Thank you William for your extreme interest in following my path in the Holyland sojourn.
Through the great hospitality of the monks of Latroun Abbey it was possible for me the make access to wonderful sacred places.
Thank you for taking such great interest in the Saint Saba’s focus.
William writes:
Please might you consider adding to the article 'Mar Saba' on your Blog the excerpt from your Holy Land Chronicle shown below?
"More Surprises – Spring of St. Sabas
I shall have to return to see “The Pluralistic Spiritual Centre” at Neve Shalom under construction, but my own discoveries continue at this very spot on learning of the association of St. Sabas with this place. In the course of lectures and expeditions we were introduced to the wonders of the Judean Desert Monasteries, e.g. St. George’s on the Wadi Qilt, St Gerasimo, east of Jericho, Mar Sabas etc.
What was my surprise to discover that Saint Sabas left his very successful laura at Mar Sabas, south of Bethlehem, because of rebellious monks settled at Nikopolis, the Byzantine name of Emmaus/Latroun, first as a hermit then as abba of the laura/monastery at this very place of Neve Shalom.
‘Fr. Rene (Prior} is going to take me down to the spring which supplied the monks with water. I have still to find if anything remains of the buildings. But how amazing! Even the Latroun booklet, printed in 1960s has no mention of this particular monastic settlement. It is also interesting that Murphy-O’Connor’s encyclopaedic “Holy Land”, (Oxford), shows a great partiality to the monastic sites which, owing to researches by young Israeli archaeologists, identifies at least 73 such ‘Judean Desert Monasteries’. This site, within the immediate environs of Latroun, is not actually in the Desert since the bulk of the hermitages, monasteries and lauras are within the confines of the extreme JudeanDesert. St. Sabas (439-532) founded eight monasteries in the JudeanDesert and two outside the desert."
Thank you for a fascinating article!
An avid follower,
In Our Lord,
William.
Neve Shalom – Wāħat as-Salām
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
View of the village from Latrun Monastery
Neve Shalom (Hebrew: נְוֵה שָׁלוֹם, lit. Oasis of Peace), also known as Wāħat as-Salām (Arabic: واحة السلام) is a cooperative village jointly founded by Israeli Arabs and Jews in an attempt to show that the two peoples can live side by side peacefully, as well as to conduct educational work for peace, equality and understanding between the two peoples. The village is located on one of the two Latrun hilltops, midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in the territory Israel has controlled since1967, which was until then no man's land between the Israeli and Jordanian lines. Falling under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, in 2006 it had a population of 200.
Mar Saba's Monastery is a sacred place I love to remember.
By courtesy of the Abbot and Community of Latroun Abbey I was accompanied to on three occasions.
The story of St. Saba became all the more interest to learn that in Latroun Abbey the site of one of the Saint's hermit's cave. In the higher groun we visited the place among the trees. It so happened at that moment some Russian folks from Tel Avive were picnicking and we were entusiastically asked us monks to join in the festivity which we thorouthly enjoyed.
Mar Saba Monastery, Bethlehem
The Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba or Saint Saba's Monastery; 14.5 km east of Bethlehem and a further 6 km from St. Theodosius; is considered to be the oldest ongoing inhabited monastery in the Holy Land and one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, founded by Saint Saba of Cappadocia in the year 439.
The immense and spectacular monastery built into the rock overlooking the KidronRiver, with its griddle of walls and towers, is a thrilling shock when it suddenly comes into view in the midst of this desertland.
It represents a way of life unchanged since the time of Constantine. It has 110 cells and sheltered 4000 monks in the 7th century although today it only houses ten monks.
Despite the fact that Mar Saba is reputed to have had a long tradition of hospitality to strangers, women have never been allowed to enter. This regulation persists today, so female visitors must be satisfied with a glimpse of the chapel and buildings from a nearby two-storey tower on the right entrance, the so-called Women's Tower.
December 4, 2009
St. John Damascene
(676?-749)
John spent most of his life in the monastery of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed, protected by it. He was born in Damascus, received a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a government position under the Arabs. After a few years he resigned and went to the monastery of St. Sabas.
He is famous in three areas.
First, he is known for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him.
Second, he is famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers (of which he became the last). It is said that this book is to Eastern schools what the Summa of Aquinas became to the West.
Thirdly, he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church, the other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother and his sermons on her feasts are well known.
Comment:
John defended the Church’s understanding of the veneration of images and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies. For over 30 years he combined a life of prayer with these defenses and his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord.
Quote:
“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith).
December 5th.
Saint. Sabas
(b. 439)
Born in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey), Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of Palestine and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism.
After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life. Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in virtue.
At age 18 he traveled to Jerusalem, seeking to learn more about living in solitude. Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple of a well-known local solitary, though initially he was regarded as too young to live completely as a hermit. Initially, Sabas lived in a monastery, where he worked during the day and spent much of the night in prayer. At the age of 30 he was given permission to spend five days each week in a nearby remote cave, engaging in prayer and manual labor in the form of weaving baskets. Following the death of his mentor, St. Euthymius, Sabas moved farther into the desert near Jericho. There he lived for several years in a cave near the brook Cedron. A rope was his means of access. Wild herbs among the rocks were his food. Occasionally men brought him other food and items, while he had to go a distance for his water.
Some of these men came to him desiring to join him in his solitude. At first he refused. But not long after relenting, his followers swelled to more than 150, all of them living in individual huts grouped around a church, called a laura.
The bishop persuaded a reluctant Sabas, then in his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood so that he could better serve his monastic community in leadership. While functioning as abbot among a large community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life of a hermit. Throughout each year —consistently in Lent—he left his monks for long periods of time, often to their distress. A group of 60 men left the monastery, settling at a nearby ruined facility. When Sabas learned of the difficulties they were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in the repair of their church.
Over the years Sabas traveled throughout Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many to the Church. At the age of 91, in response to a plea from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas undertook a journey to Constantinople in conjunction with the Samaritan revolt and its violent repression. He fell ill and, soon after his return, died at the monastery at Mar Saba. Today the monastery is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and St. Sabas is regarded as one of the most noteworthy figures of early monasticism.
Comment:
Few of us share Sabas’s yearning for a cave in the desert, but most of us sometimes resent the demands others place on our time. Sabas understands that. When at last he gained the solitude for which he yearned, a community immediately began to gather around him and he was forced into a leadership role. He stands as a model of patient generosity for anyone whose time and energy are required by others—that is, for all of us.
VATICAN CITY, 2 DEC 2009 (VIS) - William of St. Thierry was the subject of the Holy Father's catechesis during his general audience, celebrated this morning in St. Peter's Square.
William, a friend and admirer of Bernard of Clairvaux, was born in Liege between the years 1075 and 1080. A member of a noble family, he was educated in the most famous schools of the time and later entered the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Nicaise in Reims. He subsequently became abbot of the monastery of Saint-Thierry where, however, he was unable to reform the community as he wished and abandoned the Benedictines to enter the Cistercian abbey of Signy. There he wrote a number of important works of monastic theology.
"De natura et dignitate amoris" (The nature and the dignity of love) contains, the Pope explained, one of William's fundamental ideas, which also holds true for us today:"The principal force that moves the human soul is love. ... The truth is that only one task is entrusted to each human being: learning to love sincerely, authentically and freely. But only at the school of God can this task be achieved and can man attain the end for which he was created".
"Learning to love is a long and arduous path", said the Holy Father. "In this journey people must impose an effective asceticism upon themselves ... in order to eliminate any disordered affections ... and unify their lives with God - source, goal and power of love - until reaching the summit of spiritual life, which William defined as 'wisdom'. At the end of this ascetic itinerary, we experience great serenity and sweetness".
William likewise attributes considerable importance "to the emotional dimension" because "our heart is made of flesh and when we love God, Who is Love, how can we not express our human feelings in this relationship with the Lord? ... The Lord Himself, becoming man, chose to love us with a heart of flesh".
For this Cistercian monk, love "illuminates the mind and enables a better and more profound understanding of God and, in God, of people and events". Love "produces attraction and communion to the point of effecting a transformation, an assimilation, between the lover and the loved. ... And this holds true, above all, for knowledge of God and of His mysteries, which surpass our mind's capacity to understand. God is known if he is loved", Benedict XVI affirmed.
He concluded by quoting from the "Epistola aurea" addressed to the Cistercians of Mont-Dieu, a summary of William of St. Thierry's ideas on the subject of love: "The image of God present in man impels him towards resemblance; that is, towards an ever fuller identification between his will and the divine will. This perfection, which William calls 'unity of spirit', cannot be achieved through individual effort, ... but by the action of the Holy Spirit which ... purifies and ... transforms into charity all the desire for love present in the human being. ...In this way ... man becomes by grace what God is by nature".
Vatican Information Service AG/WILLIAM OF ST. THIERRY/... VIS 091202 (520)
Tuesday, December 1st., of the First Week of Advent Year C
The Gospel of LUKE is assigned to this Year C
Finding in the Tuesday Gospel passage, LUKE 10:21-24, I found it greatly attracting and fascinating. As I probe more I find further.
From Ronald Knox to Dom Henry Wansbrough emerges the remarkable recognition of “one of the deepest reflections in the Synoptic Gospels on the relationship between Father and Son”.(Wansbrough)
It is by good fortune to discover this “Year of Luke” book for every day.
A Harmony of the Gospels, R. Knox Translation
§54. Jesus Rejoices and Thanks the Father
§54. Jesus Rejoices and Thanks the Father
MATTHEW 11:25-27
25 At that time Jesus said openly, Father, who art Lord of heaven and earth, I give thee praise that thou hast hidden all this from the wise and the prudent,
26 and revealed it to little children. Be it so, Father, since this finds favour in
27 thy sight. My Father has entrusted everything into my hands; none knows the Son truly except the Father, and none knows the Father truly except the Son, and those to whom it is the Son's good pleasure to reveal him.
LUKE 10:21-24
21 At this time, Jesus was filled with gladness by the Holy Spirit, and said, Father, who art Lord of heaven and earth, I give thee praise that thou ha l hidden all this from the wise and the prudent, and revealed it to little children.
22 Be it so, Lord, since this finds favour in thy sight. My Father has entrusted everything into my hands; none knows what the Son is, except the Father, and none knows what the Father is, except the Son, and those to whom
23 it is the Son's good pleasure to reveal him. Then, turning to his own disciple,
24 he said, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see; I tell you, there have been many prophets and kings who have longed to see what you see, and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
Ronald Knox A New Testamenr Commentary.
LUKE 10.21-24.
Jesus Thanksgiving and Blessedness of the Disciples
The remaining four verses of this passage are to be found in two different contexts in Matthew, 11.25-27 and 13.16-17. There is no doubt that Matthew gives the former utterance a more natural setting; what is hidden from the wise and prudent is the lesson which ought to have been conveyed by our Lord's miracles, whereas "all this" in Luke has the vaguest possible reference. Similarly Matthew 13.16, with its emphatic " But blessed are your eyes", fits into the argument without difficulty, whereas in Luke there is no obvious reason why our Lord should break off his conversation with the Seventy to address a remark (which might have been equally made at any other time) to the Twelve. It looks, therefore, as if Luke 10. 17-20 should be treated as a parenthesis, and verse 21 should be taken closely with the Chorazin-Bethsaida context, as in Matthew.
Verses 23 and 24 will have been known to Luke merely as an isolated utterance, which he fitted in here because it matched the reference to " revelation" in verse
22. Luke, as usual, gives us the impression that he was not familiar with Matthew's gospel, so far as its structure was concerned, but had access to some catena of Divine utterances which was either extracted from Matthew's gospel, or used in the compiling of it.
MATTHEW
11 :25-27 Jesus' thanksgiving prayer stands in contrast to the preceding narrative (11 :20-24). While several towns reject Christ, there is a remnant (including the disciples) who trust him with the simplicity of infants (11:25; cf. 18:1-4; 19:13-15). Jesus' language is similar to several statements in John's Gospel that articulate his unique relationship with the Father (Jn 3:35; 10:14-15; 17:25) .The intimacy between the Father and Son points to their oneness within the Blessed Trinity-i.e., their shared divine knowledge implies a shared divine nature.
. . .
LUKE
10:22 Jesus is the divine Son of God and, so, the heir of his Father's authority and estate (Mt 28:18; Jn 3:35; 17:2). - The Father, Son, and Spirit are equal in being, and no one of them possesses more of the divine life and knowledge than another. Since the Son is no less perfect than the Father, he is uniquely qualified to reveal the inner life of the Trinity to the world (Jn 1:18; 14:9) (CCC 253,2603).
Comments - Scot Hanh
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LUKE People’s Bible Commentary.
A Bible Commentary for Every Day
by Henry Wansbrough O.S.B.
LUKE 10:21-24
A FINAL BLESSING
This long section on disciples and discipleship ends with a double blessing: Jesus blesses his Father in gratitude, and his disciples for the revelation that has been given to them, and which they are to spread to others. Between these two blessings he pronounces one of the deepest reflections in the Synoptic Gospels on the relationship between Father and Son.
The eagerness of children
The blessing begins with Luke's characteristic theme of reversal. Mary's hymn of praise in the Magnificat centred on gratitude that God had 'pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly'. The beatitudes promise the kingdom of God to those who are poor now, and laughter to those who weep now. Now the reversal concerns revelation: it is not the learned and clever who receive the secrets of revelation but 'mere children'. This comes close to Paul's insistence, writing to the Corinthians, that God's folly is wiser than human wisdom, that human wisdom was unable to recognize God, and 'it was God's own pleasure to save believers through the folly of the gospel' (1 Corinthians 1: 21) .
The preference for children is no romantic idealization of childhood, about their supposed innocence or guilelessness; rather, it gives the clue to why Jesus earlier set a child among the disciples as a model. One real universal characteristic of children is willingness to learn, an appreciation that they are an empty canvas on which there is still much to be drawn. Imitation is a feature of childhood from the very beginning. Adults hate being corrected; for children it is an inevitable part of life, and something on which to grow. The eagerness to grow in mind is as keen as the longing to grow in body, and a child realises that, while it can do nothing to speed bodily growth, it can do much to speed mental development. It is this eagerness to receive and to learn that Jesus here praises as the prerequisite of revelation.
The 'Johannine thunderbolt'
Between the two blessings at beginning and end of this little section comes the stunning statement about the relationship of the Son to the Father. Nothing else like it exists in the Synoptic Gospels, but it is amply filled out in the Gospel of John. The basic theology is that of the 'shaliah'. This is a Hebrew term in rabbinic writings for an envoy, sent with specific powers. The envoy is regarded as having the same powers, deserving the same respect, holding the same position as his principal. He is sent out by and reports back to the principal. In his turn he can appoint envoys to extend his work. This is clearly the concept which stands behind much of John's expression of the relationship of the Son to the Father, who shows him everything he himself does, who gives all judgment to the Son: 'as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself' (John 5:26).
The importance of this statement comes from the fact that the Hebrew mind defines in dynamic rather than static terms. The later Trinitarian theological definitions of the great Councils are given in static terms. That is, instead of describing the relationship of Son to Father in the Greek terms of essence and nature, as did the early Church Councils (dominated by Greek thought), the Hebrew mind describes in terms of powers and action, what a person does rather than what a person is. So here the Son reveals the Father, and to know the Son is to know the Father. Just as in John judgment has been entrusted to the Son, so here 'everything' has been entrusted to the Son, so that the Son is the plenipotentiary of the Father, and stands in the place of the Father.
PRAYER
Father; you reveal yourself to us in your Son. Teach me to pray and meditate over this revelation you give, and draw me ever closer into company with your Son and so with you.
Cardinal O'Brien urges Scots to learn about their patron saint.
In an article in today’s Sunday Times, Cardinal Keith O'Brien will call on Scots to learn more about their patron, St. Andrew whose feast day will be celebrated tomorrow, 30 November.
Commenting on an opinion poll showing almost half of respondents think St. Andrew was Scottish, the Cardinal describes the finding as "nothing short of alarming" he also adds his voice to calls for a public holiday, saying Scotland must "grasp the thistle and create a national public holiday."
Cardinal O'Brien will celebrate Mass on St. Andrew's Day, at St. Mary's Cathedral, Broughton Street, Edinburgh at 12.45pm.
The full text of the Cardinal's article is shown below.
"The celebration of the feast of St Andrew has taken place in Scotland since earliest times and, indeed, Scotland should feel honoured to have Andrew, a fisherman from Galilee who was Jesus’s second apostle, as its patron saint.
However, how many Scots today are familiar with the religious history and significance of St Andrew? The results of an opinion poll published in this newspaper provide depressing testament to a widespread lack of understanding. In recent years our interest in Andrew has increasingly revolved around the secular idea of a national holiday.
Knowledge of the saint and his life is disappointingly scant, the name Andrew has slipped to 20th place in the current ranking of Scottish boy’s names and the fact that almost a third of young people don’t know who Scotland’s patron saint is and almost half of all Scots questioned in the Sunday Times poll think that St Andrew was Scottish is nothing short of alarming.
While the Catholic Church continues to regard St Andrew’s day as a solemnity or holy day, for most Scots 30th November is a day to be marked in other often disparate ways. Saltires fly on the Forth road bridge, children are encouraged to paint their faces and the Scottish government announces almost half a million pounds towards St Andrew’s Day celebrations, none of which seem to mention or celebrate Andrew himself.
How many of these schoolchildren know what the white cross they paint represents? Or for that matter how many of the politicians who fund these jamborees know who Andrew actually was? Where in our country are the statues of him or memorials in his honour?
For 15 centuries the church has revered and guarded the memory of Andrew. It has respected and upheld his memory preserving it from expropriation and destruction at the hands of reformers, kings and politicians. It is appropriate that civil society should mark the feast day of our patron and fitting that secular events take place, but we would do well to remember that what is seen today as a “holiday” started life as a “holy day” — and, despite the welcome presence of many new faiths in our society, Scotland remains at heart a Christian country.
To turn our national day into a secular event only, would be to eviscerate it completely. It would become no different from the empty bells and jingles that signify Christmas without Christ or the festival of chocolate, which is all that's left of Easter without the resurrection.
St. Andrew’s day, should be Scotland’s national day of prayer, for our nation, our people and our future. We cannot cement this day in our national calendar until we grasp the thistle and create a national public holiday. We must not allow any future generations of Scottish children to grow up in this country without some rudimentary knowledge of their patron.
If we are truly to endorse a curriculum for excellence in our schools it must impart information about our patron to all Scotland’s children. Teachers must be given greater scope to retell the history of our patron saint — our education system should never pander to misguided and baseless fears that in doing so we may upset members of other faiths.
While civic events are useful, spiritual action is crucial. It is in prayer and worship that we truly honour St Andrew. There is no reason why the two cannot be combined. Every year on the feast of St Andrew I celebrate mass in St. Mary’s Cathedral, politicians and civic leaders are always invited and at the end of the celebration one of them is invited to address the congregation. Last year Alex Salmond, our first minister, spoke and this year Jim Murphy, the secretary of state for Scotland, will address us.
This feast day mass has become the spiritual focal point for our national celebrations and I hope it will remain so.
On many occasions in recent years I have spoken about the growth of secularism in our society, St. Andrew’s day gives us an opportunity to counter this with prayers to our patron saint. We should ask for his intercession for the good of our country and in so doing illustrate to all Scots in our increasingly multicultural nation part of the Christian identity and ethos which makes us who we are.
We in Scotland share St Andrew, who is also patron of Russia, Greece, Spain, butchers, and fishermen and among other things, rope makers. He is believed to have been martyred at Patras in Greece on November 30 in the year 60 on a diagonal or saltire cross.
According to legend Saint Regulus was a Greek monk who, in the fourth century, came to Scotland with the bones of Saint Andrew and was shipwrecked on the shores of Fife at the place which is now St Andrews. He acted on a dream in which he was warned to move as many of the saint’s bones to the “ends of the earth” for safekeeping.
The Regulus legend was opportunistically used by mediaeval Scottish kings in an early example of secular powers commandeering religious affairs. It allowed them to authenticate the apostle as patron saint of Scotland, thus giving our nation a top-rank patron saint and a separate identity from England during a period of territorial aggrandisement by our southern neighbour.
In any event by the 11th century, the town of St. Andrews had become a significant pilgrimage centre, visited constantly by thousands of pilgrims. Queen Margaret, endowed a ferry service across the river Forth and hostels, at north and south Queensferry, to meet the needs of these pilgrims.
Today our politicians’ debate plans to build another crossing over the Forth, but it has nothing to do with meeting the needs of pilgrims wishing to venerate our patron.
The saints relics were eventually housed in the great medieval Cathedral of St Andrews. Twice a year they were carried in procession around the town.In June 1559 the interior of St Andrews Cathedral, including the shrine and relics, was destroyed by reformers who had accompanied John Knox to the city.
For more than two centuries Scotland had no tangible link with Andrew until 1879 when the Archbishop of Amalfi gifted one of his relics to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh. Ninety years later Pope Paul VI gave my predecessor Cardinal Gordon Joseph Gray a further relic in St Peter’s in Rome in 1969.
In 1982 both these relics were housed in the altar to the north of the High Altar of St Mary’s cathedral, which now serves as the national shrine to St Andrew, successor to the shrine destroyed in 1559. It was here in May 1982 that Pope John Paul II knelt and prayed to Scotland’s patron.
Sadly, little of this fascinating history is widely known in this country. Before we celebrate another St. Andrew’s day, I hope we will have begun to change that. "
The ADVENT Season was introduced this morning at the Community Chapter.
The Homily was addressed by Brother Celestine.
ADVENT
The General Norm for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar states that: “The Advent has a two-fold character: as a season to prepare us for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ’s Second Coming at th
e end of time. Advent is thus a period for devout and joyful expectation.”
Though intrinsically linked with the incarnation of Christ at Christmas, advent really directs our minds and hearts towards the eschatological return of Christ. Initially the word adventus, meaning coming, was synonymous with the fact and the feast of the Incarnation itself, but gradually it came to designate the time just before Christmas.
Just as we recognise that Christmas is not only a commemoration of Christ’s birth as an historical event, but also as the salvific event which brings Christ into the souls of men, so also the Advent designates a time we long for this action to take place in our life. This is aptly expressed by the Oration for the second Sunday of Advent which states: “Stir us up, O Lord, to make ready for your only begotten Son. May we be able to serve you with purity of soul through the coming of him who lives and reigns…”
Not only can the Advent not be understood apart from Christmas, it encompasses the entire mystery of the Incarnation and all that the incarnation implies. Because Christ has come for the first time, he is expected again at the end of time, but in the meantime He is very much present with His Church as he promised. This is the way then we consider the season of advent and Christmas in their full and final achievement. The Advent is at once a commemoration of Christ’s first coming, His presence in the church and an anticipation of His eschatological return when the whole redemptive work will be consummated.
This is the basis for St Bernard’ teaching on the three comings of Christ. This is Christian spirituality’s conception of the Incarnational mystery in the light of its complete and final realization. Between His first and final comings, Christ comes by grace in the heart of men and this coming is a constant phenomenon; it is the very life of the Christian as expressed in the liturgy. This is why the first Sunday continues the eschatological theme begun on the thirty-third Sunday of the Church’s year. It is by living the mystery of Christ’s presence here and now that we prepare to welcome him in the final phase of His coming.
Marked by a spirit of great expectation and preparation, we anticipate the judgement on sin and our calling to accountability before God. Yet unlike those who have no hope, Christians anticipates the arrival of Christ in a profoundly joyous way: It is in the spirit of the bridesmaid who joyously and anxiously await the Bridegroom. By our humble prayers, devotion and commitment we long for the coming King, who will deliver us from all evils. Hence the Church calls out to the Lord, with messianic hope and expectations:
