O Key of David . . .

20  December

O clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel:

qui aperis, et nemo claudit;

claudis, et nemo aperit:

veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris.

O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel,

who opens and no man shuts,

who shuts and no man opens:

come, and lead forth the captive who sits in the shadows from his prison

Photo: The door leading from the chapel to the monk's cells at a Trappist monastery.  When night prayer ends at 8:00 PM the men ascend the stairs in silence as they go to their cells. They rise at about 3:15 AM for prayer at 3:30 AM.  I've thought for a long time that their prayers in the middle of the night are the reason the world remains stable in its orbit.

Meditation: 

The door to eternal life is never locked from the inside.  In various parts of the New Testament Jesus refers to himself as the gate, the door, and the way-- images of Himself as the entry to eternal life.  We lock our doors from the inside at night.  We do so for our own safety.  Jesus' door is always open.  That too is for our own safety.  Only we can lock the door to Jesus from the outside.  We lock it when we refuse the gift of faith.  We can also choose to unlock it.

Lagniappe:

Royal Choral Society: 'Since By Man Came Death' from Handel's Messiah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tViHs7MeTk

Prayer:

Prayer for Generosity

O Lord, teach me to be generous

To serve you as you deserve

To give and not to count the cost

To fight and not to heed the wounds

To toil and not to seek for rest

To labor and not to ask for reward

Save that of knowing I do your holy will

                                                                        St. Ignatius of Loyola