Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Saturday, August 20, 2022
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082022.cfm
Alleluia, alleluia.
You have but one Father in heaven;
you have but one master, the Christ.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we come to our final reading from Ezekiel for this liturgical year. I think he is a challenging prophet to read with visions, images, and language that sometimes shock and astound.
But when we consider his circumstances of exile and captivity, we see more clearly how his own angst and suffering – as well as his people’s – spawned his compelling prophecies.
Ezekiel takes the Israelites through a curriculum common to many of the biblical prophets.
- You people have been sinful so you’re in trouble.
- Your persecutors and conquerors are also rotten sinners.
- God is going to fix all of you one way or another.
- Repent and your hope for restoration will be realized.
These themes are common to our lives too especially when we’re in spiritual discomfort like Ezekiel was.
- We examine ourselves for what’s out of kilter.
- We fixate on all the people and circumstances around us that are troubling us.
- We finally acknowledge our responsibility for our situation and accept what we can and cannot change.
- We reimagine a possible future and reclaim our hope
As with Ezekiel and his community, all this self-renewal happens only when we perceive, acknowledge and engage God’s loving will for us. Without that, we continue to live in spiritual exile from our true home in God.
Our Alleluia Verse and Gospel invite us to be fully at home in the Trinity just as they are at home in One Another.
Alleluia, alleluia.
You have but one Father in heaven;
you have but one master, the Christ.
Prayer of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Make my soul…
Your cherished dwelling place,
Your home of rest.
Let me never leave You there alone,
but keep me there
absorbed in You,
in living faith,
adoring You.
Music: Jesu Dulcis Memoria – written by St. Bernard of Clairvaux whose feast we celebrate today.
| Jesu, dulcis memoria, dans vera cordis gaudia, sed super mel et omnia, eius dulcis praesentia. | JESU, the very thought of Thee, with sweetness fills my breast, but sweeter far Thy face to see, and in Thy presence rest. |
| Nil canitur suavius, nil auditur iucundius, nil cogitatur dulcius, quam Iesus Dei Filius. | Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, nor can the memory find a sweeter sound than Thy blest Name, o Savior of mankind!. |
| Iesu, spes paenitentibus, quam pius es petentibus! quam bonus te quaerentibus! sed quid invenientibus? | O hope of every contrite heart o joy of all the meek, to those who fall, how kind Thou art! how good to those who seek! |
| Nec lingua valet dicere, nec littera exprimere: expertus potest credere, quid sit Iesum diligere. | But what to those who find? Ah this nor tongue nor pen can show: the love of Jesus, what it is none but His loved ones know. |
| Sis, Iesu, nostrum gaudium, qui es futurus praemium: sit nostra in te gloria, per cuncta semper saecula. Amen. | Jesu, our only joy be Thou, As Thou our prize wilt be: Jesu, be Thou our glory now, And through eternity. Amen. |
Lavish Mercy 