Deus creator omnium / O God, Who Made the Universe

Through the Year. Sundays 1 and 3. I Vespers. 

Deus, Creator omnium, polisque rector, vestiens diem decore lumine, noctem soporis gratia.   Artus solutos ut quies reddat laboris usui mentesque fessas allevet luctusque solvat anxios.  Grates peracto iam die et noctis exortu preces, voti reos ut adiuves, hymnum canentes solvimus. Te cordis ima concinant, te vox canora concrepet, te diligat castus amor, te mens adoret sobria.    Ut cum profunda clauserit diem caligo noctium, fides tenebras nesciat et nox fide reluceat. Dormire mentem ne sinas, dormire culpa noverit; castos fides refrigerans somni vaporem temperet. Exuta sensu lubrico te cordis alta somnient, ne hostis invidi dolo pavor quietos suscitet. Christum rogamus et Patrem  Christi Patrisque Spiritum; unum potens in omnia fove precantes, Trinitas. Amen..

O God, who made the universe, And Ruler of the sky, who dress The day with fair and gladsome light, The night with grace of restfulness; May rest our wearied limbs restore Once more to their activity; Relieve the weakness of our minds; From troub'ling sorrow set us free. With grateful prayers we sing a hymn As daylight ends and night begins; Thus we fulfill our vows to you, That you might take away our sins.   To you, may hearts in harmony, To you, their tuneful voices ring; In you may love find pure delight, Your praise the sober spirit sing.    That, when the deepest, darkest night Has closed around and covered day, May faith no doubt or darkness know, And night, by faith, true light display. Do not allow the soul to sleep, But let wrongdoing sleep again; Let faith, which keeps us chaste and cool, In sleep the warmth of sense restrain. Stripped of deception, let the heart At rest profoundly dream of you, Lest terror of the ancient foe Deceive, and evil wake anew. We pray the Father and his Christ, And Spirit, joined in unity, One God, who rules in ev'rything: Tend to us all, O Trinity. Amen.

Copyright 2020 Fr. Thomas Buffer

Fulgentis auctor aetheris / Creator of the Shining Sky

Through the Year. Wednesdays 2 and 4. Lauds. 

Fulgentis auctor aetheris, qui lunam lumen noctibus, solem dierum cursibus certo fundasti tramite   Nox atra iam depellitur, mundi nitor renascitur, novusque iam mentis vigor dulces in actus erigit.  Laudes sonare iam tuas dies relatus admonet, vultus caeli blandior nostra serenat pectora. Vitemus omne lubricum declinet prava spiritus, vitam facta non inquinent, linguam culpa non implicet;    Sed, sol diem dum conficit, fides profunda ferveat, spes ad promissa provocet, Christo coniugat caritas. Praesta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, cum Spiritu Paraclito regnans per omne saeculum. Amen..

Creator of the shining sky, Who made the lamps to shine on high, And set their ways: the moon for nights, The sun for days, to be their lights. Dark night is driven far away, Earth's splendor is reborn with day; New vigor makes our spirit strong For pleasant labors, all day long.  The day, returning, prompts all men To make your praises sound again. The sky grows clearer; at the sight Our spirits, too, become more light.   All harmful error let us flee, The soul ward off iniquity; No sinful deed our life defile, No guiltiness the tongue beguile.    But, as the sun the new day starts, Let burning faith inflame our hearts; To future gifts let hope incite, And charity to Christ unite. O grant it, Father, only Son, And Holy Spirit with them one: The God we worship and adore, For ever and forevermore. Amen.

Copyright 2021 Fr. Thomas Buffer

Diei luce reddita / The Light of Day Has Been Restored

Through the Year. Saturdays 2 and 4. Lauds. 

Diei luce reddita, laetis gratisque vocibus Dei canamus gloriam, Christi fatentes gratiam,  Per quem creator omnium diem noctemque condidit, aeterna lege sanciens ut semper succedant sibi.  Tu vera lux fidelium, quem lex veterna non tenet, noctis nec ortu succidens, aeterno fulgens lumine.  Praesta, Pater ingenite, totum ducamus iugiter Christo placentes hunc diem Sancto repleti Spiritu. Amen..

The light of day has been restored; With grateful voice we praise the Lord, With joyful hearts his glory sing, The grace of Christ acknowledging.  For God, who made all things in might, Through Him created day and night, And by eternal law decreed That one the other should succeed.  That ancient law does not control The Light of ev'ry faithful soul. You do not fade at rise of night, But glow with everlasting light.    O unbegotten Father, pray, Grant us the grace throughout the day To please your Christ in ev'ry hour, Filled with the Holy Spirit's power. Amen.

Copyright 2021 Fr. Thomas Buffer

Sol, ecce, lentus occidens / Behold the Slowly Setting Sun

Through the Year. Wednesdays 2 and 4. Vespers. 

Sol, ecce, lentus occidens

montes et arva et aequora

maestus relinquit, innovat

sed lucis omen crastinae.
    Behold the slowly setting sun
    Leave field and sea and mountain height;
    It goes with sadness, but renews
    The promise of tomorrow’s light.

Mirantibus mortalibus
sic te, Creator provide,
leges vicesque temporum
umbris dedisse et lumini. 
    O provident Creator, thus,
    As mortals wonder, you arrange
    The laws of time, and order how
    The dark and light their place exchange.

Ac dum, tenebris aethera,
silentio prementibus,
vigor laborum deficit,
quies cupita quaeritur,
    While darkness moves in silently,
    The light of heaven to enclose,
    Our strength for work begins to fail;
    We long for rest and seek repose.

Spe nos fideque divites
tui beamur lumine
Verbi, quod est a saeculis
splendor paternae gloriae.
    May we be rich in faith and hope
    And find contentment in the light
    Of your own Word, who always shines,
    Light of the Father’s glory bright.

Est ille sol qui nesciat
ortum vel umquam vesperum;
quo terra gestit contegi,
quo caeli in aevum iubilant.
    He is that sun who knows no rise,
    No setting does his splendor know,
    But covers earth and makes it glad,
    And heaven revels in its glow.

Hac nos serena perpetim
da luce tandem perfrui,
cum Nato et almo Spiritu
tibi novantes cantica. Amen.
    Grant us, that we may endlessly
    Enjoy this light at last with you,
    And with the Son and Spirit blest,
    To you our songs of praise renew. Amen.

Copyright 2020 Thomas Buffer

All Rights Reserved

Sator princepsque temporum / Creator, Lord of Time and Tide

Through the Year. Tuesdays 2 and 4. Vespers. 

Sator princepsque temporum, clarum diem laboribus noctemque qui soporibus fixo distinguis ordine Mentem tu castam dirige, obscura ne silentia ad dira cordis vulnera telis patescant invidi. Vacent ardore pectora, faces nec ullas perferant, quae nostro haerentes sensui mentis vigorem saucient. Praesta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, cum Spiritu Paraclito regnans per omne saeculum. Amen.

Creator, Lord of time and tide,  The hours in order you divide: For work, you give us daytime bright; For rest, the quiet sleep of night. The inner self keep pure from sin, Lest silent darkness, deep within Expose the heart to wound and woe, From deadly arrows of the foe. Let passion's fire from us depart Lest, burning brightly in the heart, Its flames around our feelings bind And wound the vigor of the mind. O grant it, Father, only Son, And Spirit ever with them one; The God whom all things must obey, Reigning in everlasting day. Amen.

Copyright 2005 Fr. Thomas Buffer

Jeroboam and Ahijah the Shilonite

Many nice little books have been written to teach children Bible stories. Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Whale, the Three Boys in the Furnace, all of these episodes are perfect for story time. One Old Testament story that has, as far as I know, never gotten its own story book is the tale of the meeting of Jeroboam and Ahijah the Shilonite, found in first Kings 11. I am thinking about this because it was the first reading at Mass this morning.

And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment; and the two of them were alone in the open country. Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes...

Solomon had sinned by promoting and participating in the worship of false gods. As a consequence, his rival Jeroboam will end up the leader of ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel, while the remaining two will stay with Solomon and his descendants. 

If someone did get around to making a storybook about the meeting of Jeroboam and Ahijah, I would certainly buy a copy and read it to the kids from our church. It would help them understand another Bible story that they are going to hear toward the end of Lent:

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be."

The outward garment of  Ahijah was torn into twelve pieces, but the inner garment of Jesus was woven in one piece, and remained untorn. In Himself, Jesus unites the scattered children of God; He alone, the descendant of Solomon, has united the twelve tribes into one eternal kingdom. 

Is God Crazy?

Today's Gospel presents the famous story of a shepherd who has one hundred sheep. One of the sheep goes astray. So he leaves the remaining ninety-nine in the desert and goes off to seek for the lost sheep. It's not surprising that in nearly two thousand years there have been many different interpretations of this parable. In patristic writers, a common interpretation is that the shepherd is God the Son, who leaves heaven, becomes incarnate, and seeks out the lost sheep; that is, the whole human race, lifts it up on his shoulders in his resurrection, and carries it back to heaven in his own glorified humanity. (Here's one example from Ambrose; check out Origen and Hilary sometime, I'd give references but I'm busy)

We live in a less metaphysical age and don't often hear that sort of explanation from the pulpit. In our day, you are likely to hear what we might call a more psychological interpretation, aimed at helping us understand the depth of God's love. In this interpretation, God is a crazy lover. He does things that don't make a lick of sense. This understanding hinges on the idea that any shepherd who lost just one sheep out of a hundred would be nuts to leave the other ninety-nine alone while he goes off to search for one lost sheep (who is probably stupid to boot). It would be crazy to do that because the shepherd risks losing his entire flock. Better to lose one sheep and still have ninety-nine than to lose all one hundred of them and be left with nothing. So, in this view, when Jesus asks the Pharisees and scribes, "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?" the logical answer is, "No one."

I think that interpretation is wrong, and here are two reasons why.

First reason: read the entire Gospel passage. Jesus follows up his question "What man among you" with another example: "Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it?" The logical answer to this question is, "every one." The woman's actions are perfectly rational. She has a small house, she knows she lost one coin, it has to be here someplace, she works methodically from one end of the house to another until she finds the coin. We have all done something similar after misplacing our car keys or wallet. Is Jesus really saying that the shepherd is crazy and the woman is sane? I don't think so. Does he contrast the shepherd and the woman, or present them as parallel cases? I think he presents them as parallel cases.

Both the shepherd and the woman have the same problem: incompleteness. I had something. Now I have less. I had ten coins, now I have only nine, my collection of coins is incomplete. I had a hundred sheep, now I have only ninety-nine, my flock is incomplete. I will not rest until my original count of sheep or coins is complete. When what had been lost is restored, there will be great rejoicing, and everyone will be invited to share in my joy.

Second reason: what prompted the parable? The objection of the Pharisees and scribes, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." In Jesus' view, the Pharisees and scribes are the ninety-nine sheep. They are in no danger if the shepherd leaves them alone for a bit while he spends time with the lost sheep -- the tax collectors and sinners-- because they are obeying God's Law. The lost sheep needs more attention.

God is not crazy. As a Mexican woman once told me, "Dios es una persona bien ordenada." We are crazy when we stray from God's path of righteousness. We are equally crazy when we fail to understand that God's flock is not complete while there are still children of Adam who do not hear the voice of the Shepherd calling them to eternal life.