FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE MESSIAH’S COMING The liturgy of Advent now turns its full attention to the coming birth of the Lord. The antiphons concentrate on it: for example, the entrance antiphon, “Drop down dew from above, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth …
Category Archives: Monastic
Praying Advent (3)
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT THE MESSIANIC AGEThis Sunday is marked by a note of joy. The joy has two causes: the proximate coming of the Lord in the Incarnation and his return at the end of time. The readings emphasise the presence amongst us of the Messianic Age and the Kingdom. The theme of the …
Praying Advent (2)
PREPARE THE WAY The gospels chosen for the Second Sunday of Advent all have as their theme the preparation of the way of the Lord. John’s urgent warning has echoed throughout the world ever since he spoke it, and as it reaches us today it has a twofold reference: prepare for the Lord’s coming at …
Praying Advent (1)
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENTWATCH AND PRAYThe words ‘vigilant waiting’ capture the mood of the First Sunday of Advent. This expectation is hopeful and is seen in the entrance Antiphon: ‘To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame.’Foremost in the Church’s mind …
Hope and her Sisters
Advent focusses our attention of the prophecies of Hope in the Old and New Testament. Each day we are invited to turn to the Lord and wait for him to come to us. Whenever the Liturgy of the Word invites us to hope, it is always a call to deeper love and faith. ‘Péguy, in …
The Touch of God
I have started every Advent for the past 30 years by reading these two paragraphs for Maria Boulding’s book, The Coming of God. ‘If you want God, and long for union with him, yet sometimes wonder what that means or whether it can mean anything at all, you are already walking with the God who comes. …
Christ the King (C)
2 Samuel 5:1-3Colossians 1:12-20Luke 23:35-43 In the lead up to the Coronation of King Charles there was a good deal of commentary around what the ceremony itself might mean for our world today. There was also discussion of the role of the monarch. Is it an outmoded concept? Is it something which becomes redefined with …
Jubilee of Consecrated Life: St Benedict, Pilgrim of Hope (10)
Just as there is an evil and bitter zeal that separates one from God and leads to hell, so too there is a good zeal that separates one from evil and leads to God and eternal life. Thus monks should practice this zeal with the warmest love: ‘Let then strive to be the first to …
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Jubilee of Consecrated Life: St Benedict, Pilgrim of Hope (9)
‘A brother may be assigned a burdensome task or something he cannot do. If so, he should with complete gentleness and obedience, accept the order given him. Should he see, however, that the weight of the burden is altogether too much for his strength, then he should choose the appropriate moment and explain patiently to …
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Jubilee of Consecrated Life, St Benedict: Pilgrim of Hope (8)
‘(The abbot) most so arrange everything that the strong have something to yearn for and the weak have nothing to run from.’Ch 64, The Election of an Abbot If I had to choose just one sentence from the Rule, I think this would be it. Benedict treads a careful, clear-sighted and loving path in his …
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