Thought for the day:

"Give me grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to mine end, without grudge of death, which to them that die in thee,
good Lord, is the gate of a wealthy life."
St. Thomas More

THREE THINGS

"Three things are necessary for the salvation of man; to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do."
St. Thomas Aquinas

Rights of Man?

"The people have heard quite enough about what are called the 'rights of man'. Let them hear about the rights of God for once". Pope Leo XIII Tamesti future, Encyclical

Eternity

All souls owe their eternity to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many have turned their back to him.


Thursday, December 14, 2017

Ancient Hymn

Haven't had much time to do postings, giving the fact that we have had many inches of snow. Anyway, I found this nugget for consideration. An ancient hymn remembering our Blessed Mother at this time of year.


The ancient vesperal hymn of Advent, Creator Almae Siderum, tells us of the gigantic struggle between the forces of light and darkness, with the Mother of God as the channel of our salvation:



Bright Builder of the heavenly poles.
Eternal light of faithful souls,
Jesus, Redeemer of mankind,
Our humble prayers vouchsafe to mind:

Who, lest the fraud of hell’s black king,
Should all men to destruction bring,
Didst, by an act of generous love,
The fainting world’s physician prove.

Thou, that thou mightst our ransom pay,
And wash the stains of sin away,
Didst from a Virgin’s womb proceed,
And on the Cross a Victim bleed.


Another significant addition to the last days of Advent is the “O Antiphons.” From December 17 to 23, the antiphons to Magnificat carry various divine titles for the Child to be born: O Wisdom, O Adonai [Hebrew for Lord], O root of Jesse, O key of David, O Orient, O King, O Emmanuel. In their Latin original, we have the following words: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix, Clavis, Oriens, Rex, Emmanuel.

An interesting feature of these titles is that if we invert the initial letters we get “Ero cras—I shall be here tomorrow!” which indeed is the case as the seven antiphons are completed on December 23, about 24 hours away from Midnight Mass. It is as if the Church is getting anxious to finally see the Invisible God become visible to human eyes.

Such should be our eagerness as we redouble our steps towards the holy Manger at Bethlehem, filled with awe and wonder.


MOTHER OF GOD HIMSELF!




 

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