December 18 — The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This Feast, which is now kept, not only throughout the whole of Spain, but in almost all the Churches of the Catholic world, owes its origin to the Bishops of the tenth Council of Toledo, in 656. These Prelates having thought that there was an incongruity in the ancient practice of celebrating the feast of the Annunciation on the twenty-fifth of March, inasmuch as this joyful solemnity frequently occurs at the time when the Church is intent upon the Passion of our Lord, and is sometimes obliged to be transferred into Easter Time, with which it is out of harmony for another reason ; — they decreed that, henceforth, in the Church of Spain there should be kept, eight days before Christmas, a solemn Feast with an Octave, in honour of the Annunciation, and as a preparation for the great solemnity of our Lord's Nativity. In course of time, however, the Church of Spain saw the necessity of returning to the practice of the Church of Rome, and of those of the whole world, which solemnise the twenty-fifth of March as the day of our Lady's Annunciation and the Incarnation of the Son of God. But such had been, for ages, the devotion of the people for the Feast of the eighteenth of December, that it was considered requisite to maintain some vestige of it. They discontinued, therefore, to celebrate the Annunciation on this day ; but the faithful were

2 L requested to consider, with devotion, what must have been the sentiments of the Holy Mother of God during the days immediately preceding her giving him birth. A new Feast was instituted, under the name of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin's De~ livery.

This Feast, which sometimes goes under the name of Our Lady of 0, or the Feast of 0, on account of the Great Antiphons which are sung during these days, and, in a special manner, of that which begins 0 Virgo Virginum (which is still used in the Vespers of the Expectation, together with the 0 Adonal, the Antiphon of the Advent Office,) — is kept with great devotion in Spain. A High Mass is sung, at a very early hour, each morning during the Octave, at which all who are with child, whether rich or poor, consider it a duty to assist, that they may thus honour our Lady's Maternity, and beg her blessing upon them* selves. It is not to be wondered at that the Holy See has approved of this pious practice being introduced into almost every other country. We find that the Church of Milan, long before Rome conceded this feast to the various dioceses of Christendom, celebrated the Office of our Lady's Annunciation on the sixth and last Sunday of Advent, and called the whole week following the Hebdomada de Exceptato (for thus the popular expression had corrupted the word Expectato)* But these details belong strictly to the arclueology of Liturgy, and enter not into the plan of our present work ; let us, then, return to the Feast of our Lady's Expectation, which the Church has established and sanctioned as a new means of exciting the attention of the faithful during these last days of Advent.

Most just indeed it is, O Holy Mother of God, that we should unite in that ardent desire thou hadst to see Him, who had been concealed for nine months in thy chaste womb ; to know the features of this Son of the heavenly Father, who is also thine ; to come to that blissful hour of his Birth, which will give Glory to God in the highest, and, on earth, Peace to men of good-will. Yes, dear Mother, the time is fast ap* proaching, though not fast enough to satisfy thy desires and ours. Make us redouble our attention to the great mystery ; complete our preparation by thy powerful prayers for us, that when the solemn hour is come, our Jesus may find no obstacle to his entering into our hearts.

THE GREAT ANTIPHON TO OUR LADY.

O Virgin of virgins ! how O Virgo virginum, quo- shall this be ? for never was modo fiet istud % quia nec there one like thee, nor will primam similem visa es, nec there ever be. Ye daughters nabere sequentem. Filiae of Jerusalem, why look ye Jerusalem, quid me admira- wondering at me % What ye mini 1 Divinum est myste- behold, is a divine mystery, rium hoc quod cernitis.

Decembee 19.

THIRD ANTIPHON.

O radix Jesse, qui stas in OKoot signum populorum, super est quern continebunt reges os suum, quern Rentes deprecabuntur : veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare. of Jesse, who staridas the standard of the people ; before whom Kings shall not open their lips ; to whom the nations shall pray : come and deliver us ; tarry now no more.

At length, O Son of Jesse ! thou art approaching the city of thy ancestors. The Ark of the Lord has risen, and journeys, with the God that is in her, to the place of her rest. " How beautiful are thy steps, " 0 thou daughter of the Prince,"1 now that thou art bringing to the cities of Juda their salvation ! The Angels escort thee, thy faithful Joseph lavishes his love upon thee, heaven delights in thee, and our earth thrills with joy to bear thus upon itself its Creator and its Queen. Go forward, O Mother of God and Mother of Men ! Speed thee, thou* Propitiatory that holdest within thee the divine Manna which gives us life ! Our hearts are with thee, and count thy steps. Like thy royal ancestor David, " we will enter not into the dwelling of our house, nor " go up into the bed whereon we lie, nor give sleep " to our eyes, nor rest to our temples, until we have " found a place in our hearts for the Lord whom thou " bearest, sl tabernacle for this God of Jacob."2 Come, then, 0 Root of Jesse ! thus hid in this Ark of purity ;

1 Cant. vii. 1. a Ps. cxxxi. 3, 4, 5.

DEC. 19. thou wilt soon appear before thy people as the standard round which all that would conquer must rally. Then, their enemies, the Kings of the world, will be silenced, and the nations will offer thee their prayers. Hasten thy coming, dear J esus ! come and conquer all our enemies, and deliver us.

RESPONSORY OF ADVENT.

(The Ambrosian Breviary, Sixth Sunday of Advent.)

1$. Blessed is the womb of 1$.. Beatus uterus Mariae the Virgin Mary, which bore Virginis qui portavit invi- the invisible God : there did sibilem : quern septem throni

He deign to dwell, whom capere non possunt in eo

Seven Thrones cannot hold :* habitare dignatus est : * Et

And she bore him as a light portabat levem in sinu suo. weight in her womb. The Dedit illi Dominus sedem

Lord hath given him the David patris sui? et regnabit throne of David his father, in domo Jacob m seternum, and he shall reign in the house cujus regni non erit finis : * of Jacob for ever, and of his Et portabat levem in sinu suo. kingdom there shall be no end : * And she bore him as a light weight in her womb.

December 20.

FOURTH ANTIPHON.

O Clavis David et Seep- O Key of David, and Scep- trum domus Israel, qui ape- tre of the house of Israel !

ris, et nemo claudit ; clau- who openest, and no man dis, et nemo aperit ; veni, shuttetn : who shuttest, and et educ vinctum de domo no man openeth ; come and carceris, sedentem in tene- lead the captive from prison, bris, et umbra mortis. sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.

0 Jesus, Son of David ! heir to his throne and his power ! thou art now passing over, in thy way to Bethlehem, the land that once was the kingdom of thy ancestor, but now is tributary to the Gentiles. Scarce an inch of this ground which has not witnessed the miracles of the justice and the mercy of Jehovah, thy Father, to the people of that old Covenant, which is so soon to end. Before long, when thou hast come from beneath the virginal cloud which now hides thee, thou wilt pass along this same road doing good, healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity? and yet having not where to lay thy head? Now, at least, thy Mother's womb affords thee the sweetest rest, and thou receivest from her the profoundest adoration and the tenderest love. But, dear Jesus, it is thine own blessed will that thou leave this loved abode. Thou hast, O Eternal Light, to shine in the midst of this world's darkness, this prison where the Captive, whom thou art come to deliver,

1 Acts, x. 38. 1 St. Matth. iv. 23. 8 St. Luke, ix. 58.

DEC. 20. sits in the shadow of death. Open his prison-gates by thy all-powerful Key. And who is this Captive, but the human race, the slave of error and vice ? Who is this Captive, but the heart of man, which is thrall to the very passions it blushes to obey ? Oh ! come and set at liberty the world thou hast enriched by thy grace, and the creatures whom thou hast made •to be thine own Brethren.

ANTTPHON TO THE ANGEL GABRIEL.

O Gabriel ! the Messenger O Gabriel ! nuntius ccelo- of heaven, who earnest unto rum, qui januis clausis ad me through the closed doors, me intrasti, et Verbum nun- and didst announce the Word ciasti : Concipies et paries ; unto me: Thou shalt conceive Emmanuel vocabitur. and bear a Son, and he shall be called Emmanuel.

December 21.

The Church announces to us, to-day, in her Office of Lauds, these solemn words :

Nolitetimere: quintaenim Fear not : for on the fifth die veniet ad vos Dominus day, our Lord will come unto noster. you.