131 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT Before Holy Communion 1. “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Lk 3:4). Just as John — when the Savior of the world was coming into the world and preparing to teach — urged the people to prepare the way of the Lord [f.9r] and get ready to receive the Messiah, so now you should also stir yourself up, because the same Lord, hidden under the species and the veil of bread, hastens to you. Prepare the way of the Lord and prepare your soul to receive the Lord of the whole world and Heaven. When a king is to visit another king, all the palaces are adorned with gold and silver and are beautifully and carefully cleaned; and the arriving guest is greeted on his way long before he reaches his destination. It is then far more fitting for you, a religious, to work hard — prior to the arrival of the heavenly Ruler and the Lord of all kings — at cleaning your interior and adorning the palace of your heart, where He will stay; and come out to meet Him with the greatest longing and fervent devotion. 2. “Prepare,” etc. (Lk 3:4). You shall continue pondering the necessity for penance, reflecting upon and placing before your eyes St. Mary Magdalene, the sinner. For although the Savior Himself absolved her sins, nevertheless after His Ascension she began to lead a most austere and penitent life in the desert.29 Although she knew that her past sins had been forgiven and that she had received full absolution, nevertheless — being on her guard against future sins — she armed herself with rigid penance against the harshest assaults of the old enemy. What do you think you should do? What penitential acts ought to be practiced and for how long? By your daily faults you increase 29 St. Mary Magdalene “according to Eastern tradition ... the last thirty years of her life, it is claimed, she spent in a cavern of a rock, La Sainte Baume, high up among the Maritime Alps”: Alban Butler, Butler’s Lives of the Saints (s.v. July 22 — St. Mary Magdalen). [Hereafter Butler’s Lives of the Saints will be abbreviated as BLS.]
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