The Wind and Fire of Pentecost by Fr. Edward o.p.

Dear Fr. Edward,

Thank you
for the breathing of this Pentecost.
Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)    
Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fr. Edward
To: Donald
Sent: Saturday, 18 May 2013, 23:13
Subject: More lines

Dear Donald,

A poem for tomorrow and a poem for next Sunday!

Blessings from

fr Edward 

--
Father Edward Booth O.P.

Iceland.

The Wind and Fire of Pentecost

The wind and the fire were more than terrestrial:

they disturbed nothing, burnt nothing.

The wind was mighty but damaged the house not at all;

the fire did not burn those on whose heads it settled.

The fire was more firelike than fire

and the wind more windlike than wind.

For fire is dangerous when not limited

especially when its tongues come to dance in the grate,

and the wind shares more of the power of the Spirit than still air.

The fire's ultimate source was light itself:

it could burn, but here it illuminated powerfully mind and heart,

sealing those in Spirit on whom it appeared.

Wind needs a moveable object to show its power,

but this wind was rushing and powerful,

signifying the great force of its source,

yet it moved nothing.

How it had hovered, bird-like, protectively over creation:

merekapheth: protectingly, shieldingly,

transforming creation to homeliness -

all for its two viewers and their stock.

But they were too impatient, too self-aware  

when the Creator himself said,

"Do not experiment with what you contemplate;

possess it by knowledge and

savour it in your mind¨!

Real fire is warming, nature's wind is cooling:

elemental presences for

elemental people.

The angels had fire and invisible wind within themselves

marking the limits of allowed experience.

The pair wanted the warmth of the fire and the cool of the wind.

They wanted the fire as protection and warmth

for what it suggested of homeliness,

a place of rest and remission from their waking hours.

Their spiritual progeny returned at Pentecost

to make the world homely under the Spirit and found the Earth not too cold:

"See it, regard it; it will always remain with you ... !"

The protection of fire and its ambiance returned with the freshness of Spirit

from deep sources as soul-meant and indifferent.

Oh, keep those eyes sharp!

Put your skin in the wind -

to stimulate the blood vessels without ordering the times

but more to keep mind and senses awake to their Source.

Do not seek to possess them

but savour their presence,

and be savoured yourselves

from the great range of gifts

accompanying the Messiah

both manly-wise and womanly-wise.

Accept those gifts to play on your mind and heart

and ascend to the peak of a new Creation:

the gifts of the Lord are given without repentance! (Rom 11,29)

Fr. Edward O.P.

Stykkishólmur

For the Eve of Pentecost 2013

John the Baptist Nativity

In Nativitate S. Joannis BaptistaeBreviariun Cistercienseor click original size

Sunday, 24 June 2012

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist 

Solemnity

The birth of St. John was foretold by an angel of the Lord to his father, Zachary, who was offering incense in the Temple. It was the office of St. John to prepare the way for Christ, and before he was born into the world he began to live for the Incarnate God. Even in the womb he knew the presence of Jesus and of Mary, and he leaped with joy at the glad coming of the son of man. In his youth he remained hidden, because he for whom he waited was hidden also.

But before Christ's public life began, a divine impulse led St. John into the desert; there, with locusts for his food and haircloth on his skin, in silence and in prayer, he chastened his own soul. Then, as crowds broke in upon his solitude, he warned them to flee from the wrath to come, and gave them the baptism of penance, while they confessed their sins. At last there stood in the crowd One whom St. John did not know, till a voice within told him that it was his Lord. With the baptism of St. John, Christ began his penance for the sins of his people, and St. John saw the Holy Spirit descend in bodily form upon Him. Then the Saint's work was done. He had but to point his own disciples to the Lamb, he had but to decrease as Christ increased. He saw all men leave him and go after Christ. "I told you," he said, "that I am not the Christ. The friend of the Bridegroom rejoiceth because of the Bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled."

St. John had been cast into the fortress of Machærus by a worthless tyrant whose crimes be had rebuked, and he was to remain there till he was beheaded, at the will of a girl who danced before this wretched king. In this time of despair, if St. John could have known despair, some of his old disciples visited him. St. John did not speak to them of himself, but he sent them to Christ, that they might see the proofs of his mission.

Then the Eternal Truth pronounced the panegyric of the Saint who had lived and breathed for Him alone: "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist"

Barbieri Giovanni Francesco Saint John The Baptist

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Daily Gospel

http://dailygospel.org/main.php? language=AM&module=saintfeast&localdate=20120624&id=138&fd=1

Barbieri_Giovanni_Francesco_Saint_John_The_Baptist

Annunciation, Incarnation and Church, treble perspective

On the Eve of the Solemnity of the Annunciation The Abbot gave the special Chapter Sermon.
He made the twofold comments of Incarnation and Annunciation. “The whole purpose of the Annunciation is to tell of the imminent coming of the Lord in the flesh.  So the feast is of our Lady but it is much more about the Christ, about the One who was to come and save his people. Mary appears in the foreground of the play; Jesus, her son, waits in the wings.”  (Abbot’s Page).

The Night Office Reading
placed us in the ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD IN LENT
From a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny (Sermo I in annunciatione beatae Mariae: SC 202, 108-112)
The solemnity of the Lord's annunciation providentially interrupts the days of our Lenten observance, so that we are able to refresh ourselves with spiritual joy in the midst of the physical austerities, which weigh so heavily on us. Having been humbled by penitential sorrow, we are now encouraged by the announcement of the one who takes away the sins of the world. This is just what scripture says: Grief makes the heart heavy, but a kind word makes it glad…..

Pope Benedict XVI goes further to the treble perspective of Annunciation, Incarnation and Church.
“Every historical realization of the Church and every one of her institutions must be shaped by that primordial wellspring. They must be shaped by Christ, the incarnate Word of God. It is he that we are constantly celebrating:  Emmanuel, God-with-us, through whom the saving will of God the Father has been accomplished.

And yet - today of all days we contemplate this aspect of the Mystery - the divine wellspring flows through a privileged channel:  the Virgin Mary.

St Bernard speaks of this using the eloquent image of aquaeductus (cf. Sermo in Nativitate B.V. Mariae:  PL 183, 437-448). In celebrating the Incarnation of the Son, therefore, we cannot fail to honour his Mother. The Angel's proclamation was addressed to her; she accepted it, and when she responded from the depths of her heart:  "Here I am... let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1: 38), at that moment the eternal Word began to exist as a human being in time.” 

A Consistory occurred on the celebration of the Annunciation 25 March 2006.

The Pope took the opportunity to speak to the new Cardinals of “Every historical realization of the Church and every one of her institutions must be shaped by that primordial wellspring. They must be shaped by Christ, the incarnate Word of God.” . . .

The setting of the Homily for the Consistory in St. Peter’s shows Benedict XVI in his teaching, writing and inspiring.

In the reading of “Jesus of Nazareth”, Vol. 1` and Vol. 2, the style, thought and ‘touch’, can be recognized from this Homily of Annunciation.

ORDINARY PUBLIC CONSISTORY 

FOR THE CREATION OF NEW CARDINALS

EUCHARISTIC CONCELEBRATION WITH THE NEW CARDINALS

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Saint Peter's Square

Saturday, 25 March 2006

Dear Cardinals and Patriarchs, 

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For me it is a source of great joy to preside at this concelebration with the new Cardinals after yesterday's Consistory, and I consider it providential that it should take place on the liturgical Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord and under the sunshine that the Lord gives us. In the Incarnation of the Son of God, in fact, we recognize the origins of the Church. Everything began from there.

Every historical realization of the Church and every one of her institutions must be shaped by that primordial wellspring. They must be shaped by Christ, the incarnate Word of God. It is he that we are constantly celebrating:  Emmanuel, God-with-us, through whom the saving will of God the Father has been accomplished.

And yet - today of all days we contemplate this aspect of the Mystery - the divine wellspring flows through a privileged channel:  the Virgin Mary.

St Bernard speaks of this using the eloquent image of aquaeductus (cf. Sermo in Nativitate B.V. Mariae:  PL 183, 437-448). In celebrating the Incarnation of the Son, therefore, we cannot fail to honour his Mother. The Angel's proclamation was addressed to her; she accepted it, and when she responded from the depths of her heart:  "Here I am... let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1: 38), at that moment the eternal Word began to exist as a human being in time. 

From generation to generation, the wonder evoked by this ineffable mystery never ceases. St Augustine imagines a dialogue between himself and the Angel of the Annunciation, in which he asks:  "Tell me, O Angel, why did this happen in Mary?". The answer, says the Messenger, is contained in the very words of the greeting:  "Hail, full of grace" (cf. Sermo 291: 6).

In fact, the Angel, "appearing to her", does not call her by her earthly name, Mary, but by her divine name, as she has always been seen and characterized by God:  "Full of grace - gratia plena", which in the original Greek is  . . .,  "full of grace", and the grace is none other than the love of God; thus, in the end, we can translate this word:  "beloved" of God (cf. Lk 1: 28). Origen observes that no such title had ever been given to a human being, and that it is unparalleled in all of Sacred Scripture (cf. In Lucam 6: 7).