of our pride, that it needed a remedy of such exceeding efficacy as this! Can we refuse to become little children, now that He, who gives us the precept, sets us so touching an example? Sweet Jesus! we adore thee wrapped in thy Swaddling-Clothes, and our ambition is to imitate thy divine humility. "Let not," says the holy Abbot Guerric, "let not "the eye of your faith be offended or shocked, 'Brethren, at these outward humble coverings. As "the Mother of Jesus wrapped him in swaddling "clothes, so does Grace and Wisdom, which is your spiritual mother, veil over, with certain "material things, the truth of our Incarnate God, "and hide, under the representation of symbolical figures, the majesty of this same Jesus. When "I, Brethren, deliver to you, by my words, the Truth, (which is Jesus,) I am swathing Jesus in bands of "exceeding great poverty. Happy the soul, that "loves and adores not its Jesus the less because he "receives him thus poorly clad! Let us, therefore, "most devoutly think upon our Lord clothed in the swathing-bands, wherewith his Mother covered his "infant limbs; that so, in the world of eternal happi"ness, we may see the glory and beauty, wherewith "his Father hath clad him; and this glory is that of "the Only Begotten Son of the Father."1 Let us once more celebrate the joyous Birth of our Jesus, making use of this ancient Prose so redolent of the piety of the ages of Faith. It is found in the old Roman-French Missals. Nato canunt omnia Domino pie agamina, Syllabatim neumata Perstringendo organica. SEQUENCE. Every choir devoutly sings to the new-born King, Melodising each word with organ-notes. 1 Sermon the Fifth On our Lord's Nativity. Dear Holiday! whereon the earth is filled with joy, ne'er felt before. 'Twas on this grand Night, that Angels' voices intoned the Sweet Gloria. A dazzling light shone at mid-night on the Shepherds. They are tending their flocks, when suddenly they hear the divine announcement: 66 Glory infinite in the heavens-and on earth, Peace : 66 He that is eternal, is born of the glorious Virgin!" Then, let the heavenly host give forth excessive jubilee, And earth, from pole to pole, thrill with the loud mefodious song. The enemy's intolerable cruelty is crushed. Let the whole race of men sing praise to the God now born upon the earth. Peace is restored to the world; let all things rejoice at the birth of the Child. Let our Gloria be sung today with voices full and shrill, that it may echo through creation. May He that alone rules all things May He that alone governs all things In his mercy save all kingdoms, and give them Peace. Amen. The saintly Abbot of Cluny, Peter the Venerable, is the author of the Hymn we will now offer to the incomparable Mother. It is full of that scriptural unction, which filled the writer's fervent soul. SEQUENCE. Rejoice ye Heavens! and be glad, O earth! let no man keep his lips from praise. It was by the Virgin that man was restored to the primeval state. A Virgin brought forth our God, and the ancient anger ceased: The ancient discord ceased, and Peace and Glory came in its stead. Guilty man was drawn from the mire, when God lay on his Crib of straw. A wretched Stable held then within it the Food of heaven's own gift. The Virgin feeds the Creator-the Redeemer, who had become her Child. Divine Wisdom lay hid in childhood. The milk of the Mother's breast fed her Jesus; her Jesus feeds us with the milk of his tender mercy, Giving us the sweetness of grace through the assuming our human nature. Therefore, let our sweetest music give our Ave Maria, In sacred words, and with speaking hearts. Hail! Virgin ever Blest, that didst destroy the curse. Hail! Mother of the Most High, and Spouse of the Lamb most meek. Thou didst conquer the serpent, and crush his head, For the God, that was born of thee, was the serpent's death. Thou art the Queen of heaven, and Reparatrix of the earth, The loved Mother of men, and the terror of the demons of hell. The Scriptural figures of Window, Gate, Fleece, Palace, House, Temple, and Earthall are fulfilled in thee. Thou art the Lily, by thy virginity; thou art the Rose, by thy martyrdom : The Garden enclosed, the Fountain of gardens that cleansest the defilements of sin, Purifiest them that are unclean, and bringest the dead to life. O Queen of the Angels, and, after God, the Hope of mankind! Thou art the couch of the King, and the Throne of God. Thou art the Star of the East, that puttest to flight the shadows of the Western night. Thou art the Aurora, the Sun's harbinger, and the Day that knowest not night. Thou art Mother of the God who is our Father; thou giveth life to Him who giveth life tous. Oh! may the Holy Mother's confidence in her Son reconcile Him to us his children! Mother of Jesus! pray for us to thy Divine Son, that he forgive us our sins, And, after this our pardon, give us grace and glory. Amen. The Civil Year ends to-day. At Mid-night, a New Year will begin, as the world counts time, and the present one will sink into the abyss of eternity. It is one step further on in our lives, and brings us nearer to that end of all things, which St. Peter says is at hand. The Liturgy, which begins a new Ecclesiastical Year on the First Sunday of Advent, has no special prayers, in the Roman Church, for the beginning of the Year on the First of January; but her spirit-which takes an interest in everything affecting the well-being of individuals or of society at large-her spirit is, that we should, sometime in the course of this last day of the Year, make a fervent act of thanksgiving to God, for the blessings he has bestowed upon us during the past twelve months. Rome sets us the example. To-day, the Sovereign Pontiff goes, in state, to the Gesù (or, as we should call it, Jesus' Church,) and there assists at a solemn Te Deum; the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament follows it, blessing, as it were, the public act of thanksgiving, and giving a pledge of blessings for the coming Year. The only Church that has given a Liturgical expression to the sentiments, which the close of the Year inspires, is that of the Mozarabic Rite, in which there occurs the following beautiful Preface, which we gladly offer to our readers. It is part of the Mass of the Sunday, which immediately precedes the Feast of the Epiphany. ILLATIO. Dignum et justum est nos tibi gratias agere, Domine sancte, Pater æterne, omnipotens Deus, per Jesum It is meet and just, that we should give thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Eternal Father, Almighty God, through Jesus 1 I. St. Pet. iv. 7. |