Ortus Christi Part 1

Ortus Christi.

by Mother St. Paul.

PREFACE.

Reading these Meditations we discover with surprise how much spiritual food is obtainable from a study of the lessons and liturgy of Advent.

Mother St. Paul is always a heart-searcher. She presses self-reform upon souls, who to the eye of outward observers and perhaps in their own conceit, have little or nothing to amend. We must always be following Christ, and Christ is ever moving forward. Deliberately to stand still is to widen the distance between ourselves and Him, an ungenerous, not to say a dangerous thing to do. What are called here Meditations may well be taken for daily spiritual reading in preparation for Christmas.

Advent after all is a season of joy, and these Meditations must be taken in a joyful spirit. Courage and enthusiasm in the cause of Christ is the supreme need of all Catholics who really _love His coming_. (2 Tim. IV.

8)

JOSEPH RICKABY, S. J.

St. Beuno's College.

NOTE.

Although there are twenty-eight Meditations given in this book they will not all be needed every year, for the length of Advent varies between twenty-two and twenty-eight days. The Third Sunday of Advent _may_ fall as late as December 17th (the first day of the "Great O's") and the Fourth Sunday of Advent be Christmas Eve. The plan suggested, which will suit all years, is to use No. 1 on Advent Sunday and the rest according to choice till December 17th; from then to December 24th Nos. 21-28 should be used.

PRAYERS.

Deus, qui de beatae Mariae Virginis utero, Verb.u.m Tuum, Angelo nuntiante, carnem suscipere voluisti: praesta supplicibus Tuis ut qui vere eam Genitricem Dei credimus, ejus apud Te intercessionibus adjuvemur.

O G.o.d Who didst please that Thy Word should take flesh, at the message of an Angel, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant to Thy suppliants that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of G.o.d, may be helped by her intercession.

(Collect for the Annunciation, said at Ma.s.s every day during Advent.)

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosae Virginis Matris Mariae corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu sancto cooperante, praeparasti: da, ut cujus commemoratione laetamur, ejus pia intercessione, ab instantibus malis, et a morte perpetua liberemur.

Almighty, everlasting G.o.d, Who by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother Mary to become a habitation meet for Thy Son; grant that as we rejoice in her commemoration, we may, by her loving intercession, be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death.

(Collect said at Office after the _Salve Regina_.)

Conscientias nostras, quaesumus Domine, visitando purifica, ut veniens JESUS Christus Filius Tuus Dominus noster c.u.m omnibus Sanctis, paratam Sibi in n.o.bis inveniat mansionem.

Purify our consciences, we beseech Thee O Lord, by Thy visitation, that when Thy Son JESUS Christ our Lord shall come with all His Saints, He may find a mansion prepared in us for Himself.

(Little Office B. V. M. Vespers for Advent.)

PRAYER OF VEN. FATHER OLIER.

O JESUS, vivens in Maria, Veni et vive in famulis Tuis, In spiritu sanct.i.tatis Tuae, In plenitudine virtutis Tuae, In veritate virtutum Tuarum, In perfectione viarum Tuarum, In communione mysteriorum Tuorum; Dominare omni adversae potestati, In Spiritu Tuo, ad gloriam Patris.

Amen.

O JESUS, living in Mary, Come and live in Thy servants, In the spirit of Thy sanct.i.ty, In the fulness of Thy strength, In the reality of Thy virtues, In the perfection of Thy ways, In the communion of Thy mysteries.

Dominate over every opposing power, In Thine own Spirit, to the glory of the Father.

Amen.

(300 days, once a day, Pius IX, Oct. 14 1859.)

Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro n.o.bis.

Mater Christi, ora pro n.o.bis.

Vas spirituale, ora pro n.o.bis.

Vas honorabile, ora pro n.o.bis.

Vas insigne devotionis, ora pro n.o.bis.

Turris Davidica, ora pro n.o.bis.

Turris eburnea, ora pro n.o.bis.

Domus aurea, ora pro n.o.bis.

Foederis arca, ora pro n.o.bis.

Janua coeli, ora pro n.o.bis.

ORTUS CHRISTI.

=Advent Sunday.=

"=Arise=, be enlightened, ... for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is =risen= upon thee.... The Lord shall =arise= upon thee ... the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy =rising=" (ortus).

(Is. LX. 1-3).

_1st Prelude._ A picture of the first streaks of dawn.

_2nd Prelude._ Grace to arise because the Light has come.

POINT I. THE RISING OF CHRIST.

The Church begins her new liturgical year with the words: "_Ad Te levavi animam meam_"--To Thee have I lifted up my soul ("Introit" for to-day)--as though she were straining her eyes to try to see something on the horizon. She cannot see anything very definite yet, but she is full of hope. _Deus meus, in Te confido, non erubescam_--My G.o.d I trust in Thee, let me not be ashamed, do not let me lift up my eyes in vain, she cries; and she keeps on looking. This will be her att.i.tude all through the season of Advent, an att.i.tude of expectancy, of waiting, of hope, of trust, of prayer. We know for what she is waiting--the _Ortus Christi_--the Rising of Christ. "The Lord shall arise upon thee" is the promise. "To Thee have I lifted up my soul" is her response. What is in her mind when she sees those first streaks of light? They are to her an earnest of what is coming, an earnest of the Advent of her Lord. St.

Bernard says that His Advent is threefold, that He comes in three different ways: (1) In the flesh and in weakness, (2) in the spirit and in power, (3) in glory and in majesty.