Wednesday 31 July 2013

The Month of August is Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary


Blessed Virgin Mary.jpgSunday, July 29, 2012
Traditional image of the Sacred (or Immaculate) Heart of Mary.

http://childrensrosary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-month-of-august-is-dedicated-to.html


The Month of August is Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Important Marian Dates During the Month of August:
August 5th Dedication of the Church of St. Mary Major.
August 13th Fourth Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima
August 15 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
August 21 Feast of Our Lady of Knock (Ireland)
August 22 Queenship of Mary-Octave of the Assumption
August 26 Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa (Poland)

Ways to Honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Month:


Holy Father’s Prayer Intention for the Month of August:
General Intention: That prisoners may be treated with justice and respect for their human dignity 
Missionary Intention: Youth Witness to Christ. That young people, called to follow Christ, may be willing to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

COMMENT: St. James' Patron Thurs 25 July 2013


One of the triumphant masterpieces in Salvador Dali’s remarkable career is Santiago El Grande (1957) – a painting that, for me, is so powerful, I find it hard to know just what to write about it, or where to begin.
I first saw this immense, nearly 15-foot-tall canvas in the Dali: The Late Work exhibition last summer in Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. It was so overwhelming that I literally fell to my knees before it – and nearly passed out! There’s a majesty and grandeur about the work that literally grabs hold of you and can reduce grown men and women to tears. To say the work is awe-inspiring is a gross understatement.
“Santiago El Grande” is Spanish for St. James the Great, and here Dali pays spectacular tribute to the Apostle St. James, the patron saint of Spain. He’s shown astride a monumental rearing steed that rises victorious from the sea, dappled in scallop shells, as his – and the entire painting’s – upward motion signifies Christ’s, and ultimately man’s, ascension toward Heaven. The crucified Christ figure is one of the most glorious ever captured on canvas, complete with radiant bands of eternal light emanating from his perfect form – here replacing the sword often seen in statues of the same heroic theme.
St. James himself has been heralded as one of the finest human portraits ever painted by Salvador Dali, while his prominent foot – looking more three-dimensional the longer you contemplate it – is symbolic of the arduous pilgrimages Christ and his disciples made.
Among other marvelous details in this iconic religious masterwork is yet another portrait of Gala, seen in the lower right corner, her face partially shrouded by her monk-like apparel. And in the hind quarters of the stunningly lifelike horse, we see an atomic cloud burst, reflecting Dali’s interest in then-new discoveries in nuclear physics and his deepening belief that science and Christianity had more in common than had previously been thought. At the center of the atomic cloud mass is a sweetly painted jasmine flower – a symbol of purity and harmony, and a favorite of Dali, which he’d sometimes place behind his ears or upon the tips of his legendary mustache!
Hidden images were Dali’s stock in trade, and Santiago El Grande was not spared this trademark effect. Focus first on the angel seen in the sky, just beyond the horse’s gaze. Now direct your attention to the highlight on the horse’s neck: it’s the exact same angel! Oh, Salvador, how you keep us in awe!
http://www.dali.com/blog/santiago-el-grande-exudes-majesty-monumentalism-magic/

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2010

Dali Poster from High Museum Among Best Ever!


Of all the posters I've ever seen of the various and sundry Salvador Dali exhibitions over the years, this one from the current High Museum of Art Dali exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, may be the most impressive. Oh, sure, I could be biased. After all, I've long proclaimed Santiago El Grande not only Dali's greatest painting, but possibly history's greatest painting.

http://meetingdali.blogspot.co.uk/2010_03_01_archive.html

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Next to virtue, learning, in his view, was the greatest improver of the human mind and the support of true religion. St. Peter Chrysologus




Night Office Saints,
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
St. Peter Chrysologus
(406-450?)

A man who vigorously pursues a goal may produce results far beyond his expectations and his intentions. Thus it was with Peter of the Golden Words, as he was called, who as a young man became bishop of Ravenna, the capital of the empire in the West.
At the time there were abuses and vestiges of paganism evident in his diocese, and these he was determined to battle and overcome. His principal weapon was the short sermon, and many of them have come down to us. They do not contain great originality of thought. They are, however, full of moral applications, sound in doctrine and historically significant in that they reveal Christian life in fifth-century Ravenna. So authentic were the contents of his sermons that, some 13 centuries later, he was declared a doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIII. He who had earnestly sought to teach and motivate his own flock was recognized as a teacher of the universal Church.

In addition to his zeal in the exercise of his office, Peter Chrysologus was distinguished by a fierce loyalty to the Church, not only in its teaching, but in its authority as well. He looked upon learning not as a mere opportunity but as an obligation for all, both as a development of God-given faculties and as a solid support for the worship of God.
Some time before his death, St. Peter returned to Imola, his birthplace, where he died around A.D. 450.

COMMENT:
Quite likely, it was St. Peter Chrysologus’s attitude toward learning that gave substance to his exhortations. Next to virtue, learning, in his view, was the greatest improver of the human mind and the support of true religion. Ignorance is not a virtue, nor is anti-intellectualism. Knowledge is neither more nor less a source of pride than physical, administrative or financial prowess. To be fully human is to expand our knowledge—whether sacred or secular—according to our talent and opportunity.



The following extract is taken from the sermons of St Peter Chrysologus:
Man, why do you have so low an opinion of yourself, when you are so precious to God? Why do you so dishonour yourself when you are so honoured by God? Why
do you enquire about where you were made and do not ask why you were made?
Has not the household of the whole universe which you see been made for you? For you the light is produced to dispel the surrounding darkness; for you the night
is regulated; for you the day is measured out; for you the sky shines with the varied brilliance of sun, moon and stars; for you the earth is embroidered with flowers, groves and fruit; for you is created a beautiful, well-ordered and marvellous multitude of living things, in the air, in the fields, in the water, lest a gloomy wilderness upset the joy of the new world.
Moreover he who made you devises means to increase your honour: he places his
Likeness in you so that this visible likeness may bring the invisible Creator present on earth. In earthly things he has given you the marks of his handiwork, so that you, the Lord's representative, may not be beguiled by such a generous endowment
in this world.
Adapted from Saint of the Day by L Foley, OFM,
Vol. 2,pp. 28-9, and The Divine Office, vol. III, p.
140.  

Friday 26 July 2013

St. James the Greater, Apostle at the Last Supper in Leonardo

Sacristy - Hanging Tapestry
Feast of Saint James, my Baptismal Patron.
From the Tapestry in the Sacristy we look at the Leonardo 'Last Supper' is the photo focused on role of James the Greater.

It is a beautiful meditation on Saint James and the reverberating flickers of glowing radiance in that one experience.
The tapestry, by a loving needle skill, succeeds containing the details; James flung up hand closest to Jesus, Christ's hand left hand with palm turned upwards and even his his lightly retraced left hand (now only visible on copies). 
A commentary on the Leonardo 'Last Supper' is an exciting narrative.
" The composition of this painting rests in many ways on a dynamic and a polar symmetry. This lends it the incomparable vitality that raises it far above both its predecessors and its successors. It is revealed even in the comparison between the groups in their relation to the strictly symmetrical background of the chamber. We see that there are three heads in front of the rear wall on the right (Thomas, lames the Great and Philip) and only one-and-a-half on the left John and the face of Peter). In front of the right side-wall three persons stand out, namely the outer group (with the body of Philip as the link). And in front of the left wall there are four-and-a-half persons, namely the outer group with the addition of Judas (with the greater part of Peter's head as the link). Similar observations can also be made regarding the distribution of heads in front of the tapestries and the spaces between them. On both sides there is a crossing over of heads in each inner group. 

Giampietrino-Last-Supper-ca-1520    
On the right three figures have jumped up, but only one on the left. On the right three apostles of the inner group are jostling close to Christ with conspicuous expressive gestures. On the left there is a striking distance between Christ and the three closest to him who are also not gesticulating so vehemently. This is emphasized by the section of wall that stands like a pillar between the central opening and the left window  In front of the section of wall between the right window (which is mostly concealed in contrast to its fully visible counterpart on the left) and the central opening (which appears to be a door) there are two hands, one pointing upwards (Thomas) and one flung upwards Oames). In addition there is Christ's left hand with the palm turned upwards and even his lightly retracted left foot (now only visible on copies). Here the upward direction is emphasized, a degree of levity in contrast to the heaviness of the pillar."
Michael Ladwein
Leonardo da Vinci 'The Last Supper',
A Cosmic Drama and an Act of Redemption.
The Group of Individuals and their Gestures

Despite all the turbulence, the artist has not depicted a chaotically agitated crowd, for he has in a way subdued the excited band by dividing it into four groups of three. This division of twelve into four times three awakens obvious cosmic associations (see p.78ff) and is only possible because Judas has been reintegrated with the other disciples. But this is not a matter of four isolated groups of three, which would anyway be incompatible with Leonardo's genius. Although all the groups have entirely differing characteristics they are formally linked by means of certain gestures. On the left James the Less reaches out with his left hand and touches Peter on the shoulder (Fig.43), while on the right Matthew stretches both his hands towards those on his right while turning his head and upper body in the opposite direction  thus establishing a link between the two groups of three (Fig.39). Above and beyond this there are numerous subtle details both in the individual figures and in the characteristic way they interrelate which only become obvious on closer inspection.

 www.ladwein-reisen.de.

Thursday, 25 July 2013

St. James the Greater, Apostle - Feast

image Other saints of the day



SAINT JAMES THE GREATER
Apostle
Feast
        Among the twelve, three were chosen as the familiar companions of our blessed Lord, and of these James was one. He alone, with Peter and John, was admitted to the house of Jairus when the dead maiden was raised to life. They alone were taken up to the high mountain apart, and saw the face of Jesus shining as the sun, and His garments white as snow; and these three alone witnessed the fearful agony in Gethsemane.
        What was it that won James a place among the favorite three? Faith, burning, impetuous, and outspoken, but which needed. purifying before the "Son of Thunder" could proclaim the gospel of peace. It was James who demanded fire from heaven to consume the inhospitable Samaritans, and who sought the place of honor by Christ in His Kingdom. Yet Our Lord, in rebuking his presumption, prophesied his faithfulness to death.
        When St. James was brought before King Herod Agrippa, his fearless confession of Jesus crucified so moved the public prosecutor that he declared himself a Christian on the spot. Accused and accuser were hurried off together to execution, and on the road the latter begged pardon of the Saint. The apostle had long since forgiven him, but hesitated for a moment whether publicly to accept as a brother one still unbaptized. God quickly recalled to him the Church's faith that the blood of martyrdom supplies for every sacrament and, falling on his companion's neck, he embraced him, with the words, "Peace be with thee!"
        Together then they knelt for the sword, and together received the crown.


Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894] 

Walking from Paris to Jerusalem

Laurie Maxwell Stuart - Walking from Paris to Jerusalem

Article, with thanks, from:
The Catholic Herald July 19 2013
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: L.........
To: Donald ......
Sent: Thursday, 25 July 2013, 21:51
Subject: Re: Laurie's amazing 'Walk from Paris to Jerusalem'
Dear Donald,
 Laurie is an amazing young man - thanks for this. ...............

   
‘I always knew God would look after me’

John Tabor meets a young man who walked from Paris to Jerusalem - chased by the wild dogs of Europe http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/2013/07/19  

Laurie Maxwell Stuart:
'All I can say is to trust in God always'
Laurie Maxwell Stuart is a 22-year-old Scat living and studying at St Patrick's in Soho, central London. He will be starting his second propaedeutic year at the Scots College in Rome in 2014. His is a story of growth, both as a person and in the Faith, that is quite different to that experienced by most young people. In May 2010 he set out to walk from Paris to Jerusalem, a journey which took him across Europe and the eastern Mediterranean.
I meet Laurie near St Patrick's. At first sight, he seems like an average twenty something with a wide grin and open expression. Yet there is also a determined passion evident. This becomes clear as he recounts his unusual story.

For the first 18 or so years Laurie moved between the Borders and Glasgow, but six months teaching English on a remote Pacific island of Vanuatu were to change his direction. The local population was friendly and hospitable, but he had no one he could really talk to. He recalls long evenings on the beach sitting alone and beginning a journey of prayer. "There was nothing in God's way there," he says, "no material distractions. There was time to talk to Him."
On returning home, Laurie found himself drawn to the lives of the Desert Fathers. Their example helped him to understand something about himself. "I now wanted to let God get in the way," he explains.
"The idea of a pilgrimage, which is, after all something we do for the love of God, began to take hold, and the idea of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land kept drawing me. After all, it's the centre."

He conceived the idea of walking from Paris - regarded for a long time as the centre of Western Europe. His mother in particular, was apprehensive: another foreign trip in such short order and on this occasion seemingly open-ended. She was only partially won over by his enthusiasm. When I ask him if he has any regrets about making this pilgrimage, he answers: "Only one, really. For the first three weeks away I didn't contact my mother at all. She must have been frantic with worry. That was a valuable lesson in itself."

The preparation for this second, more extensive foray took a year to complete. Laurie saved up £ 1,000 by working night shifts in a garage. The physical side of the work, and the walk to and from home, were a useful preparation for the rigours to come. Each morning Laurie would walk eastwards home towards the rising sun. His thoughts would turn to Jerusalem and the pilgrimage he would soon be making. It was, he thought one of those moments of actual grace that made the whole enterprise worthwhile.
In keeping with the example of

the Desert Fathers, his assembled kit was simple, even basic: a small tent, a stove and a sleeping bag, together with a change of clothes, all contained in a single rucksack. He spent £11 of the £ 1,000 on a plane ticket from Glasgow to Paris - one of two concessions, as it turned out, to modern travel.  

At 6am on May 21 2010, under the shadow of Notre-Dame Cathedral and with the early morning sun above him, Laurie said a prayer to Our Lady and began to walk.
Before leaving Scotland, he had enlisted in the Legion of Mary and took 200 miraculous medals with him on the journey - one of which was permanently tied around his wrist. He distributed the medals as he went along, finally running out of them in Bulgaria. Devotion to Our Lady was a key element in keeping Laurie going and was a source of encouragement, solace and companionship along the way. In the early days loneliness was a challenge. "There were days when I simply had no one to talk to," he says. "I wanted someone to speak with, so I talked to Our Lady, saying the rosary three times a day: in the morning for my family, at midday for the people I had met along the way and at night simply to say 'thank you' to God and Our Lady." Those rosaries were the only constants throughout the ever changing journey.

Laurie describes his pilgrimage as a kind of breaking down of self-constructed façades:  a desert-like, purifying experience. "It really made me trust God and the power of prayer," he says. "That's the message for me of all this."

On that first night in the French countryside he pitched his tent, made some light supper and in a moment of utter loneliness read Psalm 27, "The Lord i s my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?". which he says gave him fresh impetus.

By the third day the physical strains were beginning to tell. Lauries legs ached so that he could hardly walk and he had sunstroke. He wrote a postcard home next 10 a church in which he had prayed. "I didn't think I could do another day," he says, grimacing at the memory, "let alone six months or however long it was going to take."

The next morning he went back to the church and met the priest, who on discovering he was a pilgrim took him to a place where he could stay. "I knew then what was meant by Divine Providence," Laurie says. "God would always look after me."
On he walked through France, Switzerland, Germany and into the East. By now the tent had gone, lost somewhere along the way, and he began to stay in monasteries that welcomed him as weary and travel stained pilgrim. He stayed a week at one in Germany, having arrived so dishevelled that the guestmaster whisked him off to the guest quarters to clean up. "I was a stranger and you welcomed me": that Gospel phrase was to resonate throughout his journey.

Thoughts of a religious vocation, of serving others, began to crystalise. Praying for others and giving out miraculous medals along the way were expressions of this.
At first, perhaps understandably, Laurie thought about the religious life: the ordered days seemed attractive. Soon, however, this gave way to a more specific desire to serve God in the priesthood.

By August, Laurie had reached south-eastern Europe and the Balkans. His first brush with danger came when he was set upon by an Alsatian on the bank of the Danube. "He bit me hard and I still have the scar to show for it," he says.

Dogs and Laurie were not destined to have an easy relationship. By September he had arrived in Bulgaria and one evening, while looking for lodgings in a village, he was attacked by an enormous hound - "the largest dog I have ever seen". Laurie says: "I was footsore, tired and hungry. Luckily the owner came along and saved me from what would have been an unpleasant end."

After the Bulgarian interlude, Laurie moved on to Turkey.  
One day on a lonely stretch of road near Edirne, Laurie encountered a group of wild dog. "I pray out loud to Our Lad '. but I remember being so frightened that I mixed up my Holy Mary with the Our Father instead: ‘Hail Mary who art in heaven  '

Suddenly, a white Range Rover appeared out of nowhere. At the same time, the dogs disappeared.
In Istanbul, Lauric lodged with a community of French Assumptionist priests, one of whom, upon hearing of his plan to walk into Jerusalem, remarked: "Our Lord rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. You can go there by plane."

Laurie flew to Jaffa , courtesy of the French Fathers. He then began to walk from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Everyone he had spoken to had advised him against this. "I felt so safe," he says with a smile. "I was in God's playground. The Bible came alive for me there. Abraham, the prophets, Our Lord: their presence felt so real. That was the important thing."

I ask Laurie to describe the end of his journey. He says: "The hardest part of the journey was being with­out a home for so long: every night looking for somewhere to lay my head, be it forest, field or monastery. So when I arrived in Jerusalem my emotions were overwrought. I think I stopped several times t; cry and pray. I had met a kind priest at Latrune monastery, near Emmaus, where I stayed. He had heard what I was doing and offered me a place to sleep once I reached Jerusalem. So when I arrived in that ancient and wonderful city I found the address he had given. Upon knocking the door of the beautiful old Italian consulate, a young man answered and said: 'Ah , you must be Laurence, welcome". this is your home now.' J will never forget those kind words and how much power they had for me. He led me to my room and as he went to get me a glass of water I sat down on the bed in a daze.

"But the last and most beautiful part of the journey was yet to come. As I looked down I noticed that my last miraculous medal that had been tied around my wrist since Bulgaria had fallen off and lay on the bed next to me. It was a final grace from Our Lady as if to say: 'You made it home, son,  rest in peace now.' Tears came in floods and my soul sang as I thanked God from the depths of my heart.

"So to all who hear of my little story all I can only say is to trust in God always and to pray.
Pray to Jesus and the Light of the World, for His guidance along life’s path. Pray to Our Lady for comfort and solace in times of darkness. And always, always in everything trust in God the Father and the protecting power of His Holy Spirit.”




Thursday 25 July 2013

The Church should follow St Charbel’s example and fix its eyes on the Blessed Sacrament

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2013/07/22/who-is-saint-charbel/

Who is St Charbel?

The Church should follow St Charbel’s example and fix its eyes on the Blessed Sacrament
By  on Monday, 22 July 2013
A priest preaches in a northern Lebanese village with a painting of the beloved Saint Charbel in the background Photo: CNS
A priest preaches in a northern Lebanese village with a painting of the beloved Saint Charbel in the background Photo: CNS
Who is St Apollinaris? According to the Ordo – the special little book which tells you which feast to celebrate – his optional memorial is July 20. Naturally, I celebrated his memorial, as I celebrate all memorials, optional or not, as a matter of course. As it happens I have been to the saint’s basilica which is outside Ravenna, and called Sant’ Apollinare in Classe. Once this church stood at the sea’s edge, where the Roman imperial fleet (classis) lay at anchor. Now the sea has receded, and all that is left of its maritime character is the name. There is also a basilica dedicated to the saint in Ravenna itself. Both are famous for their mosaics.
Ravenna, as most readers will know, is home to the world’s most wonderful mosaics – better than Rome, better than Constantinople – a relic of the relatively brief time when this now small town was the capital of the Western Empire. The Empire was then in its decadence, but clearly it was flourishing artistically. Ravenna, especially on a freezing cold day when snow lies on the ground, which was how I saw it, is immensely worth visiting.
To answer the question posed above, St Apollinaris, first Bishop of Ravenna, is a martyr of ancient times who has only recently been restored to the general calendar. Very little is known about him for sure. I am not altogether clear why he was restored to the General Calendar in 2002, but there we are.
On July 24, there occurs the optional memorial of another saint who may be unfamiliar to most, and who has also been placed in the general calendar recently, and that is St Charbel the Miracle-Worker. To most, not all. Every Lebanese will be familiar with this saint of the nineteenth century, a Maronite monk and hermit, who was famous for his devotion to contemplative prayer, and whose image is found on virtually ever street corner in the Christian parts of Lebanon. In fact a large picture of St Charbel or his statue usually announces the confessional allegiance of the quarter you happen to be entering. Just as the Maronites revere St Charbel, so the Shia revere the late Ayatollah Khomenei, and decorate their quarters with his picture, or at least they did when I was last in Lebanon about fifteen years ago. The only other place I have been to where confessional allegiance is so clearly marked is, of course, Northern Ireland.
But there is another place where St Charbel is equally revered, and that is Mexico. Embedded in its vast population is a small community of Lebanese Maronite immigrants, the most famous of whom is Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest man. The Maronite incomers brought with them their devotion to St Charbel, and this is why virtually every Mexican church has a picture or a statue of the saint, which is the focus of much devotion. This is remarkable considering St Charbel was canonised as recently as 1965.
St Charbel deserves attention, not simply because of his reputation as a miracle worker, but because he is a fine example of prayer. In his picture his eyes are always cast down, and for the last decades of his life he practised strict custody of the eyes, only raising them to look at the Tabernacle and the Eucharist. The Church too, like Charbel, needs to keep its eyes fixed on what really matters: the Divine, and more specifically, the Blessed Sacrament.

Friday 19 July 2013

Jesus, the Good Samaritan

15th in Ord Time Friday 19 July 2013

Night Office. 
Second Reading
From a Sermon on Psalm 51 by Saint Gregory the Great



Welcoming Christ the Physician

Have mercy on me, O God, in your great kindness.

Let us imagine a man seriously injured and gasping for his last draughts of life-giving air.  Lying naked on a rubbish heap, he points to his still unbandaged wounds; he longs for a doctor to come, and in his distress begs for pity.  Sin is the soul's wound.  You who are wounded, recognize in your hearts who your physician is and uncover to him the wounds of your sins.  May he who knows every secret thought hear the groaning of your hearts.  Let your suffering reach him, so that to you also it may be said:  The Lord has taken away your sin.  Cry out with David - see how he speaks:  Have mercy on me, O God, in your great kindness.  It is as if he were saying:  I am in peril from a great wound which no physician can heal, unless the omnipotent physician comes to my aid.  No wound is beyond his power of healing; he heals without asking a fee, he restores health by a mere word.  I should despair of my wound did I not rely on the Almighty.  Have mercy on me, O God, in your great kindness.


Lord Jesus, I pray that you may be moved to pity and come to me.  I have gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho, descended from the heights to the depths, from health to sickness.  I have fallen into the hands of the angels of darkness who have not only stripped me of my garment of spiritual grace but have also wounded me and left me half-dead.  Bind up the wounds of my sins by making me believe that they can be healed, for if I despair of healing they will become worse.  Apply the oil of forgiveness to them and pour in the wine of compunction.  If you place me on your beast, you will be raising the poor from the dust, the needy from the rubbish heap.  For it is you who have carried our sins, who have paid back what you did not take.  If you lead me to the inn of your Church you will nourish me with your Body and Blood.  If you take care of me I shall not transgress your commandments nor fall prey to the rage of wild beasts.  I need your protection as long as I bear this corruptible flesh.  So listen to me, Samaritan, listen to me who am stripped and wounded, weeping and groaning, as I call upon you and cry out with David:  "Have mercy on me, O God, in your great kindness."

Saint Gregory the Great

-Saint Gregory the Great (604) was one of the most important popes and influential writers of the Middle Ages.

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Night Office a riveting reading on Ps. 131 by St. Hilary

Remember David and his Affliction



Psalm 132:3Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; 4I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids,5Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. …

Psalm 26:8 LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.

                                                                   
15th Week Ord Time Wednesday 17 July 2013
First Reading
2 Samuel 6:1-23

                                                         Responsoru   Ps 132:13-14; 150:4
The Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling. + This
is my resting-place forever; here I have chosen to live.
V. Praise him with tambourines and dancing; praise him with strings and pipe. + This is my ...


Second Reading
From a sermon on Psalm 131 by Saint Hilary

I will not enter my house, nor will I go to bed; I will give myself no rest, nor allow myself to sleep, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, whom the prophet David foreshadowed, carried out as though under oath all the mysteries of human salvation. His principal work was to make human beings, once instructed in divine knowledge, into worthy dwelling-places for God. We are taught that the human person is the seat and dwelling-place of God, for God himself says through the Prophet: I will dwell in their midst and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. The Apostle, too, says: You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Having assumed a body, therefore, the only-begotten Son of God swears that he and his human nature will not enter his house, that is, will not return to his heavenly dwelling-place, until he has found a place for the Lord in devout hearts.
Arise, Lord, and go to your resting-place, you and the ark which you have sanctified-not the ark of the covenant, nor the ark of the law, but the ark which you have sanctified. We recall that the ark of the covenant, containing the stone tablets, the holy writings, the book of the covenant, and the omer of manna, was gold inside and out. But all these were types of the body which the Lord assumed and which contains the whole mystery of the law. Now because of the presence of the divine Spirit and because of the way the flesh originated, this body is gold both within and without, for it is the Lord Jesus who is in the glory of the Father; it contains the ever­lasting manna, for he is the living bread; it preserves within itself the tablets of the covenant and the book of the law, for in him are the words of life. The prophet prays, therefore, that this holy ark may arise and go to rest along with the Lord, for according to the gospels God the Father put his seal upon him.

The dignity of those who will sit upon thrones in the world to come is shown in the words: The Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his home. "This shall be my resting-place forever; here I have chosen to dwell." He has chosen as his Zion the holy and heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the throng of believers who dwell in harmony, the souls sanctified by the sacraments of the Church, for in these as in a rational and intelligent house, cleansed and made eternal by the glory of the resurrection, the rational and intelligent and unpolluted and ineffable eternal nature of the divinity takes its rest. This does not mean that he ceases to exist in the immensity of his infinity, in which he now is, in order to be confined within narrow human spirits; it means rather that by residing in a dwell­ing worthy of him, he who is everywhere and always identical and whole takes his rest in holy and acceptable souls in whom there is no cause of offense, no instability, but a worthy, pleasing, and chosen dwelling-place for him for endless ages, that is, for all eternity.

Rs/ 1Cor 3:16-17