Lent, [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. Tertullian

Mount Sinai

Sinai view

Night Office Readings, as we are mid-Lent, the OT words resounded the words of the FORTY DAY AND FORTY NIGHTS, reminding of Moses' being with the Lord forty days and forty nights, not to eat or drink water.

Monastic Lectionary for the Divine Office

Edited by

Friends of Henry Ashworth

Exordium Books 1982

The Covenant Renewed 34:10-28
34:28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

THIRD WEEK OF LENT - Thursday Year II   

First Reading

Year II
From the book of Exodus (34:10-29)

Responsory

Hebrews 5:8.9.7

Though he was the Son of God.

Christ learned obedience through what he suffered; + and now, for all who obey him,

he has become the source of eternal life.

In the days of his earthly life he prayed, crying aloud. and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. + And now, for ...

Second Reading

From the treatise On Prayer by Tertullian (De oratione, 28-29: CCL 1, 273-274)

In this extract from a work addressed to catechumens between 198 and 220 A.D., Tertullian speaks of the interior and exterior discipline of liturgical prayer, which is a spiritual sacrifice of great power and efficacy.

Prayer is the spiritual offering that has replaced the ancient sacrifices. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices? asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands? What God has asked for we learn from the gospel. The hour will come, it says, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and so he looks for worshipers who are like himself.

We are the true worshipers and the true priests. Praying in spirit we offer prayer to God as a sacrifice. Prayer is an appropriate and an acceptable sacrifice to God. It is the offering he has asked for and the offering he expects.

We must make this offering with our whole heart. We must fatten it on faith. prepare it by truth. keep it unblemished by innocence, spotless by chastity, and we must crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it wiU gain for us all that we ask of God. What can God refuse to prayer offered in spirit and in truth, when he himself asks for such prayer? How many proofs of its efficacy we read about, hear of, and believe!

Lent Mass 3rd Thursday,. Fr. Nivard

Avenue Daffodils

On Wednesday, 26 March 2014, 

Nivard ... wrote:

Daily Read & Med Don Schwager © 2014 Servants of the Word

3 Thur 27 March  Adapted

 " God's kingdom has come upon you" Luke 11:14-23

Is Jesus the Master of your life?

With Jesus, there are no neutral parties.

We are either for Jesus or against him, for the kingdom of God or against it.

   There are two kingdoms in opposition to one another - the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness under the rule of Satan.

   If we disobey God’s word, we open the door to the power of sin and Satan in our lives.

   If you want to live in freedom from sin and Satan, then your house - your life and all you possess - must be occupied by Jesus where he is enthroned as Lord and Saviour.

   He spoke the same message to a modern mystic in similar words. “Don’t divide yourself into two – one part for you and the other part for me. I am most demanding. I want my children to be wholly mine at every moment. So don’t withhold a thing. Don’t take anything of yourselves away. You would steal from Me if you did, because everything is mine.” Gabrielle Bossi 20 April 1945

   Is the Lord Jesus the Master of your home, heart, mind, and will?

 

Father, grant us patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all our spiritual foes, Through Christ our Lord.

   Grant us sorrow for our sins, thankfulness for your benefits, fear of your judgment, love of your mercies, and mindfulness of your presence; now and for ever."  (Prayer by John Cosin)

Lent 3rd Week Wed. St. Ambrose, Moses’ intimacy with God

 Night Office Readings, 

Monastic Lectionary for the Divine Office

Edited by

Friends of Henry Ashworth

Exordium Books 1982

THIRD WEEK OF LENT - Wednesday  Year II

Moses’ intimacy with God

First Reading

From the book of Exodus (33:7-11.18-23; 34:5-9.29-35)

2 Corinthians 3:13.18.15

Responsory

Moses veiled his face to hide it from the people of Israel

+ but we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces and grow ever more radiant,

as we are transformed into his likeness by the Lord who is Spirit.

To this day that same veil lies over their minds.

+ But we behold ...

Second Reading

From a commentary on psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose
(Senno 17, 26-29: CSEL62, 390-392)

Moses veiled his face after speaking with God as the people could not bear to see its radiance, but the Gentiles saw the Father's glory in the face of Jesus with unveiled faces, thus fulfilling an innate longing of our nature.

Let your face shine on your servant, and teach me your precepts. The Lord enlightens his saints and makes his light shine in the hearts of the just. This means that when you see wisdom in anyone you can be sure that the glory of God has come down and flooded that person's mind with the light of understanding and knowledge of divine truth. With Moses, however, it was different: God's glory affected his body also, causing his face to shine. Indeed, his countenance was so transfigured that the Jews were afraid to look at him, and he was obliged to cover his face with a veil so that the children of Israel should not be alarmed at the sight of it.

Now the face of Moses represents the splendour of the law; yet this splendor is not to be found in the written letter but in the law's spiritual interpretation. As long as Moses lived, he wore a veil over his face whenever he spoke to the Jewish people. But after his death Jesus, or Joshua, the son of Nun, spoke to the elders and the people without a veil. When he did so no one was afraid, even though God had spoken to Joshua as well as to Moses, assuring him that he would be with him just as he had been with Moses and would make him resplendent also. Joshua's glory, however, would be seen in his deeds rather than in his face. By this the Holy Spirit signified that when Jesus, the true Joshua, came, he would lift the veil from the heart of anyone who turned to him in willingness to listen, and that person would then see his true Saviour with unveiled face.

So it was that, through the coming of his Son, God the almighty Father made his light shine into the hearts of the Gentiles, bringing them to see his glory in the face of Christ Jesus. This is clearly stated in the Apostle's letter, where we find the following written: The God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has made his light shine in our hearts, to enlighten us with the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ Jesus.

And so when David says to the Lord Jesus: Let your face shine upon your seruani, he is expressing his longing to see the face of Christ, so that his mind may be capable of enlightenment. These words can be taken as referring to the incarnation. for as the Lord himself declared: Many prophets and righteous men have desired to have this vision. David was not asking for what had been denied to Moses, namely that he might see the face of the incorporeal God with his bodily eyes. (And yet if Moses, who was such a wise and learned man, could ask for this direct, unmediated vision. it was because it is inherent in our human nature for our desire to reach out beyond us.) There was nothing wrong, therefore, in David's desire to see the face of the Virgin's Son who was to come; he desired it in order that God's light might shine in his heart, as it shone in the hearts of the. disciples who said: Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened up the Scriptures to us?

Responsory

Isaiah 9:2; John 8:12

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

+On those who dwelt in a land of deep shadow

a light has shone.

I am the light of the world;

those who follow me will not be walking in the dark,

but will have the light of life.

 + On those who ...

The Annunciation of the Lord - Sylvia Benert - Mural of Annunciation in a Nunraw Abbey stair well.

Mass Solemnity of the Lord, Tuesday 25th March 2014.

The mural of of the Annunciation by Sylvia Benert at Nunraw is a very apt for today.

At the same time, we remember Sylvia and Mass intention offered for her.

Hoping to visit her at the Exhibition of Paintings.

+ + + 

Annunciation - Virgin, wholly marvellous

Sylvia Benert  - Mural of Annunciation in a Nunraw Abbey stair well. 

Artist - Sylvia Benert

  

ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD Mural by Sylvia Benert Annunciation - Virgin, wholly marvellous Sylvia Benert  - Mural of Annunciation in a Nunraw Abbey stair well.  As this morning, we celebrated the Annunciation, we heard the Hymn of 'Virgn, wholly marvelous', the amazing line, 'Cherubim with fourfold face' astonished me'. Gabriel is centre role in the Annunciation but we can recognise all the Angels around Mary. 1 Virgin, wholly marvellous,  Who didst bear God's Son for us,  Worth-less is my tongue and weak  Of thy purity to speak .....

St. Margaret of Scotland by Sylvia Benert

 Our Lady Queen of Martyrs by Sylvia Benert.

Lent 3rd Week Saint Thomas More

Night Office Readings - Ratification of the covenant

 

Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger.

TWO YEAR LECTIONARY

PATRISTIC VIGILS

READINGS

Editions Exordium  Books 1982, Augustine  Press2001

LENT

YEAR 2

Monday of the Third Week in Lent Year II

First Reading

From the book of Exodus (24:1-18)

Sirach 45:5-6; Acts 7:38

Responsory

God allowed Moses to hear his voice and led him into the cloud.

– Face to face he gave him his commandments,

that he might teach Jacob his precepts and Israel his decrees.

In the desert assembly

Moses was the mediator between our ancestors and the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai

– Face to face ...

Second Reading

From A Treatise upon the Passion by Saint Thomas More

(Chapter 4, sermon 1. Partially modernized)

More's Treatise (or as we should say today "homilies") upon the Passion was probably written in the early months of 1534. This extract from it contrasts the old covenant and the new. The first was ratified by the blood of an animal, the second by the blood of a man who was also God. Through that blood, which he gives us to drink in the blessed sacrament, our sins are forgiven.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus it is related that Moses, in confirmation of the old law, put half the blood of the sacrifice into a cup, and the other half he shed upon the altar. And after the book of the law had been read he sprinkled the blood upon the people, and said unto them: This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in all these words. And so was the Old Testament ratified and confirmed with blood. And in like manner was the New Testament confirmed with blood, saving that, in order to declare the greater excellence of the New Testament brought by the Son of God, above the Old Testament brought by the prophet Moses, whereas the Old Testament was ratified with the blood of a brute beast, the New Testament was ratified with the blood of a reasonable man, and of that man who was also God, that is to say, with the blessed blood of our holy Saviour himself. And that self-same blood did our Lord here give unto his apostles in this blessed sacrament, as he plainly declared himself, saying: This is my blood of the New Testament, or: This is the chalice of the New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you and for all for the remission of sins.

When our Lord said this, he declared therein the efficacy of the New Testament above the old, in that the old law in the blood of beasts could only promise the remission of sin that was to come later. For as Saint Paul says: It was impossible that sin should be taken away by the blood of brute beasts. But the new law with the blood of Christ does perform the thing that the old law promised, that is, the remission of sin And therefore our Saviour said: This is the chalice of the New Testament in my blood – that is, to be confirmed in my blood – which shall be shed for the remission of sins.

His words also declared the wonderful excellence of this new blessed sacrament above the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, in these words: For you and for all. For in these words our Saviour spoke, says Saint Chrysostom, as though he meant to say: The blood of the paschal Lamb was shed only for the first-born among the children of Israel, but this blood of mine shall be shed for the remission of the sin of all the whole world

Responsory   Revelation 5:9; Psalm 85:9

English Saints: Thomas More and Thomas Cranmer  By Lauren Gilbert

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/english-saints-thomas-more-and-thomas.html  

COMMENT: Lent 2nd Week Life of Moses

Bush identities.  

Left: Amelanchier

In the rectory, the bush was brightened in sunshine and name was suggested Japanese Lilac. 
I had to ask our garden helper,and he was able to put us right on the identity of the flowering shrub, Amelanchier Canadensis.
Later the story continued.
In fact, Fr. M. of horticultural experience, named the flowering shrub as the Japanese Cherry.
We learn more. It is from the Church window that the Amelanchier is showing in the spring development. It is seen to the left in the cemetery view.

Friday, 21 March 2014

Lent 2nd Week Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa

   Patristic Lectionary,    
   Midday
We enjoy Bright sunshine and windy nights.

Beautiful views in all directions.

The Japanese Lilac tree is radiant in full bloom, especially from my refectory window.             

to correct - Japanese Cherry

Friday of the Second Week in Lent Year II

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS

(Promise of the covenant and appearance of the Lord on Sinai: Exodus 19:1-19; 20:1 2nd Week 8-21)

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL WITH SCENES OF HIS INTERVENTIONS

ICON: from the book calendar 1898, St. Paul MultiMedia, UK.

    

PLATE XIII

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL WITH SCENES OF HIS INTERVENTIONS

c. 1399, Moscow, 235.5x182 cm

CHURCH OF THE ARCHANGEL, THE KREMLlN, Moscow

This splendid work is a characteristic example of late fourteenth century icons. It was painted as the patronal icon for the princely burial chapel in the Moscow Kremlin. It must have been the object of study and contemplation by the young Rublev when he was part of the team of Theophanes the Greek painting frescoes in the same church.

In Russia there has been a long tradition of venerating the Archangel Michael as protector of the army, leader of the celestial battalions and defender of Christianity against the pagans. Many churches, therefore, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were dedicated to him.

In this icon, the painter portrays the Archangel with drawn sword, powerful wings and a flaming red mantle blown by the wind. The whole figure seems to personify the divine will. The interventions of St Michael are a recurring theme in Byzantine art, particularly in frescoes. This work is the earliest example we have of them presented in an icon. From top left: 1. the Trinity; 2. the celestial hosts; 3. Ezekiel's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem; 4. Daniel's vision; 5. the fight for Moses’ body; 6. Jacob's Ladder; 7. the three men in the fiery furnace; 8. the Archangel appears to Joshua; 9. St Michael frees St Peter from prison; 10. the apparition of the angel in monastic habit to Pacomius the Great; 11. Jacob’s struggle with the angel; 12. destruction of Sodom: 13. the angel routs the armies of the Assyrian king Sennacherib; 14. the Great Flood; 15. David and Uriah or the punishment of Nebuchadnezzar; 16. Davis and Bathsheeba; 17. David's repentance; 18. the miracle of Chonae.

Lent 2nd Week Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa

   Patristic Lectionary,    
   Midday
We enjoy Bright sunshine and windy nights.

Beautiful views in all directions.

The Japanese Lilac tree is radiant in full bloom, especially from my refectory window.             

Friday of the Second Week in Lent Year II

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS

(Promise of the covenant and appearance of the Lord on Sinai: Exodus 19:1-19; 20:1 2nd Week 8-21)

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” ...........

                Responsory        Ex 19:5-6; 1 Pt 2:9

If you do what I tell you and keep my covenant, out of all the nations you will be my own possession, dearer to me than any other people. + You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.

V. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people God has claimed as his own. + You shall be ...

A reading from the Life of Moses by St Gregory of Nyssa
2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82)

At first God appeared to Moses in light but later, on Mount Sinai,
he appeared in darkness

 The Life of Moses was written sometime between 890 and 392. Gregory teaches that the divine essence is unviable. The true knowledge and the true vision of God consists in realizing this. At first God appeared to Moses in light but later, on Mount Sinai, he appeared in darkness.

Moses entered into the darkness and there he saw God. What does this signify? This present account seems in a way to contradict that of the first theophany. Then God appeared in light, but now he appears in darkness. Yet we must not imagine this to be at variance with our normal experience of spiritual contemplation. By this statement the text teaches us that religious knowledge is first experienced as light. All that is seen to be opposed to religion is darkness, and darkness vanishes when we receive the light. But the more the mind advances and by ever increasing and more perfect application attains an intellectual comprehension of realities and approaches contemplation, the more clearly it sees that the divine nature is invisible. Having left behind all appearances, not only those perceived by the senses but also those the intellect seems to see, it plunges ever deeper within itself, until by spiritual effort it penetrates to the invisible and the unknowable, and there it sees God.

This is the true knowledge of what is sought; this is the seeing that consists in not seeing, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness. This is why John the contemplative, who had penetrated this luminous darkness, said that no one had ever seen God, declaring by this negation that the divine essence is beyond the reach not only of men but of every rational nature as well.

And so, when Moses had advanced in knowledge he declared that he saw God in the darkness, or in other words that he recognized that the Divinity is essentially that which transcends all knowledge and which no mind can apprehend. The text says: Moses entered into the darkness where God was. What God? He who has made the darkness his covering, as David declared, who had himself been initiated into the divine mysteries in that same sanctuary.

When Moses arrived there, he was taught by word what he had formerly learned from darkness, so that, I think, the doctrine on this matter may be made more firm for us by the witness of the divine voice. The divine word at the beginning forbade that the Divine be likened to any of the things known by men, since every concept which comes from some comprehensible image constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God.

Responsory        In 4:23-24

Those who worship the Father must worship him in spirit and in truth. +The Father seeks such worshipers as these.

V. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit

and truth. + The Father seeks ...

St Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, 2.162-66 (SC 1, 80-82); from Word in Season II, 1^st ed.

Saint Augustine 'I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart' (Jer:11)

Mass Readings
Thursday, 20 March 2014

Wild Geese on flight - over Lammermuirs, March 2014Thursday of the Second week of Lent  

Book of Jeremiah 17:5-10.

Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.
More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?
I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds. 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16:19-31.Jesus said to the Pharisees: "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. Commentary of the day : 

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church 
Discourses on the psalms, Ps 85 [86]; CCL 39, 1178 

« God sees the heart » (1Sm 16,7)

Was that poor man welcomed by the angels solely on account of his poverty? And the rich man, was he delivered up to torment by fault of his wealth alone? No. Let us clearly understand that it was humility that was honored in the poor man and pride condemned in the rich.


This is the proof, briefly, that it was not his wealth but his pride for which the rich man deserved his punishment. So then, the poor man was carried into the bosom of Abraham; yet Scripture says of Abraham that he had much gold and silver and was rich on earth (Gn 13,2). If every rich man is sent into torment, how is it that Abraham could precede the poor man so as to welcome him into his bosom? It was because, in the midst of his wealth, Abraham was poor, humble, respectful and obedient to all God's commands. He held his riches in so little esteem that, when God asked it of him, he consented to offer in sacrifice the son to whom these riches were destined (Gn 22,4).


Learn to be poor and needy, then, whether you possess something in this world or whether you don't possess anything. Because we find beggars full of pride and rich people who confess their sins. “God resists the proud” whether they are covered with silk or with rags, but “he gives grace to the humble” (Jas 4,6) whether or not they have possessions in this world. God looks at what is within; it is there he assesses, there he examines.

Saint Joseph Solemnity Feast in Scotland 19th. March.

The carpentry shop in the monastery, Nunraw Abbey'

Inscribed picture of St. Joseph's Church in Nazareth.

http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/StJosephChurch.html

A painting of Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the young Jesus in the carpenter's workshop. Early traditions identified the site of the church as the place of the carpenter workshop of the Holy family.

Magnificat com, with thanks.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY

By FATHER MAURICE ZUNDEL. Father Zundel (+ 1975) was a Swiss mystic, poet, philosopher. liturgist, and author.

Joseph

There is not a word too many or too few. In one movement we are brought to the heart of the Mystery: just so it had suddenly confronted Joseph. But we know what the issue was, and Joseph at that time did not.

He loved Mary. From the first moment of their first meeting he had felt that she was unique and that God was entrusting her to him. Was he now called upon to sacrifice her as Abraham had had to steel himself to the immolation of Isaac?

The wound in his heart was immeasurable. The plain fact was there. No denial, no tenderness could alter it. Her very innocence made his anguish more poignant. Another must be guilty, who should take the responsibility for what he had done.

Joseph could not speak of it to her, since she had chosen to be silent. Any word would have been an outrage. Silence, his silence, should give him back his liberty, for it attested his utter confidence in her.

Thus he came to his decision. And he slept the sleep that relaxes the body but not the soul's pain.

Only if we could concentrate in one heart all the admiration, devotion, fervour that Christian souls were to feel through all generations towards Mary could we form any idea of the love she must have inspired in Joseph, could we divine the immensity of the drama being acted in that hour.

What Dante sang of Beatrice, Joseph could have said in the richest fullness of meaning:

     He sees perfectly all salvation

     Who sees my Lady among women.

More than any other he felt that human nature was ennobled by her. If he had dared to enter into the espousal, it was to guard the treasure-the treasure which now seemed irremediably lost. ...

Meanwhile Mary watched in prayer, suffering in his suffering, living all the agony that her sealed lips could not abate in him.

The yes that bound her soul to Joseph's was all the more irrevocable in that it engaged her fidelity to God, who was the strong foundation of their union.

Father Zundel (+ 1975) was a Swiss mystic, poet, philosopher. liturgist, and author.