Midday
We enjoy Bright sunshine and windy nights.
Beautiful views in all directions.
The Japanese Lilac tree is radiant in full bloom, especially from my refectory window. 
Friday of the Second Week in Lent Year II
A READING
FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS
(Promise of the covenant and appearance of the Lord on Sinai: Exodus
19:1-19; 20:1 2nd Week 8-21)
On the
third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of
Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they set
out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the
wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. And Moses went up to
God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall
say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I
did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to
myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you
shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and
you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words
which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” ...........
Responsory Ex
19:5-6; 1 Pt 2:9
If you do what I tell you and keep my covenant, out of all the nations you will be my own
possession, dearer
to me than
any other
people. + You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.
V. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people God has claimed as his own. + You shall be ...
A reading from the Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa
2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82)
2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82)
At first God appeared to Moses in light but
later, on Mount Sinai,
he appeared in darkness
he appeared in darkness
The Life of Moses was written sometime
between 890 and 392. Gregory teaches that the divine essence is unviable. The
true knowledge and the true vision of God consists in realizing this. At first
God appeared to Moses in light but later, on Mount Sinai, he appeared in
darkness.
Moses entered into the
darkness and there he saw God. What does this signify? This present account
seems in a way to contradict that of the first theophany. Then God appeared in
light, but now he appears in darkness. Yet we must not imagine this to be at
variance with our normal experience of spiritual contemplation. By this
statement the text teaches us that religious knowledge is first experienced as
light. All that is seen to be opposed to religion is darkness, and darkness
vanishes when we receive the light. But the more the mind advances and by ever
increasing and more perfect application attains an intellectual comprehension
of realities and approaches contemplation, the more clearly it sees that the
divine nature is invisible. Having left behind all appearances, not only those
perceived by the senses but also those the intellect seems to see, it plunges
ever deeper within itself, until by spiritual effort it penetrates to the
invisible and the unknowable, and there it sees God.
This is the true
knowledge of what is sought; this is the seeing that consists in not seeing,
because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all
sides by incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness. This is why John the
contemplative, who had penetrated this luminous darkness, said that no one had ever seen God, declaring by
this negation that the divine essence is beyond the reach not only of men but
of every rational nature as well.
And so, when Moses had
advanced in knowledge he declared that he saw God in the darkness, or in other
words that he recognized that the Divinity is essentially that which transcends
all knowledge and which no mind can apprehend. The text says: Moses entered into the darkness where God was. What
God? He who has made the darkness his
covering, as David
declared, who had himself been initiated into the divine mysteries in that same
sanctuary.
When Moses arrived
there, he was taught by word what he had formerly learned from darkness, so
that, I think, the doctrine on this matter may be made more firm for us by the
witness of the divine voice. The divine word at the beginning forbade that the
Divine be likened to any of the things known by men, since every concept which
comes from some comprehensible image constitutes an idol of God and does not
proclaim God.
Responsory In 4:23-24
Those who worship the
Father must worship him in spirit and in truth. +The
Father seeks such worshipers as these.
V. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in
spirit
and truth.
+ The Father seeks ...
St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses,
2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82); from Word in Season II, 1st ed.
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