(NOVEMBER 3. Lesson VI. THIRD DAY IN THE OCTAVE OF ALL OF that city is written, in a certain place, thus: that grief, and sorrow, and crying, shall flee away. SAINTS. In the First Nocturn, Lessons of What can be happier than that life, the occurrent Scripture. SECOND NOCTURN. where there is no fear of poverty, no weakness of disease; where none can be hurt, none can be angry; where A Sermon of Venerable Bede the none can envy, none can be impure; Priest. Lesson IV. Sermon 18 on the Saints. WITH how joyous a breast the heavenly city receives those that return from fight! How happily she meets them that bear the trophies of the conquered enemy! With triumphant men, women also come, who where none can be tormented with the desire of honour, or the ambition of power? No fear there of the devil; no snares there of evil spirits; no terror there of hell; no death there, either of soul or body, but a life blossed in the gift of immortality. Ry. O praiseworthy constancy. p. cxx. THIRD NOCTURN. rose superior both to this world and Lesson of the Holy Gospel according NOW, therefore, brethren, let us enter the way of life; let us return to the celestial city, in which we are citizens, enrolled and inscribed. For we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens of the Saints, and of the household of God; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. The gates of this city are opened to us by fortitude; and faith will afford us a broad entrance. Let us consider, therefore, the felicity of that heavenly habitation, in so far as it is possible to consider it: for to speak the truth, no words of man are sufficient to comprehend it. Ry. The fellow-citizens. p. cxx. AT to S. Matthew. Lesson VII. Chap. v. that time: Jesus, seeing the a multitudes, went up into mountain; and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him. And that which follows. A Homily of S. Augustine the Bishop. Book 1 on the Sermon on the Mount. Nor ought blessedness to begin at any other point whatever, if indeed it is to reach the highest wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; whereas, on the other hand also, pride is entitled the beginning of all sin. Let the proud, therefore, seek after and love the kingdoms of the earth; but blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth: that earth, I suppose, of which it is said in the Psalm, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land (literally the earth) of the living. For it means a certain firmness and stability of perpetual inheritance, where the soul, NOVEMBER 4. by means of a good disposition, rests, as it were, in its own place, just as the body rests in the earth, and from FOURTH DAY IN THE OCTAVE OF ALL SAINTS. In the First Nocturn, Lessons of the occurrent Scripture. which it is nourished with its own food, as the body from the earth: it is the very rest and life of the Saints. Then, the meek are those who yield to the acts of the wicked, and do not resist evil, but overcome evil with good. A Sermon of Venerable Bede the Ry. Let your loins. p. cxxi. Lesson VIII. BLESSED are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Mourning is sorrow arising from the loss of things that are dear. Now, those who are converted to God lose those things which they were accustomed to embrace as dear in this world: for they do not rejoice in the things in which they formerly rejoiced; and until the love of eternal things be formed in them, they are wounded by some measure of grief: they will therefore be comforted by the Holy Spirit, Who on this account chiefly is called the Paraclete, that is, the Comforter, in order that, while losing the temporal joy, they may enjoy to the full that which is eternal. Ry. I heard a voice. p. cxxi. Lesson IX. BLESSED are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Now He calls those lovers of a true and indestructible good. They will therefore be filled with that meat of which the Lord Himself says, My meat is to do the will of My Father, which is righteousness; and with that water, of which whosoever drinketh, as the same authority says, it shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. He says that those are blessed who relieve the miserable, inasmuch as it is repaid to them in such a way that they are freed from misery. Ry. Grant to us, Lord. p. cxxi. SECOND Nocturn. Priest. Lesson VI. Sermon 18 on All Saints. NO discord there for ever, but all in agreement: because there will be things in harmony. All things one concord of all Saints, one peace, and one joy. Tranquil are all things there, and quiet. Perpetual is the splendour there: not such as the sunlight which now is, but both more glorious and more happy; because that city, as we read, needeth not the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth it light, and its brightness is the Lamb. There, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. Ry. Among them. p. cxix. Lesson V. WHEREFORE, there is no night there, no darkness, no gathering of clouds, no asperity of cold or heat; but such will be the nature of things as neither hath eye seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, except of those who are counted worthy to inherit it: whose names are written in the Book of Life, who have both washed their robes in the Blood of the Lamb, and are before the Throne of God, and serve Him day and night. There is no old age there, nor misery of old age; while all come to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Rz. The fellow-citizens. p. cxx. Lesson VI. BUT above all these things, is the being associated with the company of Angels and Archangels, Thrones and Dominations, Principalities and Powers, and the enjoyment of the watches of all the celestial virtues: to behold the squadrons of the Saints, adorned with stars; the Patriarchs, glittering with faith; the Prophets, rejoicing in hope; the Apostles who, in the twelve tribes of Israel, shall judge the whole world; the Martyrs, decked with the purple diadems of victory; the Virgins, also, with their wreaths of beauty. Ry. O praiseworthy constancy. p. CXX. THIRD NOCTURN. Lesson VIII. NOW, they are peacemakers in bringing into order all the passions of themselves, inasmuch as by their soul, and subjecting them to reason, that is, to the mind and spirit, thoroughly subdued, they become a and by having their carnal lusts kingdom of God: in which all things which is chief and pre-eminent in man are so arranged, that that element rules without resistance over the others, which are common to us with the beasts; and that very element which is pre-eminent in man, namely, mind to something better still, which is the and reason, is brought under subjection truth itself, the Only-begotten Son of God. For neither is he able to rule Lesson of the Holy Gospel according over those things which are inferior, to S. Matthew. Lesson VII. Chap. v. AT that time: Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him. And that which follows. A Homily of S. Augustine the Bishop. Book 1 on the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. How foolish, therefore, are those who seek God with these outward eyes, while He is seen with the heart! As it is written elsewhere: And in simplicity of heart seek Him. For that is a pure heart which is a single heart: and just as this light cannot be seen, unless with eyes that are pure; so neither is God seen, unless that is pure by which He can be seen. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. It is the perfection of peace where nothing offers opposition; and the children of God are peacemakers, because nothing resists God, and surely children ought to have the likeness of their father. Ry. Let your loins. p. cxxi. unless he himself yields subjection to what is superior. And this is the peace which is given on earth to men of goodwill; this is the life of one completely and perfectly wise. Ry. I heard a voice. p. cxxi. Lesson IX. FROM a kingdom of this sort, brought to a condition of thorough peace and order, the prince of this world is cast out, who rules where there is perversity and disorder. When this peace has been inwardly established and strengthened, whatever persecutions he who has been cast out shall stir up from without, he only increases the glory which redounds to God; being unable to bring to the ground anything in that edifice, but by the failure of his machinations making it to be known with how great strength it has been built inwardly. Hence there follows: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Ry. Grant to us, Lord. p. cxxi. Te Deum. p. 15. FIFTH DAY IN THE OCTAVE OF ALL THEREFORE, beloved, with upright mind, firm faith, strong virtue, perfect charity, let us be pre SAINTS. In the first Nocturn, Lessons of the pared to fulfil all the will of God, occurrent Scripture. SECOND Nocturn. keeping His commandments with boldness: innocence in simplicity, con cord in charity, modesty in humility, diligence in ministration, watchfulness A Sermon of Venerable Bede the in helping those in distress, mercy in Priest. Lesson IV. Sermon 18 on the Saints. cherishing the poor, constancy in the defence of truth, censure in severity of discipline, that no example of good deeds be wanting in us. For these are footsteps traced for our guidance by all the Saints, what time they were returning to their country: that we, following their path, might also attain their joy. LET it be our joy, then, to stretch forth after the palm of salutary works. Let us one and all willingly and readily strive in this contest of righteousness; let us run with God and Christ for spectators; and if we have already begun to rise superior to this world and this life, let us not allow Lesson of the Holy Gospel according our course to be retarded by any hankering after it. If the last day shall find us running without hindrance and swiftly in this race, the Lord will never deny remuneration to our merits. Ry. Among them. p. cxix. Lesson V. Ry. Opraiseworthy constancy. p. cxx. to S. Matthew. Lesson VII. Chap. v. AT that time: Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him. And that which follows. FOR He Who will give a purple A Homily of S. Augustine the Bishop. crown for their passion to them that conquer in persecution, the same will bestow a snow-white diadem, according to the merits of their righteousness, to them that triumph in peace. For neither Abraham nor Isaac nor Jacob were slain; and yet, honoured by the merits of their faith and righteousness, they were reckoned the first amongst the Patriarchs; and whoever shall be found faithful, and just, and praiseworthy, shall sit down with them at the banquet. We must remember that we ought not to do our own will, but the will of God; because he who doeth His will abideth for ever, like as He also abideth for ever. Ry. The fellow-citizens. p. cxx. Book 1 on the Sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes begin with humility, while the soul submits itself to Divine authority. Then it comes to the knowledge of the Divine Scriptures, where it must show itself meek in its piety. After that, it now begins to know in what entanglements of this world it is held by means of carnal custom and sins; and so in this third stage in which there is knowledge, the loss of the highest good is mourned over, because it sticks fast in what is lowest. Then, in the fourth stage there is labour, where vehement exertion is put forth, in order that the mind may wrench itself away from those things in which, by reason of their pestilential sweetness, it is entangled here therefore righteousness is hungered and thirsted after, and fortitude is very necessary; because what is retained with delight is not abandoned without pain. Then, at the fifth stage, to those persevering in labour, counsel for getting rid of those things is given; for unless each one is assisted by a superior, in no way is he fit in his own case to extricate himself from so great entanglement of miseries. But it is a just counsel, that he who wishes to be assisted by a stronger, should assist him who is weaker in that in which he himself is stronger therefore, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Ky. Let your loins. p. cxxi. Lesson VIII. or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Seven in number, therefore, are the things which bring perfection: for the eighth brings into light and shows what is perfect, as it were starting from the beginning again, so that the others also are perfected by means of these stages. Hence also the sevenfold operation of the Holy Ghost, of which Isaiah speaks, seems to me to correspond to these stages and sentences. But there is a difference of order: for there the enumeration begins with the more excellent, but here with the inferior. For there it begins with wisdom, and closes with the fear of God; but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Ry. Grant to us, Lord. p. cxxi. Te Deum. p. 15. NOVEMBER 6. AT the sixth stage there is purity of SIXTH DAY IN THE OCTAVE OF ALL heart, able from a good conscience of good works to contemplate that highest good, which can be discerned by the pure and tranquil intellect alone. Lastly, there is, as the seventh, wisdom itself, that is, the contemplation of the truth, tranquillizing the whole man, and assuming the likeness of God, which brings us to this conclusion: Blessed are the SAINTS. In the First Nocturn, Lessons of the occurrent Scripture. SECOND NOCTURN. A Sermon of S. Bernard the Abbot. Lesson IV. peacemakers, for they shall be called Sermons 2 and 5 on the Feast of All the children of God. The eighth, as it were, returns to the starting-point, because it shews and expresses approval of what is complete and perfect: therefore in the first and in the eighth the kingdom of heaven is named, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Ry. I heard a voice. p. cxxi. Lesson IX. As it is now said, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, Saints. BECAUSE we celebrate to-day, most beloved, the festival of All Saints, and one worthy of the utmost devotion, I think it worth while, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, to address to your charity a discourse concerning their common felicity, in which they already enjoy a blessed rest, as well as concerning the glorious consummation for which they wait. For it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that we follow with like conversation those whom we regard with solemn veneration; that we run with all eager ness to the blessedness of those whom we proclaim as most blessed; and that |