Vocations - Novena of prayer with Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus

Silhouette in the branches 

at Nunraw 

Each evening before Compline, in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, the Abbot leads the intercession and silent prayer for Vocations

Vocations at Nunraw Community,

Sancta Maria Abbey

+ Novena to St Joseph

11-19 March 2014m

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

V.      Come to our aid, O God.
R.      O Lord, make haste to help us.

Almighty God, Father of mercies
and giver of all good gifts,
We honour you in your saints
and ask their help
in our many needs.

You promised that those who ask, would receive;
those who seek, would find;
those who knock,
would have the doors opened to them.

Hear the prayers of your church,
grant our requests,
and pardon our sins.
Amen.

Saint Joseph, just and true;
with a father's care
you raised your Child Jesus,
and with a husband's love
you shared your life with Mary, his mother.

We entrust ourselves to your care
and ask your intercession in our needs,
through your earthly Son,
our lord, Jesus Christ.

(Period of Silence to bring our own requests to God)

In your uncertainty in Nazareth long ago,
the Holy Spirit spoke to your heart
and, with great faith, you followed God's message.

In our own seeking of God's will,
and in the hard choices we must make,
help us to follow the Spirit's guidance
and to believe when we cannot see.

                  

(Then the prayer for each day)

Day 1
Let pray to be open to God's word in our daily lives.

(Silent pause)
O God,
guide of those who listen
and helper of those who respond to your voice,
speak to us, as you did to Saint Joseph,
and assist us to accomplish the things you give us to do.
Through Christ our Lord.

(Silent pause)

Day 2
Let us pray for those who live in uncertainty

(Silent pause)
Lord God,
in your love for your people
bless the ordinary lives of those who follow you.
As you guided Saint Joseph in his uncertainty,
bless what we do, however hidden and simple it may be,
and let all we do be done with love.
Through Christ our Lord.

(Silent pause)

Day 3
Let us pray for trust in God.
(Silent pause)
God our Father,
We believe you care for us,
that you remember us always,
and in time reveal your blessings.
Help us to trust in you,
as Saint Joseph faithfully looked to you for help.
May we never lose faith
in the great gifts
you bestow on us.
Through Christ our Lord.

(Silent pause)

Day 4

Let us pray for those who are getting ready to be married.
(Silent pause)
Father, help those who are preparing to marry.
Grant them pure love and a spirit of generous prayer.

Bless their marriage and their families,
and lead them always in your peace and  love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.   [p. 334]

(Silent pause)

Day 5

Let us pray for all who are involved in missionary work.
(Silent pause)

Father in heaven,
we thank you for calling us to be your people.
Send more workers into your harvest
to share your truth
and to lead us all to salvation.
Make your people strong
with your word and your sacraments.
We ask this grace
in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ..

(

Silent pause)

Day 6
Let us pray for more vocations to the parishes of our country,
(Silent pause)

Lord, send more priests, lay assistants and parish volunteers
that the daily needs of your people may be served
to the glory of your name and the good
and salvation of your people.  [p 334]
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

(Silent pause)

Day 7
Let us pray for fathers and mothers.

(Silent pause)

God, our Father,
give your fatherly spirit
to those who are parents.
Give them hearts of devoted love
for each other as Joseph and Mary had,
and for their children.
Give them patience and perseverance in their love
and forgiveness to each other
when they fall through misunderstanding or failings.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

(Silent pause)

Day 8
Let us pray for those who have been made homeless

(Silent pause)

Give shelter, O God,
to those who have been driven from their homes.
Bring together families who have been separated.
Give them enough to eat,
and decent work to earn to earn their bread.
Lord, care for all of us in need.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

(Silent pause)

Day 9
Let us remember all in any need
(Silent pause)

Lord, Bless all our families and friends,
especially those in need.
Remembering the life of your Son,
we pray for the poor,
for those who lack a good home,
and for those in exile.
Grant them a protector in St Joseph.

(Silent pause)

Each day conclude the novena with one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.

http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/9days/stjoseph.html

Appreciated from - The Passionist Missionaries.  

 [Adapted]

Lent The Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa

Night Office, Patristic Reading,  

TUESDAY, FIRST WEEK OF LENT, YEAR II

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS

The first plague of Egypt: Exodus 6:29 – 7:25

The LORD said to Moses, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh King of Egypt all that I say to you.” But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me?”

Tuesday of the First Week in Lent Year II

A Reading from The Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa

St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, 2.31-36 (SC 1bis:40-41); Word in Season II, 1^st ed.

The Life of Moses  was written sometime between 390 and 392. This reading stresses the need for faith, which is represented by Aaron’s staff. Gregory’s interpretation of Exodus 7 is combined with Saint John’s typological interpretation of Numbers 21,9.

Those who love Christ should not be troubled at our taking the transformation of the staff into a serpent as a reference to the incarnation. The serpent may seem an incongruous symbol for this mystery and yet it is an image Truth himself does not repudiate, since he says in the Gospel: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And the meaning is clear. Holy Scripture calls the father of sin a serpent, so what is born of him must be a serpent too; sin must have the same name as its father. Now since the Apostle asserts that the Lord was made sin for our sake by clothing himself in our sinful nature, it cannot be inappropriate to apply this symbol to him. If sin is a serpent and the Lord became sin, it must be obvious to all that in becoming sin he became a serpent, which is simply another name for sin.

He became a serpent for our sake, so that he could consume and destroy the serpents of Egypt brought to life by the sorcerers. Once he had done this he was changed into a staff again, and by this staff sinners are chastised and those who are climbing the difficult ascent of virtue are supported. With good hope they lean upon the staff of faith, since faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

Those who attain an understanding of these mysteries become gods in comparison with people who resist the truth, who are seduced by the deceitfulness of the material and contingent, and disdain as useless listening to Him Who Is. They value nothing but material benefits satisfying to their irrational instincts.

On the other hand, those who receive strength from the Light and great power and authority over their enemies are like well-trained athletes, stripping to confront their opponents with courage and confidence. They hold in their hands the staff which is the teaching of faith, and by that staff they will conquer the serpents of Egypt.

St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, 2.31-36 (SC 1bis:40-41); Word in Season II, 1^st ed.

National Shrine to Saint John Ogilvie, S.J

http://www.staloysius.rcglasgow.org.uk/stjohnogilvie

St. John Ogilvie

John Ogilvie

1579 - March 10, 1615

John Ogilvie was a Scottish Catholic martyr.

The son of a wealthy laird, he was born into a respected Calvinist family near Keith in Banffshire, Scotland and was educated in mainland Europe.

He attended a number of Catholic educational establishments, under the Benedictines at Regensburg in Germany and with the Jesuits at Olomouc and Brno in the present day Czech Republic. In the midst of the religious controversies and turmoil that engulfed the Europe of that era he decided to become a Catholic. In 1596, aged seventeen, he was received into the church at Leuven, Belgium. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1608 and was ordained a priest in Paris in 1610. After ordination he made repeated entreaties to be sent back to Scotland to minister to the few remaining Catholics in the Glasgow area (after the Scottish Reformation in 1560 it had become illegal to preach, proselytise for, or otherwise endorse Catholicism).

He returned to Scotland in November 1613 disguised as a soldier, and began to preach in secret, celebrating mass clandestinely in private homes. However, his ministry was to last less than a year. In 1614, he was betrayed and arrested in Glasgow and taken to jail in Paisley.

Martyrdom and Death

He suffered terrible tortures, including being kept awake for eight days and nine nights, in an attempt to make him divulge the identities of other Catholics. Nonetheless, Ogilvie did not relent; consequently, after a biased trial, he was convicted of high treason for refusing to accept the King's spiritual jurisdiction.

On 10th March 1615, aged 36 years, John Ogilvie was paraded through the streets of Glasgow and hanged at Glasgow Cross.

His last words were "If there be here any hidden Catholics, let them pray for me but the prayers of heretics I will not have". After he was pushed from the ladder, he threw his concealed rosary beads out into the crowd. The tale is told that one of his enemies caught them and subsequently became a lifelong devout Catholic. After his execution Ogilvie's followers were rounded up and put in jail. They suffered heavy fines, but none was to receive the death penalty.

As a martyr of the Counter-Reformation he was beatified in 1929 and canonised in 1976. He is the only post-Reformation saint from Scotland.

National Shrine to Saint John Ogilvie, S.J

The church also contains the National Shrine to Saint John Ogilvie, S.J., a Scottish Jesuit, who was canonised on 17th October, 1976 by His Holiness Pope Paul VI, having suffered martyrdom in Glasgow in 1615 during the Scottish Reformation

Dom Donald's Blog: Saint John Ogilvie

10 Mar 2010

St John Ogilvie, Priest and Martyr, SJ (Memorial) John Ogilvie, the son of a wealthy laird, Walter Ogilvie, was born into a respected Calvinist family at Drum-na-Keith in Banffshire, Scotland, in 1579. As a youth he studied on the ...

http://nunraw.blogspot.com/

Laetare Sunday Fourth Sunday of Lent St. John Ogilvie

10 Mar 2013

"Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts." This Sunday is known as Laetare Sunday and is a Sunday of joy.

http://nunraw.blogspot.com/

Dom Donald's Blog: John Ogilvie Martyr

10 Mar 2009

John Ogilvie (1579-1615) performed ministry in his native Scotland for only 11 months after he returned to his homeland following 22 years abroad. He is the only canonized Scottish martyr from the time of the Reformation, ...

http://nunraw.blogspot.com/

[Blog] Mary the Burning Bush Icon. COMMENT:

[Blog] Mary the Burning Bush Icon

COMMENT from William

On Sunday, 9 March 2014, 14:39,

William J. wrote:

Dear Father Donald,

What a fascinating icon! (I will savour it...). As fine art is a visual medium for reflection and meditation, Icons are the visual medium for leading into contemplation. As you have taught me there are some wonderful illustrations on Google [I searched on "Neopalimaya Kupina"], but I realize that had I skimmed them earlier, I would not have appreciated nor understood them -  there lies great subtlety and hidden meaning in the icon. If the artist is described as 'writing' an icon, then indeed we should 'read' it, and not just see it!

I think I would be quite content in my cave in the desert - with Icons on the walls, the Psalms in my memory, a Bible in my hand... but for the present, I really could not do without the internet in order to locate and understand the treasures I would wish to take with me!

It is such a delight to share in your Blog!

With my love in Our Lord,

William

To: William

From: Donald

Dear William,

Your immediate diving into the waves of the ocean of Icons.

Thank you.

You surmise it has been happening into a kind of unveiling of the prayer of Icon initiation from amazing writers.

For the first Sunday of Lent this morning the books for Lenten Reading was distributed to the monks.

For my book, it is Henri Nouwen' Prayer on Icons... Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons by Henri J. M. Nouwen 

In fact, Wendy Becket has already cultivated the ground with the Eight Mary Icons survived from the destruction of the tragic Iconoclasm. A good friend sent us the book, 'Encounters with God: In Quest of the Ancient Icons of Mary Wendy Beckett'

It is learning. In the links of Mary the Burning Bush also refers to the the book of 'Spiritual Letters of Sr. Wendy'. It may have more instruction for  icon novices.

Thank you for the insightful encouraging.

God bless.

Donald   

PS. St John Ogilvie our feast tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we begin Novena of St. Joseph (Scotland Solemnity) for Vocations.

Lent 1st Sunday Homily of Fr. Raymond

Mass Homily,  Fr. Raymond. ....

Lent 1st Sunday, March 2014.
Gospel - Jesus fass for forty days  and is tempted. 
 Matthew 4:1-11. ... and angels appeared and looked after him.

Lent Sun 1 yr.A

The Story of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness is a very consoling one for us. It reminds us first of what St Paul says about it. "He was tempted in every way that we are though he did not sin." However the story of the temptation of Christ ends with the revelation that angels came and comforted him. If he truly claims to be like us in all things, then he surely owes it to us that whenever we overcome the temptation to sin the angels must surely come to comfort us too. We may never see them, but the peace that comes from our victory is surely a token of their presence with us; their joy at our victory.

If we turn to the first reading of today's liturgy, it gives us an account of the creation of the first man and woman and the story of the very first sin; the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace. If we want to avoid the same fate as they did we would do well to study this scene in the garden of Eden and try to analyse their behaviour. Surely we have here a portrayal of just what is at the heart of all sin. There are many different kinds of sin of course and they are all put before us in the ten commandments, but there is something common to every sin, no matter what particular kind of sin it is; no matter which particular commandment it breaks.

The story of the temptation begins with a command and a threat from God: thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge or you will die. Then follows a question from Satan challenging the command and the threat and giving instead a false promise "No, you wont die! Indeed you will belike gods yourselves". the world was not condemned to death because Adam and Eve ate an apple. The apple was only incidental to the whole story. Nor was the world condemned because of the act of disobedience, although that was bad enough. but the real heart of the matter, the real essence of the sin, the real thing which so offended God was the fact that Adam and Eve did not trust his word; they trusted rather the word of Satan. "No you will not die".

This is what we all do every time we sin. We have God's word for it that sin is evil and leads to death and yet we still follow the pleasure, the satisfaction. We deny the voice of our conscience and we reach out to take that rosy apple which "seems so good to eat".

Mary the Burning Bush Icon

BVM Icons ... 

THE BURNING BUSH

A SYMBOL OF THE THEOTOKOS

Moses was a great leader and lawgiver of Israel, who was born in Egypt. He spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court, forty years as a shepherd, and his last forty years leading the people through the wilderness to the Promised Land, which he saw but did not enter.

He reposed at a 120 years. He appeared with Elijah on Mt. Tabor at the Lord’s Transfiguration. His many accomplishments are recorded in his books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

On the Mount of Horeb (Ex. 3), God appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses saw that the bush burned without being consumed, as a type of the Virgin.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, says: “From the image of the burning bush seen by Moses, we learn the Mystery of the Virgin: the Light of Divinity, which through birth shone from her into human life, did not wither the flower of her virginity, just as the burning bush was not consumed.”

In this icon, Moses beholds the bush in awe, while his sandals lay beside him according to God’s command since the ground whereupon he is standing is Holy. In the burning bush we see an image of the Theotokos, for which the bush represents.

http://themotherofgod.wordpress.com/the-burning-bush/

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

A Reader's Guide to Orthodox Icons

Feeble words about powerful images

http://iconreader.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/discovering-the-unburnt-bush-icon/

Discovering the Unburnt Bush Icon

Posted on December 20, 2010by iconreader

Russian Icon of the Theotokos "Burning Bush" ("Неопалимая Купина")

The traditions and teaching of the Christian Church often appear to change and evolve over time. Yet from within it can be seen that it is not that the teaching itself changes, but that each generation brings new ways to express their Faith, which itself is eternal and unchanging. A perfect example of this is the Icon of the Theotokos – “Unburning Bush”. Indeed, the Icon in its current form weaves together numerous ancient teachings of the Church – on the Mother of God, the Incarnation, Old Testament Prophecies and Angelology – into a single, stunning composition. Peeling the layers of this Icon are both rewarding and illuminating…

Moses and the Burning Bush
(Byzantine Mosaic)

Moses and the Burning Bush (Byzantine Mosaic)

The name of the Icon, “burning bush” (sometimes “unburnt bush”) derives from the miracle witnessed by Moses on Mount Horeb. As described in the book of Exodus, whilst Moses was tending his Father-in-law’s flock, he witnessed a bush burning with fire, yet unconsumed. Drawing nearer, God called out to Moses from amid the flames, telling him to removes his sandals“for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:1-6). Moses was then called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  

Burning bush in Panagia Podithou, Galatia, showing the Theotokos (early C16th)

The Church established by Jesus Christ has always looked back on this event and seen the Unburnt Bush on Horeb as a type – a prefiguration – of the Most Holy Theotokos, who gave birth to Christ while still remaining a virgin (burning with fire yet unconsumed). This is found in ancient writings of the Church Fathers, and was afterwards reflected in the hymnography of the Church; for example:

The glorious myst’ry of your childbirth

Did Moses perceive within the burning bush…

…O undefiled and all-holy Virgin.

Therefore we extol you in hymns unto the ages.

(From The Service of the Salutations to the Most Holy Theotokos – 9th Century)

In time, it was also reflected in the Church’s iconography, with the Oranta Theotokos and Christ-child depicted within the burning bush.

Symbolism in the Unburnt Bush Icon

The image of the Mother of God as the Unburnt Bush has developed so that most examples of the Icon now have a rich and intricate symbolism.

The burning bush itself is represented by the two diamonds – one flame-red, one leaf-green – arranged as an eight pointed star in the midst of which the Mother of God and Christ are seated. The number of eight is well established in the Bible as a number symbolizing eternity and super-abundance. In between the eight points there are eight “petals” within which stand eight archangels – the highest ranking of the Heavenly Powers. The green diamond is decorated with more angels – seraphim and cherubim – and is often coloured slightly darker, almost blue, and is arrayed with stars to suggest the heavens. As discussed, green or blue can both symbolize “creation” as opposed to the divine, so the twin use of the blue to represent the bush and the Heavens is appropriate. The divine/flame red diamond is almost always decorated with the angelic tetramorph representing the four Evangelists (and in the above icon the names of the four Gospel writers does appear).

Around the border of the Icon more prefigurations and prophecies of the Incarnation of the Son of God are arranged. Different icons will contain different numbers of scenes, but the four most common scenes, shown clockwise from the top-right of the above icon, are:  

A seraphim feeding a hot coal to the Prophet Isaiah (Is. 6:7). Though burning with fire, the hot coal cleansed the lips of the prophet just as Christ inside of the Virgin cleansed her.

Jacob’s dream of the ladder (Gen. 28:12) in which angels were seen dancing up and down a ladder which stretched from the earth up to Heaven. The ladder is associated with the Mother of God, through whom the glory of God descended from Heaven to earth and was incarnate as Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel’s vision of the temple gate through which the Lord passed and was ever-after sealed (Ez. 44:2). This has always been recognized by Christians as a clear reference to Mary’s ever-virginity.

Finally in the top-left corner is Moses removing his sandals before the burning bush, the revelatory incident upon which the whole icon is based

Not present on all Icons, but seen in the bottom centre of the icon above is a form of the “Tree of Jesse“.

At the centre of all this, surrounded by the angelic powers, is Mary the Mother of God and her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides the Christ-child, our Lady may also hold “Jacob’s Ladder”, or else a symbol of the Gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, or else an unquarried mountain – or perhaps all three. All of these Old Testament symbols point us towards the Mother of God, covered with a garment of Divine Fire, who in turn points us towards the birth or her Son, Our Saviour.

The miracle that Moses witnessed on Sinai in the burning bush
Foretold your virgin childbearing, O pure Mother.
We the faithful cry to you:
Rejoice, O truly living bush!
Rejoice, O holy mountain!
Rejoice, O sanctified expanse and most holy Theotokos!

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St. Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 'also symbolizes the mystery of the Virgin'.

mary_and_the_burning_bush - Russian

TWO YEAR LECTIONARY

PATRISTIC VIGILS READINGS

LENT  YEAR II

Saturday after Ash Wednesday Year II

A READING FROM the life of moses by St Gregory of Nyssa

Let us, like Moses, live a solitary life, no longer entangled with adversaries or mediating between them. Let us live among those of like mind who are fed by us, while all the movements of our soul are led by reason like sheep by their shepherd. Then, as we are living at peace, the truth will shine upon us and its radiance will illuminate the eyes of our soul.

Now this truth is God. Once in an ineffable and mysterious vision it manifested itself to Moses, and it is not without significance for us that the flame from which the soul of the Prophet was illuminated was kindled from a thorn-bush.

If truth is God and if it is also light – two of the sublime and sacred epithets by which the Gospel describes the God who manifested himself to us in the flesh – it follows that a virtuous life will lead us to a knowledge of that light which descended to the level of our human nature. It is not from some luminary set among the stars that it sheds its radiance, which might then be thought to have a material origin, but from a bush on the earth, although it outshines the stars of heaven.

This also symbolizes the mystery of the Virgin, from whom came the divine light that shone upon the world without damaging the bush from which it emanated or allowing the virgin shoot to wither.

This light teaches us what we must do to stand in the rays of the true light, and that it is impossible with our feet in shackles to run toward the mountain where the light of truth appears. We have first to free the feet of our soul from the covering of dead skins in which our nature was clad in the beginning when it disobeyed God’s will and was left naked.

To know that which is, we must purify our minds of assumptions regarding things which are not. In my opinion the definition of truth is an unerring comprehension of that which is. He who is immutable, who does not increase or diminish, who is subject to no change for better or worse, but is perfectly self-sufficient; he who alone is desirable, in whom all else par­ticipates without causing in him any diminution, he indeed is that which truly is, and to comprehend him is to know the truth.

It is he whom Moses approached and whom today all approach who like Moses free themselves from their earthly coverings and look toward the light coming from the bramble bush, at the ray shining on us from the thorns, which stand for the flesh, for as the Gospel says, that ray is the real light and the truth. Then such people will also be able to help others find salvation. They will be capable of destroying the forces of evil and of restoring those enslaved by them to liberty.

St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, 2.17-26 (SC 1:36-39); from Word in Season II, 1^st ed.

Russian Icons -  ...

Mary and the Burning Bush

The icon is also known as the "unburned bush" or Neopalimaya Kupina. The Mother of God can be seen holding the Christ Child in her left arm and a ladder in her right arm set in a four point blue star. The symbols of the Four Evangelists: the winged man of Matthew, the eagle of Mark, the ox of Luke, and the lion of John are depicted in the red points of the star. Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jacob are also on the icon from the old Testament as seen by the Mother of God and her role in the Incarnation. The icon is also used as form of fire protection and to help stop a fire once it has begun. 

http://www.paleks.com/icons.htm