ROSARY 9

STATIONS 2 WITH PADRE PIO

May with Mary: daily reflections in May

ADVENT WITH EVELYN 3 Where is He coming from?

    

 (From the Sermons of St Bernard)

 “…Ponder well, in assiduous meditation…and diligently reflect on the meaning of this ADVENT, asking yourselves: Who is it that comes? Whence does he come? To what place does he come? For what purpose does he come? At what time does he come? By what road does he come?” St Bernard

Second Question: WHENCE DOES HE COME? (from where?)

“Behold, you have heard Who He is that comes, consider now whence and to whom He comes. He comes from the heart of God the Father to the Womb of a Virgin Mother; He comes from the highest heaven to this low earth, that we whose conversation is now on earth may have Him for our most desirable companion. For where can it be well with us without Him, and where ill if He be present? "What have I in heaven, and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion forever"; Ps 72(73):25 and "though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil," if only "thou art with me." Ps 22(23):4. But here I see that our Lord descends not only to earth, but even to hell; not as one bound, but as free among the dead; as light that shines in the darkness, "and the darkness did not comprehend it." Wherefore His soul was not left in hell, nor did His holy body on earth see corruption. For Christ "that descended is the same also that ascended . . . that he might fill all things"; Eph 4:10 "who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil." Acts 10:38. And elsewhere we read, He "hath exalted as a giant to run his way His going forth is from the highest heavens, and his circuit even to the end thereof." Ps 18:7 Well might St. Paul cry out: "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God." Col. 3:1 In vain would the Apostle labour to raise our hearts upwards if he did not teach us that the Author of our salvation is sitting in heaven. But what follows? By considering Who He is that comes, we see His supreme and ineffable majesty, and by contemplating whence He comes, we behold the great highway clearly laid out to us. The Prophet Isaiah says: "Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar."Is 7:14.”

THREEFOLD COMING OF CHRIST

WHO IS COMING? ADVENT WITH EVELYN 2

ADVENT WITH EVELYN  2                   

 (Based the Sermons of St Bernard)

First Question: WHO IS COMING?

Truth is coming to restore what was destroyed by the of father of lies.

 “…Ponder well, in assiduous meditation…and diligently reflect on the meaning of this ADVENT, asking yourselves: Who is it that comes? Whence does he come? To what place does he come? For what purpose does he come? At what time does he come? By what road does he come?” St Bernard

St. Bernard encourages us to consider in astonishment and admiration the credentials, the greatness and identity of our expected Guest who, according to the testimony Gabriel, (He) is the Son of the Most High. Surely if he is God’s Son then He is God, coequal with His Father. He is coequal in majesty; He is coequal in dignity. A prince begets a prince.

Why the Son and not the Father or the Holy Spirit that became Man? I imagine this was not without cause. But "who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?" The Trinitarian choice of the Son was necessitated by the arrogance Lucifer, who attempted to usurp a similitude with the Most High, and "it was thought robbery in him to equal himself with God," an equality which was the Son’s by right. The Trinitarian mission was an act by He to whom alone belongs vengeance! When the Son empowered and sent out His disciples, He declared "I saw Satan as lightning falling from heaven." LK 10:18.

PRIDE OF SATAN VS PRIDE OF MAN

Satan, the most beautiful of the heavenly spirits, had committed no overt act he had but consented to a thought of pride, yet in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye he was irreparably rejected because, as the Evangelist says, "he stood not in the truth." Jn 8:44. Dust and ashes, why art thou proud? If God spared not pride in His angels, how much less will He tolerate it in thee, innate corruption? "Pride is the beginning of all sin" Ecclus 10:15. Lucifer became envious of man’s happiness, and by his false promises infused his evil in man. Wretch! What dost thou promise, when thou knowest that the Son of God has the key of knowledge yea, and is Himself the "key of David, that shutteth and no man openeth "that" in him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God"? 2 Wouldst thou, then, wickedly steal them away to give them to men?

Man became seduced by the counsel of the serpent, or, rather, of the devil in the serpent, they tried to seize upon what belonged by birth right to the Son of God. The Father therefore let His hand fall heavily on us all, "for in Adam all have sinned”.

The angels sinned through malice and were unwilling to repent so they perished and God created men to take their place. Man who had been supplanted by another’s malice would by the charity of another redeemed.

TRUTH COMES TO SET US FREE

Be it so, dear Lord, I beseech Thee. Be pleased to deliver me, for I am weak. Like Joseph of old, I was stolen away from my country, and here without any fault was cast into a dungeon. Yet I am not wholly innocent, but innocent compared with him who seduced me. He deceived me with a lie: let the truth come, that falsehood may be discovered, and that I may know the truth, and that the truth may make me free. But to gain the freedom I must renounce the falsehood when discovered, and adhere to the known truth; otherwise the temptation would not be human nor the sin a human sin, but diabolical obstinacy. To persevere in evil is the act of the devil, and those who persevere in evil after his example deservedly perish with him.

Behold, you have heard Who He is that comes; consider now whence and to whom He comes. 

ADVENT WITH EVELYN 1. (Based the Sermons of St Bernard)

INTRODUCTION.

Could this be your last Christmas? Probably, or perhaps not, who knows? I tend to think that one of the easiest ways to get to heaven is to live each moment as though it were our last. Some people I know were here during the last Christmas but they are not here this year. They are dead. Why did they die? Were they better or worse than those who survived the year? Who is next? Similarly, the best way to fully benefit from Christmas is to prepare well and celebrate it as though it were our last.

My friends complain that I talk about death all the time. “It is too sad”; “you are too young to think about death”; “that is depressing”; “why are you so negative?” are some of the reactions that follow. As a young college student many years ago, I travelled to Lagos to spend my holiday with my mother’s best friend. She had an only child aged seven, and he was the center of her world. One day the little boy asked me “if my mother dies, what will happen to me; can you be my new mother?” I rebuked him so much, and tried to reassure him that his mother would be around till he became a man. He persisted until his mother joined us. She in turn rebuked me for making such a claim to the child. She always answered all his questions truthfully, she insisted.  Two days later I was suddenly recalled because we had to resume sooner than previously scheduled. My hopes of travelling to Abuja with my mother’s friend were dashed and I left for Onitsha. A few days later, she travelled to Abuja without me, and died in a car crash! At her funeral, the little boy was really angry with me: “you lied to me, you said she wouldn’t die”. Why? Why did she die? So I learnt the hard way that death is at once most certain and most unpredictable.

Advent marks the beginning of a new Liturgical Year and is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas. New baby, new year, new life, so why should we think of death when Christ is just beginning his life?

Dear friends, I invite you to come with me on a four week journey to discover the true meaning of Christmas.  In the words of St Bernard, whose Sermons will form the basis of our reflections during this Season of Advent, let us:

“…Ponder well, in assiduous meditation…and diligently reflect on the meaning of this ADVENT, asking yourselves: Who is it that comes? Whence does he come? To what place does he come? For what purpose does he come? At what time does he come? By what road does he come?” St Bernard