The Traditional Catholic Liturgy
Adapted from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger
First Sunday of Advent
This Sunday, the first of the ecclesiastical year, is called, in the chronicles and charts of the middle ages, Ad te levavi
Sunday, from the first words of the Introit (To Thee have I lifted up my soul…); or, Aspiciens a longe,
from the first words of the one of the responsories of Matins (Looking from afar, I see the power of God coming…).
The Station is at St. Mary Major's. The Stations, marked in the Roman Missal for certain days in the year,
were formerly processions, in which the whole clergy and people of Rome went to some given church, and there celebrated the Office and Mass.
This usage, which dates from the earliest period of the Roman Church, and of which St. Gregory the Great was but the restorer,
continued to exist in some measure in later times, though with less solemnity and concourse of the people.
It is under the auspices of Mary—in the splendid basilica which possesses the Crib of Bethlehem, and is therefore called,
in ancient documents Sancta Maria ad Praesepe—that the Roman Church recommences, each year, the Sacred Cycle.
It would have been impossible to select a place more suitable than this for saluting the approach of the Divine Birth,
which is to gladden Heaven and earth, and manifest the sublime portent of a Virgin Mother. Let us go in spirit to this august temple,
and unite in the prayers which were, for so long a time, being offered up there, and which we will now explain.
In the night Office, the Church commences the reading of the Book of Isaias, who, of all the Prophets,
has the most distinctly and explicitly foretold the Messias; and She continues this same Book until Christmas Day inclusively.
Let us strive to enter into the teaching of the holy prophet, and let the eye of our faith affectionately recognize the promised
Savior in the descriptions, sometimes consoling and sometimes terrifying, under which Isaias depicts Him.
The first words of the Church, in the still of midnight, are these: Regem venturum Dominum, venite adoremus.
Come, let us adore our Lord and King, Who is about to come to us.
This first duty of adoration complied with, let us listen to the oracle of the prophet Isaias, delivered to us by the Holy Church:
The vision of Isaias, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem, in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz,
and Ezechias, kings of Juda. Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have brought up children, and exalted them:
but they have despised Me. The ox knoweth his Owner, and the ass his Master's crib: but Israel hath not known Me,
and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children.
They have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. For what shall I strike you any more,
you that increase transgression? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head,
there is no soundness therein; wounds, and bruises, and swelling sores; they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.
These words of the holy prophet, or rather of God Who speaks to us by the prophet, should make a deep impression on
the children of the Church, at this opening of the holy period of Advent. Who could hear without trembling this voice of Our Lord,
Who is despised and unknown, even at the very time when He is coming to visit His people? Lest men should be terrified at the splendor
of His majesty, He divested Himself of it; and far from acknowledging the divine power of Him Who thus humbled Himself out of love for them,
these men have refused even to know Him; and the crib where He lay after His birth, had, at first, but two dumb animals to honor or notice it
(aside from His Mother and St. Joseph). Do you feel, Christians, how just are the complaints which your God here makes?
And how your indifference for all His love is an insult? He calls Heaven and earth to witness; He utters anathema against the sinful nation,
His ungrateful children. Let us honestly confess that we, too, have not known the value of our Jesus' visit to us, and that we have but too
faithfully imitated the obduracy of the Jews, who heeded not the bright light when it burst upon their darkness. In vain did the angels sing
on that December night; in vain did shepherds receive and welcome the invitation to adore the Babe and know Him; in vain did the Magi come
from the East, asking where they were to find the crib of the King that was born. At this last example, the city of Jerusalem was somewhat moved;
but the astonishment was only for a moment, and the old indifference soon stifled the good tidings.
Thus it is, O Jesus, that Thou comest unto darkness, and darkness does not comprehend Thee. We beseech Thee,
let our darkness comprehend the Light, and desire it. The day will come when Thou wilt disperse the spiritual and voluntary
darkness of men by the awful light of Thy justice. Thy glory, O sovereign Judge, will be magnificent on that day, and we love to
think upon Thy having it; but during these days of our life on earth, deliver us from Thy wrath. We are one great wound from the
sole of the foot unto the top of the head; Thou knowest not where to strike: be then a Savior, O Jesus, in this Advent,
for which we are now preparing. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad; come, and raise up this head which shame and
vile passions bow down to the earth. Come, and comfort this heart oppressed with sin and fear. We confess it, our wounds are deep
and sore; come, Thou good Samaritan, pour in Thy soothing oil and heal them.
The whole world is in expectation of its Redeemer; come, dear Jesus, show Thyself to it by granting it salvation.
The Church, Thy Bride, is now commencing another year, and Her first word is to Thee, a word which She speaks in the anxious solicitude
of a mother for the safety of her children; She cries out to Thee, saying, "Come!" No, we will go no farther in our journey through the
desert of this life without Thee, O Jesus! Time is passing quickly away from us; our day is perhaps far spent, and the shades of our life's
night are fast coming on; arise, O divine Sun of justice. Come! guide our steps and save us from eternal death.
The Epistle is from St. Paul to the Romans, Ch. 13:
Brethren, know that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed.
The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy:
but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Savior, then, who is coming to us is the clothing which we are to put on over our spiritual nakedness.
Here let us admire the goodness of God, Who, remembering that man hid himself after his sin, because he was naked, vouchsafes
Himself to become man's clothing, and to cover with the robe of His Divinity the misery of human nature. Let us, therefore,
be on the watch for the day and the hour when He will come to us, and take precautions against the drowsiness which comes of
custom and self-indulgence. The light will soon appear; may its first rays be witness of our innocence, or at least of our repentance.
If our Savior is coming to put over our sins a covering which is to hide them forever, the least that we, on our part, can do,
is to retain no further affection for those sins, else it will be said of us that we refused salvation. The last words of this
Epistle are those which caught the eye of St. Augustine, when, after a long resistance to the grace which pressed him to give himself to God,
he resolved to obey the voice which said to him: "Tolle, lege; take and read." They decided his conversion; he immediately resolved
to abandon the worldly life he had hitherto led, and to put on Christ Jesus. Let us begin this very day, and imitate this Saint.
Let us long for that dear and glorious clothing with which the mercy of our heavenly Father is so soon to cover us; and let us say
with the Church these touching words of the Gradual, which we cannot repeat too often during this time of the year:
None of them that wait on Thee shall be confounded, O Lord. Show, O Lord, Thy ways to me: and teach me Thy paths.
Alleluia, alleluia. Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy: and grant us Thy salvation. Alleluia.
In the Gospel of today, taken from St. Luke, Ch. 21, Holy Church turns Her attention to the Second Coming of Christ:
At that time: Jesus said to His disciples: There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;
and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea, and of the waves; men withering away for fear,
and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world: for the powers of the heavens shall be moved; and then they shall see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. But when these things begin to come to pass look up, and lift up your heads; because your
redemption is at hand…
Thou art to come, then, O Jesus, in all the terror of the Last Judgment, and when men least expect Thee.
In a few days Thou art coming to us to clothe our misery with the garment of Thy mercy; a garment of glory and immortality to us;
but Thou art to come again on a future day, and in such dread majesty that men will wither away with fear. O our Savior! condemn
us not on that day of the world's destruction. Visit us now in Thy love and mercy; we are resolved to prepare our souls.
We desire that Thou shouldst come and be born within us, so that when the convulsions of nature warn us of Thy coming to judge us,
we may lift up our heads, as Thou biddest Thy faithful disciples do, who, when the rest of men shall tremble at the thunder of
Thy judgment, will have confidence in Thee, because they have Thee in their hearts.
Back to "In this Issue"
Back to Top
Contact us: smr@salvemariaregina.info
Visit also: www.marienfried.com
