Saint Francis Xavier

Wednesday 3 December 2008

In celebration of today's saint Abbot Guéranger includes a long prayer for his intercession and protection during Advent. He prays for 'the vast empire of China, 'on which thou didst look while dying, but which was not blessed with thy preaching'; for Japan, 'thy dear garden.....may the blood of the Martyrs which was poured out on that land like water, bring it the long expected fertility'; for the Mission of the Church and for new apostles. The prayer concludes by asking St. Francis Xavier to intercede especially for his brothers, the 'Holy Society' of Jesuits, that it may 'more and more flourish under the storm of trial which never leaves it at rest; may it be multiplied, so that the children of God may be multiplied by its labours; may it ever have ready, for the service of the Christian World, zealous Apostles and Doctors; may it not be in vain that it bears the name of Jesus.'

See Gardening God Blog link for further reflections on St. Francis and the Japanese Maple which I chose in his honour.
JM

The Laity and the Divine Office: Link to Jane's Advent book

Towards the end of the Introduction to my first book, (Gardening with God: Light in Darkness, 2002) I wrote the following:

"The benefits to lay people of praying the Office are manifold. It deepens our understanding of daily Mass and brings a myriad of insights, blessings and knowledge; it is the prayer of the Universal Church, and to participate in it shows solidarity with her and increases our sense of membership of the Body of Christ; and it offers us the chance of adding, by supererogation, to the store of merit at the Church's disposal."

When I wrote these words I was not familiar with Dom Guéranger's vision of reclaiming the Liturgy, and in particular the Divine Office, for the laity. Now, rather eerily it feels as if he may have been 'looking over my shoulder'. As Confiteor recently said, 'There are no co-incidences with God'. Several of my spiritual friends have their own terms for such phenomena: 'God's Telepathy'; 'The Divine Jigsaw'; 'God-incidences'; 'Confluences'; and of course Cardinal Newman called them 'God's little providences'. But whatever we call them there is no doubt in my mind that they happen. Too many have occurred in my life, particularly this year, for me to believe otherwise.

Some time ago Mark suggested to me that there may be a way of incorporating relevant extracts from my books into this site as we proceed through the Liturgical Year. I agreed in principle but wasn't sure how this could be done. I now think that the best way is to direct readers to my other 'Gardening with God' blog for extra reading in support of what is here on ITSOA.

To this end I have posted there today, a brief introduction to the inspiration and format of my books and will commence posing relevant extracts as soon as possible. See sidebar for access link. It's also accessible in the same way from my original French Oasis blog.

Jane