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September 1
SAINT TERESA MARGARET
OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS REDI
VirginMemorial
In the houses in Italy: FeastPastoral note: In the year 2024, this Optional Memorial gives way to the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Teresa Margaret belonged to the noble family of Redi, and was born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1747. She entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery at Florence on September 1, 1764. She was granted a special grace of contemplative insight based on Saint John’s phrase God is love, through which she felt called to a hidden life of love and self-sacrifice. She progressed rapidly, fulfilling her vocation through heroic charity toward others. She died in Florence in 1770, aged twenty-three.
From the Common of Virgins
Office of Readings
Hymn
Come, happy Saint, and teach us all
The boundless love of Christ,
His gifts to you, that for the height
Of sanctity sufficed.You made Teresa’s teaching yours,
Together with her name,
Determined to become with her
A spirit of pure flame.Drawn by your Spouse, you lived with Him
A hidden life apart.
Teach us to drink the healing springs
That well up from his heart.Praise to You, Eternal Father
And to Your Only Son
Who with the Holy Spirit pure
Forever reign as One.C.M.
UnknownSecond Reading
From the Acts of Canonization of Saint Teresa Margaret(Decr. “Super tuto” AAS 26 [1934], pp 105-06)
The love of Christ impels us
Brief as it was, Teresa Margaret’s whole life may be regarded as one continual raising up of her guiltless soul to God.
In its innocence her soul turned spontaneously to God, and seemed able to find rest in him alone. In her, utter purity was joined to profound humility and she genuinely loved to be disregarded and despised. She did not simply bear humiliations, she rejoiced in them. Her purity of heart and her lowliness of spirit earned for her a high degree of charity, and this rapidly increased until her ardor became truly seraphic and she could hardly speak of God without her face becoming suffused with joy. Her love of God went hand in hand with a deep love for her neighbor and especially for sinners, on whose behalf she offered herself unreservedly to God as a victim. Her unassuming kindness and complete self-denial for the sake of her sisters in religion, especially the sick, were such that she was regarded as an angel of charity.
The fires of her love were fed principally by the Eucharist, and she looked forward with longing to her communions. She was also especially devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion which did much to curb the advances of Jansenism at that time in Tuscany. She was utterly devoted to Our Lady, whom she regarded as the model and protectress of her own virginal purity. She was endowed to a high degree with the gift of contemplative prayer, and daily grew closer to God, as though reflecting the glories of the eternity she was fast approaching.
As her life neared its end this true daughter of the holy Mother Teresa and faithful disciple of Saint John of the Cross was called upon through a mystical martyrdom of the spirit, to resemble her crucified Spouse yet more closely. It was the very intensity of her love which caused this martyrdom; for the more fervent love becomes the more unrelentingly it spurs the soul on to further love, and since no love of ours can match God’s infinite lovableness, such a soul suffers exquisite torments from its insatiable thirst for greater love, and seems to itself to be wrapped in impenetrable darkness and to be totally lacking in love for God. In fact the greater love is, the less it seems to itself to be. It is the soul that is truly nailed to the cross with Christ by this supreme martyrdom of the heart that wins for itself and for others the choicest fruits of redemption.
Such souls by their silent apostolate of suffering, love and prayer, are foremost in the benefits they obtain for mankind and are the purest and most exalted in the whole Church.
Responsory
R./ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. * You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
V./ The Lord your God is a consuming fire; a jealous God. * You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength.Morning Prayer
Hymn
The life that flowered in Carmel’s shade,
Yielding a fragrant-scented grace,
Is crowned in heaven, a bud of light
Washed in the radiance from God’s face.Margaret, you blaze with charity
Among those weaving virgin choirs
Who, for reward, follow the Lamb
Singing the love his name inspires.Help us to catch that same love’s fire
That, lit with the interior flame,
We find our life, our peace, our joy,
All things in Christ and in his name.Help us deserve the Father’s gifts,
Tasting eternity and heaven
On the unclouded source of joy
From whom alone all gifts are given.Open our hearts to take the life
Which his renewing Spirit pours,
Life that returns the Father’s love
With the same freedom it restores.So even on earth we come to know
God’s Trinity by God’s own grace,
Happy, like you, for evermore
To sing his glory and his praise.L.M.
Text: Bro. John Leonard Davies, O.C.D.Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.
Prayer
Father,
you enabled Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
to draw untold resources of humility and charity
from the fountainhead, our Savior.
Through her prayers
may we never be separated from the love of Christ.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
Hymn
Jesu, the Virgins’ Crown, do thou
Accept us, as in prayer we bow;
Born of that woman, whom alone
Virgin and Mother we do own.Amongst the lilies thou dost feed,
With virgin choirs accompanied;
With glory deck’d, the spotless brides
Whose bridal gifts thy love provides.They, wheresoe’er thy footsteps bend,
With hymns and praises still attend;
In blessed troops they follow thee,
With dance, and song, and melody.We pray thee therefore to bestow
Upon our senses here below
Thy grace, that so we may endure
From taint of all corruption pure.To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Laud, honor, might, and glory be,
From age to age eternally. Amen.88.88.
Jesu, coróna VírginumCanticle of Mary
Ant. As the Father has loved me, I have loved you; remain in my love.
All things count for nothing when it is a matter of acquiring true love of GodCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/27/tmredilit24/
#DiscalcedCarmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #StTeresaMargaretOfTheSacredHeart #virgin
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August 26
THE TRANSVERBERATION OF THE HEART OF
ST. TERESA OF JESUS OUR MOTHERNuns: Memorial, Others: Optional Memorial
“The chief among Teresa’s virtues was the love of God, which our Lord Jesus Christ increased by means of many visions and revelations. He made her his Spouse on one occasion. At other times she saw an angel with a flaming dart piercing her heart. Through these heavenly gifts the flame of divine love in her heart became so strong that, inspired by God, she made the extremely difficult vow of always doing what seemed to her most perfect and most conducive to God’s glory” (Gregory XV in the Bull of Canonization).
Office of Readings
Hymn
Noonday blaze of virtues rare;
Highest gifts of grace and prayer;
You have lived, in deep repose,
All that faith on us bestows.Wedded to the Father’s Word,
Word of light, in silence heard
Leaning on the Savior’s breast,
Guided by the Spirit blest.Blest the mind refined by fire
To receive divine desire,
Wisdom’s secrets in your heart,
Opened by the heavenly dart.Christ drew you to his embrace
By the fragrance of his grace;
In your teaching we confide,
Trusting you, our heav’n-sent guide.Truth eternal, One and Three,
May Teresa constantly
Lead us up the mountain’s ways
To the realms of joy and praise.77.77.
Sr. Margarita of Jesus, O.C.D.The Second Reading
(Red. B, st. 2, no. 2-4, 9,, 12, 8: ed. Kavanaugh-Rodriguez 1979, pp. 596-99)
From the Living Flame of Love by Saint John of the Cross
You have wounded my heart
Moses declares in Deuteronomy, Our Lord God is a consuming fire, that is, a fire of love, which being of infinite power, can inestimably consume and transform into itself the soul it touches. Yet he burns each soul according to its preparation: he will burn one more, another less, and this he does insofar as he desires, and how and when he desires. When he wills to touch somewhat vehemently, the soul’s burning reaches such a high degree of love that it seems to surpass that of all the fires of the world, for he is an infinite fire of love. Because the soul in this case is entirely transformed by the divine flame, it not only feels a cautery, but has become a cautery of blazing fire.
It is a wonderful thing and worth relating that, since this fire of God is so mighty it would consume a thousand worlds more easily than the fire of this earth would burn up a straw, it does not consume and destroy the soul in which it so burns. And it does not afflict it, rather, commensurate with the strength of the love, it divinizes and delights it, burning gently. Since God’s purpose in granting these communications is to exalt the soul, he does not weary and restrict it, but enlarges and delights it, brightens and enriches it. The happy soul that by great fortune reaches this cautery knows all things, tastes all things, does all it wishes, and prospers; no one prevails before it and nothing touches it. This is the soul of which the Apostle speaks: The spiritual one judges all things and he is judged by no one. And again: The spirit searches out all things, unto the deep things of God.
It will happen that while the soul is inflamed with the love of God, it will feel that a seraphim is assailing it by means of an arrow or dart which is all afire with love. And the seraphim pierces and cauterizes this soul which, like a red-hot coal, or better, a flame, is already enkindled. For the soul is converted into the immense fire of love.
Few persons have reached these heights. Some have, however, especially those whose virtue and spirit was to be diffused among their children. For God accords to founders, with respect to the first fruits of the spirit, wealth and value commensurate with the greater or lesser following they will have in their doctrine and spirituality.
O happy wound, wrought by one who knows only how to heal! O fortunate and choicest wound; you were made only for delight, and the quality of your affliction is delight and gratification for the wounded soul! You are great, O delightful wound, because he who caused you is great!
And your delight is great, because the fire of love is infinite and makes you delightful according to your capacity and greatness. O, then, delightful wound, so much more sublimely delightful the more the cautery touched the intimate center of the substance of the soul, burning all that was burnable in order to give delight to all that could be delighted!
Responsory
R./ The Lord our God is one Lord. * You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
V./ The Lord your God is a consuming fire. * You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.Morning Prayer
Hymn
The day is dawning with delight,
When, spotless as the dove,
Theresa winged her spirit flight
Afar, to realms of love and light,
In heavenly courts above.Her ear hath caught the mystic sound,
Oh, come, my sister, spouse!
From Carmel’s summit come, be crowned,
Bride of the Lamb, in bliss profound,
Come plight thy nuptial vows!O Jesus! Spouse of Virgin choice,
Thy holy name we praise!
While heavenly choirs, too, rejoice,
Their bridal canticle to voice,
And hymn their endless lays.86.88.6.
Felix dies, qua candidaeAntiphons and psalms of the current weekday.
Reading
2 Corinthians 4:5-7
It is not ourselves that we are preaching, but Christ Jesus as the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. It is the same God that said, “Let there be light shining out of darkness,” who has shone in our minds to radiate the light of the knowledge of God’s glory, the glory on the face of Christ. We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.
Responsory
R./ To you my heart has spoken: * It is you that I seek.
Repeat R./
V./ I long for your face, Lord * It is you that I seek.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
R./ To you my heart has spoken: * It is you that I seek.Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. In my heart was the likeness of a burning fire, imprisoned in my bones; and I was scarcely able to bear it.
Intercessions
The Lord of glory, Crown of all the Saints, gives us the joy of celebrating this feast of Saint Teresa. Let us praise him, saying:
R./ Glory to you, Lord!
Source of life and holiness, in your saints you show us the infinite marvels of your grace; — in company with Saint Teresa may we sing of your mercies forever. R./
You want your Spirit of Love to blaze like fire throughout the world; — may we, like Saint Teresa, be instrumental in keeping that flame of love alight. R./
You sanctify your friends and reveal to them the mysteries of your heart; — unite our hearts to yours in a friendship so close and intimate that we may experience the secrets of your love, proclaim it to others, and win them to you. R./
You blessed the pure of heart and promised that they would see you; — purify our sight, so that we may see you in all things, and through all things be close to you. R./
You oppose the proud and give wisdom to the simple; — make us humble of heart, so that we may receive your wisdom for the sake of the Church. R./
Our Father …
Prayer
Almighty God,
you filled the heart of Saint Teresa of Jesus, our Mother,
with the fire of your love
and gave her strength to undertake difficult tasks
for the honor of your name.
Through her prayers
may the power of your love fill our hearts also
and stir us to ever more generous efforts in your service.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
Hymn
As messenger of the Most high,
Teresa from her home would fly,
Good tidings of the Heavenly King
To heathen lands afar to bring,
Or yield for Christ her gentle life,
In ruddy streams of martyr strife.But death with sweeter aspect came,
Awaiting her with rapturous claim.
Ecstatic pangs delight her soul,
And, conquered by their strong control,
She falleth, wounded from above
By piercing lance of heavenly love.Oh, flaming victim! may thy dart
Enkindle every frozen heart,
That upward mounting, one with thine,
They rise, consumed with fire divine.
And may thy pleading safely keep
Thy nations from the burning deep.All praise unto the Father be,
And to the Son eternally,
With joyful harmony repeat
All praise unto the Paraclete,
The Blessed Trinity adore
With reverent homage evermore.88.88.88.
Regis superni nuntiaAntiphons and psalms of the current weekday.
Reading
Jude 20-21
You, my dear friends, must use your most holy faith as your foundation and build on that, praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.
Responsory
R./ You are * the temple of the living God. Repeat R./
V./ And the Spirit of God dwells in you, * the temple of the living God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
R./ You are * the temple of the living God.Canticle of Mary
Ant. Let my heart rejoice in your salvation; let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me.
Intercessions
Christ loved his Church and gave his life for her that she might be holy: let us pray to Christ that his Church may be holy and spotless in all her members:
R./ Be with your Church, Lord Jesus.
You are the Head of the Church and the source of all her grace; — may all your people be joined to you in faith and love, and realize that they are the living and holy members of your body. R./
You founded the Church on Peter and the apostles, and through them you teach us the truth and lead us in green pastures; — enlighten and guide those you have placed over your Church, and confirm our faith so that in them we may hear your voice leading us to life. R./
You choose some to announce the Good News by teaching, baptizing, calling to repentance, and offering in your memory the Eucharistic Sacrifice; — as the harvest is great, and the laborers few, send laborers into your harvest. R./
You choose some of your friends to follow you more closely in your poverty, your chastity and your obedience, for the building up of the Church; — with Mary as their Mother and teacher, may all religious cling to you and show forth your life within them as they serve the Church. R./
You made your people one body and one spirit in the unity of faith and baptism; — may all whom you have redeemed preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace. R./
You died for our redemption and rose so that we could have life; — may all who have died in your love and await the revelation of your glory rejoice at the eternal banquet in the company of your saints. R./
Our Father …
Prayer
Almighty God,
you filled the heart of Saint Teresa of Jesus, our Mother,
with the fire of your love
and gave her strength to undertake difficult tasks
for the honor of your name.
Through her prayers
may the power of your love fill our hearts also
and stir us to ever more generous efforts in your service.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647-52
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome (Discalced Carmelite Fathers)
Photo: Discalced Carmeliteshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKcJvjP9zgY
Learn more about Bernini’s masterpiece on the Khan Academy website
Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/24/transverblit24/
#DiscalcedCarmelite #FlamingArrow #heart #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #nuns #optionalMemorial #StTeresaOfAvila #transverberation
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August 7
SAINT ALBERT OF TRÁPANI
PriestMemorial
Albert degli Abbati was born at Trápani, Sicily, in the thirteenth century, and entered the Carmelite Order as a youth. He became renowned as a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a worker of miracles. He was Provincial of Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.
From the common of holy men
Office of Readings
HYMN
The Feasts of August sound their glad refrain,
To Albert riseth soft, melodious strain;
Carmel echo with the songs of love
Raised to our Blessed Father throned above.At seven years the parent roof he flies,
And, like the Baptist, all the world denies,
To seek the holy Virgin’s sacred shrine,
And live a life of holiness divine.Clad in the flowing mantle white as snow,
He welcomes choicest gifts the Heavens bestow,
With power granted him to govern here
The lesser kingdoms of this earthly sphere.The altar flame is by a crystal glassed,
A spectre breaketh it with pebble cast;
But Albert poureth tears before the Lord,
And lo! the sacred lamp is quick restored.His youth, so prompt to vengeance, he subdues,
No fantasies of Hell his mind confuse
Supporting calmly fortune good or ill,
He scorneth honors with a steadfast will.Unto one God most high be endless praise,
And to the blessed Son for equal days.
The Holy Spirit let us now adore,
And praise the Three in One forevermore.10.10.10.10.
Mensis augusti redeuent honoresTHE SECOND READING
(L. 1, c. 2: ed. AnOC 3 [1914-1916], pp. 348-49)From the Book of the Institution of the First Monks
Hide yourself by the brook Cherith
The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying: Depart from here and go eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith near the Jordan, and there you will drink from the brook. Now these salutary commands which the Holy Spirit prompted Elijah to obey, and this promise of good things which he was moved to desire, ought to be weighed word by word with the greatest care by us, monks and solitaries, and this in a mystical sense, for they contain the full meaning of our vocation. Indeed they point the way to prophetic perfection, which is the goal of our religious, eremitical life.
It will be seen that this type of life has two aims. One of them we can, with the help of God’s grace, achieve by our own efforts and the practice of virtue. This aim is to offer God a heart holy and pure from all actual stain of sin, and we achieve it when we become perfect and hidden in Cherith—that is, in charity, of which the Wise Man says: Charity covers all offenses. It was to bring Elijah to this state that God said to him: Hide yourself by the brook Cherith.
The other aim of this kind of life is something that can be bestowed on us only by God’s generosity: namely, to taste in our hearts and experience in our minds, not only after death but even during this mortal life, something of the power of the divine presence and the bliss of heavenly glory. And this is to drink from the brook of the enjoyment of God—the reward God promised Elijah when he said: There you will drink from the brook.
The prophetic, eremitical life must be undertaken by the monk with both these aims in view, as the Psalmist makes clear when he says to God: In a desert land where there is no road and no water I have come before you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. By choosing to live in a desert land where there is no road and no water as the means of coming before God in the sanctuary—with a heart, that is, free from sin—he demonstrates the first aim of the solitary life he has chosen, which is to offer God a heart that is holy, or pure from all actual sin. By adding the words to see your power and your glory he declares the second aim, which is in some measure to experience or see the power of the divine presence mystically in one’s heart and to taste the bliss of heavenly glory here already in this life.
The first aim, purity of heart, can be achieved with the help of God’s grace by effort and the practice of virtue. The second aim, experimental knowledge of divine power and heavenly glory, can be realized through purity of heart and perfect love; for our Lord said: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
RESPONSORY
R/. I have called you friends, for I have made known to you all I have heard from my Father. * Remain in my love.
V/. I have chosen you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that shall last. * Remain in my love.Morning Prayer
HYMN
The feast-day of Saint Albert dawns
A day of pure resplendent light;
Our brethren high in heav’n rejoice
As we our praise with theirs unite.He realized that earthly joys
Were all too small to fill his heart;
All, all he had he gave to God,
In Carmel chose the better part.Determined conqueror of self
He mortified each wrong desire
Until God saw reflected there
His image purified by fire.For one so set on heavenly things
The lying foe laid many a snare,
But he resisted manfully,
And persevered in constant prayer.Remember Carmel’s Order now,
Made glorious by your sojourn here;
O strengthen us in love of Christ
That we may likewise persevere.All praise be to the Trinity,
The Father with his only Son
And ever-blessed Paraclete,
While never-ending ages run.L.M.
Adest natalis gloriaeCANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Ant. The just will speak wisdom, and truth will come from their lips, because God’s law is in their hearts.
PRAYER
Lord God,
you made Saint Albert of Trápani
a model of purity and prayer,
and a devoted servant of Our Lady.
May we practice these same virtues
and so be worthy always
to share the banquet of your grace.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
HYMN
The river floweth swiftly on its course,
Dry shod the Blessed Albert speeds across.
His chastened piety sustains no loss
When combated.He kisseth tenderly the leprous face,
Nor shrinks in horror from the hideous trace;
Behold, it shineth now with former grace,
Disease hath fled.When his glad spirit sought its heavenward flight,
The bells were pealing from the belfry height,
Nor did they sound by any human might
In mournful toll.Two Messengers from Heaven high in air
Chant funeral praises of this man of prayer,
Before a mighty concourse gathered there
To bless his soul.The odor sweet arising from his bier
Cured pain and suffering when the sick drew near,
And all diseases fled his tomb in fear
Of heavenly power.O God most high, forever praise to Thee,
To Son and Spirit equal honor be;
Let us adore the Blessed One in Three
At every hour.10.10.10.4.
Passibus siccis rapidumCANTICLE OF MARY
Ant. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
St. Albert of Trapani
Antonio de Pereda (Spanish, 1611–1678)
Oil on canvas, ca. 1670
Image credit: Wikimedia CommonsCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/05/trapanilit24/
#Carmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #priest #StAlbertOfTrapani
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August 7
SAINT ALBERT OF TRÁPANI
PriestMemorial
Albert degli Abbati was born at Trápani, Sicily, in the thirteenth century, and entered the Carmelite Order as a youth. He became renowned as a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a worker of miracles. He was Provincial of Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.
From the common of holy men
Office of Readings
HYMN
The Feasts of August sound their glad refrain,
To Albert riseth soft, melodious strain;
Carmel echo with the songs of love
Raised to our Blessed Father throned above.At seven years the parent roof he flies,
And, like the Baptist, all the world denies,
To seek the holy Virgin’s sacred shrine,
And live a life of holiness divine.Clad in the flowing mantle white as snow,
He welcomes choicest gifts the Heavens bestow,
With power granted him to govern here
The lesser kingdoms of this earthly sphere.The altar flame is by a crystal glassed,
A spectre breaketh it with pebble cast;
But Albert poureth tears before the Lord,
And lo! the sacred lamp is quick restored.His youth, so prompt to vengeance, he subdues,
No fantasies of Hell his mind confuse
Supporting calmly fortune good or ill,
He scorneth honors with a steadfast will.Unto one God most high be endless praise,
And to the blessed Son for equal days.
The Holy Spirit let us now adore,
And praise the Three in One forevermore.10.10.10.10.
Mensis augusti redeuent honoresTHE SECOND READING
(L. 1, c. 2: ed. AnOC 3 [1914-1916], pp. 348-49)From the Book of the Institution of the First Monks
Hide yourself by the brook Cherith
The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying: Depart from here and go eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith near the Jordan, and there you will drink from the brook. Now these salutary commands which the Holy Spirit prompted Elijah to obey, and this promise of good things which he was moved to desire, ought to be weighed word by word with the greatest care by us, monks and solitaries, and this in a mystical sense, for they contain the full meaning of our vocation. Indeed they point the way to prophetic perfection, which is the goal of our religious, eremitical life.
It will be seen that this type of life has two aims. One of them we can, with the help of God’s grace, achieve by our own efforts and the practice of virtue. This aim is to offer God a heart holy and pure from all actual stain of sin, and we achieve it when we become perfect and hidden in Cherith—that is, in charity, of which the Wise Man says: Charity covers all offenses. It was to bring Elijah to this state that God said to him: Hide yourself by the brook Cherith.
The other aim of this kind of life is something that can be bestowed on us only by God’s generosity: namely, to taste in our hearts and experience in our minds, not only after death but even during this mortal life, something of the power of the divine presence and the bliss of heavenly glory. And this is to drink from the brook of the enjoyment of God—the reward God promised Elijah when he said: There you will drink from the brook.
The prophetic, eremitical life must be undertaken by the monk with both these aims in view, as the Psalmist makes clear when he says to God: In a desert land where there is no road and no water I have come before you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. By choosing to live in a desert land where there is no road and no water as the means of coming before God in the sanctuary—with a heart, that is, free from sin—he demonstrates the first aim of the solitary life he has chosen, which is to offer God a heart that is holy, or pure from all actual sin. By adding the words to see your power and your glory he declares the second aim, which is in some measure to experience or see the power of the divine presence mystically in one’s heart and to taste the bliss of heavenly glory here already in this life.
The first aim, purity of heart, can be achieved with the help of God’s grace by effort and the practice of virtue. The second aim, experimental knowledge of divine power and heavenly glory, can be realized through purity of heart and perfect love; for our Lord said: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
RESPONSORY
R/. I have called you friends, for I have made known to you all I have heard from my Father. * Remain in my love.
V/. I have chosen you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that shall last. * Remain in my love.Morning Prayer
HYMN
The feast-day of Saint Albert dawns
A day of pure resplendent light;
Our brethren high in heav’n rejoice
As we our praise with theirs unite.He realized that earthly joys
Were all too small to fill his heart;
All, all he had he gave to God,
In Carmel chose the better part.Determined conqueror of self
He mortified each wrong desire
Until God saw reflected there
His image purified by fire.For one so set on heavenly things
The lying foe laid many a snare,
But he resisted manfully,
And persevered in constant prayer.Remember Carmel’s Order now,
Made glorious by your sojourn here;
O strengthen us in love of Christ
That we may likewise persevere.All praise be to the Trinity,
The Father with his only Son
And ever-blessed Paraclete,
While never-ending ages run.L.M.
Adest natalis gloriaeCANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Ant. The just will speak wisdom, and truth will come from their lips, because God’s law is in their hearts.
PRAYER
Lord God,
you made Saint Albert of Trápani
a model of purity and prayer,
and a devoted servant of Our Lady.
May we practice these same virtues
and so be worthy always
to share the banquet of your grace.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
HYMN
The river floweth swiftly on its course,
Dry shod the Blessed Albert speeds across.
His chastened piety sustains no loss
When combated.He kisseth tenderly the leprous face,
Nor shrinks in horror from the hideous trace;
Behold, it shineth now with former grace,
Disease hath fled.When his glad spirit sought its heavenward flight,
The bells were pealing from the belfry height,
Nor did they sound by any human might
In mournful toll.Two Messengers from Heaven high in air
Chant funeral praises of this man of prayer,
Before a mighty concourse gathered there
To bless his soul.The odor sweet arising from his bier
Cured pain and suffering when the sick drew near,
And all diseases fled his tomb in fear
Of heavenly power.O God most high, forever praise to Thee,
To Son and Spirit equal honor be;
Let us adore the Blessed One in Three
At every hour.10.10.10.4.
Passibus siccis rapidumCANTICLE OF MARY
Ant. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
St. Albert of Trapani
Antonio de Pereda (Spanish, 1611–1678)
Oil on canvas, ca. 1670
Image credit: Wikimedia CommonsCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/05/trapanilit24/
#Carmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #priest #StAlbertOfTrapani
-
August 7
SAINT ALBERT OF TRÁPANI
PriestMemorial
Albert degli Abbati was born at Trápani, Sicily, in the thirteenth century, and entered the Carmelite Order as a youth. He became renowned as a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a worker of miracles. He was Provincial of Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.
From the common of holy men
Office of Readings
HYMN
The Feasts of August sound their glad refrain,
To Albert riseth soft, melodious strain;
Carmel echo with the songs of love
Raised to our Blessed Father throned above.At seven years the parent roof he flies,
And, like the Baptist, all the world denies,
To seek the holy Virgin’s sacred shrine,
And live a life of holiness divine.Clad in the flowing mantle white as snow,
He welcomes choicest gifts the Heavens bestow,
With power granted him to govern here
The lesser kingdoms of this earthly sphere.The altar flame is by a crystal glassed,
A spectre breaketh it with pebble cast;
But Albert poureth tears before the Lord,
And lo! the sacred lamp is quick restored.His youth, so prompt to vengeance, he subdues,
No fantasies of Hell his mind confuse
Supporting calmly fortune good or ill,
He scorneth honors with a steadfast will.Unto one God most high be endless praise,
And to the blessed Son for equal days.
The Holy Spirit let us now adore,
And praise the Three in One forevermore.10.10.10.10.
Mensis augusti redeuent honoresTHE SECOND READING
(L. 1, c. 2: ed. AnOC 3 [1914-1916], pp. 348-49)From the Book of the Institution of the First Monks
Hide yourself by the brook Cherith
The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying: Depart from here and go eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith near the Jordan, and there you will drink from the brook. Now these salutary commands which the Holy Spirit prompted Elijah to obey, and this promise of good things which he was moved to desire, ought to be weighed word by word with the greatest care by us, monks and solitaries, and this in a mystical sense, for they contain the full meaning of our vocation. Indeed they point the way to prophetic perfection, which is the goal of our religious, eremitical life.
It will be seen that this type of life has two aims. One of them we can, with the help of God’s grace, achieve by our own efforts and the practice of virtue. This aim is to offer God a heart holy and pure from all actual stain of sin, and we achieve it when we become perfect and hidden in Cherith—that is, in charity, of which the Wise Man says: Charity covers all offenses. It was to bring Elijah to this state that God said to him: Hide yourself by the brook Cherith.
The other aim of this kind of life is something that can be bestowed on us only by God’s generosity: namely, to taste in our hearts and experience in our minds, not only after death but even during this mortal life, something of the power of the divine presence and the bliss of heavenly glory. And this is to drink from the brook of the enjoyment of God—the reward God promised Elijah when he said: There you will drink from the brook.
The prophetic, eremitical life must be undertaken by the monk with both these aims in view, as the Psalmist makes clear when he says to God: In a desert land where there is no road and no water I have come before you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. By choosing to live in a desert land where there is no road and no water as the means of coming before God in the sanctuary—with a heart, that is, free from sin—he demonstrates the first aim of the solitary life he has chosen, which is to offer God a heart that is holy, or pure from all actual sin. By adding the words to see your power and your glory he declares the second aim, which is in some measure to experience or see the power of the divine presence mystically in one’s heart and to taste the bliss of heavenly glory here already in this life.
The first aim, purity of heart, can be achieved with the help of God’s grace by effort and the practice of virtue. The second aim, experimental knowledge of divine power and heavenly glory, can be realized through purity of heart and perfect love; for our Lord said: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
RESPONSORY
R/. I have called you friends, for I have made known to you all I have heard from my Father. * Remain in my love.
V/. I have chosen you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that shall last. * Remain in my love.Morning Prayer
HYMN
The feast-day of Saint Albert dawns
A day of pure resplendent light;
Our brethren high in heav’n rejoice
As we our praise with theirs unite.He realized that earthly joys
Were all too small to fill his heart;
All, all he had he gave to God,
In Carmel chose the better part.Determined conqueror of self
He mortified each wrong desire
Until God saw reflected there
His image purified by fire.For one so set on heavenly things
The lying foe laid many a snare,
But he resisted manfully,
And persevered in constant prayer.Remember Carmel’s Order now,
Made glorious by your sojourn here;
O strengthen us in love of Christ
That we may likewise persevere.All praise be to the Trinity,
The Father with his only Son
And ever-blessed Paraclete,
While never-ending ages run.L.M.
Adest natalis gloriaeCANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Ant. The just will speak wisdom, and truth will come from their lips, because God’s law is in their hearts.
PRAYER
Lord God,
you made Saint Albert of Trápani
a model of purity and prayer,
and a devoted servant of Our Lady.
May we practice these same virtues
and so be worthy always
to share the banquet of your grace.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
HYMN
The river floweth swiftly on its course,
Dry shod the Blessed Albert speeds across.
His chastened piety sustains no loss
When combated.He kisseth tenderly the leprous face,
Nor shrinks in horror from the hideous trace;
Behold, it shineth now with former grace,
Disease hath fled.When his glad spirit sought its heavenward flight,
The bells were pealing from the belfry height,
Nor did they sound by any human might
In mournful toll.Two Messengers from Heaven high in air
Chant funeral praises of this man of prayer,
Before a mighty concourse gathered there
To bless his soul.The odor sweet arising from his bier
Cured pain and suffering when the sick drew near,
And all diseases fled his tomb in fear
Of heavenly power.O God most high, forever praise to Thee,
To Son and Spirit equal honor be;
Let us adore the Blessed One in Three
At every hour.10.10.10.4.
Passibus siccis rapidumCANTICLE OF MARY
Ant. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
St. Albert of Trapani
Antonio de Pereda (Spanish, 1611–1678)
Oil on canvas, ca. 1670
Image credit: Wikimedia CommonsCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/05/trapanilit24/
#Carmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #priest #StAlbertOfTrapani
-
August 7
SAINT ALBERT OF TRÁPANI
PriestMemorial
Albert degli Abbati was born at Trápani, Sicily, in the thirteenth century, and entered the Carmelite Order as a youth. He became renowned as a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a worker of miracles. He was Provincial of Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.
From the common of holy men
Office of Readings
HYMN
The Feasts of August sound their glad refrain,
To Albert riseth soft, melodious strain;
Carmel echo with the songs of love
Raised to our Blessed Father throned above.At seven years the parent roof he flies,
And, like the Baptist, all the world denies,
To seek the holy Virgin’s sacred shrine,
And live a life of holiness divine.Clad in the flowing mantle white as snow,
He welcomes choicest gifts the Heavens bestow,
With power granted him to govern here
The lesser kingdoms of this earthly sphere.The altar flame is by a crystal glassed,
A spectre breaketh it with pebble cast;
But Albert poureth tears before the Lord,
And lo! the sacred lamp is quick restored.His youth, so prompt to vengeance, he subdues,
No fantasies of Hell his mind confuse
Supporting calmly fortune good or ill,
He scorneth honors with a steadfast will.Unto one God most high be endless praise,
And to the blessed Son for equal days.
The Holy Spirit let us now adore,
And praise the Three in One forevermore.10.10.10.10.
Mensis augusti redeuent honoresTHE SECOND READING
(L. 1, c. 2: ed. AnOC 3 [1914-1916], pp. 348-49)From the Book of the Institution of the First Monks
Hide yourself by the brook Cherith
The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying: Depart from here and go eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith near the Jordan, and there you will drink from the brook. Now these salutary commands which the Holy Spirit prompted Elijah to obey, and this promise of good things which he was moved to desire, ought to be weighed word by word with the greatest care by us, monks and solitaries, and this in a mystical sense, for they contain the full meaning of our vocation. Indeed they point the way to prophetic perfection, which is the goal of our religious, eremitical life.
It will be seen that this type of life has two aims. One of them we can, with the help of God’s grace, achieve by our own efforts and the practice of virtue. This aim is to offer God a heart holy and pure from all actual stain of sin, and we achieve it when we become perfect and hidden in Cherith—that is, in charity, of which the Wise Man says: Charity covers all offenses. It was to bring Elijah to this state that God said to him: Hide yourself by the brook Cherith.
The other aim of this kind of life is something that can be bestowed on us only by God’s generosity: namely, to taste in our hearts and experience in our minds, not only after death but even during this mortal life, something of the power of the divine presence and the bliss of heavenly glory. And this is to drink from the brook of the enjoyment of God—the reward God promised Elijah when he said: There you will drink from the brook.
The prophetic, eremitical life must be undertaken by the monk with both these aims in view, as the Psalmist makes clear when he says to God: In a desert land where there is no road and no water I have come before you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. By choosing to live in a desert land where there is no road and no water as the means of coming before God in the sanctuary—with a heart, that is, free from sin—he demonstrates the first aim of the solitary life he has chosen, which is to offer God a heart that is holy, or pure from all actual sin. By adding the words to see your power and your glory he declares the second aim, which is in some measure to experience or see the power of the divine presence mystically in one’s heart and to taste the bliss of heavenly glory here already in this life.
The first aim, purity of heart, can be achieved with the help of God’s grace by effort and the practice of virtue. The second aim, experimental knowledge of divine power and heavenly glory, can be realized through purity of heart and perfect love; for our Lord said: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
RESPONSORY
R/. I have called you friends, for I have made known to you all I have heard from my Father. * Remain in my love.
V/. I have chosen you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that shall last. * Remain in my love.Morning Prayer
HYMN
The feast-day of Saint Albert dawns
A day of pure resplendent light;
Our brethren high in heav’n rejoice
As we our praise with theirs unite.He realized that earthly joys
Were all too small to fill his heart;
All, all he had he gave to God,
In Carmel chose the better part.Determined conqueror of self
He mortified each wrong desire
Until God saw reflected there
His image purified by fire.For one so set on heavenly things
The lying foe laid many a snare,
But he resisted manfully,
And persevered in constant prayer.Remember Carmel’s Order now,
Made glorious by your sojourn here;
O strengthen us in love of Christ
That we may likewise persevere.All praise be to the Trinity,
The Father with his only Son
And ever-blessed Paraclete,
While never-ending ages run.L.M.
Adest natalis gloriaeCANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Ant. The just will speak wisdom, and truth will come from their lips, because God’s law is in their hearts.
PRAYER
Lord God,
you made Saint Albert of Trápani
a model of purity and prayer,
and a devoted servant of Our Lady.
May we practice these same virtues
and so be worthy always
to share the banquet of your grace.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
HYMN
The river floweth swiftly on its course,
Dry shod the Blessed Albert speeds across.
His chastened piety sustains no loss
When combated.He kisseth tenderly the leprous face,
Nor shrinks in horror from the hideous trace;
Behold, it shineth now with former grace,
Disease hath fled.When his glad spirit sought its heavenward flight,
The bells were pealing from the belfry height,
Nor did they sound by any human might
In mournful toll.Two Messengers from Heaven high in air
Chant funeral praises of this man of prayer,
Before a mighty concourse gathered there
To bless his soul.The odor sweet arising from his bier
Cured pain and suffering when the sick drew near,
And all diseases fled his tomb in fear
Of heavenly power.O God most high, forever praise to Thee,
To Son and Spirit equal honor be;
Let us adore the Blessed One in Three
At every hour.10.10.10.4.
Passibus siccis rapidumCANTICLE OF MARY
Ant. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
St. Albert of Trapani
Antonio de Pereda (Spanish, 1611–1678)
Oil on canvas, ca. 1670
Image credit: Wikimedia CommonsCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/05/trapanilit24/
#Carmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #priest #StAlbertOfTrapani
-
August 7
SAINT ALBERT OF TRÁPANI
PriestMemorial
Albert degli Abbati was born at Trápani, Sicily, in the thirteenth century, and entered the Carmelite Order as a youth. He became renowned as a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a worker of miracles. He was Provincial of Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.
From the common of holy men
Office of Readings
HYMN
The Feasts of August sound their glad refrain,
To Albert riseth soft, melodious strain;
Carmel echo with the songs of love
Raised to our Blessed Father throned above.At seven years the parent roof he flies,
And, like the Baptist, all the world denies,
To seek the holy Virgin’s sacred shrine,
And live a life of holiness divine.Clad in the flowing mantle white as snow,
He welcomes choicest gifts the Heavens bestow,
With power granted him to govern here
The lesser kingdoms of this earthly sphere.The altar flame is by a crystal glassed,
A spectre breaketh it with pebble cast;
But Albert poureth tears before the Lord,
And lo! the sacred lamp is quick restored.His youth, so prompt to vengeance, he subdues,
No fantasies of Hell his mind confuse
Supporting calmly fortune good or ill,
He scorneth honors with a steadfast will.Unto one God most high be endless praise,
And to the blessed Son for equal days.
The Holy Spirit let us now adore,
And praise the Three in One forevermore.10.10.10.10.
Mensis augusti redeuent honoresTHE SECOND READING
(L. 1, c. 2: ed. AnOC 3 [1914-1916], pp. 348-49)From the Book of the Institution of the First Monks
Hide yourself by the brook Cherith
The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying: Depart from here and go eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith near the Jordan, and there you will drink from the brook. Now these salutary commands which the Holy Spirit prompted Elijah to obey, and this promise of good things which he was moved to desire, ought to be weighed word by word with the greatest care by us, monks and solitaries, and this in a mystical sense, for they contain the full meaning of our vocation. Indeed they point the way to prophetic perfection, which is the goal of our religious, eremitical life.
It will be seen that this type of life has two aims. One of them we can, with the help of God’s grace, achieve by our own efforts and the practice of virtue. This aim is to offer God a heart holy and pure from all actual stain of sin, and we achieve it when we become perfect and hidden in Cherith—that is, in charity, of which the Wise Man says: Charity covers all offenses. It was to bring Elijah to this state that God said to him: Hide yourself by the brook Cherith.
The other aim of this kind of life is something that can be bestowed on us only by God’s generosity: namely, to taste in our hearts and experience in our minds, not only after death but even during this mortal life, something of the power of the divine presence and the bliss of heavenly glory. And this is to drink from the brook of the enjoyment of God—the reward God promised Elijah when he said: There you will drink from the brook.
The prophetic, eremitical life must be undertaken by the monk with both these aims in view, as the Psalmist makes clear when he says to God: In a desert land where there is no road and no water I have come before you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. By choosing to live in a desert land where there is no road and no water as the means of coming before God in the sanctuary—with a heart, that is, free from sin—he demonstrates the first aim of the solitary life he has chosen, which is to offer God a heart that is holy, or pure from all actual sin. By adding the words to see your power and your glory he declares the second aim, which is in some measure to experience or see the power of the divine presence mystically in one’s heart and to taste the bliss of heavenly glory here already in this life.
The first aim, purity of heart, can be achieved with the help of God’s grace by effort and the practice of virtue. The second aim, experimental knowledge of divine power and heavenly glory, can be realized through purity of heart and perfect love; for our Lord said: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
RESPONSORY
R/. I have called you friends, for I have made known to you all I have heard from my Father. * Remain in my love.
V/. I have chosen you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that shall last. * Remain in my love.Morning Prayer
HYMN
The feast-day of Saint Albert dawns
A day of pure resplendent light;
Our brethren high in heav’n rejoice
As we our praise with theirs unite.He realized that earthly joys
Were all too small to fill his heart;
All, all he had he gave to God,
In Carmel chose the better part.Determined conqueror of self
He mortified each wrong desire
Until God saw reflected there
His image purified by fire.For one so set on heavenly things
The lying foe laid many a snare,
But he resisted manfully,
And persevered in constant prayer.Remember Carmel’s Order now,
Made glorious by your sojourn here;
O strengthen us in love of Christ
That we may likewise persevere.All praise be to the Trinity,
The Father with his only Son
And ever-blessed Paraclete,
While never-ending ages run.L.M.
Adest natalis gloriaeCANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Ant. The just will speak wisdom, and truth will come from their lips, because God’s law is in their hearts.
PRAYER
Lord God,
you made Saint Albert of Trápani
a model of purity and prayer,
and a devoted servant of Our Lady.
May we practice these same virtues
and so be worthy always
to share the banquet of your grace.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
HYMN
The river floweth swiftly on its course,
Dry shod the Blessed Albert speeds across.
His chastened piety sustains no loss
When combated.He kisseth tenderly the leprous face,
Nor shrinks in horror from the hideous trace;
Behold, it shineth now with former grace,
Disease hath fled.When his glad spirit sought its heavenward flight,
The bells were pealing from the belfry height,
Nor did they sound by any human might
In mournful toll.Two Messengers from Heaven high in air
Chant funeral praises of this man of prayer,
Before a mighty concourse gathered there
To bless his soul.The odor sweet arising from his bier
Cured pain and suffering when the sick drew near,
And all diseases fled his tomb in fear
Of heavenly power.O God most high, forever praise to Thee,
To Son and Spirit equal honor be;
Let us adore the Blessed One in Three
At every hour.10.10.10.4.
Passibus siccis rapidumCANTICLE OF MARY
Ant. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
St. Albert of Trapani
Antonio de Pereda (Spanish, 1611–1678)
Oil on canvas, ca. 1670
Image credit: Wikimedia CommonsCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/05/trapanilit24/
#Carmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #priest #StAlbertOfTrapani
-
July 28
BLESSED JOHN SORETH
PriestOptional Memorial
In the houses in France: MemorialPastoral note: In the year 2024, this Optional Memorial gives way to the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
John Soreth was born at Caen in Normandy and entered Carmel as a young man. He took a doctorate of theology in Paris and served as regent of studies and provincial of his province. He was prior general from 1451 until his death at Angers in 1471. He restored observance within the Order and promoted its reform, wrote a famous commentary on the Rule, issued new Constitutions in 1462, and promoted the growth of the nuns and the Third Order.
From the Common of Men Saints (Religious), except the following:
Office of Readings
The Second Reading
Ch 4From the Exhortation on the Carmelite Rule by Blessed John Soreth
Learn from Christ how you should love him
It is from Christ Himself, brother, that you will learn how to love Him. Learn to love Him tenderly, with all your heart; prudently, with all your soul; fervently, with all your strength. Love Him tenderly, so that you will not be seduced away from Him; prudently, so that you will not be open to deception; and fervently, so that downheartedness will not draw you away from God’s love. May the wisdom of Christ seem sweet to you, so that you are not led away by the glory of the world and the pleasures of the flesh. May Christ, Who is the Truth, enlighten you, so that you do not fall prey to the spirit of error and falsehood. May Christ, Who is the Strength of God, fortify you when hardships wear you out.
St. Basil says that we are bound to our benefactors by bonds of affection and duty. But what greater gift or favor could we receive than God Himself? For, He continues, I experience the ineffable love of God–a love more easily felt than described. Since God has planted the seeds of goodness in us, we can be certain that He is awaiting their fruits.
So let the love of Christ kindle your enthusiasm; let His knowledge be your teacher, and His constancy your strength. May your enthusiasm be fervent, balanced in judgment and invincible, and neither lukewarm nor lacking in discretion. Love the Lord your God with all the affection of which your heart is capable; love Him with all the attentiveness and balance of judgement of your soul and reason; love Him with such strength that you will not be afraid to die for love of Him. May the Lord Jesus seem so sweet and tender to your affections that the sweet enticements of the world hold no attraction for you; may His sweetness conquer their sweetness.
May He also be the guiding light of your intellect and the ruler of your reason: then you will not only avoid the deceptions of heresy and save your faith from their ambushes, but you will also avoid too great and indiscreet an enthusiasm in your behavior. God is Wisdom, and He wants to be loved not only fervently, but also wisely; otherwise the spirit of error will easily take advantage of your enthusiasm. If you neglect this advice, that cunning enemy thereby has a most effective means of taking the love of God from your heart by making you progress carelessly and without discretion. Therefore, may your love be strong and persevering, neither giving in to fears nor being worn out by labors.
Not to be led astray by allurements, that’s what it means to love with all one’s heart; not to be deceived by false arguments, that’s the meaning of loving with all one’s soul; not to let your spirit be broken by difficulties, that is to love with all one’s strength.
The Rule goes on to say that you should love your neighbor as yourself. For he who loves God, loves his neighbor too; “for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?”
Responsory
R/. This is the love of God: that we keep His commandments; * and His commandments are not burdensome.
V/. Those who keep His commandments abide in God, and God abides in them; * and His commandments are not burdensome.Morning Prayer
Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Be faithful ’til death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Prayer
Lord God,
you willed that Blessed John Soreth
should renew religious life
and establish communities for women
in the Order of Carmel.
May his prayers and merits
help us to be ever more faithful
in following Christ and His Mother.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.Evening Prayer
Canticle of Mary
Ant. This faithful man made his city strong and renewed the faith of sinners.
Blessed John Soreth
Arnold van Westerhout (Flemish 1651–1725)
Engraving, n.d.
Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/26/soreth24lit/
#BlessedJohnSoreth #Carmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #optionalMemorial #priest #PriorGeneral
-
July 24
BLESSED MARIA PILAR OF SAINT FRANCIS BORGIA MARTÍNEZ GARCÍA, BLESSED MARIA SAGRARIO OF SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA MORAGAS CANTARERO AND COMPANIONS
Virgins and MartyrsOptional Memorial
In one single memorial, we remember our sisters who were martyred in the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939. Maria Pilar of St. Francis Borgia (born at Tarazona on Dec. 30, 1877), Teresa of the Child Jesus and of St. John of the Cross (born at Mochales on March 5,1890), and Maria Angeles of St. Joseph (born at Getafe on March 6, 1905), Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of Guadalajara, Spain, were martyred on July 24, 1936, and beatified by Saint John Paul II on March 29, 1987. Maria Sagrario was born at Lillo (Toledo) on 8th January 1881. A pharmacist by trade, she was one of the first women in Spain to be admitted to this qualification. Through her spirit of prayer and her love for the Eucharist, she was a perfect embodiment of the contemplative and ecclesial ideal of the Teresian Carmel. She was martyred on 15th August 1936, a grace for which she had longed; she was beatified by Saint John Paul II in 1998.
Those who wish to celebrate two specific commemorations today may observe the optional memorial of the three Blessed Martyrs of Guadalajara, and on August 16, Blessed Maria Sagrario.
From the Common of Martyrs or the Common of Virgins, except for the following:
Office of Readings
The Second Reading
Strophe 30,7-8
From the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the Cross
The flowers of virginity and martyrdom
“We shall weave these garlands flowering in your love and bound with one hair of mine.”
This verse most appropriately refers to Christ and the Church, for in it, the Church, the Bride of Christ, addresses Him saying: let us weave garlands (understanding by garlands, all the holy souls engendered by Christ in the Church). Each holy soul is like a garland adorned with the flowers of virtues and gifts, and all of them together form a garland for the head of Christ, the Bridegroom.
The loving garlands can refer to what we call aureoles; these are also woven by Christ and the Church and are of three kinds:
The first kind is made from the beautiful flowers of all the virgins. Each virgin possesses her own aureole of virginity, and all these aureoles together will be joined into one and placed on the head of Christ, the Bridegroom.
The second aureole contains the resplendent flowers of the holy doctors. All these aureoles will be entwined into one and set upon the head of Christ over that of the virgins.
The third is fashioned from the crimson carnations of the martyrs. Every martyr has an aureole of martyrdom, and these red aureoles woven together will add the final touch to the aureole of Christ the Bridegroom.
So beautiful and fair will Christ the Bridegroom be with these three garlands when He is seen in heaven.
Therefore, we shall weave these garlands, the soul says, flowering in your love.
The flower of these works and virtues is the grace and power they possess from the love of God. Without love, these works will not only fail to flower, but they will all wither and become valueless in God’s sight, even though they may be perfect from a human standpoint. Yet, because God bestows His grace and love, they are works that have blossomed in His love.
“And bound with one hair of mine.” This hair is her will and the love she has for the Beloved. This love assumes the task of the thread in a garland. As the thread binds the flowers together, so love fastens and sustains the virtues in the soul. As St. Paul remarks: “Charity is the bond of perfection” (Col 3:14).
Responsory
R/. Even if you should have to suffer for justice’s sake, happy will you be. Do not be afraid and do not stand in awe of them, but adore the Lord Christ in your hearts * always ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you.
V/. It is better, if God so wills it, to suffer and do good deeds than to do evil, * always ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you.MORNING PRAYER
Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. This life, I live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who has loved me and given himself for me.
Prayer
Father, strength of the humble,
you sustained in martyrdom the virgins
Blessed Maria Pilar, (Maria Sagrario) and companions.
As they willingly shed their blood for Christ the King,
may we, through their intercession,
be faithful to You and to your Church until death.Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.EVENING PRAYER
Canticle of Mary
Ant. What joy when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
A sad reminder of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War
Francoist troops taking away Republican militiamen from a mountain, probably to take them to a firing block, in Somosierra, during the Battle of Guadarrama, July-August 1936. These men most likely were farmers or workers.
Image credit: Cassowary Colorizations (Some rights reserved)Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
Featured image: Individual portraits of the Blessed Martyrs of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, murdered duing the Spanish Civil War. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/22/martfemsp24lit/
#BlessedMariaPilarOfStFrancisBorgia #DiscalcedCarmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #MariaSagrarioOfStAloysiusGonzaga #martyrs #SpanishCivilWar
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July 20
OUR FATHER SAINT ELIJAH
ProphetFeast
The prophet Elijah appears in Scripture as a man of God who lived always in His presence and fought zealously for the worship of the one God. He defended God’s law in a solemn contact on Mt. Carmel, and afterwards was given on Mt. Horeb an intimate experience of the living God. The hermits who instituted a form of monastic life in honor of Our Lady on Mt. Carmel in the twelfth century, followed monastic tradition in turning to Elijah as their Father and model.
Invitatory
Ant. Come let us adore the living God, who speaks to us through the prophets.
Office of Readings
HYMN
Great Author of all things that are
To you we sing in joyful praise
Of him, the Thesbite, whom you love,
Elijah, seer of ancient days.With burning zeal for your blest name
He challenged wicked priests of Baal
And conquering, killed them in his might
To make your sacred law prevail.The victims offered by his prayer
Drew heaven’s blest consuming flame
In vain Baal’s servants scream and rave,
Their frenzy brings them only shame.Then Jezebel, unholy queen,
In fury raves, the prophet flees,
Beneath the sheltering juniper
He sleeps and then an angel sees.The angel offers strengthening bread
With water pure his thirst to end
And marks a journey he must make
Mount Horeb’s summit to ascend.No food but this for forty days
He journeys through the desert land
Prefiguring the royal feast
Prepared us by the Father’s hand.To Father, Word and Paraclete
All glory, honor ever be
O undivided Trinity
Through whom creation came to be. Amen.88.88.
Te magne rerum ConditorPsalmody
Ant. 1 Lord, I have had enough: take my life, I am no better than my ancestors.
Psalm 11
In the Lord I have taken my refuge. †
How can you say to my soul: *
‘Fly like a bird to its mountain.‘See the wicked bracing their bow; †
they are fixing their arrows on the string *
to shoot upright men in the dark.
Foundations once destroyed, *
what can the just do?’The Lord is in his holy temple, *
the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes look down on the world; *
his gaze tests mortal men.The Lord tests the just and the wicked: *
the lover of violence he hates.
He sends fire and brimstone on the wicked; *
he sends a scorching wind as their lot.The Lord is just and loves justice: *
the upright shall see his face.Ant. Lord, I have had enough: take my life, I am no better than my ancestors.
Ant. 2 An angel of the Lord said to him: Get up and eat, for there is a great journey before you.
Psalm 28
To you, O Lord, I call, *
my rock, hear me.
If you do not heed I shall become *
like those in the grave.Hear the voice of my pleading *
as I call for help,
as I lift up my hands in prayer *
to your holy place.Do not drag me away with the wicked, *
with the evil-doers,
who speak words of peace to their neighbors *
but with evil in their hearts.Blessed be the Lord for he has heard *
my cry, my appeal.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; *
in him my heart trusts.
I was helped, my heart rejoices *
and I praise him with my song.The Lord is the strength of his people, *
a fortress where his anointed find help.
Save your people; bless Israel your heritage. *
Be their shepherd and carry them for ever.Ant. An angel of the Lord said to him: Get up and eat, for there is a great journey before you.
Ant. 3 Elijah ate and drank, and in the strength of that food he walked to the mountain of God.
Psalm 30
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me *
and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.O Lord, I cried to you for help *
and you, my God, have healed me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead, *
restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him, *
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favor all through life. *
At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.I said to myself in my good fortune: *
‘Nothing will ever disturb me.’
Your favor had set me on a mountain fastness, *
then you hid your face and I was put to confusion.To you, Lord, I cried, *
to my God I made appeal:
‘What profit would my death be, my going to the grave? *
Can dust give you praise or proclaim your truth?’The Lord listened and had pity. *
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into dancing, *
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
So my soul sings psalms to you unceasingly. *
O Lord my God, I will thank you forever.Ant. Elijah ate and drank, and in the strength of that food he walked to the mountain of God.
V/. You are a man of God.
R/. And the word of God in your mouth is true.The First Reading (Alternative)
1 Kings 19: 4-9a, 11-14a
A reading from the first book of Kings
Elijah walked all the way to the mountain of God
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. There he came to a cave, where he took shelter.
Then the Lord said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord, the Lord will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord—but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire—but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, why are you here?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.”
Responsory
R/. Leave this place and go eastward, said the Lord to Elijah. * And he went and did as the Lord had said.
V/. Hide yourself by the brook Cherith, and there drink from the stream; and I have commanded ravens to feed you there. * And he went and did as the Lord had said.The Second Reading
Bk 2, Hom. 1, 17
From a Homily of Pope St. Gregory on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
The mystical contemplation of God
In divine contemplation the spirit is often abstracted to such a degree that it is already granted the joy of partaking a little, in image as it were, of that eternal freedom which ‘eye has not seen nor ear heard;’ but then, hampered by the weight of its own mortality, it falls back into the depths and is held captive in penalty for its sins. It has glimpsed the delights of true freedom and longs to escape from its captivity but, since it cannot, it keeps its gaze fixed upon the imprisoning doors. This is why, when the Jews had been freed from slavery to Egypt, each of them stood adoring in the doorway of his tent when God spoke and the pillar of cloud was visible.
Wherever we direct our mental gaze, there we may be said to stand. That is why Elijah said: ‘The Lord lives, in whose sight I stand.’ He did indeed stand before God, for his heart was intent on God. That the Jews gazed at the pillar of cloud and stood at the doors of their tents in adoration, has this meaning: when the human mind perceives these high and heavenly things—albeit in image—the elevation of its thought has already lifted it free from the limits of its bodily habitation; and although it is denied sight of the divine substance, it humbly adores Him whose power it can already see by spiritual illumination.
This is why Elijah is described as standing at the mouth of his cave and veiling his face when he heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him; for as soon as the voice of heavenly understanding enters the mind through the grace of contemplation, the whole man is no longer within the cave, for his soul is no longer taken up with matters of the flesh: intent on leaving the bounds of mortality, he stands at the cave’s mouth.
But if a man stands at the mouth of the cave and hears the word of God with the heart’s ear, he must veil his face. For when heavenly grace leads us to the understanding of higher things, the rarer the heights to which we are raised, the more we should abase ourselves in our own estimation by humility: we must not try to know ‘more than is fitting; we must know as it befits us to know.’ Otherwise, through over-familiarity with the invisible, we risk going astray; and we might perhaps look for material light in what is immaterial. For to cover the face while listening with the ear means hearing with our mind the voice of Him who is within us, yet averting the eyes of the heart from every bodily appearance. If we do this, there will be no risk of our spirit interpreting as something corporeal that which is everywhere in its entirety and everywhere uncircumscribed.
Beloved brothers, we have already learned through our Redeemer’s death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, what the joys of eternity mean, and we know that our fellow-citizens we have known. While our feet stand within the walls of His holy Church, let us keep our hearts facing towards the freedom of our heavenly fatherland. We are still encumbered, it is true, by the many cares of this corruptible life. If then we cannot leave the cave completely, let us at least stand at its mouth, and go out whenever we are granted the favor of doing so by the grace of our Redeemer Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
Responsory
R/. The word of the Lord came to Elijah. * Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.
V/. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave, and the Lord passed by in the whisper of a gentle breeze. * Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.Where the Vigil Office is celebrated:
Canticles
Ant. Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is passing by.
Canticle I
Jer 17:7-8
Happy are those who put their trust in the Lord
Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Lk 11:28)
Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, *
whose trust is the Lord.He is like a tree planted by water, *
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes, *
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, *
for it does not cease to bear fruit.Canticle II
Sir 14:20, 15:3-5a, 6b
The happiness of the wise
Wisdom has been proved right by all her children (Lk 7:35)
Happy the man who meditates on wisdom, *
and reasons with good sense.
She will give him the bread of understanding to eat, *
and the water of wisdom to drink.He will lean on her and will not fall, *
he will rely on her and not be put to shame.
She will raise him high above his neighbors, *
and he will inherit an everlasting name.Canticle III
Sir 51:1-3b, 4a, 7c, 11, 14ab, 15
Thanksgiving for delivery from affliction
God has saved us from the hands of our foes, that we might serve him (Lk 1:74)
I will give thanks to you, Lord and King, *
and praise you, God my Savior,
I give thanks to your name; *
for you have been protector and support to me,
and redeemed my body from destruction. †
from the snare of the lying tongue, *
from lips that fabricate falsehood.
You have redeemed me, †
true to the greatness of your mercy, *
from the perjured tongue slandering me to the king.Then I remembered your mercy, Lord, *
and your deeds from earliest times.
I called on the Lord, the father of my Lord: *
“Do not desert me in the days of ordeal,
I will praise your name unceasingly, †
and gratefully sing its praises;” *
and my plea was heard.Ant. Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is passing by.
Gospel
Mt 17:1-8
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Moses and Elijah appeared to them
Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone. There in their presence he was transfigured: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them; they were talking with him. Then Peter spoke to Jesus. “Lord,” he said, “it is wonderful for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when suddenly a bright cloud covered them with shadow, and from the cloud there came a voice which said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favor. Listen to him.” When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear. But Jesus came up and touched them. “Stand up,” he said, “do not be afraid.” And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus.
Te Deum
You are God: we praise you; *
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father: *
All creation worships you.To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, *
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might, *
heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise you. †
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you. *
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you: *
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, *
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You, Christ, are the King of glory, *
the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us free *
you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.You overcame the sting of death, *
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.You are seated at God’s right hand in glory. *
We believe that you will come, and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people, *
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints*
to glory everlasting.Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
— Govern and uphold them now and always.Day by day we bless you.
— We praise your name for ever.Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
— Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.Lord, show us your love and mercy,
— for we have put our trust in you.In you, Lord, is our hope:
— And we shall never hope in vain.Prayer
Almighty, ever living God,
your prophet Elijah, our Father,
lived always in your presence
and was zealous for the honor due to your name.
May we, your servants,
always seek your face
and bear witness to your love.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Morning Prayer
Hymn
Come, blest companions, let our joy resounding
Extol to Heaven the Leader of our line.
‘Tis meet the memory of his deeds abounding
Should waken ceaseless canticles divine.He knows the gentle breathing of the Spirit
Clothed in the whistling murmur of the air,
By God’s command the chastisements they merit
Proud Jezebel and Ahab justly share.The caverns green of Carmel form his dwelling,
With leathern tunic is he rudely clad,
To impious Ahaziah his foretelling
Gives portent of a dissolution sad.Twice at his prayer the fire from Heaven descending
Consumeth trembling soldiers in its flame,
The flowing waters mit with his mantle rending,
Dry shod he passeth safely through the same.O Father, let thy help and thy protection
Be o’er thy children as they humbly plead,
Entreat the Spirit, by His sweet election,
To multiply His graces in their need.O unbegotten Father, we adore Thee,
O Son begotten, reverence be to Thee,
O glorious Spirit, bow we low before Thee,
Thou simple undivided Trinity.11.11.11.10.
Pergamus, socii, tollere canticusPsalmody
Ant. 1 God lives; I am standing in his presence.
Psalm 63
O God, you are my God, for you I long; *
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you*
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary *
to see your strength and your glory.For your love is better than life, *
my lips will speak your praise.
So I will bless you all my life, *
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul shall be filled as with a banquet, *
my mouth shall praise you with joy.On my bed I remember you. *
On you I muse through the night
for you have been my help; *
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. God lives; I am standing in his presence.
Ant. 2 Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord; for the Lord is passing by.
Canticle – Daniel 3:57-88, 56
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord. *
You heavens, bless the Lord,
All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord. *
All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord. *
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.Every shower and dew, bless the Lord. *
All you winds, bless the Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the Lord. *
Cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord. *
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord. *
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord. *
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.Let the earth bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord. *
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.
You springs, bless the Lord. *
Seas and rivers, bless the Lord.
You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord. *
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord. *
You sons of men, bless the Lord.O Israel, bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord. *
Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord. *
Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord.
Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. *
Let us praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Blessed are you, Lord, in the firmament of heaven. *
Praiseworthy and glorious and exalted above all for ever.Ant. Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord; for the Lord is passing by.
Ant. 3 With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts.
Psalm 149
Sing a new song to the Lord, *
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its maker, *
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing *
and make music with timbrel and harp.For the Lord takes delight in his people. *
He crowns the poor with salvation.
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, *
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips *
and a two-edged sword in their hand,to deal out vengeance to the nations *
and punishment on all the peoples;
to bind their kings in chains *
and their nobles in fetters of iron;
to carry out the sentence pre-ordained; *
this honor is for all his faithful.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts.
Scripture Reading
2 Pt 1:19-21
We have confirmation of what was said in prophecies; and you will be right to depend on prophecy and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds. At the same time, we must be careful to remember that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. Why? Because no prophecy ever came from man’s initiative. When men spoke for God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them.
Short Responsory
R/. I will be satisfied, Lord, * when your glory appears. Repeat R/.
V/. And in righteousness I will see your face, * when your glory appears.
Glory . . . R/.Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Lord God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, give proof this day that you are the God of Israel, and that I am your servant, and that all I have said is at your command.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
born of the house of his servant David.Through his holy prophets he promised of old †
that he would save us from our enemies, *
from the hands of all who hate us.He promised to show mercy to our fathers*
and to remember his holy covenant.This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. Lord God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, give proof this day that you are the God of Israel, and that I am your servant, and that all I have said is at your command.
Intercessions
God our Father spoke in former days through the prophets, but today he speaks to us in his Son, through whom he wishes the whole world to be joined to him. Let us humbly pray:
R/. Lord, draw us to yourself.
Lord, you revealed yourself to the prophet Elijah in silence and solitude; — help us to put aside all that prevents us from hearing your voice, so that we may seek and find you. R/.
When he was thirsty, you gave Elijah refreshing water at the torrent of Karith; — may we drink at the living springs of love and contemplation. R/.
As he walked to Mount Horeb, you filled Elijah with strength; — may we who are strengthened by the Body and Blood of Christ press on unwearied in our journey to you. R/.
Lord, you revealed yourself to Elijah in the whisper of a gentle breeze; — in attentive silence and with an obedient spirit may we receive every inspiration of the Holy Spirit. R/.
Lord, you raised up Elijah like a fire and made him zealous for your glory; — may we too burn with the fire of your love, to serve the Church and our brethren in all our work. R/.
Our Father …
Prayer
Almighty, ever living God,
your prophet Elijah, our Father,
lived always in your presence
and was zealous for the honor due to your name.
May we, your servants,
always seek your face
and bear witness to your love.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Prayer during the Day
Antiphons and psalms of the weekday.
Before Noon
Ant. Elijah called out to the Lord, and the Lord heard his voice.
Scripture Reading
Heb 12:1-2
Since we for our part are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead; let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith. For the sake of the joy which lay before him he endured the cross, heedless of its shame. He has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
V/. Lord, I have sought your face.
R/. Your face I will seek always.Midday
Ant. The words of the Lord were fulfilled; he did what he had promised his prophet Elijah.
Scripture Reading
Heb 4:12
God’s word is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates and divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the reflections and thoughts of the heart.
V/. I have hidden your sayings in my heart, Lord.
R/. So as never to sin against you.Afternoon
Ant. The fire of the Lord fell and consumed Elijah’s offering.
Scripture Reading
Heb 12:28-29
We who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should hold fast to God’s grace, through which we may offer worship acceptable to him in reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.
V/. Lord, your word is a consuming flame.
R/. Your servant loves it.Prayer
Almighty, ever living God,
your prophet Elijah, our Father,
lived always in your presence
and was zealous for the honor due to your name.
May we, your servants,
always seek your face
and bear witness to your love.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Evening Prayer
Hymn
Praises to the great Elijah!
Let our songs to heaven rise.
His the grace to hear God’s whisper
Where all earthly music dies.Clad in skins he made his dwelling
On Mount Carmel, finding there
That austere and lonely wisdom
Hidden in a life of prayer.Yet he went forth at God’s bidding,
Flashed God’s word and law abroad
Till the idols fell around him
And his people turned to God.May we, too, make war on falsehood,
Burn with zeal for God’s command
Till we follow our true Master
In whose sight we always stand.Now we pray our Prophet-father
That our lives obtain this grace:
An outpouring of God’s Spirit
Over every time and place.Praise and honor to the Father,
To the Son and Spirit praise.
Theirs be all our love and worship
Now and through eternal days.87.87.
Text: UnknownPsalmody
Ant. 1 Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of God in your mouth is true.
Psalm 15
Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent *
and dwell on your holy mountain?He who walks without fault; *
he who acts with justice
and speaks the truth from his heart; *
he who does not slander with his tongue;he who does no wrong to his brother, *
who casts no slur on his neighbor,
who holds the godless in disdain, *
but honors those who fear the Lord;he who keeps his pledge, come what may; *
who takes no interest on a loan
and accepts no bribes against the innocent. *
Such a man will stand firm for ever.Ant. Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of God in your mouth is true.
Ant. 2 The Lord said to Elijah: Go and present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain upon the earth.
Psalm 112
Happy the man who fears the Lord, *
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth; *
the children of the upright are blessed.Riches and wealth are in his house; *
his justice stands firm for ever.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright: *
he is generous, merciful and just.The good man takes pity and lends, *
he conducts his affairs with honor.
The just man will never waver: *
he will be remembered for ever.He has no fear of evil news; *
with a firm heart he trusts in the Lord.
With a steadfast heart he will not fear; *
he will see the downfall of his foes.Open-handed, he gives to the poor; †
his justice stands firm for ever. *
His head will be raised in glory.The wicked man sees and is angry, †
grinds his teeth and fades away;
the desire of the wicked leads to doom.Ant. The Lord said to Elijah: Go and present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain upon the earth.
Ant. 3 Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha saw him no more.
Canticle: Rev 15:3-4
Great and wonderful are your deeds, *
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways, *
O King of the ages!Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? *
For you alone are holy.
All nations shall come and worship you, *
for your judgments have been revealed.Ant. Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha saw him no more.
Scripture Reading
2 Kgs 2:11-12
As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, ‘My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and its horseman!’ And he saw him no more.
Short Responsory
R/. Elisha lifted the cloak of Elijah: * he struck the waters and they divided. Repeat R/.
V/. Because the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha: * he struck the waters and they divided.
Glory . . . R/.Canticle of Mary
Ant. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes, that great and terrible day. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and the hearts of sons to their fathers.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, *
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant, *
and from this day all generations will call me blessed.The Almighty has done great things for me: *
holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,*
and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and has sent the rich away empty.He has come to the help of his servant Israel*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes, that great and terrible day. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and the hearts of sons to their fathers.
Intercessions
Let us give joyful praise to the living and true God, who chose the prophet Elijah to proclaim his power and mercy; let us say to him:
R/. Lord, make us witnesses of your love.
Lord, you accepted the sacrifice of Elijah and consumed it with fire from heaven; — accept our evening sacrifice which we offer for the good of the Church. R/.
When Elijah prayed on the mountain you sent saving rain from heaven; — fill us who have been called to Carmel with a spirit of prayer, so that we may draw a shower of grace to the world. R/.
You gave to the prophet Elijah the ministry of reconciling parents and children; — make us workers for peace, so that the peace of Christ may reign in the world. R/.
You made Elijah the defender of your honor and of true worship; — increase our concern for justice, so that by giving you all that is your due, we may serve our brothers and sisters in the spirit of the Gospel. R/.
You took the prophet Elijah to yourself in a whirlwind of fire; — graciously admit our departed brothers and sisters into the embrace of your glory. R/.
Our Father …
Prayer
Almighty, ever living God,
your prophet Elijah, our Father,
lived always in your presence
and was zealous for the honor due to your name.
May we, your servants,
always seek your face
and bear witness to your love.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
The BibleWalks.com website offers virtual tours of all the locations in the Holy Land that are associated with the Prophet Elijah. To view them, click here.
Featured image: Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire, Giuseppe Angeli (c. 1740/1755), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. (Public domain)
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17 July: Saint Teresa of St. Augustine Lidoine and Companions
July 17
SAINT TERESA OF SAINT AUGUSTINE LIDOINE AND COMPANIONS
Virgins and MartyrsOptional Memorial
In the houses in France: MemorialAs the French Revolution entered its worst days, sixteen Discalced Carmelites from the Monastery of the Incarnation in Compiègne offered their lives as a sacrifice to God, making reparation to him and imploring peace for the Church. On June 24th, 1794, they were arrested and thrown into prison. Their happiness and resignation were so evident that those around them were also encouraged to draw strength from God’s love. They were condemned to death for their fidelity to the Church and their religious life and for their devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Singing hymns, and having renewed their vows before the superior, Teresa of St. Augustine, they were put to death in Paris on July 17th, 1794. They were beatified by Pope St. Pius X on May 13, 1906. Their equipollent canonization was decreed on December 18, 2024.
From the Common of Martyrs or the Common of Virgins, except the following:
Office of Readings
HYMN
Let Carmel echo joyfully
The dying hymns that soared above
When Compiègne so gladly gave
Its greatest witness to God’s love.These virgin-martyrs gave their lives.
For sin’s atonement, like their Lord;
They died to bring a troubled Church
The peace of Christ as love’s reward.May we like them serve Holy Church
And build it up in unity,
Until at last in heav’n’s pure light
We gaze on God the Trinity.Our Queen and Mother, Carmel’s joy,
Look down with love on us who sing
The praise of those who died for love
Of Jesus Christ, your Son, our King.Bless God the Father, source of love,
Bless God the Word, his only Son,
Bless God the Spirit, Dove of peace,
One God, while endless ages run.L.M.
Fr. James Quinn, S.J.The Second Reading
Ch. 12, 1-3
From the Way of Perfection of St. Teresa of Jesus
The life of a good religious and a close friend of God is a long martyrdom
It all seems very hard work, this business of perfection — and so it is: we are waging war on ourselves! But as soon as we get down to it God becomes so active in our souls and showers so many mercies on them that whatever has got to be done in this life seems insignificant. And as we nuns do so much already, giving up our freedom for love of God and subjecting it to someone else, what excuse have we got for holding back when it comes to interior mortification?
That is where the secret lies of making all the rest so much more meritorious and perfect, not to mention doing it more easily and peacefully. The way to acquire it, as I have said, is to persevere bit by bit in not doing our own will or fancy, even in tiny things, till the body has been mastered by the spirit.
Let me repeat that it is all — or nearly all — a matter of getting rid of self-interest and our preoccupation with our own comfort. If you have started serving God seriously, the least you can offer Him is your life! If you have given Him your will, what are you afraid of? If you are a real religious, a real ‘pray-er,’ and want to enjoy God’s favors, you obviously can’t afford to shy away from wanting to die for Him, and undergo martyrdom. Don’t you realize, sisters that the life of a good religious — a person who wants to be one of God’s really close friends — is one long martyrdom? I say ‘long’ because in comparison with those whose heads have been chopped off in a trice we can call it long, but all our lives are short, very short in some cases. And we don’t even know whether our own won’t be so short that it will come to an end an hour, or even a second, after we have made up our mind to serve God fully. That could happen.
We have just got to take no account of anything that will come to an end, least of all life, for we can’t count on a single day. If we remember that every hour might be our last, is there a single one of us who will feel inclined to shirk?
Well, there is nothing you can be more certain of, believe me! So we must train ourselves to thwart our own wills in every way; then, if you try hard, as I have said, though you won’t get there all of a sudden, you will gradually arrive, without realizing it, at the peak of perfection.
Responsory
R/. Rejoice that you share the sufferings of Christ, * for when His glory is revealed you will be filled with joy.
V/. Blessed are you when you are persecuted for Christ’s sake, * for when His glory is revealed you will be filled with joy.Morning Prayer
Hymn
Voice of the Bridegroom: now is winter passing,
Rain falls no longer, gardens yield their fragrance,
Spring blooms appearing, trees resound with birdsong —
Rise, my beloved.Go out to meet him, virgins all exulting,
See he approaches, crowns you for your nuptials —
Rapture and gladness, when he leads you homeward
Sharing his kingdom.Love for the Bridegroom filled your whole horizon,
Making you fearless in the face of danger;
Like him, your Master, life itself you offered,
Sacrificed for him.Joyfully faithful to your holy calling,
Nothing could daunt you, or your lamps extinguish;
Shining and glowing you would bear them to him
Through cloud and tempest.11.11.11.5
Sr. Margarita of Jesus, O.C.D.Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Prepare your lamps, you wise virgins, for behold, the Bridegroom is coming: go out and meet Him.
Prayer
Lord God,
you called Saint Teresa of St. Augustine and her companions
to go on in the strength of the Holy Spirit
from the heights of Carmel to receive a martyr’s crown.
May our love too be so steadfast
that it will bring us
to the everlasting vision of your glory.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.Evening Prayer
Canticle of Mary
Ant. You virgins of the Lord, who have endured the great ordeal, come and rejoice with God forever.
Plaque in Picpus Cemetery marking the two common graves where the martyrs are buried | Wikimedia CommonsCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
Featured image: This stained glass window depicting the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne was designed by stained glass artist Sister Margaret of the Mother of God, O.C.D. (Margaret Rope). It is one of her most famous windows in the chapel of the Carmel of Quidenham, England. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites
#LiturgyOfTheHours #MartyrsOfCompiègne #Memorial #optionalMemorial #StTeresaOfStAugustine
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UNOFFICIAL TEXT*
June 14
SAINT ELISHA
ProphetOptional Memorial
“Elijah came upon Elisha and threw his cloak over him. Immediately Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah as his attendant” (cf. 1 Kgs 19:19–21). Elisha was filled with the spirit of Elijah; among the many signs he performed, he cured Naaman of Leprosy and raised a dead child to life. He lived among the sons of the prophets and in God’s name, he frequently intervened in the affairs of the Israelites. Mindful of its origin on Mount Carmel, the Carmelite Order desired to perpetuate the memory of the great prophets’ presence and deeds through the liturgical celebration of St. Elijah and Elisha. Thus the General Chapter of 1399 decreed the celebration of the feast of St. Elisha. In 2023, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments extended the celebration to the Teresian Carmel at the rank of an optional memorial. Through his fidelity to the true God and by his service to God’s people, St. Elisha effectively illustrates the meaning of the prophetic office in our day.
Invitatory
Ant. Let us worship the Lord who has worked wonders through the prophets.
Office of Readings
HYMN
Let all the court of heaven above
and all the creatures here on earth
give glory to almighty God
and at Elisha’s fame rejoice.‘Twas he the great Elijah chose
endowed with wisdom’s gift by God,
and called him from his daily tasks
to lead the band of Carmelites.While living still upon this earth,
he yet had power over hell;
a soul he summoned from the grave
and to its earthly form restored.He cured the wounds of leprosy
of Náaman the Syrian
and when he offered rich rewards,
would not exchange his gift for gold.His heart beheld with deep concern
the widow woman’s poverty;
he caused the oil to multiply,
and freed her from the weight of debt.After his body was consumed
and to the tomb in peace consigned,
its very touch at once revived
others, themselves deprived of life.Unto the one and triune Lord
be praise forever and acclaim;
may he accept Elisha’s prayers
and lead us to our home above.Amen.
L.M.
Congratuletur curia
Tr. Joachim Smet, O.Carm.Psalmody
Antiphons and psalms from the weekday.
V/. I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brethren.
R/. He shall tell them all that I command him.The First Reading
2 Kings 2:1–15
A reading from the Second book of Kings
Elijah is taken up to heaven
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. “Stay here, please,” Elijah said to Elisha. “The Lord has sent me on to Bethel.” “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live,” Elisha replied, “I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel, where the guild prophets went out to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master from you today?” “Yes, I know it,” he replied. “Keep still.”
Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, Elisha, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.” “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live,” Elisha replied, “I will not leave you.” They went on to Jericho, where the guild prophets approached Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master from over you today?” “Yes, I know it,” he replied. “Keep still.”
Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here; The Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.” “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live,” Elisha replied, “I will not leave you.” And so the two went on together. Fifty of the guild prophets followed, and when the two stopped at the Jordan, stood facing them at a distance. Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water, which divided and both crossed over on dry ground.
When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for whatever I may do for you before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” “You have asked something that is not easy,” he replied. “Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.” As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. When Elisha saw it happen he cried out, “My father! my father! Israel’s chariots and drivers!” But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two.
Then he picked up Elijah’s mantle which had fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan. Wielding the mantle which had fallen from Elijah, he struck the water in his turn and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When Elisha struck the water it divided and he crossed over.
The guild prophets in Jericho, who were on the other side, saw him and said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They went to meet him, bowing to the ground before him.
Responsory
R/. Elisha saw it and he cried out, “My father! my father! Israel’s chariots and driver!” * And the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha.
V/. Elisha said: “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” * And the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha.The Second Reading
Sermo 87
From a Sermon of Saint Ambrose, bishop
The healing of the waters, a type of the Church
What shall we say about the merits of Elisha? The first thing we praise him for is that he wanted to surpass his father [Elijah] in grace, for he asked for more than Elijah was able to bestow. Although he was greedy in his request, he was nonetheless worthy to have it granted. For while he demanded more from his father than Elijah had to give, through his own merits he enabled him to bestow more than he possessed.
Following his master’s ascent, when Elisha arrived in Jericho, he was invited by the townspeople to remain with them; they said: this is an excellent site for the town, except that the water is bad and causes sterility. He then asked for a clay jar, filled it with salt, and went to the place where the water was coming up out of the ground; he threw it into the water saying: “Thus says the Lord: ‘I have purified these waters; never again shall death or sterility come from them.’ ” And those waters remain pure even to this day.
So we see how remarkable Elisha’s merits are: in response to the citizens’ hospitality his very first gift to them was great fruitfulness. For by healing the water, he provided for their posterity. What he did was not for the benefit of any one person, or any one family: it was for all the people of the entire city. Had he delayed, they would all have been sterile and grown old without descendants, and the city would have been left deserted. Thus, by healing the water Elisha healed the people; and by blessing the spring, he provided them as it were with a fountain of life. For just as through his blessing good water came forth from the unseen veins in the earth, so too from the seclusion of their wombs mothers gave birth to healthy children.
For Elisha did not bless only the water that was already flowing into the spring’s basin, but rather all the water without distinction which was yet to flow little by little from the earth’s hidden moisture even until now. As Scripture has it, Elisha blessed the place where the water was coming up out of the earth, to indicate that it was the flowing water rather than the basin of the spring that he had sanctified. Thus, as the Apostle Paul says, all these things happened as signs; let us try to discover, therefore, the truth contained in this sign.
The Church is the sterile city which, before the coming of Christ, suffered from sterility due to the pollution of the waters—that is, to the idolatry of the Gentiles—and was unable to bring forth children for God. But when Christ came and took on the fragile clay of the human body, he healed the pollution of the waters; that is, he banished the idolatries of the Gentiles, and immediately the church, which had been sterile, began to be fertile.
Thus the Apostle also says: Rejoice, you barren one who bear no children; break into song, you stranger to the pains of childbirth! For many are the children of the wife deserted—far more than of her who has a husband! For Christ brought to birth more children from the Church which had been sterile than he had from the synagogue which had been fertile.
Responsory
R/. Elisha went out to the spring and threw salt into it, saying: “Thus says the Lord, ‘I have purified this water. * Never again shall death or miscarriage spring from it.’ “
V/. And the water has stayed pure even to this day, just as Elisha prophesied. * Never again shall death or miscarriage spring from it.Prayer
O God,
protector and redeemer of mankind,
whose glories have been proclaimed
through the wonders accomplished by
your chosen prophets,
you have bestowed the spirit of Elijah
on your prophet Elisha;
in your kindness grant us too
an increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
so that, living as prophets,
we will bear constant witness
to your abiding presence and providence.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Morning Prayer
Hymn
Grant to us, your sons, Elisha,
songs that ring with fervor due,
praise upon our lips bestowing,
of your wondrous deeds and true.By almighty God anointed,
master of the prophets’ school,
at a garment’s touch converted,
with Elijah you were one.Flowing waters of the Jordan
you divided with your cloak;
from their cells you called the hermits
and presided at their rites.In the caves of desert dwelling
far from you the world’s pomp;
lofty merits show you gifted
with a heart of prayer and deed.Leader strong and prophet blessed,
son of earth and simple ploughman,
light of life and virtue’s model,
healer of the string of death.We, the sons of Carmel, praise you
Holy Godhead, one and three,
suppliant we ask for mercy;
spare us, your devoted ones.87.87.D.
Ut possint claris commendare sonis
Tr. Joachim Smet, O.Carm.Psalmody
Ant. 1 Elisha said: Let Naaman come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.
Psalm 63
O God, you are my God, for you I long; *
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you*
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary *
to see your strength and your glory.For your love is better than life, *
my lips will speak your praise.
So I will bless you all my life, *
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul shall be filled as with a banquet, *
my mouth shall praise you with joy.On my bed I remember you. *
On you I muse through the night
for you have been my help; *
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. Elisha said: Let Naaman come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.
Ant. 2 When the minstrel played, the power of the Lord came upon Elisha and he prophesied.
Canticle – Daniel 3:57-88, 56
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord. *
You heavens, bless the Lord,
All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord. *
All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord. *
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.Every shower and dew, bless the Lord. *
All you winds, bless the Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the Lord. *
Cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord. *
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord. *
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord. *
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.Let the earth bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord. *
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.
You springs, bless the Lord. *
Seas and rivers, bless the Lord.
You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord. *
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord. *
You sons of men, bless the Lord.O Israel, bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord. *
Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord. *
Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord.
Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. *
Let us praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Blessed are you, Lord, in the firmament of heaven. *
Praiseworthy and glorious and exalted above all for ever.Ant. When the minstrel played, the power of the Lord came upon Elisha and he prophesied.
Ant. 3 During his lifetime he did not fear even princes, nor was anyone able to overcome him.
Psalm 149
Sing a new song to the Lord, *
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its maker, *
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing *
and make music with timbrel and harp.For the Lord takes delight in his people. *
He crowns the poor with salvation.
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, *
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips *
and a two-edged sword in their hand,to deal out vengeance to the nations *
and punishment on all the peoples;
to bind their kings in chains *
and their nobles in fetters of iron;
to carry out the sentence pre-ordained; *
this honor is for all his faithful.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. During his lifetime he did not fear even princes, nor was anyone able to overcome him.
Scripture Reading
Sir 48:12b–14
During his lifetime he feared no one, nor was any man able to intimidate his will. Nothing was beyond his power; beneath him flesh was brought back into life. In life he performed wonders, and after death, marvelous deeds.
Short Responsory
R/. Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, * and the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha. Repeat R/.
V/. Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle * and the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha. Glory… R/.Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Blessed be the King of heaven and Lord of prophets, who instructs the faithful through the mouth of his holy ones; through his deeds he makes known the way of peace and salvation, and through the intercession of Elisha he sets us firmly upon the path to heaven.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
born of the house of his servant David.Through his holy prophets he promised of old †
that he would save us from our enemies, *
from the hands of all who hate us.He promised to show mercy to our fathers*
and to remember his holy covenant.This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. Blessed be the King of heaven and Lord of prophets, who instructs the faithful through the mouth of his holy ones; through his deeds he makes known the way of peace and salvation, and through the intercession of Elisha he sets us firmly upon the path to heaven.
Intercessions
In times past, God spoke and worked through the prophets, but today he is present to us through his Son, the Incarnate Word. Let us invoke him with perseverance:
R/. Make us witnesses of your word.
King of prophets, you filled Elisha with the spirit of Elijah: — stir up in us that prophetic gift which each of us has received in the sacrament of baptism. R/.
Word of the Father, through the Holy Spirit you inspired the prophets to be your spokespersons; — grant that all pastors and ministers of the word may proclaim your word with integrity and fidelity. R/.
Healer of body and soul, through the prophets you worked wonders for the infirm and the needy; — heal the sick, strengthen the wavering, protect the defenseless. R/.
Bread of angels and of men, through the prophet Elisha you relieved the hunger of the people; — fill your disciples with a sense of solidarity and communion with the needy and poor of the whole world. R/.
Source of mercy, through Elisha you extended mercy even to the enemies of Israel; — may all your disciples be ministers of compassion and reconciliation. R/.
Our Father …
Prayer
O God,
protector and redeemer of mankind,
whose glories have been proclaimed
through the wonders accomplished by
your chosen prophets,
you have bestowed the spirit of Elijah
on your prophet Elisha;
in your kindness grant us too
an increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
so that, living as prophets,
we will bear constant witness
to your abiding presence and providence.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Prayer during the Day
Where celebrated as a Solemnity, the antiphons may be taken from Morning Prayer along with the complementary psalms.
Before Noon
Scripture Reading
2 Kgs 4:8, 14–16
One day Elisha came to Shunem. He asked, “Can I do something for this woman?” And Gehazi answered: “Yes! She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.” “Call her,” said Elisha. When she had been called, and stood at the door, Elisha promised, “This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.”
V/. In life he performed wonders.
R/. And after death he did marvelous deeds.Midday
Scripture Reading
2 Kgs 5:14
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became like the flesh of a little child again, and he was cleansed of his leprosy.
V/. Now I know that there is no God except in Israel.
R/. I will offer no holocaust except to the Lord.Afternoon
Scripture Reading
2 Kgs 4:32, 36–37
When Elisha reached the house he found the boy lying dead in his bed. He went in, closed the door on them both, and prayed to the Lord. He then summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” She came at his call, and Elisha said to her, “Take your son.” She came in and fell at his feet in gratitude; then she took her son and left the room.
V/. This is the man of God, the father of Israel.
R/. Israel’s chariot and driver.Prayer
O God,
protector and redeemer of mankind,
whose glories have been proclaimed
through the wonders accomplished by
your chosen prophets,
you have bestowed the spirit of Elijah
on your prophet Elisha;
in your kindness grant us too
an increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
so that, living as prophets,
we will bear constant witness
to your abiding presence and providence.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.Evening Prayer
Hymn
Gladly this joyful day of June
with fervent prayer we celebrate,
and Carmel’s height resounds with song,
to honor great Elisha’s name.Holy Elijah, known of old,
at God’s command anointed you
with holy chrism he granted you
his double spirit, prayer and deed.Soaring aloft in car of flame,
your father leaves his cloak behind;
parting the waves, with dry-shod feet
you tread the waves and gain the shore,Taught by the Lord, you prayed and lo!
the Shunammite conceived a child;
after it died, you summoned it,
O greatest prophet, back to earth.Praise be to God, the source of all,
and to His Son and Spirit too;
one act of homage we employ
our triune God to glorify.L.M.
Prima lux surgens Idibus peractis
Tr. Joachim Smet, O.Carm.Psalmody
Ant. 1 Elisha answered: The Lord lives, whom I serve.
Psalm 15
Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent *
and dwell on your holy mountain?He who walks without fault; *
he who acts with justice
and speaks the truth from his heart; *
he who does not slander with his tongue.He who does no wrong to his brother, *
who casts no slur on his neighbor,
who holds the godless in disdain, *
but honors those who fear the Lord;he who keeps his pledge, come what may; *
who takes no interest on a loan
and accepts no bribes against the innocent. *
Such a man will stand firm for ever.Ant. Elisha answered: The Lord lives, whom I serve.
Ant. 2 Elisha went with the sons of the prophets to build a place to live.
Psalm 112
Happy the man who fears the Lord, *
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth; *
the children of the upright are blessed.Riches and wealth are in his house; *
his justice stands firm for ever.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright: *
he is generous, merciful and just.The good man takes pity and lends, *
he conducts his affairs with honor.
The just man will never waver: *
he will be remembered for ever.He has no fear of evil news; *
with a firm heart he trusts in the Lord.
With a steadfast heart he will not fear; *
he will see the downfall of his foes.Open-handed, he gives to the poor; †
his justice stands firm for ever. *
His head will be raised in glory.The wicked man sees and is angry, †
grinds his teeth and fades away;
the desire of the wicked leads to doom.Ant. Elisha went with the sons of the prophets to build a place to live.
Ant. 3 The king said, Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.
Canticle: Rev 15:3–4
Great and wonderful are your deeds, *
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways, *
O King of the ages!Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? *
For you alone are holy.
All nations shall come and worship you, *
for your judgments have been revealed.Ant. The king said, Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.
Scripture Reading
2 Pet 1:19–21
Besides, we possess the prophetic message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star rises in your hearts. First you must understand this: there is no prophecy contained in Scripture which is a personal interpretation. Prophecy has never been put forward by man’s willing it. It is rather that men impelled by the Holy Spirit have spoken under God’s influence.
Short Responsory
R/. This is a man who loves his brethren, * and fervently prays for his people. Repeat R/.
V/. He gives his life for his brethren, * and fervently prays for his people. Glory… R/.Canticle of Mary
Ant. Today Elisha, Carmel’s mentor, proclaims the greatness of the Lord of hosts; through him the Lord casts down the mighty and raises up the lowly. Glory to you who have received your servant into the kingdom of peace.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, *
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant, *
and from this day all generations will call me blessed.The Almighty has done great things for me: *
holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,*
and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and has sent the rich away empty.He has come to the help of his servant Israel*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.Ant. Today Elisha, Carmel’s mentor, proclaims the greatness of the Lord of hosts; through him the Lord casts down the mighty and raises up the lowly. Glory to you who have received your servant into the kingdom of peace.
Intercessions
Let us acclaim our God who has wrought marvels through the word of his prophet, which is like a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear. Let us pray to him:
R/. Pour forth your prophetic spirit on the ministers of your word.
King of the universe, you have guided the leaders of the people through the prophet Elisha; — pour out your wisdom and valor on those who govern nations that they may promote peace and justice for all. R/.
Prototype of every community, you inspired Elisha to live among the brotherhood of prophets as one of them; — bestow on the family of Carmel a sense of unity and harmony with all your children. R/.
Lord of justice, you raised up Elisha to proclaim both your rights and those of your people; — strengthen in society that sense of righteousness which is a pledge of true peace. R/.
Jesus, the prophet Elisha was sent to help those who could not help themselves and so became a type of your own mission to your least brethren; — watch over those in every condition of life, assist widows and orphans, provide food for the hungry. R/.
Lord of the living and of the dead, through Elisha you restored a child to life; — show your great mercy to our brothers and sisters who have died. R/.
Our Father …
Prayer
O God,
protector and redeemer of mankind,
whose glories have been proclaimed
through the wonders accomplished by
your chosen prophets,
you have bestowed the spirit of Elijah
on your prophet Elisha;
in your kindness grant us too
an increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
so that, living as prophets,
we will bear constant witness
to your abiding presence and providence.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.*This unofficial text comes from the Memorial of St. Elisha approved for use by the Carmelite Order (O.Carm.). Discalced Carmelite Postulator General Marco Chiesa, o.c.d. has indicated that the Optional Memorial of the Prophet Elisha does not yet have approved texts for use by the Teresian Carmel, thus the above texts approved for use by the Ancient Observance (O.Carm.) may be used on an unofficial basis. We await the official English translation approved by the Holy See, which will be distributed by the Discalced Carmelite General Curia.
Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
The BibleWalks.com website offers virtual tours of all the locations in the Holy Land that are associated with the Prophets Elijah and Elisha. To view them, click here.
Featured image: Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire, Giuseppe Angeli (c. 1740/1755), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. (Public domain)
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June 7
BLESSED ANNE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW
VirginOptional Memorial
In the houses in Spain: MemorialPastoral note: In the year 2024, this Optional Memorial gives way to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Ana Garcia was born at Almendral, Castille, in 1549. In 1572 she made her profession as a Carmelite in the hands of St Teresa at Saint Joseph’s, Avila. The Saint later chose her as her companion and nurse, and she subsequently brought the Teresian spirit to France and Belgium, where she proved herself, like Teresa, a daughter of the Church in her great zeal for the salvation of souls. She died at Antwerp in 1626.
From the common of virgins
Office of Readings
Second Reading
From the Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
(Autog. MS monast. St. Teresa, Madrid)Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart
According to Saint Bernard, it is the person who keeps silent and says nothing when things go wrong who is really humble. It is very virtuous, he says, to keep silent when people are talking about our true faults, but more perfect when we are slighted or accused without having committed any fault or sin. And though it is virtuous indeed to bear this in silence, it is more perfect still to want to be despised and thought mad and good-for-nothing, and to go on, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, wholeheartedly loving those who despise us.
If Jesus kept silent, it was not because he hated anyone. He was simply saying to his eternal Father what he said on the cross: Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What infinite love burned in that sacred heart of yours, Lord Jesus! Without uttering a single word you spoke to us; without a word you worked the mysteries you came to accomplish—teaching virtue to the ignorant and blind. What our Lord did was no small thing. Where should we get patience and humility and poverty and the other virtues, and how could we carry each other’s burdens and cross, if Christ had not taught us all this first, and given himself as a living model of all perfection?
Blessed silence! In it, you cry out and preach to the whole world by your example. Volumes could be written about your silence, Lord! There is more wisdom to be learned from it by those who love you than from books or study.
Our Lord became a spring of Living water for us so that we should not die of thirst among all the miseries that surround us. How truly he said in the Gospel that he came to serve and not to be served! What tremendous goodness! Can we fail to be shamed by your words and deeds, and the patience you show with us every day? How truly, again Lord, did you say: Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart. Where can we obtain this patience and humbleness of heart? Is there any way to achieve it except by taking it from Christ as he taught it to us with those other virtues we need—faith, hope, and charity? Without faith, we cannot follow that royal road of the divine mysteries. It is faith that opens our eyes and makes us see the truth; and where faith is wanting there is no light and no way leading to goodness.
Responsory
Proverbs 3:5, 6
R/. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own intelligence; * and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).
R/. Wherever you go be mindful of him, * and he will make straight your paths (alleluia).Morning Prayer
Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Where humility is, there is wisdom; the wisdom of the humble will protect them from defeat (alleluia).Prayer
Father,
rewarder of the humble,
you blessed your servant Anne of Saint Bartholomew
with outstanding charity and patience.
May her prayers help us, and her example inspire us,
to carry our cross
and be faithful in loving you,
and others for your sake.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
Canticle of Mary
Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew
Ant. God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him (alleluia).
Frans de Wilde (Belgian, 1840–1918)
Oil on canvas, 1917
Private collectionCatholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
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May 29
BLESSED ELIA OF SAINT CLEMENT FRACASSO
VirginOptional Memorial
Blessed Elia of St. Clement was born in Bari, 17th January 1901, to deeply Christian parents. At her baptism, she was given the name Theodora, gift of God. In the brief course of her life on earth, she lived up to her name. On 8th April 1920 (then Feast of St. Albert, author of the Carmelite Rule), she entered the Carmel of St. Joseph in Bari. She received the habit on 24th November of the same year, the feast of St John of the Cross. On 8th December 1924, she wrote in her own blood her act of total and definitive offering to the Lord with the vow to embrace the “most perfect”. She died on Christmas day 1927. On 19th December 2005, Pope Benedict XVI signed the Decree of Beatification. She was proclaimed Blessed in Bari Cathedral on 18th March 2006.
From the Common of Virgins
Office of Readings
Second Reading
From the Writings of Blessed Elia of Saint Clement
(Ed. O.C.D. 2001: pp. 282, 295, 322)The desire to lose herself in God and her apostolic zeal
O sweet hiddenness, I love to pass my days in your shadow and to consume thus my existence, for love of my sweet Lord. At times, thinking of those eternal rewards, so great compared to the slight sacrifices of this life, my soul remains in wonder, and seized by an ardent longing, it throws itself on God, exclaiming: “Oh my good Jesus, I want to reach my goal, the gates of salvation, no matter what the cost. Do not deny me anything; give me suffering. May this be the most intimate martyrdom of my poor heart, hidden from every human glance: a rugged cross is what I ask of you. I want to pass my days here below hanging from this cross.”
When we suffer with Jesus, the suffering is delightful; I long to suffer with all my heart, beyond this I no longer want anything.
My Delight, who could ever separate me from You? Who could be capable of breaking these strong chains that keep my heart attached to yours? Perhaps the abandonment of creatures? It is precisely this that unites the soul to its Creator. Perhaps tribulations, suffering, crosses? It is in these thorns that the canticle of the soul that loves you is freest and lightest. Perhaps death? But this will be nothing other than the beginning of true happiness for the soul. Nothing, nothing can separate this soul from You, not even for a brief moment. It was created for You and is lost if it does not abandon itself to You.
My life is love: this sweet nectar surrounds me, this merciful love penetrates me, purifies me, renews me, and I feel it consuming me. The cry of my heart is: “Love of my God, my soul searches for You alone. My soul, suffer and be quiet; love and hope; offer yourself but hide your suffering behind a smile, and always move on. I want to spend my life in deep silence, in the depths of my heart, in order to listen to the gentle voice of my sweet Jesus.
“Souls, I will search for a way to cast you into the sea of Merciful Love: souls of sinners, but above all souls of priests and religious. To this end, my existence is slowly disappearing, consumed like the oil of a lamp that watches near the Tabernacle.”
I sense the vastness of my soul, its infinite greatness that the immensity of this world cannot contain: it was created to lose itself in You, my God, because you alone are great, infinite and thus You alone can make it completely happy.
RESPONSORY
R/. An unmarried woman, like a young girl, can devote herself to the Lord’s affairs. * Her aim is to be dedicated to him in body as in spirit (alleluia).
V/. God is the strength of her heart, he is hers forever: * Her aim is to be dedicated to him in body as in spirit (alleluia).Morning Prayer
Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. O Lord, how gentle is your love! Lost in your embrace I shall be blessed forever (alleluia).
Prayer
O Lord,
who were pleased to accept the self-offering
of Blessed Elia of Saint Clement, virgin;
grant through her intercession,
that, sustained by the Eucharist
we may be able faithfully to do your will.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you,
and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.Evening Prayer
Canticle of Mary
Ant. Your love, O Lord, is like a fire consuming me in the ardent furnace of your Heart (alleluia).
Blessed Elia of St. Clement (Teodora Fracasso, 1901-1927)Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
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#Bari #blessed #BlessedEliaOfStClement #ff0000 #GodAlone #infiniteBeing #Liturgy #LiturgyOfTheHours #love #loveAlone #loveForJesus #loveForTheLord #loveIsLoss #loveOfGod #loveWithoutLimits #martyrdom #mercifulLove #optionalMemorial #perfection #suffer #suffering #TeodoraFracasso #trueLove #virgin
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April 18
BLESSED MARY OF THE INCARNATION AVRILLOT
ReligiousOptional Memorial
In the houses in France: Memorial
Barbe Avrillot was born in Paris in 1566. At the age of sixteen, she married Pierre Acarie, by whom she had seven children. In spite of her household duties and many hardships, she attained the heights of the mystical life. Under the influence of St. Teresa’s writings, and after mystical contact with the Saint herself, she spared no effort in introducing the Discalced Carmelite nuns into France. After her husband’s death, she asked to be admitted among them as a lay sister, taking the name of Mary of the Incarnation; she was professed at the Carmel of Amiens in 1615. She was esteemed by some of the greatest men of her time, including St. Francis de Sales; and she was distinguished by her spirit of prayer and her zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith. She died at Pontoise on April 18th, 1618.
From the Common of Holy Women (Religious)
Office of Readings
Hymn
Proud Heresy, with fur’ous, flame-like glance,
Hath gazed exulting on the Western nations;
And fired, as by a torch, unhappy France
is prey to cruel wars and devastations.A noble woman, brave, of lion heart,
Now giveth rescue, home and faith defending,
With courage to repel the poison-dart,
And spurn the peril with a will unbending.The exile of her lord is bravely borne,
Her scattered heritage and ruined dwelling;
She nobly conquers insult, pride, and scorn,
With joyful heart to lowly deeds compelling.She faltereth not tho’ trial presseth sore,
Though cares abound, tho’ lamed in torture lying;
Nay, for her Lord’s sweet sake she craveth more,
To suffer all with Him her soul is sighing.And when misfortune giveth place to peace,
She resteth not, her zeal o’erpasseth measure;
To spread the faith her ardors never cease,
And gentle service is her life and pleasure.From Spain she seeketh help for her loved land,
For Carmel there, a noble vine hath flourished,
Transplanting thence a sacred virgin band,
By blest Theresa’s strength of spirit nourished.All honor to the Father and the Son!
Be equal glory to the Spirit given!
O great Divinity, Thou, Three in One,
May ages praise Thee with the songs of Heaven!10.11.10.11.
The Second Reading
From the Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila
(C. 1, no. 1ff.: ed. Kavanaugh-Rodriguez 1980, pp. 41-43, 50)The apostolic aim of the Teresian Carmel
When I began to take the first steps toward founding this monastery, it was not my intention that there be so much external austerity.
At that time news reached me of the harm being done in France and of the havoc the Lutherans had caused and how much this miserable sect was growing. The news distressed me greatly, and, as though I could do something or were something, I cried to the Lord and begged him that I might remedy so much evil. It seemed to me that I would have given a thousand lives to save one soul out of the many that were being lost there.
I realized I was a woman and wretched and incapable of doing any of the useful things I desired to do in the service of the Lord. All my longing was and still is that since he has so many enemies and so few friends that these few friends be good ones. As a result I resolved to do the little that was in my power; that is, to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could and strive that these few persons who live here do the same.
I did this trusting in the great goodness of God, who never fails to help anone who is determined to give up everything for him. My trust was that if these sisters matched the ideal my desires had set for them, my faults would not have much strength in the midst of so many virtues; and I could thereby please the Lord in some way. Since we would all be occupied in prayer for those who are the defenders of the Church and for preachers and for learned men who protect her from attack, we could help as much as possible this Lord of mine who is roughly treated by those for whom he has done so much good; it seems these traitors would want him to be crucified again and that he have no place to lay his head. Still, my heart breaks to see how many souls are lost. Though I can’t grieve so much over the evil already done—that is irreparable—I would not want to see more of them lost each day.
O my Sisters in Christ, help me beg these things of the Lord. This is why he has gathered you together here. This is your vocation. These must be the things you desire, the things you weep about; these must be the objects of your petitions. The world is all in flames, they want to sentence Christ again, so to speak, since they raise a thousand false witnesses against him; they want to ravage his Church.
So, then, I beg you for the love of the Lord to ask His Majesty to hear us in this matter. Miserable though I am, I ask His Majesty this, since it is for his glory and the good of the Church; this glory and good is the object of my desires.
Responsory
R/. Let petitions and prayers of thanksgiving be offered to God for everyone: * for it is His will that all should be saved and come to know the truth (alleluia).
V/. Prayer of this kind is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, * for it is His will that all should be saved and come to know the truth (alleluia).Morning Prayer
Hymn
Freed at length from marriage tie,
Winged with joy her soul doth fly
To the fortress of Teresa, led by Spirit’s call;
Choosing there the lowest place,
She, who with a mother’s grace
Well might rule and govern, now is subject unto all.O’er her sisters rising far,
As a bright and glorious star,
Guide of all who seek the path of life to God above,
She all honor doth despise,
And with great Teresa vies
In the tortures of her heart consumed with flames of love.Mount thee to the heavenly height,
In the grace of love and light,
Harken to thy suppliants then, who pleading cry to thee.
Cast a love-enkindled glance
On thine own, thy native France,
That all minds and hearts be one in faith and charity.Hasten all ye right of heart,
Sing ye loud with joyful art
Praise to our Redeemer Christ, and humbly Him adore;
Praise with all the heavenly host
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
One in Blessed Trinity of Persons ever more.77.76.D.
Canticle of Zechariah
Ant. Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, says the Lord, He will give you (alleluia).Prayer
Heavenly Father,
You gave Blessed Mary of the Incarnation
heroic strength in the face of the adversities
she met along life’s road,
and zeal for the extension of the Carmelite family.
May we your children
courageously endure every trial
and persevere to the end in Your love.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.Evening Prayer
Hymn
Let angels hymn sweet harmony unending,
Let Carmel gladly join her ardent prayer,
While temples echo with the songs ascending
Upon the joyful air.The glorious life of Mary now inspires
The chanting of her praises, fitly due;
She dwelleth high amid celestial choirs,
In bliss serene and true.Her mind reposed in God from earliest dawning;
Her ready heart was swift to prompting grace;
All empty pomp and sinful pleasures scorning,
She fled the world’s embrace.To dwell with Christ a virgin, was her choosing;
She fondly sought Him for her Lord and Spouse,
But wishes of her parents ne’er refusing,
‘Neath wedded yoke she bows.So hath God willed that this exalted matron
With brightest luster of her state might shine,
To them that wed a noble type and patron
Of virtues all divine.As wife and mother strong her love and tender,
Meek to obey her husband’s every call,
To children and to servants prompt to render,
A prudent care in all.All honor to the Father, Son, and Spirit,
O glorious Trinity enthroned above.
The blessed faith whose teachings we inherit,
Proclaims Thee One in love.11.10.11.6
Canticle of Mary
Ant. I have not labored for myself alone, but for all who seek wisdom (alleluia).Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.
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The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.
Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.
For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).
Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.
In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.
Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.
By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.
1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}
The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.
In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)
In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul Rubens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him. So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.
Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature rather than the Divine Creator.
The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.
Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.
Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves. The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.
James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.+
* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding articles
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution
++
Additional reading
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
- First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
- First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
- First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
- First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
- First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
- A promise given in the Garden of Eden
- Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
- No curtain placed over tomorrow
- Around pre-existence of Christ
- Satan the evil within
- Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
- Luther’s misunderstanding
- Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
- Redemption #2 Biblical solution
- When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
+++
Further reading of interest
- Images of God 1: Big and Close
- Genesis 3
- Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
- Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
- Did He Really Say That?
- What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
- There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
- When Everything Went to Smash
- What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
- Me-Centered More
- Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Where is your Garden of Eden?
- Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
- Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- The Existence Of The Snake
- Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
- Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
- Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
- Occasions of sin
- Watching Ourselves
- The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection
- Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
- Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
- Temptations
- I Have a Confession To Make…
- Hell
- Believing Is Not Seeing
- 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
- Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
- A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
- JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
- living in a messy world
- The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton
+++
Related articles
- No Glasses for Moses
- Our Father’s House
- The Atonement of God by J.D. Myers
- Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
- Faith or Fear
- Questioning God
- Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
- 10/3/16 OT
- VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
- Faith online
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The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.
Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.
For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).
Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.
In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.
Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.
By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.
1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}
The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.
In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)
In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul Rubens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him. So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.
Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature rather than the Divine Creator.
The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.
Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.
Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves. The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.
James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.+
* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding articles
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution
++
Additional reading
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
- First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
- First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
- First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
- First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
- First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
- A promise given in the Garden of Eden
- Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
- No curtain placed over tomorrow
- Around pre-existence of Christ
- Satan the evil within
- Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
- Luther’s misunderstanding
- Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
- Redemption #2 Biblical solution
- When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
+++
Further reading of interest
- Images of God 1: Big and Close
- Genesis 3
- Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
- Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
- Did He Really Say That?
- What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
- There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
- When Everything Went to Smash
- What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
- Me-Centered More
- Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Where is your Garden of Eden?
- Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
- Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- The Existence Of The Snake
- Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
- Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
- Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
- Occasions of sin
- Watching Ourselves
- The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection
- Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
- Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
- Temptations
- I Have a Confession To Make…
- Hell
- Believing Is Not Seeing
- 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
- Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
- A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
- JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
- living in a messy world
- The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton
+++
Related articles
- No Glasses for Moses
- Our Father’s House
- The Atonement of God by J.D. Myers
- Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
- Faith or Fear
- Questioning God
- Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
- 10/3/16 OT
- VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
- Faith online
Save
Save
Save
Rate this:
#1Adam #2Adam #ActionsToBeTaken #AdamAndEve #Adversary #AngerOfGod #ApostlePaul #BelieversInChrist #BookOfGenesis #BornOfAdam #CarnalCreature #CarnalMan #CauseOfBeing #ChildrenOfGod #Choice #Christ #ComingOutOfMan #CommandmentsOfGod #Conception #ConditionOfTheHeart #Curse #CurseOfDeath #CurseOfGod #Death #DescendantsOfAdamAndEve #DesireToControl #Devil #Disobedience #DispositionOfHeart #DivineCreator #DoingWrong #DominionOfMan #Downfall #Dust #Dying #Endurance #Enticement #EpistleToTheCorinthians #Evil #EvilDeeds #EvilThought #Faith #FallOfMan #FallenWoman #FrameOfMind #Garden #GardenOfEden #GardenOfGod #GiftOfGrace #GivingBirth #Good #HavingControl #HeartOfMan #HumanMind #Humankind #InnerThoughts #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfMan #Kingship #Knowledge #LettersToCorinthians #LettersToRomans #Maker #MakerGodAlmighty #MakingChoices #ManJesus #ManOfGod #Mankind #ManninOr1Woman #MessianicScriptures #Mind #MostHigh #Offence #OppositionAgainstGod #Orchard #OurAction #OwnChoice #Pregnancy #Prohibition #RabbiJeshua #ReactionFromGod #RebellionAgainstGod #Relationship #RepentingOfWrongDoing #RightPath #RightsOfGod #RoyalGarden #Ruling #RulingOverSomeone #Satan #SentFromGod #SentOneFromGod #Serpent #Sin #SinfulRace #Sinner #Sinning #Solution #Sorrow #SpellOfGod #Steadfastness #Struggle #StruggleForLife #Suffering #TakingAction #Temptation #Tempter #Thought #ThoughtsOfMan #toBeWise #toTakeAction #toWork #Transgression #TreeOfKnowledge #TreeOfKnowledgeOfGoodAndEvil #Uncleanness #Universe #WantingToBeLikeGod #Weakness #Wickedness #WillOfGod #WishOfGod #WorksOfFaith #WrathOnMankink #Wrong #WrongDoing #WrongPath
-
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.
Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.
For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).
Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.
In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.
Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.
By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.
1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}
The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.
In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)
In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul Rubens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him. So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.
Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature rather than the Divine Creator.
The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.
Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.
Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves. The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.
James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.+
* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding articles
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution
++
Additional reading
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
- First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
- First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
- First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
- First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
- First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
- A promise given in the Garden of Eden
- Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
- No curtain placed over tomorrow
- Around pre-existence of Christ
- Satan the evil within
- Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
- Luther’s misunderstanding
- Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
- Redemption #2 Biblical solution
- When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
+++
Further reading of interest
- Images of God 1: Big and Close
- Genesis 3
- Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
- Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
- Did He Really Say That?
- What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
- There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
- When Everything Went to Smash
- What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
- Me-Centered More
- Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Where is your Garden of Eden?
- Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
- Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- The Existence Of The Snake
- Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
- Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
- Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
- Occasions of sin
- Watching Ourselves
- The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection
- Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
- Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
- Temptations
- I Have a Confession To Make…
- Hell
- Believing Is Not Seeing
- 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
- Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
- A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
- JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
- living in a messy world
- The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton
+++
Related articles
- No Glasses for Moses
- Our Father’s House
- The Atonement of God by J.D. Myers
- Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
- Faith or Fear
- Questioning God
- Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
- 10/3/16 OT
- VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
- Faith online
Save
Save
Save
Rate this:
#1Adam #2Adam #ActionsToBeTaken #AdamAndEve #Adversary #AngerOfGod #ApostlePaul #BelieversInChrist #BookOfGenesis #BornOfAdam #CarnalCreature #CarnalMan #CauseOfBeing #ChildrenOfGod #Choice #Christ #ComingOutOfMan #CommandmentsOfGod #Conception #ConditionOfTheHeart #Curse #CurseOfDeath #CurseOfGod #Death #DescendantsOfAdamAndEve #DesireToControl #Devil #Disobedience #DispositionOfHeart #DivineCreator #DoingWrong #DominionOfMan #Downfall #Dust #Dying #Endurance #Enticement #EpistleToTheCorinthians #Evil #EvilDeeds #EvilThought #Faith #FallOfMan #FallenWoman #FrameOfMind #Garden #GardenOfEden #GardenOfGod #GiftOfGrace #GivingBirth #Good #HavingControl #HeartOfMan #HumanMind #Humankind #InnerThoughts #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfMan #Kingship #Knowledge #LettersToCorinthians #LettersToRomans #Maker #MakerGodAlmighty #MakingChoices #ManJesus #ManOfGod #Mankind #ManninOr1Woman #MessianicScriptures #Mind #MostHigh #Offence #OppositionAgainstGod #Orchard #OurAction #OwnChoice #Pregnancy #Prohibition #RabbiJeshua #ReactionFromGod #RebellionAgainstGod #Relationship #RepentingOfWrongDoing #RightPath #RightsOfGod #RoyalGarden #Ruling #RulingOverSomeone #Satan #SentFromGod #SentOneFromGod #Serpent #Sin #SinfulRace #Sinner #Sinning #Solution #Sorrow #SpellOfGod #Steadfastness #Struggle #StruggleForLife #Suffering #TakingAction #Temptation #Tempter #Thought #ThoughtsOfMan #toBeWise #toTakeAction #toWork #Transgression #TreeOfKnowledge #TreeOfKnowledgeOfGoodAndEvil #Uncleanness #Universe #WantingToBeLikeGod #Weakness #Wickedness #WillOfGod #WishOfGod #WorksOfFaith #WrathOnMankink #Wrong #WrongDoing #WrongPath
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The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.
Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.
For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).
Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.
In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.
Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.
By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.
1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}
The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.
In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)
In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul Rubens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him. So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.
Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature rather than the Divine Creator.
The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.
Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.
Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves. The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.
James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.+
* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding articles
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution
++
Additional reading
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
- First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
- First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
- First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
- First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
- First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
- A promise given in the Garden of Eden
- Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
- No curtain placed over tomorrow
- Around pre-existence of Christ
- Satan the evil within
- Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
- Luther’s misunderstanding
- Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
- Redemption #2 Biblical solution
- When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
+++
Further reading of interest
- Images of God 1: Big and Close
- Genesis 3
- Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
- Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
- Did He Really Say That?
- What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
- There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
- When Everything Went to Smash
- What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
- Me-Centered More
- Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Where is your Garden of Eden?
- Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
- Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- The Existence Of The Snake
- Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
- Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
- Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
- Occasions of sin
- Watching Ourselves
- The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection
- Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
- Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
- Temptations
- I Have a Confession To Make…
- Hell
- Believing Is Not Seeing
- 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
- Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
- A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
- JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
- living in a messy world
- The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton
+++
Related articles
- No Glasses for Moses
- Our Father’s House
- The Atonement of God by J.D. Myers
- Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
- Faith or Fear
- Questioning God
- Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
- 10/3/16 OT
- VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
- Faith online
Save
Save
Save
Rate this:
#1Adam #2Adam #ActionsToBeTaken #AdamAndEve #Adversary #AngerOfGod #ApostlePaul #BelieversInChrist #BookOfGenesis #BornOfAdam #CarnalCreature #CarnalMan #CauseOfBeing #ChildrenOfGod #Choice #Christ #ComingOutOfMan #CommandmentsOfGod #Conception #ConditionOfTheHeart #Curse #CurseOfDeath #CurseOfGod #Death #DescendantsOfAdamAndEve #DesireToControl #Devil #Disobedience #DispositionOfHeart #DivineCreator #DoingWrong #DominionOfMan #Downfall #Dust #Dying #Endurance #Enticement #EpistleToTheCorinthians #Evil #EvilDeeds #EvilThought #Faith #FallOfMan #FallenWoman #FrameOfMind #Garden #GardenOfEden #GardenOfGod #GiftOfGrace #GivingBirth #Good #HavingControl #HeartOfMan #HumanMind #Humankind #InnerThoughts #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfMan #Kingship #Knowledge #LettersToCorinthians #LettersToRomans #Maker #MakerGodAlmighty #MakingChoices #ManJesus #ManOfGod #Mankind #ManninOr1Woman #MessianicScriptures #Mind #MostHigh #Offence #OppositionAgainstGod #Orchard #OurAction #OwnChoice #Pregnancy #Prohibition #RabbiJeshua #ReactionFromGod #RebellionAgainstGod #Relationship #RepentingOfWrongDoing #RightPath #RightsOfGod #RoyalGarden #Ruling #RulingOverSomeone #Satan #SentFromGod #SentOneFromGod #Serpent #Sin #SinfulRace #Sinner #Sinning #Solution #Sorrow #SpellOfGod #Steadfastness #Struggle #StruggleForLife #Suffering #TakingAction #Temptation #Tempter #Thought #ThoughtsOfMan #toBeWise #toTakeAction #toWork #Transgression #TreeOfKnowledge #TreeOfKnowledgeOfGoodAndEvil #Uncleanness #Universe #WantingToBeLikeGod #Weakness #Wickedness #WillOfGod #WishOfGod #WorksOfFaith #WrathOnMankink #Wrong #WrongDoing #WrongPath
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The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.
Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.
For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).
Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.
In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.
Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.
By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.
1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}
The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.
In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)
In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul Rubens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him. So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.
Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature rather than the Divine Creator.
The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.
Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.
Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves. The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.
James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.+
* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding articles
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution
++
Additional reading
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
- First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
- First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
- First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
- First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
- First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
- A promise given in the Garden of Eden
- Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
- No curtain placed over tomorrow
- Around pre-existence of Christ
- Satan the evil within
- Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
- Luther’s misunderstanding
- Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
- Redemption #2 Biblical solution
- When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
+++
Further reading of interest
- Images of God 1: Big and Close
- Genesis 3
- Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
- Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
- Did He Really Say That?
- What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
- There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
- When Everything Went to Smash
- What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
- Me-Centered More
- Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Where is your Garden of Eden?
- Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
- Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- The Existence Of The Snake
- Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
- Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
- Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
- Occasions of sin
- Watching Ourselves
- The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection
- Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
- Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
- Temptations
- I Have a Confession To Make…
- Hell
- Believing Is Not Seeing
- 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
- Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
- A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
- JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
- living in a messy world
- The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton
+++
Related articles
- No Glasses for Moses
- Our Father’s House
- The Atonement of God by J.D. Myers
- Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
- Faith or Fear
- Questioning God
- Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
- 10/3/16 OT
- VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
- Faith online
Save
Save
Save
Rate this:
#1Adam #2Adam #ActionsToBeTaken #AdamAndEve #Adversary #AngerOfGod #ApostlePaul #BelieversInChrist #BookOfGenesis #BornOfAdam #CarnalCreature #CarnalMan #CauseOfBeing #ChildrenOfGod #Choice #Christ #ComingOutOfMan #CommandmentsOfGod #Conception #ConditionOfTheHeart #Curse #CurseOfDeath #CurseOfGod #Death #DescendantsOfAdamAndEve #DesireToControl #Devil #Disobedience #DispositionOfHeart #DivineCreator #DoingWrong #DominionOfMan #Downfall #Dust #Dying #Endurance #Enticement #EpistleToTheCorinthians #Evil #EvilDeeds #EvilThought #Faith #FallOfMan #FallenWoman #FrameOfMind #Garden #GardenOfEden #GardenOfGod #GiftOfGrace #GivingBirth #Good #HavingControl #HeartOfMan #HumanMind #Humankind #InnerThoughts #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfMan #Kingship #Knowledge #LettersToCorinthians #LettersToRomans #Maker #MakerGodAlmighty #MakingChoices #ManJesus #ManOfGod #Mankind #ManninOr1Woman #MessianicScriptures #Mind #MostHigh #Offence #OppositionAgainstGod #Orchard #OurAction #OwnChoice #Pregnancy #Prohibition #RabbiJeshua #ReactionFromGod #RebellionAgainstGod #Relationship #RepentingOfWrongDoing #RightPath #RightsOfGod #RoyalGarden #Ruling #RulingOverSomeone #Satan #SentFromGod #SentOneFromGod #Serpent #Sin #SinfulRace #Sinner #Sinning #Solution #Sorrow #SpellOfGod #Steadfastness #Struggle #StruggleForLife #Suffering #TakingAction #Temptation #Tempter #Thought #ThoughtsOfMan #toBeWise #toTakeAction #toWork #Transgression #TreeOfKnowledge #TreeOfKnowledgeOfGoodAndEvil #Uncleanness #Universe #WantingToBeLikeGod #Weakness #Wickedness #WillOfGod #WishOfGod #WorksOfFaith #WrathOnMankink #Wrong #WrongDoing #WrongPath
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📢 Join our research team at #RPTU Landau to develop cutting-edge methods to study water-soluble polymers in #soil. 🌱
Master's degree in environmental science/chemistry required, programming experience (#rstats or #python) and analytical skills desired. Fluent in German and English.
Apply now 👉 https://jobs.uni-kl.de/jobposting/1477dedcd5bdda01139a3a9c6275a552b6cdf1190
#jobopening #plasticpollution #microplastics #environmentalchemistry #datascience @plasticpollution @Plastiverse @openspecy
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#FDP wie House of Cards, nur mit Power-Point #DDay #Koalitionsbruch
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Super excited to announce that our #F1000 collection on #plasticpollution in #terrestrial systems is now open for submissions:
👉 https://f1000research.com/collections/plasticterrestrialsystems/about-this-collection
Great team effort with @Microplastic_monica, @wincowger, @jasonhdavison, and Grace Pooley Deans 🙏
#microplastics #soil #openaccess #openscience #opendata @plasticpollution @Plastiverse @openspecy
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Hier der zweite Teil des Videos aus #Riesa #rie1101 #Polizeigewalt
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Hier nochmal Impressionen aus #Riesa Gerne teilen, denn die Aktivist*innen haben jede Reichweite verdient! ❤️ #rie1101 #Polizeigewalt
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Wenn der Faschismus wiederkommt, wird er nicht sagen „Ich bin der Faschismus!“ er wird sagen „Ich hab das nicht ertragen, deshalb habe ich weggesehen!“ #Grütters
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Es gibt sie noch, die guten Nachrichten #Mutterschutz
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Da heute #Zeugnistag ist, hier für Euch noch mal meine Grundschulzeugnisse.
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Da heute #Zeugnistag ist, hier für Euch noch mal meine Grundschulzeugnisse.