Thursday, February 11, 2010

Happy Feast day!

(Click for full size.)
"Rejoice, O Father Adam. And do thou, O Mother Eve, exult the more! For although ye both were the parents of all, and the ruin of all, (and what is sadder still, did cause your children's ruin before ye gave them birth,) yet ye may take comfort in your Daughter! Yea, who had ever such a daughter! And most of all mayest thou, O Eve, (from whom the evil came, whose shame hath been handed down to all women,) take comfort in her. But the time is now at hand when that reproach shall be taken away, nor will man have that pretext against woman any more. For man in his haste tried to excuse himself, and hesitated not to accuse woman cruelly, saying : The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave of the tree, and I did eat. Wherefore, O Eve, run to Mary! O mother, hasten to thy Daughter! Let the Daughter answer for the mother. And let her take away the reproach from her mother. And let her make amends to the father for the mother. For as man fell through a woman, so it is through a Woman that he is raised up again.

What didst thou say, O Adam? The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. These are spiteful words, more likely to increase than to obliterate thy fault. But Wisdom conquered malice. For she found in the treasury of her unfailing tenderness an opportunity of pardon which God, by his question, had sought to obtain from thee and could not. A Woman is given for a woman, a wise woman for a foolish, an humble for a proud. She holdeth out to thee, not the fruit of death, but the food of life. And instead of bitter poison she giveth thee the sweetness of an eternal fruit. Change then the words of thy wicked excuse into thanksgiving, and say : The Woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the Tree of Life, and I did eat ; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness ; and by the same thou dost quicken me. And to this end it was that the Angel was sent to the Virgin. O wonderful Virgin, most worthy of all honour! O Woman supremely venerable, and admirable above all women! thou hast repaired the sin of thy forefathers, and given life to their posterity!

What else was it that God foretold when he said to the serpent : I will put enmity between thee and the Woman? And if thou still doubtest that he spake of Mary, hear what followeth : She shall bruise thy head. To whom is this victory reserved, if not to Mary? For undoubtedly she crushed that venomous head when she brought to nothing all the suggestions of the evil one, both as regards the lure of the flesh and the pride of the mind. What other woman had Solomon in mind when he said : Who can find a virtuous woman? For the wise man knew that this sex was weak, of body frail, of mind inconstant. But as he had read of God's promise, and saw how fit it was that this evil one, who had conquered by means of a woman, should in his turn, be overcome by a Woman, he said with great wonder : Who shall find a valiant woman? Which is to say : Since the salvation of us all, and the restoration of innocence and victory over the enemy, depend on a woman, valiant indeed must she be to perform so great a work."


-Homily of St.Bernard.

"Thou, O Virgin Mary, art the beuteous dawn of salvation, whence came the Sun of Righteousness, who hath visited us with healing in his wings, even the day-spring from on high."

-Antiphon for the Benedictus, Praeclara salutis aurora.

I've scanned the pages of the office of the day I wrote down.Hopefully I can upload them later. There's still a lot of snow, and the total (minus the snow we already got) is 19 inches. I got an e-mail, and the mass is still on.God willing, all the servers will show.

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