{"id":2498,"date":"2006-12-09T18:33:26","date_gmt":"2006-12-09T18:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2006\/12\/in-laetitia-cordis-vestri\/"},"modified":"2018-12-09T11:51:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T11:51:10","slug":"in-laetitia-cordis-vestri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2006\/12\/in-laetitia-cordis-vestri\/","title":{"rendered":"In laetitia cordis vestri"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"6stjohn.jpg\"<\/a>The painting of Saint John the Baptist (1513\u20131516) is by Leonardo da Vinci. The Holy Foreunner is youthful; his smile reveals a secret joy. The raised finger illustrates the incipit of the Introit: “People of Sion, behold!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Second Sunday of Advent<\/strong><\/p>\n

People of Sion, Behold<\/strong>
\nPeople of Sion, behold the Lord shall come for the saving of the nations; and the Lord shall make heard the glory of his voice in the joy of your heart (Is 30: 19, 30). The first thing that struck me about today\u2019s Mass is that the Introit is addressed not to God, as was last Sunday\u2019s, but to us. Last Sunday we prayed, \u201cTo you, my God, I lift up my soul\u201d (Ps 24). Today\u2019s Introit is taken not from the Psalter but from the prophet Isaiah, and straightaway it engages us: \u201cPeople of Sion, behold the Lord shall come for the saving of the nations\u201d (Is 30:19).<\/p>\n

Inhabitants of the City of God<\/strong>
\nWho is speaking in today\u2019s Introit? The text is borrowed from the prophet Isaiah but the voice is that of \u201cone crying in the wilderness\u201d (Mt 3:3): John the Baptist. \u201cPeople of Sion!\u201d he thunders. We are the people of Sion, sons and daughters of the Church, inhabitants of the City of God. The Letter to the Hebrews says: \u201cYou have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, and the heavenly Jerusalem\u201d (Heb 12:22).\"lu327.gif\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Behold<\/strong>
\nAgain, there is that little compelling little word, ecce, behold<\/em>. It is one of Saint John the Baptist\u2019s favorite words. He who saw Jesus coming toward him and said, \u201cBehold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world\u201d (Jn 1:29), today says, \u201cBehold, the Lord shall come!\u201d Try to hear all that he puts into his behold: \u201cStand up straight, open wide your eyes! Look, and looking see! You cannot afford to be sleepy, unaware, or preoccupied with other things.\u201d The Lord shall come and indeed is coming already for the saving of the nations. He comes to rescue. He comes to give peace. He comes to make whole all that is broken. He comes to assemble what has been scattered.<\/p>\n

The Glory of His Voice<\/strong>
\nThe Introit goes on to say: \u201cand the Lord shall make heard the glory of His voice in the joy of your heart\u201d (cf. Is 30:30). Clearly, this is John the Baptist. \u201cThe glory of His voice in the joy of your heart,\u201d gives him away. You will remember that, speaking of himself, he said: \u201cThe friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom\u2019s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full\u201d (Jn 3:29). The voice of the Bridegroom is heard however in the heart. \u201cHe will not wrangle or cry aloud,\u201d says Isaiah, \u201cnor will any one hear His voice in the streets\u201d (Is 42:2).<\/p>\n

The Advent of the Beloved<\/strong>
\nToday\u2019s Introit is a call to look and to listen for the advent of the Lord. Look, look with eyes open wide for salvation is on the way. Listen, listen with the ear of your heart and, already, you will hear Him. \u201cThe voice of my Beloved,\u201d says the bride of the Canticle. \u201cBehold, He comes\u201d (Ct 2:8).<\/p>\n

Impediments On the Way<\/strong>
\nThe Collect also focuses on the advent of the Lord. \u201cAlmighty and merciful God, let no works of worldly impulse impede those who are hastening to meet your Son.\u201d The image is of a multitude of people rushing out to greet the Lord at His coming. There are, nonetheless, obstacles in their way. The Latin text uses the word impediant. Our English words impede and impediment contains the Latin word for foot, pes. An impediment is something that trips us up, that ensnares our feet and causes us to stumble. The Collect recognizes that works driven by worldly concerns can trip us up and, effectively, get in the way of our coming to \u201cthe one thing necessary\u201d (Lk 10:42). Jesus says, \u201cDo not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on\u201d (Mt 6:25).<\/p>\n

Let Go<\/strong>
\nTo go to the Lord freely and without impediment is to go to Him free of anxiety. We can, all of us, be frightfully self-absorbed: my needs, my wants, my wishes, my space, my time, my things. Before one can go, one has to let go. Saint Clare of Assisi puts it this way: \u201cWith swift pace, light step, unswerving feet, so that even your steps stir up no dust, may you go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly\u201d (Second Letter to Agnes of Prague<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Heavenly Wisdom<\/strong>
\nThere is still more to the Collect. \u201cRather, may the teachings of heavenly wisdom makes us the companions of Him who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.\u201d The word heavenly, in this second part of the prayer, is in contrast with earthly in the first part. Be driven not by earthly compulsions, but by the teachings of heavenly wisdom! Heavenly wisdom, \u201cthe wisdom of God\u201d (1 Cor 1:24) is foolishness in the eyes of the world. One driven by heavenly wisdom will necessarily take a course that the world cannot understand, a course that, at times, the world is unwilling even to tolerate.<\/p>\n

O Sapientia<\/em><\/strong>
\nLooking and listening more closely we see and hear that this heavenly wisdom is the Word himself, made flesh, crucified, risen, ascended to the Father, and returning in glory. Wisdom is one of the Advent names of Christ. On December 17th the great cry will go up, \u201cO Sapientia! O Wisdom, come to teach us the way of prudence.\u201d By opening our hearts to the teachings of Wisdom we will become the companions of Wisdom, the consorts of Wisdom, not only in this life but also in the next.<\/p>\n

Partakers<\/strong>
\nBy ending with the word consortes<\/em>, the Collect points to the mystery of the Eucharist. The Prayer After Communion, in some way completes the Collect. \u201cWe humbly beseech you, Lord, that by our partaking of this mystery you would teach us to weigh wisely the things of earth and to cling to those of heaven.\u201d This is the way of prudence. This is the way of freedom. Run in this way and you will not stumble. \u201cWeigh wisely the things of earth, cling to those of heaven,\u201d and you will come, as Saint Clare says, \u201csecurely, joyfully, and swiftly\u201d to Christ.<\/p>\n

The Sacrament of our Joy<\/strong>
\n\u201cArise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high; and behold the joy that shall come to you from your God\u201d (Bar 5:5; 4:36). The Communion Antiphon has to be sung and heard and savored in its right context. As the faithful advance in procession, drawing nearer step by step to the Body and Blood of Christ, the cry of the prophet Baruch goes up, \u201cBehold the joy that shall come to you from your God\u201d (Bar 4:36). The Eucharist is the sacrament of our joy. Everything announced and promised by the prophets is given and fulfilled, here and now, in the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that the Lord comes for the saving of the nations; it is the Eucharist that He makes us hear the glory of His voice in the joy of our hearts.<\/p>\n

Practice Going Out to Meet Him<\/strong>
\nEvery Communion procession is a figure of the nations going forth to meet Christ in the advent of His glory. For the moment, He comes, hidden beneath the sacramental veils, and speaking heart to heart. On that day He will come gloriously revealed and speaking in a voice that will fill the cosmos with glory. Practice going out to meet Him now, and on that day you will go out to meet Him with \u201cswift pace, light step, and unswerving feet\u201d (Second Letter of Saint Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague<\/em>). Saint John the Forerunner will be there then as he is here now, to point out the way, saying again and again, \u201cBehold!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The painting of Saint John the Baptist (1513\u20131516) is by Leonardo da Vinci. The Holy Foreunner is youthful; his smile reveals a secret joy. The raised finger illustrates the incipit of the Introit: “People of Sion, behold!” Second Sunday of Advent People of Sion, Behold People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come for the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-liturgy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-Ei","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2498"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19743,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498\/revisions\/19743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}