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Irish Night Time Prayer

Four corners to my bed
Four apostles at my head.
Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.
God bless the bed I lie upon.

Before I lay me down to sleep,
I give my soul to Christ to keep.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels there a spread,

Two to foot, and two to head,
And two to carry me, when I'm dead.
If any danger come to me,
Sweet Jesus Christ, deliver me!

And if I die before I wake,
I pray that Christ my soul will take.

Amen.


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December 22nd - Bl. Adam of Loccum 

This monk, with others of the name, is called Blessed in menologies of the Cistercian Order. The little that is known of him is derived from the Dialogue of Visions and Miracles of his fellow Cistercian, Caesarius of Heisterbach. Adam was priest and sacristan of the abbey of Loccum in Hanover, and while still a schoolboy was twice miraculously delivered from ill-health, as he related to Caesarius. While he was at Loccum the church of the monastery was being repaired, and Adam began to carve a piece of the stone that was lying among the builder’s materials. His schoolmaster saw him and, after the manner of many of his kind, peremptorily told him to put the stone down or he would be excommunicated. Young Adam was so frightened by this threat that he was taken ill, and even believed to be dying. However, he saw in a vision St. Nicholas and St. Paternian, who decided that he should not die just then, and he was well in the same hour. 

Another time he was at school at Munster in Westphalia and got up one morning to go to church, when he found he had made a mistake in the time and the church was not yet open. He therefore knelt down and said the Angelical Salutation thrice according to his custom when entering a church, and upon looking up saw that the door was open and seven beautiful women sitting therein. Adam was at that time suffering from eczema, and one of them asked him why he didn’t look after his head. He replied that he did but the physicians had not done it any good. Then the lady told him that she was the Mother of Christ and that she knew his devotion to her, and commanded him to approach. He was to wash his head in a concoction of the wood of the spindle-tree three times before Mass, in the name of the Holy Trinity. She laid her hand on his head, and when he had done as he was told his complaint was cured never to return.

“It is clear that there is nothing more efficacious and no remedy more sure than the medicine of the Blessed Virgin”, observes the novice in the Dialogue. To which the monk replies: “And no wonder. For it was she who brought to us the medicine of the whole human race, as it is written, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature’, that is to say, let Mary bring forth the man Christ.”

Bl. Adam told other marvels to Caesarius, but these were not written down for our delectation and improvement.

This holy Cistercian is spoken of by Caesarius in his Dialogus de Miraculis in bk vii, chs. 17 and 25, as well as in bk viii, ch. 74. Nothing more seems to be known of Bl. Adam than Caesarius tells us. There is an English translation of the Dialogus (2 vols., 1929). The monastic buildings at Loccum are now a Protestant seminary, and the Lutheran land-bishop of Hanover has the official title “Abbot of Loccum”.


Saint Quote: 
Let us all resign ourselves into His hands, and pray that in all things He may guide us to do His Holy Will ... When thoughts of this or that come I turn to Him and say: "Only what you will, my God. Use me as You will".
--Blessed Mary MacKillop

Bible Quote:
O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when thou didst pass through the desert: 9 The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel.  (Psalm 67:8-9)


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The Archangels

The Archangels are the Captains of the Heavenly Host. They guide the squadrons that fight against the foe. They lead the bands that are sent to guard the Saints of God. They are the immediate superiors of the Holy Angels, who obey them with joyful and unreasoning obedience. So, too, I ought to obey those immediately set over me. I ought to see God in my superiors as the Holy Angels do. Do I do so?

The Archangels are also the personal guardians of the most illustrious of the Saints, St. Ignatius is said to have had an Archangel for his guardian. Many others of the chosen friends of God have been similarly honored. Such a privilege points to a high destiny and means signal grace. The Archangels deem it a privilege to minister to the Saints. God gives us the same privilege of ministering in one way or another to the holy servants of Christ. How rarely this privilege is appreciated as it ought to be! 

The Archangels also stand before God's throne ready to be sent as His messengers to men. Thus St. Gabriel was sent to Our Lady, St. Michael to the Prophet Daniel, St. Raphael to Tobias. These messages of mercy are highly esteemed by them. They do not regard it as in any way unworthy of their exalted dignity to be the means of communication between God and man. I also ought to esteem thusly any work undertaken for God, even though it be that of a humble servant carrying messages to and fro.