There is an urgency to the opening psalm of Morning Prayer today.

“O shepherd of Israel, hear us.”

The psalmist looks upon the suffering of God’s people and cries out for the Lord to act:

“O Lord, rouse up your might,
O Lord, come to our help.”

Israel is described as a vine planted by the hand of God. Once it flourished. Its branches stretched to the sea; its shoots reached to the river. But now its walls have been broken down. It has been ravaged and devoured. And so the prayer becomes increasingly desperate:

“God of hosts, turn again, we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.”

For the Christian, it is difficult to pray these words without hearing them in the light of Christ. The psalm even asks:

“May your hand be on the man you have chosen,
the man you have given your strength.”

Our cry for God to visit His vine has been answered: The Father sent His Son. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Shepherd of Israel Himself came in search of His sheep. And Christ would take up the image of the vine and reveal its deepest fulfillment: I am the vine; you are the branches.

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But today the Church places this psalm on our lips as we celebrate St. Gregory the Great, and that gives these words another beautiful resonance.

Gregory was himself a shepherd through whom the Good Shepherd cared for His flock. The Lord’s hand truly rested upon this man whom He had chosen. As the Roman Pontiff, Gregory tended the vine of the Church, defended her from error, nourished her with the Word of God, and faithfully guided the people entrusted to his care.

The hymn at Morning Prayer draws our attention to precisely this mystery. Christ, the “great High Priest,” appointed Gregory to lead His Church, while the Scriptures revealed their hidden depths to him because “Truth himself was teaching” him.

And yet the Office does not allow us merely to admire a great shepherd of the past.

The psalmody continues…

If Psalm 80 is the anguished prayer of God’s people asking the Lord to intervene, Psalm 81 gives us something of the Lord’s answer.

Once again God speaks of everything he has done for his people:

“I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load.
You called in distress and I saved you.”

But then comes the tragedy:

“But my people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.”

And immediately afterward comes one of the most poignant cries in the psalter:

“O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.”

There is something here worth lingering over.

It is not difficult to look upon the Church in our own day and repeat the prayer of Psalm 80.

Lord, rouse up your might.

Come to our help.

Visit this vine and protect it.

The Church has enemies. She faces opposition from without and wounds from within. We can easily become preoccupied with what must be done to defend her, reform her, strengthen her, or protect her from error. And Christians can have very different ideas about how that battle ought to be fought.

But perhaps before asking what we must do to save the vineyard, we should listen carefully to what the Lord says in the very next psalm.

“O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!”

There is a temptation to imagine that the great battles facing the Church are fought somewhere else—by bishops, theologians, politicians, institutions, movements, or prominent Catholic voices.

Psalm 81 brings the battle uncomfortably close to home.

The renewal of God’s people begins with God’s people listening to him.

It begins with conversion.

It begins with obedience.

And very often, that call to obedience comes through small acts of fidelity in life’s ordinary circumstances.

It is choosing charity when irritation would be easier. It is guarding the eyes when no one else would know. It is putting down the phone and giving our attention to the person in front of us. It is refusing to indulge resentment. It is speaking truthfully. It is fulfilling the duties of our state in life when they are tedious and unnoticed. It is returning to prayer when prayer feels dry. It is asking forgiveness. It is keeping the commandments of God not only when doing so makes a public statement, but when no one is watching.

These hidden acts of fidelity may appear very small compared with the enormous problems confronting the Church.

But God does not seem to regard them as small.

“O that my people would heed me.”

Perhaps this is also part of the lesson St. Gregory gives us today. The Church certainly needs holy shepherds. We should pray fervently that the Lord’s hand would rest upon those He has chosen to lead His people. Indeed, the Church explicitly asks this at the conclusion of Morning Prayer that God would endow with “the spirit of wisdom” those called to lead the Church and that the “flourishing of a holy flock” might become the eternal joy of their shepherds.

But notice what the Church ultimately desires from the ministry of her shepherds:

the flourshing of a holy flock.

The Good Shepherd continues to tend His vineyard through the shepherds He appoints. But the sheep must hear his voice.

And so perhaps the two psalms leave us with two prayers this morning.

First:

“Visit this vine and protect it.”

Lord, protect your Church. Purify her. Strengthen her shepherds. Defend her from error. Place your hand upon those whom you have chosen to lead her.

But then:

“O that my people would heed me.”

Lord, begin with me.

Before I concern myself with the disobedience of the world, the failures of others, or everything that is wrong within the Church, show me where I have ceased listening to your voice.

Show me the small obedience you are asking of me today.

And give me the grace to do it.

Pope St. Gregory the Great, pray for us.

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I want to let our Substack readers and subscribers know about our Vox Sponsae Liturgy of the Hours Retreat at the St. Thomas More House of Prayer coming up September 25-27th.

The name of the retreat (as with the name of this Substack) comes from Blessed Columba Marmion who refers to the Divine Office as the “Vox Sponsae” or “Voice of the Bride” that delights the Bridegroom. The retreat consists of praying each of the canonical Hours in common in our beautiful chapel, conferences on the history and the theology of the Liturgy of the Hours, a workshop on how to pray with the Breviary, and an introduction to chanting the Psalms.

As far as I know, this is a one-of-a-kind retreat experience! You will come away not only knowing more about the Church’s prayer. You will be inspired to make it the foundation of your prayer life and share it with as many people as you can.

To register, visit liturgyofthehours.org/liturgyretreat

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read that “In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ” (CCC, 1108). This is certainly true of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. But the Catechism does not limit this to the Mass alone. Rather, it says this is true of every liturgical action. The Liturgy of the Hours then, as an action of Christ the priest and His body the Church, is a liturgical action imbued by the Holy Spirit that aims at nothing less than to bring us into a relationship with our Lord. Indeed, through the Liturgy of the Hours we are drawn by the Holy Spirit into the mysteries of Christ so that they become not merely events we remember, but realities in which we participate.

By celebrating these mysteries throughout the liturgical year, the Church does not simply recall events of the past, but “actualizes them, makes them present” (CCC, 1104). It is not that these mysteries are somehow repeated. Rather, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, they are made present so as to make us partakers of the divine graces and merits that flow from them. Blessed Columba Marmion says that, when we celebrate the mysteries of Christ in the liturgy, “we receive from them, according to the measure of our faith, the same graces as if we had lived with our Lord and been present at all His mysteries (Christ the Life of the Soul, 295).” Even more, through the praying the Psalms in the Divine Office, the Church takes us by the hand and leads us into the deep recesses of the heart of Jesus so that we might not only walk with him, but might also contemplate and share in His sentiments. “Thus the Church not only gives us, each year, a living representation of the life of her Bridegroom, but she makes us penetrate, as far as the creature is able to penetrate, into the soul of Christ so that, reading His inmost dispositions, we may share them and be more intimately united to our Divine Head (Christ the Life of the Soul, 294).”

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This participation in the mysteries of Christ is obvious during Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and the great solemnities of the liturgical year. Yet there is another rhythm woven quietly into the Church’s prayer—a rhythm we encounter every single week. Every Friday, the Church deliberately leads us back to Calvary. Week after week, she invites us to stand beneath the Cross and enter more deeply into the mystery of our redemption.

Although many Catholics assume that Fridays outside of Lent no longer possess a penitential character, the Church continues to designate every Friday of the year as a penitential day (Code of Canon Law, can. 1250). Whatever particular disciplines are required or observed, the Church never intends us to lose the spirit of Friday. That spirit is beautifully preserved in the Liturgy of the Hours, whose prayers continually orient us toward the Passion of Christ.

For example, in the Office of Readings, each Friday of the four-week psalter intentionally places certain psalms on our lips that help us enter into the very sentiments of Jesus during his passion and death. Consider the following verses…

“Lying witnesses arise and accuse me unjustly. They repay me evil for good: my soul is forlorn.”

“Now that I am in trouble they gather, they gather and mock me. They take me by surprise and strike me and tear me to pieces.”

“O Lord, how long will you look on? Come to my rescue… O Lord you have seen, do not be silent, do not stand afar off! Awake, stir to my defense, to my cause, O God.”

“All my frame burns with fever; all my body is sick. Spent and utterly crushed, I cry aloud in anguish of heart… O Lord, you know all my longing: my groans are not hidden from you. My heart throbs, my strength is spent; the very light has gone from my eyes.”

“My wanton enemies are numberless and my lying foes are many. They repay me evil for good and attack me for seeking what is right. O Lord, do not forsake me! My God, do not stay afar off! Make haste and come to my help, O Lord, my God, my savior!”

“I am wearied with all my crying, my throat is parched. My eyes are wasted away from looking for my God. More numerous than the hairs on my head are those who hate me without cause. Those who attack me with lies are too much for my strength.”

“You know how they taunt and deride me; my oppressors are all before you. Taunts have broken my heart; I have reached the end of my strength. I looked in vain for compassion, for consolers; not one could I find. For food they gave me poison; in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

“My heart is stricken within me, death’s terror is on me, trembling and fear fall upon me and horror overwhelms me.”

“If this had been done by an enemy I could bear his taunts. If a rival had risen against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, my own companion, my intimate friend! How close was the friendship between us. We walked together in harmony in the house of God.”

When we pray Lauds on Fridays, the Church has us begging for God’s mercy and confessing our sinfulness by praying the most famous penitential psalm of them all – Psalm 51…

“Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offense. O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleans me from my sin. My offenses truly I know them; my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done… From my sins turn away your face and blot out all my guilt.”

During the Daytime Hours of Terce, Sext, and None, the concluding prayers each correspond with the hours of our Lord’s Passion…

Terce
Lord Jesus Christ,
at this hour you were led out
to die on the cross
for the salvation of the world.
We ask your forgiveness for the sins of our past
and your protection from all future evil.
Bring us to the peace and joy of that kingdom
where you live and reign for ever and ever.

Sext
Lord Jesus Christ,
at noon, when darkness covered all the earth
you mounted the wood of the cross
as the innocent victim for our redemption.
May your light be always with us
to guide us to eternal life in that kingdom
where you live and reign for ever and ever.

None
Lord Jesus Christ,
you brought the repentant thief
from the suffering of the cross
to the joy of your kingdom.
Lord, when we die,
may we who confess our sins
be brought to you through the gates of heaven,
that we may have eternal joy in that kingdom
where you live and reign for ever and ever.

At Vespers, we alternate between the following responsories, recalling Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the Cross, the salvation that is ours through His blood, and the purpose of his death – to make us a nation of kings and priests and a holy offering to God …

Christ loved us and washed away our sins in his own blood.
Christ loved us and washed away our sins in his own blood.
He made us a nation of kings and priests
in his own blood.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
Christ loved us and washed away our sins in his own blood.

Christ died for our sins to make of us an offering to God.
Christ died for our sins to make of us an offering to God.
He died to this world of sin and rose in the power of the Spirit.
to make of us an offering to God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
Christ died for our sins to make of us an offering to God.

And each of the concluding prayers for Friday Vespers in the Psalter draws us into the mystery of the Cross and reveals that Christ’s sacrifice is not merely something we commemorate but something into which we ourselves are drawn, becoming, in St. Paul’s words, “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”

Psalter Week I
God our Father,
help us to follow the example
of your Son’s patience in suffering.
By sharing the burden he carries,
may we come to share his glory
in the kingdom where he lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalter Week II
God our Father,
the contradiction of the cross
proclaims your infinite wisdom.
Help us to see that the glory of your Son
is revealed in the suffering he freely accepted.
Give us faith to claim as our only glory
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Psalter Week III
Father,
In your loving plan
Christ your Son became the price of our salvation.
May we be united with him in his suffering
so that we may experience
the power of his resurrection
in the kingdom
Where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
God, for ever and ever.

Psalter Week IV
God our Father,
you brought salvation to all mankind
through the suffering of Christ your Son.
May your people strive to offer themselves to you as a living sacrifice
and be filled with the abundance of your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Lastly, every Friday night at Compline we pray Psalm 88, which leaves us with Christ in the depths of the tomb, and a concluding prayer that asks God to keep us united to Christ in His death and burial in the hope of sharing in His glorious resurrection.

Psalm 88
“You have laid me in the depths of the tomb, in places that are dark, in the depths. Your anger weighs down upon me: I am drowned beneath your waves… I call to you Lord, all the day long; to you I stretch out my hands. Will you work your wonders for the dead? Will the shades stand and praise you?”

“As for me, Lord, I call to you for help: in the morning my prayer comes before you. Lord, why do you reject me? Why do you hide your face? Wretched, close to death from my youth, I have borne your trials; I am numb. Your fury has swept down upon me; your terrors have utterly destroyed me.”

“They surround me all the day like a flood, they assail me all together. Friend and neighbor you have taken away; my one companion is darkness.”

Concluding Prayer
All-powerful God,
Keep us united with your Son
In his death and burial
So that we may rise to new life with him,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

These are only a few examples drawn from the Church’s prayer. Pray the full Friday Office—from the Office of Readings through Compline—and a remarkable pattern begins to emerge. Week after week, the Church gently but deliberately leads us to Calvary. She teaches us to look upon Christ crucified, to pray with His own words, to enter into His dispositions, to confess our sins, to unite our sufferings with His sacrifice, and finally to rest beside Him in the silence of the tomb while awaiting the dawn of the Resurrection.

This is why Friday is so much more than a day for giving something up. It is a weekly participation in the Paschal Mystery. Through the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Spirit conforms us more deeply to Christ by drawing us into His Passion, so that we might also share in His Resurrection. Hidden within the ordinary rhythm of every week is the continual invitation to stand beneath the Cross with Mary, to gaze upon the Crucified One, and to allow His Heart to shape our own.

If you have never prayed the Friday Office before, begin this week. Pray it slowly. Listen attentively. You will discover something that the Church has been doing for centuries – leading her children to Calvary to participate in the mystery of our redemption and share in the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice.

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To this day, relatively few practicing Catholics pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Most would not even know where to begin. It is true that we have seen more widespread participation in different pockets of the Church. But if we were to take a survey, I suspect that, statistically speaking, the numbers would be miniscule.

As the Catholic Church in the United States prepares for the release of the new translation (Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition), this will undoubtedly present an opportunity to introduce the Church’s prayer to the faithful. However, the question will still remain: why? Of all the prayers and devotions that we have available to us as Catholics, why even bother with the Liturgy of the Hours (especially with all those ribbons!)?

This is where we must recognize the need for catechesis. In order for people to fall in love with the official prayer of the Church, they must first know what it is and understand why the Church encourages them to take up at least some part of it.

So, whether you have prayed this prayer for years or have never opened a breviary, here are my top 10 reasons why every Catholic should pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

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1. The Liturgy of the Hours extends the grace of the Holy Mass throughout the day.

The Catechism teaches that “the mystery of Christ... permeates and transfigures the time of each day” through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours (CCC 1174). It also calls the Hours “an extension of the Eucharistic celebration” (CCC 1178).

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life, but the Church never intended that its fruits remain confined to the hour spent at Mass. Through the Liturgy of the Hours, the graces of the Holy Eucharist reach out to touch every part of our day.

2. The Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of Christ Himself.

The General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours reminds us that Christ “continues His priestly work through His Church.” Every time the Church gathers to pray the Hours, Jesus Himself is praying to the Father in and through His members. Blessed Columba Marmion says that the Church’s liturgy is “the praise of Christ passing through the lips of the Church.”

In other words, in the Liturgy of the Hours we are not merely saying beautiful prayers. We are entering into Christ’s own prayer with His Father. As we pray the Psalms, canticles, readings, and intercessions, our voices become united with His. His praise becomes our praise. His thanksgiving becomes our thanksgiving. His intercession becomes our intercession.

There is no greater school of prayer than to learn to pray with Jesus Himself.

3. The Liturgy of the Hours sanctifies the day.

Modern life often feels fragmented. Our schedules are ruled by meetings, appointments, deadlines, and distractions. The Church proposes something radically different. In the Liturgy of the Hours, we consecrate to God every moment of the day.

Morning Prayer consecrates the beginning of the day. Evening Prayer offers thanksgiving as daylight fades. Night Prayer entrusts us to God before sleep. Even the lesser Hours sanctify the ordinary flow of work. Rather than squeezing prayer into an already busy schedule, the Liturgy of the Hours teaches us to organize our day around our relationship with God.

Time itself becomes holy because it is continually offered back to the One from whom it came.

4. Through the Liturgy of the Hours we participate in Christ’s work of sanctifying the world.

The Second Vatican Council taught that the vocation of the laity is to bring the spirit of Christ into every aspect of human life—family, work, education, culture, politics, and society itself. The Liturgy of the Hours prepares us for precisely this mission.

Because it extends the grace of the Eucharistic celebration into every hour, it equips us to carry Christ into the ordinary circumstances of daily life. Prayer and mission are never separated. The more deeply we enter the Church’s prayer, the more we become instruments through whom Christ renews the world.

5. When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours our prayer is united with the worship of heaven.

Every liturgical service is a participation in the heavenly liturgy. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council reminds us that, in the Church’s worship, we already take part in the heavenly Jerusalem where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.

In other words, when we pray the Hours, we never pray alone. Our voices join those of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostles, the martyrs, the saints, and the choirs of angels in offering endless praise to the Most Holy Trinity. The Liturgy of the Hours makes manifest the communion of saints.

6. The Liturgy of the Hours immerses us in Sacred Scripture.

The Church has always venerated Sacred Scripture “just as she venerates the Body of the Lord” (CCC 103). Nowhere is that more evident than in the Liturgy of the Hours. Nearly every page consists of Scripture.

The Psalms form its heart. Canticles from both the Old and New Testaments punctuate its rhythm. Scripture readings nourish the mind. Even the antiphons, responsories, and intercessions are woven almost entirely from biblical language.

The Church does not merely ask us to read Scripture. She teaches us to pray it. And little by little, God’s own words begin to shape our minds, our desires, and even the language of our hearts.

7. The Liturgy of the Hours teaches us how to pray.

In His letter to the Romans, St. Paul says that “we do not know how to pray as we ought.”

God has answered that problem by giving us the Psalms, which form the heart of the Liturgy of the Hours. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, prayed by Israel, fulfilled in Christ, and continually prayed by the Church, the Psalms express every movement of the human heart—joy, sorrow, gratitude, fear, repentance, confidence, longing, and praise. Divine in their origin, they are human in their expression. Taken up by Christ - the Word made flesh - they lead us to God.

As the Church fathers have said, in the Psalms, God has given us the words by which we can offer Him perfect praise.

8. The Liturgy of the Hours forms us according to the mysteries of Christ.

The Church’s year is not simply a calendar. It is the life of Christ unfolding before us.

Throughout Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time, the Liturgy of the Hours continually immerses us in the mystery being celebrated. The prayers, antiphons, readings, and hymns allow each season to shape our hearts long after we leave Mass. Instead of merely observing the liturgical year, we begin to live it. And in doing so, the mysteries of Christ gradually become the pattern of our own lives.

9. Through the Liturgy of the Hours we share in the communion of saints.

The memorials and feast days celebrated throughout the year remind us that holiness is not an abstract ideal, but is made manifest in the lives of the saints. In fact, it can be said that each saint reflects some unique aspect of the holy one, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through the readings, prayers, and commemorations of the saints in the Liturgy of the Hours, we are drawn into friendship with them. Their witness encourages us. Their example inspires us. Their prayers accompany us. The Church places them before us not merely to admire them, but to imitate them. As we celebrate their victories, we are reminded that the grace which sanctified them is the very same grace offered to us.

10. Through the Liturgy of the Hours we intercede for the salvation of the world.

Perhaps the greatest privilege of praying the Hours is that we become participants in Christ’s own priestly prayer. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for us. Through Baptism we share in His priesthood. And it is through the Liturgy of the Hours that we exercise that priestly vocation in a unique way.

Through its hymns, psalms, readings, and intercessions, we become united to the eternal prayer of Christ before the Father. Few Catholics realize the immense dignity of this vocation. When we pray the Hours, we are not praying only for ourselves. We are praying with Christ for the entire Church and for the salvation of the whole world.

Where Should You Begin?

If you’ve never prayed the Liturgy of the Hours before, don’t be intimidated. Begin simply. Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer is an excellent place to start.

Above all, remember that this is the Church’s public and communal prayer.

Pray it with your spouse. Pray it with your children. Gather a few friends before daily Mass. Encourage your parish to celebrate Sunday Vespers.

The Liturgy of the Hours was never intended to remain hidden in monasteries or reserved to clergy. It belongs to the whole Church.

If you don’t yet own a breviary, you might want to wait for the new translation to be released starting next Lent. While you wait, there are several apps that make it easy to begin, including Universalis, iBreviary, or DivineOffice.org.

If you already own Christian Prayer or the four-volume Liturgy of the Hours, be sure to check out our Beginner’s Guides. They’ll help you learn how to navigate the breviary with confidence.

Today, the Church invites you to take up the prayer of Christ and to sanctify your day with her sacrifice of praise. When you do so, she will teach you how to pray. The Psalms will become your own. The seasons of the Church will shape your heart. The voice of Christ will become your voice. And if you persevere, you will discover that the Liturgy of the Hours is not simply another devotion. It will become a way of life, a continual participation in the prayer of Jesus Christ, a sacrificial offering for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.

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Originally posted May 30, 2025

Today is the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which means that…

Tomorrow begins the novena of all novenas!

You may be familiar with some of the many novenas we have as Catholics. We have novenas to Jesus. We have novenas to Mary. We have novenas to the saints. We have novenas for various needs and circumstances. We have novenas that can be said for just about any prayer intention you can imagine. In recent years, novenas have been made even more popular and accessible through resources like praymorenovenas.com. Indeed, people are definitely praying more novenas!

However, while people may be praying novenas today more than ever before, many still do not realize where the idea of a novena originated. The word novena is derived from the latin novem, meaning nine. It was originally used in reference to the nine consecutive days that the apostles devoted themselves to prayer in the cenacle in between the Ascension of the Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And it was this that gave birth to the various novenas we now have as popular devotions in the Catholic Church.

But what I want to suggest here is that praying the Divine Office on the days between Ascension and Pentecost is actually the novena par excellence. The reason for this is that, as Sacred Liturgy, praying the Office is not only the perfect preparation for the Solemnity of Pentecost, but the sacramental participation in the mystery of those nine days that the apostles “devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren (Acts 1:14).”

The prayers of the Office help us see this starting tomorrow (the Friday after the Ascension) when, after the introduction to the Invitatory (Lord open my lips…), the very first words of the Church’s prayer are “Come, let us adore Christ the Lord who promised to send the Holy Spirit on his people, alleluia.” It is as if the Church is calling us to wait upon the Holy Spirit in the confidence that Christ will make good on his promise, “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18), but will “give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive” (vv. 16-17).

Tomorrow you will also notice that the intercessions for Morning Prayer begin with the invitation “Christ ascended into heaven to send the Holy Spirit on the apostles. Let us join with one voice in praising him, and say… Send us your Spirit.” And from now until Pentecost, the intercessions for both Morning and Evening Prayer place on our lips a constant plea for the Lord to send His Spirit upon the Church.

It is interesting to note that in between Ascension and Pentecost, the proper readings, responsories, and antiphons for Morning Prayer will continually remind us that we are still in the Easter season, whereas the propers for Evening Prayer will be focused strictly on the coming of the Holy Spirit. In this way, the Church helps us to continue basking in the light of the resurrection and ascension of Christ all the while anticipating the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church at Pentecost.

Having said that, I would like to share with you some examples of how the Church prepares us for Pentecost through the Liturgy of the Hours and thus provides us with the perfect Novena of the Holy Spirit.

First of all, the traditional hymn for Vespers after the Ascension up until Pentecost is Veni Creator Spiritus, attributed to the Benedictine Monk, Rabanus Maurus (ca. 780-856). In singing what is arguably one of the most beautiful hymns ever composed in the Church, every day we implore the Holy Spirit to come and visit us, fill our senses, pour forth His love into our hearts, drive far from us our deadly foe, and grant us lasting peace.

Then there are the readings for Evening Prayer, which include passages such as:

All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You did not receive a spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but a spirit of adoption through whom we cry out, “Abba!” (That is, “Father”). The spirit himself gives witness with our spirit that we are children of God.(from Romans 8, Monday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech.(from Romans, Tuesday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within – the Spirit you have received from God(from 1 Corinthians, Thursday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

Live in accord with the spirit and you will not yield to the cravings of the flesh. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity. .Since we live by the spirit, let us follow the spirit’s lead.(from Galatians, Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

We learn from these passages that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of adoption through whom we can call God “our Father” and that He helps us in our weakness, makes intercession for us, comes to dwell within us, and produces fruits in those who live in accord with His inspirations.

The responsory that follows these readings proclaims that “The Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, alleluia, alleluia” and that “He will teach you all things.” In other words, the Holy Spirit is both our infallible helper and teacher.

Then we have the antiphons for the Magnificat that come directly from the Gospels. All of these have to do with the coming of the Holy Spirit. For example:

I will send you the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When the Paraclete comes he will bear witness to me, alleluia (Seventh Sunday of Easter)

The Spirit, the Advocate, will remain with you and live in you, alleluia (Monday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit. You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth, alleluia. (Tuesday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will teach you all truth and will proclaim to you the things to come, alleluia. (Thursday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

Once again, notice the catechesis... We learn that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, the Paraclete, and the Advocate. We also learn that the Spirit at once comes from the Father and is sent by the Son. He bears witness to Christ, He remains with us, He lives in us, makes us witnesses of Jesus, teaches us all truth and proclaims the things to come.

Lastly, and most profoundly, the patristic readings in the Office of Readings during these days are unmatched in their clarity, truth, and beauty. These ought to be used for every Confirmation class!

Consider these following excerpts:

“As the Apostle says, they were to be bound together with the bonds of peace in the unity that comes from the Holy Spirit. They were to be made one body and one spirit by the one hope to which they were called. We shall do better, however, to quote the sacred words of the gospel itself. I pray,the Lord says, that they all may be one that as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so they also may be one in us. Now the bond that creates this unity is glory. That the Holy Spirit is called glory no one can deny if he thinks carefully about the Lord’s words: The glory you gave to me, I have given to them. In fact, he gave this glory to his disciples when he said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. Although he had always possessed it, even before the world existed, he himself received this glory when he put on human nature. Then, when his human nature had been glorified by the Spirit, the glory of the Spirit was passed on to all his kin, beginning with his disciples… Whoever has grown from infancy to manhood and attained to spiritual maturity possesses the mastery over his passions and the purity that makes it possible for him to receive the glory of the Spirit. He is that perfect dove upon whom the eyes of the bridegroom rest when he says: One alone is my dove, my perfect one.” (St Gregory of Nyssa, Seventh Sunday of Easter)

“The Holy Spirit, whose nature is always the same, simple and indivisible, apportions grace to each man as he wills. Like a dry tree which puts forth shoots when watered, the soul bears the fruit of holiness when repentance has made it worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit. Although the Spirit never changes, the effects of his action, by the will of God and in the name of Christ, are both many and marvelous. The Spirit makes one man a teacher of divine truth, inspires another to prophesy, gives another the power of casting out devils, enables another to interpret holy Scripture. The Spirit strengthens one man’s self-control, shows another how to help the poor, teaches another to fast and lead a life of asceticism, makes another oblivious to the needs of the body, trains another for martyrdom. His action is different in different people, but the Spirit himself is always the same.” (St Cyril of Jerusalem, Monday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

“To the Spirit all creatures turn in their need for sanctification; all living things seek him according to their ability. His breath empowers each to achieve its own natural end. The Spirit is the source of holiness, spiritual light, and he offers his own light to every mind to help it in its search for truth. By nature the Spirit is beyond the reach of our mind but we can know him by his goodness. The power of the Spirit fills the whole universe, but he gives himself only to those who are worthy, acting in each according to the measure of his faith… The Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, guides the steps of the weak, and brings to perfection those who are making progress. He enlightens those who have been cleansed from every stain of sin and makes them spiritual by communion with himself… Through the Spirit we become citizens of heaven, we are admitted to the company of the angels, we enter into eternal happiness and abide in God. Through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed, we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations – we become God.” (St Basil the Great, Tuesday in the Seventh Week in Easter)

“After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary for us to become sharers in the divine nature of the Word. We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. This was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit. It was most fitting that the sending of the Spirit and his descent upon us should take place after the departure of Christ our Savior. As long as Christ was with them in the flesh, it must have seemed to believers that they possessed every blessing in him; but when the time came for him to ascend to his heavenly Father, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshiped him, and to dwell in our hearts through faith. Only by his own presence within us in this way could he give us confidence to cry out, Abba, Father, make it easy for us to grow in holiness and, through our possession of the all-powerful Spirit, fortify us invincibly against the wiles of the devil and the assaults of men.” (St Cyril of Alexandria, Thursday in the Seventh Week of Easter)

Altogether, I hope this helps us see that the Liturgy of the Hours is the perfect novena as well as an excellent catechesis on the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it is by praying the Liturgy of the Hours during this period that the Church prepares her children for Pentecost and enables us to participate sacramentally with the apostles gathered with Mary and all the saints in the cenacle of Heaven as they intercede for us and pray for the renewal of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.

Come Holy Spirit!

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He called forth light and darkness, waters and dry land, plants and trees, and all living creatures. Then He formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He planted a garden in Eden and placed the man there to ‘ābad and šāmar.

These Hebrew words in Genesis 2 are usually translated “to till and keep.” Yet the same words appear later in Exodus (and also in the Prophets) to describe the ministry of priests in the tabernacle, where they are often rendered “to serve and guard.”

The point is this: from the beginning, man was given a priestly vocation. Eden was God’s temple—for there God walked with man and sought communion with him. Man received a commandment to obey and was entrusted with serving and guarding this temple. Stamped with the very image of God, he became a kind of vicar or mediator of God on earth.

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But this mediation worked both ways. Not only was man created to represent God to the rest of creation, but he was also made to stand before God on behalf of creation. While he was tasked with “serving and guarding” God’s temple, cultivating and developing it, and reflecting God’s glory in the world, man was also to serve as a priestly mediator and laudator—one who gives praise and offers thanksgiving—on behalf of his fellow creatures. As a rational creature made in God’s image, only man could fulfill this vocation of giving to God what is truly right and just: a sacrifice of praise.

This vocation was forfeited when, instead of giving thanks for the gifts God had entrusted to him, man cast aside God’s commandment and sought those gifts on his own terms. That is why some have suggested that Adam’s “sin of commission” in which he ate of the fruit of the tree was actually preceded by a “sin of omission” in which he failed to give thanks—the only right and just response to God’s benevolence.

To rectify this, God sent His Son in the likeness of human flesh, so that He might offer a supreme sacrifice on behalf of all mankind. This sacrifice—the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross—is re-presented on our altars in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass. It is the perfect act of praise and thanksgiving offered to the Father, for it is nothing less than the sacrifice of God made man. He alone has offered, and continues to offer, what is right and just. We assist in this offering by joining our praise and thanksgiving to that of our Lord.

But this sacrifice must reach beyond the Mass, touching every square inch of our existence. For this reason, Christ in His eternal wisdom has provided His Church with the Divine Office, or the Liturgy of the Hours. This prayer allows us to pray without ceasing and offer a continual sacrifice of praise here and now—restoring fallen man to the true vocation for which we were made and rightly ordering our days as a holy offering unto the Lord.

This has also become the way we live out our priestly call to give glory and praise to God on behalf of all creatures. We see this most clearly in the Canticle of Daniel, which the Church prays at Lauds every other Sunday in the first and third weeks of the Psalter. When we pray this canticle, the Church gathers her children into one voice and calls all of God’s creatures to bless Him:

“Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above all forever…
Sun and moon, bless the Lord.
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord…
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord.
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord…
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord.”

When the Church sings this canticle, she lends her voice to all creatures and begs God to receive their praise through her lips. These creatures offer a kind of praise by virtue of their God-given existence, but left to themselves they cannot give God rational praise. For that, they need man. They need a priest. Blessed Columba Marmion thus says:

“In order that it [creation] may consummate its adoration, man must be its mediator. He must lend a voice, an understanding, and a heart burning with love, to all visible nature that it may love, in man and through him, the invisible beauty of the Creator… because although the world contains him, he has a mind and a heart greater than the world; in order that contemplating the whole universe and gathering it up in himself, he may offer, sanctify, and consecrate it to the Living God.”

This is all made possible only in and through Christ our Lord, the true and eternal High Priest. But when the Church, united with her Head, takes up these great benedictions, she fulfills not only her own purpose but that of the whole created order. In doing so, she anticipates the day when all God’s sons will be revealed and creation itself “will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

In the end, this is man’s vocation: to be a son of God who not only mediates God’s presence to the rest of His creatures but also offers right praise to God on their behalf. Yes, this is truly right and just. It is our duty and our salvation.

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For some time I have been reading the works of Blessed Columba Marmion, a Benedictine abbot who lived from 1858 until 1923. Marmion has become well known both for his letters of spiritual direction and theological works. While Marmion has written beautifully on so many topics (e.g. suffering, spiritual adoption, abandonment to the will of God, etc), his writings on the Divine Office are second to none. I have yet to find such a thorough treatment of the meaning and significance of the Church’s Prayer. There are three works that have whole chapters devoted to the Divine Office: Christ the Life of the Soul, Christ the Ideal of the Priest, and Christ the Ideal of the Monk.

Of these titles, it is the latter that I have been pouring over recently. There is one thing in particular that I want to share from this work (Christ the Ideal of the Monk) and that is what Marmion refers to as “the ultimate basis for the excellence of the Divine Office.”

Marmion once wrote that he was “firmly convinced that the more one advances in life, the more one has relations with God, the better one understands the grandeur of the divine praise in the Office… [and] there is no other work which approaches even remotely this praise.” When I first read that, I remember wondering what it was about the Office that led hiim to believe that no other work could even remotely approach it?

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To answer this question, Marmion begins with what we know of the eternal Word of God, namely that he is “the brightness of [the Father’s] glory,” as stated in the book of Hebrews (1:3). Marmion then unpacks the meaning of these words, saying,

“The Word, the Son, is essentially the glory of His Father. From all eternity, this Son… expresses the Father’s perfection, and this is the essential glory that the Father receives. The Eternal Word is a Divine canticle singing the Father’s praise… This is the infinite hymn that ever resounds in sinu Patris (in the bosom of the Father) and ever ravishes the Father. The Word is the Canticle that God inwardly sings to Himself, the Canticle that rises up from the depths of the Divinity, the Living Canticle wherein God eternally delights, because it is the infinite expression of His perfection.”

This, Marmion says, “bears in itself the fundamental reason and value of the Divine Office.” Why? Because when this same Word was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man, the eternal canticle of praise was given human expression. From the moment of His incarnation, “when Christ prayed, when He recited the Psalms, when, as the Gospel says, He spent the night in prayer… the canticle of the Word was multiplied, detailed, upon the lips of His manhood. Thus this same canticle… was prolonged and sung upon earth when the Word became incarnate.”

But the Sacred Humanity of Christ did not only give human expression to the Divine canticle of praise. He would associate His Mystical Body, the Church, with His praise. “Before ascending into Heaven, He bequeathed His riches and mission to His Church. Christ, in uniting Himself to the Church, gave her His power of adoring and praising the Father; this is the liturgy… it is the praise of Christ, the Incarnate Word, passing through the lips of the Church.”

This then is the ultimate basis for the excellence of the Divine Office – as the opus Christi (the work of Christ), it is the means by which we share in the praise of Christ and give perfect glory to the Father. Let us remember that every time we join our hearts and voices together to offer the Divine praises contained in the prayer of the Church. Together with the sacrifice of the Mass, it is nothing less than the pearl of great price!

In Marmion’s words, “there is no other work which approaches even remotely this praise.”

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In the document Lumen Gentium, we read of the universal call to holiness – “that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity (LG, 40).” The council fathers insisted that no matter what state in life, all members of the Church must strive for holiness, seeking above all to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ through obedience to the will of the Father and cooperation with His gifts of grace.

This call to holiness is of a supernatural order and cannot be attained by our own effort or strength of will. While it is true that there are moral virtues that can be acquired by human effort, even these must be “purified and elevated by grace” (CCC, 1810). For us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ – indeed, to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect – we must turn to God “who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens” and has chosen us in Him to be “holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:3, 4).

Where can we find this spiritual blessing along with the grace to become holy and blameless in the sight of the Lord? The answer is the Sacred Liturgy of the Catholic Church – the source of all grace and the summit of our perfection. As the Catechism puts it, “In the Church’s liturgy the divine blessing is fully revealed and communicated” (CCC, 1082).

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Indeed, the Sacred Liturgy is how Christ comes “into complete possession of the souls of men” (MD, 77) so that we can obey the Father’s will and cooperate with His gifts of grace. This is why Sacrosanctum Concilium has stated, “every liturgical action… is a sacred action surpassing all others” and that “no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree. (SC, 7).”

When we speak of the Sacred Liturgy, most will immediately think of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is good, but incomplete. In truth, it is both the Mass and the Divine Office that form the whole of the Sacred Liturgy. As Pope Pius XII stated in the encyclical Mediator Dei, “the worship that the Church renders to God, and which is based especially on the Eucharistic sacrifice and the use of the sacraments… embraces by means of the divine office, the hours of the day, the weeks and the whole cycle of the year, and reaches all the aspects and phases of human life.” The Catechism reiterates this point, saying “The mystery of Christ… which we celebrate in the Eucharist especially at the Sunday assembly, permeates and transfigures the time of each day, through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours (CCC, 1174).”

In other words, as an inseparable part of the Sacred Liturgy of the Catholic Church, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours extends the Eucharistic sacrifice to all of life. It prolongs the prayer and praise of Christ in such a way that everything it touches becomes a holy offering unto the Lord. In doing so, it is unequaled in its power and effectiveness in bringing about our sanctification. Perhaps this is why the General Instructions of the Liturgy of the Hours tells us that those praying the prayer of the Church “have access to holiness of the richest kind (GILH, 14).”

In the end, the universal call to holiness issued in Lumen Gentium is not abstract or theoretical in the least bit. It is not just a nice way of saying that everyone can become a saint. The holiness to which we are all called is the inestimable gift of God that is given to us in and through the Sacred Liturgy. Because the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is nothing less than the re-presentation of the sacrificial offering of Christ upon the altar of the Cross, it is the font from which every spiritual blessing flows. But it is through the Liturgy of the Hours that these heavenly blessings reach us in the various aspects and phases of human life and make of us a perpetual offering of praise to God. There is no surer way to become holy and blameless in the sight of the Lord.

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In the preface to his monumental work, The Liturgical Year (1841), the French Benedictine abbot and monk, Dom Prosper Guéranger, spoke of the supernatural quality of the Divine Office. He lamented the fact that, since the Protestant Reformation, this sacrificium laudis (sacrifice of praise) had been suppressed and only in rare instances was still prayed among the faithful. His whole aim in writing The Liturgical Year was to help the faithful to once again “follow [the Church] in her prayer of each mystic season, nay, of each day and hour.” Guéranger was not just writing to consecrated and religious. He desired to see all the faithful re-awaken to the power and beauty of the Church’s prayer.

Mind you, Guéranger wrote this in the mid-1800s, pre-dating Vatican II by over 100 years. Needless to say, the desire to see the Divine Office restored as the “prayer of the whole people of God” was hardly an invention of Vatican II (as some suggest). This is in accord with the very nature of the Church’s prayer. It has always been a public and communal offering. Though frequent participation in the Hours had waned among the faithful in his time, Guéranger says it was still common for lay people to “give up their worldly business, and cares, and take part in the Office of the Church.” He stated that, “when any affliction, or the desire to obtain a special favor, led them to the house of God, they were sure to hear, no matter at what hour they went, that untiring voice of prayer which was for ever ascending to heaven for the salvation of mankind.”

However, he still lamented the fact that the faithful had “grown too solicitous about earthly things to frequent the holy vigils and the mystical Hours of the day.” While the prayers of the Office were still offered in the churches and monasteries, it was only prayed by those “considered as solemnly deputed by the people.” Guéranger went on to warn that the Divine Office “would soon become powerless were the faithful not to take a real share in it, or at least not to associate themselves to it in heart.” He admonished them, “Be wise, then, ye children of the Catholic Church, and obtain that largeness of heart which will make you pray the prayer of your mother.”

While Guéranger insisted that the Office was the prayer of all the faithful, he understood this to be true within an ecclesial context. In other words, Guéranger would have considered the private recitation of the Breviary an anomaly, for it would have been a clear deviation from its public and communal nature. Yet, while the reformed Breviary has remained an obligation for clergy and has been received generously by the faithful (as so many bear witness to), its public and communal nature has been largely disregarded.

Perhaps some might argue that praying the Liturgy of the Hours unites our prayer with the faithful of every time and place no matter who is or is not physically present. This is not untrue. However, because its communal celebration manifests the praying Church more perfectly, its public celebration is always preferred. In the General Instructions, it says quite explicitly that the Liturgy of the Hours “is not a private matter but belongs to the whole Body of the church.” Further, because it “stands out most strikingly as an ecclesial celebration when… the local Church celebrates it,” such a celebration is “most earnestly recommended.”

It is also interesting to note those places in the General Instructions when private recitation of the Office is implicitly treated as an exception. One such place is in paragraph 28 where it reads, “Sacred ministers have the liturgy of the hours entrusted to them in such a particular way that even when the faithful are not present they are to pray it themselves with the adaptations necessary under these circumstances.” Not only does this imply that the norm is when the sacred ministers pray the Liturgy of the Hours with the faithful, but that there are even adaptations that must be made when they have to pray it privately.

Altogether, when it comes to our desire to see the Liturgy of the Hours restored to its rightful place within the life of the Church, I think we have a great advocate in Dome Prosper Guéranger. Not only has he written so beautifully and eloquently on the nature and purpose of the Divine Office, but he also worked tirelessly to see it restored as the prayer of all God’s people. May we do the same. And may God grant us to see the day when Catholic churches once again resound with the venerable prayers and praises which Christ has left to His Bride.

When the sun rises in the morning sky, you will see the King of kings coming forth from the Father like a radiant bridegroom from the bridal chamber. (Antiphon for the Canticle of Mary, Evening Prayer I)

The Bible has been described as a love story between God and His people. There is certainly no shortage of biblical texts that support this view. God was not only the Creator of the universe, but one who walked among His creatures “in the garden in the cool of the day.” Israel’s God was not only the Lawgiver, but the Lord who allured Israel to “bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” He was not only a Temple King, but the covenant God who promised His people, “I will betroth you to me forever.” And He would become not only a son of David, born to rule over the house of Jacob forever, but the incarnate Word who joined Himself to our humanity in order that He might make sharers in His Divinity.

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In fact, in today’s canticle from Morning Prayer, we sing (in the words of Isaiah)…

“You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the lord,
a royal diadem held by your God.

No more shall men call you ‘Forsaken,’
or your land ‘Desolate,’
but you shall be called ‘My delight,’
and your land ‘Espoused.’
For the Lord delights in you,
and makes your land his spouse.

As a young man marries a virgin,
your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
so shall your God rejoice in you.”

Ultimately, this prophecy was fulfilled in the incarnation when, in the womb of Mary, a marriage was born of God’s enduring and constant love for us! Indeed, when Christ came forth from the womb on Christmas morn, he came forth like a radiant bridegroom from the bridal chamber where the union between God and man had been consummated for all eternity. As we sing in the Te Deum, God did not spurn the virgin’s womb. Rather, he took delight in virginity and reserved Mary’s womb as a tent for the spousal union between God and man.

Since Mary is the “exemplary realization of the Church” (as it states in the Catechism), what is true of Mary is true of the Church and all her members. Thus, Christ is our Bridegroom, and in the incarnation He made our land his spouse and joined himself to us in a mystical marriage of love. He took on the form of a slave, assumed the weakness of our human condition, and was born into our poverty and lowliness in order that He might bring joy to all peoples with the promise of unending life (Intercessions, Evening Prayer I).

But as with Mary, God asks for our consent and cooperation with His grace. At Christmas, we remember that God has come near. He is the Bridegroom of the soul. He allures us with His love. But we must give our consent… we must give our “yes.”

Today, on this Vigil of the Nativity the Lord, let us renew our “yes” to God and His all-consuming love. Let us offer to Him in total freedom the gift of our consent. And as we do so, let us marvel at the inexpressible goodness of God who has come from the Father to join Himself to us as the true Bridegroom of our souls.

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O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Savior of all people: Come and set us free, Lord our God.

Joseph was told that Mary would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear a son and that all this would take place “to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’

Sure enough, upon the Angel Gabriel’s annunciation, Mary conceived in her womb the one who would rule over the house of Jacob forever.

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The king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, savior of all had come near. But not without the help of an angelic messenger and not without the cooperation of a virgin from Nazareth. The Gospel of St. Luke tells us that after Gabriel’s visit to Mary, “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste… where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” Not only was Elizabeth astonished at the visitation of Mary who bore God in her womb, but even the infant in her womb leaped for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting.

It is true that God is with us. But God’s ordinary means of drawing near is by seeking out created vessels who willingly share in His mission. This was true with the incarnation, and it remains true with the Church.

In these final hours of Advent, let us remember that the Church is the incarnate body of the Son. And it is through His members that Christ is revealed to the nations. The Church does not have a mission from God. The Church is the mission of God. Like Mary, we have been sent… sent to a world in need, bearing in our hearts the true king and lawgiver, the desire of every nation, and the only One who can save us all from our sins.

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O Rex Gentium

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man: come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

Jesus has not only come to save man whom God fashioned from the dust, but to complete him. As the keystone, He is the final piece needed to hold man together and to make of him a strong and enduring structure.

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In his letter to the Colossians, St Paul says of Christ, “all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” But what is said in Colossians of all things, St Paul says in Ephesians specifically regarding the Church: “you are… built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord.”

For this reason, the Catechism teaches that the Church is “the universal sacrament of salvation... at once manifesting and actualizing the mystery of God’s love for men.” The holy Catholic Church then reveals in history the plan of God for the fullness of time, “to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth (Eph1:10)” and to raise the creature fashioned from the dust to “mature manhood, to the full stature of Christ (4:13).”

The Church, in other words, is held together by the Keystone, Jesus Christ. Without Him the whole structure deteriorates. But through Him, and with Him, and in Him, the body of Christ is raised to the universal sacrament of God’s love for men. As members of His body, let us resolve to fix our eyes on Christ Jesus and receive Him anew at Christmas as the one who, like the keystone, holds us together and enables us to become the true and sacred temple of the Lord.

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O Oriens

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

In the Gospel of St John we read, “the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light.”

We all know the story of the Magi. Bearing gifts, these star gazers from the East left everything to follow the Star, that they might bow down and worship before the luminous babe lying in a manger. Herod, on the other hand, when he learned of the Christ child, slaughtered innocent children in search of him who was rumored to be the king of the nations.

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Today’s O Antiphon resounds with great hope that at last the radiant dawn, the splendor of eternal light, the sun of justice was about to come. And yet the events surrounding the Lord’s Nativity remind us that, when the light did come, it was not welcomed by all.

We all have Magi within our hearts. But we all have Herod as well. We love the light and welcome it under certain conditions. But when the light exposes our sin, or shines on those areas of our lives that have yet to be surrendered to God, we do everything we can to return and take shelter in the darkness of ignorance.

The truth is that before we can ever receive the inexhaustible and unfathomable mystery of Christmas, we must in faith arise from the darkness of ignorance and allow the light of Christ to consume that which keeps us in the shadow of death. Like the Magi, we must be willing to leave everything and pledge our loyalty to the One who alone can satisfy the desires of our hearts.

In these last days of Advent, let us beg the Lord to “bring to light what is hidden in darkness“ and “manifest the motives of our hearts“ (Reading, Evening Prayer), so that we might repent of our love of darkness and ignorance and receive in faith the splendor of eternal light which gives joy to every human heart.

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O Clavis David

O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel, controlling at your will the gate of heaven: Come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death; and lead your captive people into freedom.

As Christmas draws near, it is easy to lose ourselves in the sentimentality of the season. And while these days rightly invite gratitude, warmth, and cherished traditions, they also ask us not to forget the world into which the Son of God was born. He entered a history marked by oppression—by the heavy hand of empire, by unjust systems of control, and by a people worn down by darkness, longing for the dawn of light.

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Yet these political realities were only the surface of a deeper captivity. Humanity was not enslaved merely by imperial power, but by sin—bound by fear, corruption, and the shadow of death itself. And so when God assumed our flesh, He did not come simply to reform governments or loosen external chains. He came to shatter idolatry, to restore right worship, and to free the human heart so that it might once again belong wholly to God. In doing so, He would indeed break the prison walls of death and lead His captive people into freedom.

The Church gives us a luminous image of this mystery in today’s Office of Readings. In a homily by St. Bernard, we are invited to imagine the patriarchs and prophets gathered in hope at the moment of the Annunciation, pleading with the Virgin to give her fiat. They beg her to consent, that she might conceive and bear the Son who would be the long-awaited “comfort of the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned—indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam.”

Here we glimpse the paradox of God’s saving work. The Key of David—the royal Power of Israel—beholds in a lowly virgin the very gate of heaven. Through her consent, light would pierce the darkness, and God would enter the world to deliver His people into true and everlasting freedom. In Mary, we see one who had already been set free: free to trust, free to obey, free to give herself entirely to the will of God. And through her, the world would meet its Divine Liberator.

In these final days of Advent, we are invited to become like Mary. Let us not despair at the darkness that surrounds us, nor grow accustomed to the chains we carry. Instead, let us become humble and lowly of heart, offering ourselves to God in freedom, that He may break down the prison walls within us, flood our deepest shadows with His radiant light, and lead us from disordered desire into true interior freedom. And perhaps, like Mary, we too may become vessels through whom the royal Power of Israel leads others into the freedom of the children of God.

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O Radix Jessi

O Root of Jesse, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

The world in which we live so often roars with rage and restless noise. Yet this turmoil is not merely external; it is the echo of hearts that no longer know God. For the farther the human heart wanders from its Creator, the more disordered it becomes, and that inner chaos eventually spills into the world through our words and deeds. We may learn to manage this unrest in different ways, but as St. Augustine knew so well, the heart remains restless until it rests in God.

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We look ahead to the day when kings will be silenced and entire nations will bow before the Lord (in the words of today’s O antiphon). But the Root of Jesse has already been lifted high as a sign for all peoples—and that sign stands before you and me. God has not delayed His help. He has come to our aid. He is Emmanuel, God with us.

And yet, this Root of Jesse has not come clothed in spectacle or power. He has not built an empire or claimed the world’s attention. He came instead as a child—small, vulnerable, dependent upon the love of a mother who nursed Him. And He continues to come to us still in the quiet poverty and hidden humility of the Eucharist, entrusted to the hands of a priest, waiting to be received.

Yes, a day will come when kings stand speechless in His presence and nations bow in adoration. But even now, we anticipate and rehearse that coming day each time we bend the knee or make a prostration before the Blessed Sacrament. Advent invites us then to take the place of kings—to bow down on behalf of the nations—by drawing near to Christ in silence, humility, and reverent love. There, at last, the restless heart will find its rest, and from that stillness we will become for others a place of peace.

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O Adonai

O Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.

A Jewish rabbi once wrote regarding Moses and the burning bush,

“How long would you have to watch wood burn before you could know whether or not it was actually being consumed? Even dry kindling wood is not burned up for several minutes. This would mean that Moses would have had to watch the ‘amazing sight’ for several minutes before he could possibly know there was even a miracle to watch!… The trick is to pay attention to what is going on around you long enough to behold the miracle without falling asleep. There is another world, right here within this one, whenever we pay attention.”

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Sometimes we hear a story so many times that we fail to consider the details hidden in plain sight. When you pause to consider the account of the burning bush from Exodus 3 (from which we get our O antiphon today), it is clear that God did not show Himself to Moses until he had paid attention long enough to notice not only that the bush was burning, but that “it was not consumed.”

This begs the question, How often is God wanting to show Himself to us only to find us too busy, too distracted, or too listless to notice? Granted, we may not encounter many literal burning bushes in our lifetimes. But the Catechism tells us that, even without the supernatural virtue of faith, God continues to reveal Himself to man through the created world He has made and through the mystery of the human person. If you add to this the virtue of faith infused in the soul at baptism, a life lived in a state of grace, frequent reception of the sacraments, and a disciplined rule of prayer, our whole lives become a desert set ablaze by burning bushes – opportunities to encounter the living God... if only we would pause and take notice.

It is true – there is another world right here within this one, if only we pay attention. After all, Jesus said, “the Kingdom of God is in your midst.” In this last week of Advent, let us pause long enough to keep watch and pay attention for the subtle ways that the Kingdom is breaking through and radiating the truth, goodness, and beauty of God around us. In so doing, we will prepare our hearts to marvel and receive with faith the incarnation of our Lord at Christmas!

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Today we begin the O antiphons, sung during Vespers before the Magnificat from December 17^th through the 23^rd. These antiphons originated with the Divine Office and date back to at least the 8^th century. They are known today by most everyone thanks to the popular hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Each of these antiphons invokes the Lord Jesus by messianic titles drawn from the prophet Isaiah and other Old Testament books (e.g. O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Jesse, etc). I have decided to take the next seven days to reflect on these antiphons as we continue to prepare for the great feast of the Nativity.

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O Sapentia

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care: Come and show your people the way to salvation. (Evening Prayer Antiphon, Canticle of Mary)

We read in the Baltimore Catechism that, “We receive the gift of wisdom to give us a relish for the things of God and to direct our whole life and all our actions to His honor and glory.” St Thomas Aquinas says, “Among all human pursuits, the pursuit of wisdom is more perfect, more noble, more useful, and more full of joy… because through wisdom we arrive at the kingdom of immortality.” Lastly, according to St Augustine, “The true wisdom of man is piety.”

St Paul states as a matter of fact that Christ is the wisdom of God (1Cor1:24). Indeed, He is the gift of God who inflames our hearts with a holy desire and directs our lives to the honor and glory of God. It is from Him that we received the kingdom of immortality. And, as the One who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at but rather emptied himself and took the form of a slave, He is the object of our piety and reverence.

In other words, our Lord came and dwelt among us not merely as a teacher of wisdom, but as Holy Wisdom in the flesh. Indeed, He is the Divine Logos through whom all things live and move and have their being. Therefore, if God orders all things according His Wisdom - if this is how He governs all creation – then we can truly say that as we grow in our desire for God, when the pursuit of holy Wisdom is our one true aim, and when we revere the name of the Lord and acknowledge his glory, we are living our lives according to the pattern of God’s creative and redemptive love.

In these final days of Advent then, let us beg the Lord for holy Wisdom so that when Christ appears on Christmas morn we might recognize Him as the One who already governs our hearts with his strong yet tender care. In the words of the hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, let us pray,

“O Come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go.”

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Arise, arise! Wake from your slumber, Jerusalem; shake the chain from your neck, captive daughter Zion. (Antiphon, Canticle of Zechariah)

As we begin to draw closer to Christmas, this morning’s antiphon for the Benedictus (Canticle of Zechariah) sounds an alarm. It is time to arise and wake from our slumber. The night is far spent. The dawn of a new creation is about to arrive. As we wait upon the Lord, it is easy to grow weary and lose heart. We are tempted to relax our attentiveness and to cease keeping watch for the enemy who “is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (Reading, Night Prayer).

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But the righteous shoot of David is coming and will not delay. He is coming to shake the heavy chain of sin from our neck and set us free. He is coming to bring us salvation, to seek out the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and heal the sick (Reading, Midafternoon Prayer). And so we cry out, “Come and set us free, Lord God of power and might” (Responsory, Evening Prayer)!

No matter how dark the days seem to appear to the eyes of the flesh, no matter how long the wait seems to be, we put our trust in God who has promised to “strengthen us to the end, so that we will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Reading, Evening Prayer). That day is coming when “The Lord of Hosts will come down upon Mount Zion” and a song of profound holiness will fill our hearts with unspeakable joy (Responsory, Office of Reading). But today we must take care to be docile to God’s will and humble, for “God protects and frees a humble man; he loves and consoles a humble man; he favors a humble man; he showers him with graces; then, after his suffering, God raises him up to glory” (Imitation of Christ, Office of Readings).

Let us then arise! Let us shake the chain of sin and pride from our necks and be humble before the Lord. Let us be vigilant, keeping watch for the father of lies who seeks to steal and destroy. We worship a God who is good and benevolent to His children. He has not promised us a life of ease or comfort. But He has promised to “free us from sin and renew his life within us” so that we might be saved and reign with Him in glory forever. Christmas will soon come like a light piercing the dark night. May we stand ready to welcome this light with profound hope and joy!

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“The Lord is waiting to show you favor, and he rises to pity you; for the Lord is a God of justice: blessed are all who wait for him! O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, no more will you weep; He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.”

Today’s Office of Readings begins with these words of hope from the prophet Isaiah. But when we read them closely, we notice that God is not just “waiting to show His favor” as if He is holding out on His people; rather, He is waiting for them to cry out to Him in their need. The judgments of the Lord have been just, but He is ready to “give the bread [His people] need and the water for which they thirst.” They have been slow to see that their “silver-plated idols” and “gold-covered images” cannot save. However, they are now beginning to realize that they, like lost sheep, have wandered from the fold and are desperately in need of their divine shepherd.

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This is precisely what the Church gives voice to every Advent season. We become the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the path of our God.” We petition our God in words such as, “Come and set us free, Lord God of power and might… Let your face shine upon us and we shall be saved”, “Come, Lord, do not delay… Free your people from their sinfulness,” and “Come, Lord Jesus.” For we know that we, like the Israelites of old, live in the depths of error and darkness. While the Word of God became flesh by an act of sheer grace and has loved us to the end, we have at times turned back to false idols that cannot save. We have wandered like sheep without a shepherd.

Thanks be to God that He continues to hear the cry of His poor ones as we call upon Him from the depths of our poverty, weakness, and even sin. As William of Saint-Thierry reminds us in today’s Office of Readings, our God continues to “hover over the waters – that is, over the wavering minds of men, offering himself to all, drawing all things to himself.” By doing so, He stirs up our love for Him and inspires us to cry out to Him.

Remember, worse than sin is a heart that will not beg from God what He alone can give. In these days of Advent then, let us not despair of the ways we have failed. Instead, let us turn to the Lord in our need and call upon Him who waits to visit us with His favor. He will be gracious to us when we cry out, as soon as He hears He will answer us.

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The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. It gets its name from the first word in the Introit of the Mass, which means Rejoice! This is also the first word in the antiphon for Evening Prayer I, which says “Rejoice Jerusalem, let our joy overflow; your Savior will come to you, alleluia.” And we see this echoed in St. Paul’s words in the reading for Evening Prayer II, “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again. Rejoice!”

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Today, make it a point to rejoice, for the long awaited coming of Christ is just around the corner. Advent has now run over half its course. Traditionally, the priest wears rose vestments on this day to indicate that the season of penance and sacrifice is coming to its end, making way for a season of great feasting and celebration.

But as we rejoice today, it is important that we rejoice in the Lord! In other words, we must remember the cause of our rejoicing – that our heavenly King “comes with power and might to save the nations” (Antiphon, Evening Prayer I). Indeed, we rejoice because “the night is far spent; the day draws near” and “the Lord is coming without delay… [to] reveal things kept hidden and show himself to all mankind” (Antiphon, Morning Prayer). Even “the mountains break out with joy and the hills with answering gladness for the world’s true light, the Lord, comes with power and might” (Antiphon, Evening Prayer II).

Today the Church’s prayer reminds us that, because of our hope in Christ, even seasons marked by long-suffering and forbearance can have moments of light and joy. So, as we continue to wait upon the Lord for His coming at Christmas, let us rejoice for all those moments in life when we are graced with a reminder that God is faithful and that He provides what we need in the proper seasons. Our part is to trust and rejoice in Him always.

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