From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Calling on the Rock for life-giving water   
      
   Yahweh's judgment on Moses in the matter of his disobedience and lack   
   of belief in striking the Rock instead of calling on the Rock for   
   life-giving water was that Moses would die in the desert wilderness   
   [see Numbers 20:12], but in His mercy Yahweh allows Moses to view what   
   his people have been promised from the time of Abraham. In Numbers   
   27:12 Yahweh tell his servant Moses "Climb this mountain of the Abarim   
   range, and look at the country which I have given to the Israelites.   
   After you have seen it, you will be gathered to your people, as Aaron   
   your brother was."   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   25 December – Blessed Jacopone da Todi OFM   
   Also known as   
      
   Crazy Jim   
   Iacopone da Todi   
   Jacomo da Todi   
   Jacopo Benedetti   
   Jacopo Benedicti   
   Jacopone Benedetti da Todi   
   Jacopone of Todi   
   James da Todi   
      
   Memorial   
   25 December   
   22 December on some local calendars   
      
   (1230-1306)   
    Franciscan Friar, Confessor, Hymnist, Poet, Mystic, Lawyer, – an   
   Italian from Umbria in the 13th century. He wrote several laude (songs   
   in praise of the Lord) in the local vernacular. He was an early   
   pioneer in Italian theatre, being one of the earliest scholars who   
   dramatised Gospel subjects. Born in c 1230 at Todi, Italy as Jacopo   
   Benedetti and died on 25 December 1306 at Collazzone, Italy of natural   
   causes, as the Priest intoned the Gloria from midnight Mass. He is   
   also known as Jacomo da Todi, Jacopo Benedetti, Jacopo Benedicti,   
   Jacopone Benedetti da Todi, Jacopone of Todi, James da Todi.   
      
   Jacomo, was born a noble member of the Benedetti family in the   
   northern Italian city of Todi. He became a successful lawyer and   
   married a pious, generous lady named Vanna.   
      
   His young wife took it upon herself to do penance for the worldly   
   excesses of her husband. One day Vanna, at the insistence of Jacomo,   
   attended a public tournament. She was sitting in the stands with the   
   other noble ladies when the stands collapsed. Vanna was killed. Her   
   shaken husband was even more disturbed when he realised that the   
   penitential girdle she wore was for his sinfulness. On the spot, he   
   vowed to radically change his life.   
      
   Jacomo divided his possessions among the poor and entered the Secular   
   Franciscan Order. Often dressed in penitential rags, he was mocked as   
   a fool and called Jacopone, or “Crazy Jim,” by his former associates.   
   The name became dear to him.   
      
   After 10 years of such humiliation, Jacopone asked to be received into   
   the Order of Friars Minor. Because of his reputation, his request was   
   initially refused. He composed a beautiful poem on the vanities of the   
   world, an act that eventually led to his admission into the Order in   
   1278. He continued to lead a life of strict penance, declining to be   
   ordained a priest. Meanwhile, he was writing popular hymns in the   
   vernacular.   
      
   Jacopone suddenly found himself a leader in a disturbing religious   
   movement among the Franciscans. The Spirituals, as they were called,   
   wanted a return to the strict poverty of Francis. They had on their   
   side two cardinals of the Church and Pope Celestine V. These two   
   cardinals though, opposed Celestine’s successor, Boniface VIII. At the   
   age of 68, Jacopone was excommunicated and imprisoned. Although he   
   acknowledged his mistake, Jacopone was not absolved and released until   
   Benedict XI became Pope five years later. He had accepted his   
   imprisonment as penance. He spent the final three years of his life   
   more spiritual than ever, weeping “because Love is not loved.” During   
   this time he wrote the famous Latin hymn, Stabat Mater.   
      
   On Christmas Eve in 1306 Jacopone felt that his end was near. He was   
   in a convent of the Poor Clares with his friend, Blessed John of La   
   Verna. Like Francis, Jacopone welcomed “Sister Death” with one of his   
   favorite songs. It is said that he finished the song and died as the   
   Priest intoned the “Gloria” from the midnight Mass at Christmas. From   
   the time of his death, Brother Jacopone has been venerated as a saint,   
   both within and outside of the Franciscan Order, although never   
   formally Canonised.   
      
   Stabat Mater Dolorosa is a fine example of religious lyric in the   
   Franciscan tradition. It was inserted into the Roman Missal and   
   Breviary in 1727 for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed   
   Virgin Mary, celebrated on the Friday before Good Friday. Following   
   changes by Pope Pius XII, it now appears on the Feast of Our Lady’s   
   Sorrows celebrated on 15 September. Many composers have set it to   
   music   
      
   His contemporaries called Jacopone, “Crazy Jim.” We might well echo   
   their taunt, for what else can you say about a man who broke into song   
   in the midst of all his troubles? We still sing Jacopone’s saddest   
   song, the Stabat Mater, but we Christians claim another song as our   
   own, even when the daily headlines resound with discordant notes.   
   Jacopone’s whole life rang out our song: “Alleluia!” May he inspire us   
   to keep singing.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/25/   
      
      
   Readings   
   Here lie the bones of Blessed Jacopone dei Benedetti da Todi, Friar   
   Minor, who, having gone mad with love of Christ, by a new artifice   
   deceived the world and took Heaven by violence. – from the tomb of   
   Blessed Jacopone   
      
      
   “Let all your desires then be,   
   directed toward Him,   
   the Infinite One,   
   the Giver of all Good.”   
   --Bl Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306)   
      
      
   The Virgin today brings into the world the Eternal   
   And the earth offers a cave to the Inaccessible.   
   The angels and shepherds praise him   
   And the magi advance with the star,   
   For you are born for us, Little Child, God eternal!   
   -- Kontakion of Saint Romanos the Melodist   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to the Infant Jesus, suitable for the Masses of the   
   Nativity of Our Lord:   
      
   Most dear Lord Jesus Christ, who, being made a Child for   
   us, didst will to be born in a cave to free us from the   
   darkness of sin, to draw us unto Thee, and to set us on fire   
   with Thy holy love; we adore Thee as our Creator and   
   Redeemer, we acknowledge and for tribute we offer Thee   
   all the affection of our poor hearts. Dear Jesus, our Lord   
   and God, graciously accept this offering, and that it may be   
   worthy of Thine acceptance, forgive us our sins, enlighten   
   us, and inflame us with that sacred fire which Thou camest   
   to bring upon the earth and to enkindle in our hearts. May   
   our souls thus become an altar, on which we may offer   
   Thee the sacrifice of our mortifications; grant that we may   
   ever seek Thy greater glory here on earth, so that one day   
   we may come to enjoy Thine infinite loveliness in heaven.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)