Friday, October 1, 2021

The Light Shines

 



We live in a barrage of lies, perhaps as never before. All the more reason to attend to the truth. Here it is, St. John's Prologue, which is said correctly at the end of Mass. Don't forget the genuflexion at the Incarnatus:


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made:

in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men;

and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the Light,

that all men might believe through him.

He was not the Light, but was to give testimony of the Light.

That was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.

He was in the world, and the world was made by Him,

and the world knew Him not.

He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God,

to them that believe in His Name,

who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,

but of God.

AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH,

and dwelt among us:

and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the Only begotten of the Father,

full of grace and truth.


The Light shineth in darkness. And there it is. Go against this at the peril of your immortal soul. And the reverse, of course, is true.

LSP

3 comments:

Adrienne said...

Our pastor is doing his Bible study on St. John. I did not realize the corresponding images between the St. John prologue (which I love!) and the the beginning of Genesis. If I wasn't such a doofus I would have read the notes in my Ignatius study Bible more carefully where they clearly explain it. I guess it's not just the Trinity I'm deficient in. Sigh...

I've told my pastor of your correction of my dumba** statement about the Trinity and your leading me to Sheed's Theology for Beginners. He was very pleased with you! It saved him the trouble of slapping me upside the head. :-)

LSP said...

The Prologue is, perhaps, my favorite scripture. And Genesis? "In the beginning..."

Glad I've found favor with your pastor, even though a wicked Anglican!

Speaking of which, I was once the Rector of a very grand and beautiful church outside Philadelphia (poor side...) and restored the Mass to the High Altar and all of that. A trad RC priest came to visit one day and I remember saying, "Father, we must unleash the power of the Western Rite."

He liked that and I'm sticking to it. Feel free to use the line as often as possible, along with the justly famous "Champagne, High Mass, No Protestants." Ma LSP -- she had stationery to that effect for use at the COE General Synod :)

Adrienne said...

Ma LSP -- she had stationery to that effect for use at the COE General Synod :)

More importantly, she raised a lovely son!

Glad I've found favor with your pastor, even though a wicked Anglican! I'm sure he thinks "misguided", rather than "wicked."

He knows you are my "unofficial" spiritual advisor and he's good with that. Probably since he probably thinks I'm a lunatic (I am) and he doesn't have to spend time guiding me in the ways of the Lord (and also the trust leaving everything to St. Joan's or the FSSP is almost complete and he sure doesn't want to jeopardize that windfall ;-) He loves Sheed too.

Kudos for the restoration of the High Altar!

God bless you...