Monday 3 February 2014

Patristic Lectionary, Esau is supplanted: Genesis 27:30-450 Hilary and Ambrose

Candlemass Offertory
A Word in Season - Reading by St Ambrose,- newer Edition commentary of St. Hilary of Poitiers.  
Placing the commentaries of Hilary (315-367) and Ambrose (339-397) in columns impress on us the patristic biblical styles succeeding in 30 years, 367-397.

MONDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II
Jacob deceives Isaac
A READING FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS
(Esau is supplanted: Genesis 27:30-450

As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ... When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ..
.v. 40 “By your sword you shall live,  And your brother you shall serve;  But it shall come about when you become restless,  That you will break his yoke from your neck.” 

Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2

A READING FROM ON JACOB AND THE BLESSED LIFE BY ST AMBROSE

Saint Ambrose
Saint Hilary of Poitiers
A READING St Ambrose, On Jacob and the Blessed Life, 3.10-12; FoC 65 (1971) tr. McHugh
On Jacob and the Blessed Life
After Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, the elder brother arrived. By this it is revealed that the Kingdom was predestined to be bestowed on the Church rather than on the synagogue, but had secretly entered the synagogue so that sin might abound and, when sin had abounded, that grace might also abound. At the same time, it makes it clear that the candidate for the kingdom of heaven must be quick to carry off the blessing for which he has been recommended. On this ac­count the younger son was not blamed by his father but praised, for Isaac says, Your brother came deceitfully and received your blessing. For deceit is good when the plunder is without reproach. Now the plunder of piety is without reproach, because from the days of John the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent bear it away. Our fathers celebrated the Pasch in haste and ate the Lamb in haste with no delay, and the holy Joseph summoned his brother Benjamin by a holy fabrication and deceit.
Nevertheless, Esau brought it about by his demands and entreaties that he did receive a blessing, but such a blessing as was in agreement with the earlier one, namely that he should serve his brother. Indeed, the one who could not command the other ought to have served him, in order to be ruled by the one who was more wise. It was not the role of the holy Patriarch to deliver his own son to the ignoble state of slavery. But since he had two sons, one without moderation and the other moderate and wise, in order to take care for both like a good father, he placed the moderate son over the son without moderation, and he ordered the foolish one to obey the one who was wise. For the foolish man cannot of his own accord be a disciple of virtue or persevere in his intent, because the fool changes like the moon. Isaac was right to deny Esau freedom to make his own choices; else he might drift like a ship in the waves without a helmsman. But Isaac made him subject to his brother according to that which is written, The unwise man is the slave of the wise man. Therefore the Patriarch was right to make him subject, so that he might amend his dispositions under rule and guidance. And so Isaac says, By your sword shall you live; you shall serve your brother, for holiness has mastery over cruelty and kindness excels over emotions that are harsh.
Every man who does not possess the authority conferred by a clear conscience is a slave; whoever is ensnared by pleasure or seduced by desires or provoked by wrath or felled by grief is a slave. In fact, every passion is servile, because everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin, and, what is worse, he is the slave of many sins. The man who is subject to vices has sold himself to many masters, so that he is scarcely permitted to go out of servitude.­ But the man who is the master over his own will, judge over his counsels, and who restrains the longing of his bodily passions, is assuredly a free man. For the man who does all things wisely and in complete accord with his will is the only truly free man. 

Second Reading
From the writings of Saint Hilary of Poitiers (Tract. Mysteriorum 25-26: se 19bis, 116-120)
The door of salvation is open to all

In the Bible everything is carefully recounted and written down to enable us to perceive the superabundant mercy of God in the present prefiguration of what will take place in the future, for the same narrative of events applies both to the here and now and to what is hoped for in time to come.

When about to bless Jacob in place of Esau, Isaac was anxious not to be deceived in any way. This shows his love for Esau, Nevertheless, when a little later Esau returned from his hunting and presented himself to his father as his first-born to receive his blessing, Isaac showed no emotion on discovering that Jacob had stolen his blessing but rather confirmed the blessing he had given him.

Why did he change his mind? Why were his feelings inconsistent? Surely it must be because the words of scripture refer both to historical events and to those to which we look forward in hope. The concern Isaac showed by the questions he put to Jacob was prompted by his paternal affection; his refusal to revoke the blessing stemmed from spiritual insight. In the former he followed natural impulse, in the latter he held to providentially ordained symbolism. In the former the father was concerned to sanctify his first-born, in the latter, moved by the spirit of prophecy, he confirmed the blessing of the new people. The narrative recounts historical events, but at the same time points to the hope they prefigure.

Yet this is not the end of the prophecy, for the people of old could still aspire to a share in the blessing bestowed on the new people if only they would believe. The door of salvation is open to all, and the way of life is hard not because it is difficult in itself, which it is not, but because of our own will. That it is the human will which delays the reception of divine mercy is shown by the words addressed to Esau, He had asked for a blessing, but his father, moved by the Spirit, delayed the effects of the blessing he asked for until he had thrown off the yoke of his brother, who was to be his master. He was at liberty, then, to throw off the yoke, since it is the power of each of us, by an act of the will, to accept the faith.

When we have passed from the servitude of disbelief to the free­dom of faith we shall deserve the blessing.





Saturday 1 February 2014

Presentation of the Lord - consecrated life on the Feast of the Presentation

Archbishop Leo Cushley, Edinburgh, welcomes the Religious to Celebration  of Presentation at the Archdiocesan Centre.

Honouring the consecrated life on the Feast of the Presentation

Today the Universal Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord — a day when we all consider our own consecration to God. In particular, the feast is associated with the religious life, and so this day also marks the 16th World Day of Consecrated Life.
The purpose of the day is to help the entire Church to esteem ever more greatly the witness of those persons who have chosen to follow Christ by means of the practice of the evangelical counsels. [...]
Based on the latest statistics of the Canadian Religious Conference, there are more than 200 religious institutes and societies of apostolic life in Canada, with a total number of 19,235 women and men as members, while 350 women in Canada are members of women’s secular institutes.
Pope Benedict will be honouring the religious life by presiding over Vespers and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Peter’s Basilica. Consecrated men and women from various communities will be present. S+L will air the liturgy live on S+L TV and streaming online at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT. You can pray along with vespers with the online booklet for the celebration, which includes an English translation of the prayers.
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Credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring

02 Feb 2011
Presentation Feb 2nd - Nunraw anniversary 1946. Candlemass, the Solemnity of the Presentation of the Lord. The Rite of the Blessing of the Candles was celebrated in the early morning Cloister, We carried the lighted ...

  1. The Presentation of the Lord - Candlemas - Catholicism - About.com

    catholicism.about.com › ... › Holy Days and Holidays
    Known popularly as Candlemas, the Feast of thePresentation of the Lord celebrates the presentation of Christ in the temple at Jerusalem on the 40th day after ...
Introduction to the Presentation of the Lord:
Known originally as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a relatively ancient celebration. The Church at Jerusalem observed the feast as early as the first half of the fourth century, and likely earlier. The feast celebrates the presentation of Christ in the temple at Jerusalem on the 40th day after His birth.
Quick Facts:
• Date: February 2
• Type of Feast: Feast
• Readings: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40 (full text here)
• Prayers: Nunc Dimittis (Canticle of Simeon; Luke 2:29-32): "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
• Other Names for the Feast: Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, the Meeting of the Lord, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
History:
According to Jewish law, the firstborn male child belonged to God, and the parents had to "buy him back" on the 40th day after his birth, by offering a sacrifice of "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:24) in the temple (thus the "presentation" of the child). On that same day, the mother would be ritually purified (thus the "purification").
Saint Mary and Saint Joseph kept this law, even though, since Saint Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Christ, she would not have had to go through ritual purification. In his gospel, Luke recounts the story (Luke 2:22-39).
Originally, the feast was celebrated on February 14,  ..........

St. Bridgid of Ireland (+ 523), 1 February


  


Dear Sr. Patricia, St. Brigid.
We remember of visit to the Faughart Shrine.
Best wishes of your favourite Patroness on the 1st of February.

Also greetings for our friend Brigid for the Feast Day of the Abbess, and Patroness of Ireland for Saturday.
Blessings and hope for a day of brighter weather at home.

God bless.
Fr. Donald.
PS. The Blogspot is from the traditional Butler's Lives of the Saints.

Saturday, 01 February 2014

St. Bridgid of Ireland (+ 523)



31 Jan 2011
In 835, her remains were moved to protect them from Norse invaders, and interred in the same grave that holds the remains of St Patrick and St Columcille at Downpatrick. She is sometimes known as Bridget, Bride and Mary ...


SAINT BRIDGID
Abbess, and Patroness of Ireland
(c. 453-523)
        Next to the glorious St. Patrick, St. Bridgid, whom we may consider his spiritual daughter in Christ, has ever been held in singular veneration in Ireland. She was born about the year 453, at Fochard in Ulster. During her infancy, her pious father saw in a vision men clothed in white garments pouring a sacred unguent on her head, thus prefiguring her future sanctity. While yet very young, Bridgid consecrated her life to God, bestowed everything at her disposal on the poor, and was the edification of all who knew her. She was very beautiful, and fearing that efforts might be made to induce her to break the vow by which she had bound herself to God, and to bestow her hand on one of her many suitors, she prayed that she might become ugly and deformed. Her prayer was heard, for her eye became swollen, and her whole countenance so changed that she was allowed to follow her vocation in peace, and marriage with her was no more thought of. When about twenty years old, our Saint made known to St. Mel, the nephew and disciple of St. Patrick, her intention to live only to Jesus Christ, and he consented to receive her sacred vows. On the appointed day the solemn ceremony of her profession was performed after the manner introduced by St. Patrick, the bishop offering up many prayers, and investing Bridgid with a snow-white habit, and a cloak of the same color. While she bowed her head on this occasion to receive the veil, a miracle of a singularly striking and impressive nature occurred: that part of the wooden platform adjoining the altar on which she knelt recovered its original vitality, and put on all its former verdure, retaining it for a long time after. At the same moment Bridgid's eye was healed, and she became as beautiful and as lovely as ever.

        Encouraged by her example,

Thursday 30 January 2014

Jacob-of-Serugh. PATRISTIC VIGILS READINGS ORDINARY TIME WEEKS 1 to 17 : YEAR II

Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Year 2

Night Office Readings,

First Reading    Genesis 24:1-27.
Second Reading    
 FROM A HOMILY BY BISHOP JACOB OF SARUGH

The Wedding of Rebecca prefigures
the spiritual wedding of the Church.

There are symbols hidden in the Scriptures for those who know how to interpret them, and great wealth to be found by those who immerse themselves in these texts. The inspired Prophets were artists who drew portraits of the Son of God, and they used symbolism to veil his beauty in their writings. Let those who would see the Son spiritually open the Bible: there, in his splendour, they will find him. 

Thus the fiancée, whom the old servant Eliezer presented to Isaac as his bride, represents the church of the nations. Isaac himself is a symbol of the Son of God, our Lord, the incorruptible Victim. For anyone who seeks to understand, Eliezer symbolises John the Baptist, who also brought about the wedding of his Master through water. Rebecca’s wells represent and foretell the baptism that prepares the bride for her marriage with the Son of God. Abraham is the symbol of the true Father who gave his Son a mysterious bride, chosen from far off among the nations, to make her heir of his wealth. 

You who have understanding, take the book, study it, and recognise the image of the Son hidden in these texts. When one goes over the broad outlines of this history, it is the path of our Lord that stands out. When you listen to the Bible being read, open your ears to the two ways of understanding it; develop the art of distinguishing the two levels of meaning. When the history of Isaac is related literally, learn how to see in it another figurative meaning.­ 

Thus the Son of God used water to celebrate his marriage. By water he wedded the Church and made her his own. By baptism the Bridegroom and the bride were united; they were two and they became only one in the one Spirit, as it is written. It is toward these symbols that Eliezer speeds when he unites the daughter of pagans to the son of promise. The way he travels is a foreshadowing of the true and definitive way opened by John the Baptist. The wedding of Rebecca, a virgin of dazzling beauty, prefigures the spiritual wedding of the Church.


Bishop Jacob of Sarugh, Hom. sur les fiancailles de Rebecca (L’Orient Syrien 3.324-326); Word in Season VII)

From the various extant accounts of Jacob's life and from the number of his known works, we gather that his literary activity was unceasing. According to Barhebraeus (Chron. Eccles. i. 191) he employed 70 amanuenses and wrote in all 760 metrical homilies, besides expositions, letters and hymns of different sorts. Of his merits as a writer and poet we are now well able to judge from P. Bedjan's edition of selected metrical homilies (Paris 1905-1908), containing 146 pieces. They are written throughout in dodecasyllabic metre, and those published deal mainly with biblical themes, though there are also poems on such subjects as the deaths of Christian martyrs, the fall of the idols and the First Council of Nicaea.
  wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_of_Serugh   
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  http://thehiddenpearl.org/tag/jacob-of-serugh/  


Wednesday 29 January 2014

3rd Wed, Parable of the Sower

Early Sky in the East
Mass Intro. From: Nivard...
3 Wed January 29: Mark 4:1-20
Adapted, 
Those who hear the word and accept it.
 
   Jesus' parable of the Sower is aimed at the hearers of his word.
   There are different ways of accepting God's word and they produce different kinds of fruit accordingly.
   There is the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind.
   Then there is the shallow hearer. He or she fails to think things out or think them through; they lack depth. They may initially respond with an emotional reaction; but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else.
   God gives grace to those who hunger for his word that they may understand his will and have the strength to live according to it. 
 
   Father in heaven, open our eyes to your deeds, and our ears to the sound of your call, that we may understand your will for our lives and live according to it, through Christ our Lord. 
+ + + 

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Th Love of the Sacred Heart. Monteith, R. (Robert), 1812-1884. YouTube




R. Monteith

Short Name:
R. Monteith
Full Name:
Monteith, R. (Robert), 1812-1884
Birth Year:
1812
Death Year:
1884
Monteith, Robert, M.A., son of Henry Monteith, M.P., of Carstairs House, Lanark, was b. in 1812, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1834, M.A. 1837). He succeeded his father in 1848, and d. March 31, 1884, at Carstairs. His hymn,
I arise from dreams of time [thee]. (Sacred Heart of Jesus), appeared in the Rambler, Sept. 1850, p. 237, entitled "The Sacred Heart. Lines presented to a Lady as a substitute for Shelley's Lines to an Indian air. R. M." (Shelley's “Indian Serenade," written in 1819, begins "I arise from dreams of thee"). It is repeated in the St. Andrew's Catholic Hymn Book, 1863, and others. In the Crown of Jesus Hymn Book, 1862, it begins "I rise."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

1.      
www.namethathymn.com › ... › Forum › Hymn Lyrics - Search Requests
http://www.namethathymn.com/hymn-lyrics-detective-forum/index.php?a=vtopic&t=771
6 13:41
Guest
My aunt Una, 92, is hunting for the rest of this hymn:

I rise from dreams of time,
An angel guards my feet,
To the sacred altar throne
Where Jesus' heart doth beat.

A Google search turns up the first line, but not the rest.  Can anyone help?
Sean

Posted:  05 Mar 2007 12:55
Guest    
  
I rise from dreams of time 

And an angel guides my feet 
To the sacred altar throne 
Where Jesus’ heart doth beat 
Ever pleading day and night 
Thou cannot from us part 
O veiled and wondrous sight 
O love of the Sacred Heart 

The lone lamp softly burns 
And a gentle silence reigns 
Only with a low still voice 
The Holy One complains 
Ever pleading day and night 
Thou cannot from us part 
O veiled and wondrous sight 
O love of the Sacred Heart 

Long, long I’ve waited here 
And though thou heeds not Me 
The heart of God’s own Son 
Beats ever on for thee 
Ever pleading day and night 
Thou cannot from us part 
O veiled and wondrous sight 
O love of the Sacred Heart 

In the womb of Mary mild 
In the cradle of the tree 
Heart of pure undying love 
You lived and died for me 
Ever pleading day and night 
Thou cannot from us part 
O veiled and wondrous sight 
O love of the Sacred Heart

Posted:  24 Jan 2008 23:05
Guest
Than kyou very much for this hymn, this was my great grandmothers favourite and i have been searching for a long time


  www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2W8mzJ8uvs  
·          
·          
 
4 Apr 2011 - Uploaded by lulubritpetition
Lulu, Eddi Reader, Jack Bruce & Edwyn Collins -I Rise From Dreams of Time .... RelaxingHymns On Piano - A Whole Hour of Spiritual Musicby  .

Monday 27 January 2014

Fr Eamonn Anselm Magrath, Rest in Peace, 25 January, 2014

Nunraw  1946 ─ 1967
Brentwood Diocese 1967 ─ 2013

R I P
FROM: William ...
Dear Father Donald,

Thank you for sharing with me the funeral of Fr Anselm. As Fr Abbot Mark's homily concludes, with his passing and that of Fr Stephen last February a chapter in the life of Nunraw closes - and, as it does - so too the old Abbey closes: I find that very poignant. It is almost as if Fr Anselm's funeral comes to mark the close of an era... and the event coincides with the memorial of the Cistercian Founders.

I suppose matters will be progressing with the transfer of the old Abbey to the new owner. Such finality, cutting the ties with the past.

It is perhaps during the Night Office most of all that these changes find their meaning, in the quietness and the stability of the daily life of the Community, in which the love of God shines in the darkness.

Thus, in much sadness, and yet with confidence in the eternal Providence of God.

With my love in Our Lord,
William 


Fr. Anselm 1947
FROM: Donald ...
Dear William,
Thank you of the so many interesting Email not yet caught up with.
Today we celebrated the Solemnity of the Citeaux Fathers.
Yesterday we had the unique funeral of the Monk (Nunraw) and Priest (Brentwood Diocese).
Fr. Mark has just sent me the panegyric - thus with the Attachments and maybe the whole story may piece together.
The family shared with us the Album of Pictures in the Refectory later. 
God love.
Donald
+ + + + + + +





   Monk                                       
     Fr. Eamonn (Anselm) Magrath
     
                                14.05.1918 – 13.12.2013
                                Priest 
  
Funeral Homily of Fr Eamonn Anselm Magrath              25 January, 2014

The Gospel (Luke 12: 35-40) tells us to be ready, to wait patiently for the Lord's coming.  I have never known anyone who has waited so patiently to meet his Master as has Fr Eamonn, our Fr Anselm. 

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the details, Fr Eamonn died on 13th December.  We were expecting a funeral during the Christmas rush.  Then we were told that there would be a delay as it would take another 4 days for official permission to move his remains from England to Scotland.  Shortly after that the undertaker phoned to say that there was a further problem as Fr Eamonn had fallen in hospital before he died. There would therefore have to be a post-mortem.  With Christmas and the holiday period, weeks went by.  The next news was that his body had not yet been returned after the post-mortem.  It took another week or so before the death certificate and other documents were obtained and the journey north possible. 

I wonder if he would have been allowed some exasperation during that wait.  No doubt it increased his desire to be with God.  

In the beginning of Nunraw's history, Fr Eamonn, who took his middle name (Anselm) as his monastic name, came over with the very first of the founders from our mother house at Roscrea, Ireland.  In the early years at Nunraw he became the first Fr Master of the lay brothers.  As the M. C. he had to organise the liturgy for the main ceremonies at the abbey.  He was nothing if not meticulous, as can be seen in the chronicles he kept of the ongoing events at Nunraw.  

Fr. Anselm, hewing of stone
  There are photographs of him laying the stonework in the building of the new abbey.  There were no end to his talents.  He was a gifted carpenter, making, for example, the first of our choir stalls, to which Brother Antony later added in the same style.  Anselm seemed to be everywhere producing what was required for the growing numbers in the community in its heyday.  

While we were waiting for the return of his remains to Nunraw, the image that kept passing before my eyes was that of a bottle, with its message closed inside, thrown into the sea and left to the whims of the currents.  Now, finally, it has come to shore.  He has been found and ready for the remaining short distance to his final resting place.  

Anselm has been waiting a long time for the Master to come.  In the parable in today's gospel, he has been waiting and ready. The Master, as promised, has come.  He has put on his apron and ready to set him down at table and to serve him.  'Good and faithful servant' just about sums up the situation.  All his contributions to the Nunraw community, all the serving and caring among his parishioners in the diocese of Brentwood, have been recognised and can now be suitably acknowledged by his Lord and Master.       
Fr Master of the lay brothers, on his r. Abbot Camillus
Fr Anselm came with the first group to make the foundation at Nunraw.  Fr Stephen Murphy was, I think, the last of the founders to arrive a couple of years after Anselm.  Stephen died almost a year ago.  So, Anselm was both the first here and the last to go of that founding group.  It is a fitting conclusion to one period in the life of our community.  The lives and deaths of these two holy men, who may not have been martyrs, may yet be the seed from which a new generation of monks come to populate these buildings which has already nourished many monks' lives.  We pray that this wish comes true.  
May he rest in peace.                                                    
 
Homily: Abbot Mark. Saturday 25 January 2014