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O ADONAI!
December 18th. Feast of the Expectation of Our Lady.
"O Adonai and Leader of the House of Israel! Who appearedst to Moses in the fire of the flaming bush and gavest him the law on Sinai. Come and redeem us by Thy outstretched arm."
(Ex. vi. 3, iii. 1-9, xx. 18-22).
1st. Prelude. The Tabernacle of the Hidden God.
2nd. Prelude. Grace to expect and desire with Mary.
Point I. "O Virgo virginum!"
We think again to-day of the Mother as well as of the Son. There is another "O" which is in the Vespers of the Feast of the Expectation together with the "O Adonai!" and that is "O Virgo virginum!" We appeal again then to Mary asking her to show us how to wait, how to desire, how to love, how to worship. Let us try to think what her feelings must have been during these last few days. She is preparing for her journey, putting together the few necessaries that they could take, packing up the little "swaddling clothes," and all the time thinking of nothing but her Son, Whose Face she is now so soon to see. The joy of the expectation is so great that it overshadows all else – she can talk of and think of nothing but His birth, now so near, and it is to Him that she talks. All her secrets, all her longings, all her hopes, all her words of love and joy are for Him. This is the interior life.
As the great day approaches is my interior life becoming more intense? Are all my desires centred on the little One Who is coming? Am I continually holding converse with Him, telling Him all that is in my heart? Is He the centre of all my preparations for Christmas? Is the real Christmas joy, that is, the joy caused by the thought of His Coming, so great that it puts into the shade all difficulties, sorrows, disappointments and inconveniences? Mary's troubles were all caused by Jesus. If it had not been for the prophecy which said He must be born in Bethlehem she would not have had to leave her home at such an inconvenient moment and at such an inclement season of the year.
When shall I learn that all my troubles come directly from Jesus too, and from my union with Him? When I do, I shall have peace, the peace which Mary had and which a really interior life cannot fail to produce. If I find that my peace is easily disturbed by passing events, let me examine my conscience as to my interior life and I shall probably find the reason.
Point II. O Adonai et Dux!
O Lord and Leader! "Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep!" ("Introit" for Advent II and "Gradual" for Advent III). This is the idea in the Church's cry to-day, she is saluting her General. He it is Who though as yet hidden is nevertheless leading all. He it is Who slowly though surely has been leading the world through many phases till it is ready for its Creator to come and live upon it. He it is Who has led Joseph like a sheep – carefully watched over the chosen nation, because He Himself, when the time came, was to be born in it. He it is Who led the prophets, carefully guiding their hands to write of Him and making their prophecies more and more lucid as the day approached. He it is Who is now leading the whole world and placing everybody in his own city. He it is Who is leading Joseph away from Nazareth. He it is Who is leading His own Mother over every step of that difficult and tiring journey, letting the joy in His own Heart overflow into hers; and He is my Leader too. With such a General, nothing will be overlooked in my life; everything will be arranged in wisdom and love. I need have no fear, no anxiety on that account; but such a Leader expects a whole-hearted, unswerving allegiance from His followers. He expects not only their obedience, but their loyalty and their love. Does He demand these by force? No, for He is a Leader, not a driver. "He calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them… He goeth before them and the sheep follow Him" (St. John x. 3, 4). What are His methods? The Incarnation with all its consequences. He made Himself a man, not an angel, because He wanted to attract man to Himself, to win his love. He identified Himself with man, because He wanted man to identify himself with Him. The church, the Holy Eucharist, the Tabernacle, Holy Communion, His Sacred Heart – all these are to attract men to follow Him. He is there in each of these going before and leading men on. He is appealing to them now from the womb of His Mother, suggesting to them that they should choose suffering and humiliation and the hidden life, because He chose them and loved them and submitted to them for us; they were His methods, and His object in becoming incarnate for us was to win our love to such an extent that we should take Him as our Leader and adopt His methods.
Oh! come, little Leader, come and redeem us. I for one am determined to follow wheresoever Thou dost lead, "in what place soever Thou shalt be, my Lord King, either in death or in life there will Thy servant be" (2 Kings xv. 21). "Behold I have given Him for a Leader" (Is. lv. 4).
Point III. The Outstretched Arm
The outstretched arm is a sign (1) of power. The little One Whom we are expecting, though so winning and gentle and loving, is nevertheless the Almighty and All-powerful God. He it is Who said: "I made the earth and the men and the beasts that are upon the earth by My great power and by My stretched out arm" (Jer. xxvii. 5). He it is Who said of those who would not acknowledge Him as their King: "I will Myself fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm" (chap. xxi. 5). He it is Who "with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm" delivered His people of old out of the land of Egypt (Deut. xxvi. 8). He it is Who gave the law on Sinai, when "the thunders began to be heard and lightning to flash and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud and the people … feared." Why? Because "the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai in the very top of the mount" (Ex. xix. 16, 20). He came then in power to give with His own outstretched arm His commandments to His people; but now He is coming in the silence of the night to win them by His love and no one will be afraid of a little Child.
Oh! come, and redeem us by Thy stretched out arm. Come in all Thy might to save us from our sins – our past sins and the evil habits they have left, our present attachment to venial sins which we are ashamed of, but are obliged to confess lingers still; come and deliver us from our countless imperfections: "Lord if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean" (St. Matt. viii. 2).
The outstretched arm is also a sign (2) of pity, of yearning, of longing. A mother stretches out her arms to receive her babe taking its first tottering steps, to welcome her prodigal, to protect those in danger, to help in every time of need.
When God was longing to deliver His people of old from the cruel bondage in Egypt, He attracted Moses' attention by a burning bush, so that He could tell him of His yearnings towards His people. Moses saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt and he said: "I will go and see why the bush is not burnt" (Ex. iii. 2-3). That bush hid two mysteries which were beyond Moses' power of reason, but God revealed them later to His Saints. The fire that burned was the Divinity and the bush which was impregnated by the fire and yet not burnt was the Sacred Humanity. Again, the bush was a figure of Mary who though she received the God-Man into her sacred womb yet remained a virgin – the bush held the flame of fire which lighted the whole world and yet remained intact. Moses though he did not see the things which we see, nevertheless saw a "great sight" and "when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, He called to him out of the midst of the bush" and told him not to come too near and to take off his shoes for the ground was holy. He then told him Who He was and why He had come: "I have seen the afflictions of My people… I have heard their cry … and knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them" (verses 7, 8). It was the Heart of God yearning for His children. His Hands were stretched out in pity and love, but His hour was not yet. He waited and "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son" (Gal. iv. 4); and now we are kneeling before the Sanctuary wherein He has still a few days to wait; we have turned aside to see the "great sight," we know that we are treading on holy ground. "Rubum quem viderat Moyses incombustum conservatam agnovimus tuam laudabilem virginitatem; Dei genitrix intercede pro nobis." In the bush which Moses saw unconsumed, we acknowledge thy admirable virginity preserved: intercede for us, O Mother of God. (Little Office. B. V. M. – A Christmas antiphon).
As we keep near to the Burning Bush we wonder more and more at the mystery; we ask why, but we never receive a satisfying answer, for who can fathom the mystery of the love of God? The Word is silent yet. Could He speak, we should hear the same words as Moses heard, for the Heart of God changes not: "I have seen the afflictions of My people… I am come down to deliver them." How intense were His yearnings! How great was His expectation! Let me try to make Him some little return by my desires and my yearnings for Him! Oh! come, little Saviour, come and redeem us by Thy outstretched Arm!
Colloquy with Him Who is so soon to come.
Resolution. To wait with His Mother to-day asking her to give me some of her desire.
Spiritual Bouquet. "A little Child shall lead them" (Is. XI. 6).
O RADIX JESSE!
December 19th.
"O Root of Jesse! Who standest as the ensign of the people, before Whom Kings shall keep silence and unto Whom the nations shall make their supplication, come and set us free, tarry now no longer."
(Vide Is. xi. 10 and Apoc. xxii. 16).
1st. Prelude. The Tree of Jesse so often seen carved on cathedral porches and painted on windows, and in Missals.
2nd. Prelude. Grace to rally under the Standard of the Tree of Jesse.
Point I. The Root of Jesse
"There shall come forth a Rod out of the Root of Jesse, and a Flower shall rise up out of his Root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him: the Spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and of Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and of Godliness; and He shall be filled with the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord" (Is. xi. 1-3). St. Jerome says that the Branch is Our Lady and the Flower her Son, Who says of Himself: "I am the Flower of the field and the Lily of the valleys" (Cant. ii. 1); and a responsory dating from the middle ages says: "R. The Root of Jesse gave out a Branch: and the Branch a Flower; and on the Flower resteth the Holy Spirit. V. The Virgin Mother of God is the Branch, her Son is the Flower, and on the Flower resteth the Holy Spirit."
So once again, if we would find the Flower we must first find the Branch which bears it. The Flower is still in bud but presently it will open, and its beauty and fragrance will fill the whole earth and attract all men to it: "What manner of one is thy Beloved of the beloved, O thou most beautiful among women?" "My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands" (Cant. v. 9, 10). I can understand that thy beautiful Lily is white, for I know that such is His purity that even the heavens are not pure in His sight, but why is His apparel red? (Is. lxiii. 2). Because He is "clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood: and His name is called: The Word of God" (Apoc. xix. 13). Even now, before His delicate petals are unfolded, they are marked with the Cross.
O Root of Jesse, can ever tree compare with thine – one of whose branches was found worthy to bear a Flower so fair! There are further beauties as we gaze – a heavenly Dew is resting on the Flower, it is the Holy Spirit Himself, Who at that blest moment when He overshadowed the Branch poured out all His choicest gifts upon the Flower. As God, the seven-fold gifts were His from all eternity, and directly the Humanity was united to the Eternal Word, the divine perfections belonged to it, so that as man "He was made unto us the Wisdom of God" and could understand all mysteries. By the gift of Understanding He knew and entered into all God's plans for the Redemption of the world. The gift of Counsel showed Him exactly what was the Will of His Father which He had come to do. The gift of Fortitude gave Him the strength to carry out His Father's Will and to say ever: Not My Will but Thine be done. His Knowledge was so profound that He preferred poverty to riches, and to be despised rather than to be honoured; He knew as Man the true worth of the thing which as God He had created. The gift of Piety established that tender relationship between Him and His Father which He wished us to have when He taught us to say: Our Father; it included also His perfect relationship with His Mother and St. Joseph. The gift of Fear gave Him as Man a reverence and respect for the majesty of God. (Vide Heb. v. 7).
It was thus that the heavenly Dew rested on the heavenly Flower.
O my Jesus, come and tarry no longer! I know that Thou hadst no need of any of these gifts; they rested on Thee because Thou art my Model and Thou wouldst show me how to use them.
Point II. The Ensign of the people
It is the Tree of Jesse which stands as an ensign, about which Our Lord says: "I am the Root and Stock of David" (Apoc. xxii. 16). He then is the Standard-bearer and the Standard is His Cross. "Bearing His own Cross He went forth" (St. John xix. 17). He is the "sign which shall be contradicted" by His enemies (St. Luke ii. 34), but when the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the Heavens (St. Matt. xxiv. 30) it will bring joy and hope to the hearts of all those who love His Coming (2 Tim. iv. 8). "My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands," or according to another translation: "My beloved is white and ruddy a Standard bearer" (Cant. v. 10 A. V. Margin), chosen for His strength as well as for His beauty. To Him shall the nations make supplication, for He said: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all things to Myself" (St. John xii. 32).
There are only two standards in the world – that of Jesus Christ and that of the devil. Both leaders want me to enlist; both are trying to win me; but by what different means! The devil strives to entrap me with the silken threads of sin which seem so insignificant and harmless, but which if I allow myself to be trapped by them, he will twine into a thick rope and hold me fast; while Jesus draws me to Himself with the cords of love. Both are infinitely more powerful than I am, and yet all depends on me, that is, on my will. The cords of love are far stronger than the cords of hate, so I need not be afraid of the devil's capturing me against my will; but on the other hand Jesus will not draw me with the cords of love against my will. "If thou wilt, … come," is His method. There are chains, there is a cross, but all is love. A little Child holds the Standard, a little Child leads, and all He asks is that we should follow Him and do as He does.
Come, then, little Jesus, set up Thy Royal Standard, come, tarry no longer. I am longing to show Thee that I am not going to be a soldier in name only; longing to show Thee that I understand that a soldier who has pledged himself to fight under Thy Standard must adopt Thy methods, that if I would be a soldier on whom Thou canst count, I must be really mortified, really poor, really ready to give up my own will and my own methods, really anxious to have humiliations because I know that there is no other way of attaining the beautiful virtue of humility. I am longing to show Thee that I understand that those who march under Thy Standard must be marked by the Cross. Oh! come, and set me free from all that keeps me from offering myself whole-heartedly for Thy service. Come and cut all the many little cords that still bind me to the service of self. Thy Mother wants Thee, the Angels are longing to look upon Thy Face, the world wants Thee though it knows it not, and I am longing to want Thee too. Oh! teach me to want Thee more.
Colloquy with the Branch and the Flower.
Resolution. To examine myself to-day as to my attachments.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Come and set us free, tarry now no longer."
O CLAVIS DAVID!
December 20th.
"O Key of David and Sceptre of the House of Israel! Who openest and no man shutteth; Who shuttest and no man openeth; come and bring forth from his prison-house the captive sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death."
(Isaias xxii. 22, Apoc. iii. 7, Gen. xlix. 10, Heb. i. 8).
1st. Prelude. The little King with the Key and the Sceptre.
2nd. Prelude. Grace to respond to the Key and the Sceptre.
Point I. The Key of David
"I will lay the Key of the House of David upon His shoulder" (Is. xxii. 22). "To the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia write: These things saith the Holy One and the True One, He that hath the Key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth: I know thy works. Behold I have given before thee a door opened which no man can shut, because thou hast a little strength." (Apoc. iii. 7-8).
The Babe unborn has already had the Key laid upon His Shoulder. He already has authority. Soon, very soon now, He will come to use it. How will He use this Key and what is it? It is the Key of authority but it is also the Key of love. (1) He is coming to unlock the gates which hold the human race fast in ignorance and sin, to be its Redeemer, to give it "a door opened which no man can shut," to give it a chance if it will of walking out of its prison-house into the liberty wherewith Christ alone can make it free (Gal. iv. 31). (2) He is coming to put His golden Key of love into the hearts of men, to open those doors which are shut against Him and which none but He can open, for none but He can give grace. Each little child whose heart is filled with grace at its Baptism is only able to receive it because the little Child with the golden Key has opened its heart. "Thou hast opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers." Come, then, O Key of David, come and begin Thy blessed work on earth. Thou hast already put Thy magic Key into the heart of St. John the Baptist and doubtless of many another; come and tarry not, come and found Thy Church and pass on the wondrous power of the keys to those with whom Thou wilt leave Thy authority. (3) He is coming to open with His Key of love His own most Sacred Heart. None but He can open that vast treasure-house of love, and none but He can shut it. It will be there for a refuge for all His children in all time – a standing memorial of His love. What does He ask in return? Only that when we hear Him put His golden Key into our hearts, there may be a response: "My Beloved put His Hand through the key-hole and my heart was moved at His touch. I arose up to open to my Beloved" (Cant. v. 4-5). The rising up to let Him in is our part, He puts in His Key and unlocks, that is, He removes all obstacles by His grace, but we must respond to that grace for though He has unlocked the door He will not force an entrance. "Behold I stand at the door and knock," and then He waits, waits for our correspondence and for our love. "My son, give Me thy heart," He wants it, He has used His Key of love to obtain it, but He will not take it, it must be a free gift of love.
At the last great Advent the door of His mercy will be shut against all those who have refused Him an entrance into their hearts, and when He shuts, no man can open. "Lord, Lord, open to us," and the answer will come through the eternally locked door: "I never knew you, depart from Me."
Oh! come, Divine little One, come with Thy Key while yet there is time and unlock the many hearts which still find no place for Thee, no time to attend to Thee waiting so patiently, no desire to give Thee an invitation this Christmas; and give them grace to respond.
Point II. The Sceptre of the House of Israel
The little One Who is to come not only has a Key on His Shoulder, but a Sceptre in His Hand. The word used for Sceptre (shebet) in the Hebrew has four distinct meanings and we can apply them all to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is:
(1) a rod of command, a sign of royalty (Esther iv. 11, Ps. xliv. 7);
(2) a rod of iron, a rod of correction (Ps. ii. 9, Prov. xxii. 15);
(3) the shepherd's rod or wand (Lev. xxvii. 32);
(4) the flail which separates the grain from the chaff (Is. xxviii. 27).
(1) A sign of royalty. He is my King – how much that says to me! He has authority over me and a right to command me, a right to my service from every point of view; but He will not exact it from me. He stretches out His Sceptre of mercy in token of clemency. He wants my service, but He wants it to be the outcome of my love and so He uses His Sceptre to attract me. He brings Himself down to my level, He calls Himself my Brother, my Friend. He tells me that if I will throw in my lot with Him and do as He does, one day I shall share His Kingdom and reign with Him. Such is my King and such is the meaning of His Sceptre. "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" Thou art as yet hidden, O my little King, but Thou wilt be born a king for "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom" (Heb. i. 8). What is my response going to be to that Sceptre stretched out once again? That of a loyal, whole-hearted, loving subject or that of one who is still hesitating between the service of self and the service of the King?
(2) A rod of correction. For His enemies it is a "rod of iron," but for His children a rod of love, for what son is there whom the father doth not correct? "Whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with His sons." (Heb. xii. 6-7). We are not to "faint" nor "be weary" nor "neglect the discipline," not to be inclined to give all up and choose an easier path; no, but to regard the discipline as a "consolation," (verse 5) a proof of love, a sign that we are really the children with whom He does what He likes, instructing us according to His own pleasure (verse 10).
Oh! my little King, come with Thy rod of correction, come and make me a saint and do not spare me in the making. He that spareth the rod spoileth the child. I do not want to be a spoilt child, but a child on whom Thou canst count, that is, a child to whom Thou canst say what Thou wilt and whom Thou canst criticize as thou wilt, by the mouth of whom Thou wilt, a child whom Thou dost not consider because Thou art sure of its love, sure, that is, that it loves Thee and Thy ways better than self and its ways.
(3) A shepherd's staff or crook. As it had been prophesied of Him that He should be a king, so it had also been prophesied that He should be a shepherd: "I will save My flock … and I will set up one Shepherd over them and He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd" (Ezech. xxxiv. 22, 23, and xxxvii. 24). "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather together the lambs with His arms, and shall take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young" (Is. xl. 11). "I am the Good Shepherd;" even now while He is yet in the womb of His Mother He is counting His sheep, calling them out, knowing each one by name, thinking of the great fold which He is going to make, of the one shepherd to whom He will entrust the great work of feeding His sheep, of the "other sheep" whom He "must bring" into the fold sooner or later. Even now He is planning to lay down His life for His sheep "that they may have life and have it more abundantly."
(4) The flail which separates the chaff from the good grain, the tribulum which causes "great tribulation" on earth's threshing floor, but which is used only for the good of the grain and ensures its being gathered into the heavenly garners. Oh! my little King, Who art coming to bring peace make me understand that I shall never have peace till I am fully persuaded that all my tribulation, all my troubles, trials and afflictions are directly caused by Thee, that it is Thou Thyself and no other Who dost use the threshing instruments to separate me from all that is not pleasing to Thee.
Come then, and with Thy Key of love unlock the prison-house and bring forth the captive sitting in darkness and then with Thy Sceptre rule him, correct him, guide him and afflict him.
Colloquy with Him Who has the Key and the Sceptre.
Resolution. To rise up and open to my Beloved.
Spiritual Bouquet.O Clavis David!
