Advent with Gueranger

WHY DOM GUÉRANGER? WHO IS DOM GUÉRANGER? WHAT IS SOLESMES?

The Liturgical Year (French: L'Année Liturgique) is a written work in fifteen volumes describing the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. The series was written by Dom Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger, a French Benedictine priest and abbot of Solesmes. Dom Guéranger began writing the work in 1841, and died in 1875 after writing nine volumes. The remaining volumes were completed by another Benedictine under Dom Guéranger's name.

The series describes the liturgy of the Catholic Church throughout the liturgical year, including the Mass and the Divine Office. Also described is the historical development of the liturgy in both Western and Eastern traditions. Biographies of saints and their liturgies are given on their feast days.

The Liturgical Year has been likened to the "Summa Theologica" of St. Thomas Aquinas, which the Council of Trent placed alongside the Bible as a work of authority. Dom Guéranger's "The Liturgical Year" has thus been called the "Summa" of the liturgy of the Catholic Church. However, a word of warning to the reader, just like the :Summa Theologica", you will encounter some dry difficult parts (much like the Israelites in their forty years of penance in the desert), but there will also be found oases of deep spiritual refreshment. Persevere, read slowly, stop to think, and you will draw much fruit from this masterful work. Put away and put aside the modern-man's desire for fast-food, fast-service, being fast-tracked. There is no fast way of getting to Heaven (except for fasting perhaps!!). Besides, I don't think God appreciates being put quickly aside so that we can run off to do what we wrongly imagine to be "better" things. The season that we have entered should see us being more of a Mary than a Martha!

“Now it came to pass as they went, that Jesus entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’ s feet, heard his word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord, hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her therefore, that she help me!’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42).

DOM GUÉRANGER & SOLESMES

Dom Guéranger pictured here when he still a young monk. He was ordained a priest at the younger than usual age of 22.

Destined to be a Scholar, Priest and Monk, Dom Guéranger would begin his work in the aftermath of the French revolution, when religious life was effectively abolished in all of Europe. Aiming to restore all aspects of monastic life, the preservation of Gregorian chant - the sung liturgy of the church - would be an essential part of Dom Guéranger's goal. He would re-found the Abbey of St. Peter in Solesmes.

Dom Geuranger himself writes: “My youth, the complete lack of temporal resources, and the limited reliability of those with whom I hoped to associate — none of these things stopped me. I would not have dreamed of it; I felt myself pushed to proceed. I prayed with all my heart for the help of God; but it never occurred to me to ask His will concerning the projected work.”

That last statement may surprise us, but Dom Guéranger explains: “The need of the Church seemed to me so urgent, the ideas about true Christianity so falsified and so compromised in the lay and ecclesiastical worlds, that I felt nothing but an urgency to found some kind of center wherein to recollect and revive pure traditions.”

Dom Guéranger was born within walking distance of the Abbey of Solesmes that he was destined to reform. Sablé-sur-Sarthe is a little south-west of Solesmes.

The house, as it looks today, in Sablé-sur-Sarthe in which Prosper Guéranger was born.

Born in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, on April 4, 1805, Prosper Guéranger frequently made Solesmes the destination of his childhood walks, drawn by the charm of the church building and its life-sized saints in stone. Though as a child he never imagined himself a monk, he loved the solitude of the place. Aspiring first to the priesthood, a precocious vocation led him, after his high school studies in Angers, to the seminary in Le Mans. There, he was drawn intensely to the study of Church history, and soon he discovered what the institution of monasticism had been. Contact with the great scholarly works of the Maurists soon awoke in him a real desire for the monastic life.

Ordained a priest in 1827 (Guéranger was only 22 years old at the time, so that his bishop had to obtain a canonical dispensation), he pursued his work as the bishop's secretary in Paris and in Le Mans. In 1831, learning that the priory at Solesmes was destined to destruction for lack of a buyer, the idea came to him to find the means to acquire it and to take up the Benedictine life again. With the help of a few friends and encouraged by his bishop, he gathered together — with considerable difficulty — enough money to rent the monastery property, and subsequently moved in with three companions on July 11, 1833.

The more humble years of the Benedictine life in Solesmes, before the ambitious building projects of later years under Dom Guéranger's successors.

The fledgling community encountered, of course, difficult times. But its young prior, borne up by his absolute confidence in Providence, by his humility and by his natural mirth and optimism, proved to possess a calm tenacity. Without copying the past in a servile way, he took inspiration from solid monastic traditions pursuing above all the true spirit of St Benedict while accepting several very necessary material adaptations to modern times. As a result, by his uncommon intuition of the benedictine charism, liturgy and spiritual life, he became a living example to his monks. As for temporal matters, Solesmes' first friends saw to the most urgent needs. They inaugurated a second and long list of the monastery's benefactors: the Cosnards, the Landeaus, the Gazeaus, Mme Swetchine, Montalembert, the Marquis of Juigné, and so many others who thought constantly of the monks.

After a four-year tryout Dom Guéranger went to Rome, in 1837, to ask the Vatican for official recognition of Solesmes as a benedictine community. Rome not only granted Dom Guéranger's request, but on its own initiative raised Solesmes from the status of priory to that of an abbey making it the head of a new Benedictine Congregation de France, successor to the Congregations of St. Maurus and St. Vanne as well as the more venerable and ancient family of monasteries belonging to Cluny. On July 26, Dom Guéranger made his solemn profession in the presence of the abbot of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

From then on began a new period in the history of Solesmes.

An aerial view of the St. Peter's Abbey of Solesmes as it stands today, after the expansive building projects of the 20th century.

The abbey view from the bridge crossing the river

THE LITURGICAL LIFE
Extracts from the Commentary on the Daily Liturgy of the Church
by Dom Prosper Guéranger

scroll down for the latest article

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Article 1

THE HISTORY OF ADVENT AND ADVENT PENANCES

The name “Advent” is applied, in the Latin Church, to that period of the year, during which the Church requires the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the feast of Christmas, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. The mystery of that great day had every right to the honor of being prepared for by prayer and works of penance; and, in fact, it is impossible to state, with any certainty, when this season of preparation (which had long been observed before receiving its present name of Advent) was first instituted. It would seem, however, that its observance first began in the west. since it is evident that Advent could not have been looked on as a preparation for the feast of Christmas, until that feast was definitively fixed to the twenty-fifth of December; which was done in the east only towards the close of the fourth century; whereas it is certain that the Church of Rome kept the feast on that day at a much earlier period.

We must look upon Advent in two different lights: first, as a time of preparation, properly so called, for the birth of our Savior, by works of penance: and secondly, as a series of ecclesiastical Offices drawn up for the same purpose. We find, as far back as the fifth century, the custom of giving exhortations to the people in order to prepare them for the feast of Christmas. We have two sermons of Saint Maximus of Turin on this subject, not to speak of several others which were formerly attributed to St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, but which were probably written by St. Cesarius of ArIes.

If these documents do not tell us what was the duration and what the exercises of this holy season, they at least show us how ancient was the practice of distinguishing the time of Advent by special sermons. Saint Ivo of Chartres, St. Bernard, and several other doctors of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, have left us set sermons de Adventu Domini, quite distinct from their Sunday homilies on the Gospels of that season. In the capitularia of Charles the Bald, in 846, the bishops admonish that prince not to call them away from their Churches during Lent or Advent, under pretext of affairs of the State or the necessities of war, seeing that they have special duties to fulfil, and particularly that of preaching during those sacred times.

The oldest document in which we find the length and exercises of Advent mentioned with anything like clearness, is a passage in the second book of the History of the Franks by St. Gregory of Tours, where he says that St. Perpetuus, one of his predecessors, who held that see about the year 480, had decreed a fast three times a week, from the feast of St. Martin until Christmas. It would be impossible to decide whether St. Perpetuus, by his regulations, established a new custom, or merely enforced an already existing law. Let us, however, note this interval of forty, or rather of forty-three days, so expressly mentioned, and consecrated to penance, as though it were a second Lent, though less strict and severe than that which precedes Easter.

Later on, we find the ninth canon of the first Council of Macon, held in 582, ordaining that during the same interval between St. Martin's day and Christmas, the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, should be fasting days, and that the Sacrifice should be celebrated according to the Lenten rite. Not many years before that, namely in 567, the second Council of Tours had enjoined the monks to fast from the beginning of December till Christmas. This practice of penance soon extended to the whole forty days, even for the laity: and it was commonly called St. Martin's Lent. The capitularia of Charlemagne, in the sixth book, leave us no doubt on the matter; and Rabanus Maurus, in the second book of his Institution of clerics, bears testimony to this observance. There were even special rejoicings made on St. Martin's feast, just as we see them practiced now at the approach of Lent and Easter.

The obligation of observing this Lent, which, though introduced so imperceptibly, had by degrees acquired the force of a sacred law, began to be relaxed, and the forty days from St. Martin's day to Christmas were reduced to four weeks. We have seen that this fast began to be observed first in France; but thence it spread into England, as we find from Venerable Bede's history; into Italy, as appears from a diploma of Astolphus, king of the Lombards, dated 753 ; into Germany, Spain, etc., of which the proofs may be seen in the learned work of Dom Martene, On the ancient rites of the Church. The first allusion to Advent's being reduced to four weeks is to be found in the ninth century, in a letter of Pope St. Nicholas I to the Bulgarians. The testimony of Ratherius of Verona, and of Abbé of Fleury, both writers of the tenth century, goes also to prove that, even then, the question of reducing the duration of the Advent fast by one-third was seriously entertained. It is true that St. Peter Damian, in the eleventh century, speaks of the Advent fast as still being for forty days; and that St. Louis, two centuries later, kept it for that length of time; but as far as this holy king is concerned, it is probable that it was only his own devotion which prompted him to this practice.

The discipline of the Churches of the west, after having reduced the time of the Advent fast, so far relented, in a few years, as to change the fast into a simple abstinence; and we even find Councils of the twelfth century, for instance Selingstadt in 1122, and Avranches in 1172, which seem to require only the clergy to observe this abstinence. The Council of Salisbury, held in 1281, would seem to expect none but monks to keep it. On the other hand (for the whole subject is very confused, owing, no doubt, to there never havjng been any uniformity of discipline regarding it in the western Church), we find Pope Innocent III, in his letter to the bishop of Braga, mentioning the custom of fasting during the whole of Advent, as being at that time observed in Rome; and Durandus, in the same thirteenth century, in his Rational on the Divine Offices, tells us that, in France, fasting was uninterruptedly observed during the whole of that holy time.

This much is certain, that, by degrees, the custom of fasting so far fell into disuse, that when, in 1362, Pope Urban V endeavored to prevent the total decay of the Advent penance, all he insisted upon was that all the clerics of his court should keep abstinence during Advent, without in any way including others, either clergy or laity, in this law. St. Charles Borromeo also strove to bring back his people of Milan to the spirit, if not to the letter, of ancient times. In his fourth Council, he enjoins the parish priests to exhort the faithful to go to Communion on the Sundays, at least, of Lent and Advent; and afterwards addressed to the faithful themselves a pastoral letter, in which, after having reminded them of the dispositions wherewith they ought to spend this holy time, he strongly urges them to fast on the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at least, of each week in Advent.

Finally, Pope Benedict XIV, when Archbishop of Bologna, following these illustrious examples, wrote his eleventh Ecclesiastical Institution for the purpose of exciting in the minds of his diocesans the exalted idea which the Christians of former times had of the holy season of Advent, and of removing an erroneous opinion which prevailed in those parts, namely, that Advent concerned religious only and not the laity. He shows them that such an opinion, unless it be limited to the two practices of fasting and abstinence, is, strictly speaking, rash and scandalous since it cannot be denied that, in the laws and usages of the universal Church, there exist special practices, having for their end to prepare the faithful for the great feast of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Greek Church still continues to observe the fast of Advent, though with much less rigor than that of Lent. It consists of forty days, beginning with November 14th, the day on which this Church keeps the feast of the apostle St. Philip. During this entire period, the people abstain from flesh-meat, butter, milk, and eggs; but they are allowed, which they are not during Lent, fish, oil, and wine. Fasting, in its strict sense, is binding only on seven out of the forty days; and the whole period goes under the name of St. Philip's Lent. The Greeks justify these relaxations by this distinction: that the Lent before Christmas is, so they say, only an institution of the monks, whereas the Lent before Easter is of apostolic institution.

But, if the exterior practices of penance which formerly sanctified the season of Advent, have been, in the western Church, so gradually relaxed as to have become now quite obsolete except in monasteries, the general character of the liturgy of this holy time has not changed; and it is by their zeal in following its spirit, that the faithful will prove their earnestness in preparing for Christmas. (Our recent English observance of fast and abstinence on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent, may, in some sense, be regarded as a remnant of the ancient discipline. Observation by the translator).

MONDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 2

THE THREEFOLD COMING OF CHRIST

This mystery of the coming, or Advent, of Jesus is at once simple and threefold. It is simple, for it is the one same Son of God that is coming; it is threefold, because He comes at three different times and in three different ways.

“In the first coming,” says St. Bernard, “He comes in the flesh and in weakness; in the second, He comes in spirit and in power; in the third, He comes in glory and in majesty; and the second coming is the means whereby we pass from the first to the third.” (Fifth sermon for Advent).

This, then, is the mystery of Advent. Let us now listen to the explanation of this threefold visit of Christ, given to us by Peter of Blois, in his third Sermon of Advent:

“There are three comings of Our Lord; the first in the flesh, the second in the soul, the third at the judgment. The first was at midnight, according to those words of the Gospel: At midnight there was a cry made, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” But this first coming is long since past, for Christ has been seen on the earth and has conversed among men. We are now in the second coming, provided only we are such as that He may thus come to us; for He has said that if we love Him, He will come unto us and will take up His abode with us. So that this second coming is full of uncertainty to us; for who, save the Spirit of God, knows them that are of God? They that are raised out of themselves by the desire of heavenly things, know indeed when He comes; but whence He cometh, or whither He goeth, they know not. As for the third coming, it is most certain that it will be, most uncertain when it will be; for nothing is more sure than death, and nothing less sure than the hour of death.

“When they shall say, peace and security, says the apostle, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as the pains upon her that is with child, and they shall not escape. So that the first coming was humble and hidden, the second is mysterious and full of love, the third will be majestic and terrible. In His first coming, Christ was judged by men unjustly; in His second, He renders us just by His grace; in His third, He will judge all things with justice. In His first, a lamb; in His last, a lion; in the one between the two, the tenderest of friends.” (3rd Sermon of Advent)

The holy Church, therefore, during Advent, awaits in tears and with ardor the arrival of her Jesus in His first coming. For this, she borrows the fervid expressions of the prophets, to which she joins her own supplications. These longings for the Messias expressed by the Church, are not a mere commemoration of the desires of the ancient Jewish people; they have a reality and efficacy of their own, an influence in the great act of God's munificence, whereby He gave us His own Son. From all eternity, the prayers of the ancient Jewish people and the prayers of the Christian Church ascended together to the prescient hearing of God; and it was after receiving and granting them, that He sent, in the appointed time, that blessed Dew upon the earth, which made it bud forth the Savior.

The Church aspires also to the second coming, the consequence of the first, which consists, as we have just seen, in the visit of the Bridegroom to the bride. This coming takes place, each year, at the feast of Christmas, when the new birth of the Son of God delivers the faithful from that yoke of bondage, under which the enemy would oppress them (Collect for Christmas Day). The Church, therefore, during Advent, prays that she may be visited by Him who is her Head and her Spouse; visited in her hierarchy; visited in her members, of whom some are living, and some are dead, but may come to life again; visited, lastly, in those who are not in communion with her, and even in the very infidels, that so they may be converted to the true light, which shines even for them. The expressions of the liturgy which the Church makes use of to ask for this loving and invisible coming, arc those which she employs when begging for the coming of Jesus in the flesh; for the two visits are for the same object.

In vain would the Son of God have come, nineteen hundred years ago, to visit and save mankind, unless He came again for each one of us and at every moment of our lives, bringing to us and cherishing within us that supernatural life, of which He and His holy Spirit are the sole principle. But this annual visit of the Spouse does not content the Church; she aspires after a third coming, which will complete all things by opening the gates of eternity. She has caught up the last words of her Spouse, “Surely I am coming quickly” (Apocalypse 22:20); and she cries out to Him,“Ah! Lord Jesus! come!” (Apocalypse 22:20); She is impatient to be loosed from her present temporal state; she longs for the number of the elect to be filled up, and to see appear, in the clouds of heaven, the sign of her Deliverer and her Spouse. Her desires, expressed by her Advent liturgy, go even as far as this; and here we have the explanation of these words of the beloved disciple in his prophecy: “The nuptials of the Lamb are come, and His wife hath prepared herself” (Apocalypse 19:7).

But the day of this His last coming to her will be a day of terror. The Church frequently trembles at the very thought of that awful judgment, in which all mankind is to be tried. She calls it “a day of wrath, on which, as David and the Sibyl have foretold, the world will be reduced to ashes; a day of weeping and of fear.” Not that she fears for herself, since she knows that this day will forever secure for her the crown, as being the bride of Jesus; but her maternal heart is troubled at the thought that, on the same day, so many of her children will be on the left hand of the Judge, and, having no share with the elect, will be bound hand and foot, and cast into the darkness, where there shall be everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is the reason why the Church, in the liturgy of Advent, so frequently speaks of the coming of Christ as a terrible coming, and selects from the Scriptures those passages which are most calculated to awaken a salutary fear in the mind of such of her children as may be sleeping the sleep of sin. This, then, is the threefold mystery of Advent.

The liturgical forms in which it is embodied, are of two kinds: the one consists of prayers, passages from the Bible, and similar formulae, in all of which, words themselves are employed to convey the sentiments which we have been explaining; the other consists of external rites peculiar to this holy time, which, by speaking to the outward senses, complete the expressiveness of the chants and words.

TUESDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 3

THE SPIRIT OF ADVENT

Advent, like Lent, used to have Forty Days
Concerning the number of the days of Advent. Forty was the number originally adopted by the Church, and it is still maintained in the Ambrosian liturgy, and in the eastern Church. If, at a later period, the Church of Rome, and those which follow her liturgy, have changed the number of days, the same idea is still expressed in the four weeks which have been substituted for the forty days. The new birth of our Redeemer takes place after four weeks, as the first nativity happened after four thousand years, according to the Hebrew and Vulgate chronology.

No Solemnization of Marriage
As in Lent, so likewise during Advent, marriage is not solemnized, lest worldly joy should distract Christians from those serious thoughts wherewith the expected coming of the sovereign Judge ought to inspire them, or from that dearly cherished hope which the friends of the Bridegroom have of being soon called to the eternal nuptial-feast (John 3:23).

A Mournful Period
The people are forcibly reminded of the sadness which fills the heart of the Church, by the somber color of the vestments. Excepting on the feasts of the saints, purple is the color she uses; the deacon does not wear the dalmatic, nor the sub-deacon the tunic. Formerly it was the custom, in some places, to wear black vestments. This mourning of the Church shows how fully she unites herself with those true Israelites of old who, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, waited for the Messias, and. Bewailed Sion that she had not her beauty, and “Juda, that the scepter had been taken from him, till He should come who was to be sent, the expectation of nations” (Genesis 49:10).

Time of Penance
It also signifies the works of penance, whereby she prepares for the second coming, full as it is of sweetness and mystery, which is realized in the soul of men, in proportion as they appreciate the tender love of that divine Guest, who has said: “My delights are to be with the children of men” (Proverbs 8:31). It expresses, thirdly, the desolation of this bride who yearns after her Beloved, who is long a-coming. Like the turtle dove, she moans her loneliness, longing for the voice which will say to her: “Come from Libanus, my bride! Come, thou shalt be crowned. Thou hast wounded my heart” (Canticles 4:8-9).

The “Gloria” is Shelved
The Church also, during Advent, excepting on the feasts of saints, suppresses the angelic canticle, “Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae vouluntatis,” (“Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will”), for this glorious song was sung at Bethlehem over the crib of the divine Babe; the tongues of the angels are not loosened yet; the Virgin has not yet brought forth her divine Treasure; it is not yet time to sing, it is not even true to say,“Glory be to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will.”

Again, at the end of Mass, the deacon does not dismiss the assembly of the faithful by the words: lte missa est. He substitutes the ordinary greeting: Benedicamus Domino―as though the Church feared to interrupt the prayers of the people, which could scarce be too long during these days of expectation. In the night Office, the holy Church also suspends, on those same days, the hymn of jubilation, Te Deum laudamus. (The monastic rite retains it).

Humble Expectation
It is in deep humility that she awaits the supreme blessing which is to come to her; and, in the interval, she presumes only to ask, and entreat, and hope. But let the glorious hour come, when in the mIdst of darkest night the Sun of JustIce will suddenly rise upon the world: then indeed she will resume her hymn of thanksgiving, and all over the face of the earth the silence of midnight will be broken by this shout of enthusiasm: “We praise Thee, O God! we acknowledge Thee to be our Lord! Thou, O Christ, art the King of glory, the everlasting Son of the Father! Thou being to deliver man didst not disdain the Virgin's womb!”

On the ferial days, the rubrics of Advent prescribe that certain prayers should be said kneeling, at the end of each canonical Hour, and that the choir should also kneel during a considerable portion of the Mass. In this respect, the usages of Advent are precisely the same as those of Lent.

Tinged with Gladness
But there is one feature which distinguishes Advent most markedly from Lent: the word of gladness, the joyful Alleluia, is not interrupted during Advent, except once or twice during the ferial Office. It is sung in the :Masses of the four Sundays, and vividly contrasts with the somber color of the vestments. On one of these Sundays, the third, the prohibition of using the organ is removed, and we are gladdened by its grand notes, and rose-colored vestments may be used instead of the purple.

Bitter-Sweet, Mournful-Joy
These vestiges of joy, thus blended with the holy mournfulness of the Church, tell us, in a most expressive way, that though she unites with the ancient people of God in praying for the coming of the Messias (thus paying the debt which the entire human race owes to the justice and mercy of God), she does not forget that the Emmanuel is already come to her, that He is in her, and that even before she has opened her lips to ask Him to save her, she has been already redeemed and predestined to an eternal union with Him. This is the reason why the Alleuia accompanies even her sighs, and why she seems to be at once joyous and sad waiting for the coming of that holy night which will be brighter to her than the most sunny of days, and on which her joy will expel all her sorrow.

WEDNESDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 4

"PUTTING-ON" CHRIST AND TRANSFORMING US INTO CHRIST

Enter into the Spirit
If our Holy Mother the Church spends the time of Advent in this solemn preparation for the threefold coming of Jesus Christ; if, after the example of the prudent virgins, she keeps her lamp lit ready for the coming of the Bridegroom; we, being her members and her children, ought to enter into her spirit, and apply to ourselves this warning of our Savior:“Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands, and ye yourselves be like unto men who wait for their Lord!”(Luke 12: 33,36). The Church and we have, in reality, the same hopes. Each one of us is, on the part of God, an object of mercy and care, as is the Church herself.

If she is the temple of God, it is because she is built of living stones; if she is the bride, it is because she consists of all the souls which are invited to eternal union with God. If it is written that the Savior hath purchased the Church with His own Blood (Acts 15:28), may not each one of us say of himself those words of St. Paul, “Christ hath loved me, and hath delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:29). Our destiny being the same, then, as that of the Church, we should endeavor during Advent, to enter into the spirit of preparation, which is, as we have seen, that of the Church herself.

Beg for the Messias
And firstly, it is our duty to join with the saints of the old Law in asking for the Messias, and thus pay the debt which the whole human race owes to the divine mercy. In order to fulfill this duty with fervor, let us go back in thought to those four thousand years, represented by the four weeks of Advent, and reflect on the darkness and crime which filled the world before our Savior’s coming.

Duty of Gratitude
Let our hearts be filled with lively gratitude towards Him, who saved His creature man from death, and who came down from Heaven that He might know our miseries by Himself experiencing them, yes, all of them excepting sin. Let us cry to Him with confidence from the depths of our misery; for, notwithstanding His having saved the work of His hands, He still wishes us to beseech Him to save us. Let therefore our desires and our confidence have their free utterance in the ardent supplications of the ancient prophets, which the Church puts on our lips during these days of expectation; let us give our closest attention to the sentiments which they express.

Jesus Seeks to Change Our Hearts
This first duty complied-with, we must next turn our minds to the coming which our Savior wishes to accomplish in our own hearts. It is, as we have seen, a coming full of sweetness and mystery, and a consequence of the first; for the good Shepherd comes not only to visit the flock in general, but He extends His solicitude to each one of the sheep, even to the hundredth which is lost.

Accept This Transformation
Now, in order to appreciate the whole of this ineffable mystery, we must remember that, since we can be pleasing to our heavenly Father, only inasmuch as He sees within us His Son Jesus Christ, this amiable Savior deigns to come into each one of us, and transform us, if we will only consent, into Himself, so that henceforth we may live, not we, but He in us. This is, in reality, the one grand aim of the Christian religion, to make man divine through Jesus Christ: it is the task which God has given to His Church to do, and she says to the faithful what St. Paul said to his Galatians: “My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed within you!”(Galatians 4:19).

THURSDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 5

LIFE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR OF DEATH

But as, on His entering into this world, our divine Savior first showed Himself under the form of a weak Babe, before attaining the fullness of the age of manhood, and this to the end that nothing might be wanting to His sacrifice, so does He intend to do in us; there is to be a progress in His growth within us Now, it is at the feast of Christmas that He delights to be born in our souls, and that He pours out over the whole Church a grace of being born, to which, however, not all are faithful.

For this glorious solemnity, as often as it comes round, finds three classes of men. The first, and the smallest number, are those who live in all its plenitude, the life of Jesus who is within them, and aspire incessantly after the increase of this life. The second class of souls is more numerous; they are living, it is true, because Jesus is in them; but they are sick and weakly, because they care not to grow in this divine life; their charity has become cold! (Apocalypse 2:4). The rest of men make up the third division, and are they that have no part of this life in them, and are dead; for Christ has said: “I am the Life.” (John 14:6).

Now, during the season of Advent, Our Lord knocks at the door of all men’s hearts, at one time so forcibly that they must needs notice Him; at another, so softly that it requires attention to know that Jesus is asking admission. He comes to ask them if they have room for Him, for He wishes to be born in their house. The house indeed is His, for he built it and preserves it; yet He complains that His own refused to receive Him (John 1:2); at least the greater number did. “But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, born not of blood, nor of the flesh, but of God (John 12:13).

He will be born, then, with more beauty and luster and might than you have hitherto seen in Him, O ye faithful ones, who hold Him within you as your only treasure, and who have long lived no other life than His, shaping your thoughts and works on the model of His. You will feel the necessity of words to suit and express your love; such words as He delights to hear you speak to Him. You will find them in the holy liturgy.

You, who have had Him within you without knowing Him, and have possessed Him without relishing the sweetness of His presence, open your hearts to welcome Him, this time, with more care and love. He repeats His visit of this year with an untiring tenderness; He has forgotten your past slights; He would “that all things be new” (Apocalypse 21:5). Make room for the divine Infant, for He desires to grow within your soul. The time of His coming is close at hand: let your heart, then, be on the watch; and lest you should slumber when He arrives, watch and pray, yea, sing. The words of the liturgy are intended also for your use: they speak of darkness, which only God can enlighten; of wounds, which only His mercy can heal; of a faintness, which can be braced only by His divine energy.

And you, Christians, for whom the good tidings are as things that are not because you are dead in sin, lo! He who is very life is coming among you. Yes, whether this death of sin has held you as its slave for long years, or has but freshly inflicted on you the wound which made you its victim, Jesus, your Life, is coming: “why, then, will you die? He desireth not the death of the· sinner, but rather that he be converted and live,” (Ezechiel 18:31). The grand feast of His birth will be a day of mercy for the whole world; at least, for all who will give Him admission into their hearts: they will rise to life again in Him, their past life will be destroyed, and where sin abounded, there grace will more abound (Romans 5:20).

FRIDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 6

TREMBLE NOW, RATHER THAN LATER!

But, if the tenderness and the attractiveness of this mysterious coming make no impression on you, because your heart is too weighed down to be able to rise to confidence, and because, having so long drunk sin like water, you know not what it is to long with love for the caresses of a Father, whom you have slighted―then turn your thoughts to that other coming, which is full of terror, and is to follow the silent one of grace, that is now offered. Think within yourselves, how this earth of ours will tremble at the approach of the dread Judge; how the heavens will flee from before His face, and fold up as a book (Apocalypse 6:14); how man will wince under His angry look; how the creature will wither away with fear, as the two-edged sword, which comes from the mouth of his Creator (Apocalypse 1:16), pierces him; and how sinners will cry out, “Ye mountains, fall on us! Ye rocks, cover us!” (Luke 23:30).

Those unhappy souls who would not know the time of their visitation (Luke 19:44), shall then vainly wish to hide themselves from the face of Jesus. They shut their hearts against this Man-God, who, in His excessive love for them, wept over them: therefore, on the Day of Judgment they will descend alive into those everlasting fires, whose flame devoureth the earth with her increase, and burneth the foundations of the mountains (Deuteronomy 32:22). The worm that never dieth (Mark 9:43), the useless eternal repentance, will gnaw them forever.

Let those, then, who are not touched by the tidings of the coming of the heavenly Physician and the good Shepherd who giveth His life for His sheep, meditate during Advent on the awful yet certain truth, that so many render the redemption unavailable to themselves by refusing to cooperate in their own salvation. They may treat the Child who is to be born with disdain (Isaias 9:6); but He is also the mighty God, and do they think they can withstand Him on that day, when He is to come, not to save, as now but to judge? Would that they knew more of this divine Judge, before whom the very saints tremble! Let these, also, use the liturgy of this season, and they will there learn how much He is to be feared by sinners.

We would not imply by this that only sinners need to fear; no, every Christian ought to fear. Fear, when there is no nobler sentiment with it, makes man a slave; when it accompanies love, it is a feeling which fills the heart of a child who has offended his father, yet seeks for pardon; when, at length, love casteth out fear (John 4:18), even then this holy fear will sometimes come, and, like a flash of lightning, pervade the deepest recesses of the soul. It does the soul good. She wakes up afresh to a keener sense of her own misery and of the unmerited mercy of her Redeemer.

Let no one, therefore, think that he may safely pass his Advent without taking any share in the holy fear which animates the Church. She, though so beloved by God, prays to Him to give her this fear; and in her Office of Sext, she thus cries out to Him: “Pierce my flesh with Thy fear.” It is, however, to those who are beginning a good life, that this part of the Advent liturgy will be peculiarly serviceable.

It is evident, from what we have said, that Advent is a season specially devoted to the exercises of what is called the purgative life, which is implied in that expression of St. John, so continually repeated by the Church during this holy time: Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Let all, therefore, strive earnestly to make straight the path by which Jesus will enter into their souls. Let the just, agreeably to the teaching of the Apostle, forget the things that are behind (Philippians 3:13), and labor to acquire fresh merit. Let sinners begin at once and break the chains which now enslave them. Let them give up those bad habits which they have contracted. Let them weaken the flesh, and enter upon the hard work of subjecting it to the spirit. Let them, above all things, pray with the Church. And when Our Lord comes, they may hope that He will not pass them by, but that He will enter and dwell within them; for He spoke or all when He said these words: “Behold I stand at the gate and knock: if any man shall hear My voice and open to Me the door, I will come in unto him.” (Apocalypse 3:20).

SATURDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 7

FIGHTING CONCUPISCENCE

During Advent, its principal object ought to be the removing from ourselves those hindrances, which would oppose Jesus' coming and reigning within us.

The love of sensual pleasures, avarice, and pride, that triple concupiscence which St. John so strongly condemns in his first Epistle, must be withstood, else our preparation for Christmas is useless. And as the chief thing in every prayer or meditation is to turn our thoughts to Jesus Christ, we must, during Advent, contemplate Him in the womb of Mary, where He remains hidden, giving us, by this His state of abasement, a most telling lesson of devotedness to His Father's glory, of obedience to the divine decrees, and of humility; but, at the same time, He gives us a most powerful proof of the greatness of His love of us.

This thought will naturally suggest to us a variety of motives and resolutions for breaking those ties which keep us from a virtuous life. But should they not produce sufficient impression on us, we must then consider Jesus as our Judge, in the dread magnificence of His majesty, and all the severity of His inevitable vengeance.

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Article 8

IMPROVING THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ASSIST AT MASS

There is no exercise which is more pleasing to God, or more meritorious, or which has greater influence in infusing solid piety into the soul, than the assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If this be true at all the various seasons of the Christian year, it is so, in a very special manner, during the holy time of Advent. The faithful, therefore, should make every effort in order to enjoy this precious blessing, even on those days when they are not obliged to it by the precept of the Church.

With what gratitude ought they to assist at that Divine Sacrifice, for which the world had been longing for four thousand years! God has granted them to be born after the fulfillment of that stupendous and merciful oblation, and would not put them in the generations of men who died before they could partake of its reality and its riches! This notwithstanding, they must earnestly unite with the Church in praying for the coming of the Redeemer, so to pay their share of that great debt, which God has put upon all, whether living before or after the fulfillment of the mystery of the Incarnation. Let them think of this in assisting at the Holy Sacrifice.

Let them also remember that this great Sacrifice, which perpetuates on this earth, even to the end of time, though in an unbloody manner, the real oblation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, has this for its express aim: to prepare the souls of the faithful for the mysterious coming of God, Who redeemed our souls only that He might take possession of them. It not only prepares, it even effects this glorious advent of Christ.

Let them, in the third place, lovingly profit by the presence of, and intimacy with, Jesus, to which this hidden yet saving mystery admits them; that so, when He comes in that other way, whereby He will judge the world in terrible majesty, He may recognize them as His friends, and even then, when mercy shall give place to justice, again save them.

We shall now endeavor to embody these sentiments in our explanation of the mysteries of the Holy Mass, and initiate the faithful into these divine secrets; not, indeed, by indiscreetly presuming to translate the sacred formulae, but by suggesting such acts, as will enable those, who hear Mass, to enter into the ceremonies and sentiments of the Church and of the priest.

The faithful, in assisting at Mass during Advent, should first know whether it is going to be said according to the Advent rite, or in honor of the Blessed Virgin, or of a saint, or, finally, for the dead. The color of the vestments worn by the priest will tell them all this. Purple is used, if the Mass be of Advent; white or red, if of our Lady or the saints; and black, if for the dead. If the priest be vested in purple, the faithful must excite within themselves the spirit of penance which the Church would signify by this color. They should do the same, no matter what may be the color of the vestments; for in every Mass during Advent, with the exception of Masses for the dead, the priest is obliged, even on the greatest feasts, to make a commemoration of Advent three separate times, and thus to make use of the same expressions of repentance and sorrow as he would in a Mass proper to the time of Advent.

MONDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 9

IMPROVING THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ASSIST AT MASS (Part 2)
From the Beginning of Mass up to the Creed

On the Sundays, if the Mass at which they assist be the parochial, or, as it is often called, the public Mass, two solemn rites precede it, which are full of instruction and blessing: the Asperges, or sprinkling of the holy water, and the procession. During the Asperges, let them ask for that purity of heart, which is necessary for having a share in the twofold coming of Jesus Christ; and in receiving the holy water, the sprinkling of which prepares us for assisting worthily at the great sacrifice, wherein is poured forth, not a figurative water, but the very Blood of the Lamb, they should think of that baptism of water, by means of which St. John the Baptist prepared the Jews for that other Baptism, which the power and mercy of the Redeemer were afterwards to give to mankind.

Procession Before Mass
The procession, which immediately precedes the Mass, should remind us how we ought to be standing with lamps burning in our hands, ready to go out and meet our Lord, who is coming. The Church is ever advancing towards her Spouse in an unbroken procession, and our souls should be ever hastening towards their sovereign Good, never resting until they have found Him.

The Start of Mass
But see, Christians, the sacrifice begins! The priest is at the foot of the altar; God is attentive, the angels are in adoration, the whole Church is united with the priest, whose priesthood and action are those of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Let us make the sign of the cross with him.

The Confession of Sins
This announcement of the coming of our Lord, excites in the soul of the priest a lively sentiment of compunction. He cannot go farther in the Holy Sacrifice without confessing, and publicly, that he is a sinner, and deserves not the grace he is about to receive. Listen, with respect, to this confession of God's minister, and earnestly ask our Lord to show mercy to him; for the priest is your father; he is answerable for your salvation, for which he every day risks his own.

Incensing the Altar
He then incenses the altar in a most solemn manner. This white cloud, which you see ascending from every part of the altar, signifies the prayer of the Church who addresses herself to Jesus Christ; while the divine Mediator causes that prayer to ascend, united with His own, to the throne of the majesty of His Father.

The priest then says the Introit. In the Masses proper to Advent, it is a cry made to the Messias, which has so much the greater power with God as it goes up to Him from the holy altar.

Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy
It is followed by nine exclamations, which are even more earnest, for they ask for mercy. In addressing them to God, the Church unites herself with the nine choirs of angels, who are standing round the altar of Heaven, one and the same as this before which you are kneeling.

Glory be to God in the Highest
If it be a feast, the priest says the angelic hymn, which the Church has made her own ever since the birth of our Savior: if the Mass be proper to Advent, the Church forbids the joyous canticle until the new birth of her Spouse again comes to gladden her.

The Lord Be With You
The priest turns towards the people, and again salutes them, as it were to make sure of their pious attention to the sublime act, for which all this is but the preparation. The words of this greeting are especially beautiful during the weeks of Advent: “The Lord be with you!” Isaias had foretold that it would indeed be verified, and the angel confirms the prophecy to Saint Joseph, when he thus says to him: “He shall be called Emmanuel,” that is to say, “God with us.”

Prayer
Then follows the Collect or Prayer, in which the Church formally expresses to the divine Majesty the special intentions she has in the Mass which is being celebrated. You may unite in this prayer, by reciting with the priest the collects which you will find in their propel' places: but on no account omit to join with the server of the Mass in answering Amen.

Epistle
Then follows the Epistle, which is generally a portion of one or other of the Epistles of the Apostles, or a passage from some Book of the Old Testament. Listen to this word of God's messengers with respect and submission, and long for Him who is the eternal Word, and who is soon to be born among men and converse with them.

Gradual
The Gradual is an intermediate formula of prayer between the Epistle and Gospel. It again brings to our attention the sentiments which were expressed in the Introit. Read it with devotion, so as to get more and more into the spirit of preparation for the coming of your Savior.

Alleluia
The Alleluia is like a thrill of joy, which seizes the soul of the Church, and makes her exult, as she reflects that she already possesses the Spouse, of whom she is in expectation; but this is only for a moment: she resumes her attitude of a suppliant, asking Him to come, for she feels that she needs His new coming.

Gospel
Until the happy hour when He will come in person, He comes to us by His words, which are spirit and life. The Gospel is about to be read aloud in the assembly of the faithful: “the poor are to have the Gospel preached unto them.” If it be a High Mass, the deacon prepares to fulfil his noble office, that of announcing the good tidings of salvation. He prays God to cleanse his heart and lips. Then kneeling, he asks the priest's blessing; and having received it, he at once goes to the place where he is to sing the Gospel.

You will stand during the Gospel, as though you were awaiting the orders of your Lord; at the commencement, make the sign of the cross on your forehead, lips, and breast; and then listen to every word of the priest or deacon. Let your heart be ready and obedient. “While my Beloved was speaking,” says the bride in the Canticle, “my soul melted within me.” If you have not such love as this, have at least the humble submission of Samuel, and say: “Speak, Lord! Thy servant heareth!”

Creed
After the Gospel, if the priest says the Symbol of Faith, the Credo, you will say it with him. Faith is that gift of God, without which we cannot please Him. It is by it that we are now looking for the coming of our Redeemer, whom as yet we do not see; and it is Faith which will merit for us the grace of His ineffable visit. Faith is the mark of those true Israelites, who are looking for the Messias and will find Him.

TUESDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 10

IMPROVING THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ASSIST AT MASS (Part 3)
The Offertory of the Mass

The Offertory Begins the Heart of the Mass
The priest and the people should, by this time, have their hearts ready: it is time to prepare the offering itself. And here we come to the second part of the holy Mass; it is called the Oblation, and immediately follows that which was named the Mass of Catechumens, on account of its being formerly the only part at which the candidates for Baptism had a right to be present.

Change Us, Lord, as You Will Change the Bread and Wine
See, then, dear Christians! Bread and wine are about to be offered to God, as being the noblest of inanimate creatures, since they are made for the nourishment of man; and even that is only a poor material image of what they are destined to become in our Christian Sacrifice. Their substance will soon give place to God Himself, and of themselves nothing will remain but the appearances. Happy creatures, thus to yield up their own being, that God may take its place! We, too, are to undergo a like transformation, when, as the apostle expresses it, that which in us is mortal shall put on immortality. Until that happy change shall be realized, let us offer ourselves to God as often as we see the bread and wine presented to Him in the holy sacrifice; and let us prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus, who will transform us, by making us partakers of the divine nature.

Offering the Host
The priest again turns to the people with the usual salutation, as though he would warn them to redouble their attention. Let us read the Offertory with him, and when he offers the Host to God.

The Chalice of Life…
When the priest puts the wine into the chalice, and then mingles with it a drop of water, let your thoughts turn to the divine mystery of the Incarnation, which in a few days is to be manifested to the world.

…Is Humbling
After having thus held up the sacred gifts towards heaven, the priest bows down: let us, also, humble ourselves.

Come Holy Ghost
Let us next invoke the Holy Ghost, Whose operation is about to produce on the altar the presence of the Son of God, as it did in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the divine mystery of the Incarnation.

Incenses Altar Again
If it be a High Mass, the priest, before proceeding further with the sacrifice, takes the thurible, or censer, a second time, after blessing the incense, incenses the altar. He then censes first the bread and wine, which have just been offered, and then the altar itself; hereby inviting the faithful to make their prayer, which is signified by the fragrant incense, more and more fervent, the nearer the solemn moment approaches. St. John tells us that the incense he beheld burning on the altar in Heaven is made up of the “prayers of the saints.”

Wash Me Lord!
But the thought of his own unworthiness becomes more intense than ever in the heart of the priest. The public confession which he made at the foot of the altar is not enough; he would now at the altar itself express to the people, in the language of a solemn rite, how far he knows himself to be from that spotless sanctity, wherewith he should approach to God. He washes his hands. Our hands signify our works; and the priest, though by his priesthood he bears the office of Jesus Christ, is, by his works, but man. Seeing your father thus humble himself, do you also make an act of humility.

Begging Acceptance of Sacrifice
The priest, taking encouragement from the act of humility he has just made, returns to the middle of the altar, and bows down full of respectful awe, begging of God to receive graciously the sacrifice which is about to be offered to Him, and expresses the intentions for which it is offered. Let us do the same.

The priest again turns to the people; it is for the last time before the sacred mysteries are accomplished. He feels anxious to excite the fervor of the people. Neither does the thought of his own unworthiness leave him; and before entering the cloud with the Lord, he seeks support in the prayers of his brethren who are present. With this request he turns again to the altar, and you will see his face no more, until our Lord Himself shall have come down from heaven upon that same altar.

The Secrets
Then the priest recites the prayers called the Secrets, in which he presents the petition of the whole Church for God's acceptance of the sacrifice, and then immediately begins to fulfill that great duty of religion, thanksgiving. So far he has adored God, and has sued for mercy; he has still to give thanks for the blessings bestowed on us by the bounty of our heavenly Father, and expressly for that greatest of all His gifts, the Messias. We are in the season of expectation of a new visit of this Son of God; the priest, in the name of the Church, is about to give expression to the gratitude of all mankind. In order to excite the faithful to that intensity of gratitude which is due to God for all His gifts, he interrupts his own and their silent prayer by terminating it aloud and saying the Preface out aloud.

WEDNESDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 11

IMPROVING THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ASSIST AT MASS (Part 4)
The Canon of the Mass

Reverent Awe and Silence
After the Preface commences the Canon, that mysterious prayer in the midst of which heaven bows down to earth, and God descends unto us. The voice of the priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the altar, all is silence. It was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, in the quiet of silence, and while the night was in the midst of her course, that the almighty Word came down from His royal throne. Let us await Him in a like silence, and respectfully fix our eyes on what the priest does in the holy place.

Christ is About to Come Amongst Us
In this mysterious colloquy with the great God of Heaven and earth, the first prayer of the sacrificing priest is for the Catholic Church, his and our mother. The priest, who up to this time has been praying with his hands extended, now joins them, and holds them over the bread and wine, as the high-priest of the old Law did over the figurative victim: he thus expresses his intention of bringing these gifts more closely under the notice of the divine Majesty, and of marking them as the material offering whereby we profess our dependence, and which, in a few instants, is to yield its place to the living Host, upon whom all our iniquities are to be laid.

In the Person of Christ
And here the priest ceases to act as man; he now becomes more than a mere minister of the Church. His word becomes that of Jesus Christ, with all its power and efficacy. Prostrate yourself in profound adoration; for the Emmanuel, the “God with us,” is coming down from Heaven.

A Miracle on the Altar
The divine Lamb is now upon our altar. Glory and love be to Him forever! But He has come that He may be immolated; for which reason the priest, who is the minister of the will of· the Most High, immediately pronounces over the chalice those sacred words which will produce the great mystical immolation by the separation of the Victim's Body and Blood. The substances of the bread and wine have ceased to exist: the species alone are left, veiling, as it were, the Body and Blood, lest fear should keep us from a mystery, which God gives us in order to give us confidence. Let us associate ourselves to the angels, who tremblingly look upon this deepest wonder.

Face to Face with God
The priest is now face to face with God. He again raises his hands towards Heaven, and tells our heavenly Father that the oblation now on the altar is no longer an earthly offering, but the Body and Blood, the whole Person, of His divine Son.

The priest bows down to the altar, and kisses it as the throne of love on which is seated the Savior of men.

Pray and Beg
Nor is the moment less favorable for making supplication for the Church suffering. Let us therefore ask the divine liberator, who has come down among us, that He mercifully visit, by a ray of His consoling light, the dark abode of purgatory, and permit His Blood to flow, as a stream of mercy's dew, from this our altar, and refresh the panting captives there. Let us pray expressly for those among them who have a claim on our suffrages.

This duty of charity fulfilled, let us pray for ourselves, sinners, alas, who profit so little by the visit which our Savior pays us. Let us, together with the priest, strike our breast, saying that we are also sinners.

Most Perfect Homage
While saying these last few words, the priest has taken up the sacred Host, which was on the altar; he has held it over the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the divine Victim, in order to show that He is now immortal. Then raising up both chalice and Host, he offers to God the most noble and perfect homage which the divine Majesty could receive.

Solemn "Amen"
This solemn and mysterious rite ends the Canon. The silence of the mysteries is broken. The priest concludes his long prayers, by saying aloud “For ever and ever”, and so giving the faithful the opportunity of expressing their desire that his supplications be granted with a resounding “Amen!”

Our Father
It is time to recite the prayer which our Savior Himself has taught us. Let it ascend to Heaven together with the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. How could it be otherwise than heard, when He Himself, Who made it for us, is in our very hands now while we say it? As this prayer belongs in common to all God's children, the priest recites it aloud, and begins by inviting us all to join in it.

Amen
The priest falls once more into the silence of the Holy Mysteries. His first word is an affectionate “Amen” to our last petition—deliver us from evil—on which he forms his own next prayer: and could he pray for anything more needed? Evil surrounds us everywhere, and the Lamb on our altar has been sent to expiate it and deliver us from that evil.

THURSDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 12

IMPROVING THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ASSIST AT MASS (Part 5)
From Communion to the end of the Mass

Symbol of the Resurrection
The mystery is drawing to a close; God is about to be united with man, and man with God, by means of Communion. But first, an imposing and sublime rite takes place at the altar. So far the priest has announced the death of Jesus; it is time to proclaim His Resurrection. To this end, he reverently breaks the Sacred Host, and having divided it into three parts, he puts one into the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the immortal Victim.

The Gift of Peace
Peace is the grand object of our Savior's coming into the world: He is the Prince of peace. The divine Sacrament of the Eucharist ought therefore to be the mystery of peace, and the bond of Catholic unity; for, as the apostle says, all we who partake of one bread, are all one bread and one body. It is on this account that the priest, now that he is on the point of receiving in Communion the sacred Host, prays that fraternal peace may be preserved in the Church, and more especially in this portion of it which is assembled round the altar.

If it be a High Mass, the priest here gives the kiss of peace to the deacon, who gives it to the subdeacon, and he to the choir. During this ceremony, you should excite within yourself feelings of Christian charity, and pardon your enemies if you have any.

"I am not worthy!"
Then the priest takes the Host into his hands, in order to receive it in Communion. Then he strikes his breast, confessing his unworthiness, say thrice with him these words, and in the same disposition as the centurion of the Gospel, who first used them: “Lord I am not worthy…”

While the priest receives the Sacred Host, if you also are to communicate, adore profoundly your God, who is ready to take up His abode within you, and again say to Him with the bride: “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”

Holy Communion
But should you not be going to receive sacramentally, make a spiritual Communion. Adore Jesus Christ who thus visits your soul by His grace.

It is here that you must approach to the altar, if you are going to Communion. The dispositions suitable for Holy Communion during this season of Advent are given in the next chapter.

Postcommunion
The Communion being finished, and the priest having purified the chalice, the priest, having read the antiphon called the Communion, which is the first part of his thanksgiving for the favor just received from God, whereby He has renewed His divine presence among us, turns to the people with the usual salutation; after which, he recites the prayers, called the Postcommunion, which are the completion of the thanksgiving. You will join him here also, thanking God for the unspeakable gift He has just lavished on you, and asking, with most earnest entreaty, for the coming of the Messias, who will accomplish those august mysteries, the renewal of which in the holy Mass is the chief support of the Christian life.

Final Greeting & Final Blessing
These prayers having been recited, the priest again turns to the people, and, full of joy for the immense favor he and they have been receiving, he says: “The Lord be with you!”

The priest makes a last prayer, before giving you his blessing.

The Last Gospel
He then concludes the Mass by reading the first fourteen verses of the Gospel according to St. John, which tell us of the eternity of the Word, and of the mercy which led Him to take upon Himself our flesh, and to dwell among us. Pray that you may be of the number of those, who will receive Him, when He comes, this year, into the midst of His people.

FRIDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 13

IMPROVING THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ASSIST AT MASS (Part 6)
Improving Our Holy Communions

HOLY COMMUNION DURING ADVENT

It is true that everything in Advent is so arranged, as to be a preparation for the coming of the Savior at the feast of Christmas, and that the spirit of the faithful should be one of earnest expectation of this same Savior; and yet, such is the happy lot of the children of the new Law, that they can, if they wish it, really, and at once, receive this God whom the Church is expecting; and thus, this familiar visit of Jesus will become, itself, one of the preparations for His great and solemn visit. Let those, then, who are living the life of grace, and to whom the glorious day of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, will bring an increase of spiritual life, not omit to prepare, by Communion, for the reception they intend to give to the heavenly Spouse on the sacred night of His coming. These Communions will be interviews with their divine Lord, giving them confidence, and love, and all those interior dispositions wherewith they would welcome Him, who comes to load them with fresh grace, for this Jesus is full of grace and truth.

They will understand this better by reflecting on the sentiments which the august Mother of Jesus had in her blessed soul, during the time which preceded the divine birth. This birth is to be an event of more importance, both to the salvation of mankind and to Mary's own glory, than even that of the first accomplishment of the Incarnation; for the Word was made Flesh in order that He might be born. The immense happiness of holding in her arms her Son and her God, would make the sacred hour of Jesus' birth dearer and happier to Mary, than even that in which she was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost, and received from Him the divine fruit of her womb.

During those nine months, when she knew that her Jesus was so undividedly hers, what must have been the happiness which filled her heart! It was a bliss which was a worthy preparation for that more blissful night of Bethlehem.

Christians! Your Communions during Advent are to prepare you for your Christmas joy, by giving you something of the delight which Mary felt before the birth of Jesus. When you are in the house of God, preparing by recollection and prayer for receiving your Savior in Holy Communion, you may perhaps be assisted in your preparation by the sentiments and affections which we have ventured to offer you in the following acts.

BEFORE COMMUNION

ACT OF FAITH

Knowing that Thou art about to enter under my roof. O eternal God, Jesus Son of the Father, I have need of all my Faith. Yes, it is Thou who art coming to me, Thou who didst enter into Mary's virginal womb, making it the sanctuary of Thy Majesty. Thou didst send thine angel to her, and she believed his word, when he said: “Nothing is impossible to God: the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.” She believed, and then conceived in her chaste womb Him who had created her. Thou hast not sent an angel to me, O my Savior, to tell me Thou art coming into my heart. Thou hast spoken Thyself, and Thou hast said: “I am the living Bread come down from Heaven: he that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me and I in him.” Thou hast willed that these words of thine, spoken so many hundred years ago, should reach me by thy Church, that thus I might have both the certainty that they are Thine, and the merit of bowing down my reason to the deepest of mysteries. I believe then, O Jesus! Help the weakness of my Faith. Enable me to submit, as Mary did, to Thy infinite wisdom; and since Thou desirest to enter under my roof, I bow down my whole being before Thee, using her blessed words: “May it be done to me according to Thy word”; for how dare I, who am but nothingness, resist Thee, who art all wisdom and power!

ACT OF HUMILITY

But, O my Savior, when Thou didst choose the womb of the glorious Virgin for thy abode, Thou hadst but to leave one Heaven for another. Thou hadst prepared her, from her conception, with every grace; and she, on her part, had been more faithful to Thee than all angels and men together. Whereas my heart has nothing in it, which can induce Thee to come and make it Thy dwelling. How many times has it refused Thee admittance, when Thou didst stand at the door asking me to receive Thee! And even had I been always faithful, what proportion is there between its lowliness and Thy infinite greatness?

Elizabeth humbled herself when she was visited by Mary, and exclaimed, “How comes such an honor to me!” And I am to receive a visit, not merely of the Mother of God, but of God Himself, and in such an intimate familiar manner, that a greater union cannot be. Thou sayest, “He that eateth Me, abideth in Me and I in him.” O Son of God! Thou seekest, then, for what is lowest and poorest, and in that Thy heart loves to dwell. I am overwhelmed with admiration at this condescension; but when I reflect that Thou art going to show it me, I can do nothing but sink into my own nothingness, and there beseech Thee to show me more and more clearly, that I am but nothing; that so, when Thou hast come within me, my whole being may proclaim the glory, the mercy, the power of my Jesus.

ACT OF CONTRITION

Happy should I be, O Jesus, if I could feel that this, my nothingness, was the only obstacle to the glorious union to which Thou invitest me! I would then approach to thee after the example of Thy Immaculate Mother, my august Queen, and would dare to partake of the banquet, at which she is on Thy right hand. But I am worse than nothing—I am a sinner: and surely there can be no union between infinite sanctity and sin, between light and darkness! I have been Thine enemy, O my Redeemer! And yet Thou wishest to come into my heart, with the sores of its shame and wounds barely closed; and Thou tellest me, that Thou, who couldst delight to dwell in Mary's heart, canst find pleasure in mine!

Oh! How this teaches me the malice of my sins, since they offended a God so generous, so wonderful in His love for me! In these few moments, which precede thy descending into the midst of my darkness, in order to change it into light, what can I do but renew my sorrow for those many sins whereby I lost Thee, as also for those whereby I grieved Thee without losing Thy grace. Accept this, my contrition, O my Savior! It is thus that I would prepare Thy way to my heart, by removing everything which is in opposition to the righteous path of Thy holy Law.

ACT OF LOVE

For I would indeed love Thee, O my Savior, as Mary loved Thee. Art Thou not my God, as Thou wast hers? Nay, by forgiving me my sins, hast Thou not shown marks of tenderness to me, which Mary could not receive? I love Thee, then, sweet Jesus, who art coming into me. Most welcome visit, which is to increase my love! Thy blessed Mother had lived, up to the very moment when Thou didst enter her womb, in all holiness and justice; she had loved Thee alone, and as no other had loved: but when she felt Thee within her, when she felt that now thou wast one and the same with herself, her love redoubled, and lost all sight of limit. May it be so with my heart, when Thou comest into it, my God and my all! Yea, come quickly; for though most unworthy of Thy visit, yet am I forced to desire it, seeing that Thou art the Bread which giveth life unto the world, and our daily Bread, by eating which we support life, until the day of our eternity arrives. Come, then, my Lord Jesus! My heart is ready and trusts in Thee.

And thou, O Mary, by the joy thou didst experience in containing, within thyself, Him whom Heaven and earth could not contain, help me, in this Communion, to have my heart pure and fervent. Holy angels, who looked with astonishment and awe upon this simple creature carrying God within her, have pity on me, that poor sinner whose heart, so lately the abode of Satan, is, this very hour, to become the tabernacle of your sovereign Lord. All ye saints of Heaven, and ye especially my ever faithful patrons, come to my assistance now that He, in whom ye live for ever, just and immortal, is coming down to me, a sinful mortal. Amen.

In order to make your preparation complete, follow, with a lively faith and attention, all the mysteries of the Mass at which you are to receive Communion; using, for this purpose, the method we have given in the preceding chapter. After your Communion, you may sometimes make your thanksgiving by reciting the prayers we here give.

AFTER COMMUNION

ACT OF ADORATION

O sovereign Majesty of God! Thou hast, then, mercifully deigned to come down to me! This favor, which Thou didst heretofore grant to Mary, has been given to me too! Would that I, during these happy moments, could adore Thee as profoundly as she did I The sentiment of her lowliness and unworthiness, at that solemn moment, would have overpowered her, had not Thy tender love for her supported her to bear that ineffable union of the Creator with His creature. My lowliness, and still more my unworthiness, are of a very different kind from hers; and yet I find it so hard to feel them. This much at least I know, that in order thus to come to me, and be my own infinite treasure, Thou hast had to overcome immense obstacles. What, then, shall I do for Thee, that is worthy of Thee? How can I best compensate Thee for the humiliation Thou hast thus borne out of love for me ? I can but adore Thee, and humble myself to the farthest depths of my own nothingness. And because this my adoration is not worthy of Thine acceptance, I presume to offer Thee, that which Mary herself offered Thee, the first moment she became Mother of God, and during the nine months Thou wast so closely united with her. Thou hast given her to me to be my own Mother; permit me to make this use of her wealth, which she loves to see her children so freely giving to Thy greater glory.

ACT OF THANKSGIVING

But Thy Blessed Mother, O Jesus, was not satisfied with adoring Thee interiorly; her glad heart soon gave expression to its intense gratitude. She saw that Thou hadst preferred her to all the daughters of her people, nay, to all generations both past and to come; her soul therefore thrilled with delight, and her lips could scarce give utterance to her immense joy. “He that is mighty,” she said, “hath done great things in me; He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; and all generations shall call me blessed.” And hast Thou not favored me, O Jesus, above thousands and tens of thousands, in giving me the wonderful gift I now hold within me? Thou hast made me live after the accomplishment of thine Incarnation. This very day, how many pious servants of Thine have not had given to them what I have received from Thee! I possess Thee here within me; I know the worth of Thy coming; but how many are there who neither possess Thee nor know Thee! Thou hast indeed invited all to these graces, but a great number have refused them; and whilst Thou hast compelled me, by the powerful yet sweet ways of thy mercy, to come to Thee, Thou hast, in Thy justice, permitted them to continue in their refusal. Mayest Thou be for ever blessed, O my God! Who lovest, indeed, all the works of Thy hands, and wishest all men to be saved; so that none is lost, but he that refuses Thy grace: yet, in the superabundant riches of thy mercy, Thou dost multiply, for many, the boundless resources of Thy love.

ACT OF LOVE

I will love Thee, then, O Jesus, because Thou hast first loved me ; and I will love Thee the more because, by this Thy visit to me, Thou hast so greatly increased my power to love. It was thus with Mary, when Thou didst choose her for Thy Mother. Up to that time she had been the most faithful of Thy creatures, and deserved the preference Thou didst give her, above all women, of being honored with the high privilege of becoming Mother of God. But when Thou didst enter her virginal womb, when Thy divine Person came into that admirable contact with her nature, which, though holy, was human; Mary, transformed, as it were, into Thee, began to love Thee as she had never been able to do before. May it be so with me, dear Jesus! May my own life be lost in Thine! Is not the visit Thou hast paid me that of a God! The visits of creatures are but exterior; Thine to me is interior; Thou hast not entered my house and blessed it, Thou hast penetrated into the deepest recesses of my very soul; so that I live, no, it is not I, but Thou livest in me, as Thy apostle expresses the mystery. So that if I love myself, I must love Thee, since thou abidest in me, and I abide in Thee. Can I ever separate from Thee again? No, my divine Master, I desire to have but Thee for my love and my very life, now and for ever. Amen.

ACT OF OBLATION

But take heed, my soul: let not the love of thy God be mere sentiment·. He that loves God, lives for him. Jesus' presence produced in Mary, the moment it was effected, far more than the sentiment of total devotedness of herself to the interests and glory of Him, who was both her God and her Son. It gave her a conformity to all God's appointments, which stood unshaken, without one moment of faltering, through all the trials of her long life. Thou hast visited me, dear Savior, and courage is what Thou wishest to leave with me. Between this day and that of my death and my judgment, I am to go through many trials and temptations, all difficult, and some of them perhaps severe. If I love Thee, I shall triumph over them. And how can I but love Thee, even at the bare remembrance of this Thy visit to me, which thou art ready to repeat as often as I wish it! I am thine, O God of my heart, as Thou art mine. Thou knowest my great weakness: give me courage and strength. Thou hast given me, this happy hour, the richest pledge of Thy mercy; on this infinite mercy I rest all my hope.

O Mary, pray for me that I may profit by this visit of thy divine Son. Ye holy angels of God, defend me against my enemies, for your Lord has made me his dwelling-place. All ye saints of God, pray for me, that I may never lose this sovereign Good, with whom you are united for a happy eternity. Amen.

SATURDAY IN THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 14

DELIVERING US THROUGH MARY

Yet a little while, and the conqueror of death will appear, and then, in the joy of our hearts, we will say: “Behold! This is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; we have patiently waited for Him; this is He, and we will rejoice and be joyful in His salvation!”

We read in the Advent liturgy of Egypt, which the Lord is represented as visiting, and whose idols and empire He will overthrow, is the city of satan, which is to be destroyed, and to give place to the city of God. But how peaceful is the divine Conqueror's entrance into His conquest! It is on a cloud, a light cloud, that He comes, as on His triumphal chariot. How many mysteries in these few words! “There are three clouds,” says Peter of Blois in his Second Sermon of Advent, “the first the obscurity of the prophets; the second, the depth of the divine decrees; the third, the prodigy of a Virgin Mother.”

First, as to the obscurity of the prophets, it is essential to every prophecy that it be thus veiled, to the end that man's free will may not be interfered with; but under this cloud the Lord comes at last, and when the day comes for the prophecy to be accomplished, all things are clear enough. Thus was it with the first coming; so will it be with the second.

Then, as to the decrees of God; as they are ordinarily made manifest by second, that is by created, causes only, it almost always happens that the extreme simplicity of the means employed by the divine Wisdom takes men by surprise. Never was this so observable as in the grand event of the Incarnation.

Men would naturally expect that, in restoring a fallen world, a power equal, at least, to that which first created it would be displayed; and all they are told about the portent is: “You will find the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger!” O almighty power of God, how dazzling is Thy light through this cloud! How strong art Thou in this apparent weakness!

But there is the third cloud; it is the Virgin Mary; a light cloud, “for,” says St. Jerome, “neither concupiscence, nor the burden of earthly marriage, weighs upon her”; a cloud, too, laden with a refreshing Dew, since it holds the Just One, who is to be rained down upon us, that our seething passions may be quenched, and the soil of our spiritual life made fertile. How sweet is the majesty of our divine King, when seen thus through this beautiful cloud! O incomparable Virgin! the whole Church of God recognizes thee in that mysterious cloud which the prophet Elias from the summit of Mount Carmel, saw rising up from the sea, little, at first, like a man's foot, but sending at last such a plentiful rain that all Israel was refreshed by its abundance (3 Kings 18-42-44). Delay not, we pray thee; give us that heavenly and divine Dew which thou possessest within thee. Our sins have made the heavens as brass, and we are parched; thou alone of creatures art just and pure! Beseech our Lord, who has set up His throne of mercy in thee, to come speedily and destroy our enemies and bring us peace.

Let us, therefore, prepare the way of the Lord that we may receive Him worthily; and in this work of our preparation, let us have recourse to Mary. Saturday is the day which is sacred to her; she will the more readily grant the prayers said to her upon it. Let us consider her in her grand privilege of being full of grace, carrying in her womb Him whom we so long to possess.

If we ask her by what means she rendered herself worthy of such an immense favor, she will tell us that in her was simply fulfilled the prophecy, which the Church so continually repeats during these days of Advent: “Every valley shall be filled up.” The humble Mary was the valley blessed by the Lord: a valley beautiful and fertile, in which God sowed the divine wheat, our Savior Jesus: for it is written in the psalm, that the valleys shall abound with corn (Psalm 64:14).

O Mary! It is thy humility that drew down upon thee the admiration of thy Creator. If, from the high heaven where He dwells, He had perceived a virgin more humble in her love, He would have chosen her in preference to thee: but no, it is thou that didst win His predilection, O mystic valley, ever verdant and lovely in thy flowers of grace.

We who, like high hills, are so proud and such sinners, what shall we do? We must look on this our God, who comes to us in infinite humility, and then humble ourselves out of love and gratitude.

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Article 15

GAUDETE SUNDAY : A PAUSE FOR JOY

Today, again, the Church is full of joy, and the joy is greater than it was. It is true that her Lord has not come; but she feels that He is nearer than before, and therefore she thinks it just to lessen somewhat the austerity of this penitential season by the innocent cheerfulness of her sacred rites.

And first, this Sunday has had the name of Gaudete given to it, from the first word of the Introit; it also is honored with those impressive exceptions which belong to the fourth Sunday of Lent, called Laetare. The organ is played at the Mass; the vestments are rose-color; the deacon resumes the dalmatic, and the subdeacon the tunic; and in cathedral churches the bishop assists with the precious miter. How touching are all these usages, and how admirable this condescension of the Church, wherewith she so beautifully blends together the unalterable strictness of the dogmas of Faith and the graceful poetry of the formulae of her liturgy! Let us enter into her spirit, and be glad on this third Sunday of her Advent, because our Lord is now so near unto us. Tomorrow we will resume our attitude of servants mourning for the absence of their Lord and waiting for Him; for every delay, however short, is painful and makes love sad.

The Station is kept in the basilica of St. Peter, at the Vatican. This august temple, which contains the tomb of the prince of the apostles, is the home and refuge of all the faithful of the world; it is but natural that it should be chosen to witness both the joy and the sadness of the Church.

The night Office commences with a new Invitatory. The voice of the Church no longer invites the faithful to come and adore in fear and trembling the King, our Lord, who is to come. Her language assumes another character; her tone is one of gladness.

O Holy Roman Church, city of our strength! Behold us thy children, assembled within thy walls, around the tomb of the fisherman, the Prince of the Apostles, whose sacred relics protect thee from their earthly shrine, and whose unchanging teaching enlightens thee from heaven. Yet, O city of strength: it is by the Savior, who is coming, that thou art strong. He is thy wall, for it is He that encircles, with His tender mercy, all thy children; He is thy bulwark, for it is by Him that thou art invincible, and that all the powers of hell are powerless to prevail against thee.

Open wide thy gates, that all nations may enter thee; for thou art mistress of holiness and the guardian of truth. May the old error, which sets itself against the Faith, soon disappear, and peace reign over the whole fold!

O Holy Roman Church! Thou hast for ever put thy trust in the Lord; and He, faithful to His promise, has humbled before thee the haughty ones that defied thee, and the proud cities that were against thee.

Where now are the Caesars, who boasted that they had drowned thee in thine own blood?

Where the emperors, who would ravish the inviolate virginity of thy Faith?

Where the heretics, who, during the past centuries of thine existence, have assailed every article of thy teaching, and denied what they listed?

Where the ungrateful princes, who would fain make a slave of thee, who hadst made them what they were?

Where that empire of Mahomet, which has so many times raged against thee, for that thou, the defenseless State, didst arrest the pride of its conquests?

Where the reformers, who were bent on giving the world a Christianity, in which thou wast to have no part?

Where the more modern sophists, in whose philosophy thou wast set down as a system that had been tried, and was a failure, and is now a ruin and those kings who are acting the tyrant over thee, and those people that will have liberty independently and at the risk of truth, where will they be in another hundred years?

Gone and forgotten as the noisy anger of a torrent; whilst thou, O Holy Church of Rome, built on the immovable rock, wilt be as calm, as young, as unwrinkled as ever. Thy path through all the ages of this world's duration, will be right as that of the just man; thou wilt ever be the same unchanging Church, as thou hast been during the eighteen hundred years past, whilst everything else under the sun has been but change. Whence this thy stability, but from Him who is very truth and justice? Glory be to Him in thee!

Each year, He visits thee; each year, He brings thee new gifts, wherewith thou mayest go happily through thy pilgrimage; and to the end of time, He will visit thee, and renew thee, not only with the power of that look wherewith Peter was renewed, but by filling thee with Himself, as He did the ever glorious Virgin, who is the object of thy most tender love, after that which thou bearest to Jesus Himself.

We pray with thee, O Church, our mother, and here is our prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus! Thy name and Thy remembrance are the desire of our souls: they have desired Thee in the night, yea, and early in the morning have they watched for Thee.”

Nothing is more just than that we rejoice in the Lord. Both the prophet and the apostle excite us to desire the Savior, both of them promise us peace. Therefore, let us not be solicitous: the Lord is nigh; nigh to His Church, and nigh to each of our souls. Who can be near so burning a fire, and yet be cold? Do we not feel that He is coming to us, in spite of all obstacles? He will let nothing be a barrier between Himself and us, neither His own infinite high majesty, nor our exceeding lowliness, nor our many sins. Yet a little while, and He will be with us. Let us go out to meet Him by these prayers and supplications, and thanksgiving which the apostle recommends to us. Let our zeal to unite ourselves with our holy mother the Church become more than ever fervent: now every day her prayers will increase in intense earnestness, and her longings after Him, who is her light and her love, will grow more ardent.

There hath stood One in the midst of you, whom you know not, says Saint John the Baptist to them that were sent by the Jews. So that our Lord may be near, He may even have come, and yet by some be not known! This Lamb of God is the holy Precursor's consolation: he considers it a singular privilege to be but the voice, which cries out to men to prepare the way of the Redeemer.

In this, St. John is the type of the Church, and of all such as seek Jesus. St. John is full of joy because the Savior has come: but the men around him are as indifferent as though they neither expected nor wanted a Savior.

This is the third week of Advent; and are all hearts excited by the great tidings told them by the Church, that the Messias is near at hand? They that love Him not as their Savior, do they fear Him as their Judge? Are the crooked ways being made straight, and the hills being brought low? Are Christians seriously engaged in removing from their hearts the love of riches and the love of sensual pleasures?

There is no time to lose: the Lord is nigh! If these lines should come under the eye of any of those Christians who are in this state of sinful indifference, we would conjure them to shake off their lethargy, and render themselves worthy of the visit of the divine Infant: such a visit will bring them the greatest consolation here, and give them confidence hereafter, when our Lord will come to judge all mankind.

Send Thy grace, O Jesus, still more plentifully into their hearts; “compel them to go in”, and permit not that it be said of the children of the Church, as St. John said of the Synagogue: There standeth in the midst of you One, whom you know not.

During the Offertory the faithful should unite in the prayer of the Church, and beg that the captivity in which our sins hold us may be brought to an end, and that the divine Deliverer may come.

MONDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 16

THE ROCK AND THE CORNERSTONE

Heavenly Father! Thou art preparing to set in the foundations of Sion a corner-stone, that is tried and solid; and this stone, which is to give firmness to Sion Thy Church, is Thy Incarnate Son. It was prefigured, as Thy apostle assures us (1 Corinthians 1:4), by that rock of the desert, which yielded the abundant and saving stream that quenched the thirst of Thy people.

But now Thou art about to give us the reality; it has already come down from Heaven, and the hour is fast approaching when Thou wilt lay it in the foundations. O sacred Stone, which makest all one, and givest solidity to the whole structure! By Thee it will come to pass, that there shall be no longer Jew or Gentile, but all nations shall become one family. Men shall no more build on sand, nor set up houses which Hoods and storms may overturn. The Church shall rise up from the stone which God now sets, and, secure on the great foundation, her summit shall touch the clouds. With all his weakness, and all his fickleness, man will partake of Thy immutability, O divine Stone, if he will but lean on Thee.

Woe to him that rejects Thee, for Thou hast said, and Thou art the eternal Truth: “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be bruised; and upon whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). From this twofold evil, O Thou that art chief corner-stone, deliver us, and never permit us to be of the number of those blind men who rejected Thee.

Give us grace ever to honor and love Thee as the cause of our strength, and the one sole origin of our solidity: and since Thou hast communicated this Thy quality of the rock to one of Thine apostles, and by him to his successors unto the end of the world, grant us ever to cling to this rock, the holy Roman Church, in union with which all the faithful on the face of the earth are preparing to celebrate the glorious solemnity of Thy coming, O precious and tried Stone! Thou art coming, that Thou mayest destroy the kingdom of falsehood, and break the league which mankind had made with death and Hell.

TUESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 17

FLEEING FROM JESUS OR FLEEING TO JESUS?

And are we then to weep no more, O Jesus? Happy we! How could we be sad now that Thou hast heard our prayers, and our eyes shall behold Thee, our Master, and our Teacher? If Thou yet delayest some days longer, it is only that we may have more time to receive what Thou hast made it Thy glory to give mercy and the pardon of our sins. O, the happiness of Thy kingdom! Oh, the richness of our lands, that is, of our souls, when Thy dew shall have fallen upon them! O, the sweetness of our Bread, which is to be Thyself, O living Bread come down from heaven! Oh, the brightness of the light which Thou wilt give us, even on the very day when Thou wilt have bound up our wounds! Blessed day, come quickly! And thou, dear night, when Mary is to give her divine Babe to us, when wilt thou come?

So great is our hope in this Thy merciful coming, that we listen with less dread to the awful words of Thy prophet, who, with a rapidity swift as Thine own word, passes over the long ages between the two events, and speaks to us of the approach of the terrible day, when Thou wilt come suddenly in Thy burning wrath, with Thy lips filled with indignation, and Thy tongue as a devouring fire. Our present feeling is hope, for we are looking forward to that coming, in which Thou art the beautiful Prince of peace and love, and we cannot but hope.

When that last day comes, have mercy on us! But on this day of Thine amiable visit, permit us to say to Thee the words of one of Thy servants: “Yes, dear Jesus, come; come to us! But in swathing-bands, not with Thy hand raised to punish us! In humility, not in Thy greatness! In the crib, not in the clouds of heaven! In the arms of Thy Mother, not on the throne of Thy Majesty! On the colt of the ass, not on the Cherubim! To us, and not against us! To save us, and not to judge! To visit us in Thy peace, not to condemn us in Thy anger! If Thou comest unto us thus, O Jesus, it is not from Thee, but to Thee, that we will flee.” (The Venerable Peter of Celles, First sermon of Advent.)

WEDNESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 18

EMBER DAYS REDUCED TO MERE ASHES

[Dom Guéranger writes about the Ember Days, which in the modern Church have sadly been reduced to ashes almost everywhere. This is both sad and strange, since Our Lady's modern day apparitions stress MORE penance, rather than less penance. There is nothing to stop you from adhering to the ancient practice of the Church, which, I am sure, would be both in-line with what Our Lady expects and demands from us today, and also most pleasing to her. Here is Dom Guéranger's article for the Third Wednesday of Advent].

Today the Church begins the fast of Quatuor Tempora, or, as we call it, of Ember Days: it includes also the Friday and Saturday of this same week. This observance is not peculiar to the Advent liturgy; it is one which has been fixed for each of the four seasons of the ecclesiastical year. We may consider it as one of those practices which the Church took from the Synagogue; for the prophet Zacharias speaks of the fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months (Zacharias 8:19).

Its introduction into the Christian Church would seem to have been made in the apostolic times; such, at least, is the opinion of St. Leo, of St. Isidore of Seville, of Rabanus Maurus, and of several other ancient Christian writers. It is remarkable, on the other hand, that the Orientals do not observe this fast.

From the first ages the Quatuor Tempora were kept, in the Roman Church, at the same time of the year as at present. As to the expression, which is not infrequently used in the early writers, of the three times and not the four, we must remember that in the spring, these days always come in the first week of Lent, a period already consecrated to the most rigorous fasting and abstinence, and that consequently they could add nothing to the penitential exercises of that portion of the year.

The intentions, which the Church has, in the fast of the Ember Days, are the same as those of the Synagogue; namely, to consecrate to God, by penance, the four seasons of the year. The Ember Days of Advent are known, in ecclesiastical antiquity, as the fast of the tenth month; and St. Leo, in one of his sermons on this fast, of which the Church has inserted a passage in the second nocturn of the third Sunday of Advent, tells us that a special fast was fixed for this time of the year, because the fruits of the earth had then all been gathered in, and that it behooved Christians to testify their gratitude to God by a sacrifice of abstinence, thus rendering themselves more worthy to approach to God, the more they were detached from the love of created things.

“For fasting,” adds the holy doctor, “has ever been the nourishment of virtue. Abstinence is the source of chaste thoughts, of wise resolutions, and of salutary counsel. By voluntary mortifications, the flesh dies to its concupiscences, and the spirit is renewed in virtue. But since fasting alone is not sufficient whereby to secure the soul's salvation, let us add to it works of mercy towards the poor. Let us make that which we retrench from indulgence, serve unto the exercise of virtue. Let the abstinence of him that fasts, become the meal of the poor man.”

Let us, the children of the Church, practice what is in our power of these admonitions; and since the actual discipline of Advent is so very mild, let us be so much the more fervent in fulfilling the precept of the fast of the Ember Days. By these few exercises which are now required of us, let us keep up within ourselves the zeal of our forefathers for this holy season of Advent. We must never forget that although the interior preparation is what is absolutely essential for our profiting by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet this preparation could scarcely be real, unless it manifested itself by the exterior practices of religion and penance.

The fast of the Ember Days has another object besides that of consecrating the four seasons of the year to God by an act of penance: it has also in view the ordination of the ministers of the Church, which takes place on the Saturday, and of which notice was formerly given to the people during the Mass of the Wednesday. In the Roman Church, the ordination held in the month of December was, for a long time, the most solemn of all; and it would appear, from the ancient chronicles of the Popes, that, excepting very extraordinary cases, the tenth month was, for several ages, the only time for conferring Holy Orders in Rome. The faithful should unite with the Church in this her intention, and offer to God their fasting and abstinence for the purpose of obtaining worthy ministers of the word and of the Sacraments, and true pastors of the people.

The Church does not read anything, in the Matins of today, from the prophet Isaias: she merely reads a sentence from the chapter of St. Luke, which gives our Lady's Annunciation, to which she subjoins a passage from St. Ambrose's Homily on that Gospel. The fact of this Gospel having been chosen for the Office and Mass of to-day, has made the Wednesday of the third week of Advent a very marked day in the calendar. In several ancient Ordinaries, used by many of the larger churches, both cathedral and abbatial, we find it prescribed that feasts falling on this Wednesday should be transferred: that the ferial prayers should not be said kneeling on that day, that the Gospel Missus est, that is, of the Annunciation, should be sung at Matins by the celebrant vested in a white cope, with cross, lights, and incense, the great bell tolling meanwhile; that in abbeys, the abbot should preach a homily to the monks, as on solemn feasts. We are indebted to this custom for the four magnificent sermons of St. Bernard on our Blessed Lady, which are entitled: Super Missus est.

As the Mass of the Ember Days is seldom sung, excepting in churches where the canonical Office is said, as also that we might not add unnecessarily to this volume, we have thought it advisable to omit the Masses of Ember Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of Advent. The Station for the Wednesday is at St. Mary Major, on account of the Gospel of the Annunciation, which, as we have just seen, has caused this day to be looked upon as a real feast of the Blessed Virgin.

THURSDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 19

GETTING TOGETHER OUR CHRISTMAS CLOTHES

Happy he whose eyes shall thus contemplate the new-born King in the sweet majesty of His love and His humility! He shall be so taken with this His beauty that the earth, with all its magnificence, shall appear as nothing in his eyes. The only thing he will care to look upon, will be the Child laid in a manger, and wrapped in swaddling clothes. But, that we may have this happiness of closely contemplating the divine King who is coming to us, that we may merit to enter His court, we must do as the prophet bids us: we must walk in justice and speak truth. Let us listen to the pious Rabanus Maurus, who expresses this, with much unction, in his first sermon on preparation for the feast of Christmas:

“If at all times it behooves us to be adorned with the comeliness of good works, we should be so, with an especial care, on the day of our Savior's birth. Consider within yourselves, my brethren, what you would do, were a king, or prince, to invite you to come to celebrate his birthday. Your garments would be as new, as elegant, even as magnificent, as you could procure them, for you would think it an insult to him who invited you, were you to appear before him with anything upon you that was torn, or poor, or unclean. Show a like solicitude on the occasion of the coming feast: and let your souls, beautified with the several ornaments of virtue, go forth to their King. He loves the pearls of simplicity, and the flowers of chaste sobriety: wear them therefore.

“Let your consciences be composed in a holy calm, now that the solemn feast of Jesus' Nativity is so close upon us. Assist at it lovely in your chastity, gorgeous in your charity, beauteous by your alms-deeds, brilliant with justice and humility, and, above all, radiant in the love of God. If the Lord Jesus shall see you thus when you keep His feast, believe me, He will do more than visit your souls; He will treat you with such familiarity, that He will choose them for His favorite abode, and there He will dwell for ever, as it is written: Behold! I will come, and I will dwell with them and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Christians, you have no time to lose: quickly prepare yourselves for this great visit. Let sinners be converted and become just: let the just become more just; let the holy become more holy, for He that is coming is the Lord our God, and none else.

FRIDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 20

REJOICE O MARY!

The Church does not read anything from the prophet Isaias today; she merely gives, in the Office of Matins, a sentence of that chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, which relates the mystery of our Lady's Visitation: and to this she subjoins a fragment of St. Ambrose's homily upon that passage. The considerations and affections with which this important event of our Lady's life ought to inspire the faithful, will be given further on in the proper of the saints.

The Station for today is in the church of the Holy Apostles, which many suppose to have been first built by Constantine. The glorious bodies of the two holy Apostles Philip and James the Less, lie buried under the altar, awaiting the second coming of Him who chose them as His cooperators in the work of the first, and who will give them, on the last day, to sit upon thrones near His own, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

That we may better conform to the intentions of our holy mother the Church, who offers to our contemplation the Visitation of the blessed Virgin, let us recite the following hymn, composed in honor of this mystery during the ages of faith.

Hail, Mother of the divine Word!
Hail, most humble and most spotless Virgin!
Rejoice, thou Mother of a Son who supports thee!
Rejoice, thy burden is a burden most sweet to bear!

Hail, Branch of Jesse, Fruit-bearing Branch!
Hail Gate of the Temple, closed to all but God!
Be glad, thou Fleece of Gedeon, full of the dew of the holy Spirit!
Behold, thou Tent of Solomon, of all the first in beauty!

Hail, shining Star of Jacob, lighting up the sea!
Hail, thou sealed-up Sanctuary, thou Burning Bush!
What bliss is thine, that thou the humble Star shouldst be clad with the Sun, and then bring forth the Sun!
What bliss is thine that thou shouldst be elected the bright ladder reaching up to Heaven !

Sing to thy God, thou Aurora rising in the light of the new Star!
Sing, thou Ark of the Covenant, bearing unto us sinners thy three treasures.
O let thy soul magnify Jesus!
And O sweet Mary, pray that, with thee, we too may magnify Him. Amen.

SATURDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 21

LET MARY BE PRAISED!

The lessons from the prophet Isaias are interrupted today also; and a homily on the Gospel of the Mass is read in their place. As this Gospel is repeated tomorrow, in the Mass of the fourth Sunday of Advent, we will, for the present, omit it, and be satisfied with mentioning the reason of the same Gospel being assigned to the two days.

The primitive custom, in the Roman Church, was to hold ordinations in the night between Saturday and Sunday, just as Baptism was administered to the catechumens in the night between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. The ceremony took place towards midnight, and Sunday morning was always far advanced before the termination; so that the Mass of ordination was considered as the Mass of Sunday itself.

Later on, discipline relaxed, and these severe vigils were given up; the ordination Mass, like that of Holy Saturday, was anticipated; and, as the fourth Sunday of Advent and the second of Lent had not hitherto had a proper Gospel, since they had not had a proper Mass, it was settled, about the tenth or eleventh century, that the Gospel of the Mass of ordinations should be repeated in the special Mass of the two Sundays in question.

The Station is at St. Peter's on account of the ordinations. This basilica was always one of the largest of the city of Rome, and was therefore the best suited for the great concourse of people.

Let us honor Mary upon this day of the week, which is consecrated to her; let us borrow a canticle from the oriental Church, ever profuse in its praise of the Mother of God.

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Article 22

JOINING THE BAPTIST IN THE DESERT

We have now entered into the week which immediately precedes the birth of the Messias. That long-desired coming might be even tomorrow; and at furthest, that is, when Advent is as long as it can be, the beautiful feast is only seven days from us. So that the Church now counts the hours; she watches day and night, and since December 17th her Offices have assumed an unusual solemnity. At Lauds, she varies the antiphons each day; and at Vespers, in order to express the impatience of her desires for her Jesus, she makes use of the most vehement exclamations to the Messias, in which she each day gives Him a magnificent title, borrowed from the language of the prophets.

Today, she makes a last effort to stir up the devotion of her children. She leads them to the desert; she shows them John the Baptist, upon whose mission she instructed them on the third Sunday. The voice of the austere Precursor resounds through the wilderness, and penetrates even into the cities. It preaches penance, and the obligation men are under, of preparing by self-purification for the coming of Christ. Let us retire from the world during these next few days; or if that may not be by reason of our external duties, let us retire into the quiet of our own hearts and confess our iniquities, as did those true Israelites, who came, full of compunction and of Faith in the Messias, to the Baptist, there to make perfect their preparation for worthily receiving the Redeemer on the day of His appearing to the world.

O the joy of Thy coming, dear Jesus! How great it must needs be, when the prophecy says it shall be like an everlasting crown upon our heads. And could it be otherwise? The very desert is to flourish as a lily, and living waters are to gush forth out of the parched land, because their God is coming.

Come, O Jesus, come quickly, and give us of that water, which flows from Thy sacred Heart, and which the Samaritan woman, the type of us sinners, asked of Thee with such earnest entreaty. This water is Thy grace; let it rain upon our parched souls, and they too will flourish; let it quench our thirst, and we will run in the way of Thy precepts and examples.

Thou, O Jesus, art our way, our path, to God; and Thou art Thyself God; Thou art, therefore, both our way and the term to which our way leads us. We had lost our way; we had gone astray as lost sheep: how great Thy love to come thus in search of us! To teach us the way to Heaven, Thou hast deigned to come down from Heaven, and then tread with us the road which leads to it. No! There shall be no more weak hands, nor feeble knees, nor faint hearts; for we know that it is in love that Thou art coming to us. There is but one thing which makes us sad: our preparation is not complete.

We have some ties still to break; help us to do it, O Savior of mankind! We desire to obey the voice of Thy Precursor, and make plain those rugged paths, which would prevent Thy coming into our hearts, o divine Infant! Give us to be baptized in the Baptism of the waters of penance; Thou wilt soon follow, baptizing us in the Holy Ghost and love.

Thou art nigh, O Lord, for the inheritance of Thy people has passed into the hands of the Gentiles, and the land which Thou didst promise to Abraham is now but a province of that vast empire, to which Thine own is to succeed. The oracles of the prophets are being rapidly fulfilled, each in its turn; the prediction of Jacob himself has been accomplished: the scepter is taken from Juda. Everything is ready for Thy coming, O Jesus! Thus it is that Thou renewest the face of the Earth; deign also, I beseech Thee, to renew my heart, and give me courage during these last few hours of my preparation for receiving Thee. I feel the need I have of withdrawing into solitude, of receiving the baptism of penance, of making straight all my ways: O divine Savior, let all this be done in me, that so my joy may be full on the day of Thy coming.

MONDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 23

O WONDERFUL CONDESCNSION OF GOD!

In the liturgy, we have the following passage of Isaias:
“But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend; in whom I have taken thee from the ends of the Earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not east thee away. Fear not, for I am with thee; turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just One hath upheld thee. Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed: they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee: they shall be as nothing, and as a thing consumed the men that war against thee: for I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee. Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee. Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel. I have made thee as a new thrashing wain with teeth like a saw: thou shalt thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces and shalt make the bills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful” (Isaias).

It is thus Thou raisest us up from our abject lowliness, O eternal Son of the Father! It is thus Thou consolest us under the fear we so justly feel by reason of our sins. Thou sayest to us: “Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen! Seed of Abraham, in whom I have called thee from the remote parts of the Earth! Fear not, for I am with thee!”

But, O divine Word, how low Thou hast had to come, that Thou mightest be thus with us! We could never have come to Thee, for between us and Thee there was fixed an immense chaos. Nay, we had not so much as the desire to see Thee, so dull of heart had sin made us: and had we desired it, our eyes could never have borne the splendor of Thy majesty. Then it was, that Thou didst descend to us in person, yet so that our weakness could look fixedly upon Thee, because veiled under the cloud of Thy Humanity.

“Who could doubt,” says St. Bernard, “of there being some great cause pending, seeing that so great a Majesty deigned to come down, from so far off, into so unworthy a place? O yes, there is some great thing at stake, for the mercy is great, and the commiseration is extreme, and the charity is abundant. And why, think you, did He come? He came from the mountain to seek the hundredth sheep that was lost. O wonderful condescension, a God seeking! O wonderful worth of man, that he should be sought by God! If man should therefore boast, he is surely not unwise; for he boasts not for aught that he sees in himself as of himself, but for his very Maker making such account of him. All the riches and all the glory of the world, and all that men covet in it, all is less than his glory, nay. is nothing, when compared to it. What is man, O Lord, that Thou shouldst magnify him, or why dost Thou set Thy Heart upon him?”

Delay not, then, good Shepherd! show Thyself to Thy sheep. Thou knowest them; not only hast Thou seen them from Heaven, Thou also lookest on them with love, from the womb of Mary where Thou still art concealed. They also wish to know Thee; they are impatient to behold Thy divine features, to hear Thy voice and to follow Thee to the pastures that Thou hast promised them.

TUESDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 24

ARRIVING AT OUR DESTINATION

“At length,” says St. Peter Damian, in his sermon for this holy eve, “at length we have come from the stormy sea into the tranquil port; hitherto it was the promise, now it is the prize; hitherto labor, now rest; hitherto despair, now hope; hitherto the way, now our home. The heralds of the divine promise came to us; but they gave us nothing but rich promises. Hence our psalmist himself grew wearied and slept, and, with a seemingly reproachful tone, thus sings his lamentation to God: ‘But Thou hast rejected and despised us; Thou hast deferred the coming of Thy Christ!’ (Psalm 88). At another time he assumes a tone of command and thus prays: ‘O Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, show Thyself!’ (Psalm 79). Seated on Thy high throne, with myriads of adoring angels around Thee, look down upon the children of men, who are victims of that sin, which was committed indeed by Adam, but permitted by Thy justice. Remember what my substance is (Psalm 88); Thou didst make it to the likeness of Thine own; for though every living man is vanity, yet inasmuch as he is made to Thy image, he is not a passing vanity (Psalm 38). Bend Thy heavens and come down, and turn the eyes of Thy mercy upon us Thy miserable suppliants, and forget us not unto the end!”

Isaias, also, in the vehemence of his desire, thus spoke: “For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, until her Just One come forth as brightness. Oh! That thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down!” So, too, all the prophets, tired of the long delay of the coming, have prayed to Thee, now with supplication, now with lamentation, and now with cries of impatience. We have listened to these their prayers; we have made use of them as our own, and now, nothing can give us joy or gladness, till our Savior come to us, and, kissing us with the kiss of His lips, say to us: “I have heard and granted your prayers.”

But, what is this that has been said to us: “Sanctify yourselves, O ye children of Israel, and be ready; for on the morrow the Lord will come down.” We are, then, but one half day and night from the grand visit, the admirable birth of the Infant God! Hurry on your course, ye fleeting hours, that we may the sooner see the Son of God in His crib, and pay our homage to this world-saving birth. You, brethren, are the children of Israel that are sanctified, and cleansed from every defilement of soul and body, ready, by your earnest devotion, for tomorrow's mysteries. Such, indeed, you are, if I may judge from the manner in which you have spent these sacred days of preparation for the coming of your Savior.

But if, notwithstanding all your care, some drops of the stream of this life's frailties are still on your hearts, wipe them away and cover them with the snow-white robe of confession. This I can promise you from the mercy of the divine Infant: he that shall confess his sins and be sorry for them, shall have born within him the Light of the world; the darkness that deceived him shall be dispelled; and he shall enjoy the brightness of the true Light. For how can mercy be denied to the miserable this night, in which the merciful and compassionate Lord is so mercifully born. Therefore, drive away from you all haughty looks, and idle words, and unjust works; let your loins be girt, and your feet walk in the right paths; and then come, and accuse the Lord, if this night He rend not the heavens, and come down to you, and throw all your sins into the depths of the sea.

This holy eve is, indeed, a day of grace and hope, and we ought to spend it in spiritual joy. The Church, contrary to her general practice, prescribes that, if Christmas Eve fall on a Sunday, ,the fasting alone shall be anticipated on the Saturday; but that the Office and Mass of the vigil should take precedence of the Office and Mass of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. How solemn, then, in the eyes of the Church, are these few hours, which separate us from the great feast! On all other feasts, no matter how great they may be, the solemnity begins with first Vespers, and until then the Church restrains her joy, and celebrates the Divine Office and Sacrifice according to the Lenten rite. Christmas, on the contrary, seems to begin with the vigil; and one would suppose that this morning's Lauds were the opening of the feast; for the solemn intonation of this portion of the Office, is that of a double, and the antiphons are sung before and after each psalm or canticle. The purple vestments are used at the Mass, but all the genuflections peculiar to the Advent ferias are omitted; and only one Collect is said, instead of the three usually said when the Mass is not that of a solemnity.

Let us enter into the spirit of the Church, and prepare ourselves, in all the joy of our hearts, to meet the Savior Who is coming to us. Let us observe with strictness the fast which is prescribed; it will enable our bodies to aid the promptness of our spirit. Let us delight in the thought that, before we again lie down to rest, we shall have seen Him born, in the solemn midnight, who comes to give light to every creature. For surely it is the duty of every faithful child of the Catholic Church to celebrate with her this happy night, when, in spite of all the coldness of devotion, the whole universe keeps up its watch for the arrival of its Savior. It is one of the last vestiges of the piety of ancient days, and God forbid it should ever be effaced!

Let us, in a spirit of prayer, look at the principal portions of the Office of this beautiful vigil. First, then, the Church makes a mysterious announcement to her children. It serves as the Invitatory of Matins, and as the Introit and Gradual of the Mass. They are the words which Moses addressed to the people of God when he told them of the heavenly manna, which they would receive on the morrow. We, too, are expecting our Manna, our Jesus, the Bread of life, Who is to be born in Bethlehem, which is the house of Bread.

WEDNESDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 25

THE LORD IS NEAR

“The Lord is now near: come, let us adore!” (From the Prophet Isaias, chapter 51).

Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father and to Sara that bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof, and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as· the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise. Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations. My just One is near at hand, my Savior is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm. Lift up your eyes to Heaven, and look down to the Earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the Earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my justice shall not fail.

O Jesus, Thou Flower of the field, Thou Lily of the valley, Thy visit is to change our barren parched Earth into a garden of delights! We had lost Eden and all its lovely magnificence, by our sins; and behold, Eden is restored to us; Thou art coming, that Thou mayest set it in our hearts. O heavenly plant, tree of life, transplanted from Heaven to Earth, Thou first takest root in Mary, that fruitful soil; and thence Thou wilt come to us, and we must be to Thee a grateful land, cherishing the divine seed and making it fructify. Let it be so, O divine Husbandman, Who didst appear to Magdalene under the form of a gardener.

Thou knowest how far are our hearts from being ready for Thy working in them. Move, and break, and water this land; the season is come; our hearts long to be fertile, and to have growing within them that exquisite Flower which makes the beauty of all Heaven, and comes down to hide its splendor for a time here below. O Jesus! let our souls be fertile; let them be crowned with the flowers of virtue; let them become flowers growing around Thee, O divine Flower, and forming to the heavenly Father a garden, which He may unite with that which He formed from all eternity. O flower of Heaven, Jesus! Thou art also the Dew, refresh us; Thou art the Sun, warm us; Thou art the fragrant Perfume, impart to us Thy sweetness; Thou art the sovereign Beauty, give us of Thy fair and ruddy bloom, and make us cluster round Thee in eternity, as a crown Thou hast wreathed to Thyself.

THURSDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 26

ADVENT IS SPENT AND GOD'S SON IS SENT!

The four weeks of our preparation are over — they were the image of the four thousand years, which preceded the great coming — and we have reached the twenty-fifth day of the month of December, as a long desired place of sweetest rest. But why is it that the celebration of our Savior’s Birth should be the perpetual privilege of this one fixed day; whilst the whole liturgical Cycle has, every year, to be changed and remodeled, in order to yield that ever-varying day which is to be the feast of his Resurrection — Easter Sunday?

The question is a very natural one, and we find it proposed and answered, even so far back as the fourth century; and that, too, by St. Augustine, in his celebrated Epistle to Januarius. The holy Doctor offers this explanation: “We solemnize the day of our Savior’s Birth, in order that we may honor that Birth, which was for our salvation; but the precise day of the week, on which he was born, is void of any mystical signification. Sunday, on the contrary, the day of Our Lord’s Resurrection, is the day marked, in the Creator’s designs, to express a mystery which was to be commemorated for all ages.” St. Isidore of Seville, and the ancient Interpreter of Sacred Rites who, for a long time, was supposed to be the learned Alcuin, have also adopted this explanation of the Bishop of Hippo; and our readers may see their words interpreted by Durandus, in his Rationale.

These writers, then, observe that as, according to a sacred tradition, the creation of man took place on a Friday, and our Savior suffered death, also on a Friday, for the redemption of man; that as, moreover, the Resurrection of our Lord was on the third day after His death, that is, on a Sunday, which is the day on which the Light was created, as we learn from the Book of Genesis — “the two Solemnities of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection,” says St. Augustine, “do not only remind us of those divine facts; but they moreover represent and signify some other mysterious and holy thing.” (Epist. ad Januarium.)

FRIDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 27

YET A LITTLE WHILE!

Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word! Your brethren―that hate you and cast you out for My Name’s sake―have said: “Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy!” but they shall be confounded. A voice of the people from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies. Before she was in labor, she brought forth; before her time came to be delivered, she brought forth a man-child.

Who hath ever heard such a thing? And who hath seen the like of this? Shall the Earth bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion hath been in labor, and hath brought forth her children? Shall not I, that make others to bring forth children, Myself bring forth, saith the Lord. Shall I, that give generation to others, be barren, saith the Lord thy God?

Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her! Rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her―so that you may suck and be filled with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out and flow with de· lights, from the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles, which you shall suck: you shall be carried at the breasts and upon the knees they shall caress you. As one whom the mother caresses, so will I comfort you and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants, and He shall be angry with His enemies.

For behold the Lord will come with fire, and His chariots are like a whirlwind―to render His wrath in indignation, and His rebuke with flames of fire: for the Lord shall judge by fire: and by his sword unto all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. Thy presence, O Jesus, will give fruitfulness to her that was barren, and the despised Sion shall suddenly bring forth a people which the world is too small to hold. But all the glory of this fruitfulness belongs to Thee, O divine Word! The psalmist had foretold it when, speaking to Jerusalem as to a queen, he said to her: “Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee; thou shalt make them princes over all the Earth: they shall remember thy Name throughout all generations; therefore shall people praise thee for ever and ever, yea, for ever and ever!”

But for this end it was necessary that God Himself should come down in person. He alone could make a Virgin-Mother; He alone could raise up children to Abraham out of the very stones. “Yet one little while,” as He says by one of His prophets, “and I will move Heaven and Earth, and I will move all nations.” And by another prophet God says: “From the rising of the sun even to the going down, My Name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My Name a clean oblation.” There will soon be, then, but one sacrifice―for the Lamb, Who is to be offered therein, will be born a few hours hence; and since sacrifice is the bond of union among men, when there shall be but one sacrifice, there will be but one people.

Come then quickly, O Church of God, that art to unite us all into one; come and be born into our world. And since for us thy children thou art already born, may the Lamb, thy Spouse, pour out upon thee the river of peace announced by the prophet: may He open out upon thee the glory of the Gentiles, as an overflowing torrent ... may the nations cluster round thee as their common mother, and be filled with the abundance of thy glory, with the breasts of thy consolations ... and thou carry them on thy heart and caress them in thy tender love.

O Jesus! It is Thou that hast inspired our mother with this wonderful love; it is Thou that consolest us, and enlightenest us, by her. Come to her and visit her! Come and―by the new birth Thou art about to take among us―renew her life within her! Give her, during this year also, firmness of Faith, the grace of the Sacraments, the efficacy of prayer, the gift of miracles, the succession of her hierarchy, power of government, fortitude against the princes of the world, love of the cross, victory over Satan, and the crown of martyrdom!

During this new year make her, as ever, Thy beautiful bride; make her faithful to Thy love, and more than ever successful in the great work Thou hast entrusted to her; for each year brings us nearer to the day when Thou wilt come for the last time, not in the swathing bands of infancy, but on a cloud with great majesty, to render Thy rebuke with flames of fire, and destroy those that have despised or have not loved Thy Church, which Thou wilt then raise up and admit into Thy eternal Kingdom.

SATURDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT
Article 28

THE TIME HAS COME!

“At length,” says St. Peter Damian, in his sermon for this holy Eve of Christmas, “at length we have come from the stormy sea into the tranquil port; hitherto it was the promise, now it is the prize; hitherto labor, now rest; hitherto despair, now hope; hitherto the way, now our home. The heralds of the divine promise came to us; but they gave us nothing but rich promises.”

Hence our psalmist himself grew wearied and slept, and, with a seemingly reproachful tone, thus sings his lamentation to God: “But Thou hast rejected and despised us; Thou hast deferred the coming of Thy Christ.” At another time he assumes a tone of command and thus prays: “O Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, show Thyself! Seated on Thy high throne, with myriads of adoring angels around Thee, look down upon the children of men, who are victims of that sin, which was committed indeed by Adam, but permitted by Thy justice. Remember what my substance is―Thou didst make it to the likeness of Thine own; for though every living man is vanity, yet inasmuch as he is made to Thy image, he is not a passing vanity. Bend Thy heavens and come down, and turn the eyes of Thy mercy upon us Thy miserable suppliants, and forget us not unto the end!”

Isaias, also, in the vehemence of his desire, thus spoke: “For Sion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, till her Just One come forth as brightness. Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down!”

So, too, all the prophets, tired of the long delay of the coming, have prayed to Thee, now with supplication, now with lamentation, and now with cries of impatience. We have listened to these their prayers; we have made use of them as our own, and now, nothing can give us joy or gladness, till our Savior come to us, and, kissing us with the kiss of His lips, say to us: “I have heard and granted your prayers!”

But, what is this that has been said to us: “Sanctify yourselves, O ye children of Israel, and be ready; for on the morrow the Lord will come down!” We are, then, but one half day and night from the grand visit, the admirable birth of the Infant God! Hurry on your course, ye fleeting hours, that we may the sooner see the Son of God in His crib, and pay our homage to this world-saving birth. You, brethren, are the children of Israel, that are sanctified, and cleansed from every defilement of soul and body, ready, by your earnest devotion, for tomorrow’s mysteries. Such, indeed, you are, if I may judge from the manner in which you have spent these sacred days of preparation for the coming of your Savior.

But if, notwithstanding all your care, some drops of the stream of this life’s frailties are still on your hearts, wipe them away and cover them with the snow-white robe of confession. This I can promise you from the mercy of the divine Infant―he that shall confess his sins and be sorry for them, shall have born within him the Light of the world; the darkness that deceived him shall be dispelled; and he shall enjoy the brightness of the true Light. For how can mercy be denied to the miserable this night, in which the merciful and compassionate Lord is so mercifully born? Therefore, drive away from you all haughty looks, and idle words, and unjust works; let your loins be girt, and your feet walk in the right paths; and then come, and accuse the Lord, if this night He rend not the heavens, and come down to you, and throw all your sins into the depths of the sea.

This holy eve is, indeed, a day of grace and hope, and we ought to spend it in spiritual joy. The Church, contrary to her general practice, prescribes that, if Christmas Eve fall on a Sunday, the fasting alone shall be anticipated on the Saturday; but that the Office and Mass of the vigil should take precedence of the Office and Mass of the fourth Sunday of Advent. How solemn, then, in the eyes of the Church, are these few hours, which separate us from the great feast!

On all other feasts, no matter how great they may be, the solemnity begins with first Vespers, and until then the Church restrains her joy, and celebrates the Divine Office and Sacrifice according to the Lenten rite. Christmas, on the contrary, seems to begin with the vigil; and one would suppose that this morning’s Lauds were the opening of the feast; for the solemn intonation of this portion of the Office, is that of a double, and the antiphons are sung before and after each psalm or canticle. The purple vestments are used at the Mass, but all the genuflections peculiar to the Advent ferias are omitted; and only one Collect is said, instead of the three usually said when the Mass is not that of a solemnity.

Let us enter into the spirit of the Church, and prepare ourselves, in all the joy of our hearts, to meet the Savior who is coming to us. Let us observe with strictness the fast which is prescribed; it will enable our bodies to aid the promptness of our spirit. Let us delight in the thought that, before we again lie down to rest, we shall have seen Him born, in the solemn midnight, Who comes to give light to every creature. For surely it is the duty of every faithful child of the Catholic Church to celebrate with her this happy night, when, in spite of all the coldness of devotion, the whole universe keeps up its watch for the arrival of its Savior. It is one of the last vestiges of the piety of ancient days, and God forbid it should ever be effaced!

Let us, in a spirit of prayer, look at the principal portions of the Office of this beautiful vigil. First, then, the Church makes a mysterious announcement to her children. It serves as the Invitatory of Matins, and as the Introit and Gradual of the Mass. They are the words which Moses addressed to the people of God when he told them of the heavenly manna, which they would receive on the morrow. We, too, are expecting our Manna, our Jesus, the Bread of life, who is to be born in Bethlehem, the name of which means “the house of Bread.”