Cloudy hours before the Dawn...

And humid; damp is the word I seem to prefer these days. One of the covens was prosing on about potential snow and ice at the weekend because the temperature will drop from today's close to 40 degrees F. to the low 30s but I didn't believe any of it. Not once in my recollection of these 22 years in Eugene has Thanksgiving Day or its weekend been wintery. Rainy, certainly, but that, while in fact the chief attribute of Winter here, is not wintery. Today is the feast of Saint John of the Cross, the great master of the  Carmelite reform and doctor of the spiritual life; the martyr Saint Chrysogonus has been commemorated only on this date since the Holy Doctor was added to the Calendar in 1738. 

In the Pauline Rite, Saint John of the Cross's feast has been moved into next month and Saint Chrysogonus, who is named in the Canon of the Mass, is... feastless, because those vandals decided that, while he might of course continue to receive veneration locally (i.e. at his basilica in Rome), his history is too 'fabulous' to justify retaining him amongst the number of the Roman Martyrs in the General Calendar. 

The Mass is In medio Ecclesiae.

Introitus. Eccli. 15, 5. In médio Ecclésiæ apéruit os ejus: et implévit eum Dóminus spíritu sapiéntiæ et intelléctus: stolam glóriæ índuit eum. Ps. 91,2. Bonum est confitéri Dómino: et psállere nómini tuo, Altíssime. ℣. Glória Patri.

Oratio. Deus, qui sanctum Joánnem Confessórem tuum atque Doctorem perféctæ sui abnegatiónis et Crucis amatórem exímium effecísti: concéde; ut, ejus imitatióni júgiter inhæréntes, glóriam assequámur ætérnam. Per Dóminum.

Oratio. Adésto, Dómine, supplicatiónibus nostris: ut, qui ex iniquitáte nostra reos nos esse cognóscimus, beáti Chrysógoni Mártyris tui intercessióne liberémur. Per Dóminum.

Léctio Epístolæ beáti Pauli Apóstoli ad Timotheum.

2. Tim. 4, 1-8.
Caríssime: Testíficor coram Deo, et Jesu Christo, qui judicatúrus est vivos et mórtuos, per advéntum ipsíus et regnum ejus: prǽdica verbum, insta opportúne, importune: árgue, óbsecra, íncrepa in omni patiéntia, et doctrína. Erit enim tempus, cum sanam doctrínam non sustinébunt, sed ad sua desidéria, coacervábunt sibi magistros, pruriéntes áuribus, et a veritáte quidem audítum avértent, ad fábulas autem converténtur. Tu vero vígila, in ómnibus labóra, opus fac Evangelístæ, ministérium tuum ímpie. Sóbrius esto. Ego enim jam delíbor, et tempus resolutiónis meæ instat. Bonum certámen certávi, cursum consummávi, fidem servávi. In réliquo repósita est mihi coróna justítiæ, quam reddet mihi Dóminus in illa die, justus judex: non solum autem mihi, sed et iis, qui díligunt advéntum ejus.

Graduale. Ps. 36, 30-31. Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam, et lingua ejus loquétur judícium. ℣. Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsíus: et non supplantabúntur gressus ejus.

Allelúja, allelúja. ℣. Eccli. 45, 9. Amávit eum Dóminus, et ornávit eum: stolam glóriæ índuit eum. Allelúja.

Pater Thomas SJ is back this week; alas, I managed to be required elsewhere so arrived only in time for the Gospel.

✠ Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Matthǽum.
Matth. 5, 13-19.

In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Vos estis sal terræ. Quod si sal evanúerit, in quo saliétur? Ad níhilum valet ultra, nisi ut mittátur foras, et conculcétur ab homínibus. Vos estis lux mundi. Non potest cívitas abscóndi supra montem pósita. Neque accendunt  lucérnam, et ponunt eam sub módio, sed super candelábrum, ut lúceat ómnibus qui in domo sunt. Sic lúceat lux vestra coram homínibus, ut vídeant ópera vestra bona, et gloríficent Patrem vestrum, qui in cœlis est. Nolíte putáre, quóniam veni sólvere legem aut prophétas: non veni sólvere, sed adimplére. Amen, quippe dico vobis, donec tránseat cœlum et terra, jota unum aut unus apex non præteríbit a lege, donec ómnia fiant. Qui ergo solvent unum de mandátis istis mínimis, et docúerit sic hómines, mínimus vocábitur in regno cœlórum: qui autem fécerit et docúerit, hic magnus vocábitur in regno cœlórum.

From Dom Prosper on today's feast. Dr Kwasniewski echoed and explained (much more clearly to our ears), just the other day, what the great 19th century Benedictine was talking about here. While I enjoy reading the great Abbot's writing, inasmuch as it represents his actual style of conversation (I doubt that it does, much) I know I'd last five minutes before shaking him by the shoulders and saying, 'speak directly and with concision', ha. 

... The early Christians, praying with the Church, living daily and hourly the life of her Liturgy, kept her stamp upon them in their personal relations with God. Thus it came about that, under the persevering and transforming influence of the Church, and participating in the graces of light and union, and in all the blessings of that one Beloved so pleasing to the Spouse, they assimilated her sanctity to themselves, without any further trouble but to follow their Mother with docility, and suffer themselves to be carried securely in her arms. Thus they applied to the themselves the words of Our Lord: Unless you become as little children, you shall not entier into the kingdom of heaven. We need not be surprised that there was not then, as now, the frequent and assiduous assistance of a particular director for each soul. Special guides are not so necessary to the members of a caravan or of an army: it is isolated travellers that stand in need of them; and even with these special guides, they can never have the same security as those who follow the caravan or the army.

This was understood, in the course of the last few centuries, by the men of God whom, taking their inspiration from the many different aptitudes of souls, because the leaders of schools, one it is true in aim, but differing in the methods they adopted for counteracting the dangers of individualism. In this campaign of restoration and salvation, where the worst enemy of all was illusion under a thousand forms, with its subtle roots and its endless wiles, John of the Cross was the living image of the Word of God, more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow; for he read, with unfailing glance, the very thoughts and intentions of hearts....

Offertorium. Ps. 91, 13. Justus ut palma florébit: sicut cedrus, quæ in Líbano est multiplicábitur.

Secreta. Sancti Joánnis Confessóris tui atque Doctóris nobis, Dómine, pia non désit orátio: quæ et múnera nostra concíliet; et tuam nobis indulgéntiam semper obtíneat. Per Dóminum.

Secreta. Oblatis, quǽsumus, Dómine, placáre munéribus: et, intercedénte beáto Chrysógono Mártyre tuo, a cunctis nos defénde perículis. Per Dóminum.

Communio. Luc. 12, 42. Fidélis servus et prudens, quem constítuit dóminus super famíliam suam: ut det illis in témpore trítici mensúram.

Postcommunio. Ut nobis, Dómine, tua sacrifícia dent salútem: beátus Joánnes Confessor tuus et Doctor egrégius, quǽsumus, precátor accédat. Per Dóminum.

Postcommunio. Tui, Dómine, perceptióne sacraménti, et a nostris mundémur occúltis, et ab hóstium liberémur insídiis. Per Dóminum.

LDVM