Lesson
for Matins – Isaias li. 1‒6
Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof, and He will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise. Hearken to me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law will go forth from me and my judgement will rest to be a light of the nations. My Just One is near at hand, my Saviour is gone forth, and my arms will judge the people: the islands will look for me and will patiently wait for my arm. Lift up your eyes to Heaven and look down to the Earth beneath: for the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the Earth will be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof will perish in like manner: but my salvation will be forever, and my justice will not fail.
Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
O Jesus, Flower of the Field, Lily of the Valley, your visit is to change our barren parched earth into a garden of delights! We had lost Eden and all its lovely magnificence by our sins: and lo! Eden is restored to us. You are coming that you may set it in our hearts. O heavenly plant! Tree of life transplanted from Heaven to Earth, you first take root in Mary, that faithful soil and thence you will come to us, and we must be to you a grateful land, cherishing the divine seed and making it fructify. Let it be so, O divine Husbandman, who appeared to Magdalene under the form of a gardener. You know how far are our hearts from being ready for your working in them. Move, and break, and water this land. The season is come. Our hearts long to be fertile, and to have growing within them that exquisite Flower which makes the beauty of all Heaven, and comes down to hide its splendour for a time here below. O Jesus! Let these souls of ours be fertile. Let them be crowned with the flowers of virtue. Let themselves become flowers growing around you, O divine Flower, and forming to the heavenly Father a garden which He may unite with that which He formed from all eternity. O Flower of Heaven, Jesus! You are also the Dew, refresh us. You are the Sun, warm us. You are the fragrant Perfume, impart to us your sweetness. You are the sovereign Beauty, give us of your fair and ruddy bloom, and make us cluster around you in eternity, as the crown you did wreathe to yourself.
