Thursday 9 January 2014

Thomas Merton, The Mystery of Christmas



The mystery of Christmas therefore lays upon us all a debt and an obligation to the rest of the human race and to the whole created universe. We who have seen the light of Christ are obliged by the greatness of the grace that has been given us to make known the presence of the Savior to the ends of the earth. This we will do not only by preaching the glad tidings of his coming, but above all by revealing him in our lives. Christ is born to us in order that he may appear to the whole world through us. This one day is the day of his birth, but every day of our mortal lives must be his manifestation, his divine epiphany, in the world which he has created and redeemed.
Thomas Merton


Seasons of Celebration by Thomas Merton OCS
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1.   Dom Donald's Blog: Seasons of Celebration Thomas Merton OCSO

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18 hours ago - From the writings of Thomas Merton, O.CS.O. (Seasons of Celebration 111-112). Answer to the prayers of all. If we wish to see Christ in his ...

2.   Bernard of Clairvaux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Thomas Merton ..... Bernard invited William to the Mass which he celebrated in the Church of La Couldre. At the ..... 2007); Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Lent and the Easter Season, edited by John Leinenweber and Mark Scott, OCSO.
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ON RETREAT WITH THOMAS MERTON, Pennington, Basil M,OCSO, Pennington ..... SEASONS OF CELEBRATION,Merton, Thomas; Foreword by William H.

4.   Recent and Forthcoming Publications - Thomas Merton Center

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The first International Thomas Merton Conference in Spain was held in Ávila ... 38), the eschatological kingdom (Seasons of Celebration, 60), and that it has ... Francisco Rafael de Pascual, OCSO - “The Secret Hope and the Hoped for Secret: ...

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Michael Casey, OCSO Petersham: St. Bede's Publications, 1999 ... Thomas Merton Kalamazoo: Cistercian ... Seasons of Celebration Thomas Merton New York:  ...

6.   The Three Advents

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A meditation on the season of Advent based on Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Merton. B y F r . J a m e s C o n n e r ,OCSO. For Bernard of Clairvaux and his  ...  

 Thomas Merton Quotes


The writings of Thomas Merton are gilded with truth, light and life. They have been deeply instrumental and inspirational to me in my journey towards experiencing and knowing God in deeper ways. This will be a continually evolving page as I add more and more quotes from his material. I'm going to have the quotes segmented in sections under the headings of the titles of his works in which I've found these awesome insights and reflections. They are handpicked and plucked right out of his works and not the general ones you might find on some of the very helpful, yet limited quotation websites.

Enjoy, and may you be blessed by them.



A Life in Letters: The Essential Collection
Edited by: William H. Shannon and
Christine M. Bochen

"It is true that when I came to this monastery where I am, I came in revolt against the meaningless confusion of a life in which there was so much activity, so much movement, so much useless talk, so much superficial and needless stimulation, that I could not remember who I was. But the fact remains that my flight from this world is not a reproach to you who remain in the world, and I have no right to repudiate the world in a purely negative faction, because if I do that my flight will have taken me not to truth and to God but to a private, though doubtless pious, illusion."

"I have been summoned to explore a desert area of man's heart in which explanations no longer suffice, and in which one learns that only exprience counts."
   

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Seasons of Celebration Thomas Merton OCSO

Mass and Night Office,  
Mosaic-St.-Mark-Evangelist-
Basilica-Saint-Peter-Vatican-Rome-Italy
  



The Mass Introduction had the illuminating commentary on the Gospel. Mark 6:45-52, "And having seen that they were troubled and tormented in [their] rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night [between 3:00-6:00 a.m.]" Verse 48, AMP. Mark had his writing of the Gospel in Rome  and was aware of the persecution of Christians at the time. He recalled the occasion of Jesus coming to his disciples, 'troubled and tormented' in the boat out in the middle of the lake.

A Two Year Patristic Lectionary for the Divine Office 
Edited by Stephen Mark Holmes

University of Edinburgh School of Divinity
For Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland
At the Night Office, following the surprise from yesterday, we are able to use the  Reading from the Patristic Lectionary.

Oops! The wrong horse. This is the 1981 Edition of  'A WORD IN SEASON'.
What I am looking forward is the Night Office Reading by Thomas Merton, obviously the 2001 Edition of the Patristic Lectionary, before. 



A Word in Season
Advent to Christmas
Edition 2001
Epiphany to Baptism Year II
Wednesday 08 January 2014

First Reading Isaiah 56: 1-8

Second Reading
From the writings of Thomas Merton, O.CS.O.
(Seasons of Celebration 111-112)
Answer to the prayers of all

If we wish to see Christ in his glory, we must recognize him now in his humility. If we wish his light to shine on our darkness and his immortality ty to clothe our mortality, we must suffer with him on earth in order to be crowned with him in paradise. If we desire his love to transform us from glory to glory into his perfect likeness, we must love one another as he has loved us, and we must take our places at that blessed table where he him­self becomes our food, setting before us the living bread, the manna which is sent to us from heaven, this day, to be the life of the world.

Jesus, who has come to nourish our spirit with his own body and blood, does so not to be transformed into us, but in order to transform us into himself. He has given himself to us in order that we may belong to him. For the centre of this great mystery is the eternal Father's design to re-establish all things in Christ. This, says Saint Paul, is the mystery of his will ... in the dispensa­tion of the fullness of time, to reestablish all things in Christ that are in heaven and on earth.

This child and redeemer who comes amid the songs 'of angels to answer the prayers of all the patriarchs and prophets, and to satisfy the unrecognized longings of the whole lineage of Adam exiled from paradise, comes also to quiet the groanings of all creation. For the whole world has been in labour and in mourning since the fall of the human race. The whole created universe, with all its manifold beauty and splendour, has travailed in disorder, longing for the birth of a saviour. Every creature groans and travails in pain even until now ... for the expectation of the creature waits for the revelation of the children of God.

The patriarchs and prophets prayed for the coming of Christ in Bethlehem, bu t this first coming did not silence the groanings of creation. For, according to the words of the apostle which we have just heard, while men and women waited for the birth of  Jesus in Judea, the rest of the universe still waits for the revelation of Christ in his Church.

The mystery of Christmas therefore lays upon us all a debt and an obligation to the rest of the human race and to the whole created universe. We who have seen the light of Christ are obliged by the greatness of the grace that has been given us to make known the presence of the Savior to the ends of the earth. This we will do not only by preaching the glad tidings of his coming, but above all by revealing him in our lives. Christ is born to us in order that he may appear to the whole world through us. This one day is the day of his birth, but every day of our mortal lives must be his manifestation, his divine epiphany, in the world which he has created and redeemed.

Responsory Is 66:18-19; In 17:6.18
Behold I come to bring together all nations and tongues. + They shall come and see my glory and proclaim it to the far-off lands.
V. I have revealed your name to those you have given me out of the world. As you have sent me, so now I send them.+ They shall come ...



Tuesday 7 January 2014

Two-Year Patristic Lectionary for the Divine Office ONLINE

COMMENT:  
Epiphany bonus.
Thank you, thank you.
In Epiphany days, this morning I happily scan and downloaded the Augustine 2nd Reading , Tuesday after  Epiphany Year II.
Not more the labour on the Patristic Readings.
Again to the amazing Google surfing encounter the long  searched for the Reading of the night office.
Below is the fascinating story surfacing the Patristic Readings available.
A delightful discovery and express our gratitude. Thank you.
The Downloading has been successful.

Selections from the Two-Year Patristic Lectionary for the Divine Office originally edited by Stephen Mark Holmes, University of Edinburgh School of Divinity, for Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland. The Lectionary is available as a free resource at the Durham University Centre for Catholic Studies. Postings by Michael Demers in Phoenix, Arizona.


  1. Far from Pluscarden: 2nd reading, Tuesday after Epiphany Year II

    mike-demers.blogspot.com/.../2nd-reading-tuesday-after-epiphany-year....

    5 days ago - A READING FROM A SERMON BY ST AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO The Redeemer ... They venerated in him what was still to come; we venerate its fulfilment. ... StAugustine, Sermo 203 (PL 381035-1037), from Word in Season 2.
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A Two Year Patristic Lectionary for the Divine Office

Edited by Stephen Mark Holmes
University of Edinburgh School of Divinity
For Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland
Download the entire Patristic Lectionary here.

The History of the Patristic Lectionary

A 'patristic lectionary' is a series of readings from the fathers (in Latin patres) of the Church. Scripture has always been read in the Church in the context of tradition. With the development of the Divine Office (services of prayer celebrated at different times of each day) the daily cycle of Scripture reading came to be accompanied by commentaries from the fathers of the Church, as St Benedict wrote in the middle of the sixth century, 'Let the inspired books of both the Old and the New Testaments be read at Vigils, as also commentaries on them by the most eminent orthodox and catholic fathers' (Rule of Benedict, IX).  

INTEREST: The Catholic Herald has updated its Internet Edition on, the Pope meeting the Union of Superiors


INTEREST: The Catholic Herald has updated its Internet Edition on, the Pope meeting the Union of Superiors

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Epiphany, 'They venerated in him what was still to come; we venerate its fulfilment'. Augustine

Monastic Office of Vigils,

Comment on the side - Link to
The exchange with Pope Francis and the Union of Superiors General


Pope Francis & Union of Superiors General
   The exchange with Pope Francis and the Union of Superiors General of Men which took place Nov. 29 last year was published for the first time in the latest edition of La Civiltà Cattolica.

Father Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of the Society of Jesus-owned periodical, was with the 120 superiors general attending the meeting. His 15 page article recounts the free and spontaneous conversation that covered a wide range of issues. (Rome, January 03, 2014 - Zenit.org )

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From Epiphany to the Baptism of the Lord
TUESDAY Year II
First Reading
Isaiah    55:1-13
Responsorv          Is 55:4-5; Tb 13:14
I have set him as a witness to the peoples, as leader and teacher of all nations. + You shall summon a nation unknown to you, and nations that did not know you shall run to you.
V. The nations will come to you from afar. They will come bearing gifts to worship the Lord. + You shall summon ...

Second Reading
From a sermon by Saint Augustine of Hippo
(Sermo 203: PL 38, 1035-1037)
We venerate the fulfilment
The Redeemer of all nations was manifested, and so he has made a feast day for all nations. As this is the day on which he is believed to have been worshiped by the Magi, it seemed only right, was indeed right and just, that the nations should dedicate it to Christ the Lord with a solemn service of thanksgiving. Those Magi, the first Gentiles to recognizes Christ the Lord, had not yet been moved by any word of his, but they followed the star that appeared to them and that spoke visibly, like a heavenly tongue, on behalf of the infant inarticulate Word.

The shepherds, of course, were the firstfruits of the Jews as re­gards faith in Christ and his revelation. Coming from close at hand, they saw him on the very day of his birth. They received the news from angels, whereas the Magi received it from a star. The shepherds heard the words: Glory to God in the highest; for the Magi, the prophecy: The heavens declare the glory of God, was ful­filled. The two of them were like the beginnings of two walls coming from opposite directions, one of the circumcision, the other of  the uncircumcision, and running toward the cornerstone so that he might be their peace, and make the two one.

The shepherds, then, came from nearby to see, and the Magi came from a great distance to worship. This is the humility for which the wild olive deserved to be grafted into the cultivated one and to produce olives contrary to its nature, since grace enabled it to change its nature. For like the wild olive the whole world had grown wild and bitter, but by the grace of ingrafting it became fertile. People come from the ends of the earth saying in the words of Jeremiah: Truly our ancestors to worshiped lies. And they come not just from one part of the world but, as the gospel according to Luke says, from east and west, north and south to sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

The Magi, the firstfruits of the Gentiles, came to see and worship Christ, and were found worthy not only to receive their own salvation but also to be a sign of the salvation of all nations. Let us then celebrate this day with the greatest devotion, worshiping the Lord Jesus in his heavenly dwelling, who was worshiped by those firstfruits of ours as he lay in an inn. They venerated in him what was still to come; we venerate its fulfilment. The firstfruits of the nations worshiped him at his mother's breast; now the nations worship him seated at the right hand of God the Father.

Responsory
This is a glorious day on which the Saviour of the world appeared, whom the prophets foretold, and the angels adored. + When they saw his star the wise men rejoiced and offered him gifts.
V. God's holy day has dawned for us: Let all nations come and worship the Lord. + When they saw.
  

Monday 6 January 2014

Water and the Spirit, Sermon on the Epiphany attributed to Saint Hippolytus


Baptism of Christ
Baptism of Christ 

iBreviary

Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Weekdays - Time: christmas

SECOND READING

From a sermon on the Epiphany attributed to Saint Hippolytus, priest and martyr
(Nn. 2.6-8, 10: PG 10, 854. 858-859. 862)
Water and the Spirit
That Jesus should come and be baptized by John is surely cause for amazement. To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed in a poor little stream of the eternal, the unfathomable fountainhead that gives life to all men being immersed in the shallow waters of this transient world! He who fills all creation, leaving no place devoid of his presence, he who is incomprehensible to the angels and hidden from the sight of man, came to be baptized because it was his will. And behold, the heavens opened and a voice said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

The beloved Father begets love, and spiritual light generates light inaccessible. In his divine nature he is my only Son, though he was known as the son of Joseph. This is my beloved Son. Though hungry himself, he feeds thousands; though weary, he refreshes those who labor. He has no place to lay his head yet holds all creation in his hand. By his passion [inflicted on him by others], he frees us from the passions [unleashed by our disobedience]; by receiving a blow on the cheek he gives the world its liberty; by being pierced in the side he heals the wound of Adam.

I ask you now to pay close attention, for I want to return to that fountain of life and contemplate its healing waters at their source.

The Father of immortality sent his immortal Son and Word into the world; he came to us men to cleanse us with water and the Spirit. To give us a new birth that would make our bodies and souls immortal, he breathed into us the spirit of life and armed us with incorruptibility. Now if we become immortal, we shall also be divine; and if we become divine after rebirth in baptism through water and the Holy Spirit, we shall also be coheirs with Christ after the resurrection of the dead.

Therefore, in a herald’s voice I cry: Let peoples of every nation come and receive the immortality that flows from baptism. This is the water that is linked to the Spirit, the water that irrigates Paradise, makes the earth fertile, gives growth to plants, and brings forth living creatures. In short, this is the water by which a man receives new birth and life, the water in which even Christ was baptized, the water into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude, and is raised to filial status. He comes up from baptism resplendent as the sun, radiant in his purity, but above all, he comes as a son of God and a coheir with Christ. To him and to his most holy and life-giving Spirit be glory and power now and for ever. Amen.

RESPONSORY
John 1:32, 34, 33

I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove resting upon him.
 I have seen and given witness that he is the Son of God.

He who sent me to baptize said to me:
The one on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest,
this is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
 I have seen and given witness that he is the Son of God.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Father,
your Son became like us
when he revealed himself in our nature:
help us to become more like him,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
 Amen.


Epiphany to the Baptism of the Lord, Monastic Office of Vigils,

COMMENT: Sermon in the Chapter House on monastic observance and asceticism.

Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar enter the Crib


 JULIAN OF VEZELAY** (1080 - 1160): ... Julian of Vezelay was a Benedictine monk noted for the sermons he gave in the chapterhouse of his monastery to stimulatemonastic observance and asceticism. ...
veniaminov.blogspot.com/2008/01/wisdom-from-january-14.html


After Epiphany to the Baptism of the Lord.
Year II
MONDAY 6th Jan 2014

First Reading    Isaiah 54:1-17
Responsory   Is 54:8.10; 43:11
With an everlasting love I have had compassion on you, says the Lord your Redeemer. + My mercy will not leave you, and my cove­nant of peace will not be changed.
V. I am the Lord, there is no savior but me, says the Lord. + My mercy will ...

Second Reading
From a sermon by Julian of Vezelay (Sermon 11: SC 192, 80-85)

Imitate the faith of the magi and follow their path
Herod is troubled, the prince of this world is troubled, when they learn that a heaven-appointed king has been born. Herod hides his resentment, however, and pledges his homage. Guided by the star, the magi reach Bethlehem. They enter the house, which they recognize by the pointing star that stands over the place where the child was. They find the child with his mother, but a mother who is a virgin. "His mother": but who is meant by "his"? The one who had neither father nor mother, the one who had both a Father and a mother: where he had a Father, he did not have a mother; where he had a mother; he did not have a father. Here is a marvel for the human beings for whose sake God is born and dies a man!

The magi fell down and worshiped him. Do you do likewise? The magi, experts in divine worship, teach you how you are to worship God. Luke says: They fell down and worshiped him. But that is not how you act: rather, when you enter the house of prayer, the house in which we pray to Jesus, you immediately collapse or sit down, overpowered by your idleness or negligence as by a heavy load; then, carelessly, or even eagerly, you settle yourself not for prayer but for sleep. Not only do you not kneel for prayer, but you yawn and scratch yourself, and you cast your wandering gaze now up, now down. As for the  prayers themselves - if they are to be called prayers - and the psalms, you run through them so quickly that you cut the verses short by half.
Yet Solomon had knelt on both knees when, after the temple had been completed, this unwearying petitioner poured out his lengthy prayer. As for David, even though his knees were weakened through fasting and his flesh was changed because of the oil (oil being the supreme luxury which that temperate king allowed himself!), he says that when he prayed, his soul was humbled to the dust and his belly clung to the earth. He prostrated himself in adoration: Come, he says, let us adore and fall down ... before the Lord.

If it seems to you too difficult to imitate kings, who prayed so devoutly and fervently amid the cares and agitation of the court, then imitate at least the magi, who fell down and worshiped him. That was how the devil had wanted the Lord to worship him, when he said to him, after showing him the glory of the world: All these will I  give you if you will fall down and worship me.
The text goes on to say: Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts. Think of the wonderful faith of the magi: they saw before them an infant wrapped in rags and lying in an unworthy inn that was probably a wretched shack; they saw a mother clothed in the cheap garments of the people, her reputation further blackened because of the work done by her carpenter husband; they saw, finally, the carpenter himself, unkempt from his manual toil and labor as a carpenter, and yet called the father of so mighty a king. The magi saw all this, and yet they did not lose heart nor think that they had journeyed foolishly and in vain; they did not even think to themselves: "Is this poor infant, this child of the people, to become the King of the Jews? Was it for such a child that we have travelled this long road? How shall so poor, humble, and lowly a child rise to royal honours? We regret our toil, we are disgusted with our journey. Let us at least take back with us the gifts we brought."
The magi entertained none of these thoughts. Instead, made certain by the grace given them of the royal and divine majesty of the child, they fell humbly down and adored, and then opened their treasures and joyfully offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh.