Fr. Charles Dumont ocso - the Reading before Compline in community Chapter

At the Reading before Compline in community Chapter continues the Biography of  Fr. Charles Dumont ocso.
I am enjoying the 'life' of Fr. Charles immensely.
A couple of  quotations in the most recent pages, above.

During the winter of 1982-1983 Fr. Charles continued to go to Soleilmont regularly for confessions and a talk or two to the community, and from time to time went for ministry to La Paix in Chimay or to the Bernardine nuns in Charleville, but otherwise his activity was limited by a recurrence of his illness. On April 13 he underwent surgery at Saint Luke Hospital. Before long, however, it became evident that this last operation had not had the desired result. The two specialists who had been treating him decided that a radical operation was necessary. So it was that in the middle of August he was operated on for a definitive ablation of the ileum.

When this eight-hour operation was all over and he was coming to the first thing he heard was a nurse's voice urging him to "Breathe! Breathe!" After having successfully gone through this extreme ordeal, the doctors did not want to lose Fr. Charles simply because it didn't occur to him to breathe! But let the pa­tient tell his story:

After the operation, while I was still under the effects of the anaesthesia I felt so happy that I refused to make the effort that the nurse was asking of me, that is, to breathe! Finally she said: "If you don't breathe, you are going to die" ... I was praying to the Blessed Virgin, with the Hail

Mary in Greek!: χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη Μαρία,. I hadn't recited it in the original for more than twenty years. But there was the word "fruit" -καρπὸς- that I couldn't think of. And when I decided to breathe and to live, to the surprise of the nurse and doctor I cried out triumphantly: καρπὸς;!, which I had to explain. I believe that the Blessed Virgin was somehow present (Sept. '83).       [pp. 96-97]  (Luk 1:42)

from page 101

For him, Saint Bernard’s Sermons on the Song of Songs were the key to the whole Cistercian genius, and he would have liked to have seen the General Chapter take more interest in the Cistercian Fathers' teaching.

Even if Fr. Charles was at last freed of his most important health problem, he continued to be plagued by other ills. The next year he underwent two operations: one in July for kidney stones and the other, in October, for prostate problems. Between the two operations he went to Caldey to rest. Like most monas­teries, Caldey had changed considerably during the post-Vatican II period. Perched high on a cliff one day, he thought back over the years when he taught the juniors on Caldey Island, and wrote:

"Here I find nothing of the life I knew in the '50s. Only the sea and the rocks are the same. Since then, generations of sea gulls have come and gone. And what remains of the young monk of those days? Maybe a little of this desire for the absolute and eternity which I sometimes go to find at the edge of the waves" (5.26.86).

When Father Charles got back to Scourmont he learned that the book Prieres aux quaire temps had just come off the press."

Note 29. More than ten years later, Fr. Charles saw a letter in The Tablet by a British lady who had had an analogous experience during which she felt the Blessed Virgin's presence. Fr. Charles wrote to her and they compared notes, so to speak.

  

http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/charles-dumont-scourmont-abbey.html

Scourmont Abbey:
see the Abbot's Chapter and Homily word, http://www.scourmont.be/Armand/arm-fra.htm

Writings of Fr. Charles. 
Here are three of his more recent publications:

Charles Dumont Monk-Poet
A Spiritual Biography

Elizabeth Connor OCSO; Foreword by Mark A. Scott OCSO
Introduced to the spiritual theology of the twelfth-century Cistercian Fathers when he entered the abbey of Scourmont, Belgium, Charles Dumont shared his ever deepening knowledge as editor of the Order's French-language journal,Collectanea Cisterciensia, in articles and translations of texts, and in lectures in Europe and North and South America. He has also written and published poetry, combining his love of language with his love of the Fathers and their language.

Elizabeth Connor earned an M.A. in Classics at the John Hopkins University before entering the Abbaye de Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil in Québec, where she has served as formation director and prioress.
ISBN: 978-0-87907-040-3

Vigils Doxology

Night Office

Rublev icon, TRINITY

Doxology of Hymn of Thursday B

Glory be to God,

Father, Son and Dove,

Three and One in Love,

now and evermore.



I had forgotten where the  Icon in the monastery and yesterday there was on one of the pillars in the cloister. Above is the photo taken there.
And there must be some commentary crying out for.
The nearest YouTube:
  http://blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/solemnity-of-holy-trinity-2012.html  

Friday, 12 February - Blessed Humbeline sister of st Bernard 12 Feb.

Bl. Humbeline, 12 February

Friday, 12 February 2011

Blessed Humbeline sister of st Bernard 12 Feb.

Blessed Humbeline. February 12 Menology: Bl Humbeline St Bernard's only sister.  Married to a nobleman, Guy de Marcy, she enjoyed the life of a noble lady in the world, but a visit to her brothers at Clairvaux brought about a great change in her.  She began to lead a life of piety, and two years later entered the Benedictine convent of Jully.  In 1130 she became superior.  She died on August 21, probably 1141, in the presence of Bernard, Andrew and Nivard.  MBS, p. 52      A Reading about Blessed Humbeline. Humbeline was the only sister of St Bernard. She was born the year after him and they were always very close to each other. Like Bernard she was naturally well-endowed. When her brothers and father joined Citeaux in 1113, she came into a good part of their estates. And she married Guy de Marcy, a rich nobleman of the house of Lorraine. In the happiness of the first years of her marriage Humbeline was very popular among the nobility of Burgundy. She gave herself to the fascinating intellectual and social fashions of her century -the age of 'courtly love'; this was the clever and entertaining society in which women were beginning to play an important part. One day she decided to visit her brothers at Citeaux. At first St Bernard refused to see her, when he saw the rich splendour of her cavalcade and the vanity of her life. As she guessed what it was that had upset him, she sent word that she would do as he said if he came out to see her. After speaking with Bernard she left the monastery chastened. From then on she turned away from the pursuit of empty pleasures and sought her happiness in the things of God. She spent much time looking after the poor, the sick and the needy. After several years Humbeline began to think of the cloister. Eventually, with her husband's consent, she entered the Benedictine convent near Troyes. Humbeline's life in the convent was characterized by great generosity. And, in a Iife of unusual fasting and other physical austerities, she continued to live in the spirit of her conversion. When the abbess, who was her sister-in-law, left to found another convent near Dijon, Humbeline was appointed in her place. The convent very soon began to flourish under Humbeline's leadership and, within two or three years, twelve new foundations were made. One of these, the convent of Tart, later became the first house of Cistercian nuns. As Humbeline approached her death her brothers were called to her bedside. And as she lay dying she spoke of the love that existed between all the members of her family and which had helped to sanctify them all. We see here the fundamental sanity of the early Cistercians whose holiness consisted not in crushing and exterminating natural affection but in elevating and sublimating it. What they renounced was the selfishness in that affection. They gave their whole nature, with all of its powers and gifts, to God .and thev served him in those among whom he had placed them. It is no wonder then that Humbeline died with the words of the psalmist on her lips: 'I rejoiced in the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.' This recalls the words of the Canticle: 'Draw me, and we shall run after you ... '. When God takes someone to himself he never draws that one person alone. With the individuals who die God draws all those who have been bound to them with special ties of love in this world; they wi II be united with them in a particularly intimate way in the next. Adapted from Modern Biographical Sketches of Cist. Blesseds and Saints. Gethsemanl, 1954, Book IV, pp. 52-56, and Butler's Lives of the Saints, August, p 265.

February 11 Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick

February 11
Our Lady of Lourdes

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary conceived without sin.”
During interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white in the shape of a girl.” She used the word aquero, a dialect term meaning “this thing.” It was “a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm.” Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She wore a white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. Bernadette was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the informal form of address (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity.
Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became worldwide in 1907.

Bernadette Soubirous
 Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

 

Comment:

Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. Church authorities have recognized over 60 miraculous cures, although there have probably been many more. To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some would say that the greater miracles are hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters. There still may be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the film The Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”

Quote:

“Lo! Mary is exempt from stain of sin, Proclaims the Pontiff high; And earth applauding celebrates with joy Her triumph, far and high. Unto a lowly timid maid she shows Her form in beauty fair, And the Immaculate Conception truth Her sacred lips declare.” (Unattributed hymn from the Roman Breviary)

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/Saint.aspx?id=1288 

Saint Scholastic 10 February. Sr. Concordia died 5th Feb 2014

Saint Scholastica

Monday, 10 February, Benedictines celebrate the admirable life of Saint Scholastica of Nursia. Her twin brother, Saint Benedict, is the Patriarch of Western Monasticism.

"Whether or not the great Patriarch established a nunnery, it is certain that in a short time he was looked upon as a guide and father to the many convents already existing. His rule was almost universally adopted by them, and with it the title Abbess came into general use to designate the superior of a convent of nuns" (Cath. Encyclopedia).

Pope Saint Gregory, in Chapter 33 of Book II of his Dialogues, tells the story of the last meeting between the two siblings. He uses it to teach a lesson in the efficacy of prayer and the primacy of love. The visit Benedict made to his sister suggests that their monasteries were not far distant. Such has remained the pattern, and many Brother/Sister monasteries are geographically close. Through collaboration in the apostolate and in prayer, men and women Benedictines support each other in fidelity to the Holy Rule.

In the next chapter of the Dialogues, Gregory recounts how three days later Benedict, "lifting up his eyes to heaven, beheld the soul of his sister that had departed her body ascend into heaven in the likeness of a dove." He gave orders that they both should be buried at Monte Cassino. Saint Benedict was soon thereafter laid to rest beside her in the crypt of Monte Cassino Abbey. "As their souls had always been one in God while they lived, so their bodies continued together after their deaths."

  http://www.osb.org/new/current.html 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PAX

Minster Abbey Ramsgate     

Please pray for the repose of the soul of our dear 

Sister Maria Anna Concordia (Caroline) Scott OSB

who died peacefully, fortified by the Rites of the Holy Church

on the Feast of St. Agatha, 5th February 2014

in her 90th year

and the 59th year of her Monastic Profession.

SAINT BENEDICT

“Father of Europe”

Sculpted by

Sr. Concordia Scott O.S.B.

Minster Abbey  1980.

Note from Sr. Concordia, March 1980,
to Abbot at Nunraw.

The medallion on St. Benededict’s neck is the symbol for European Unity

-        - 12 stars around the cross - . 

A very happy Feastday to you and good community on 21st March

Yours in Christ

           Sr. Concordia Scott O.S.B

Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time

Fr. Raymond - Homily

Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time

"You are the light of the earth. ... -- From Today's Gospel Matthew 5: 13-16

Sun 5 yr.1

Jesus says that his followers will be a light to the world and salt for the earth.

Since we are his followers then we must consider ourselves as being this ‘light for the world’ this ‘salt for the earth’.  Certainly it would be, to say the least, a bit presumptuous of us if we just to say it of ourselves.  But it is Christ himself who says it of us and therefore it is something we must believe in; and not only is it something we must believe in, but it is something we must try our very best to live up to.  In fact it is one of the very fundamental obligations of  our Baptism.  Just as “No one lives for himself alone; no one dies for himself alone”,  so too, no one is baptized for himself alone.  The privilege of our Baptism means that we must do our best to share among our brothers and sisters in this world the wonderful light and life of grace that we have inherited.

In facing up to this tremendous responsibility it is encouraging for us to realise the power of the grace that is in us;  the tremendous power that is at work in us; the tremendous power that enables us to carry it out effectively and fruitfully.  When we look around at the world about us we could easily be dismayed.  There is so much evil at work.  Its influence seems to be so widespread and so powerful.  What can we do about it?  How can we possibly make any difference?  How can you and I be a light to the world and salt to the earth? The forces of Evil seem to have such a hold on the media, for instance; the press, the radio, television.  Unhealthy values are blared out on every side and dinned into our sight and hearing, into our minds day and night everywhere.

But here we must remember those wonderful words of St Paul:  “Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more”.  The face of grace is not so brazen as the face of evil; the voice of grace is not so strident as the voice of evil, but grace is none the less more powerful in many ways than they are to reach into the minds and hearts of men.  Grace and goodness are more powerful to lead them to the good than sin is to lead them to evil.  “Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more”. We must believe very firmly in that truth.  “Overcome evil with good” St Paul tell us, and he could not say that unless it was indeed possible to overcome evil with good; he could not say that unless Good was indeed more powerful than Evil.

The ultimate proof of this was given us on the hill of Calvary where evil thought it had triumphed over good but where , what it thought was its triumph, was in fact its own undoing.   

Fr. Raymond

   

 

  

Francis Thompson - The Passion of Mary. Saturday Mass

8th February 2014

Saturday Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Communion Hymn riveted my thoughts, and I re-read the poetry again. 
Only at the top, I glanced to the name of the composer. 
The life of Francis Thompson comes alight again.

Francis Thompson poem  The Passion of Mary

Oh Lady Mary, thy bright crown
Is no mere crown of majesty;
For with the reflex of His own
Resplendent thorns Christ circled thee.

                * * *

The red rose of this Passion-tide
Doth take a deeper hue from thee,
In the five wounds of Jesus dyed,
And in thy bleeding thoughts, Mary!

                  * * *

The soldier struck a triple stroke,
That smote thy Jesus on the tree:
He broke the Heart of Hearts, and broke
The Saint's and Mother's hearts in thee.

                     * * *

Thy Son went up the angels' ways,
His passion ended; but, ah me!
Thou found'st the road of further days
A longer way of Calvary:

                     * * *

On the hard cross of hope deferred
Thou hung'st in loving agony,
Until the mortal-dreaded word
Which chills our mirth, spake mirth to thee.

                        * * *

The angel Death from this cold tomb
Of life did roll the stone away;
And He thou barest in thy womb
Caught thee at last into the day,
Before the living throne of Whom
The Lights of Heaven burning pray.

                           * * *

Francis Thompson:

(author of 'The Hound of Heaven')

In February 1887, Wilfrid Meynell, the editor of Merry England a Catholic literary monthly magazine, received some untidy manuscripts, accompanied by the following covering letter: "In enclosing the accompanying article for your inspection, I must ask pardon for the soiled state of the manuscript. It is due, not to slovenliness, but to the strange places and circumstances under which it has been written".

Meynell must have wondered what sort of a man wrote the enclosed contents, including the moving poem, "The Passion of Mary". What were the "strange places and circumstances" under which these were written? All attempts to trace the author failed, until Thompson noticed one of his poems had been published in Merry England. Meynell's hope that the author would, in response to the publication, reveal himself, proved successful. One day in the spring of 1888, a man in his early 30s in ragged clothes and broken shoes and looking aged and ill - largely due to his drug addiction - presented himself at Meynell's office and introduced himself as Francis Thompson. (ad2000.com)   

Hound of Heaven at heals

Community Monthly Memorial of the Dead

Friday 7th February 2014

A READING

ABOUT THE DEATH OF A 12th.CENTURY MONK OF CLAIRVAUX.

There lived in the monastery of Clairvaux a monk called Alquirin who was skilled in the art of medicine, and so nobles and great men of that region were always asking his help and drawing him, unwilling and resisting, to

many places. Yet he was always solicitous about the poor and needy and would go to any lengths to cure them. Not only did he treat their sicknesses and

and wounds, but he tended with his own hands their putrid flesh and ulcered limbs with such care that it was as if he were caring for the wounds of Christ. And this really was so, he did everything for Christ, and Christ received eve­rything he did as being done for him, so that at the end he could say to him what was said of those who do works of mercy, ‘I was sick and you visited me’.

Having lived his life this praiseworthy manner, the time came when he would receive in eternity the reward of his labours and his works of mercy, and he fell ill and neared his end. His Abbot came to visit him, and asked him what he was doing and how he was. He replied, 'My Father all is very well with me, because I am going to my Lord.' The Abbot asked him: 'But are you not suffering in body and do you not fear the agony of death? The monk replied, , I look upon it all with tranquillity and joy, because I have received beforehand from the Lord the blessings of sweetness, and that has taken all sorrow from my heart and nearly all pain from my body.' Then the Abbot asked him, ‘I beg you, my dear brother, for the love of God and for our edification , tell us anything that God has revealed to you.' To which he replied, 'Before you came in, I saw, miserable and unworthy though I am, the Lord Jesus who looked at me with a kind and serene expression and showed me the marks of his Passion, saying, "Lo your sins are taken away from before my face, Come and kiss my wounds which you have tended so often." I was so strengthened by this promise that I do not now fear to die.'

(from an article in the Fairacres Chronicle Spring 1984.

The Death of the Saints in some 12th Century Sources by Sister Benedicta Ward).

COMMENT: Genesis 32 Jacob wrestles with God

Jabbok Fords from Penuel,

 Jacob wrestles with God

Genesis 32:24-32

A great while before day, Jacob being alone, more fully spread his fears before God in prayer. While thus employed, One in the likeness of a man wrestled with him. When the spirit helpeth our infirmities, and our earnest and vast desires can scarcely find words to utter them, and we still mean more than we can express, then prayer is indeed wrestling with God. However tried or discouraged, we shall prevail; and prevailing with Him in prayer, we shall prevail against all enemies that strive with us. Nothing requires more vigour and unceasing exertion than wrestling. It is an emblem of the true spirit of faith and prayer.  

 Jacob kept his ground; though the struggle continued long, this did not shake his faith, nor silence his prayer. He will have a blessing, and had rather have all his bone put out of joint than go away without one. Those who would have the blessing of Christ, must resolve to take no denial. The fervent prayer is the effectual prayer. The Angel puts a lasting mark of honour upon him, by changing his name. Jacob signifies a supplanter. From henceforth he shall be celebrated, not for craft and artful management, but for true valour. Thou shalt be called Israel, a prince with God, a name greater than those of the great men of the earth. He is a prince indeed that is a prince with God; those are truly honourable that are mighty in prayer. Having power with God, he shall have power with men too; he shall prevail, and gain Esau's favour. Jacob gives a new name to the place. He calls it Peniel, the face of God, because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God. It becomes those whom God honours, to admire his grace towards them. The Angel who wrestled with Jacob was the second Person in the sacred Trinity, who was afterwards God manifest in the flesh, and who, dwelling in human nature, is called Immanuel, Hos_12:4, Hos_12:5. Jacob halted on his thigh. It might serve to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of the revelations. The sun rose on Jacob: it is sun-rise with that soul, which has had communion with God.

Concise Commentary, M. Henry

Geneis 32:31. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”

TWO YEAR LECTIONARY

PATRISTIC VIGILS READINGS

ORDINARY TIME

WEEKS 1 to 17 : YEAR II

THURSDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II

Jabbok River

    

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS

(Jacob meet Esau and wrestles with God: Genesis 32:3-30)

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; and I have oxen, asses, flocks, menservants, and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favour in your sight.’”

And ...

v.24_30: The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Tell me, I pray, your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”

Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2

A READING FROM THE HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL BY ST GREGORY THE GREAT

The pursuit of the contemplative life is something for which a great and sustained effort on the part of the powers of the soul is required, an effort to rise from earthly to heavenly things, an effort to keep one's attention fixed on spiritual things, an effort to pass beyond and above the sphere of things visible to the eyes of flesh, an effort finally to hem oneself in, so to speak, in order to gain access to spaces that are broad and open.

There are times indeed when one succeeds, overcoming the opposing obscurity of one's blindness and catching at least a glimpse, be it ever so fleeting and superficial, of boundless light. But the experience is momentary only, so that all too quickly the soul must again return to itself. From that light which is ap­proached with bated breath, it must now, sighing and mournful, go back once more to the obscurity of its blindness.

We have a beautiful illustration of all this in the sacred history of the Scriptures where the story is told of Jacob's encounter with the angel, while on his return journey to the home of his parents. On the way he met an angel with whom he engaged in a great struggle and, like anyone involved in such a contest, Jacob found his opponent, now stronger, now weaker than himself.

Let us understand the angel of this story as representing the Lord, and Jacob who contended with the angel as representing the soul of the perfect individual who in contemplation has come face to face with God. This soul, as it exerts every effort to behold God as he is in himself, is like one engaged with another in a contest of strength. At one moment it prevails so to speak, as it gains access to that boundless light and briefly experiences in mind and heart the sweet savour of the divine presence. The next moment, however, it succumbs, overcome and drained of its strength by the very sweetness of the taste it has experienced. The angel, therefore, is, as it were, overcome when in the innermost recesses of the intellect the divine presence is directly experienced and seen.

Here, however, it is to be noted that the angel, when he could not prevail over Jacob, touched the sciatic muscle of Jacob’s hip, so that it forthwith withered and shrank. From that time on Jacob became lame in one leg and walked with a limp. Thus also does the all-powerful God cause all carnal affections to dry up and wither away in us, once we have come to experience in our mind and hear the knowledge of him as he is in himself.

Previously we walked about on two feet, as it were, when we thought, so it seemed, that we could seek after God while remain­ing at the same time attached to the world. But having once come to the knowledge and experience of the sweetness of God, only one of these two feet retains its life and vigour, the other becoming lame and useless. For it necessarily follows that the stronger we grow in our love for God alone, the weaker becomes our love for the world.

St Gregory the Great, Hom. in Ez., 1.12 (PL 76:955); Word in Season VII

Alternative Reading

From a sermon by Guerric of Igny (In nat. Joannis Baptistae, sermo II: PL 185, 167-169)

No longer is love as strong as death, but stronger than death Since the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent are even now seizing it.

Did not the untiring wrestler, the patriarch Jacob, do violence to God? As it is written, he was strong against God and prevailed, wrestled with him until morning perseveringly and with all his might held fast to him when he asked to be let go. I will not let you go, he said, unless you bless me. I say that he wrestled with God, for God was in the angel with whom he wrestled. Otherwise the angel would not say: Why do you ask for my name? It is wonderful, and Jacob would not say: I have seen the Lord face to face.

It was a good sort of violence then that extorted a blessing; happy the wrestling in which God yielded to man and the vanquished rewarded the victor with the grace of a blessing and the honour of a holier name. What if he touched the sinew of his thigh and it withered, and so he went limping? A man will readily sacrifice his body and soon be comforted for the harm done when it is compensated for by such a gift, especially the man who could say: I have loved wisdom more than health and all beauty. Would that not only the sinew of my thigh but the strength of my whole body would wither, provided I might win but one blessing from an angel. Would that I might not only limp with Jacob but also die with Paul so as to obtain the grace and name of Israel as an everlasting gift. Jacob bears a withered hip, but Paul a dead body, because the mortification of the body's members begun by the first practices of the prophets was brought to completion by the gospel. Jacob goes limping, because in part his thoughts dwell on the things of the world while his other foot he bears raised up from the earth. Paul's thoughts dwell only on the things of God whether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knows; he is wholly free in spirit and flies up to heaven.

So to you, brethren, we say, you whose set purpose it is to win heaven by force, you who have come together to wrestle with the angel who guards the way to the tree of life, to you we say: it is wholly necessary that you should wrestle perseveringly and without remission.

But God forbid, brethren, God forbid that he who willed to become weak, and even to die for you, will be strong against you who ask for what is pleasing to him. He has been pierced with so many wounds, his whole body has suffered crucifixion; from where can he draw strength to resist that charity which led him, as if conquered and a prisoner, through every kind of weakness even to death, death on a cross? No longer is love as strong as death, but stronger than death, since God's strength through the power of his love has been made weak unto death. Yet his weakness has been found stronger than all the strongest, his death has been proved to be your death, O death.

Be armed then with the power of love, whoever you are who in your devotion would force an entry into the kingdom of heaven and make it your prize; and be assured that you will easily conquer the king of heaven himself. If he seems to oppose you with difficulties or hardness, do not be fainthearted but understand what his purpose is in so acting. By the very contradiction he seeks to give a finer edge to your spirit, as the nature of the magnanimous and the strong is wont to be; he seeks to exercise your forces, to prove your constancy, to multiply your victories and increase your crowns.

Responsory          1 In 4:9.16b; In 3:16

God's love for us was revealed when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. + God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in him.

V. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. + God is love ...