LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT: A TSW CHRISTMAS CARD

Father Gordon Macrae's latest post on TSW is his Christmas card to us. LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT: A TSW CHRISTMAS CARD   This is my favorite part:

I am forced by circumstance to live in a place with men who are banished, not just from home and family and freedom, but too often also from hope. Some with even the darkest pasts have come into the light to thrill us with their stories of grace and true repentance and conversion. You have read of several in these pages and there are other stories yet to come. For some of these wounded men become saints, I am not fit to fasten their sandals.

We live East of Eden, a place from which the Magi of the Gospel saw a star and heard good news, the very best of news: Freedom can be found in only one place, and the way there is to follow the Star they followed. If you follow These Stone Walls, never follow me. Follow only Christ.

My Christmas card to you is this message, a tradition of sorts behind These Stone Walls. My small, barred cell window faces due West so my gaze is always out of the East. On this cold and gray December day, the sun will soon be setting behind the high prison wall, glistening upon its razor wire like tinsel. I sit in this spot every Christmas eve to watch its final descent behind the wall that is my view of the world at Christmas for the 21st time.

I offer this moment for you, for TSW readers the world over, and I offer for you this prayer, “Lead, Kindly Light,” my favorite verse from the newly canonized Saint John Henry Newman:

• Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
  Lead Thou me on;
  The night is dark, and I am far from home;
  Lead Thou me on.
• I was not ever thus,
  Nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
  I loved to choose and see my path,
  but now, Lead Thou me on.
• I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
  Pride ruled my will: Remember not past years.
  So long Thy power hath blessed me,
  Sure it still will lead me on,
• O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent,
  Til the night is gone,
  And with the morn those Angel faces smile,
  Which I have loved long since,
  and lost awhile.

Tabernacling

Is tabernacling a word?  Bishop Robert Barron uses it in his last reflection, in his book, Advent Gospel Reflections:

...The Word becoming flesh is God coming to dwell definitely in his world, undoing the effects of sin, and turning it into what it was always meant to be.  Notice, too, what we see in the wake of this tabernacling: "and we saw his glory, the glory of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth."

Tabernacling begins with the Incarnation.  The Incarnation is when Jesus was conceived as man. The Incarnation is when He became One with us, mankind.  We are conceived within our mothers' wombs, as was He.  Jesus' Mother Mary became His tabernacle.  As a human being, Jesus what  all the scriptures said.  All those words became Jesus.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

This is the tabernacling of Jesus.  His life among us. His saving us.  His redeeming us.  His glory.  Not only is this wondrous; it is life forever for us.

From His fullness we have all received, grace, life fulfilling grace.

Going Home on Christmas Eve

Please pray for Betty.  The first member of Argonauta, my book club, to die.  She died on Christmas Eve after an illness.  She loved angels.  

May the angels bring her home.

The New Life is Self-Controlled and Upright

LECTIO:                                                                                               Titus 2:11-15

For the grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men, instructing us, in order that, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately and justly piously in this world; looking for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse for himself an acceptable people, pursuing good works.  Thus speak, and exhort, and rebuke, with all authority.  Let no one despise thee.

STUDIUM:
Titus is the person in charge of developing the church on the island of Crete (1:5). Titus is a Gentile Christian who accompanied Paul and Barnabas for a while. Here he is an administrator charged with faith formation.  Paul is telling Titus the type of persons needed for evangelization.  Good works are to be evidence of their faith (3:8) and they will be given the grace to carry on their work.

MEDITATIO:

These verses sound like they might have been instructions at a baptism.  They are good instructions.  I was given this reading a few hours ago, to replace Hebrews 1:1-6.  It will be the second reading on Christmas Day.  When the pastor does this, it is because his homily addresses these verses.  Since it's Christmas, the church will be packed.  Many don't come to church, regularly, but they feel the need to do something special for Christmas.  They might not come regularly because of the current sex scandals.  If so, the last sentence is perfect: Let no one despise thee.

ORATIO:

Lord, may the instructions given in Titus 2:11-15 make our people think.  Give them courage and perseverence to spread the faith.

CONTEMPLATIO:

I reject all unholiness and proclaim Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

RESOLUTIO:

I need to constantly keep up my personal faith formation to be able to evangelize.

I am a Child of God

Lectio: 
HEB 1:1-6

Brothers and sisters:
In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways
to our ancestors through the prophets;
in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son,
whom he made heir of all things
and through whom he created the universe,
who is the refulgence of his glory,
the very imprint of his being,
and who sustains all things by his mighty word.
When he had accomplished purification from sins,
he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
as far superior to the angels
as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say:
You are my son; this day I have begotten you?
Or again:
I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me?
And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says:
Let all the angels of God worship him.

Studium: 

This reading begins with what was probably a hymn sung in one of the Hebrew liturgies. It would have pondered one of Isaiah's prophecies.  The reading is filled with visual imagery and at the end God's voice speaks to us.  And doesn't it sound like Wisdom personified?

 Meditatio:

The relationship between the Father and the Son is closer than the angels to God.  Dare I say, even closer than our relationship to the Father?  But Jesus, the Son is one of us,  so may I say, we have a special relationship with the Father, too? Jesus is the Son of the Father and our brother, and hence we are the children of God, too.

Oratio: 

O Lord, I love You as a child loves his father.  Even more so, because You are most worthy.

Contemplatio:

Resolutio:

I resolve to pray an Act of Contrition every evening.

The Last Spa You'll Ever Need

Nine Perfect Strangers is a new version of the story where a number of guests are invited to an English manor and one of them is murdered. Well...no one is murdered, but at one time there was the possibility that seven of them would be, and then there was the time that one of them might have been killed. Suspenseful? You bet!

And, funny!

The inner thought conversations each character has are hilarious at times, especially the initial reactions of the characters to each other. The characterization is very good. Each person is drawn to a precise picture. And I love how the author, Liane Moriarty, expands on the character's life, after the story line's completion.

The setting is a spa in Australia where seven people go for a health retreat. They are promised that their experiences will be life-altering. That does happen but not in the way anyone thought. Everyone lost weight (anyone would if what happened to them happened to you) and everyone appreciated life more (anyone would if what happened to them happened to you). But after a month everyone was back to their old habits. Instead of going to the spa everyone should have joined T.O.P.S. 

With Help from Our Sisters

My "cloistered brothers" keep in touch with the Dominican Sisters of Bethany in Europe.  Once in a while

they send letters to the pope.  The subjects vary but they all ask for the grace of the canonization of our founder, Blessed M. John Joseph Lataste, OP.  We never get a response from the Holy Father.

Now one of our sisters in an audience with Pope Francis handed the pope a letter from one of my "cloistered brothers."  Here are some photos of Sister M. Emmanuelle giving the letter to the pope.  How much do you want to bet that Fr. Lataste's cause for canonization is advanced!!!!

Deo Gratias.