Saturday 4 December 2010

Second Sunday of Advent


Well all the community have arrived safely home following their trips to various parts of the country. Thank you for your prayers. The novices enjoyed their week with other novices from various communities around Britain. They were meeting to discuss the meaning of the vow of obedience. Fr's Brendan and Joseph returned from their conference in Derby with many tails of digging the car out of the snow ( Brendan) and prayer. (Joseph). It seems that both these activities took place at the same time! We keep in mind during these days of snow and ice those whom the cold affects deeply. The poor, the homeless and those left isolated.

Father in heaven,
the days draws near when the glory of your Son
will make radiant the night of the waiting world.

May the lure of greed not impede us from the joy
which moves the hearts of all who seek him.
May the darkness not blind us
to the vision of wisdom
which fills the mind of those who find him.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. 
The Roman Missal, Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent

Charm with your stainlessness these winter nights,
Skies, and be perfect!
Fly vivider in the fiery dark, you quiet meteors,
And disappear.
You moon, be slow and go down,
This is your fill!

The four white roads make off in silence
Towards the four parts of the starry universe.
Time falls like manna at the corners of the wintry earth.
We have become more humble than the rocks,
More wakefull than the patirnt hills.

Charm with your stainlessness these nights in Advent,
      holy spheres,
While minds, as meek as beasts
Stay close at home in the sweet hay;
And intellects are quieter than the flocks that feed by stralight.

Oh pour your darkness and your brightness over all our
solemn valleys,
Your skies: and travel like the gentle Virgin,
Towards the planets' stately setting,
Oh, whte full moon as quiet as Bethlehem!
. Thomas Merton, OSCO. From The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton. 1968

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