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(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh: come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaiah. – Chapter 42 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend; in whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not east thee … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) We have now entered into the week which immediately precedes the birth of the Messiah. That long desired coming might be tomorrow; and at furthest, that is, when Advent is as long as it can be, the beautiful feast is only seven days from us. So that the Church now counts the hours; she watches day and night, and since December 17th her Offices have assumed an unusual solemnity. At Lauds, … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh: come, let us adore. The lessons from the prophet Isaiah are interrupted today also; and a homily on the Gospel of the Mass is read in their place. As this Gospel is repeated tomorrow, in the Mass of the fourth Sunday of Advent, we will, for the present, omit it, and be satisfied with mentioning the reason of the same Gospel being assigned to the two … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; let us adore. The Church does not read anything from the prophet Isaiah today; she merely gives, in the Office of Matins, a sentence of that chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, which relates the mystery of our Lady’s Visitation: and to this she subjoins a fragment of Saint Ambrose’s homily upon that passage. The considerations and affections with which this important event of our Lady’s life … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaias – Chapter 33 Oh Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; . come, let us adore. To-day the Church begins the fast of ‘Quatuor Tempora’, or, as we call it, of Ember days: it includes also the Friday and Saturday of this same week. This observance is not peculiar to the Advent liturgy; it is one which has been fixed for each of the four seasons of the ecclesiastical year. We may consider it as one of … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaias.. Chapter 30 The Lord waits that he may have mercy on you, and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgement, blessed are all they that wait for him. For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shall not weep: he will surely have pity on thee: at … Read More

(You can download this article as a pdf HERE) The Lord is now nigh; come, let us adore. From the Prophet Isaias – Chapter 28Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in  foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner-stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believes, let him not hasten. And I will set judgement in weight, and justice in measure; and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood, and waters shall … Read More