and +26-28, December. Also, under Prayers, "Sancta Dei Genitrix," for each +line after the first, "ora pro nobis" replaces ditto marks. + +P. 5: "few streaks of Thy Divine Light"--original shows "Th Divine +Light" with a gap after "Th." + +P. 20: "(3) The Sentences." The original labels the subheadings within +(3) as (1) and (2). This format was retained. Also "There are only two," +original shows "The are only two." + +P. 61: "come to do Thy Will," original reads "come do Thy Will." + +P. 64-65: "example which you set. Teach me, too;" original reads +"example which you set [page break] teach me, too." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ortus Christi, by Mother St. Paul + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORTUS CHRISTI *** + +***** This file should be named 39223.txt or 39223.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/2/39223/ + +Produced by Karina Aleksandrova, JoAnn Greenwood, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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