"Our Lord showed me a little thing, the size of a hazel-nut" by Julian of Norwich

hazelnutbox_fit 

"Our Lord showed me a little thing, the size of a hazel-nut" by Julian of Norwich

 Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office, 

A WORD IN SEASON, Reading for the Liturgy

of the Hours. Augustinian Press, 1995

TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SUNDAY

First Reading

 18^th August 2015     

Ephesians 2:1-10

Responsory     Eph 1:4; Co12:13

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world t to be holy and blameless in his presence.

V. Although you were dead because of your sins, he has brought you to life with Christ, t to be holy ...

Second Reading

From Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

Our Lord showed me a little thing, the size of a hazel-nut, on the palm of my hand, round like a ball. I looked at it thoughtfully and wondered, "What is this?" And the answer came, "It is all that is made." I marvelled that it continued to exist and did not suddenly disintegrate; it was so small. And again my mind supplied the answer, "It exists, both now and forever, because God loves it." In short, everything owes its existence to the love of God.

In this "little thing" I saw three truths. The first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; and the third is that God sustains it. But what he is who is in truth Maker, Keeper, and Lover I cannot tell, for until I am essentially united with him I can never have full rest or real happiness; in other words, until I am so joined to him that there is absolutely nothing between my God and me. We have got to realize the littleness of creation and to see it for the nothing that it is before we can love and possess God who is uncreated. This is the reason why we have no ease of heart or soul, for we are seeking our rest in trivial things which cannot satisfy, and not seeking to know God, almighty, all-wise, all-good. He is true rest. It is his will that we should know him, and his pleasure that we should rest in him. Nothing less will satisfy us. No soul can rest until it is detached from all creation. When it is deliberately so detached for love of him who is all, then only can it experience spiritual rest.

God showed me too the pleasure it gives him when a simple soul comes to him, openly, sincerely and genuinely. For his goodness enfolds everyone of his creatures and all his blessed works, eternally and surpassingly. For he himself is eternity, and has made us for himself alone, has restored us by his blessed passion, and keeps us in his blessed love. And all because he is goodness. Our lover desires indeed that our soul should cleave to him with all its might, and ever hold on to his goodness. Beyond our power to imagine does this most please God, and speed the soul on its course.

The love of God Most High for our soul is so wonderful that it surpasses all knowledge. No created being can know the greatness, the sweetness, the tenderness of the love that our Maker has for us. By his grace and help therefore let us in spirit stand and gaze, eternally marvelling at the supreme, surpassing, single-minded, incalculable love that God, who is goodness, has for us. Then we can ask reverently of our lover whatever we will. For by nature our will wants God, and the good will of God wants us. We shall never cease wanting and longing until we possess him in fullness and joy. Then we shall have no further wants. Meanwhile his will is that we go on knowing and loving until we are perfected in heaven.

Responsory     1 In 4:9; 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.

V. This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us + so that we ...

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

 Julian of Norwich (c. 8 November 1342 – c. 1416) was an English anchoress who is regarded as an important Christian mystic. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. Written around 1395, her work, Revelations of Divine Love, is the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman.^[1]

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich  

"praise of glory" by Elizabeth of the Trinity

 Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office, 

A WORD IN SEASON, Reading for the Liturgy

of the Hours. Augustinian Press, 1995

TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SUNDAY

First Reading

Ephesians 1:1-14

Responsory       Col 1:17-19

Christ exists before all things, and all things are held together in him. He is the head of the body, the Church. + He is the beginning and the first-born from the dead, so as to be first in every way.

V. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. + He is

the ...

Alternative Reading

From a meditation "praise of glory" by Elizabeth of the Trinity

We have been predestined by his decree who accomplishes all things in accordance with his own purpose and will to be the praise of his glory. It is Saint Paul who says so, Saint Paul who was taught by God himself. How can we fulfil that great dream of the heart of our God, that immutable claim on our souls; how, in a word,can we respond to our vocation to become beings of pure praise of the most Holy Trinity? In heaven every soul is a praise of the glory of the Father, of the Word, and of the Holy Spirit, because every soul is established in pure love, and no longer lives its own life but God's, knowing him as it is known by him, as Saint Paul says. A "praise of glory" is a soul that lives in God, that loves with a pure, disinterested love, without seeking itself in the sweetness of its love; that loves God above all his gifts, and that desires the good of the One it loves so much. Now how is it possible to have an effective desire for the good of God except by doing his will, since that will orders all things for his greatest glory? The soul must therefore devote itself to this so wholeheartedly that it becomes incapable of wanting anything other than what God wants.

A "praise of glory" is a soul of silence that holds itself like a lyre under the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit, allowing him to produce divine harmonies from it. It knows that suffering is a string that produces especially beautiful sounds, so it likes to see it on its instrument in order to charm the heart of God even more.

A "praise of glory" is a soul that contemplates God in faith and simplicity; it is a reflection of all that he is; it is like a bottomless abyss in which he can freely flow; it is like a crystal through which he can shine and contemplate his own perfection and splendor. The soul which thus allows the divine Being to satisfy in it his need to communicate all that he is and all that he has is in truth the praise of the glory of all his gifts.

Finally, a "praise of glory" is someone who is always giving thanks. Such a person's actions, movements, thoughts, aspirations, while rooting him or her more deeply in love, are at the same time an echo of the eternal Sanctus. In the glory of heaven the blessed sing unceasingly day and night, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty," and prostrating themselves they worship him who lives forever and ever. In the heaven of its soul, the "praise of glory" begins already the service it will perform through all eternity; its song is continuous through the impulse of the Holy Spirit, though it is not always aware of this because nature's weakness prevents it from attending to God without distractions. It is always singing, always worshiping; it has, so to speak, become all praise and love, all passion for the glory of its God.

Responsory       Ps 145:4-5.14; Eph 1:12

One age shall proclaim your works to another, shall declare your mighty deeds. + People will speak of your splendour and glory, and tell of your wonderful works.

V. We who first hoped in Christ have been chosen to live for the praise of his glory. + People will ...

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Fr. Raymond

Sunday, 15 August 2015

Homily by Fr. Raymond

MASS

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saturday, 15 August 2015

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Solemnity

The Bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven

By Fr. Raymond

The Bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven is one of the three great personal privileges of Mary: The Immaculate Conception; the Divine Motherhood and the Assumption.  The Immaculate Conception prepared Mary for her Divine Motherhood and her Assumption into Heaven was a consequence of it. This connection between the Divine Motherhood and the Assumption can perhaps be best understood if we think of the debt any man owes to his Mother. It is a debt that can never be repaid. Our Mothers gave us our very life and existence. They formed us in their wombs; the nursed us at their breasts. ‘No man can pay the price of his life’ as the psalmist reminds us. The best we can do to repay our Mothers for the gift of life is for us to love and honour and respect them, and of course to care for them in their old age.

But things are not so between Mary and the Divine Son she bore. He was Almighty God and was well able to make a fitting recompense to his Mother for giving him his body of flesh. He repaid this debt of gratitude by taking her own body of flesh and blood and preserving it from the corruption of the grave and assuming her, in her bodily entirety, into heaven just as he himself had been at his Ascension. Nor is this just something personal to Mary. We must wait, of course, till the last day for our bodily assumption into heaven, but Mary’s bodily assumption, like the ascension of Christ himself,  gives us already a kind of pledge and guarantee of the ultimate destiny of our own body of flesh and blood. Christ, the New Adam, has entered the New Paradise, of which the Old Paradise was just a foreshadowing, and Mary, the New Eve, has been given to him as his first companion in the fullness of her humanity.

     When the doctrine of the Assumption was first defined, our separated brethren asked, “Where is this in Scripture? We can’t believe what is not in Scripture”. But we can answer that this wonderful event is well prepared for in Holy Scripture. The mind of faith is prepared for it by such events as the lifting up of Elijah from this earth in the fiery chariot. We are prepared for it by the disappearance from this earth of the bodies of Enoch and Moses for example.  But by far the most important foreshadowing of Mary’s Assumption takes place in the very first chapters of Genesis where it is said of the first Adam: “It is not good for Man to be alone”. There were plenty of other living creatures around, but none “like unto himself” to share his life with him on a fully human level. So too surely it must be with the New Adam in the new Paradise. There are plenty of angels and spirits of the just there too but, for the fullness and perfection of all beauty and truth, he needs one by his side who can share his life in the fullness of his glorified humanity, body as well as spirit. Yes even for the New Adam in the New Paradise “It is not good for Man to be alone”.

---

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Solemnity

        In this festival the Church commemorates the happy departure from life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her translation into the kingdom of her Son, in which she received from Him a crown of immortal glory, and a throne above all the other Saints and heavenly spirits.

        After Christ, as the triumphant Conqueror of death and hell, ascended into heaven, his blessed Mother remained at Jerusalem, persevering in prayer with the disciples, till, with them, she had received the Holy Spirit. She lived to a very advanced age, but finally paid the common debt of nature, none among the children of Adam being exempt from that rigorous law. But the death of the Saints is rather to be called a sweet sleep than death; much more that of the Queen of Saints, who had been exempt from all sin. It is a traditionary pious belief, that the body of the Blessed Virgin was raised by God soon after her death, and taken up to glory, by a singular privilege, before the general resurrection of the dead.

        The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the greatest of all the festivals which the Church celebrates in her honor. It is the consummation of all the other great mysteries by which her life was rendered most wonderful; it is the birthday of her true greatness and glory, and the crowning of all the virtues of her whole life, which we admire single in her other festivals.

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

Feast of Assumption BVM should be Feast of the Divine Will

Volume 18. 15^th August 1925

http://bookofheaven.org/

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN

August 15

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V18 - 15/08/25 - 

 ....

After this, I began to think about the feast of my Celestial Mama Assumed into Heaven; and my sweet Jesus, with a tender and moving tone, added: 

“My daughter, the true name of this Feast should be Feast of the Divine Will. 

It was the human will that closed Heaven, broke the bonds with its Creator, made miseries and sorrow enter the field, and put an end to the feast that the creature was to enjoy in Heaven.  Now, this creature, Queen of all, by doing the Will of the Eternal One always and in everything – even more, it can be said that Her life was Divine Will alone – opened the Heavens, bound Herself to the Eternal One, and restored in Heaven the feasts with the creature.  Every act She did in the Supreme Will was a feast that She started in Heaven, it was suns that She formed to adorn this feast, it was melodies that She sent to delight the Celestial Jerusalem. 

So, the true cause of this feast is the Eternal Will operating and fulfilled in my Celestial Mama.  It operated such prodigies in Her as to astonish Heaven and earth, chain the Eternal One with indissoluble bonds of love, and capture the Word even into Her womb.  The very Angels, enraptured, repeated among themselves:  ‘From where comes so much glory, so much honour, such greatness and prodigies never before seen, in this excelling Creature?  Yet, it is from the exile that She is coming.’  Astonished, they recognized the Will of their Creator as Life operating in Her; and, trembling, they said:  ‘Holy, Holy, Holy – honour and glory to the Will of Our Sovereign Lord.  And glory, and trice Holy – She who let this Supreme Will operate.’

So, it is my Will that, more than anything, was and is celebrated on the day of the Assumption into Heaven of my Most Holy Mother.  It was my Will alone that made Her ascend so high as to distinguish Her among all.  Everything else would have been as nothing, had She not possessed the prodigy of my Will.  It was my Will that gave Her Divine Fecundity and made Her the Mother of the Word.  It was my Will that made Her see and embrace all creatures together, becoming the Mother of all, and loving all with a love of Divine Maternity.  And making Her the Queen of all, It made Her rule and dominate.  On that day, my Will received the first honours, the glory and the abundant fruit of Its work in Creation, and It began Its feast, which It never interrupts, for the glorification of Its operating in my beloved Mother.  And even though Heaven was opened by Me, and many Saints were already in possession of the Celestial Fatherland when the Celestial Queen was assumed into Heaven, however, She Herself was the primary cause, having fulfilled the Supreme Will in everything, and therefore we waited for She who had honored It so much and contained the true prodigy of the Most Holy Will, to make the first feast for  the Supreme Volition.

  Oh! how the whole of Heaven magnified, blessed and praised the Eternal Will, upon seeing this sublime Queen enter the Empyreum, in the midst of the Celestial Court, all circumfused by the Eternal Sun of the Supreme Volition!  They saw Her all studded with the power of the Supreme Fiat; there had been not even a heartbeat in Her which did not have this Fiat impressed on it.  And, astonished, they looked at Her and said to Her:  ‘Ascend, ascend higher.  It is right that She who so much honoured the Supreme Fiat, and through whom we find ourselves in the Celestial Fatherland, have the highest throne and be our Queen.’  And the greatest honour that my Mama received, was to see the Divine Will glorified.”

 

Book of Heaven org

Luisa Piccarreta. Diary March 6, 1926. 15 August 2015

bookofheaven.org
The Assumption of the Blessed  Virgin of Mary into Heaven

   In this table, 2 columns, we can experience the “double portion” in the bi-focal vision from the Diary entry on ‘secrets in the sanctuary of Heavenly Mother'.

“Catholic Divine Will” Volume Nineteen by Luisa Piccarreta  Online Edition. March 6, 1926 Only the most important thing was known about the Celestial Mama – that the Son of God was Her Son. The same will happen with the daughter of the Divine Will – the most important thing only will be known, so as to make the Divine Will known. A good which is not known has no ways to communicate itself. As I was in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus came, and holding my hand in His, He drew me to Himself - up high, between Heaven and earth. Almost fearing, I clung to Jesus, holding on tightly to His most holy hand; and wanting to pour out my pain with Him, which so much oppresses me, I said to Him: ‘My Love and my Life, Jesus, some time ago You told me that You wanted to make of me a copy of my Celestial Mama; yet, almost nothing was known about Her, of the many seas of grace with which, in every instant, She was inundated by You. She said nothing to no one – She kept everything within Herself; nor does the Gospel say anything. It is known only that She was your Mama, and that She gave You, Eternal Word, to the world; but everything that passed between You and Her – the favours, the graces – She kept all within Herself. With me, then, You want the opposite – You want me to manifest what You tell me; You do not want the secret of what passes between You and me. I feel sorrow because of this; where, then, is the copy You want to make between me and my Mama?’ And my sweet Jesus, clasping me tightly to His Heart, all tenderness told me: “My daughter, courage, do not fear. Nothing was known about my Mama but that which it was necessary and sufficient to be known – that I was Her Son; that through Her I came to redeem the generations, and that She was the first one in whose soul I had my first field of divine actions. Everything else – the favours and the seas of graces which She received – remained in the sacrarium of the divine secrets. However, the most important, the greatest, the holiest thing was indeed known – that the Son of God was Her Son. This was the greatest honour for Her, which raised Her above all creatures. Therefore, since the greatest was known about my Mama, the lesser was not necessary. The same will happen with my daughter: it will be known only that my Will had Its first field of divine action in your soul, as well as everything that is necessary in order to make known what regards my Will; how It wants to enter the field so that the creature may return to her origin, and how It anxiously awaits her into Its arms, so that there may be no more division between her and Me. If this were not made known, how could creatures long for this great good? How could they dispose themselves to receive a grace so great? If my Mama had not wanted to make known that I was the Eternal Word and Her Son, what good would Redemption have produced? A good which is not known, as great as it may be, has no ways to communicate the good it possesses. And just as my Mama was not opposed, so must my daughter not oppose what regards my Will. All the rest of the secrets - the flights you do in my Will, the goods you take, and the most intimate things between you and Me – will remain in the sacrarium of the divine secrets. Do not fear, your Jesus will content you in everything.”

NEXT; see Scan of [The 1995 Edition]. Luisa Piccarreta  The Kingdom of Heaven Volume 19 [Edition 1995 – Florida]. March 6, 1926 As It Was Known by the Heavenly Mother that Jesus Was Her Son, So with the Divine Will. The Necessity of the Knowledge of a Good in order for It to Become Path of Communication. Finding myself in my usual state, my always amiable Jesus came and, taking my hand in his, drew me to Himself on high, between Heaven and earth. And I, almost afraid, squeezed myself to Jesus holding his Most Holy Hand tightly; and, wanting to vent my pain with Him which oppressed me so much, I said to Him: "My Love and my Life, Jesus, You once said to me that You wanted to make me a copy of my Heavenly Mother; yet of Her almost nothing is known of the seasof graces from You which inundated Her in each instant. She said nothing to anyone; She kept everything to Herself; nor does the Gospel say anything of Her. It is known only that She was your Mamma, and that She gave You, Eternal Word, to the world; but all that passed between you and Her, of favours, of grace, She kept to Herself. To me, then, You want the contrary; You want manifested what You say to me: You do not want to keep secret what passes between me and You. I am very sorry about this; where then is the copy of my Mamma that you want to make of me ?" And my sweet Jesus, squeezing me tightly to his Heart, all tenderness, said to me: "My daughter, courage, do not fear. Concerning my Mamma, nothing was known other than what was necessary. It was sufficient to be known that I was her Son, and that by her means I came to redeem the generations, and that She was the first in whom I had my prime Held of Divine actions in her soul. All the rest of the favours, of the seas of graces She received, remained in the sanctuary of the divine secrets. But the most important, most grand, most holy thing was known-that the Son of God was her Son. For Her this was the greatest honour and which raised Her above all creatures. Therefore, the greater thing being known of my Mamma, the lesser was not necessary. So it will be with my daughter. It will be known only that my Will had had Its prime Held of divine action in your soul; and all that is necessary is to make known what regards my Will, which wants to go out into the Held to make the creature return to her origin, and how anxiously I await her in my arms, so that there no longer be division between Me and her. If that were not known how can she long for this great good? How can she dispose herself to a grace so grand? If my Mamma would not have wanted to make known that I was the Eternal Word and her Son, what good would the Redemption have had? A good not known, for however great it is, does not have ways to communicate the good that it possesses. And, as my Mamma did not oppose Herself, so my daughter must not oppose herself to that which regards my Will. All the rest of the secrets, the flight that you make in my Will, the goods that you take, the most intimate things between Me and you will remain in the sanctuary of the divine secrets. Do not fear, your Jesus will content you in everything."

      http://bookofheaven.org/       

  AUG

15

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN

August 15

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V18 – 8.15.25 – After this, I began to think about the feast of my Celestial Mama Assumed into Heaven; and my sweet Jesus, with a tender and moving tone, added:  “My daughter, the true name of this Feast should be Feast of the Divine Will.  It was the human will that closed Heaven, broke the bonds with its Creator, made miseries and sorrow enter the field, and put an end to the feast that the creature was to enjoy in Heaven.  Now, this creature, Queen of all, by doing the Will of the Eternal One always and in everything – even more, it can be said that Her life was Divine Will alone – opened the Heavens, bound Herself to the Eternal One, and restored in Heaven the feasts with the creature.  Every act She did in the Supreme Will was a feast that She started in Heaven, it was suns that She formed to adorn this feast, it was melodies that She sent to delight the Celestial Jerusalem.  So, the true cause of this feast is the Eternal Will operating and fulfilled in my Celestial Mama.  It operated such prodigies in Her as to astonish Heaven and earth, chain the Eternal One with indissoluble bonds of love, and capture the Word even into Her womb.  The very Angels, enraptured, repeated among themselves:  ‘From where comes so much glory, so much honor, such greatness and prodigies never before seen, in this excelling Creature?  Yet, it is from the exile that She is coming.’  Astonished, they recognized the Will of their Creator as Life operating in Her; and, trembling, they said:  ‘Holy, Holy, Holy – honor and glory to the Will of Our Sovereign Lord.  And glory, and trice Holy – She who let this Supreme Will operate.’

So, it is my Will that, more than anything, was and is celebrated on the day of the Assumption into Heaven of my Most Holy Mother.  It was my Will alone that made Her ascend so high as to distinguish Her among all.  Everything else would have been as nothing, had She not possessed the prodigy of my Will.  It was my Will that gave Her Divine Fecundity and made Her the Mother of the Word.  It was my Will that made Her see and embrace all creatures together, becoming the Mother of all, and loving all with a love of Divine Maternity.  And making Her the Queen of all, It made Her rule and dominate.  On that day, my Will received the first honors, the glory and the abundant fruit of Its work in Creation, and It began Its feast, which It never interrupts, for the glorification of Its operating in my beloved Mother.  And even though Heaven was opened by Me, and many Saints were already in possession of the Celestial Fatherland when the Celestial Queen was assumed into Heaven, however, She Herself was the primary cause, having fulfilled the Supreme Will in everything, and therefore we waited for She who had honored It so much and contained the true prodigy of the Most Holy Will, to make the first feast for the Supreme Volition.  Oh! how the whole of Heaven magnified, blessed and praised the Eternal Will, upon seeing this sublime Queen enter the Empyreum, in the midst of the Celestial Court, all circumfused by the Eternal Sun of the Supreme Volition!  They saw Her all studded with the power of the Supreme Fiat; there had been not even a heartbeat in Her which did not have this Fiat impressed on it.  And, astonished, they looked at Her and said to Her:  ‘Ascend, ascend higher.  It is right that She who so much honored the Supreme Fiat, and through whom we find ourselves in the Celestial Fatherland, have the highest throne and be our Queen.’  And the greatest honor that my Mama received, was to see the Divine Will glorified.” 

   

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Dom Donald's Blog: Ronald Knox NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME SUNDA...: Night Office - Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office,   NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME SUNDAY  2015 First Reading 2 Kings 4:3...

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, 'the martyrdom of love'

  

iBreviary 12 August 2015 Night Office, previously 11 December.

For the Memorial of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal:

SECOND READING

From The Memoirs by the secretary of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
(Françoise-Madeleine de Chaugy, Memories sur la vie et les vertus de Sainte J.-F. De Chantal, III, 3: 3e edit., Paris, 1853, pp. 306-307)

Love is as strong as death

One day Saint Jane spoke the following eloquent words, which listeners took down exactly as spoken:

“My dear daughters, many of our holy fathers in the faith, men who were pillars of the Church, did not die martyrs. Why do you think this was?” Each one present offered an answer; then their mother continued. “Well, I myself think it was because there is another martyrdom: the martyrdom of love. Here God keeps his servants and handmaids in this present life so that they may labor for him, and he makes of them both martyrs and confessors. I know,” she added, “that the Daughters of the Visitation are meant to be martyrs of this kind, and that, by the favor of God, some of them, more fortunate than others in that their desire has been granted, will actually suffer such a martyrdom.”

One sister asked what form this martyrdom took. The saint answered: “Yield yourself fully to God, and you will find out! Divine love takes its sword to the hidden recesses of our inmost soul and divides us from ourselves. I know one person whom love cut off from all that was dearest to her, just as completely and effectively as if a tyrant’s blade had severed spirit from body.”

We realized that she was speaking of herself. When another sister asked how long the martyrdom would continue, the Saint replied: “From the moment when we commit ourselves unreservedly to God, until our last breath. I am speaking, of course, of great-souled individuals who keep nothing back for themselves, but instead are faithful in love. Our Lord does not intend this martyrdom for those who are weak in love and perseverance. Such people he lets continue on their mediocre way, so that they will not be lost to him; he never does violence to our free will.”

Finally, the saint was asked whether this martyrdom of love could be put on the same level as martyrdom of the body. She answered: “We should not worry about equality. I do think, however, that the martyrdom of love cannot be relegated to a second place, for love is as strong as death. For the martyrs of love suffer infinitely more in remaining in this life so as to serve God, than if they died a thousand times over in testimony to their faith and love and fidelity.”

RESPONSORY
See Philippians 4:8-9

There are many things that are true, honorable and just,
many that are pure, worthy of love and deserving of praise:
these you must do.
– And the God of peace will be with you.

If there is anything virtuous, anything worthy of admiration,
think of these things above all else.
– And the God of peace will be with you.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Lord,
you chose Saint Jane Frances to serve you
both in marriage and in religious life.
By her prayers
help us to be faithful in our vocation
and always to be the light of the world.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Or:

O God, who made Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
radiant with outstanding merits in different walks of life,
grant us, through her intercession,
that, walking faithfully in our vocation,
we may constantly be examples of shining light.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Ronald Knox NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME SUNDAY

Night Office - Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office, 

 NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

SUNDAY 2015

First Reading

2 Kings 4:38-44; 6:1-7

Responsorq     Sir 48:12-14

Throughout his life no ruler could make Elisha tremble, no one could lord it over him. t No task was too hard for him, and even in death his body prophesied.

V. In life he worked miracles; in death his deeds were marvelous. t No task ...

Second Reading

From A Retreat for Priests by Ronald Knox

Elisha asks for, and eventually obtains, a double portion of his master's spirit. It is in the power of that spirit that he returns to the sons of the prophets, clad with the mantle of Elijah, and is at once accepted by them as the successor of their master and his. Now, what made him ask for this double portion, for a higher measure of spiritual privileges than even Elijah himself had enjoyed? Surely because, in some way, he saw in front of him still more difficult work, a work which would need a higher degree of divine assistance if it was to be carried through successfully.

I think the difference you notice immediately between Elijah and Elisha, as you read their biographies one after the other in the books of Kings, is that Elijah is a free lance, a wandering prophet, appearing at one moment and disappearing the next, making his influence felt by sudden violent demonstrations; whereas Elisha lives a settled life, always at the disposal of anybody who wants to consult him, the habitual counselor of kings. In Elisha's time, the position of prophet seems to have become a fixed thing, an institution, a recognized feature of the national life. Elijah, when he is not being fed by ravens in the desert, is lodging with a poor widow at Sarepta, whereas Elisha lives in his own house, and sends his servant down to interview visitors at the door, instead of dealing with them himself. And when he goes on his travels, to Shunem, he is entertained by "a great woman" there, who persuades her husband to keep a guest room permanently at the prophet's disposal.

And, above all, these sons of the prophets whom we have already mentioned are continually recurring in Elisha's biogra­phy. Their houses, for they lived in community, seem to have been centers or seminaries of prophetic inspiration scattered up and down the country; and although they existed before his time, it is clear that Elisha was constantly in touch with them, a sort of Father Provincial whom they must forever be consulting. At one place they want to extend their premises; they ask Elisha about it; one of them drops an axe into the water - ask Elisha; there is net enough food to go round - ask Elisha; or if the food is suspected of being poisoned - ask Elisha. And I believe it is generally thought by scholars that we owe to these prophetic schools the transmission, in great part, of the sacred records which have come down to us. Prophecy, instead of being an occasional phenomenon of the desert, has become the occupa­tion of a caste and the center of a kind of community life; in a word, the thing has become an institution.

And I sometimes wonder whether Elisha did not ask for a double portion of the grace which had rested upon Elijah pre­cisely for that reason; precisely because he saw that it is a harder work, really, keeping an institution alive once it is founded, than providing the inspiration which originates it. The founders of the great religious orders have been, in the main, people who kept things going by the inspiration of a personal influence during their lifetime, and left to somebody else, when they were gone, the difficult task of preserving their tradition and organ­izing the institution to which they had given birth. And even where the great founders have been great legislators as well, it is inevitable that fresh situations should arise, that the tradition should need to be interpreted afresh, the rule accommodated to contemporary needs. Something of its rugged simplicity will disappear in the process. And it is then that every institute must pray for a double portion of its founder's spirit.

Responsory     2 Kgs 2:15; Eph 2:20

The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho said: The spirit of Elijah has come to rest on Elisha. t And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.

 

Second Friends: C.S. Lewis and Ronald Knox in Conversation

Jun 2008

by Walter Hooper and Milton T. Walsh