June 11, 2010

Kissing the Side of Christ Crucified

Every feast of the Sacred Heart I wake up and discover with delight that we get St. Bonaventure in the Office of Readings. In the Lignum vitae Bonaventure writes of the blood and water that flow from the side of Christ crucified:

O aeternum et inaccessibile, clarum et dulce profluvium fontis absconditi ab oculis omnium mortalium.

"O eternal and unapproachable, bright and sweet flow from the source hidden from all mortal eyes."

Today's celebration calls our souls to fly to this source of grace:

Surge igitur, amica Christi, esto sicut columba nidificans in summo ore foraminis, ibi ut passer inveniens domum, vigilare non cesses, ibi tamquam turtur casti amoris pullos absconde, ibi os appone, ut haurias aquas de fontibus Salvatoris.

"Rise, then, friend of Christ, like the dove that nests in the high mouth of the cliff, (Jeremiah 48) as the sparrow that finds a home, (Psalm 84) like the turtledove hiding the chicks of her chaste love do not cease to watch, then put your mouth [to the flow] that you might drink from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12)"

What a beautiful model of prayer for today! Sometimes when little kids get hurt their mothers kiss the wound to 'make it better.' With Jesus it is the other way around. When we kiss his wounds, we are healed.

As always, translation improvements are welcome in the comments.

3 comments:

pvfranciscanos said...

God bless you my brother.
I am a franciscan frier in Brazil.
Congratulations!
Frei Alvaci

for narnia said...

beautiful sharing, Fr. C! thank you and HAPPY FEAST DAY of the SACRED HEART!
Pax!
~tara t~

Brother Charles said...

Good to meet you, Brother! And happy feast day to to you too, Tara!