Ambrose 2. Psalm 118:151. Mark 10:46-52.BLIND beggar .

COMMENT: 
Mark 10:46-52. Blind beggar ....

Thomas Merton

Psalms Are Our Prayer

Above all, Psalm 1I8, the longest of them all, is a litany of praises extolling the peace that is found in the will of God. This Psalm, which might at first seem dull and "juridical" -since it praises the Torah from beginning to end-turns out, on long acquaintance, to be one of the most contemplative of them all. St. Ambrose, indeed, commented on it in terms appropriate to the Canticle of Canticles. It is a song of the soul that rejoices in perfect self-surrender to God.

Pointing out that in this Psalm 1I8, as well as in the various sapiential books, moral and mystical meanings are mingled together, St. Ambrose describes how the

Church welcomes the coming of Christ In this Psalm:-

Holy Church, who in the beginning of the world was espoused to God in paradise, who was prefigured in the deluge, announced by the Law, called by the prophets, has long awaited the redemption of men and the beauty of the Gospel. She now runs, impatient of delay, to kiss the Spouse, exclaiming: "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth."

In Psalmum CXVlII. MPL 15 :1.201.

Chanting the numerous verses of this long hymn to the will of God, we learn to recognize, in God's will for us, the fulfilment of the Mystery of Christ in our own lives, and we hasten to co-operate with the action of the Holy Spirit, who, in all that He does, strives to unite the sons of the Church more closely in the unity of the Mystical Christ.

When we are fully and whole-heartedly united with the will of God and striving to bear one another's burdens and build the mystical City of God on this earth, we find our peace-filled hearts spontaneously overflowing with that praise of God which is the joy of the poor whom He has deigned to call to the riches of divine sonship. Rectos decet colladatio! (Praise is fitting in those who are sincere with God.)

Sunday, 25 October 2015

25/10/2015 Ambrose Ps. 118:151

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose

Monastic Office of Vigils.   

__________________________________________

St. Ambrose Ps. 118

....... He penetrates the soul, then, and illuminates it as with the brightness of eternal light. But although his virtue is poured out among all and into all and over all, since he was born of the Virgin for the sake of all, both good and bad, just as he commands his sun to rise over good and bad, nevertheless he warms only those who come near to him. For just as people shut out the sun's brightness when they close the windows of their houses and choose to live in darkness, so those who turn their backs on the Sun of Righteousness cannot see its splendor. They walk in darkness, and it is plain to everyone that they them­selves are the cause of their blindness. Open your windows, then, so that your whole house shines with the brightness of the true Sun; open your eyes so that you can see the Sun of Righteousness rising for you.

25/10/2015 Ambrose Ps. 118:151

 

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose

Monastic Office of Vigils.   

Psalm 118: 151 by Saint Ambrose

Monastic Office of Vigils.  

THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  SUNDAY

First Reading

Jeremiah 23:9-17.21-29

Responsory   Lam 2:14; Jer 23:21

The visions your prophets saw for you were false and deceptive.

+They did not expose your sin, so as to reverse your fortunes.

V. I did not send these prophets; I did not speak to them. +They did not ...

Second Reading

From a commentary on Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose Expositio in Psalmum 118, 19, 36-39: CSEL 62, 440-442

You are near, Lord, and all your commandments are true. The Lord is near to all of us, because he is everywhere. We cannot escape him if we offend him, nor deceive him if we sin, nor lose him if we worship him. God watches everything, he sees every­thing. He is close to each one of us; as he says: I am a God who is close at hand. How can God fail to be everywhere, when you read of the Spirit of God that the Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world? For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the Lord God. I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord. Where then can he fail to be who fills everything? Or how can we all share in his fullness unless he is near all of us?

So, knowing that God is everywhere, and fills the sky, the earth, and the sea, David says: Where can I escape from your Spirit, where flee from your face? If I go up to heaven you are there; if I go down to Sheol you are there; if I take flight before dawn to dwell at the sea's furthest end, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand hold me fast. In what few words he has shown that God is everywhere, and that wherever the Spirit of God is, there is God, and where God is there is his Spirit! The union of the indivisible Trinity is portrayed here, since it is the Son of God who pro­nounced these words through the mouth of the prophet. He spoke in his human nature, for he descended to earth in the incarnation, ascended to heaven in the resurrection, and through his bodily death went down to the underworld to free the prisoners. Or if you prefer to ascribe these words to the

prophet, you notice it is clearly shown that wherever God the Father and God's Holy Spirit are, Christ is near as the hand, and the right hand of God.

Since we know that the sun shines everywhere, can we doubt that the splendor of God's glory and the image of his being shines everywhere? What could the Word of God, the eternal splendor, not penetrate, when he illuminates even the hidden mind, which the sun itself cannot penetrate?

He penetrates the soul, then, and illuminates it as with the brightness of eternal light. But although his virtue is poured out among all and into all and over all, since he was born of the Virgin for the sake of all, both good and bad, just as he com­mands his sun to rise over good and bad, nevertheless he warms only those who come near to him. For just as people shut out the sun's brightness when they close the windows of their houses and choose to live in darkness, so those who turn their backs on the Sun of Righteousness cannot see its splendor. They walk in darkness, and it is plain to everyone that they them­selves are the cause of their blindness. Open your windows, then, so that your whole house shines with the brightness of the true Sun; open your eyes so that you can see the Sun of Righteousness rising for you.

Responsory   Jer 23:23-24; Ps 139:7

Am I a God when near at hand, and not a God when far away? Can anyone hide in a dark corner without my seeing him? + Do I not fill heaven and earth?

V. Where can I escape from your Spirit? Where flee from your face? + Do I not fill ...

Master, let me see again Mark 10:46-52.

 

Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B

And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples
and a great multitude,
Bartimae'us, a blind beggar, the son of Timae'us, was sitting by the roadside.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mk 10:46-52).  

  

Cure of Blind. Armenian

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:46-52. As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, he is calling you." He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. Commentary of the day  Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-395), monk and Bishop The Life of Moses, II, 231-233, 251-253 (copyright Classics of Western Spirituality) "Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way"       [The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai: “Let me see your glory!” He answered: “I will make all my beauty pass before you... But my face you cannot see” (Ex 33,18f).] Such an experience seems to me to belong to the soul which loves what is beautiful. Hope always draws the soul from the beauty which is seen to what is beyond... And the bold request which goes up the mountains of desire asks this: to enjoy the Beauty not in mirrors and reflections, but face to face. The divine voice granted what was requested in what was denied...: the munificence of God assented to the fulfilment of the desire but did not promise any cessation or satiety of the desire... The true sight of God consists in this, that the one who looks up to God never ceases in that desire. For he says: “You cannot see my face and live”...        But when the Lord who spoke to Moses came to fulfill his own law, he likewise gave a clear explanation to his disciples, laying bare the meaning of what had previously been said in a figure when he said: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine “ (Lk 9,23) and not "If any man will go before me." And to the one asking about eternal life he proposes the same thing, for he says: “Come, follow me” (Lk 18,22). Now, he who follows sees the back. So Moses, who eagerly seeks to behold God, is now taught how he can behold Him: to follow God wherever he might lead is to behold God... Someone who does not know the way cannot complete his journey safely in any other way than by following behind his guide. He who leads, then, by his guidance shows the way to the one following. He who follows will not turn aside from the right way if he always keeps the back of his leader in view. For he who moves to one side or brings himself to face his guide assumes another direction for himself than the one his guide shows him. Therefore God says to the one who is led: “My face is not to be seen”, that is, “Do not face your guide”. If he does so, his course will certainly be in the opposite direction... You see how it is so great a thing to learn how to follow God... No longer does any offense which comes about through evil withstand the one who thus follows him.   Daily Gospel http://dailygospel.org/

SATURDAY OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

24/10/2015

SATURDAY OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Optional Reading for the Period between October 7 and Advent

A sermon of Saint Bernard*

"HAIL, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1,28). Notice how the angel did not say "the Lord is in you," but "the Lord is with you." For God, who by the simplicity of his essence is equally and entirely everywhere present, has nevertheless, by his influence and operation, a presence in his rational creatures, which -he has not in others, and among the former, a presence in the good different from that which he has in the wicked. He is truly present in irrational creatures, yet without being embraced by them. He is in his rational creatures in such a manner that they all have the power to embrace him by knowledge, yet only the good can embrace him by love. Consequently, of the good alone it can be said that he is so in them as to be also with them, because of the harmony of their wills with his. For whilst they so conform their wills to the law of justice that it is not unworthy of God to will what they will, there is established a concord between his will and theirs, and thus they become specially united with him. But although this is the case with every holy soul, it is particularly true of Mary. So closely did God unite himself to her, that not only her will, but even her flesh was united to God; and from his own substance and the substance of the Virgin he fashioned one Christ, or rather he became one Christ who, although neither wholly from God nor wholly from Mary, yet belongs wholly to God and wholly to Mary: nor are there two sons, but the one same Christ is Son of both. The angel says, therefore, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." But, 0 Mary, the Lord with you is not the Son alone whom you have clothed with your flesh: he is also the Holy Spirit, by whom you have conceived, and he is also the Father by whom from eternity your Child is begotten. The Father, I say, is with you, who has given his Son to be also yours. The Son is with you, who in a marvelous way has entered your womb without detriment to your virginity. The Holy Spirit is with you, he who, with the Father and the Son, has prepared your virginal body to be the dwelling of the Word. Therefore "the Lord is with you."

^{___________________________________________________________}
* Homilia 3 super "Missus eet ," n.4. - PL 183, 72-73; Leale rcq , IV, p.38. Temporary version, based on Fr. Luddy's translation of the Seasonal Sermons, Vol. I, pp.97~99.

Father Ciaràn Savage OCSO COMMENT

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Bob ....
To: nunrawdonald.....
Sent: Friday, 23 October 2015. 
Subject: Father Ciaran

Father,

 thank you so much for including the homily for the Mass of Father Ciaran it was lovely all though I never met or knew him. 

It was wonderful to hear such a simple and uplifting story about giving your life to God. 

I kept these words in my mind for as long as I could this morning before the blessed sacrament......I have to prepare for my death. 

Thank you again for sending me the link.

 

God Bless 

Robert

Thursday, 22 October 2015

Father Ciaràn Savage OCSO (1926 - October 16, 2015) Roscrea

 

 

  Roscrea

Monday, 19 October 2015

October 16, 2015: Father Ciaràn Savage was born in 1926 in Killeary, Co. Armagh (Ireland). He entered Roscrea in 1948, made his solemn profession in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1955. Father was 90 years old, had been in monastic vows for 65 years and 60 years a priest when the Lord called him.

Homily for Funeral Mass of Fr Ciaran

19^th. October 2015  

Painting by Sara Kyne

Yesterday, Mission Sunday, had us thinking missionary, that when one of your family dies, you realise that she/he has their mission accomplished. Fr Ciaran has been very much a central figure in our family of Mount St Joseph for the last 67 years. St Therese of the Child Jesus discovered to her delight that being love in the heart of the Church was her mission. And she is now recognised as Patroness of the Missions - though she never left her convent in Lisieux.

Fr Ciaran has been love in the heart of the Church of Mount St Joseph all these 67 years. Way beyond any of us, he has been, in the Cistercian tradition, the lover of the place, this place of Mount Saint Joseph, a lover of the Rule - the Rule of St Benedict as applied in an Order, a lover of the brethren, of everyone of us, no matter how insignificant we were. And in that love - his heart extended to the entire Church. He has been for us the exemplar of how a monk and indeed every Christian can and must be a missionary.

It was this love, first learned and nurtured in the O'Sabhaois home in Lower Killeavy, South Armagh, by his parents Patrick and Elizabeth, that set him on his way in life. This love was of a multi-faceted nature, one of the most outstanding sides of which was his love for his Country, its language, its culture, its history, its faith. He was a gaelgoir of the highest order, and yet without an ounce of bigotry. He prayed in Irish, he thought in Irish, he kept his notes and diaries in Irish, he preferred to speak in Irish, but he never embarrassed anyone else who might not be at ease with Irish.

     

Francis K as he was then, did his primary education at Lissummon

School and Secondary at CBS Newry from which he got first place in the 1942-3 University Scholarship. He picked U.C.D. rather-than Queens, Belfast, as he would have had to sign his name in English if he chose the latter! Agricultural Science was his subject. At this period he joined the Legion of Mary, an Irish speaking praesidiurn and then another love appeared, this time for his girlfriend! But part they had to - the greater love was for Christ - so all the way on his bike from Dublin to Roscrea and back in the same day to fix his vocation.

This morning Dom Richard phoned me, recalling a visit two years ago from Cardinal Brady during which he told us how disgusted Ciaran's father was at his decision - if he wanted to be a priest couldn't he be a right one like his brother Fr Tomas, only to be told: "If you gave me a present of £1,000 I couldn't be a priest like Tommy!"

So in September 1948, Francis entered Mount Saint Joseph, becoming Claran, professed in 1950 and ordained in 1955. While totally faithful to his monastic life he was on the teaching staff in our College 1954-91, having been Dean of Studies for the last decade of that period.

Ciaran was much involved in the local praesidia of the Legion of Mary, in groups for Mass Readers and Eucharistic Ministers, as well as in his Masses and homilies for the people of our locality and also as a Confessor in our Public Church.

All down his years we saw how "the love of God was poured into

his heart by the Holy Spirit" and he shared this love with so many through his publications in various magazines, thus in early 1960s Muniteor no Tire year book - "Aoibhill Beatha and Feirrneona" in Cistercian Studies, An Fiolar, CCR Review and of course Hallel, which he edited and which was never the same without him.

It was George Cunningham, our local historian, who reminded us of the above adding: If He truly lived the Cistercian ideals all his life, a life fruitful and joyous, always first a monk and then a scholar of the highest integrity, bringing new meaning and personal insights to our Christian heritage, while always reticent and humble about himself."

Some years ago Ciaran, feeling that he should no longer be lecturing at the Roscrea Conferences: "George, I must prepare for my death." Prepare he did - with a long decline involving some hospital stays, but especially in our monastery infirmary, where our nursing and caring staff showered care and love upon him, while he responded with a smile of appreciation. We were all round his bed on Friday night as he slipped away - the wheat grain that died, and will yield a rich harvest for all of us - slipped away to a cead mile fai1te from the good Lord and his Blessed Mother.

Fr. Laurence, Prior, Roscrea

  laurence.walsh@msjroscrea.ie

Dom Donald's Blog: Put your forehead against My forehead YOU AND I. Plunge into the infinite ocean of peace...

Dom Donald's Blog: YOU AND I. Plunge into the infinite ocean of peace...:   Dublin Airport arriving 23 Oct 2015           YOU AND i, Gabrielle Bossis 1941 June – 5   -   "Plunge into the infinite ...

Jan van Ruysbroeck Seven Steps in the Ladder of Spiritual Love

Night Office 

Monastic Lectionary of the Divine Office,

Jan_Van_Ruysbroeck
We behold that which we are,
and we are that which we behold.

The Blessed John of Ruysbroeck (1293 or 1294 – 2 December 1381), "the Admirable" also known as John Ruusbroec, Jan van Ruusbroec or Jan van Ruysbroeck, was one of the Flemish mystics of the medieval Catholic Church.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Ruysbroeck  

TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

FRIDAY 23^rd. October 2015

First Reading

Jeremiah 22:10-30

          Responsory       Lam 2:1

How the Lord in his anger has brought darkness on the daughter

of Zion! + From heaven to earth he has cast down the honour of Israel.

V. On the day of his anger he has remembered his footstool no

more. + From heaven ...

Second Reading

From The Seven Steps in the Ladder of Spiritual Love by Jan van Ruysbroeck

The first fruit which springs from good will is voluntary poverty. Those who are poor of their own will live free and without care for all earthly goods that are not needful. For like a wise merchant, they have traded earth for heaven, and followed the saying of the Lord, that one cannot serve God and the kingdom of the world. They have left all that can be possessed with earthly love, and purchased voluntary poverty. This is the field in which they have found the kingdom of God; for blessed are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God is love and charity, and the practice of all good works; whence comes it that those who are thus poor in spirit are generous, pitiful, kind, mild, truthful and honest toward all who are in need of them, so that they may bear witness before the tribunal of God that with the bounty bestowed on them by God, they wrought works of mercy. For among earthly things they have nothing of their own, but all that they have is common to God and to his household.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, who possess nothing transi­tory; for they have followed Christ. They shall be rewarded in virtues a hundredfold, and shall look forward to the glory of God and life everlasting.

But rash and foolish are the covetous, for they give heaven for earth, which earth they know that they must shortly lose. The poor in spirit scale the skies; the covetous are plunged into hell; and when the camel shall pass through the needle's eye, then shall the covetous enter into heaven. And even though they live poor in earthly things, if they choose not God before all and die in their avarice, doubtless they shall perish.

The covetous prefer the husk to the kernel, the shell to the yolk. Those who cleave to gold and love earthly goods eat poison that brings death, and drink the water of eternal sorrow. The more they drink, the more they thirst; the more they own, the more they long for. Though they have much, they are not satisfied; they want everything they see that is another's; and all they have seems to them as nothing. Scarce anyone loves them, for the covetous deserve no love. They are much like the devil's claws; for what they grasp they cannot let go, and they guard what they have won by fraud until they die. Then indeed they lose all and straightway the pangs of hell take hold on them; for they are the image of hell which is not sated by what it seizes, and though it possesses many, is none the better. All that it seizes it holds fast and yet ever gapes for its hellish guests.

Wherefore beware of avarice, which is the root of all sin and evil.  

Responsory       1 Tm 6:9-10.8

People who long to be rich fall into temptations and snares, and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. + The love of money is the root of all evil.

V. As long as we have food and clothing, let us rest content. + The love of ...

 COMMENT:

Encountered the SEVEN Steps of Ladder Spiritual raised my eyes to the passing association, The TEN Mystic Ladder. 

No surprise then to the Link:    http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.viii.xix.html?highlight=seven,steps#fnf_viii.xix-p1.1   

Saint John of the Cross

10 steps 0f the mystic ladder of Divine  love

Dark Night of the Soul

CHAPTER XIX

Begins to explain the ten steps²³¹ of the mystic ladder of Divine love, according to Saint Bernard and Saint Thomas. The first five are here treated.