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Monday of the First Week of Advent

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MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

Dom Prosper Guéranger

Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus.

Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come

De Isaia Propheta.

Cap. i

Lavamini, mundi estote, auferte maluni cogitationum vestrarum ab oculis meis: quiescite agere perverse, discite benefacere: quaerite judicium, subvenite oppresso, judicate pupillo, defendite viduam. Et venite, et arguite me, dicit Dominus. Si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur: et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus, velut lana alba erunt.

From the Prophet Isaias.

Ch. i.

Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely, learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord. If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool

The Saviour, who. is so soon to be with us and to save us, warns us not only to prepare ourselves to appear before Him, but also to purify our souls. 4 It is most just,’ says St. Bernard, ‘ that the soul, which was the first to fall, should be the first to rise. Let us therefore defer caring for the body, until the day when Jesus Christ will come and reform it by the Resurrection; for, in the first coming, the Precursor says to us: “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.” Observe, he says not the maladies of the body, nor the miseries of the flesh; he says sins, which are the malady of the soul, and the corruption of the spirit. Take heed, then, thou my body, and wait for thy turn and time* Thou canst hinder the salvation of the soul, and thine own safety is not within thy reach. Let the soul labour for herself, and strive thou too to help her, for if thou sharest in her sufferings thou wilt share in her glory. Retard her perfection, and thou re-tardest thine own. Thou wilt not be regenerated until God. sees His own image restored in the soul. [Sixth Sermon of Advent.]  Let us, then, purify our souls. Let us do the works of the spirit, not the deeds of the flesh. Our Saviour’s promise is most clear; He will turn the deep dye of our iniquities into the purest whiteness. He asks but one thing of us : that we sin no more. He says to us : 6 Cease to do perversely, and then come and accuse Me, come and complain against Me, if I do not cleanse you.5 O Jesus ! we will not defer a single day of this holy season ; we accept, from this moment, the conditions Thou offerest us. We sincerely desire to make our peace with Thee ; to bring the flesh into subjection to our spirit, to make good all the injustice we have committed against our neighbour, and to hush, by the sighs of our heart-felt compunction, that voice of our sins which has so long cried to Thee for vengeance.

PROSE FOR THE TIME OF ADVENT

(Composed in the eleventh century, and taken from the ancient Roman-French missals)

Salus aeterna, indeficiens mundi vita.

Lux sempiterna, et redemptio vera nostra.

Condolens humana perire saecla per tentantis numina.

Non linquens excelsa, adisti ima propria dementia.

Mox tua spontanea gratia assumens humana,

Quae fuerant perdita omnia, salvasti terrea.

Ferens mundo gaudia.

Tu animas et corpora nostra, Christe, expia,

Ut possideas lucida nosmet liabitacula.

Adventu primo justifica.

In secundo nosque libera;

Ut cum facta luce magna, judicabis omnia,

Compti stola incorrupta, nosmet tua subsequamur mox vestigia quocumque visa. Amen,   

Thou our eternal salvation, the never-failing light of the world.

Light everlasting and our true redemption.

Moved with compassion to see the human race perish by its idolatry offered to its very tempter.

Thou didst descend to these depths of our misery, yet not leaving thine own high throne above.

Then, by thy own gratuitous love, assuming our human nature,

Thou didst save all on earth that was lost.

Giving joy to this world.

Come, O Christ, purify our souls and bodies.

And make them thy own pure abode.

Justify us by thy first coming.

And in thy second, deliver us;

That so, when thou judgest all things, on the day of the great light,

We may be adorned with a spotless robe, and may follow thy footsteps wheresoever they are seen. Amen.

PRAYER FROM THE AMBROSIAN BREVIARY

(Second Sunday of Advent)

Dona, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, cunctae familiae tuae hanc voluntatem, Christo Filio tuo, Domino nostro venienti, in operibus justis apte occurrere: ut ejus dexterae sociati, regnum mereamur possidere coeleste. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.   

O almighty God! grant, we beseech thee, unto all this thy family, the desire of meeting, by good works, thy Son, Christ our Lord, who is coming to us; that being placed on his right hand, we may deserve the possession of the heavenly kingdom. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Bibiana

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SAINT BIBIANA

Virgin and Martyr
SIMPLE / RED
According to tradition, Bibiana belonged to a family of martyrs. When persecution broke out at Rome during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate, her father Flavian, former prefect of the city, was branded in the face with a hot iron and sent into exile. Her mother, Dafrosa, was beheaded. Bibiana herself was handed over to a wicked woman named Rufina, to be corrupted by her; but she proved stronger than her temptress, and was finally condemned to death. About the year 363, she was beaten with leaded whips until she died. St. Bibiana is one of the three virgin martyrs particularly venerated in Rome, the other two being St. Cecilia and St. Agnes.

Mass of a

COLLECT
O God, the giver of all good gifts, You united the grace of virginity and the palm of martyrdom in the blessings conferred upon Your servant Bibiana. Unite our souls to You by love Through the intercession of this saint, so that we may be shielded from all danger and obtain the rewards of eternity. Through Our Lord . . .

SECRET
O Lord, graciously accept the gifts we offer You in honor of Your blessed virgin martyr Bibiana and grant us Your unending assistance through these offerings. Through Our Lord . . .

POSTCOMMUNION
We have been nourished by Your Divine Gift, O Lord our God. May the reception of this Bread of Heaven bring us eternal life through the intercession of Your blessed virgin martyr Bibiana. Through Our Lord . . .

Patron: Diocese of Los Angeles, California; epilepsy; epileptics; hangovers; headaches; insanity; mental illness; mentally ill people; single laywomen; torture victims. 

Symbols: pillar; branch of a tree; dagger; scourge; column and scourge with leaded thongs.

Bibiana was a Roman Virgin, noble by birth, but more noble by her profession of the Christian faith. For, under the most wicked tyrant Julian the Apostate, Flavian, her father, was deprived of his dignity of prefect, and being branded with the mark of slavery, he was banished to Aquae Taurinae, and there died a martyr. Her mother, Dafrosa, was first shut up in her own house with her daughters, that she might die by starvation; but shortly afterwards was banished from Rome and beheaded. The virtuous parents thus put to death, Bibiana was deprived of all her possessions, as also was her sister, Demetria. Apronianus, the City Praetor, thirsting after their wealth, persecuted the two sisters. They were bereaved of every human help. But God, who gives food to them that are in hunger, wonderfully nourished them; and the Praetor was astonished on finding them in better health and strength than before.

Apronianus, notwithstanding, endeavoured to induce them to venerate the gods of the Gentiles. If they consented, he promised them the recovery of all their wealth, the Emperor’s favour, and marriage to the noblest in the empire: but should they refuse, he threatened them with prison, and scourgings, and the sword. But neither promises nor threats made them abandon the true faith; they would rather die than be defiled by the idolatrous practices of paganism; and they resolutely resisted the impious Praetor. Whereupon, Demetria was struck down in the presence of Bibiana, and slept in the Lord. Bibiana was delivered over to a woman by name Eufina, who was most skilled in the art of seduction. But the virgin, taught from her infancy to observe the Christian law, and to preserve with the utmost jealousy the flower of her virginity, rose above nature, defeated all the artifices of the wretched Rufina, and foiled the craft of the Praetor.

Finding, therefore, that Rufina could in no wise shake the virgin’s holy resolution, and that both her wicked words and frequent blows were of no avail; and seeing his hopes disappointed and his labour thrown away, the Praetor became violently enraged, and ordered Bibiana to be stripped by the lictors, to be fastened to a pillar with her hands bound, and to be beaten to death with leaded whips. Her sacred body was left for two days in the Bull-Forum, as food for dogs, but received no injury, being divinely preserved. A priest called John then buried it during the night, close to the grave of her sister and mother, near the Palace Licinius, where there stands at this day a Church consecrated to God under the title of Saint Bibiana. Pope Urban VIII restored this Church, having there discovered the bodies of Saints Bibiana, Demetria, and Dafrosa, which he placed under the high altar.

Holy Bibiana, most wise Virgin! you have gone through the long unbroken watch of this life; and when, suddenly, the Spouse came, your lamp was bright and richly fed with oil. Now you are dwelling in the abode of the eternal marriage-feast, where the Beloved feeds among the lilies. Remember us who are still living in the expectation of that same divine Spouse, whose eternal embrace is secured to you for ever. We are awaiting the Birth of the Saviour of the world, which is to be the end of sin and the beginning of justice; we are awaiting the coming of this Saviour into our souls that he may give them life and union with himself by love; we are awaiting our Judge, the Judge of the living and the dead. Most wise Virgin! intercede for us, by your fervent prayers, with this our Saviour, our Spouse, and our Judge; pray that each of these three visits may work and perfect in us that divine union, for which we have all been created. Pray also, O faithful Virgin, for the Church on earth, which gave you to the Church in heaven, and which so devoutly watches over your precious remains. Obtain for her that strict fidelity, which will ever render her worthy of Him, who is her Spouse as he is yours. Though he has enriched her with the most magnificent gifts, and given her confidence by his promises which cannot fail, yet does he wish her to ask, and us to ask for her, the graces which will lead her to the glorious destiny which awaits her.

– Dom Prosper Gueranger

Pictorial Lives of the Saints – Saint Bibiana, Virgin, Martyr

Saint Bibiana was a native of Rome. Flavian, her father, was apprehended, burned in the face with a hot iron, and banished to Acquapendente, where he died of his wounds a few days after; and her mother, Dafrosa, was some time after beheaded. Bibiana and her sister Demetria, after the death of their parents, were stripped of all they had in the world and suffered much from poverty. Apronianus, Governor of Rome, summoned them to appear before him. Demetria, having made confession of her faith, fell down and expired at the foot of the tribunal, in the presence of the judge. Apronianus gave orders that Bibiana should be put into the hands of a wicked woman named Rufina, who was to bring her to another way of thinking; but Bibiana, making prayer her shield, remained invincible. Apronianus, enraged at the courage and perseverance of a tender virgin, ordered her to be tied to a pillar and whipped with scourges loaded with leaden plummets till she expired. The Saint underwent this punishment cheerfully, and died in the hands of the executioners.

Reflection – Pray for a fidelity and patience like Bibiana’s under all trials, that neither convenience nor any worldly advantage may ever prevail upon you to transgress your duty.

Practice During Advent

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Advent is a season specially devoted to the exercises of what is called the purgative life, which is implied in that expression of St. John, so continually repeated by the Church during this holy time: Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Let all, therefore, strive earnestly to make straight the path by which Jesus will enter into their souls. Let the just, agreeably to the teaching of the apostle, forget the things that are behind [Phil. iii. 13], and labour to acquire fresh merit. Let sinners begin at once and break the chains which now enslave them. Let them give up those bad habits which they have contracted. Let them weaken the flesh, and enter upon the hard work of subjecting it to the spirit. Let them, above all things, pray with the Church. And when our Lord comes, they may hope that He will not pass them by, but that He will enter and dwell within them; for He spoke of all when He said these words: ‘Behold I stand at the gate and knock: if any man shall hear My voice will open to Me the door, I will come in unto him.’ [Apoc. ii. 20].

Dom Guéranger

Holy Communion During Advent

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On Holy Communion During Advent
(from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B., abbot of Solesmes)

It is true that everything in Advent is so arranged as to be a preparation for the coming of the Saviour at the feast of Christmas, and that the spirit of the faithful should be one of earnest expectation of this same Saviour; and yet, such is the happy lot of the children of the new Law, that they can, if they wish it, really, and at once, receive this God whom the Church is expecting; and thus, this familiar visit of Jesus will become itself one of the preparations for His great and solemn visit. Let those, then, who are living the life of grace, and to whom the glorious day of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ will bring an increase of spiritual life, not omit to prepare, by Communion, for the reception they intend to give to the heavenly Spouse on the sacred night of His coming. These Communions will be interviews with their divine Lord, giving them confidence, and love, and all those interior dispositions wherewith they would welcome Him who comes to load them with fresh grace, for this Jesus is full of grace and truth.

They will understand this better by reflecting on the sentiments which the august Mother of Jesus had in her blessed soul during the time which preceded the divine birth. This birth is to be an event of more importance, both to the salvation of mankind and to Mary‘s own glory, than even that of the first accomplishment of the Incarnation; for the Word was made Flesh in order that He might be born. The immense happiness of holding in her arms her Son and her God, would make the sacred hour of Jesus‘ birth dearer and happier to Mary, than even that in which she was over-shadowed by the Holy Ghost, and received from Him the divine fruit of her womb.
During those nine months, when she knew that her Jesus was so undividedly hers, what must have been the happiness which filled her heart! It was a bliss which was a worthy preparation for that more blissful night of Bethlehem.
Christians! your Communions during Advent are to prepare you for your Christmas joy, by giving you something of the delight which Mary felt before the birth of Jesus. When you are in the house of God, preparing by recollection and prayer for receiving your Saviour in holy Communion, you may perhaps be assisted in your preparation by the sentiments and affections which we have ventured to offer you in the following acts.

BEFORE COMMUNION
ACT OF FAITH
Knowing that thou art about to enter under my roof, O eternal God, Jesus Son of the Father, I have need of all my faith. Yes, it is thou who art coming to me, thou who didst enter into Mary‘s virginal womb, making it the sanctuary of thy Majesty. Thou didst send thine angel to her, and she believed his word, when he said: ‘Nothing is impossible to God: the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.‘ She believed, and then conceived in her chaste womb him who had created her. Thou hast not sent an angel to me, O my Saviour, to tell me thou art coming into my heart. Thou hast spoken thyself, and thou hast said: ‘I am the living Bread come down from heaven: he that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood, abideth in me and I in him.‘ Thou hast willed that those words of thine, spoken so many hundred years ago, should reach me by thy Church, that thus I might have both the certainty that they are thine, and the merit of bowing down my reason to the deepest of mysteries. I believe then, O Jesus! Help the weakness of my faith. Enable me to submit, as Mary did, to thy infinite wisdom; and since thou desirest to enter under my roof, I bow down my whole being before thee, using her blessed words: ‘May it be done to me according to thy word;‘ for how dare I, who am but nothingness, resist thee, who art all wisdom and power!

ACT OF HUMILITY
But, O my Saviour, when thou didst choose the womb of the glorious Virgin for thy abode, thou hadst but to leave one heaven for another. Thou hadst prepared her, from her conception, with every grace; and she, on her part, had been more faithful to thee than all angels and men together. Whereas my heart has nothing in it which can induce thee to come and make it thy dwelling. How many times has it refused thee admittance, when thou didst stand at the door asking me to receive thee? And even had I been always faithful, what proportion is there between its lowliness and thy infinite greatness?

Elizabeth humbled herself when she was visited by Mary, and exclaimed, “How comes such an honour to me?‘ And I am to receive a visit, not merely of the Mother of God, but of God himself, and in such an intimate familiar manner, that a greater union cannot be. Thou sayest, “He that eateth me, abideth in me and I in him‘: O Son of God! thou seekest, then, for what is lowest and poorest, and in that thy heart loves to dwell. I am overwhelmed with admiration at this condescension; but when I reflect that thou art going to show it me, I can do nothing but sink into my own nothingness, and there beseech thee to show me more and more clearly, that I am but nothing; that so, when thou hast come within me, my whole being may proclaim the glory, the mercy, the power of my Jesus.

ACT OF CONTRITION
Happy should I be, O Jesus, if I could feel that this my nothingness was the only obstacle to the glorious union to which thou invitest me! I would then approach to thee, after the example of thy Immaculate Mother, my august Queen, and would dare to partake of the banquet at which she is on thy right hand. But I am worse than nothing – I am a sinner: and surely there can be no union between infinite sanctity and sin, between light and darkness! I have been thine enemy, O my Redeemer! and yet thou wishest to come into my heart, with the sores of its shame and wounds barely closed; and thou tellest me, that thou, who couldst delight to dwell in Mary‘s heart, canst find pleasure in mine! Oh! how this teaches me the malice of my sins, since they offended a God so generous, so wonderful in his love for me! In these few moments, which precede thy descending into the midst of my darkness in order to change it into light, what can I do but renew my sorrow for those many sins whereby I lost thee, as also for those whereby I grieved thee without losing thy grace. Accept this my contrition, O my Saviour! It is thus that I would prepare thy way to my heart, by removing everything which is in opposition to the righteous path of thy holy Law.

ACT OF LOVE
For I would indeed love thee, O my Saviour, as Mary loved thee. Art thou not my God, as thou wast hers? Nay, by forgiving me my sins, hast thou not shown marks of tenderness to me, which Mary could not receive? I love thee, then, sweet Jesus, who art coming into me. Most welcome visit, which is to increase my love! Thy blessed Mother had lived, up to the very moment when thou didst enter her womb, in all holiness and justice; she had loved thee alone, and as no other had loved: but when she felt thee within her, when she felt that now thou wast one and the same with herself, her love redoubled, and lost all sight of limit. May it be so with my heart, when thou comest into it, my God and my all! Yea, come quickly; for though most unworthy of thy visit, yet am I forced to desire it, seeing that thou art the Bread which giveth life unto the world, and our daily Bread, by eating which we support life until the day of our eternity arrives. Come, then, my Lord Jesus! my heart is ready and trusts in thee.

And thou, O Mary, by the joy thou didst experience in containing within thyself him whom heaven and earth could not contain, help me, in this Communion, to have my heart pure and fervent. Holy angels, who looked with astonish-ment and awe upon this simple creature carrying God within her, have pity on me, that poor sinner whose heart, so lately the abode of Satan, is this very hour to become the tabernacle of your sovereign Lord. All ye saints of heaven, and ye especially my ever faithful patrons, come to my assistance now that he, in whom ye live for ever, just and immortal, is coming down to me, a sinful mortal. Amen.

In order to make your preparation complete, follow, with a lively faith and attention, all the mysteries of the Mass at which you are to receive Communion using, for this purpose, the method we have given in the preceding chapter. After your Communion, you may sometimes make your thanksgiving by reciting the prayers we here give.

AFTER COMMUNION
ACT OF ADORATION
O sovereign Majesty of God! thou hast, then, mercifully deigned to come down to me! This favour, which thou didst heretofore grant to Mary, has been given to me too! Would that I, during these happy moments, could adore thee as profoundly as she did! The sentiment of her lowliness and unworthiness, at that solemn moment, would have over-powered her, had not thy tender love for her supported her to bear that ineffable union of the Creator with his crea-ture. My lowliness, and still more my unworthiness, are of a very different kind from hers; and yet I find it so hard to feel them. This much at least I know, that in order thus to come to me, and be my own infinite treasure, thou hast had to overcome immense obstacles. What, then, shall I do for thee, that is worthy of thee? How can I best compensate thee for the humiliation thou hast thus borne out of love for me? I can but adore thee, and humble myself to the far-thest depths of my own nothingness. And because this my adoration is not worthy of thine acceptance, I presume to offer thee that which Mary herself offered thee the first moment she became Mother of God, and during the nine months thou wast so closely united with her. Thou hast given her to me to be my own Mother; permit me to make this use of her wealth, which she loves to see her children so freely giving to thy greater glory.

ACT OF THANKSGIVING
But thy blessed Mother, O Jesus, was not satisfied with adoring thee interiorly; her glad heart soon gave expression to its intense gratitude. She saw that thou hadst preferred her to all the daughters of her people, nay, to all generations both past and to come; her soul therefore thrilled with delight, and her lips could scarce give utterance to her im-mense joy. ‗He that is mighty,‘ she said, ‗hath done great things in me; he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand-maid; and all generations shall call me blessed.‘ And hast thou not favoured me, O Jesus, above thousands and tens of thousands, in giving me the wonderful gift I now hold within me? Thou hast made me live after the accomplish-ment of thine Incarnation. This very day, how many pious servants of thine have not had given to them what I have received from thee! I possess thee here within me; I know the worth of thy coming; but how many are there who neither possess thee nor know thee! Thou hast indeed invited all to these graces, but a great number have refused them; and whilst thou hast compelled me, by the powerful yet sweet ways of thy mercy, to come to thee, thou hast, in thy justice, permitted them to continue in their refusal. Mayst thou be for ever blessed, O my God! who lovest, in-deed, all the works of thy hands, and wishest all men to be saved; so that none is lost, but he that refuses thy grace: yet, in the superabundant riches of thy mercy, thou dost multiply, for many, the boundless resources of thy love.

ACT OF LOVE
I will love thee, then, O Jesus! because thou hast first loved me; and I will love thee the more because, by this thy visit to me, thou hast so greatly increased my power to love. It was thus with Mary, when thou didst choose her for thy Mother. Up to that time she had been the most faithful of thy creatures, and deserved the preference thou didst give her, above all women, of being honoured with the high privilege of becoming Mother of God. But when thou didst enter her virginal womb, when thy divine Person came into that admirable contact with her nature, which, though holy, was human; Mary, transformed, as it were, into thee, began to love thee as she had never been able to do before. May it be so with me, dear Jesus! May my own life be lost in thine! Is not the visit thou hast paid me that of a God? The visits of creatures are but exterior; thine to me is interior; thou hast not entered my house and blessed it, thou hast penetrated into the deepest recesses of my very soul; so that I live, no, it is not I, but thou livest in me, as thy apostle expresses the mystery. So that if I love myself, I must love thee, since thou abidest in me, and I abide in thee. Can I ever separate from thee again? No, my divine Master, I desire to have but thee for my love and my very life, now and for ever.

ACT OF OBLATION
But take heed, my soul: let not the love of thy God be mere sentiment. He that loves God, lives for him. Jesus‘ pres-ence produced in Mary, the moment it was effected, far more than the sentiment of total devotedness of herself to the interests and glory of him who was both her God and her Son. It gave her a conformity to all God‘s appointments, which stood unshaken, without one moment of faltering, through all the trials of her long life. Thou hast visited me, dear Saviour, and courage is what thou wishest to leave with me. Between this day and that of my death and my judgement, I am to go through many trials and temptations, all difficult, and some of them perhaps severe. If I love thee, I shall triumph over them all. And how can I but love thee, even at the bare remembrance of this thy visit to me, which thou art ready to repeat as often as I wish it! I am thine, O God of my heart, as thou art mine. Thou knowest my great weakness: give me courage and strength. Thou hast given me, this happy hour, the richest pledge of thy mercy; on this infinite mercy I rest all my hope.

O Mary, pray for me that I may profit by this visit of thy divine Son.- Ye holy angels of God, defend me against my enemies, for your Lord has made me his dwelling place.- All ye saints of God, pray for me, that I may never lose this sovereign Good, with whom ye are united for a happy eternity. Amen.

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