Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.
Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.
“This poor meek King is mounted on an ass. Ah! let us not blush for it! I know well that the great ones of the world would ridicule so sorry and wretched an equipage; but Jesus did not come to please them, and whatever our foolish pride may think, this lowly equipment was well worthy of a poor King, who had come down to earth to teach us to despise empty honours.
LET US FOLLOW JESUS TO JERUSALEM
Let us follow Jesus to Jerusalem, and see how He Himself gives to His triumphal entry the character of death. It was His custom. Even on Tabor, when coming forth from that wonderful manifestation of glory, He speaks only of His death, because He wished us to understand well the way that we must follow, after Him, in order to arrive at Jerusalem and at glory.
HUMILIATION AND SUFFERING
Here Jesus wishes again to join humiliation and suffering with His triumph. ‘Now My soul is troubled.’ Here is the commencement of His agony, of the interior combat which He was to suffer in the garden of Olives, a torture so severe that He Himself said at its approach: ‘My soul is troubled.’
O JESUS, MY SOUL IS SORROWFUL FOR YOUR SORROW
O Jesus, my soul is sorrowful for Your sorrow. To whom shall we have recourse if You Yourself are troubled, You whom we call upon in our weakness. This is the mystery: Jesus Christ takes upon Him our nature; He transfers our sorrow into His own divine soul, our infirmity has passed into Him, and it is thus that He strengthens us by the example which He gives us, and by the grace which He merits for us.
BY THE GRIEF OF YOUR HOLY SOUL, HEAL THE SORROW OF MINE
O my Saviour, by the grief of Your holy soul, heal the sorrow of mine. Let us accustom ourselves, after the example of Jesus Christ, always to call to mind, in our triumphs as vividly as we can, the thought of death. Let us, by frequent meditation acquire the habit of associating these two ideas which seem so opposed to each other: earthly glory and pleasure, eternal confusion; the cross and mortification, eternal glory and delight.”
– Laverty & Sons (eds), 1905
THE LORD HAS GATHERED US TO HIMSELF AND KEPT US SAFE
“From our privileged place within the ark of Christ’s holy Church, we wait like Noah for the sign of God’s loving covenant to save us from the killing flood of sin. The Lord has gathered us to himself and kept us safe. It is the Lord who has filled us with the desire for himself, our souls yearning for holiness. Even as the flood waters subside, we find ourselves thirsting for the living water, for an encounter with the living God like the kind that the woman at the well longed for without knowing.
Where can we turn to see the face of God? In our trust and abandonment, we await the Lord as the farmer awaits the great harvest that begins with the scattering of so much simple seed. He then goes to sleep at night and rises again in the morning, day after day, until the seed grows without his knowing how it happens. To claim God’s provident care is the Christian’s exalted glory. That glory is the fruit of humility and confidence.
THE FRUIT OF HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE
For forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert. The Lord led them in their lengthy vigil, preparing them to enter into the Promised Land. Never did they go without food, without water, without protection. God’s calendar and schedule are not our own. We wait in faith. We follow as disciples. We rejoice in the way God’s will unfolds.
Our life is in God’s hands. Even if an enemy is to come while we are asleep and to sow weeds through our wheat, we will wait. We will let weeds and wheat grow together until the time of the harvest. Then we will gather the wheat into our barns, and burn the bundles of worthless weeds. For God’s purpose rules in every circumstance. His greatness shines in the smallest details. The Lord overlooks nothing. And so, we throw off every temptation to fuss and fret, like the anxious Martha. We wait this night in contemplation with Mary at the feet of the Master.”
– Peter John Cameron, O.P.
“Which of us could express what is taking place now in Christian souls? – How can we describe all that is contained in the ineffable word ‘Christmas’? Christmas! It is, if not the most magnificent, at least the most touching feast of the year! Christmas! It is the sweetest expression of joy, of hope, and of love. For Christians, the ages of mystery are completed, the star of Jacob shines on the universe, the root of Jesse produces at last its incomparable flower.
He, Whom so many prophets had announced, Whom so many symbols, so many great men had shadowed forth, Whose way it had been the glory of forty centuries to prepare, by disposing all things for His coming: the eternal Word, the wisdom of the Father, the living splendour of His divine substance, the perfect mirror of His sovereign perfection, the ineffable object of the complacency of His love; He, who is called the strong and the Admirable, the Angel of great counsel, the Prince of peace, the Christ, the Lord has come today into our midst. Henceforth He will be our Brother, our Companion, our Guide, our Saviour, our Light, our Hope, our Love and our Glory!”
– Laverty&Sons (eds), 1905
O glorious St John of the Cross, great Doctor of the Church, who, from very longing to be configured to Christ crucified, didst desire nothing more ardently, even to the last moment of thy holy life, than to suffer and to be despised and rejected of all men; and so great was thy thirst for suffering, that thy generous heart was filled with joy in the midst of most painful torments and afflictions; I beseech thee, dear saint, by the glory thou didst merit by thy manifold sufferings, intercede for me with Almighty God and obtain for me love of suffering, together with grace and strength to endure all tribulations and adversities with dauntless courage; for these are the sure means of coming into the possession of that crown of glory which is prepared for me in heaven.
Ah yes, dear saint, from that high and glorious throne where thou sittest triumphant, hear, I beseech thee, my earnest entreaties, that, following thee, I may become a lover of the Cross and of suffering, and thus may merit to be thy companion in glory. Amen.
R. To you glory and praise for evermore.
1. You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
Blest your glorious holy name.
To you glory and praise for evermore. (R.)
2. You are blest in the temple of your glory.
To you glory and praise for evermore. (R.)
3. You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.
To you glory and praise for evermore. (R.)
4. You are blest who gaze into the depths.
To you glory and praise for evermore. (R.)
5. You are blest in the firmament of heaven.
To you glory and praise for evermore. (R.)
ALLELUIA
Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
My life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.
The Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear; and so I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.
My dear Jesus, by Your most loving Heart, I implore You to inflame with zeal for Your love and glory all the priests of the world, all missionaries, and those whose office it is to preach Your word. Inflamed with this zeal, may they snatch souls from the devil and lead them into the shelter of Your Heart, where they may glorify You for ever. Amen.
R. His glory will dwell in our land.
1. I will hear what the Lord God has to say,
a voice that speaks of peace.
His help is near for those who fear him
and his glory will dwell in our land. (R.)
2. Mercy and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven. (R.)
3. The Lord will make us prosper
and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him
and peace shall follow his steps. (R.)
ALLELUIA
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
RETURN TO THE LORD AND LEAVE SIN BEHIND.
To those who repent God permits to return,
and he encourages those who were losing hope.
Return to the Lord and leave sin behind,
plead before his face and lessen your offence.
Come back to the Most High and turn away from iniquity,
and hold in abhorrence all that is foul.
Who will praise the Most High in Sheol,
if the living do not do so by giving glory to him?
To the dead, as to those who do not exist, praise is unknown,
only those with life and health can praise the Lord.
How great is the mercy of the Lord,
his pardon on all those who turn towards him!
V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.
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