Once again, with new stocks, we are pleased to be able to offer for sale
a pall for use in covering the chalice at Holy Mass made exclusively for the monastery using its 'pax inter spinas' design. Encore une fois nous sommes heureux de proposer à la vente une pale qui est utilisée pour couvrir le calice durant la Sainte Messe réalisée exclusivement pour le monastère en utilisant notre modèle de "pax inter spinas". Made of white linen, the pall is 17cm x 17cm, rigid, and embroidered in a gold coloured thread. An ideal gift for monasteries or convents, or for priests with a monastic connection (oblates, etc.) it is on sale at 95,00 euro per pall, plus shipping. It may be ordered using the button below, or by contacting us. La pale est faire d'un carré de lin blanc rigide de 17cm de côté. La broderie est faite en fil doré. Cadeau idéal pour un monastère, couvent ou encore pour des prêtres ayant un lien avec un monastère (par exemple un oblat), le prix d'achat est de 95€ par pale plus frais de transport. Pour commander, il suffit de cliquer sur le bouton ci-dessous ou de nous contacter directement. + Lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuae Israel. “A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.” Together, according to the ancient tradition, we have sung these prophetic words of Simeon whilst receiving the blessed candles. We have processed with them held alight in our hands. And we have heard these words yet again, proclaimed just now in the Holy Gospel: lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
What is this light? What is it that the ritual purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple—something required by the Law and of itself by no means extraordinary—makes clear to us? Let us first underline that this ritual takes place in the Temple, in Jerusalem—in the place where, at the time, God is considered to be present on this earth. This is no local synagogue: it is the Temple. And let us consider Simeon: a devout old man (seemingly not a Levite or someone regarded as holding any official religious position) had been promised sight of the long-awaited Christ of God. Simeon is inspired to come to the Temple for this ritual and, taking the child Jesus in his arms, proclaims without hesitation: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.” Simeon’s eyes have finally seen God’s salvation: he holds Salvation Himself in his arms! This Child is the light for revelation to the Gentiles (that is, to us). He is the glorious fulfilment of all that for which Israel hoped. This is precisely what the light of this feast makes clear. This is what our blessed candles help us to see—that in the child born in a stable in Bethlehem we have the definitive revelation of God in human history; we have the gift of salvation from our sins made man. And so too, as Simeon makes clear, this revelation, this coming of salvation, is not only for the Chosen People: it is also for the Gentiles. The Incarnation is not merely the fulfilment of the expectation of Israel; it is the once and for all revelation of God’s saving mercy to the whole of humanity. Thus, Candlemas consummates Christmas, as it were, with Simeon making explicit that which the shepherds and the Wise Men implicitly recognised in the child Jesus. (This is one reason why the devotional Christmas crib is only removed after Candlemas—the Christmas feast continues, as it were, until today.) Indeed, the light of this feast places the reality of who the Christ-child in fact is in sharp relief. And in so doing, it demands of us a response. Having today ourselves seen God’s salvation, having held aloft that light in our own hands, we cannot remain indifferent. We are free, certainly, to choose how we respond. But we can no longer pretend not to have seen He whom Almighty God from all eternity willed to send for our salvation. We may be weak and need to say in all humility with St Peter: “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Lk 5:8) But then, in time, we shall come to know the Lord’s grace and understand why He called us. We may be inclined to first go and do this or that, as were those called in the ninth chapter of St Luke’s Gospel (vv. 59-62); but we need to understand that our seeing the Saviour, our coming to know the reality of Who the Christ-child is, admits of no procrastination. Its implications come before everything else. It could also be that, having seen the Saviour, we choose to turn away and return to the riches we have built up for ourselves, as did the rich young man in St Mark’s Gospel (10:17-22) in spite of the love our Saviour has for us. For whilst He shows Himself to us in this feast, our response to what we are shown must needs be our own. The light that we carry in our hands today should enable us to see more clearly, but it does not blind us. We are called to become faithful sons and daughters, indeed heirs, of the Kingdom of God, not slaves or prisoners. Whilst this light indeed does not blind us, as the Epistle intimates, the light of the Lord’s presence in the Temple is also something that purifies us and judges us. And so it should be today. Thus, the candles we carry should serve also to burn away all that is not of God in us, banishing the shadows of vice that lurk in our souls and replacing them with grace and virtue. Lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuae Israel. “A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.” Let us beg the Lord now, here at His altar, that the revelation that we celebrate today shall truly illumine our hearts, minds and souls so that we may see that which the Lord asks of us in the different circumstances in which we live and work, and have the courage to do it. And through our so doing may those still blind to the reality of Who the Christ-child is themselves come to see the salvation God has prepared for all people. +
Once again, with the approach of Lent,
we are pleased to make available our best-selling publication Ceremonies of Holy Week & The Vigil of Pentecost - According to the Missale Romanum editio XXIX post typicam 1953 (a ceremonial guide to the celebration of the pre-1955 Holy Week) post-free throughout the world for its publication price of 24,95 euros. This represents a saving of half the price of the book on world-wide postage. Tor order, please use the PayPal button below: more than one copy may be ordered - we will absorb the cost of postage. If you wish to ensure the book's arrival in time for Holy Week, please do not delay in ordering: we cannot control the exigencies of the postal service in France or abroad. + How often do the Pharisees accuse Our Lord of making light of and ignoring the Law of Moses. The teaching of Christ is, in contrast, the veritable fulfilment of the Mosaic Law; as much by word as by example. “Go”, he commands the cured leper “show yourself to the priest and offer the gift which is prescribed by Moses.” And this is far from an isolated incident. The Pharisees complain about Our Lord’s treatment of the Law precisely because He will not wield it as a weapon, nor as an excuse. He will not accept that the Law serves to empower the Pharisees, Scribes and other religious authorities at the expense of the people of Judah. Rather it is placed at the service of man that he may be at liberty to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) as did their Fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
With abundant power the prophets frequently decried the Israelites offering sacrifice to God and thinking that so long as the sacrifice is made it mattered not what was in their heart nor what they did with their hands. God cared nothing for these empty hollow sacrifices. These are not the prescriptions of the Law of Moses, nor what Our Lord instructed the cleansed leper. Looking at the heart of the man before Him Our Lord sends him to make the sacrifice prescribed by Moses, a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the benefits given to the healed man. God knows that man needs ritual acts to signify what is in his heart; and not only to signify that reality but to lead him more deeply, more integrally, into that disposition. We have such acts within every human relationship, whether it be parents to children, husband to wife or simply among friends. There are always actions made to demonstrate the affection, the gratitude, and the love that is shared between them. Before God, we are not able to show Him due gratitude without His aid. Nothing that man can do of himself is sufficient to honour everything which God has given and is giving us. Moreover, the only way we can approach Him is according to His direct Revelation of the straight road which leads us to Him. God commanded Israel through Moses to make innumerable sacrifices before Him, in propitiation for sin, in thanksgiving, in remembrance of the delivery of Israel from Egypt, in petition and so forth. All of these are, nonetheless, simply in preparation for the one efficacious sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. A sacrifice in which we must participate in order to live from and with Christ. Christ’s instruction to the cured leper to offer sacrifice demanded by Moses is given precisely so that he can perform an act of thanksgiving which will express and further develop the leper’s gratitude. He ought not to have needed to make such an instruction for the command already stood. The money-changers of the Temple sought to profit from this requirement of the law to offer sacrifice in many circumstances. In no other instance do we see Our Lord demonstrate such righteous anger as against such profiteering. The sacrifice did, nonetheless, need to be a substantial act which would make impression on the soul of the cured leper, reminding him of his entire dependency upon God. Soon however, these sacrifices in the Temple would no longer be lawful because their prophetic function would be fulfilled. If this is true of those sacrifices of the Old Testament which are nothing but a prefiguration, an anticipation, a prophecy, a shadow of the only efficacious sacrifice how much more does it press upon us in respect of the sacrifice of Himself by God Who became man for our sake. How much more urgent is the cry of the prophets that justice and righteousness must be sought after for the sake of God. Our Lord says the integrity required between lifestyle and worship of God by telling his disciples: “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). Even whilst Christ is preaching reconciliation and meekness, He is by no means shy of correcting the abuse of power where it is possible to so do. He never tires of calling the Pharisees hypocrites and does not stop short of driving the money changers out of the Temple with a whip, having thrown their tables to the ground. He knows well that the dignity of God has to be given priority even if it means defending it against overbearing political and even military forces (cf. I Maccabees 2:41). He knows well that the “sabbath is made for man not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27) and that the man who loves does not need to be told how to behave: it will come naturally to him through grace. He knows also that man is weak and often finds people it is very difficult to love. He knows the necessity of the defence of the rights of the innocent and weak. Contrasting this attitude with the Pharisees who demand obedience to their unjust interpretation of the Law, which oppresses everybody outside their political network, it is easy to see just why Christ was such a threat to them. The Pharisees made the law an instrument of religious oppression and control out of an obedience which did not look to what is true and good. This did not stop them blaspheming against God by denying his promise to David that his son would never fail as king of Israel in saying “we have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). Christ proclaimed that God seeks authenticity in worshipping Him knowing that we owe everything to Him. If the Pharisees called Christ out for making light of the Mosaic Law it is because he taught that God gave the Law as an instruction for a well-ordered, just life with all that is necessary to live it integrally, not as an instrument of control held by the elite of society. + + Even in green vestments the Church’s Sacred Liturgy continues to contemplate the Incarnation—today with what St John describes as an outbreak of “His glory” in the famous proto-miracle worked somewhat reluctantly and seemingly earlier than planned at the wedding in Cana. Who is the infant born in Nazareth? He is He who turns large amounts of water into wine—into the very best of wine!
Now wine is something we may regard as a matter of taste: we can take it or leave it. St Benedict even teaches “that wine is no drink for monks” and that those upon “whom God bestows the gift of abstinence…shall receive a special reward.” Monks are recalcitrant beings, however, and St Benedict also concedes that “since nowadays monks cannot be persuaded of this, let us at least agree upon this, that we drink temperately.” (Rule, ch. 40) Be that as it may—and you may rest assured that like their brethren of the sixth century, wine is to be found in the refectory of the monks of Brignoles—wine has an important place in culture and indeed in Sacred Scripture. Amongst the numerous references to wine, including its offering to God as a first-fruit, its use and its abuse, the psalmist teaches us that wine gladdens the heart of man (Ps. 103: 15) as we sing each Saturday at matins. And Our Lord teaches us much about the Kingdom of Heaven in the parable of the tenants of the vineyard in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of St Mark. However, this simple yet rich cultural good becomes a—indeed the—supernatural reality in the very hands of Our Lord Himself at the Last Supper: “Drink of it, all of you” we are told, “for this is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” In Our Lord’s hands wine no longer merely gives joy to the heart: it gives nothing less than eternal salvation to the soul. So too Our Lord adds: “I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Mt 26:27-29) This verse is not repeated in the formula of consecration at Mass, but it is nonetheless important. Indeed, it takes us back to the manifestation of Our Lord’s glory at Cana: for the new wine of which Our Lord speaks pertains to the Kingdom of God itself, a happy foretaste of which was made available at the wedding of Cana. Lest all this talk of wine make us somewhat dizzy, let us clarify. At Cana we have the first glimpse of the glory of God working through the changing of water into wine—wine that He would change into His Blood poured out in sacrifice for our sins on the Cross and which enables us to partake in the joys of the Kingdom of God eternally. How do we become partakers in this feast? How do we come to enjoy that gladness of heart that is eternal? Let us return to Cana and let the Blessed Virgin Mary teach us. “They have no wine,” she complains to her Son—only seemingly to be rebuked by Him for her presumption. Yet her faith, indeed her inner comprehension of her Son and His mission, of which we know too little, has her instruct the servants: “Do whatever He tells you.” Did she know what would transpire? We cannot say. Could she have foreseen the miracle, or its importance. We do not know. What we do know is that she had a bold and robust faith, daring both to point out what was needed and then quietly to insist that her Son attend to the needs she had made known to Him by instructing the servants to await His orders. This is one of the most poignant moments of the Gospels, when profound faith challenges goodness Himself to ‘produce the goods’ as it were. It is surely the model of prayer for all times and situations for those who would partake in the feast of the Kingdom of God. So too, Our Blessed Mother’s words are the foundation for all Christian discipleship: “Do whatever He tells you,” she instructs us. She herself had already done this at the Annunciation and knew the supernatural fecundity of so doing. So too shall we if we take her words to heart and are prepared to respond in that faith and generosity that enables miracles to happen within us and through us, if we allow the Kingdom of God to take root and grow in our hearts, minds and souls, to the glory of Almighty God and for the salvation of our soul. The infant of Nazareth demands nothing less of us. For He relies on us to be His witnesses, to be the witnesses of the Glory of God in the world today. As we partake in the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood made new here on our altar this morning, let us beg for an increase of faith, and for the courage to act upon it, that we too may come to drink of the new wine of the Kingdom of God. + After the great feasts, our monthly Conventual Mass for our deceased relatives, friends and benefactors this morning.
Après les grandes fêtes, notre messe conventuelle mensuelle pour nos proches, nos amis et nos bienfaiteurs décédés ce matin. + Whilst the world busily returns to its activities, the Sacred Liturgy of Holy Mother the Church continues to contemplate the Christmas mystery. Eight days of the Christmas Octave itself are insufficient to plumb the depths of the Incarnation. The feast of the Epiphany follows, and according to ancient custom in these very days we contemplate this recognition and adoration of the Christ-Child by the kings of this world for a further eight days, culminating in the celebration of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which we celebrate tomorrow. In this progression of feasts, in the transition from the shepherds at night coming to the crib, the kings who travelled from afar laden with symbolic gifts, to St John the Baptist declaring “this is the Lamb of God, this is He Who takes away the sin of the world” (Gospel; Feast of the Baptism of the Lord) we have an increasingly clear testament to exactly Who this child born in a manger in Bethlehem in fact is. And today, on this Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany (the first Sunday after the Epiphany) we have the spectacle of the boy-Jesus teaching in the Temple unknown to His parents, who thought Him lost. Some calendars keep this day as the feast of the Holy Family, and certainly we can ponder that element of Our Lord’s life on earth with much profit. But the main focus of the Sacred Liturgy of Christmas and Epiphany is Christological: Who is it that has been born? What is this child, this boy, this man baptised by John the Baptist? This morning the Church places before us that He is a boy who, at his own initiative, engages in profound dialogue with the teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem, causing astonishment in both those with whom He spoke and even more astonishment in His distressed parents when finally, after some days, they found their missing twelve-year-old Son. “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s House?” the Boy replies to His mother’s more than reasonable complaint about Him going missing. This is perhaps one of the cheekiest expressions of Our Lord recorded in the Gospel, and one could well understand a mother giving such a twelve-year-old a good slap for answering in such a way. But there is more here, isn’t there? There is a quiet yet clear recognition and acceptance of the reality that He does belong in His Father’s House, that whilst He is a twelve-year-old boy, He is nonetheless the Christ of God. Sacred Scripture does not give us further incidents from his adolescence or youth, but it is hard to imagine that He did not similarly engage during His subsequent life in Nazareth. The Gospel most certainly speaks of Him growing in wisdom and in favour in the sight of God and man. So too, it notes, that the Blessed Virgin Mary kept these things quietly in her heart. My brothers and sisters, we must not let our own return to work after the Christmas feasts distract us from all that our Holy Mother the Church puts before us in her sacred rites: the Christ-Child is God made man for our Salvation: He is the unique Saviour of All Mankind; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life; etc. Certainly, we can say that we know this intellectually, and we can reaffirm our faith in it every time we sing the Creed. But the celebration of this reality this Christmas, this Epiphany, needs to change me. It needs to find in me more fertile soil so that the roots of faith may penetrate my being more deeply and bring forth more fruit in me in the particular vocation to which I am called. It may be, indeed, that it may give me sufficient faith and strength to respond generously to God’s call. We know the secular custom of making new year’s resolutions. (It is sometimes amusing to see how long it is before we cannot even remember what they were!) It is time, however, that we make our Christmas and Epiphany resolutions. That is to say, we must ask ourselves: How am I going to respond more faithfully, more generously, more fruitfully to the reality of God made man for my salvation? Certainly, this involves the preliminary conversion of our lives from sin and vice—that is a given—but how, positively, can I make use of the immeasurable gift of the graces that these sacred days bring? What good can I—must I—do in return, so that our feasting has not been in vain? As we adore the Christ-Child anew on His Altar this morning, let us ask for the light and the grace to be able to respond with generosity and joy. + + In nómine Iesu omne genu flectátur, cæléstium, terréstrium et infernórum : et omnis lingua confiteátur, quia Dóminus Iesus Christus in glória est Dei Patris. Thus, the Church sings in the Introit of this Holy Mass. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Despite the fact that this particular feast of the Holy Name is a relatively later addition to the Church’s calendar, and even though the devotion it fosters may sometimes be spurned as seeming too old-fashioned (or even as too modern!), we need to remember that the words of the Introit come from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians—a text originating in the very first generation of Christian life and faith. Hence, the reverence and ‘devotion’ to the Holy Name to which it gives witness, and the profound faith that gives rise to them, is by no means outdated. Nor is it a peculiar fruit of the devotio moderna of the late Middle Ages taken up and promoted by a-liturgical sixteenth century religious orders. Rather, profound reverence for the name of Our Saviour is literally fundamental to Christianity. It is, of course, deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition of reverence for the name of God, which is seen as so holy as to be unpronounceable. The name of God Incarnate, however, is pronounceable, ushering in an intimacy with God previously unthinkable. Christians call upon the Saviour by His name! And as we see in the words of St Paul in this morning’s Introit, Christians have sung of this new and personal relationship with God since the very beginning, calling upon His Incarnate Son by name, invoking His power and His strength in times of need and of persecution, giving thanks to Him by name for the graces and blessings received in this life, calling upon Him in their last agony. The name of Jesus has been on their lips throughout their lives on this earth in the Church’s liturgy and in their preaching and teaching. In the face of the orders of pernicious potentates of different epochs to be silent and no longer to speak of Jesus, the Christ of God, many have died martyrs' deaths utterly confident in the salvation that He brings. Again: this is utterly fundamental to Christianity. In fact, it is fundamental to humanity. Jesus of Nazareth, God become man, the Anointed One of God, is the unique saviour of all of mankind. By calling upon His name in faith and by persevering in living according to the teaching of the One True Church He founded we shall receive the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life that no secular authority can take away. How can we not sing of this reality? How can we not preach and teach this truth? The eternal salvation of all men and women is at stake! To do so today, however, brings us face to face with the raging spiritual cancers of our age that go untreated and unchecked to the ruination of countless souls. I speak, of course, of the relativism that denies the possibility of absolute truth in any discourse about faith and morals and of the syncretism that maintains that any and all religions (or even none at all) are equally valid paths to God and to salvation. In the face of the confusion these egregious errors sow (in which the devil thrives) we would do well to listen carefully of the First Letter of St John: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. Little children, you are of God and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 Jn. 4:1-7) This insistence on the unique nature and role of Jesus Christ is not some traditionalist propaganda or rant. It is the divinely inspired Word of God, nothing less. It is the faith of the Catholic Church faithfully handed on from its origins down to us today. This is why we reverence the name of Jesus by bowing our heads when it is mentioned. This is and with other pious customs. This is why it is the grave sin of blasphemy to take His name in vain and use it profanely or as a swear word. This is why we celebrate this feast, so that “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” and that in so doing every human person might find eternal salvation. Amen. + + It is very easy to settle into the warm and flavoursome celebration of the Christmas feast, particularly when we are blessed with the company of family and friends, and this is good and right. But lest such feasting become an end in itself and consume us, on this Sunday within the Christmas Octave the Sacred Liturgy of our Holy Mother the Church recalls us somewhat abruptly as it were to the very heart of exactly what we are celebrating and why.
She does so through the wonder of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St Joseph after the Child Jesus’ presentation in the Temple—which customarily occurred some forty days after His birth. We are familiar with Simeon’s Nunc dimittis (Lk 2:29-32) which we shall contemplate in the liturgy of Candlemas on February 2nd. It is this that provokes Our Lord’s parents’ wonder. But this morning the Church confronts us with Simeon’s further declaration: “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.” This, if you wish, is the very ‘un-nice’ reality of Christmas, of the Incarnation, which is so often buried under the pleasant trappings of this season. But let us beware of the quicksand of ‘niceness’ that swallows up so many of our contemporaries. For God did not become man so that we could feast and celebrate and eat comforting food. He became man so that we could have the possibility of salvation from our sins and everlasting life in heaven—the possibility: not the automatic assurance of, much less the involuntary conscription into, heaven. And as Simeon makes very clear, the Christ-child is destined for the fall of many, just as he is to be the means of the rise of many. He is to be a sign of contradiction to the world that, as the Prologue of St John’s Gospel laments, despite being “made through him…[the world] knew him not.” Jn 1:10 It is this small child about whom we sing sweet carols who shall in fact judge all of mankind according to their deeds. Thus, the feast of Christmas is essentially a challenge. It confronts us with God made man, with the appearance of the definitive revelation of God in human history, with the arrival in our midst of the unique saviour of all mankind. Christmas is not a nice story, much less is it simply a pleasant time of year. Indeed, Christmas has nothing at all to do with niceness or pleasantries. Rather, the event we celebrate at Christmas challenges us. Indeed, it presents us with the ultimate challenge—of responding in both words and action, in faith and in works, to the question: “Who is this Jesus, born in a stable?” If He is a prophet or a philosopher or a misguided dreamer, so be it. We can take or leave his teachings and demands as we wish, a la carte. In this case we may prefer to follow other prophets or systems of meaning, or even to live our lives unencumbered by those who seek meaning and truth beyond what we are able to experience here and now. But if He is the one “set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed,” if indeed He is whom the Church insists He is—the Truth incarnate for our salvation—then we must take a stance. We must decide whether we wish to rise with Him or to fall away from Him. And we must decide this with all of our hearts, minds, souls and bodies. That is to say that every aspect of our lives must be changed by this reality. An intellectual consent to the fact of the Incarnation is insufficient: it must be lived out by my daily worship of the Incarnate One and by my perseverance in striving to be faithful to His teaching, the teaching faithfully handed down and made present today by the One True Church He founded. For on this perseverance and fidelity all of mankind shall be judged. Based on this, we shall all rise or fall eternally. My brothers and sisters, in our world where relativism and syncretism have long-since taken root and where any claim to objective religious truth is regarded as discriminatory or even hateful, and where the snug concept that everyone will go to heaven in the end anyhow is accepted as a given, the Word of God slaps us in the face with the reality of the objective truth that Jesus of Nazareth is God made man for our salvation. Yes, rightly do we celebrate this reality with great joy and festivity and with family and friends. Yes, centuries of Christian culture have given rise to beautiful customs and chants and ceremonies that console and comfort us each year. All of this is good. But if we do not accept the fundamental challenge that everything about Christmas implies—of converting our lives to the worship of Him and to fidelity to His teaching—our celebrations are in vain and we risk falling, rather than rising, eternally with Him. May the Christ-child born for our salvation grant to us the grace and strength of the conversion we so urgently need. + We wish you and yours all the blessings of this beautiful feast of Christmas and thank you for your friendship and support of the monastery throughout the year. We are deeply aware of the many blessings we receive from our many friends here in France and around the world. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Be assured that you and your intentions always accompany us, day and night, in our life of prayer. Nous vous souhaitons, à vous et aux vôtres, toutes les bénédictions de cette belle fête de Noël et vous remercions de votre amitié et de votre soutien au monastère tout au long de l'année. Nous sommes profondément conscients des nombreuses bénédictions que nous recevons de nos nombreux amis ici en France et dans le monde. Merci du fond du cœur. Soyez assurés que vous et vos intentions nous accompagnez toujours, jour et nuit, dans notre vie de prière. A Christmas Homiliy - Une homélie de Noël
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