Divine Intimacy Meditations on the Interior Life for Everyday of the Liturgical Year
Taken From Divine Intimacy
Meditations on the Interior Life for Everyday of the Liturgical Year
By Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalena, O.C.D.
Imprimatur Richard Cardinal Cushing Archbishop of Boston July 16, 1964
“The Name of the Lord cometh from afar…I look from afar, and behold I see the power of God coming…Go out to meet Him, and say, “Tell us if You are He who shall rule…” These words are taken from today’s liturgy, and in reply, it invites us, “Come, let us adore the King, the Lord who is coming!...(RB)
This coming was expected for long ages; it was foretold by the prophets and desired by all the just who were not granted to see its dawn. The Church commemorates and renews this expectation with each recurring Advent, expressing this longing to the Saviour who is to come. The desire of old was sustained solely by hope, but it is now a confident desire, founded on the consoling reality of the Redemption already accomplished. Although historically completed nineteen centuries ago, this longing should be actualized daily, renewed in ever deeper and fuller reality in every Christian soul.
The spirit of the Advent liturgy, commemorating the age-long expectation of the Redeemer, will prepare us to celebrate the mystery of the Word made Flesh by arousing in each one of us and intimate, personal expectation of the renewed coming of Christ to our soul. This coming is accomplished by grace; to the degree in which grace develops and matures in us, it becomes copious, more penetrating, until it transforms the soul into an alter Christus. Advent is the season of waiting and of fervent longing for the Redeemer: “Drop down dew, ye heavens, and let the clouds rain the Just One!” (Ibid).
THE LORD WILL NOT DELAY
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Presence of God-I place myself in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to receive His two-fold invitation to confidence and repentance, contained in today’s Liturgy.
After we have considered the sublime program of sanctification which we should follow, it is very consoling to consider the magnificent text of today’s liturgy. They invite us to have complete trust in God’s help. “Thy salvation cometh quickly: why art thou wasted with sorrow?... I will save thee and deliver thee, fear not….as a Mother comforteth her sons, so will I comfort thee, saith the Lord”
(RB) God does not want anxiety or discouragement. If He proposes to us an exalted way of sanctity, He does not leave us alone, but comes to help and sustain us.
Today’s Mass shows clearly how Jesus comes not only for the people of Israel, for a small number of the elect, but also for the Gentiles, for all men. “Behold, the Lord shall come to save the nations”. (Introit)
Therefore, let us have confidence and rejoice, as St. Paul exhorts us: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope” (Ep: Rom 15, 4-13). And in order to stimulate our hope in Christ, the Gospel (Mt, 11, 2-10) presents His wonderful works: “The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
There is no physical or moral misery which Jesus cannot cure. He asks only that we go to Him with a heart dilated by faith, and with complete trust in His all-powerful, merciful love.
THE LORD IS NIGH
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
PRESENCE OF GOD- The Lord is always drawing near to my soul by the solicitations of His grace; I too wish to draw near to Him by a renewal of my faith and my desires.
“O Lord, we have patiently waited for Thee: Thy name and Thy remembrance are the desire of the soul. My soul hath desired Thee in the night; yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch for Thee” (RB).
If you also, O consecrated soul, are preparing to commemorate the Incarnation of the Word in loving, watchful expectation, today’s happy announcement will resound in your ears more joyfully than ever: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice…the Lord is nigh.” Thus today’s Mass begins and the Epistle (Phil 4, 4-7) repeats the theme. It is one of exultant joy: “The Lord is nigh!” For the soul who waits for Jesus and seeks Him alone sincerely and ardently, with lively desire and love, there can be only one motive for its joy, to know that Jesus is near, nearer with each day. Even Saint Paul admonishes us to have no other desire, “The Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous… And may the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds…” (Ep.)
The more a soul concentrates its desires and affections on God, the more it will be freed from earthly cares. It will no longer be troubled about anything, knowing that only one thing is necessary, “to seek God,” and that in God it will find everything it needs. Hence to draw near to God, is to find not only true joy, but also peace. In Him it has everything, and God alone suffices.
“The Lord is in the midst of you”. This is the second joyful message in today’s liturgy. It is Saint John the Baptist who speaks to us in the Gospel. (Jn 1, 19-28) “There is one in the midst of you whom you know not.” John, a man of faith, was telling the Jews with full conviction that Jesus had been living among them for thirty three years and that they did not know Him because He had not yet manifested Himself by miracles.
His words have value for us, too; Jesus is really present in our midst: present in our tabernacles by the Eucharist, present in our souls by grace. But who recognizes Him? Only those who believe. Revive, then, your faith; you will find Jesus, and will know Jesus according to the measure of your faith in Him.
Sometimes He conceals Himself from you, and you think you will never find Him, never feel Him again. This is the time to redouble your faith, to walk “in pure faith.” […]
Even Mary lived by faith; she had to believe in the words of the Angel, and when she agreed to become the Mother of God, she had to accept a mystery which she did not understand.
Views: 278
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen on
-
Drop down dew, ye heavens.....
Here is the link to the hymn, which used to be sung during Advent, when our poor Church fed her sheep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Rv5F88WYA
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity : behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One. Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
-
Permalink Reply by Dawn Marie on
-
I listened to that a little while ago, just beautiful music for a beautiful prayer! Thank you for this Mary Ellen : )
p.s. I embedded the video for you, hope that is ok.
-
Permalink Reply by michael kelleher on
-
very nice
-
-
Thank you for embedding it. I do not know how to do that!
-
-
I purchased Divine Intimacy recently, as a kind of new year resolution to follow it. I ask prayers that I do!
It has struck me already, and this only the third day of the year, how magnificently the meditations and colloquies align with the Gospel and Lesson of the week. As I reread the collects, etc, of Sunday's Mass, I am struck by how deeply the meditations of DI plunge one into the spirit of the Prayers of the Mass.
This was all the "reforming" VII needed. They could have met for 1 day for 10 minutes to talk about how to raise the money to buy a copy for every household on earth, and train the head of each household to use it each day before the family Rosary.
-
-
So very very true, Bill when you wrote: "This was all the "reforming" VII needed. They could have met for 1 day for 10 minutes to talk about how to raise the money to buy a copy for every household on earth, and train the head of each household to use it each day before the family Rosary."
Yes that is all the true reforming VII needed! It makes me want to pray all the more because of the devastation of our poor Church as the result of VII.
I am going to get a copy of this book.
-
-
Do Mary Ellen! I got my copy from Angelus press, but I'm sure Amazon may have gently used for much less, if anyone is price concsious.
It kind of makes one angry that with all the talk back then of conscious participation in the Liturgy, a better understanding of the Liturgy, a fuller immersion of the Faithful into the Spiritual and devout life, that this book ain't what we got. What we got is the faith rent from us, and one can wonder if that's what they, the liberals-the Masonic enemies of the Church-- really wanted at the end of the day.
-
-
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity : behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why bath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One. Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
-
-
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity : behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert.
Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send.
Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.
Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.
© 2025 Created by Dawn Marie.
Powered by
