25. O Oriens. (Advent Meditations)
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 21, 2022 at 12:00AM in Advent Sermons
“ O Orient, Splendor of eternal light and Sun of justice ; come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”
1. The night of pagan times was long and dark, and seemed hopeless. Deeper and deeper the nations were sinking in misery and vice. But at length the Orient, the brightness of the eternal light of heaven, rose, and scattered the darkness, changing the gloom into a brilliant day. So too for those who have been long shrouded in the dense gloom of sin or sorrow there waits the same divine Light, ready to scatter their darkness in a moment, if only they will draw nigh to Him. He waits for me, ready to brighten my path, to scatter my sins and sorrows, if I will avail myself of His love.
2. That rising Light is the Sun of justice, Who shall exercise His justice in delivering the captive, and in recompensing His friends a hundred, nay, a thousandfold, for every little service done to Him. For His justice is virtually identical with His mercy, and rejoices to employ itself in works of pity and of love.
3. Come then, O Orient, O Sun of justice ; shine on those who sit in darkness, on those who are enveloped in the thick mists of heathendom and heresy. Come and enlighten their ignorance, that they may not perish. Come and deliver them from the shadow of death, for they cannot deliver themselves. Pour upon them such a flood of light and grace as may guide their feet into the way of peace."
Meditations for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
Saint Andrew Christmas Novena:
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)
Prayer to the Holy Infant for priestsJesus, Divine Infant, I bless and thank Thy most loving Heart for the institution of the priesthood. Priests are sent by Thee as Thou were sent by the Father. To them Thou entrusted the treasures of Thy doctrine, of Thy Law, of Thy Grace, and souls themselves.
Grant me the grace to love them, to listen to them, and to let myself be guided by them in Thy ways. Jesus, send good laborers into Thy harvest. May priests be the salt that purifies and preserves; may they be the light of the world; may they be the city placed on the mountain. May they all be formed after Thy own Heart. And in heaven may they be surrounded by a joyous throng of those they shepherded on earth. Amen.
Glory Be (three times).
Infant Jesus, make me love Thee more and more
