ADVENT First Monday Reading

Cloister corner

On the first Advent Monday, even early for November, finds us snowed in.
The only access has been by the Milkman and found the milk buried in snow at the front door.

Trees cluster from Refectory

The Night Office began with a power break and had light restored promptly.
It made us all in the spirit of Advent of AWAKE.
The Reading from Blessed John Henry Newman bid us to "Prepare to meet your God".

Weather Monk

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT  MONDAY

Year I   First Reading

Isaiah 8:1-18   

Second Reading

From a sermon by Cardinal John Henry Newman (Parochial and Plain Sermons V, 4-9)     

Prepare to meet your God

Christ says to his disciples, Look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near; and to his enemies, Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. And it is said generally of everyone, on the one hand, Behold he comes with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. And on the other, When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Now, when this state of the case, the prospect which lies before us, is brought home to our thoughts, surely it is one which will lead us anxiously to ask, Is this all that we are told, all that is allowed to us, or done for us? Do we know only this, that all is dark now, and all will be light then; that now God is hidden, and one day will be revealed; that we are in a world of sense, and are to be in a world of spirits? For surely it is our plain wisdom, our bounden duty, to prepare for this great change; and if so, are any directions, hints, or rules given us how we are to prepare? Prepare to meet your God, go out to meet him, is the dictate of natural reason, as well as of inspiration. But how is this to be?

Now observe that it is scarcely a sufficient answer to this question to say that we must strive to obey him, and so to approve ourselves to him. This indeed might be enough, were reward and punishment to follow in the mere way of nature, as they do in this world. But, when we come steadily to consider the matter, appearing before God, and dwelling in his presence, is a very different thing from being merely subjected to a system of moral laws, and would seem to require another preparation, a special preparation of thought and affection, such as will enable us to endure his countenance, and to hold communion with him as we ought.

This indeed is the most momentous reason for religious worship. It is going out to meet the Bridegroom, who, if not seen in his beauty, will appear in consuming fire. It is a preparation for an awful event, which shall one day be. When we kneel down in prayer in private let us think to ourselves, Thus shall lone day kneel down before his very footstool, in this flesh and this blood of mine; and he will be seated over against me, in flesh and blood also, though divine. I come, with the thought of that awful hour before me, I come to confess my sin to him now, that he may pardon it then, and I say, "O Lord, holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, in the hour of death and in the day of judgment, deliver us, 0 Lord!"

Again, when we come to church, then let us say: The day will be when I shall see Christ surrounded by his holy angels. I shall be brought into that blessed company, in which all will be pure, all bright. I come then to learn to endure the sight of the holy One and his servants; to nerve myself for a vision which is fearful before it is ecstatic, and which they only enjoy whom it does not consume.

ADVENT Mon. First Week

Noah's Ark Rainbow

MATTHEW 8:5-11
(Isaiah 4:2-6; Psalm 122)   
PRAYING: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed. (Text for the people from the New Translation of the Roman Missal)
Introduction to the Mass. Fr. S...

Monday: First week of Advent  ( Mt.8:5-11)

• In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus’ admiration of centurion’s faith. What was it in centurion’s behaviour which impressed Jesus?  What impressed Jesus were two dispositions of the centurion by which he approached Jesus.
• Firstly, the centurion recognised in Jesus an absolute and genuine power and ability to heal his servant.
• Secondly, he approached Jesus with great humility. The centurion did not consider himself worthy to have Jesus come into his house to defile himself by entering a gentile’s house. He was confident that Jesus would heal his servant simply by uttering a word because Jesus is lord and master and has power and authority.
• Let us approach Jesus in Advent season with these two dispositions, faith and humility inviting Jesus into our lives that he is able to work powerfully within us bringing in us the wholeness, holiness and healing. 

Pope Bible study top priority

Issued November 11th, 2010, Verbum Domini is an Apostolic Exhortation to the faithful to reaffirm their faith and belief in the understanding of the Word becoming flesh and the deeper meaning of the Holy Scriptures.

THE CATHOLIC HERALD

Editorial

Scripture document reveals Benedict XVI's top priority

What is Benedict XVI's top priority? Is it the clerical abuse scandal or perhaps reforming the liturgy? Might it be fighting the "dictatorship of relativism" or seeking Christian unity? These are all major concerns of this pontificate. Yet there is another priority which Pope Benedict considers even more pressing. He explains what it is in the Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, released last Thursday. "There is no greater priority," he writes, "than this: to enable the people of our time once more to encounter God, the God who speaks to us and shares his love so that we might have life in abundance." Benediet XVI has written this new document to inspire each of us ­bishops, clergy, consecrated persons, lay faithful and seekers - to meet the God who speaks in the Bible.

It is sometimes said that the liturgy is for Catholics and the Bible is for Protestants. This could not be further from Pope Benedict's vision in Verbum Domini. He quotes with approval the words of St Jerome, patron of Scripture scholars, who taught that we should approach the word of God with the same attention that we receive the Eucharist. "If a crumb falls to the ground we are troubled," the saint wrote. "Yet we are listening to the word of God, and God's Word and Christ's flesh and blood are being poured into our ears yet we pay no heed, what great peril should we not feel?"

St Jerome's words indicate that the struggle to appreciate the word of God is not a new feature of Catholic history. Benedict XVI wants us to grow in understanding of the Bible, for our own sake but also for the sake of others. It is the Pope's intuition that we will not succeed in leading the people of our own day to God if we have not first encountered Him in Scripture.

After the first reading in our parishes we hear the phrase: "The word of the Lord." In Latin this is, of course, "Verbum Domini". We respond: "Thanks be to God." There may be few better ways of expressing this gratitude than by reading the new Apostolic Exhortation.

Luke 2:20-28 Death, Judgements, Heaven, Hell & Second Coming

Thursday of 34^th Ordinary Week ( LK 21:20-28)

Mass Introduction: Fr. S...    

Book of Revelation 18:1-2.21-23.19:1-3.9. 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21:20-28.

• During the month of November, the church urges us to ponder on the most fundamental truths of our faith: Death, Judgements, Heaven, Hell and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• In the gospel, Jesus urges us to reflect on his second coming in a cloud with power and glory. There is a frightful cosmic catastrophe at the second coming of Jesus but the gospel echoes a very positive tone concerning how we should prepare ourselves for Lord’s second coming. In the gospel, we read, “When these signs begin to happen stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Lk 21:28).
• This message of Jesus fills our hearts  with great joy and confidence .The Christians have no fear and anxieties of their death ,failures , sufferings and the cosmic upheavals at his second coming provided:
• 1)    We live in the sacraments of God’s presence every moment with total trust and faith.
• 2)    Our priority in life  is to grow in intimacy with God  through life of prayers and this should reflect in our dealings and loving relationship with our neighbour
• 3)    We live in freedom as children of God doing always what is good and avoid what is evil total detachment from sinful lives and addictions.
• Then only we can stand erect and raise our heads to welcome Jesus at any moment he comes to visit us at our death or at his second coming.

Vietnamese Martyrs

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

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Wednesday, 24 November 2010

SAINTS ANDREW DUNG-LAC
Priest,
AND HIS COMPANIONS
(18th and 19th centuries)

        This feast day celebrates all of the martyrs of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries (1745-1862) who shed their blood in the remote Far East, particularly in Vietnam. Many of the martyrs were priests of the Dominican order. Others belonged to the Paris Society for Foreign Missions, while still others, including Andrew Dung-Lac, were Vietnamese.

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Collect: O God, the source and origin of all fatherhood, you kept the blessed martyrs Andrew and his companions faithful to the cross of your Son even to the shedding of their blood. Through their intercession enable us to spread your love among our brothers and sisters, that we may be called and may truly be your children. 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.

To begin Mass this morning, the symbolism of the colour of red had the impact of FIRE.

To mind came the quote: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on free. Let the truth be you delight… proclaim it… but with a certain congeniality.” (St. Catherine of Siena. http://www.catholicfire.blogspot.com/).

As St Catherine of Siena says challenges us Faith, Truth, Congeniality.

The Memorial is of the Vietnamese Martyrs, and not only Vietnamese, but in particular the Vietnamese Saint Andrew and his companions.

The 117 Vietnamese Martyrs canonizes by Pope John Paul II in 1988 are representative of a much larger phenomenon. Thousands upon thousands of Christians in both Vietnam and neighbouring countries such as Chine and Japan have died for their faith over more than four centuries.

Pope John Paul choose the Month of the Holy Souls  for the canonization of the martyrs in the context of the crossing of lines of Confucian worship, cult of the ancestors and Catholic devotion to the Holy Souls.

The Gospel reading today repeats that of 33^rd Sunday, Lk 21:18-19, “… not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.”

Good Thief 2 Dysmas and Gestas

Mesmerized by the Net Browse on the Good Thief, I have taken refuge in the safe Bible haven of Ronald Knox. The Narrative and Explanation columns clears the ether.

The Gospel Story by Ronald Knox & Ronald Cox pp. 400-401 Luke 23 The Good Thief
Narrative	Explanation
The soldiers, too, mocked him, when they came and offered him vinegar, by saying, 'If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.' And one of the two thieves who hung there fell to blaspheming against him; 'Are you not the Christ?' he said; 'save yourself, and us too.' But the other rebuked him; 'What,' he said, 'have you no fear of God, when you are undergoing the same sen­tence? And we justly enough; we receive no more than the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done' nothing amiss.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come in the glory of your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'I promise you, this day you shall be with me in Paradise.'	The soldiers joined in the mockery (an old tradition here makes mention of the crown of thorns still on Jesus' head). One of the thieves (called Dismas in early Christian writings) was moved by our Lord's silence under such insults: he seemed buoyed up by some inner force, a peace of soul that raised him above and be­yond all about him. He must be the Messias, as 'the title said, and the Jewish leaders taunted. Dismas' defence of Jesus shows his awareness of his own sinfulness, the first step to true repent­ance (p. 294). Humbly he asks a small favour of his King; maybe he might hold his horse's bridle. He was thinking of the Jewish kingdom after the Resurrection (p. 316). But Jesus promises him much more: the joy of sharing his own divine happiness this very day. Dismas is the only person canonized before death.

 
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Donald ...
To: William J ...
Cc: Donald Nunraw
Sent: Mon, 22 November, 2010 20:24:08
Subject: Re: [Blog] Dysmas and Gestas

Dear, William,

Thank you for pursuing my concern of Gestas.

At the moment I have this Fr. Z's from Roman Martyrology and sending from this PC to the other while a Scan  from Ronald Knox on Dismas is for  the Blog.
Knox is so purely simple in the face of the confusion from the Net World of controversy on Luke 23.

Browsing in rich pastures.

Donald

+ + + + + + +

Roman Martyrology 25 March: The Good Thief

Posted on 25 March 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I almost forget… today is the feast day of the Good Thief.

In the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum.

2. Commemoratio sancti latronis, qui, in cruce Christum confessus, ab eo meruit audire: «Hodie mecum eris in paradiso».

I find it quite appropriate that today should be the day for his feast.

Can anyone guess at why I think today is a good day for his feast (aside from any historical connection maybe to a translation of relics, etc., of which I am unaware)?

Fr.Z’s Blog – What Does  The Prayer Really Say? http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/03/martrom-25-march-the-good-thief/

Sancti Latronis, 'of Holy Thief'.   "Dismas is the only person canonized before death." (Knox)                             

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From: William J...
To:  Donald ...
Sent: Mon, 22 November, 2010 19:48:43
Subject: [Blog] Dysmas and Gestas

Dear Father Donald,

Alas, I have searched web to seek some text that exonerates 'Gestas', the other Thief, according to your concern, which I share the more I reflect upon his fate... (attached for interest / comparison to your own findings). A very compelling research. Intriguing note re Orthodox crucifix.

With my love in Our Lord, William.

Saint Dismas comes to the top on Wikipedia.
There is plenty of space to find if there is an apologia for the other Thief / Robber / Criminal / Malfactor.
At least that is my concern. 

http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/03karakters/dismas.html

Dysmas and Gestas

Role

Yeshua Ha-Notsri is crucified together with Dysmas and Gestas. Gestas sings quietly a hoarse, senseless song, something about grapes. His head, covered with a turban, occasionally sways, and then the flies rise sluggishly from his face and settle on it again. Dysmas suffers more than the other two, he claws the ends of the crossbar with his nails, keeps his head turned towards Yeshua's post. "'Silence on the second post!". In the fifth hour of their suffering the threesome gets something to drink, and are then killed by the executionor with a spear.

Background

In the gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) the names of the thieves who were crucified together with Jesus, are not mentioned. So how could Bulgakov know them? That's because there exist much more gospels than the four we know from the New Testament. In 367 the archbishop of Alexandria distinguished Gospels "inspired by God" and the so-called apocryphal gospels. His list of by God inspired books corresponds to the New Testament as it is known today. And most of the apocryphal texts were forbidden.

There are apocryphal gospels written by Judas, Thomas, Nicodemus, Philip, Bartholomew and much more, there's even one written by Maria Magdalena. This last one became famous by the Da Vinci Code, written by Dan Brown.

In the Gospel of Nicodemus, also called The Acts of Pilate because it is focussed on Jesus' Way of the Cross, the two names are mentioned. In Book IX:5 Pilate says: "Thy nation hath convicted thee as being a king: therefore have I decreed that thou shouldest first be scourged according to the law of the pious emperors, and thereafter hanged upon the cross in the garden wherein thou wast taken: and let Dysmas and Gestas the two malefactors be crucified with thee."

In christian tradition Dysmas, who was crucified at Jesus' right side, is often called the good thief, or even the good muderer. He asked for mercy and was saved. He could join Jesus in heaven. Gestas taunted Jesus about not saving himself and went to hell. The typical Russian orthodox crucifix reminds to it. There is a bottom slanting bar. It signifies that the thief on Christ's right chose the right path while the thief on the left did not.

http://cr.middlebury.edu/public/russian/Bulgakov/public_html/Dismas.html

They are not unknown in the Orthodox tradition, where larger icons of the Crucifixion can show two crosses flanking Christ's.

According to tradition, Dismas, on Christ's right, repents and eventually joins Christ in Heaven, while Gestas blasphemes and ends up in Hell. At the moment of Christ's passing, he writhes in agony and his feet jerk, pulling the lowest crossbar askew. On the traditional Russian Orthodox cross, the lowest crossbar is at an angle, with the right side up (Dismas went to Heaven) and the left side down (Gestas went to Hell).

http://www.freebase.com/view/en/gestas

GESTAS is one of the two thieves that were crucified alongside Jesus. According to tradition, he was crucified on the left of Jesus central cross. The other thief was Dismas. GESTAS was cousin of Dismas and older than him. He was about fifty when he was arrested and crucified. Just as Dismas was son of a rich Jewish merchant, GESTAS' parents were poor peasants. Although they were friends, the comparation with Dismas made GESTAS violent and rebel. It is said that in 1848 an Irish politician denounced Isaac Disraeli, the famous English Premier, as a Jewish traitor, "the heir at law of the blasphemous thief that died upon the cross." The personality of GESTAS was stronger than Dismas' and slowly Dismas was corrupted by him. Both became malefactors. Finally their lifes ended at the tragic hill of Calvary. Among his doings was that he stole the holy vessels of the Temple and stripped naked the daughter of Caiaphas, Sarah by name, who was priestess of the sanctuary. So defiant was GESTAS. But finally Dismas and GESTAS were caught by the assesination of a woman who with her children was going from Jerusalem to Joppa. They were imprisoned for a long time before being brought to trial. The Roman governor, Pilate, put them to death by crucifixion. Just before his execution GESTAS received a cruel flagellation and was obliged, like Jesus and Dismas, to carry his cross to the hill of Calvary. GESTAS staggered under the weight of his cross, his eyes and teeth glared with fear. Dismas and GESTAS sweated, watching the crosses being arranged on the ground. On arriving there and after giving him some myrrh and vinegar, the executioners stripped off his ragged clothing and gave him a loincloth. Then they nailed him on the cross. They put him on the cross and first nailed his hands at the wrists on to the cross beam of the cross and then they nailed down the feet. He cried in despair due to the pain. GESTAS groaned and screamed with pain of his injuries. No doubt he suffered both in his body and in his soul. He beared the same torture as his companion; his feet and his hands were nailed to the cross, as were the feet and hands of Jesus and Dismas. He suffered the same slow suffocation, the same burning thirst, the same wracking of the muscles strained and convulsed. Yes, he suffered; no rest for his body; no peace for his heart. He saw the patience and the meekness of Jesus, but it was not enough to open his eyes. GESTAS painfully thrust his body upward with the nailed feet so he could hurl a challenge at Jesus: "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us with you". "If you really were the Messiah, you would work a miracle; you would save yourself and you would save us." Through his rebellion the bad thief did not gain anything. His punishment was not taken away: he continued suffering and he died like his companion. His sufferings were not diminished. The pain he felt was severe. On the contrary, his rebellion and despair made them all the more cruel. He suffered without hope. His cross was a shameful cross. Except a tiny loincloth, all of his clothing was taken away, and his nakedness was exposed to everyone. The only thing he is interested in and would like to have is continued life, to escape from death, to escape from suffering. He was in complete loneliness. There was no one to encourage him or support him. According to a legend, after mocking Jesus, GESTAS' eyes were mercilessly pecked out by a crow. Finally, after several hours of excruciating sufferings, the executioners decided to conclude the torture. They did not come because they felt any ‘kindness’ towards the two thieves. They just wanted to remove the crucified off their crosses. They came with clubs in order to break the legs of the two thieves who were still hanging alive. Two soldiers went near the crosses where Dismas and GESTAS were grappling with death, and raising their thick clubs, they landed violent blows on their knees and legs, crushing the bones of the two thieves. GESTAS and Dismas shouted, cursed and screamed; thieves' legs were broken below the knees, but seeing that GESTAS was still crying, the executioners finished him off by three heavy blows of a cudgel on his chest. The three, Jesus, Dismas and GESTAS, had been on the cross almost five hours. So was GESTAS tragic end. He gained nothing, and lost everything. He hardened himself completely in his sin, his pride, his rebellion and hatred. He died desperate and probably was damned as he died at Jesus's side. [Also known as: the Bad Thief, the Unrepentant Thief, the Blasphemous Thief, Gesmas, the Unpenitent Thief

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