A Chapter Conference for "O Sapientia"

+ Amidst the busyness of Advent, howsoever necessary that may be, this Ember week invites us to a more recollected preparation for the coming feast of Christmas. Today, a week before the Vigil of Christmas, the Sacred Liturgy itself becomes more intent, as it were, raising the rank of ferial days from third to second class, providing proper antiphons for the hours each day and, most notably, commencing the singing of the great and ancient ‘O’ Antiphons around which, in history, so many beautiful monastic customs have arisen over more than a thousand years.

“O Sapientia quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae,” [O Wisdom, who come from the mouth of the Most High (Sirach 24:5), you extend to the ends of the earth, and order all things with power and sweetness (Wisdom 8:1): come and teach us the way of prudence (Proverbs 9:6).] we sing tonight.

Which of us does not have need for further tuition in the way of the Cardinal Virtue of prudence? Who amongst us has perfected the exercise of right reason applied in practice? How well am I able to judge in any given situation what is virtuous and what is not, and to know how to achieve the former and avoid the latter?

Certainly, it is to be hoped that gradually we are growing in this, and in the other virtues; that we are making progress in them and not regressing. That is the very business of perseverance in the Christian life. Our Holy Mother the Church sings this antiphon each year not by way of quaint reminder of already achieved, or even of seemingly unachievable, ideals, but as a wise mother who calls her children to perseverance in this the practice of this virtue in the real, even difficult, circumstances in which we find ourselves in this Advent of the year of the Lord 2019. She shall do so again, if God spares us, in 2020. Please God she shall then be a proud mother having seen at least some progress made in us through our cooperation with that tuition for which we plead as we sing “O Sapientia” this evening.

This same principle of growth in virtue through faithful, even gritty, perseverance applies to every aspect of our Christian discipleship and without doubt to the living of our monastic vocation. Please God we are at least somehow in a better position in respect of both tonight than we were a year ago. We may have much, much more progress to make, but by God’s grace and mercy, tonight, we find ourselves persevering and seeking to move further forward, opening ourselves to the means of grace that Our Blessed Lord makes available to us in His Holy Church, above all in the sacraments, but also in and through the many riches of the Sacred Liturgy that it is our privilege as monks to celebrate as fully and as beautifully as we are able.

In this final week of Advent then, let us be intent upon opening ourselves ever more widely to His grace. Let us, make the words of the Collect of the Third Sunday of Advent our own, begging the Lord to incline His ear to our prayers, and to enlighten the darkness of our minds by the grace of His visitation this Christmas.
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We may not yet be perfect come Christmas day this year, or even next. But let us make the effort to open our hearts, minds and souls to the grace Almighty God wishes to give us so that we, and our benefactors, friends and relatives whose intentions we carry with us into our choir stalls, shall nevertheless be somewhat further along the path of virtue and holiness.
That is a most worthy and beautiful gift we can each give to the Christ-child, to the Church, to our brethren—indeed to ourselves—this Christmas. +

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