Celebrating the Seasons. Robert Atwell
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to those who are of the household of the faith. But let us not grow weary in doing good, for we shall reap our reward in due season.’
Paul warns us not to grow weary in good works through impatience, not to be distracted or overcome by temptations and so give up in the midst of our pilgrimage of praise and glory, and allow our past good deeds to count for nothing because what was begun falls short of completion.
Finally the apostle Paul, speaking of charity, unites it with endurance and patience. ‘Charity,’ he says, ‘is always patient and kind; it is not jealous, is not boastful, is not given to anger, does not think evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ He shows that charity can be steadfast and persevering because it has learned how to endure all things.
And in another place he says: ‘Bear with one another lovingly, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ He shows that neither unity nor peace can be maintained unless we cherish each other with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of harmony by means of patience.
Friday after Advent 2
A Reading from the Proslogion of Anselm of Canterbury
O Lord my God,
teach my heart where and how to seek you,
where and how to find you.
Lord, if you are not here but absent,
where shall I seek you?
but you are everywhere, so you must be here,
why then do I not seek you?
Surely you dwell in light inaccessible –
where is it?
and how can I have access to light which is inaccessible?
Who will lead me and take me into it
so that I may see you there?
By what signs, under what forms, shall I seek you?
I have never seen you, O Lord my God,
I have never seen your face.
Most High Lord,
what shall an exile do
who is as far away from you as this?
What shall your servant do,
eager for your love, cast off far from your face?
He longs to see you,
but your countenance is too far away.
He wants to have access to you,
but your dwelling is inaccessible.
He longs to find you,
but he does not know where you are.
He loves to seek you,
but he does not know your face.
Lord, you are my Lord and my God,
and I have never seen you.
You have created and re-created me,
all the good I have comes from you,
and still I do not know you.
I was created to see you,
and I have not yet accomplished that for which I was made.
How wretched is the fate of man
when he has lost that for which he was created.
How hard and cruel was our Fall.
What has man lost, and what has he found?
What has he left, and what is left to him?
O Lord, how long shall this be?
How long, Lord, will you forget us?
How long will you turn your face away from us?
When will you look upon us and hear us?
When will you enlighten our eyes and show us your face?
When will you give yourself back to us?
Look upon us, Lord,
hear and enlighten us.
Show us your very self.
Take pity on our efforts and strivings toward you,
for we have no strength without you.
Teach me to seek you,
and when I seek you show yourself to me,
for I cannot seek you unless you teach me,
nor can I find you unless you show yourself to me.
Let me seek you in desiring you
and desire you in seeking you,
let me find you by loving you,
and love you in finding you.
Saturday after Advent 2
A Reading from a commentary on the prophecy of Isaiah
by Eusebius of Caesarea
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.’ The prophecy makes clear that it is to be fulfilled, not in Jerusalem but in the wilderness: it is there that the glory of the Lord is to appear, and God’s salvation is to be made known to all the world.
This prophecy was fulfilled historically and literally when in the wilderness by the river Jordan John the Baptist proclaimed God’s saving presence, and there God’s salvation was indeed seen. The words of the prophecy were fulfilled when Christ and his glory were made manifest: after his baptism the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove rested on him, and the Father’s voice was heard, bearing witness to the Son: ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him.’
The prophecy meant that God was to come to a deserted place, inaccessible from the beginning. None of the pagans had any knowledge of God, since his holy servants and prophets were kept from approaching them. The voice commands that a way be prepared for the Word of God: the rough and trackless ground is to be made level, so that our God may find a highway when he comes. ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’: the way is the preaching of the gospel, the new message of consolation, ready to bring to all humanity the knowledge of God’s saving power.
‘Climb on a high mountain, O bearer of good news to Zion. Lift up your voice in strength, O bearer of good news to Jerusalem.’ These words of Isaiah harmonise very well with the meaning of what has gone before. They refer opportunely to the evangelists and proclaim the coming of God among us, after speaking of the voice crying in the wilderness. Mention of the evangelists suitably follows the prophecy on John the Baptist.
What does Zion mean if not the city previously called Jerusalem? This is the mountain referred to in that passage from Scripture: ‘Here is Mount Zion where you dwelt.’ Elsewhere the Apostle says: ‘You have come to Mount Zion.’ Does not he refer to the company of the apostles, chosen from the former people of the circumcision?
This indeed is the Zion, the Jerusalem, that received God’s salvation. It stands aloft on the mountain of God, that is, it is raised high on the only-begotten Word of God. It is commanded to climb the high mountain and announce the word of salvation. Who is the bearer of the good news but the company of the evangelists? And what does it mean to bear the good news but to preach to all nations, but first of all to the cities of Judah, the coming of Christ on earth?
The Third Sunday of Advent
A Reading from a sermon of Augustine
John is the voice, but the Lord ‘is the Word who was in the beginning’. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever.
Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the