The Dawn

Sometimes the words I write here are very personal. They have deep meaning for me; they touch my soul. I write them in part selfishly, that in weaker times, in times of trial, I might go back to them and remember how good God is to me. I write in these deep reflective times words which may have no meaning for you, at least at this moment. I feel a bit selfish in wasting your time; I apologize.

These days many thoughts come to my mind, and sometimes I even start to write down a word or two, but then something I read, something I hear, or something I remember takes my mind back to my friend. I guess this is a good thing, to think on, to worry about, and to pray for, a dying friend. Death is such a huge change of location, and a long trip to get there, and like any trip, we worry if we are ready, have we thought about everything that needs to be done before leaving. And while we look forward to the wonderful times we will have ahead, we pause and look back fondly on the things we will leave behind --- like one final look before closing the door on the home we grew up in.

This morning’s readings and prayers reminded me of these things.

Holy Church, inasmuch as she keeps searching for the rewards of eternal life, has been called the dawn. This reference to the dawn conjures up a subtle consideration. The dawn intimates that the night is over; it does not yet proclaim the full light of day. While it dispels the darkness and welcomes the light, it holds both of them, the one mixed with the other, as it were. Are not all of us who follow the truth in this life daybreak and dawn? While we do some things which already belong to the light, we are not free from the remnants of darkness.
When he writes, “the night is passed,” Paul does not add,” the day is come,” but rather, “the day is at hand.” Since he argues that after the night has passed the day as yet is not come but is rather at hand, he shows that the period before full daylight and after darkness is without doubt the dawn, and that he himself is living in that period.
It will be fully day for the Church of the elect when she is no longer darkened by the shadow of sin. … When the Psalmist writes: “My soul thirsts for the living god; when shall I go and see the face of God?” does he not refer to the effort made by the dawn to reach its place? Paul was hastening to the place which he knew the dawn would reach when he said he wished to die and to be with Christ. He expressed the same idea when he said: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
(From Moral Reflections on Job, by St. Gregory the Great, pope)


When morning fills the sky,
Our hearts awaking cry:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
In all our works and prayer
His Sacrifice we share:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
The night becomes as day,
When from our hearts we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
The powers of darkness fear
When this glad song they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised.

In heav’n our joy will be
To sing eternally:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
Let earth and sea and sky
From depth to height reply:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
Let all the earth now sing
To our eternal King:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
By this the eternal song,
Through ages all along:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
(Morning Hymn)


Have mercy on me, God, have mercy
for in you my soul has taken refuge.
In the shadow of your wings I take refuge
till the storms of destruction pass by.

My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready.

I will sing, I will sing your praise.
Awake, my soul,
awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the dawn.
Psalm 57