Called to Pray and Recite Psalms

If a man has tar on his hands, he removes it with a little cleansing oil; how much more, then, can you be made clean with the oil of God’s mercy. You find no difficulty in washing your clothes; how much easier is it for the Lord to cleanse you from every stain, even though you are bound to be tempted every day.

When you say to the Lord ‘I have sinned’, He answers: ‘Your sins are forgiven you; I am He Who blots out your iniquities and I will not remember your sins’ (Mt 9, 2 & Is 43, 25). As far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your sins from you; and as a Father has compassion on his children, so will I have compassion on you (cf Ps 102 [103], 12-13).

Only do not rebel against Him Who has called you to pray and recite psalms, but cleave to Him throughout your life in pure and intimate communion, reverent yet unashamed in His presence, and always full of thanksgiving.

It is God Who cleanses you by a simple act of His will. For has not God in His love acquitted us? Who then will condemn us? (cf Rom 8, 33-34). When we call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not hard for our conscience to be made pure, and then we are no different from the prophets and the rest of the saints. For God’s purpose is not that we should suffer from His anger, but that we should gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us.

So, whether we are watchful in virtue or sometimes fall asleep, as is likely to happen because of our failings, yet shall we live with Christ. As we look up to Him with cries of distress and continual lamentation, it is He Himself that we breathe.

~ John of Karpathos ~

Climbing from the Letter of the Law to the Will of the Law

Our dear Lord proclaims that He did not come to unbind (solvere) the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill (adimplere) them (cf Mt 5, 17). The physicality of the Law, id est, what we do, what we can see, what our physical senses perceive, may have been removed from our Catholic ceremonial life, like circumcision, exempli gratia, but the spiritual and moral value not only remains, but through Christ, they are perfected. God’s perfection cannot be abolished for a different, a better idea, for that would make it less than perfect; but when His perfection is subject to our imperfection, then His precepts cannot reach complete fruition until His Perfect One intercedes. Only He can proclaim: «Consummatum est!» -- ‘It is consummated’ (Io, 19, 30).

Jesus is calling us to a higher standard: «Estote ergo vos perfecti, sicut Pater vester cælestis perfectus est» -- ‘Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Mt 5, 48). He is Perfection and Fulfillment and is calling us to Him, for as He tells us: «Sine me nihil potestis facere» -- ‘Without Me you can do nothing’ (Io 15, 5).

Saint John Chrysostom writes: ‘He [Jesus] fulfilled the Law by reducing all the precepts of the old Law to a more strict and powerful morality’.

Saint Thomas Aquinas adds: ‘See how necessary it is, not only to believe, but to keep all the Commandments, even the very least. Our Savior makes this solemn declaration at the opening of His mission, to show to what a height of perfection He calls us’.

Indeed, Jesus came and raised the letter of the Law to the will of the Law – and He stands at the pinnacle of that spiritual mountain, desiring that we be elevated to those heights.

Ceaselessly Keeping Jesus in Our Hearts

If we commence to keep God’s commandments with fervent zeal, from that moment onward grace will illumine all of our senses with deep sentiments, as if it were burning our thoughts and penetrating our heart with the peace of unyielding friendship, preparing us to consider things of the spirit rather than things of the flesh. This is what frequently occurs to those who approach perfection -- to those who without ceasing keep within their hearts the memory of the Lord Jesus. Let this be his only exercise and his constant practice.

To all who without ceasing meditate on His holy and glorious Name in the depths of their heart will see the light of their minds. Thus tamed by such an exacting effort of thought, every stain on the soul’s surface is consumed in ardent feeling because, our God is a consuming fire. Thus the Lord invites the soul to immense love of His own glory, for persevering in the mind’s memory of that glorious and most desirable Name with an ardent heart, produces in us a love for His goodness that is habitual, which, from that moment onward, nothing can disturb. This is the precious pearl which is obtained upon having dispossessed oneself of all one’s belongings and whose discovery brings about ineffable joy.

~ Diadochus of Photice ~

God's Garden of Delight

You who walk around in the gardens of the Scriptures do not pass by heedlessly and idly but search each and every word like busy bees gathering honey from flowers, reap the Spirit from the words. Proving by experience that hidden manna is savoury, you will break forth into those words of David: "How sweet are Your words to my palate, more than honey to my mouth" (Ps 118 [119], 103).

From these gardens the Bridegroom will lead you, and if I’m not mistaken, into others where rest is more hidden, enjoyment more blessed and beauty more wonderful. When you are absorbed in His praises with accents of exultation and thanksgiving, He will take you into His wonderful dwelling place, into the very house of God, into the unapproachable light in which He dwells, where He feeds, where He lies down at midday. For if the devotion of those who sing psalms or pray has a touch of that loving curiosity of the disciples who asked: "Rabbi, where are you dwelling?" (Io 1, 38), I think they deserve to hear: "Come and see" (Io 1, 39). And then we read: "They came and saw where He abode and they stayed with Him that day" (ibid).

As long as we are with the Father of lights, with Whom there can be no change, no straying from His course, we know nothing of the night, we enjoy a blessed daylight. When we fall, hence, we relapse into our own darkness. Woe is me: how quickly my days have passed away, how quickly I have dried up like grass. As long as I was in the garden with Him, I was vigorous and flourishing like God's Paradise. With Him I am a garden of delight; without Him, a place of horror and sheer wilderness.

For I think that the man who enters his garden becomes a garden himself, his soul is like a watered garden, so that the Bridegroom says in praise of him: "My sister, My spouse is a garden enclosed" (Cant 4, 12). Yield the fragrance of incense. Blossom like the lily, and smell sweet, and put forth leaves for your adornment.

~ Blessed Guerric of Igny ~

Dominica Tertia Quadragesimæ

First Reading, Exodus 17:3-7

The people of Israel grumbled against Moses enough for him to think that they actually might try to kill him. Scripture reads: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deut 6,16). Jesus actually quoted this passage when He was being tempted in the desert by the devil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that tempting God wounds the respect and trust we owe our Creator and Lord. It always harbors doubt about His love, His providence and His power (cf CCC 2119). In this Reading, the people of Israel tempt and challenge God to supply water for their thirst. Water is a symbol of life and every human being needs water to sustain life. Water is also used for cleansing. It is fitting that water is used in baptism. In the Sacrament of Baptism we are cleansed of our sins and are given a new life as a child of God. The rock in Horeb, according to Saint Paul, is a figure of Christ: “All drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ” (1 Cor 10, 4). The words Massah and Meribah mean “quarrel” and “test”. The people ask, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” That question never seems to go away. It was asked thousands of years ago and it is still asked today, usually when tragedy strikes. It is yet another way of tempting God, trying to get Him to reveal Himself, although, depending on the circumstances, it can be at times quite understandable in our lowly humanity. During Lent, we do indeed ask the Lord to reveal Himself but not in a way that would be considered tempting God. Through prayer we seek Him longing for intimacy and forgiveness, longing to quench a thirst that water cannot suffice.

Second Reading, Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

The apostle Paul proceeds in this Reading to show how wonderful a benefit it is to be truly justified by the coming of Christ. Saint John Chrysostom adds that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by laying aside all contentions; or let us have peace with God by sinning no more. And we can have this peace even when we’re in the midst of our greatest trials, which, with our Lord’s help, can lead us to an increase in virtue and patience. God has showered us with the blessings of faith, charity, patience, and fidelity even though we’re not deserving of it. Knowing this, there must be the greatest confidence that after this pledge and assurance of His good will towards us, He will finish the work He has begun and bring us to His heavenly Kingdom. Saint Paul writes: “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.” Indeed, we are temples of the Holy Spirit which means that the great Paraclete resides in our soul, sanctifying it and making it a partaker of His divine love. Because of God’s love and mercy for His people, Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly; meaning that we were sinners and consequently His enemy. Saint Paul continues: “Perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die”; that is to say, courage to die for a person that has been good to us. As Saint Jerome puts it, “Scarcely would anyone die for a just cause; for who would ever think of dying for injustice?” For however long our journey is in this life, chances are we will never fully grasp how much God loves us.

Gospel, Saint John 4:5-42

Saint Augustine taught that the woman of Samaria symbolizes the Church which was not yet justified, but was about to be justified. Saint Augustine continues: “She comes in ignorance, she finds Him, and He converses with her. We must see what this woman of Samaria was and why she had come to draw water. The Samaritans did not belong to the Jewish nation, but were foreigners. It is part of the symbolism that this woman, who is a type of the Church, came from a foreign nation, because the Church was to come from the Gentiles and so be of a different race. Because she provided a symbol, she became the reality too. For she came to believe in Jesus Who was putting her before us as a symbol. She was surprised that a Jew was quite uncharacteristically requesting a drink from her. Although Jesus asked for a drink, His real thirst was for this woman’s faith.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church shares something beautiful about Jesus’ thirst: “The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is He Who first seeks us and asks for a drink. Jesus thirsts; His asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for Him” (CCC 2560). Continuing with Saint Augustine’s homily, he says: “Jesus asks her for a drink. He is in need as One Who will accept, He abounds as One Who will satisfy. Jesus said, ‘If you knew the gift of God.’ God’s gift is the Holy Spirit but He still speaks to her in a veiled language, and gradually He enters into her heart. The water which He was about to give to her is surely the water referred to in the words, ‘With You is the fountain of life.’ Jesus was promising her plentiful nourishment and the abundant fullness of the Holy Spirit. The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’ Need drove her to this labor, while her frailty recoiled from it. How wonderful if she heard the invitation, ‘Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ That was what Jesus’ words to her meant -- an end to her labor; but she did not yet understand their meaning.” The Samaritan woman uses the term, “our father Jacob” because the Samaritans claimed lineage from Abraham, therefore, they called Jacob their father because he was Abraham’s grandson. The Venerable Bede explains that they also called Jacob their father because they lived under the Law of Moses and were in possession of the land that Jacob had bequeathed to his son Joseph. When Jesus tells her to go call your husband, He begins to show her that He knows all about her life. The Samaritan woman says: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,” meaning Jacob and the ancient patriarchs, whom the Samaritans called their fathers. The mountain is Gerizim, where the Samaritans had built a temple; and it was there that the Samaritans would come to worship instead of at Jerusalem. The Samaritans believed that the patriarchs had exercised their religious rituals on this mountain. Jesus tells the woman that salvation is from the Jews. Saint John Chrysostom explains the meaning of our Savior’s words: “The Israelites, on account of their innumerable sins, had been delivered by the Almighty into the hands of the king of Assyria, who led them all away as captives into Babylon and sent other nations whom He had collected from different parts, to inhabit Samaria. But the Almighty, to show to all nations that He delivered up His people solely on account of their transgressions, sent lions [aggressive men] into the land to persecute these strangers. The Assyrian king upon hearing this, sent them a priest to teach them the Law of God; but they did not depart wholly from their impiety, for many of them returned again to their idols, while at the same time worshipping the true God. It was on this account that Christ preferred the Jews before them saying, ‘Salvation is from the Jews,’ whom it was the chief principle to acknowledge the true God and hold every denomination of idols in detestation. The Samaritans, by mixing the worship of one with the other, plainly showed that they held the God of the universe in no greater esteem than their idols.” Jesus tells her: “The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.” The Catechism explains that worship in Spirit and truth of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place. What matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the living stones gathered to be built into a spiritual house. For the Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, we are the temple of the living God (cf CCC 1179). Jesus was not in any way suggesting that Christian worship should have no use of external signs towards God, for that would take away all sacrifice, sacraments and prayers. The Samaritan woman tells Jesus: “I know that the Messiah is coming, the One called the Christ; when He comes, He will tell us everything.” Even the Samaritans, at that time, expected the coming of the Messiah. Jesus said to her, “I am He,” which He proclaimed to the Samaritan woman, first by His words, but perhaps even more by His grace, which would have convinced her heart that He was indeed the Messiah. The disciples were amazed that He was talking to her and experiencing this may have taught them something about the humility of Jesus. The Samaritans looked for the Messiah because they had the books of Moses, in which Jacob foretold of the world’s Redeemer: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah or a ruler from his thigh, till He that is to be sent comes” (Gen 49, 10). Jesus tells His disciples to look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The harvest of souls was approaching when Christ came to teach the way of salvation and to send His apostles to convert all nations. “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for”; by these words Jesus testifies to His apostles that the prophets had sown the seed in order to bring all to believe in Christ. This was the end of the Law, the fruit which the prophets looked for to reward their labors. Jesus, likewise, shows them that as it is He Himself Who sends the apostles; it is also He Who sent the prophets before them, and that the Old and New Testaments are of the same origin. Finally, through the grace of God, we see that many of the Samaritans came to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Saviour sent to redeem the world.

Being Luminous in the Communion of the Real Light

This is the path to lead us to the discovery of the Beautiful.

All other objects that attract men's love, be they never so fashionable, be they prized never so much and embraced never so eagerly, must be left below us, as too low, too fleeting, to employ the powers of loving which we possess; not indeed that those powers are to be locked up within us unused and motionless; but only that they must first be cleansed from all lower longings; then we must lift them to that height to which sense can never reach.

Admiration even of the beauty of the heavens, and of the dazzling sunbeams, and, indeed, of any fair phenomenon, will then cease. The beauty noticed there will be but as the hand to lead us to the love of the celestial Beauty Whose glory the heavens and the firmament declare, and Whose secret the whole creation sings.

The soul rising up, leaving all that she has grasped already as too narrow for her needs, will thus grasp the idea of that Magnificence which is exalted far above the heavens.

He therefore who raises himself above all low earthly ambitions, or, more than that, above the whole universe itself, will be the man to find that which is alone worth loving, and to become himself as beautiful as the Beauty which he has touched and entered, and to be made bright and luminous himself in the communion of the real Light.

~ Saint Gregory of Nyssa, De Virginitate ~

She is the ever-blooming paradise of incorruptibility

At the Carthusian hour of Matins for the Solemnity of the Annunciation, eight Lessons are reflected on from Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus. Here’s what the monks heard from the saint of Neocæsarea who is sometimes referred to as Gregory the Wonderworker.

It is our duty to present to God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and first of all, the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God, when the angel called her ‘full of grace’! First of all wisdom and saving doctrine in the New Testament was this salutation, ‘Hail, full of grace’ (Lc 1, 28) conveyed to us from the Father of lights. And this address, ‘Hail, full of grace’, God embraces the whole of human nature. ‘Hail, full of grace’ in the holy conception and in the glorious pregnancy, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. See, then, dearly beloved, how the Lord has conferred upon us everywhere, and indivisibly, the joy which transcends all human thought.

While on earth, Mary was in possession of the incorruptible citizenship, and walked as such in all manner of virtues, and lived a life more excellent than the common human standard. The Word of the Eternal Father wanted to assume the flesh, and endue the perfect Man from her. Through the flesh sin entered into the world and death by sin. But the Incarnation condemns sin in the burying of the holy body of Mary; thus the tempter of sin is overcome. With the Incarnation, therewith also the beginning of the resurrection might be exhibited, and life eternal instituted in the world, and fellowship established for men with God the Father. Who will be able to explain the incomprehensible mystery? What shall we state and what shall be left in silence?

Gabriel was sent to the holy Virgin; the incorporeal was dispatched to her who in the body pursued the incorruptible conversation, and lived in purity and in virtues. And when he came to her, he first addressed her with the salutation, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee’. For you do what is worthy of joy indeed, since you have put on the vesture of purity, and are girt with the cincture of prudence. ‘Hail, full of grace’, for to your lot it has fallen to be the vehicle of celestial joy. ‘Hail, full of grace’, for through you joy is decreed for the whole creation, and the human race receives again by you its pristine dignity. ‘Hail, full of grace’, for in your arms the Creator of all things shall be carried. Mary was perplexed by these words; for she was inexperienced in all the addresses of men, and welcomed quiet, as the Mother of prudence and purity. And since she is a pure and Immaculate and stainless image herself, she shrank not in terror from the angelic apparition, like most of the prophets, as indeed true virginity has a kind of affinity and equality with the angels.

Then again the archangel addressed her with the announcement of a joy: ‘Fear not, Mary, for you have found favour with God’ (Lc 1, 30). These words not only give you understanding that there is nothing to fear, but shows you the very key to the absence of all cause for fear. For through me all the heavenly powers hail you, the holy Virgin: rather, He Himself, Who is Lord of all the heavenly powers and of all creation, has selected you because you are holy and adorned with grace. Through your holy, chaste, pure, and undefiled womb the enlightening Pearl comes forth for the salvation of all the world. You are the most honourable, the purest, and the most pious of all human creatures. You have a mind whiter than the snow, and a body of pure gold refined in the crucible. Ezekiel saw you, which he has described in these terms: ‘And the likeness of the throne above them was as the appearance of a sapphire-stone: and above the throne it was as the likeness of a human, and as the appearance of amber; and within it there was, as it were, the likeness of fire round about’ (Ez 1, 26-27). Clearly, then, did the prophet behold in type Him Who was born of the holy virgin, whom you, O holy Virgin, would have had no strength to bear, had you not beamed forth for that time with all that is glorious and virtuous.

And with what words of praise, then, shall we describe her Virgin-dignity? With what indications and proclamations of praise shall we celebrate her stainless figure? With what spiritual song or word shall we honour her who is most glorious among the angels? She is planted in the house of God like a fruitful olive that the Holy Spirit overshadowed; and by her means are we called sons and heirs of the Kingdom of Christ. She is the ever-blooming paradise of incorruptibility, wherein is planted the tree that gives life, and that furnishes to all the fruits of immortality. Mary is the boast and glory of virgins, and the exultation of mothers. She is the sure support of the believing, and the helper of the pious. She is the vesture of light, and the domicile of virtue. She is the ever-flowing fountain, wherein the water of life sprang and produced the Lord's Incarnate manifestation. Mary is the monument of righteousness; and all who become lovers of her, and set their affections on virgin-like ingenuousness and purity, shall enjoy the grace of angels.

All who worthily observe the festival of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, acquire as their recompense the fuller interest in the message, ‘Hail, full of grace’! It is our duty, therefore, to keep this feast, seeing that it has filled the whole world with joy and gladness. And let us keep it with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. The Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, full of grace, has become for us the principle of all good, the admirable plan of salvation, the divine and excellent teaching of the Saviour. Thence rise the rays of the light of understanding upon us. Thence spring for us the fruits of wisdom and immortality, sending forth the clear pure streams of piety. Thence come to us the brilliant splendours of the treasures of divine knowledge. ‘For this is life eternal, that we may know the true God, and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent’ (Io 17, 3).

God in His goodness, when He saw the creature He Himself had formed now held by the power of death, did not turn away finally from him whom He had made in His own Image, but visited him in each generation. Manifesting Himself first of all among the patriarchs, and then proclaiming Himself in the law, and presenting the likeness of Himself in the prophets, He announced His plan of salvation. When the fullness of time had come for His glorious appearing, He sent beforehand the archangel Gabriel to bear the glad tidings to the Virgin Mary. And he came down from the ineffable powers above to the holy Virgin, and addressed her first of all with the salutation, ‘Hail, full of grace’. And when this word reached her, in the very moment of her hearing it, the Holy Spirit entered into the undefiled temple of the Virgin, and her spirit and her body were sanctified together. And nature stood opposite, and natural intercourse at a distance, beholding with amazement the Lord of nature, in a manner contrary to nature, or rather above nature, doing a miraculous work in the body. By the very weapons which the devil strove against us, Christ also saved us, taking to Himself our body, subject to suffering, in order that He might impart the greater grace to the being who was deficient in it. ‘And where sin abounded, grace did much more abound’ (Rom 5, 20).

Your praise, O most holy Virgin, surpasses all praise, because God took Flesh and was born Man of you. To you every creature, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, gives you the offering of honour. You are indeed worthy of the throne of the cherubim and you shine as the very brightness of light in the high places of the kingdoms of intelligence. The Father, Who is without beginning, and Whose power you had overshadowing you, is glorified. The Son is worshipped, Whom you bore according to the flesh; and where the Holy Spirit is praised, Who effected in your womb the generation of the mighty King. Through you, O full of grace, is the holy and consubstantial Trinity known throughout the world. Together with yourself, deem us also worthy to be made partakers of your perfect grace in Jesus Christ our Lord, with Whom, and with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, now and ever, and unto the ages of the ages. Amen.