Guardian Angels October 2

Guardian Angels

Feast Day October 2

From a Sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

That they may guard you 

in all of your ways

He has given His angels charge over you to guard you in all of your ways.  Let them thank the Lord for His Mercy; His wonderful works are for the children of men.  Let them give thanks and say among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.  O Lord, what is man that you have made yourself known to him, or why do you incline your heart to him?  And you do inline your heart to him; you show him your care and your concern.  Finally, you send your only Son and the grace of your Spirit, and promise him a vision of Your countenance.  And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us, you send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and our teachers.

He has given His angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. These words should fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instill confidence; respect for the presence of angels, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence because of their protection.  And so the angels are here, they are at your side, they are with you, present on your behalf.  They are here to protect you and to serve you.  But even if it is God Who has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need.

So let us be devoted and grateful to such 

great protectors; 

let us return their love and honor them 

as much as we can 

and should.

  Yet all our love and honor must go to Him, for it is from Him that they receive all that makes them worthy of our love and respect.

We should then, my brothers show our affection for the angels, for one day they will be our coheirs just as here below they are our guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father.  We are God’s children although it does not seem so, because we are still but small children under guardians and trustees, and for the present little better than slaves.

Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear?  They who keep us in our ways cannot be overpowered or let astray, much less lead us astray.  They are loyal, prudent, powerful.  Why then are we afraid?  

We have only to follow them, 

stay close to them, 

and we shall dwell under 

the protection of God’s heaven.

taken from Liturgy of the Hours Week 18-34 

Our Lady of Sorrows

Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows

September 15

His Mother stood by the Cross

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

Prophesy of Simeon

The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion.  The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted.   He went on to say: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.

Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart.  For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son.  Indeed, after your Jesus—who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours—gave up His life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from His lifeless body, tore open His side.  Clearly it did not touch His soul and could not harm Him, but it did pierce your heart.  For surely His soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away.  Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.

Christ gives His Mother to John

Or were those words: Woman, behold your Son, not more than a sword to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through the division between soul and spirit?  What an exchange!  John is given to you in place of Jesus the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the Master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God Himself.  How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of stone and iron though they are!

Do not be surprised, brothers , that Mary is said to be martyr in spirit.  Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love.  That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.

Perhaps someone will say: “Had she not known before that He would not die?”  Undoubtedly.  “Did she not experience Him to rise again at once?”  Surely.  “And still she grieved over her crucified Son?” Intensely.  Who are you and what source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than the passion of Mary’s Son?  For if He could die in body, could she not died with Him in spirit?  He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known.  She died in spirit through love unlike any other since His.

Father,

As your Son was raised on the cross,

His mother Mary stood by Him, sharing His sufferings.

May Your Church be united with Christ

In His suffering and death

And so come to share in his rising to new life,

Where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

Taken from Liturgy of the Hours,  Our Lady of Sorrows