Portrait of St. Nicholas, 1700
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Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
One Truth
If you propound a doctrine to a modern philosopher, he will ask: "Can it be tested by experience?" We cannot apply this test to every truth. There is one truth, however, that is borne out by the experience of all generations. Every man, sooner or later, makes the experience of it in his own person. It is that, as the flower of the field, so does man himself bloom, and then wither, and then die.
This is a truth within the reach of all; they know this who know nothing else; it is almost the only truth which has altogether escaped contradiction; and yet this was given to be the matter of the prophet's cry. (Isaiah 10:4, 6)
The cry has been taken up by all preachers sent from God even to this day. And it is a cry that needs to be raised again and again, because the fact it announces, though no one denies it, everyone looks away from and tries to forget, and also because the conviction of this fact is at the bottom of all earnest religious feeling.
If life is passing away swiftly and surely and if I look -- as what man naturally does not look? -- for some better part, which shall not be taken from me (Luke 10:42), then, while life lasts, I must worship God, and seek to please Him, who is "the Father of the world to come". (Isaiah 9:6)
There is no declining this conclusion. There is no doing away with it. It is a firm foundation set, which no efforts of secular education will ever be able to overturn; but the priest will take his stand upon it, and speak to mankind from it, as long as men shall be.
-- Father Rickaby, SJ
This is a truth within the reach of all; they know this who know nothing else; it is almost the only truth which has altogether escaped contradiction; and yet this was given to be the matter of the prophet's cry. (Isaiah 10:4, 6)
The cry has been taken up by all preachers sent from God even to this day. And it is a cry that needs to be raised again and again, because the fact it announces, though no one denies it, everyone looks away from and tries to forget, and also because the conviction of this fact is at the bottom of all earnest religious feeling.
If life is passing away swiftly and surely and if I look -- as what man naturally does not look? -- for some better part, which shall not be taken from me (Luke 10:42), then, while life lasts, I must worship God, and seek to please Him, who is "the Father of the world to come". (Isaiah 9:6)
There is no declining this conclusion. There is no doing away with it. It is a firm foundation set, which no efforts of secular education will ever be able to overturn; but the priest will take his stand upon it, and speak to mankind from it, as long as men shall be.
-- Father Rickaby, SJ
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
After this . . .
Doubtless we ought every day of our lives to meditate on the great judgment with which the world will come to an end, and say, whilst performing every one of our actions: "After this the judgment." (Heb. 9:27)
Nevertheless, the Church, believing this thought to be eminently useful to enable us to enter into the sentiments of fervor suitable to the holy season of Advent, summons us specially to meditate upon it through the recital of the last judgment which she causes us to read in the Gospel . . .
It is our duty to enter into her views; to conceive a lively faith in the coming of this great day, which will be so consoling for the good, who will then receive the recompense of their virtues, so terrible for sinners, who will then receive the punishment due to their vices; and to listen, like St. Jerome, to the voice of the trumpet which will summon us to it. May this voice resound in the bottom of our hearts during the whole of this holy season, in order to make us tremble at the mere appearance of evil, as well as to encourage us in the practice of good.
-- Hamon, Meditations
Nevertheless, the Church, believing this thought to be eminently useful to enable us to enter into the sentiments of fervor suitable to the holy season of Advent, summons us specially to meditate upon it through the recital of the last judgment which she causes us to read in the Gospel . . .
It is our duty to enter into her views; to conceive a lively faith in the coming of this great day, which will be so consoling for the good, who will then receive the recompense of their virtues, so terrible for sinners, who will then receive the punishment due to their vices; and to listen, like St. Jerome, to the voice of the trumpet which will summon us to it. May this voice resound in the bottom of our hearts during the whole of this holy season, in order to make us tremble at the mere appearance of evil, as well as to encourage us in the practice of good.
-- Hamon, Meditations
Monday, December 3, 2007
Be prepared
It is a proof of profound wisdom on the part of the Church not to introduce us at once to the crib of Bethlehem, but to point it out to us as it were with her finger a month in advance, that she may say to us "Be prepared to meet thy God". (Amos 4:12)
Prepare for Him in your hearts, by meditation, to have a more lively faith in His greatness; a more profound devotion for the abasement of His majesty; a grateful love for His charity, which has descended so low from so great a height; a true humility, in order to honor Him in His low estate; a gentleness in character and in speech in harmony with His incomparable benignity; a spirit of penitence and recollection which will not form a contrast to the austerity of the crib and the holy occupations of the divine Child.
-- Hamon, Meditations
Prepare for Him in your hearts, by meditation, to have a more lively faith in His greatness; a more profound devotion for the abasement of His majesty; a grateful love for His charity, which has descended so low from so great a height; a true humility, in order to honor Him in His low estate; a gentleness in character and in speech in harmony with His incomparable benignity; a spirit of penitence and recollection which will not form a contrast to the austerity of the crib and the holy occupations of the divine Child.
-- Hamon, Meditations
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Advent
The holy season (Advent) on which we have entered is intended on the part of the Church to make us meditate on the three great advents of the Savior upon earth:
- The first in the humility of the crib in order to save us
- The second in the splendor of His glory at the last day in order to judge us
- The third in the secret of our hearts by His grace in order to sanctify us
We will make the resolution:
- First, to enter upon a new life of recollection and prayer suitable to the season of Advent
- Secondly, to take particular care with regard to the perfection of every one of our ordinary actions, which will be the best manner of sanctifying this holy season
Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St. Paul: "Behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation." (@ Cor. 6:2)
