Fr. Faber on Aridity in Prayer

Frederick Faber, the great hymn writer of Faith of Our Fathers fame, wrote on many topics.  Earlier today, I ran across some verses he wrote on aridity in prayer.  Aridity is the demon that is always lurking for those of us who attempt to keep some regular discipline of the Divine Office and/or mental prayer.  There are the days when prayer is easy and full of consolation and then there are those when dry words stick to the roofs of our mouths and mental prayer seems to be no more than an echo chamber of our jumbled thoughts.

Faber was neither a systematic nor an ascetic theologian.  He wrote practical advice for those living in the world, often in the forms of hymns that served as catechesis on various aspects of the Christian life.  He once said, “Faith is letting down our nets into the transparent deeps at the Divine command, not knowing what we shall take.”  His advice on aridity in prayer is very much in the same spirit, seeing what seems to us to be fruitless as an opportunity for grace.

O for the happy days gone by,

When love ran smooth and free,

Days when my spirit so enjoyed

More than earth's liberty!

Then, when I knelt to meditate,

Sweet thoughts came o'er my soul,

Countless and bright and beautiful,

Beyond my own control.

What can have locked those fountains up ?

Those visions what hath stayed?

What sudden act hath thus transformed

My sunshine into shade?

This freezing heart, O Lord! this will,

Dry as the desert sand,

Good thoughts that will not come, bad thoughts

That come without command,—

But if this weariness hath come

A present from on high,

Teach me to find the hidden wealth

That in its depths may lie.

Thrice blessed be this darkness then,

This deep in which I lie,

And blessed be all things that teach

God's dear supremacy!

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

High Altar, St. Mary's Ridge, WI.

O Mystery of Holy Church!
To Christ we sing our hymn of praise,
The Word, the Father’s only Son,
Of woman born in earthly days.

Alone among all women born
God saw thee fit to bear His Son,
Worthy to carry in thy womb
The Lord of all, the Holy One.

Come forth, sweet daughter of thy race,
O little branch, thy beauty show;
A noble blossom shalt thou bear,
Christ, God above and man below.

Lo, as the years of time go by,
We keep the day that marks thy birth,
When, sprung from an illustrious stem,
Thou first didst shine upon the earth.

Earthbound, but now and thanks to thee
Freemen of heaven too, we’re brought
Into a noble peace with God
By means out-reaching human thought.

O Lord, to Thee be glory given,
Whom once the Virgin Mother
bore; * To Father with the Holy Ghost
Be glory now and evermore. Amen.

Mysterium ecclesiae (O Mystery of Holy Church)
Hymn of Vigils for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Tapestry from Strausbourg, circa 1500, The Cloisters, New York.

From a Sermon by St. Peter Damian:

Beloved, the birthday of the pure and most blessed Mother of God brings us a special and indeed unparalleled joy, for the good reason that her birth marked the beginning of all human salvation.

In a way impossible to express, almighty God knew, even before human beings were created, that they would perish through the machinations of the devil, but, again before the ages began, his infinite love also formed a plan for their redemption. Not only did he decide, as part of this infinitely wise plan, the manner and order of redemption; he also determined beforehand the moment in time when he would carry out his plan.

Accordingly, just as the Son of God had to be born of the Virgin if the human race was to be redeemed, so also it was necessary for the Virgin to be born through whom the Word was to become flesh. The bridal chamber had first to be constructed that would receive the bridegroom as he came for his marriage with holy Church, the bridegroom for whom David with spiritual joy sang the wedding song that described the Lord as a bridegroom coming from his wedding chamber.

Rightly, then, is the whole earth filled with joyous exultation today; rightly does the entire holy Church sing songs ofpraise at the birth of the Mother of her Spouse. Let us therefore rejoice, beloved, on this day on which we pay homage to the birth of the blessed Virgin and celebrate the beginning of all the feasts of the New Covenant. If Solomon and the Israelites celebrated with great solemnity such a rich and magnificent sacrifice for the dedication of a temple made of stone, how great and intense should be the joy of the Christian people at the birth of the Virgin Mary, into whose womb, as into the holiest of temples, God himself deigned to descend, there to take human nature from her and dwell visibly with human beings! For while we must believe that God indeed descended into Solomon's temple, in a far more wonderful and fruitful way did he deign to abide for our sake in this spiritual sanctuary, that is, the womb of the blessed Virgin, in which the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Altar of St. Anne, Clermont Cathedral.

TODAY is born the Blessed Virgin Mary of the lineage of David: * By whom the salvation of the world has appeared to them that believe: whose glorious life has given light unto the world.

V. Let us joyfully celebrate teh Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

* By whom the salvation of the world has appeared to them that believe: whose glorious life has given light unto the world.

V. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

* By whom the salvation of the world has appeared to them that believe: whose glorious life has given light unto the world.

-Responsory for the first nocturn of Vigils for the Nativity of the BVM

Gregory the Great: Doctor of the Church and Apostle of the English

Apostle of the English, thou
Art comrade of the Angels now:
O help the faithful, Gregory,
Who heardest then the people’s cry.

Abundant wealth was naught to thee
Who, seeking princely penury,
Did spurn the glory of the earth
To follow Jesus in His dearth.

Like some poor needy shipwrecked soul,
His messenger besought a dole;
Twin gift did thou give; nothing loth,
To offer self and silver both.

First in his Church from that time forth
Christ set thee in thy proven worth;
So did thou rise to Peter’s throne,
Whose life was pattern for thine own.

O Priest and Leader of the flock,
The Church’s glory, light, and rock,
Instructed by thy wise command,
Let not the sheep in peril stand.

Praise to the unbegotten One,
And glory to His only Son;
And thine, O Spirit, Breath of God,
Be equal majesty and laud.
Amen.

Anglorum jam Apostolus (Apostle of the English)
Hymn of Vigils for St. Gregory the Great
Composed by St. Peter Damian

The Feast of St. Bartholomew

The Tomb of St. Bartholomew, San Bartolomeo all'Isola, Rome.

 And Philip found Nathanael, and told him, We have discovered who it was Moses wrote of in his law, and the prophets too; it is Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth. When Nathanael asked him, Can anything that is good come from Nazareth? Philip said, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and said of him, Here comes one who belongs to the true Israel; there is no falsehood in him. How do you know me? Nathanael asked; and Jesus answered him, I saw you when you were under the fig-tree, before Philip called you. Then Nathanael answered him, You, Master, are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. Jesus answered, What, believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig-tree? You shall see greater things than that. And he said to him Believe me when I tell you this; you will see heaven opening, and the angels of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man. John 1:45-51

The eternal gifts of Christ the King,
The apostles’ glory, let us sing,
Ad all, with hearts of gladness, raise
Due hymns of thankful love and praise.

For they the Church’s princes are,
Triumphant leaders in the war,
In heavenly courts a warrior band,
True lights to lighten every land.

Theirs is the steadfast faith of saints,
And hope that never yields nor faints;
And love of Christ in perfect glow
That lays the prince of this world low.

In them the Father’s glory shone,
In them the will of God the Son,
In them exults the Holy Ghost,
Through them rejoice the heavenly host.

To thee, Redeemer, now we cry,
That thou wouldst join to them on high
Thy servants, who this grace implore,
For ever and for evermore. Amen.

Aeterna Christi Munera (The Eternal gifts of Christ the King)
Hymn for Vigils of an Apostle

The Feast of the Assumption

Our Lady as Queen of Heaven, Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome.

Christ * ascended to the highest heaven, * where He prepared for His most pure Mother an incorruptible dwelling. * Today’s feast is incomparably greater than the feasts of all other saints. * The angelic choirs of heaven’s courts look on in amazement * as Mary, filled with bliss and glory, * enters heaven for the celebration of the divine espousals. * From heaven may Mary, in her love and goodness, * think evermore of us, who think of her.

-Antiphon for I Vespers of the Assumption from the Cistercian Breviary.

 

Assumption banner, St. Michael's, Ghent.

O with what glorious luster thou shinest,
Daughter of royalty, David’s descendant!
Throned in majesty, Mary the Virgin,
Now midst the blessed one, sitting exalted.

Joining with motherhood virginal honour,
Holy and spotless ,one, chastely thou gavest
Shrine for the heaven-sent Lord of the Angels;
Thus in humanity God was incarnate:

Whom the whole universe lowly adoreth,
Bending the knee to him meetly in homage:
On this thy holy day pray him to grant us
Light and felicity, darkness dispelling.

This of thy clemency, Father of glory,
Grant through thy Son, who, with thee and the Spirit,
In the bright firmament liveth and reigneth,
Evermore ruling and ordering all things. Amen.

O quam glorifica (Maid, who mantled in the sun)
Hymn of Vespers for the Assumption

Assumption image on the high altar in Argeles-sur-Mer.

Our Lady on Saturday: She Who Is Exalted Above the Stars

19th century window in Clermont Cathedral's Chapel of the Apocalypse.

O glorious Maid, exalted far
Beyond the light of burning star,
From him who made thee thou hast won
Grace to be Mother of his Son.


That which was lost in hapless Eve
Thy holy Scion did retrieve;
The tear-worn sons of Adam’s race
Through thee have seen the heavenly place.


Thou wast the gate of heaven’s high Lord,
The door through which the light hath poured.
Christians rejoice, for through a Maid
To all mankind is life conveyed!


All honor, laud and glory be,
O Jesus, Virgin-born to thee!
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete. Amen.


-Hymn of Lauds from the Common of the BVM

19th century image of Our Lady in the Chapel of the Apocalypse.

Three Hymns for the Feast of Ss. Joachim and Anne

 St. Anne with St. Mary as a girl, St. Mary's Church, Altus, AR.

In the Cistercian Calendar, as is often the case with anything touching the BVM, today carries a higher rank than it does in the Universal Calendar. Ss. Joachim and Anne are celebrated as a feast with a full proper office. Here are the textes of today's three hymns.

Mother Anne, be joyful;
Sing, O mother holy,
Since thou art the parent
Of God’s Mother lowly.

Praise thy wondrous daughter;
Joachim, too raises.
To the Virgin Mary
His paternal praises.