Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8)

This festival originated in the East where it is mentioned very early. At Rome it was not observed before the reign of Pope Sergius I. As Eve, our first mother, arose from the side of Adam, dazzling with life and innocence, so Mary came forth, bright and immaculate from the heart of the eternal Word, Who, by the cooperation of the Holy Ghost, as the    Liturgy teaches us, was pleased to form that body and soul which were to be, one day, his tabernacle and altar. This is the sublime meaning of the feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the dawn foretelling the day which already breaks behind the eternal hills, the mystic rod which rises from the venerable root of Jesse; the stream which springs from Paradise; it is the symbolical fleece which is stretched on our dry earth to catch the miraculous dew. This is the new Eve, that is to say, the life and the Mother of all the living, who is born today for those to whom the first Eve became the mother of sin and death.

Prayer

Impart unto Thy servants, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gift of Thy heavenly grace, that to us, for whom the           childbearing of the Blessed Virgin was the beginning of our salvation, the votive solemnity of her nativity may give  increase of peace. Through our Lord.

Wisdom of the Saints

Behold, these are the instruments of the spiritual art, which, if they have been applied without ceasing day and night and approved on judgment day, will merit for us from the Lord that reward which He hath promised: “The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). But the workshop in which we perform all these works with diligence is the enclosure of the monastery, and stability in the community.

(20)  To hold one’s self aloof from worldly ways, (21) To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.

(21)  Not to give way to anger, (23) Not to foster a desire for revenge.

(24) Not to entertain deceit in the heart, (25) Not to make a false peace. (26) Not to forsake charity.

(41)  To put one’s trust in God, (42) To refer what good one sees in himself, not to self, but to God.

(42)  But as to any evil in himself, let him be convinced that it is his own and charge it to himself.

(43)  To fear the day of judgment. (45) To be in dread of heal.

(44)  To desire eternal life with all spiritual longing. (47) To keep death before one’s eyes daily.

(45)  To keep a constant watch over the actions of our life.

(49) To hold as certain that God sees us everywhere.

(50)  To dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts which rise in one’s heart.

(51)  And to disclose them to our spiritual father.

(52)  To guard one’s tongue against bad and wicked speech. (53) Not to love much speaking.

(53)  Not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter. (55) Not to love much or boisterous laughter.

(54)  To listen willingly to holy reading. (57) To apply one’s self often to prayer.

(58)  To confess one’s past sins to God daily in prayer with sighs and tears, and to amend them for the future.

(59)  Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh (cf Gal 5:16). (60) To hate one’s own will.

(60)  To obey the commands of the Abbot in all things, even though he himself (which Heaven forbid) act   otherwise, mindful of that precept of the Lord: “What they say, do ye; what they do, do ye not” (Mt 23:3).

(62) Not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called.

(63) To fulfill daily the commandments of God by works. (64) To love chastity.

(65) To hate no one. (66) Not to be jealous; not to entertain envy. (67) Not to love strife.

(68)  No to love pride. (69) To honor the aged. (70) To love the younger.

(69)  To pray for one’s enemies in the love of Christ.

(70)  To make peace with an adversary before the setting of the sun.

(71)  And never to despair of God’s mercy.