The Citadel of God...all along the watchtower

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*



Benedict²
a wake up call*

…we must run and do now what will profit us forever.

¹Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice.

²The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience.³This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord.

⁸Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: It is high time for us to arise from sleep (Rom 13:11). ⁹Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out this charge: ¹⁰If you hear this voice today, do not harden your hearts (Ps 94 [95]:8). And again: ¹¹You that have ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev 2:7). ¹²And what does he say? Come and listen to me sons; I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Ps 33 [34]:12). ¹³Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you (John 12:35).

Being concerned for one another should spur us to an increasingly effective love which, “like the light of dawn, its brightness growing to the fullness of day” (Prov 4:18), makes us live each day as an anticipation of the eternal day awaiting us in God. The time granted us in this life is precious for discerning and performing good works in the love of God. In this way the Church herself continuously grows towards the full maturity of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13). Our exhortation to encourage one another to attain the fullness of love and good works is situated in this dynamic prospect of growth.

³⁹Brothers, now that we have asked the Lord who will dwell in his tent, we have heard the instruction for dwelling in it, but only if we fulfill the obligations of those who live there. ⁴⁰We must, then, prepare our hearts and bodies for the battle of holy obedience to his instructions. ⁴¹What is not possible to us by nature, let us ask the Lord to supply by the help of his grace. ⁴²If we wish to reach eternal life, even as we avoid the torments of hell, ⁴³then - while there is still time, while we are in this body and have time to accomplish all these things by the light of life - ⁴⁴we must run and do now what will profit us forever.

The Lord’s disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a fellowship that binds them one to another as members of a single body. This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation. Here we touch upon a profound aspect of communion: our existence is related to that of others, for better or for worse.

*Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia (ca. 545 AD) crossed with Pope Benedict XVI’s 2012 Lenten Message

Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,
Mike Rizzio

Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!


* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael