The Prayer of Cross: Christaraksha

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May the Cross of the Son of God,

which is mightier than all the hosts of satan

and more glorious than all the hosts of heaven,

abide with you 
in your going out and your coming in.

By day and night, at morning and at evening, 

at all times and in all places 
may it protect and defend you.

From the wrath of evildoers,

from the assaults of evil spirits

from foes visible and invisible

from the snares of the devil,

from all passions 
that beguile the soul and body:

May the Cross of Christ 
guard, protect and deliver you. 
Amen.

The prayer above is called "Christaraksha" and it comes from India.  It is a wonderful prayer to pray over someone going away. I have friends who pray this over their children wherever they may be going. 

Underhill: The Preparation for Mass

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The following are the prayers selected by Evelyn Underhill for the Preparation of the Liturgy in her volume Eucharistic Prayers:

THE PREPARATION

THE PRAYER OF THE BEGINNING

     VOUCHSAFE unto us, O Lord God, that we may stand before thee in purity and holiness; and with knowledge and fear, in the beauty of spiritual order, may serve thee, the Lord and Creator of all, to whom worship is due from all, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, world without end, Amen. —Liturgy of the Syrian Jacobites.

Evelyn Underhill

     HEAVENLY King, Paraclete, Spirit of truth, present in all places and filling all things, Treasury of good and Master of life; come and dwell within us, cleanse us from all stain, and save our souls. —Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

     LET us pray with faith to our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that at this hour of sacrifice and prayer we may be found acceptable to him. May he listen to the voice of our hearts and receive their requests, forgive us our sins, and ever have mercy upon us. May our needs and petitions be ever in the sight of his sovereign Majesty, and may he strengthen us in the unity of the faith and in the justification of good works; that he may bestow on us the grace of his mercy, pity us and save us.—Armenian Liturgy.

THE PRAYER OF THE PRIEST

     O MIGHTY God, most great and omnipotent Father of Goodness and Power, not without dure reverence, yet unadorned by any dignity of office, I come before the might of thine immeasurable greatness, and before thine unspeakable sight, O wondrous Majesty—a suppliant nothing worth. I stand here, conscious of guilt and bearing witness to it. What shall I ask, I that deserve nothing? What shall I seek? For must it not be said of me, that he who should mediate for sins, must rather himself be charged with sin?
     Therefore I come to thee, not to excuse but to accuse myself; confessing my wrong-doing unto thee before witnesses, my Lord God. I confess, yea, I make open confession of mine iniquity; that thou mayst forgive me the wickedness of my sin. I confess things which, if thou forgive not, thou dost rightly punish. I stand before thee confessing my sin, yet well I know that I make not amends, save with words: for with words I seek to appease thee, whilst with deeds I offend. My fault I know, my amends I delay. Help, help me, therefore, O ineffable Goodness. Forgive, forgive me, O wondrous Trinity. Spare, spare, spare I beseech thee, O God that hearest prayer. Hearken, hearken, hearken unto me when I cry aloud unto thee in the words of thine own Son, “Father, eternal God, I have sinned before heaven and before thee; I am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thine hired servants.”
     And now, merciful Father, I seek by Christ's help the only haven of thy mercy; that thou mayst see fit to take and accept through him what in me is nothing worth. Who with thee evermore liveth and reigneth. Amen.—Gothic Missal.

     HOLY, Most High, Terrible, thou that art present in holy things; Lord, do thou thyself make us holy, and bring us to thy precious altar with a good conscience. Cleanse our hearts from all defilement, and count us worthy of the awful priesthood. Drive away from us all evil feeling, and hallow our mind and soul, that we may perform the worship of the holy fathers in thy fear; seeking the favour of thy countenance through all things, for thou art he that blessest and hallowest all things.—Liturgy of St. Mark.

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Coptic Ikon of Christ Pantokrator

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USA's Federal Election & Knights of Columbus Novena

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Our Lady of America, pray for us.

The Knights of Columbus in the USA are calling on its members and all Catholics to join in a novena before the General Election and Presidential Election in the USA.  For those of you living outside the USA, the political situation and its attendant media coverage are toxic.  

The USA needs God's help. The Knights of Columbus have called for a novena (nine days of prayer) before the election.  The following information and prayer comes from the Knights of Columbus announcement:

AS THE ELECTION NEARS, THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS IS URGING ITS MEMBERS AND OTHER CATHOLIC AMERICANS TO PRAY [10/19/2016]

The prayer will be in the form of a novena — nine consecutive days of prayer — and will run from Oct. 30 to the eve of the election on Nov. 7.

The prayer is addressed to the Holy Trinity through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, under her title of the Immaculate Conception.

Individuals, families, councils and parishes are all invited to participate.

“The Church teaches that Catholics are called to form their consciences based on Church teaching and vote in accordance with that well-formed conscience,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. He added: “Pope Francis has said in reference to the U.S. election that we should ‘study the proposals well, pray and choose with your conscience,’ and this novena is designed to help Catholic Americans do that.”

The text of the novena reads:

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your Spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother, in union with Mary we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage.

Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy, born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the tempted, sinners – on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us,that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

O Mary, the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States, pray for us.

Prayer to Jesus Our Master

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Jesus, our Master, 

meet us while we walk in the way 

and long to reach the heavenly country;

so that, following your light

we may keep the way of righteousness, 

and never wander away 

into the darkness of this world's night,

while you, who are the Way, the Truth, and the Life

are shining within us;

for your own name's sake. Amen.

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Note: Sadly my computer has reached the end of the line

and there is no money 

in the wee hermitage's budget for another computer.

This is not good-bye 

but rather an explanation in case there is a hiatus

If it be God's will that I continue blogging,

then I will find another way to connect to the world of cyberspace.

Swiss Old Catholic Eucharistic Prayer

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In Switzerland the Old Catholics of the Union of Utrecht are called Christ-Katholiken.  In 1974 these Christ-Catholics (Utrecht) promulgated a reformed Order for the Eucharistic Sacrifice.  They continue to use their version of the Tridentine Mass translated and altered by their Bishop Herzog. Their new form brought their Eucharistic celebration into a relationship with the Roman Catholic's Novus Ordo Missae but retained more elements of the Tridentine than the Novus Ordo Missae did.

Because I received so many questions about the Swiss Old Catholics, I thought I would include an English translation of a portion of their 1970's era Eucharistic Prayer (which did not replace their version of the Tridentine Mass but rather stood aside it like an Alternative Services order for Eucharist).  What the situation is in the Swiss Christ-Catholic Church today I do not know. My knowledge is very dated, but from what I have read, the 1974 Eucharistic Prayer continues to be used.  What follows is that part of the Eucharistic Prayer that comes after the Sanctus:

             Truly holy, truly glorified
             is your son Jesus Christ,
             our Lord and Saviour,
             that you, eternal Father, have sent us,
             so that he may reveal your majesty and love
             and deliver the world through his obedience
             even to death on the cross. 

             You have given him up for us
             so that he, through his sacrifice, once and for all
             may break the might of sin and death
             and grant new life to the whole of creation.
             Through him you have ordained us to celebrate
             in this meal the mystery
             of his death and resurrection
             until he comes in glory. 

             For on the evening before his suffering
             he took bread,
             looked up to you, O God,
             his almighty Father,
             gave you thanks, broke it,
             gave it to his disciples and said:
             Take this and eat of it, all of you;
             this is my body
             which will be given up for you. 

             In the same way, after the meal,
             he also took the chalice,
             gave thanks to you once more,
             gave it to his disciples and said:
             Take this and drink of it, all of you;
             this is my blood,
             the blood of the new and everlasting covenant,
             that for you and for all men will be shed
             for the forgiveness of sins.
             Do this in my memory
             until the time I celebrate anew the banquet with you
             in the kingdom of God. 

             Therefore, Lord,
             we present this bread and this chalice to you,
             remembering the saving passion of your Son,
             as too his resurrection from the dead
             and his ascension into glory.
             With his sacrifice 
             we come into your presence and beseech you:
             Look down graciously on these gifts,
             as you looked favourably down
             on the sacrifices of Abel, Abraham, and Melchisedech. 

             Send your Holy Spirit,
             giver of all life and sanctification
             to bless, sanctify and consecrate these gifts
             that the bread we break
             may be the communion of the Body of the Lord
             and the chalice over which we give thanks
             the communion of the Blood of Jesus Christ.
             Fill us all who, from this altar, receive
             the Body and Blood of your Son,
             with the power of the Holy Spirit.
             Let us become one as members of your people
             in communion with your saints
             and have a share in the life of the kingdom to come. 

             Grant us this,
             merciful, Holy God,
             so that we may praise and glorify you
             through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord;
             Through him and with him and in him
             be to you, almighty Father,
             in union with the Holy Spirit
             all honour and glory for ever and ever.
             AMEN.

The translation above is based upon that made by Dr R. J. Parish, Fellow, of St Catherine's College, Oxford for an article by P.G. Cobb (Oxford). That article may be found in PDF file format at this link.  The article by Cobb includes a translation from Bishop Herzorg's original version of the Tridentine Canon of the Mass as well as an explanation of the overall structure of the 1974 Order for Eucharist.

Canonisations: Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

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After many years of waiting for Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity to be canonised, she has now been raised at the canonisation mass in Rome and is from that moment forward Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity.  

All of those canonised today are extraordinary heroes of the faith. For a secular story about the Canonisations, please click here.  Vatican Radio has a story on those who were canonised today that I hope you will read: click here.

There is a fine background story on St. Elizabeth of the Trinity by Anthony Lilles at this link.  And Angelus has a good story on the Canonisation Mass today which you may read at this link.

Finally, at National Catholic Reporter's website, Jennifer Sokol has a beautiful article on St. Elizabeth of the Trinity.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for us!

A Short Prayer of St. Teresa of Ávila

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May the Lord be blessed for ever 

for the great gifts 

that He has continually heaped upon me, 

and may all that He has created 

praise Him. Amen.

Saint Teresa de Jesús

1515-1582

Liturgical Invitation to the Eucharistic Banquet

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One element not entirely clear in the Novus Ordo Missae (New Order of Mass promulgated after Vatican II) is a direct invitation to the faithful to come and receive the Body and Blood of the Lord.  There is an element of indirect invitation woven into the liturgy that is generally seen as an invitation to Eucharistic participation:

Priest: Behold the Lamb of God,

behold him who takes away the sins of the world.

Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.

All: Lord,  I am not worthy

that you should enter under my roof,

but only say the word

and my soul shall be healed.

Yet it strikes me that something more should have been added after the portion quoted above ...  namely a direct invitation to the faithful to come to the Supper of the Lord.  

I suspect that my sensitivity to this is entirely because of my Anglican and Episcopalian background, for many of the Anglican liturgies included elements of direct invitation to come to the Altar to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord or the invitation was couched in terms of Confession in proper approach to the Eucharistic Lord.

In the Church of England's Alternative Services Second Series we first saw the following form of invitation, and it remains my favourite of the shorter forms:

In one of the Eucharistic liturgies of the Old Catholics (Utrecht) in Switzerland, the people are invited to Holy Communion with the words (in translation) "Come,  for all is prepared for you."  I have found these words a profoundly personalising moment in which the Eucharistic sacrifice becomes connected to the personal invitation to come to the celestial marriage banquet of the Lamb.  Woe betide the soul who says, "I cannot come."

Come, for all is prepared for you!

Catholic responses to the US election

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Haitian-American U.S. voters are united in their opposition to Hillary Clinton. Most are Roman Catholic.  This Haitian story is almost completely unreported in the USA, but a broadcast on the FoxNews network touched on the subject of Haitian antipathy to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton with an interview with the past president of the Haitian senate: click this link.

With regard to the Wikileaks release of anti-Catholic, anti-Evangelical emails from the Clinton campaign, EWTN's Raymond Arroyo is quoted in The Washington Post:

     Raymond Arroyo, lead anchor and managing editor of EWTN, the global Catholic network, said the emails have the potential to tip the balance for people who were still undecided. “If you have people on the fences, it is irritating,” Arroyo said. 

     Arroyo said that the emails describing the “Catholic Spring” will especially rub Catholics the wrong way. 

     “It makes it seem like you’re creating organizations to change the core beliefs of the church,” he said. “For someone to come and say, ‘I have a political organization to change your church to complete my political agenda or advance my agenda,’ I don’t know how anybody could embrace that.”

This story has also been addressed at this blog link, at this CBS-Los Angeles link., and at Lifesitenews.  The story is also covered on the Vox Cantoris blog at this link.

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In praying for the US election, I make a point not to pray for this candidate or against that candidate.  We cannot know everything, and, it is entirely possible that a revelation would make it impossible for one to vote for Trump or Clinton or Johnson or Stein.  

The choice may well be between the "greater evil" and "the lesser evil".  Therefore, the way I pray —and this is a matter of prayer not my personal choice in the voting booth — is to petition the Blessed Trinity to grant that His Holy Angels may go forth and prevent the "greater evil" from being elected President.  

Praying that God stop "the greater evil" is the closest we can come to truth because only God sees all and only God can see through this lamentable political slime-war.

Sandro Magister: The German Church, The Black Hole

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Sandro Magister has a story about the genuine problems in the German Catholic Church.  In the past I have tried to explain to friends about the problems with the ecclesiastical tax and excommunications in the German Church, but I have had clergy and laity tell me I must be wrong.  So for those of you who do not know about this (and those of you who told me I had to be wrong) here is the link to Sandro Magister's article "Anything But An Example for the World: the German Church is a Black Hole" in which he covers the problems as well as Pope Benedict's sharp criticisms of the German Church.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Traditional Catholics, Evangelicals, and Hillary Clinton

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The Wikileaks Clinton email revelations make it clear that it is necessary to defeat Hillary Clinton not only for her policies but because of the positions of her highest aides and associates which are anti-Catholic and anti-Evangelical.  John Podesta's emails reveal him to be an agent provocateur setting up fake "Catholic" organisations with George Soros' money to foment "revolution" within the Catholic Church.  This is beyond appalling and absolutely eclipses the many problems with Donald Trump's personal life and dreadful behaviour.  

I hope mass-attending Catholics and Evangelicals in the USA will take seriously the religious bigotry that is clear in these emails.  For their part the Clinton campaign refuses to comment on any of the hacked emails whilst raising the spectre of their having been fabricated ...but without providing any evidence for their accusation against Wikileaks.  

One of these Clinton lieutenants, her Communications Officer Jennifer Palmieri, claims to be Catholic, but less us be clear: she is no "Mother Angelica Catholic".  The truth is that she and others in the Clinton camp have contempt for traditional Catholics ... and who are traditional Catholics?  Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II, Mother M. Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA, the Little Sisters of the Poor ... and the list goes on.  These are the sort of Catholics that Jennifer Palmieri and John Podesta are taking aim at, and that is why those of us who are traditional Catholics of whatever stripe or variety need to shake the dust off of us and walk away from Hillary Clinton and her campaign staff.

Any other candidate would fire John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri so that they are completely distanced from such religious bigotry against traditional Catholics, Catholicism, and Evangelical Christians.  Of  course, we know that the Clintons do not have the decency to resign and walk away.  And those who work for them only engage in categorical denials and refusals to comment.   

For me the situation is so dire that I must write that it is necessary either to vote for the candidate opposing Hillary Clinton who has the greatest opportunity to stop her i.e.,  Donald Trump or, if we feel we cannot morally vote for a Republican or a Democrat, then we must vote for Jill Stein (Green Party) or the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.  There are also Evan McMullin and Darrell Castle who may be on the ballot in your state or are running a write-in campaign.  

Some of us may find that no candidate is a moral choice.  The option available in most states is to simply not voting for President whilst casting votes in other races.  That is the closest method available to casting a "None of the Above" ballot.

One thing is certain for a serious Catholic: voting for Hillary Clinton is out of the question.

Past Nuclear Detonations & the Drums of War in the Present

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The following is a video showing every atomic and nuclear detonation from 1945 through 1998.  With the Obama administration's anti-Russian rhetoric and the increasingly angry Russian response rhetoric, I thought it worth considering the madness of our common humanity as well as our need to retreat from a war of words before it escalates into a war of nuclear and other military deeds.

Lord, have mercy upon us. 

Christ, have mercy upon us. 

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

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Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: A Prayer to the Trinity

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Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity is to be canonised as a Saint of the Catholic Church on 16 October 2016.   [There is a very nice article by Julie Enzler in the National Catholic Reporter which one may read via this link.]

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for us.

The following is a 1913 translation from the French of her famous prayer to the Most Holy Trinity:


PRAYER OF SISTER ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY.

O my God, Trinity Whom I adore ! help me to become utterly forgetful of self, that I may establish myself in Thee, as changeless and as calm as though my soul were already in eternity.

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
Beatified 25 November 1984
by Pope St. John Paul II

May nothing disturb my peace nor draw me forth from Thee, O my immutable Lord ! but may I penetrate more deeply every moment into the depths of Thy Mystery.

Give peace to my soul ; make it Thy heaven, Thy cherished dwelling-place, Thy home of rest. Let me never leave Thee there alone, but keep me there all absorbed in Thee, in living faith, adoring Thee and wholly yielded up to Thy creative action.

O my Christ Whom I love! crucified by love! fain would I be the bride of Thy heart ; fain would I cover Thee with glory, and love Thee . . . until I die of very love!

Yet I realize my weakness, and beg Thee to clothe me with Thyself, to identify my soul with all the movements of Thine own.

Immerse me in Thyself; possess me wholly; substitute Thyself for me, that my life may be but a radiance of Thine own. Enter my soul as Adorer, as Restorer, as Saviour !

O eternal Word, Utterance of my God! I long to pass my life in listening to Thee, to become docile, that I may learn all from Thee.

Through all darkness, all privations, all helplessness, I crave to keep Thee ever with me and to dwell beneath Thy lustrous beams. O my beloved Star ! So fascinate me that I cannot wander from Thy light !

O " Consuming Fire " Spirit of Love! descend within me and reproduce in me, as it were, an incarnation of the Word, that I may be to Him another humanity wherein He renews all His mystery.

And Thou, O Father, bend towards Thy poor little creature and overshadow her, beholding in her none other than Thy beloved Son, in Whom Thou hast set all Thy pleasure.

My " Three," my all, my beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity wherein I lose myself! I yield myself to Thee as Thy prey. Merge Thyself in me, that I may be immerged in Thee until I depart to con- template in Thy light the abyss of Thy greatness !

21 November 1904.

THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"
REMINISCENCES OF SISTER ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY
 A CARMELITE NUN OF DIJON, 1901-1906 
 R. W T. WASHBOURNE, LTD. 
 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 AND AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW
1913
pp. 260-261

Lightning strikes St. Peter's in Rome ... again.

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In the recent past lightning struck the dome of St. Peter's in Rome after Pope Benedict announced his resignation. It was a Marian feast.  Now on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, lightning has again struck the dome of St. Peter's Basilica: click link here.

Our Lady of the Rosary, intercede for us with the Lord of All.

St. Alphonsus Liguori: O Bread of Heaven

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Holy Mass in the Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 

City of Westminster, England, 18 September 2010

O Bread of Heaven

Words: St Alphonsus Liguori

Translation: Rev. E. Vaughan C.SS.R.

Music: Tynemouth - H. F. Hemy

Performed by: Westminster Cathedral Choir

O Bread of Heaven, beneath this veil

Thou dost my very God conceal:

My Jesus, dearest treasure, hail!

I love Thee and, adoring, kneel;

Each loving soul by Thee is fed

With Thine own Self in form of Bread.

O food of life, Thou Who dost give

The pledge of immortality;

I live, no 'tis not I that live;

God gives me life, God lives in me:

He feeds my soul, He guides my ways,

And every grief with joy repays.

O Bond of love that dost unite

The servant to his living Lord;

Could I dare live and not requite

Such love - then death were meet reward:

I cannot live unless to prove

Some love for such unmeasured love.

Beloved Lord, in Heaven above

There, Jesus, Thou awaitest me,

To gaze on Thee with endless love;

Yes, thus I hope, thus shall it be:

For how can He deny me Heaven,

Who here on earth Himself hath given?

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Turning the Hearts of the Disobedient

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O LORD Jesu Christ, 

who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger 

to prepare thy way before thee: 

Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries 

may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, 

by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, 

that at thy second coming to judge the world 

we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, 

who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, 

ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

The Collect 

The Third Sunday in Advent 

The Shorter Prayer Book 

According to the Use of the Church of England 

p. 52

A Prayer for This Day

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Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed 

to destroy the works of the devil

and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life

grant that we, having this hope,

may purify ourselves even as he is pure:

that when he shall appear in power and great glory

we may be made like him

in his eternal and glorious kingdom

where he is alive and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the Second Sunday Before Advent

Enriching the Liturgy

SPCK

London 1998

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AD ORIENTEM video with Bishop Gracida & others

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Dear reader, below please find a video on Ad Orientem celebration of the Mass including a statement from Bishop Rene Gracida of Texas:

AD ORIENTEM

Unreported: Putin in his own words

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Recently I heard a Catholic thinker speaking about Russia and Putin in the same language that Romney used in his presidential campaign and that Clinton is using in her campaign.  I completely object to the neo-con and Clinton liberal position of belligerence with regard to Russia today. 

I realise that most US citizens I meet and know only form their opinions based on what they hear reported through the major corporate news media.  Because those sources do not report on Putin or the Russian foreign minister's news conferences, very few have any idea of the other side of the story.  

Below you will find a YouTube video where Putin speaks to foreign journalists.  Ten years ago this would have been major news in the USA, but today it is not even mentioned.  That should tell you something when it is more important to the The Powers That Be in a nation to create a bogeyman who can be blamed and used to justify all sorts of unjustifiable behaviours and decisions than it is to see the Fourth Estate fairly and impartially report the news of the day.  So, without further ado, here is Vladimir Putin in his own words:

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, 1979 (USA)

"The Way" - On Prayer and Meditation

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St. John 1:43-51
43 On the following day, he would go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip. And Jesus saith to him: Follow me. 44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth. 46 And Nathanael said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him: and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. 48 Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered, and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49 Nathanael answered him, and said: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered, and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see. 51 And he saith to him: Amen, amen I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)


from  THE WAY

“In prayer we seek a twofold object. We want to express ourselves to God and we want God to impress Himself on us.  In pursuit of the former we use intercession and petitions and worship, to gain the latter we have meditation and communion. Meditation, therefore, is one of the ways in which we seek to hear God's voice. 

“No prayer life can be very strong if it is confined to speaking to God, it will gradually wither and lose interest. We need to listen to God if we are to grow. In every one of us is implanted the desire for communication with God, but if that communication is one-sided the desire will soon grow cold. 

“Now when we try to listen to God we are confronted at once with a difficulty. We cannot keep our thoughts quiet, they go wandering away, leading us in all manner of directions, and distracting our attention so that the message of God falls unheeded on our hears. It is evident, then, that if we are to listen to God, our thoughts must first be chained to one spot, or, as it is more commonly said, that we must have concentration. 

“Meditation provides the means for this, for in meditation the mind and attention are fixed on some passage of Scripture, as [Saint] Bartholomew's mind was fixed on the life of Jacob.  Being thus fixed it can readily receive any communication which God sends through that passage [of Scripture].

“Further, the subject on which the mind is fixed is taken from Holy Scripture, and Holy Scripture is after all only the collection of the accounts of God's dealings with men and men's spiritual experience of God. It includes all the facts of God's communication of Himself. It is, therefore, most capable of containing and revealing the message of God to each individual soul. In this way meditation offers the readiest means of listening to God and hearing His personal message to our soul.”

THE WAY

Devotional Studies 

in Mystical Religion

by

A Priest

The S. Christopher Press

13 Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street

London, 1943

pp 113-114