Hubert van Zeller, ‘This is a tremendous vision. Somehow the idea of sound is better expressed in Ezekiel than in other sacred writers - Nahum not excepted. Between the sky-cracking claps of thunder we can hear the rattle of bones as they come together with the impact of obedience.’

Monastic Office of Vigils,

 

First Reading

TUESDAY

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Responsory          Ez 37:12-13; In 11:25

I am going to open your graves and raise you up from them. + Then you will know that I am the Lord.

V. I am the resurrection and the life; those who believe in me, even if they die, shall live. + Then you will ...

Second Reading

From Ezekiel, Man of Signs, by Hubert van Zeller, pp. 113-115 

This is a tremendous vision. Somehow the idea of sound is better expressed in Ezekiel than in other sacred writers - Nahum not excepted. Between the sky-cracking claps of thunder we can hear the rattle of bones as they come together with the impact of obedience. Not an empty socket, not a finger-bone out of place. There is no mention of rain but we feel sure that a downpour followed close upon the thunder and the earthquakes; we seem to hear the water beating down upon the parched valley until eddies of it swirl and bubble round the ankles of an innumerable army of hitherto dry skeletons. But only for a minute are they skeletons. And I saw, and behold the sinews and flesh came upon them, and the skin was stretched out over them ... but there was no spirit in them.

There they stood, these bodies, simply waiting to become alive. The spirit only was wanting. Surely there is a link here between Ezekiel and Genesis? It is as if a repetition of God's creative act were needed for the restoration of the body of the faithful ... the material is prepared, but for the making of the new human being there must be the breath of God. And is there not also a purely symbolical interpretation to the progressive bestowal of life? Often enough there is the body of religion when at the same time the soul is lacking: knowledge has seen to it that every sinew is in position and that there is skin to cover the frame, but that is as far as it has got. Love is absent. And it is the spirit of Love - God's Spirit - which gives life.

And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the spirit came into them and they lived. A rush of air swept down upon the lifeless bodies and they lived. We can imagine a great silence following. We see a great host of people standing silent before the face of God. "Can bones live again?" we imagine the Lord repeating to his prophet in the stillness. "Lord, you know" would be the whispered reply, and this time would be added - "that they can."

The whole thing is so short: eleven verses. And what are not its possible applications? It can stand for dead souls as well as dead races; it can apply to an ideal that has been scattered and wasted as well as to a faith that has dried up in the valley of the soul. It can apply to a devotion or a friendship or a project or a prayer; it can apply to anything that has petered out under the glare of the sun. But the bones can live again. We may not say, as Judah said, We are dried up, our hope is lost. Our hope is not lost, we are not cut off permanently.

Thus when we hear the invocation "send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth" we can recall the vision of Ezekiel. We can recall also its fulfilment. God did send forth his Spirit, his people were created anew, and face of the earth smiled beneath the sunshine of his favour.

Responsory          Ps 104:30; Wis 1:7

When you send forth your Spirit they are created, and + you renew the face of the earth.

V. The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world. + You renew

Augustine"For the Church without spot or wrinkle, gathered from every nation and des­tined to reign eternally with Christ, is itself the land of the blessed, the land of the living."

Vision of Ezechiel - Raphael

34^th Week Ord Time Monday  2013

First Reading

Ezekiel36:16-36           

Responsory            Ez 11:19-20.19

I shall take away the heart of stone from their bodies, and give them

a heart of flesh, so that they may walk in my ways; + and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

V. I will give them a new heart, and put a new spirit within them. + And they shall ...

Second Reading

From the treatise Teaching Christianity by Saint Augustine

De Doctrina Christiana III,, 48-49: CCL 32, 108-110

The Lord said: I mean to display the holiness of my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which you profaned in their midst, and the nations will know that I am the Lord. Let the reader therefore take note of how a single people will be superseded and all peoples added to it, for he continues: when, through you, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

And I shall take you out of the nations and gather you from every land, and bring you to your own land; and I shall pour clean water over you, and cleanse you of all your idolatry, and I shall purify you and give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

Now no one who looks into the matter can doubt that this is a prophecy of the New Testament, which applies not only to the remnant of that one people, of whom it is written elsewhere:  

Even if Israel should have as many descendants as there are grains of sand on the seashore, a remnant will be saved, but also to the other nations according to the promise made to their ancestors who are also our ancestors; and that it is also a promise of those waters of regeneration that we now see imparted to all nations. Thus the spiritual Israel is composed not of one people but of all peoples, who were promised to the patriarchs in their offspring, which is Christ.

This spiritual Israel is therefore distinguished from the natural Israel, which consists of one nation, by newness of grace, not nobility of descent, and by sentiments rather than race. But while the sublime prophecy speaks of or to the natural Israel, it secretly refers to the spiritual Israel, in such a way that while speaking of or to the latter it still seems to be speaking of or to the former. It does this not from an unfriendly attitude that begrudges us an understanding of the scriptures, but rather, like a physician, to exercise our understanding.

Therefore, when the Lord says: And I shall bring you to your own land, and a little later, more or less repeating himself, And you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, we ought to understand this not literally as though it referred to the natural Israel, but spiritually, of the spiritual Israel. For the Church without spot or wrinkle, gathered from every nation and des­tined to reign eternally with Christ, is itself the land of the blessed, the land of the living. We are to understand that it was given to our ancestors when it was promised to them by the certain and immutable will of God; for what they believed would be given in its own time was for them, on account of the firmness of the promise and predetermination, the same as if it were already given. Writing to Timothy about the grace given to the saints, the Apostle says: not for any merit of ours but for his own purpose and by the grace granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, and now revealed by the coming of our Savior. He speaks of the grace as given when those who were to receive it did not yet exist, because by the arrangement and predetermination of God what was to take place in its own time, or, as the Apostle says, be revealed, had already been accomplished.

Responsory     Ez 36:23.25

I mean to display the holiness of my great name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you have gone. + When through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes, then they will know that I am the Lord.

V. I shall pour clean water over you, and cleanse you of all your defilement. + When through you ...

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

---

What Does the Prayer Really Say?

20 July 2010

Mass - Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

On Monday, yesterday, the Gospel was of Jonah and the Resurrection, Mt. 12:38-42

On Tuesday, this morning, the Gospel is of the Mother and Brothers to see Jesus,

Mt. 12:46-50.

Two popular stories, Jonah and ‘Who is my Mother’, for Homilies, but by the fact they raise the question about the break in the flow. There is an interruption with Mat 12:45 Then he (unclean spirit) goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself,

If it is missed in the Lectionary, it may seem to be passed in this round.

For the Introduction.we had thought about the Collect.

The famous Fr. Z.n WDTPRS, ‘What Does the Prayer Really Say?’, still goes strong. It all strated with the Vat II, ICEL translation of the Collects of the Mass. At the time, Abbot/Bishop Christopher Butler, OSB, said, “The search by ICEL for simplicity and immediate intelligibility has sometimes led to a jejune and staccato effect and to the loss of depth of meaning or the sense of mystery present in the Latin text”

The ICEL 16^th Week Ordinary Collect goes like this,

(ICEL 1973 translation of the 1970 MR):
Lord,
be merciful to your people.
Fill us with your gifts
and make us always eager to serve you
in faith, hope, and love.
Abrupt stop, staccato, and there is no word of grace.

Our current Mass actually has a choice of Versions.

The copy I use this morning,

Collect

Have mercy on your people, Lord,
and make your grace increase within us,
so that with ardent faith, hope and charity
we may always be alert
to obey your commands.
Through our Lord.

(Hierarchy of England & Wales, Birmingham 1973)

It is very clear, and as we listen to the Collect we appreciate its important and pivotal point in the Mass. Nothing is to distract us by other actions or movements.

Let ‘What the Prayer Really Does Say’ in our hearts.