O key of David - 20th December 2015

O key of David and sceptre of Israel, what you open no else can close again; what you close no one can open. O come to lead the captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Jesus in his own body has opened the door to salvation. He is the door. He is the way into the Kingdom, into the very heart of the Trinity. “I am the door ; if anyone enters through Me , he will be saved.”

It would be difficult to reflect upon this antiphon this advent, without making a connection to the Jubilee Year and the significance of the Holy Door of Mercy being opened in every diocese in the world. Pope Francis in various homilies has this to say: “As Christians we are called to cross the threshold of the door of mercy. We are asked to welcome and experience God’s love which recreates, transforms and renews life. From this experience we must go out and be instruments of mercy. God is anxious to be merciful and to welcome everyone into the tender embrace of reconciliation and forgiveness. “

A major aspect of the Holy Year throughout history has been that of a pilgrimage to Rome to make reparation for sin and to renew the conversion of one’s life. As in today’s antiphon the prayer of the pilgrim, and each of us are pilgrims, could be ‘ O come to lead the captive from prison, free those who live in darkness and the shadow of death.’  Show us your mercy O lord, remember your Holy Covenant sealed in the blood of your Son on the Cross .

A very important symbolic act performed by each pilgrim has been to pass through the Holy Door.  Pope St. John Paul 11 said,  at the opening of the last jubilee that the “Holy Door evokes the passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish.” He continues, “Jesus said   ‘I am the door’, in order to make it clear that no one can come to the father except through him. He alone is the saviour sent by the Father. He alone is the way, the only way that opens wide the entrance into life of communion with God. To Him alone can the words of the psalm be applied in full truth: “this is the door of the Lord where the just may enter”

So the symbolism of passing through the holy Door into the basilica or Church is to pass from this world into the presence of God. It is to freely decide to cross the threshold, leaving behind the kingdom of this world and all that holds us captive so as to enter into the new life of grace of the kingdom of God.

Our hearts are made for God. Within each one of us there is a sense of incompleteness and only God can make us whole.   Especially in our times, people do not realise that God is the answer to the extraordinary restlessness they feel. They are aware thar nothing satisfies them. The more they have the more they realise that this is not what they are looking for. Their hearts ache for they know not what. But we know, we know that our restless longings are genuine, our sense of incompleteness is real and that only God can satisfy our deepest longings. In this year of Mercy, this time of overflowing grace, let us get excited about bringing others to the fount that God may quench their thirst. Let us unite with Jesus longing ,his hope, his thirst, his welcome.  It was said of Dominic that his desire for the salvation of others was such that it kept him awake nights. The brethren could hear him in the quiet, crying out in anguish ‘Lord have mercy on your people , what will become of sinners’. Let us join him. Let us become so captivated by Jesus that we are willing to make a hole in the roof to bring those in need of forgiveness into Jesus presence. Let us be like Mary whose intercession in the upper room caused Jesus to come in, even through locked doors.

 God wishes to show mercy to the world. His servants are the answer. God wishes to show mercy through us, to free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.  ‘To love and forgive are the concrete visible signs that faith has transformed our hearts and they enable us to express in our selves the very life of God’( Pope Francis). It is in and through us that God now enters our world. We are the face of his mercy. Let us enter into the heart of Jesus that He might enter into the heart of our world.

 

O Radix Jesse - 19th December 2015

 

“O Root of Jesse

who stand for a sign for the people;

before whom kings are silent;

whom the nations bessech:

Come to deliver us, no longer delay.”

 

Jesse was the father of David and JESUS is the Son of David.

When Jesus was on His missionary travels and one day came to Jericho, a blind man – who heard that is was Jesus, the great healer – called out,

“Son of David, have pity on me!” (cf Mk 10:46ff)

Jesus called him, and restored his sight immediately.

There are a few other Gospel passages where people looking for healing call out to Him as “Son of David.”

God’s promise to David was that his descendants would occupy the throne till the Promised One would come.  The angel Gabriel said to Mary,

“The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor, David.”

(Lk 1:32)    

In the antiphon we hear: “… before whom kings are silent and the nations beseesch.”

He was not recognised by the ‘kings,’ by the people in authority: but the poor and needy people came to Him.  Those in authority should have known Him, for they knew their Scripture better than the common folk: Isaiah says (11:2):

“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” 

The miracles He worked should have pointed Him out as the Promised Messiah.

There is a beautiful passage at the end of the Apocalypse, where Jesus identifies Himself thus:

“I am the root and the offspring of David,

the bright morning star.” (22:16)

He doesn’t say, “I am the Son of God,” or “I am the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.”  No.  Let us ponder the humility of the Eternal Word of God who identifies Himself as one of us, a man: “I am the offspring of David.”

Come, O LORD, to deliver us: no longer delay.

 

 

O Adonai - 18th December 2015

 

O Adonai, Ruler of the house of Israel, who gave the Law to Moses on Sinai

come to save us with out-stretched arm, Alleluia.

 

This is a prayer made from a truly humble and trusting heart, that knows its need of our heavenly Father to save us.

The theme of God’s out stretched arm to help his people is found frequently in Scripture and must surely touch us deeply.  For example in Psalm 97 ‘His right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation’.

There is something so comforting in arms outstretched towards us, we feel needed and loved and this gives us an inner security.  One often sees a loving mother or father stretch out their arms to save their child from some danger or simply to swoop the child up in a loving hug.

When returning home after a long absence, it’s a wonderful experience to be met by a loved one with outstretched arms.   It cannot be less so with our heavenly father, he is always and everywhere stretching out his arms to welcome us, no matter how we may have strayed,

We have only to reflect on the parable of the Prodigal son in St. Luke’s Gospel (Ch.15).  Who could fail to be touched, as in our mind’s eye we watch that loving father run with outstretched arms to welcome and embrace his wayward son?  The Gospels are full of occasions where Jesus stretches out his arms and hands to bring healing and salvation by his divine touch.

During this Advent Season as we prepare to celebrate once again, the birth of Christ among us, and as we immerse ourselves in this very special Year of Mercy given to the Church  so magnanimously by Pope Francis ,  we are surely filled anew with wonder at the depth of love and mercy that led our heavenly father, with his outstretched arms to send his only Son as our Redeemer – that Son who some 30 years later, stretched out his arms on the Cross in an immense act of love and mercy, and died for our salvation.

Such unconditional love and mercy means God is summoning us forth with the loudest of calls, stirring up our hidden being, pleading with us to return love for love, mercy for mercy.  ‘I have loved you’ he tells us,  ‘with an everlasting love, therefore I have drawn you to myself’.  This is surely the great desire of Pope Francis, that deep in our hearts we would entrust ourselves one hundred per cent into the loving outstretched arms of God’s unfathomable love and mercy.

O Ruler of the house of Israel, come and save us with outstretched arm.

O Antiphons - O Wisdom - 17th December 2105

Today we start our traditional Novena before Christmas with the’ Great O Antiphons’. May this prayer help us to enter into the wide opened Door of God’s Mercy, and to be real witnesses of God’s presence among us, not only by the preaching of the glad things of His coming but above all by revealing Him in our lives.

                                 O SAPIENTIA

O Wisdom you come fort from the mouth of the Most High, You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O comes to teach us the way of truth. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus come.

O Wisdom

My previous relation with Wisdom was always cold and very weak. It mostly meant for me something very high, big, and far away - not useful for ordinary daily life or prayer. But preparing this reflection she placed her arms on me, and I heard her strong yet gentle heartbeat.

There was once a Jewish boy, who resisted learning the Torah. To his parents, nothing could have been more distressing .When the Chief Rabbi came to visit their home, the parents expressed to him their concern about their son. The Rabbi asked permission to place his arms around the boy. The parents agreed, moving aside. They watched and waited, expecting to hear some of advice from the Rabbi to the boy. But the only word they heard was silence, as they watched their son rest close to the Rabbi’s heart.

The next day the boy began to study the Torah. His passion for God’s word grew. Years later he himself became a wise and loving Rabbi. Many asked him whence his knowledge came. He simply said, ’’I put my ear close to the Chief Rabbi’s heart and in that moment I heard the heartbeat of God’’.

Wisdom revealed to us the depths of God’s heart. The ‘Wisdom’ to whom we cry is Jesus himself as St. Paul declared in his letter to the Corinthians ’’Christ…the wisdom of God.’’(1 Cor 1,24)He is our hearts desire, the one we long for and ask him to come to us and teach us the way of truth and life.

‘The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, a Spirit of wisdom and understanding a Spirit of counsel and power a Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord’ (Is11,2)

‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’. (Proverbs 9.10)That fearing of the Lord means fearing to run away from Him. It means fearing to seek refuge and joy and hope anywhere other than in God.

Others had pointed the way to life - He is the way and the life (J14.6)
Others had given promises, but ‘’all the promises of God find their yes in him (2Cor 1.20)

Others had offered God’s forgiveness, Jesus bought it by his death.

Therefore in him are "hid all the treasuries of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2.3). To be near to his heart is the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness.

Novena to St Dominic 2015 - Day 8

Since today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, it seems appropriate to focus in this reflection on the importance that the Word of God has in St Dominic’s life and preaching. It can be said that St Dominic truly lived and was granted the grace asked for in today’s opening prayer: “grant, we pray, to you servants, that, listening to the voice of your beloved Son, we may merit to become coheirs with Him.” 

We know that he always carried with him on his journeys one of the Gospels and the letters of St Paul and it is said that he knew them by heart. The study of Scripture is, of course, an important part of the life of the Order so that the “seeds of the Word of God” may be given to others through preaching. But, of even more significance is the example Dominic left us of his use of Scripture in his prayer. In the little booklet “The Nine Ways of Prayer of St Dominic,” which dates from the 13^th century, a number of those Ways of Prayer involve Scripture. 

Most of the Ways of Prayer (e.g. the Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Ways) included the frequent repetition of short phrases from Scripture (e.g. Lk 18:13 “God be merciful to me a sinner”, Mt 8:2, the Psalms etc).

In the Fifth Way of Prayer “he held himself, standing with great respect and devotion, as if he were reading in the presence of God. Deep in prayer, he seemed to meditate on the words of God, and as it were to repeat them over and over to himself with delight.” A practice that he would also adopt while on his journeys.

The Eight Way of Prayer, is much like what we now speak of as Lectio Divina: Dominic “in the spirit of devotion roused in him by the divine words chanted in choir or in the refectory, would go speedily to some solitary place, in his cell or elsewhere, to read and pray by himself and in the presence of God. … then he felt his soul gently moved, as if he heard the Lord speaking.” This image of Dominic prayerfully contemplating the Gospels is particularly familiar thanks to Fra Angelico’s presentation of the Crowning with Thorns. 

The Ninth Way of Prayer, involved this type of prayerful mediation on the Word of God, as he walked on his journeys, indicating how well he knew the Scriptures.

“In the opinion of the Brethren, it was by praying thus that the Saint attained that fullness of knowledge of the Holy Scripture, penetrated into the very marrow of the sacred words, acquired the holy daring of his ardent preaching, and lived in that intimate familiarity with the Holy Spirit from which he drew the knowledge of hidden things.”

May our holy Father Dominic intercede for us, that we may have the same ardent love for the Word of God and may imitate him and our Lady in treasuring the Word of God and pondering it in our hearts (Lk 2:19). 

Novena to St Dominic 2015 - Day 7

Pope Francis has announced that the coming year-2016 will be a year dedicated to the Mercy of God for the whole Church, and by a happy coincidance our Order is celebrating the 800th Jubilee of its foundation.

 Reading through the Libellus and other documents of these early days I find that one of the most frequently mentioned characteristics of St. Dominic is his compassion, again and again we read of his long night vigils as he struggles with God to have Mercy on all His children, especially his most wayward ones.   Mercy Mercy, he cried, Lord have mercy on your children. What will become of sinners ?

Dominic could resonate with the beautiful lines from the poet on mercy and this was surely his way of thinking and his way of seeing life.

               "The quality of mercy is not strained----

it droppeth like the gentle dew from heaven

Upon the place beneath:  it is twice blest;-------

it blesseth him that gives and him that takes"

                                                                                                                        Shakespeare

St Lukes' Gospel on the Proddigal Son would have been especially dear to Dominic. It is said that he pondered with Mary the Word of God and St Paul's letters that he always carried with him, knowing them almost by heart.    We can see him pleading with and sharing the full depth of this story with the man in the inn as they talked and argued all night  long, and also with the sinners who were drawn to him, as they sensed that here was a man who would listen to their story and understand their problems, and sinfullness.---I will arise and go to mt Father---I have sinned and gone astray.  He would encourage these poor  children even the heretics, telling them of God's boundless love and mercy for them, and the welcome they would find in Jesus just as the prodigal son experienced it.

He would remind them too of the last Supper, the moment when John rested his head on the breast of Jesus in complete trust, sure of Jesus' love for him and his acceptance of this "son of thunder."   

 Where did St. Dominic our Father find the strength to sustain those long nights of intercession  and days of walking, teaching and arguing while at the same time bringing to birth his young Order of Friars Preachers?  He would tell them of God's constaint pursuit of them  each one individually and personally.

                        "All which I took from thee I did but take,-----not for thy harm's sake

                 but just that thou migh'st seek it in my arms.----all which thy child's mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home;   Rise clasp my hand an come.

                                                                                                                              the hound of heaven

 It was Our Lady, Queen of Heaven herself who walked with Dominic along the dusty roads and came with him into the inns, wherever a wayward son and daughter could be found.

 Maybe his prayer went like this - universal and personal as always

          Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners,   Hail holy Queen  mother of Mercy,----turn then most gracious advocate thine eyes of mercy towards us/

 Our Father Dominic has not changed and he accompanies his children as they travel along the dusty roads of life sometimes getting muddied and messed up, but always with our Father and Mary our Mother - sure that after this our exile he will be there waiting to show us the blessed fruit of Mary's womb---Jesus         Dominic we thank you.

Icon Course - July 2105

We share with you some pictures from the icon course last week which Mihai Cucu conducted in our monastery - five of our sisters participated but all of us who 'kept the house going' were enriched by the beauty of the work.  These pictures tell their own story - so no need of comment - but you will see how hard the iconographers worked.

On the final morning we had a special ceremony during Mass to the blessings of the icons which were completed and of course took some photos afterwards with Mihai and the happy iconographers with their work