FIFTH GREATER ANTIPHON
O Orient! splendour of eternal light, and Sun of Justice! Come and enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.Dom Prosper Guéranger:
O Jesus, divine Sun! You are coming to snatch us from eternal night: blessed forever be your infinite goodness! But you put our faith to the test before showing yourself in all your brightness. You hide your rays until the time decreed by your heavenly Father comes, in which all your beauty will break upon the world. You are traversing Judea. You are near Jerusalem. The journey of Mary and Joseph is near its term. Crowds of men pass or meet you on the road, each one hurrying to his native town, there to be enrolled as the Edict commands. Not one of all these suspects that you, O divine Orient! are so near him. They see your Mother Mary, and they see nothing in her above the rest of women. Or if they are impressed by the majesty and incomparable modesty of this august Queen, it is but a vague feeling of surprise at there being such dignity in one so poor as she is, and they soon forget her again. If the Mother is thus an object of indifference to them, it is not to be expected that they will give even so much as a thought to her child that is not yet born. And yet this child is yourself, O Sun of Justice! Oh increase our faith, but increase too our love. If these men loved you, O Redeemer of mankind, you wouldst give them the grace to feel your presence. Their eyes, indeed, would not yet see you, but their hearts, at least, would burn within them, they would long for your Coming, and would hasten it by their prayers and sighs. Dearest Jesus! who thus traverses the world you have created, and who forces not the homage of your creatures, we wish to keep near you during the rest of this your journey: we kiss the footsteps of Her that carries you in her womb. We will not leave you until we arrive together with you at Bethlehem, that House of Bread, where, at last, our eyes will see you, O splendour of eternal light, our Lord and our God!
On this
day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
The vigil of St. Thomas, Apostle.
At Rome, the holy martyrs Liberatus and Bajulus.
At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Ammon, Zeno,
Ptolemy, Ingen and Theophilus, soldiers, who, standing near
the tribunals and seeing a Christian trembling under the torture and
almost on the point of apostatising, endeavoured to encourage him by
their looks and by signs, and when for this reason the whole people
raised an outcry against them, they rushed forward and declared
themselves Christians. By their victory, Christ, who had given to
them such fortitude, triumphed most gloriously.
At Gelduba, St. Julius, martyr.
In Arabia, the holy martyrs Eugene and Macarius,
priests. For reproving Julian the Apostate for his impiety, they
received a most severe scourging, were banished to a vast desert, and
finally were put to the sword.
At Antioch, the birthday of St. Philogonius,
bishop, who was called by the will of God from the practice of law to
the government of that church. With the saintly bishop Alexander and
other auxiliaries, he engaged the first combat for the Catholic faith
against Arius, and, being renowned for merits, rested in the Lord. His festival was commemorated by St. John Chrysostom with
an excellent panegyric.
At Brescia, St. Dominic, bishop and confessor.
In Spain, the departure from this world of St.
Dominic de Sylos, Abbot, of the Order of St. Benedict, most
renowned for the miracles he wrought for the deliverance of captives.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs,
confessors and virgins.
Thanks
be to God.
