Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

De Isaia Propheta. Cap. XXV. Domine, Deus meus es tu, exaltabo te, et confitebor nomini tuo : quoniam fecisti mirabilia, cogitationes antiquas fideles. Amen. Quia posuisti civitatem in turn ilium, urbem forte m in ruinam, domum alienorum, ut non sit civitas, et in sempiternum non aedificetur. Super hoc laudabit te populus fortis, civitas gentium robustarum timebit te. Quia factus es fortitudo pauperi, fortitudo egeno in tribulatiorfe sua : spes a turbine, umbraculum ab aestu. Et faciet Dominus exercituum omnibus populis in monte hoc convivium pinguium, convivium vindemiae, pinguium medullatorum, vindemiae defaecatae. Et praecipitabit in monte isto faciem vinculi colligati super omnes populos, et telam quam orditus est super omnes nationes. Praecipitabit mortem in sempiternum : et auferet Dominus Deus lacrymam ab omni facie, et opprobrium populi sui auferet de universa

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

From the Prophet Isaias. Ch.XXV.

O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee, and give glory to thy name : for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old faithful. Amen. For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers to be no city, and to be no more built up for ever. Therefore shall a strong people praise thee, the city of mighty nations shall fear thee. . . Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress : a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people, in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people are tied, and the web that he began over all nations. He shall cast death down headlong for ever : and the Lord God shall wipe terra : quia Dominus locutus away tears from every face, est. Et dicet in die ilia : and the reproach of his peo- Ecce Deus noster iste, exspec- off the whole earth : for the iste Dominus, sustinuimus Lord hath spoken it. And eum, exsultabimus et laetabithey shall say in that day : mur in Salutari ejus. Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us : this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, and we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.

Yet a little while, and the conqueror of death will appear, and then, in the joy of our hearts, we will say : Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for him, and he will save us ; we have patiently waited for him ; this is he, and we will rejoice and be joyful in his salvation. Let us, therefore, prepare the way of the Lord, that we may receive him worthily ; and in this work of our preparation, let us foave recourse to Mary. Saturday is the day which is sacred to her ; she will the more readily grant the prayers said to her upon it. Let us consider her in her grand privilege of being full of grace, carrying in her womb Him whom we so long to possess. If we ask her, by what means she rendered herself worthy of such an immense favour, she will tell us that in her was simply fulfilled the prophecy, which the Church so continually repeats during these days of Advent : Every valley shall be filled up. The humble Mary was the valley blessed of the Lord ; a valley beautiful and fertile, in which God sowed the Divine Wheat, our Saviour, Jesus : for it is written in the Psalm, that the Valleys shall abound with com. O Mary ! it was thy humility that drew down upon thee the admiration of thy Creator. If, from the high heaven where he dwells, he had tavimus eum, et salvabit nos :

1 Ps. lxiv. 14.

ADVENT. perceived a Virgin more humble in* her love, he would have chosen her in preference to thee : but no, it was thou that didst win his predilection, 0 mystic valley, ever verdant and lovely in thy flowers of grace. We that, like high hills, are so proud and such sinners, what shall we do ? We must look on this God of ours, who comes to us in infinite humility, and then bumble ourselves out of love and gratitude. 0 Blessed Mother ! obtain this grace for us. Pray for us, that henceforth we may submit ourselves to the will of our Lord as thou didst, when thou didst speak those admirable words: Behold the handmaid of the Lord : may it be done to me according to thy word !

PROSE IN HONOUR OF (Taken from the Ch

Missus Gabriel de coelis, Verbi bajulus fidelis, Sacris disserit loquelis Cum beata Virgine.

Verbum bonum et suave Pandit intus in conclave, Et ex Eva format Ave, Evae verso nomine.

Consequenter juxta pactum,

Adest Verbum caro factum ; Semper tamen est intactum Puellare gremium.

Patrem pariens ignorat, Et quam homo non deflorat, Non torquetur, nec laborat, Quando parit filium.

Signum audis novitatis ; Crede solum, et est satis ; Non est nostrae facultatis Solvere corrigiam

Grande signum et insigne Est in rubo et in igne :

Gabriel, sent from heaven, faithful bearer of the word, holds sacred converse with the holy Virgin.

In the inner chamber he discloses the good and sweet word ; and inverting the name of . Eve, Eva becomes Ave,— his salutation, Hail !

The covenant made, and instantly there was present the Word made flesn : and yet the pure Maid a Virgin still for ever.

Parent like no other; Mother, yet not losing the treasure ; giving birth to her child, yet not a pain or travail.

Unheard-of prodigy ! 'tis so indeed, and all thou, my soul, canst do is to believe it : we have not power to loose the latchet.

It is the great, the wondrous portent of the burning bush ;

SECOND SATURDAY OF ADVENT.

L05 let him that would approach, take off the sandals from his feet.

A dry branch, with not one drop of dew. once yielded a flower and iruit ; it was a new law, a new way : so was it when the Virgin brought forth her Son.

What a blessed Fruit ! a Fruit of joy, not of woe. There will be no Adam de* ceivedj if men but eat of this.

He is our Jesus ! the good Jesus ! lovely burden of a lovely Mother ! He who has a throne in heaven, has a stable for his birth-place !

May he, that for our sakes was thus born, wipe away all our gilt; for our sojourn here is full of dangers.

Amen.

Ne appropiet indigne Calciatus quisquam.

Virga sicca sine rore, Novo ritu novo more, Fructum protulit cum flore ; Sicque Virgo peperit.

Benedictus talis fructus, Fructus gaudii, non luctus ; Non erit Adam seductus, Si de hoc gustaverit.

Jesus noster, Jesus bonus, Pise Matris pium onus, Cujus est in ccelo thronus Nascitur in stabulo.

Qui sic est pro nobis natus Nostros deleat reatus ;

Suia noster incolatus ic est in periculo. Amen.

PRAYER FROM THE MOZARABIC BREVIARY.

{For the Friday of the third Week of Advent)

Who, O God thou Son of God, who can search into thy ways] and tell how thou wast born of a Virgin, when thou earnest from beav«n, or by what paths thou didst return thither ? And therefore since thou alone knowest all things, thou whose name is beyona the ends of the earth ; grant us so to think and speak of thee, as to be guiltless of error : that so thou, who, high in power, dost come down to lowly things and love them, mayest make us worthy of thy gifts. Amen.

Quis poterit; Deus Dei Filiu, scrutan vias tuas? Vel quibus aditibus nasciturus ad Virginem veneris? Vel quibus semitis ad superna regressus es 1 Et ideo, quia tu solus cuncta consiaerans es, cujus nomen supra terrae terminos permanet ; da nobis, ilia de te semper considerare et dicere, quae culpae careant lege : ut, qui excelsus in fortitudine veniens humilia respicis, dignos facias nos muneribus tuis. Amen.