Saturday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saints: Satin Raphael Kalinowski (1835-1907); Saint Edmund (d. 869)

Readings of the Day

RB:  Ch 42 Silence After Compline

Mass:  1 Macc 6:1-13; Resp Ps 9; Lk 20:27-40

I will be glad and exult in you.

HOLY MARY,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's reading from the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict focuses on Ch 42 Silence after Compline. Silence is foundational to a life lived in a monastery, or any Christian home, where the faithful truly seek God. We need silence to be still, listen, and be in touch with ourselves and with Jesus who loves each and every one of us. It is a privilege in a monastery to embrace and observe all that Saint Benedict teaches about the importance of silence. There are many passages in the Holy Rule where Saint Benedict teaches about silence. For example, in Ch 6 Restraint of Speech, Saint Benedict writes, "so important is silence that permission to speak should seldom be granted even to mature disciples ..." (RB 6:3). This is not about trying to keep everyone quiet, it is more about remembering what is said in the Book of Proverbs. As Saint Benedict quotes: In a flood of words you will not avoid sin (Prov 10:19); and elsewhere, The tongue holds the key to life and death (Prov 18:21) (RB 6:4). 

Today, however, we are reflecting on the value of silence after Compline, or Night Prayer, the last prayer of the day. As Saint Benedict begins, "Monks should diligently cultivate silence at all times, but especially at night" (RB 42:1). And privileged as we are in the monastery, and in many Christian homes, our day ends with singing the Salve, Regina. As such, the last word on our lips is Mary. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Dear Mary, you who kept all things, reflecting on them in your heart, pray for us.

And speaking of last words, here is an excerpt from the Office Readings.  

It is fitting that the end of all our desires, namely eternal life, coincides with the words at the end of the creed, "Life everlasting. Amen" ...

eternal life consists of the joyous community of all the blessed, a community of supreme delight, since everyone will share all that is good with all the blessed. Everyone will love everyone else as himself, and therefore will rejoice in another's good as in his own. So it follows that the happiness and joy of each grows in proportion to the joy of all.

(From a conference by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest, in Office of Readings, Saturday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time)

SAINT RAPHAEL KALINOWSKI,

SAINT EDMUND,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Another photo from a week ago yesterday. I always enjoy looking at what grows here.

© Gertrude Feick 2021