Saturday 27 October 2012

COMMENT:

Herd at refectory window

Saturday, 27 October 2012

Our Lady Saturday Memorial     








From a Sermon by Saint Aelred, abbot
(Sermo 20, in Nativitate beatae Mariae: PL 195, 322-324)
Mary our mother

Our Lady Saturday Memorial


Our Lady - Doorway of Faith

 
http://www.ibreviary.com/m/preghiere.php?tipo=Preghiera&id=243#oor

From a Sermon by Saint Aelred, abbot
(Sermo 20, in Nativitate beatae Mariae: PL 195, 322-324)

Mary our mother

Let us come to his bride, his mother, his perfect handmaid, for the blessed Mary is all of this.

But what are we to do for her? What kind of gifts shall we offer her? Would that we could at least return what we are in duty bound to do, for we owe her honor and service, we owe her love and praise. We owe her honor, for she is the mother of our Lord. He who fails to honor the mother clearly dishonors the son. Also, Scripture says: Honor you father and your mother.

What then, my brothers, shall we say? Is she not our mother? Yes, my brothers, she is indeed our mother, for through her we have been born, not for the world but for God.

Once we all lay in death, as you know and believe, in sin, in darkness, in misery. In death, because we had lost the Lord; in sin, because of our corruption; in darkness, for we were without the light of wisdom, and thus had perished utterly.

But then we were born, far better than through Eve, through Mary the blessed, because Christ was born of her. We have recovered new life in place of sin, immortality instead of mortality, light in place of darkness.

She is our mother—the mother of our life, the mother of our incarnation, the mother of our light. As the Apostle says of our Lord, he became for us by God’s power our wisdom and justice, and holiness and redemption.

She then, as mother of Christ, is the mother of our wisdom and justice, of our holiness and redemption. She is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Our birth from her is better, for from her is born our holiness, our wisdom, our justice, our sanctification, our redemption.

Praise the Lord in his holy ones, say the Scriptures. If our Lord is to be praised in those holy ones through whom he brings to being deeds of power and miracles, how much more is he to be praised in her in whom he fashioned himself, who is wonderful beyond all wonders.

RESPONSORY

Happy are you, holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise;
 from your womb Christ the Sun of Justice has risen.
Through him we have salvation and deliverance.

Let us celebrate with joy this feast in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 From your womb Christ the Sun of Justice has risen.
Through him we have salvation and deliverance.

Friday 26 October 2012

COMMENT: The 'missing verse' in Sirach 24:18/24.

Christ_Hagia_Sofia
COMMENTS:                       
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W. . .
To: Donald  . . .
Subject: Re:
Knox translation & Sirach verse

Dear Father Donald,

...............
The 'missing verse' in Sirach 24: 18 / 24 has indeed held my interest!
The NRSV Study edition has the comment: "Other ancient authorities add as verse 18, I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope; being eternal, I am given to all my children, to those who are named by him"; and
   
The NJB Study edition adds: "Gk 248 and Lat. add 18 I am the mother of pure love, of fear, of knowledge and of worthy hope, and Gk 248 I am bestowed on all my children, from all eternity on those appointed by him. In place of the last phrase the Latin reads, In me is all grace of way and of truth, in me all hope of life and of strength, a Christian gloss alluding to John 14:6 and based on the identification of Wisdom with Christ"; and
The NAB Study edition describes 24:1-27 "In this chapter Wisdom speaks in the first person, describing her origin, her dwelling place in Israel, and the reward she gives her followers. As in Proverbs 8, Wisdom is described as a being who comes from God and is distinct from him. While we do not say with certainty that this description applies to a personal being, it does foreshadow the beautiful doctrine of the Word of God later developed in St. John's Gospel (Jn 1:1-14). In the liturgy this chapter is applied to the Blessed Virgin because of her constant and intimate association with Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom".
Such a beautiful theme must indeed be woven into our every thought of the nature of Sophia.
What a beautiful truth upon which to retire for the night!
With my love in Our Lord,
William

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Donald . .
To: William W. . .
Subject: Re:
Knox translation - 

Dear William,
. . . . .   

Problem with the Sirac Quote.
The DRM (Douai Rheims) is glorious as in the Vulgate.
Sir 24:24  I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. (DRB)
I think I had the actual verses appear elsewhere in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom  or Apocrypha?
Especially nice to find it in Knox Bible if possible.
Here I am on a wild goose chase.
Also on chase of your snow as leaves in Carlisle.
God bless.
Donald


Wednesday 24 October 2012

Our Lady, Medjugorji "God's city, mother of all nations." Psalm 86

Dear Sr. Maria,

Thank you for the Message from Medjugorje.
Our Lady's Message from October seems to give a special re-echo from the Vigil Office in the Psalm 86.
This is from our Liturgical reciting of the Grail Psalter version, - see below.
God Bless.
fr. Donald.
Youth at Medjugorji 
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Sr Maria - - -
Cc: ...........
Sent: Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 20:35
Subject: FW:
 Medjugorje - Our Lady's October 02, 2012 Message to Mirjana


October 02, 2012 message to Mirjana

"Dear children; I am calling you and am coming among you because I need you.
I need apostles with a pure heart. I am praying, and you should also pray,
that the Holy Spirit may enable and lead you, that He may illuminate you and
fill you with love and humility. Pray that He may fill you with grace and
mercy. Only then will you understand me, my children. Only then will you
understand my pain because of those who have not come to know the love of
God. Then you will be able to help me. You will be my light-bearers of God's
love. You will illuminate the way for those who have been given eyes but do
not want to see. I desire for all of my children to see my Son. I desire for
all of my children to experience His Kingdom. Again I call you and implore
you to pray for those whom my Son has called. Thank you."
______________________

Jerusalem Old City aerial from sw
   
Echoes from Psalm 86, Vigil of Wednesday - accents in reciting of the Grail Psalter.

Psalm 86  Jerusalem, Mother of all nations.

On the holy móuntain is his cíty
  chérished by the Lórd.
The Lord prefers the gátes of Síon
  to all Jácob’s dwéllings.
Of you are told glórious thíngs,
  O cíty of Gód.

‘Babylon and Egypt I will cóunt
  among those who knów me;
Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia,
  these will bé her chíldren.
And Sion sháll be called “Móther” 
  for all shall bé her chíldren.’

It is he, the Lórd most Hígh,
  who gives éach his pláce.
In his register of péoples he wrítes:
  ‘Thése are her chíldren.’
And while they dance they will sing:
  “in you all find their home.”

Antiphon:   Of you are told glorious things.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Go deep into the inner stillness (HE AND i)

HE AND i, Gabriells B.


1936 October 24 -  Montreal. (In such a gentle voice)
"When you don't go deep into the inner stillness you deprive Me. "
[Lui: "Quand tu ne te recuelles pas, c'est Moi que tu prives" (d'une voix si delicate)].




Eckhart “Whether it is contemplation or rapture or whatever you welcome, whatever is created, is not God”


The Night Office, First Reading, had an amazingly vivid description of the trees, aromas, incense, and drawing into the settings of flower garden and meadows giving the aliveness of experience. (Sir: 24:7-24).
More striking is the language of Sirac, of time and place, nothing primitive awaking to the wonder of God’s creation.
The choice of the Second Reading is from Meister Eckhart seems to follow another track – itself another eye-opening, “Whether it is contemplation or rapture or whatever you welcome, whatever is created, is not God”.   

Sapentia Sirach  Sir 24:23  As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. Sir 24:24  I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. (DRB)

TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SATURDAY       Year II
First Reading
Sirach 24:1-22
Responsory: Sir 17:9-11
The Lord has set before them knowledge, a law of life as their inheritance. + An everlasting covenant God has made with them.
V. His majestic glory their eyes beheld, his glorious voice their ears heard. + An everlasting covenant.

Second Reading  
 
The Meister Eckhart portal of the Erfurt Church OP
From the writings of Meister Eckhart (Sermon 3: Sermons and Treatises 11, 3-4)
With spiritual things there is no satiation
Our Lord says: They who eat me shall hunger again, they who drink me shall thirst again. How are we to understand this? For it is not so with physical things: the more you eat, the more sated you are. But with spiritual things there is no satiation: the more you have of them, the more you want. And therefore this text says: They shall become more thirsty who drink me, and more hungry who eat me. These people are so hungry for God's will, and it is so much to their taste, that whatever God sends them satisfies and pleases them so much that they could not wish or desire anything else. As long as a man is hungry he enjoys his food, and the greater the hunger, the greater the satisfaction in eating. So it is with those who hunger after God's will: His will tastes so good, and whatever God wishes and sends them pleases them so much that, even if God wanted to let them off it, they would not want to be let off - so pleased are they with what God wanted in the first place. If I wanted to please someone, and make myself agreeable to him alone, whatever suited that person, through which I was pleasing to him, that I would wish more than anything else. And if I pleased him better in a poor dress than in velvet, then assuredly I should wear that poor dress rather than any other. So it is with those who are pleased with God's will: whatever God gives them, sickness or poverty or anything else, they prefer that to anything else. Because it is God's will, it tastes better to them than anything else.

Now you might want to ask, "How do I know if it is God's will?" I reply: "If it were not God's will for a single instant, it would not be - it must always be his will." Now if you really enjoyed the taste of God's will, you would be just as if you were in heaven, whatever happened or did not happen to you. It serves them right who want anything other than God's will, for they are always in sorrow and distress. They often suffer violence and oppression, and are always in trouble. And that is just as it should be, for they act as if they were to sell God, as Judas did. They love God for the sake of something else that is not God. And if they get something they love, they do not bother about God. Whether it is contemplation or rapture or whatever you welcome, whatever is created, is not God. Scripture says: The world was made by him, and what was made knew him not. If anyone should think that to gain a thousand words plus God were any more than to gain God alone, he would not know God or have the slightest idea of God and would be a boor. Therefore a man should he d nothing but God.