Occurring Scripture for the
Hour of Matins
Third Week of Advent
Sunday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 26:1-6
In that day shall this
canticle be sung in the land of Juda. "Sion the city of our strength a
savior, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein. Open the gates, and
let the just nation, that keeps the truth, enter in. The old error has
passed away: Thou will keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in Thee."
You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever.
For He shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city He shall lay
low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, He shall pull it down even
to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps
of the needy.
Lesson ii
Isaias 26:7-10
The way of the just is right, the path of the
just is right to walk in. And in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, we have
patiently waited for Thee: Thy name, and t=Thy remembrance are the desire of
the soul. My soul has desired Thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit
within me in the morning early I will watch for Thee. When Thou do Thy
judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.
Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land
of the saints he has done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of
the Lord.
Lesson iii
Isaias 26:11=14
Lord, let Thy hand be exalted, and let them
not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour
Thine enemies. Lord, Thou will give us peace: for Thou have wrought all our
works for us. O Lord our God, other lords besides Thee have had dominion
over us, only in Thee let us remember Thy name. Let not the dead live,
let not the giants rise again: therefore have Thou visited and destroyed
them, and have destroyed all their memory.
Lesson iv
A Sermon of Pope Saint Leo the Great
Second Sermon on the December Fast,
and Almsgiving
Dearly beloved brethren, with the care which becomes
us as the shepherd of your souls, we urge the rigid observance of this
December Fast. The month of December has come around again, and with it this
devout custom of the Church. The fruits of the year, which is drawing to a
close, are now all gathered in, and we most appropriately offer our abstinence to
God as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. And what can be more useful than
fasting, that exercise by which we draw nigh to God, make a stand against
the devil, and overcome the softer enticements of sin?
Lesson v
Fasting has ever been the bread of strength. From
abstinence proceeds pure thoughts, reasonable desires, and healthy counsels.
By voluntary mortifications the flesh dies to lust, and the soul is renewed
in might. But since fasting is not the only means by which our souls are
made healthy, let us add works of mercy to our fasting. Let us spend in good
deeds what we take from indulgence. Let our fast become the banquet of the
poor.
Lesson vi
Let us defend the widow and serve the orphan; let us comfort
the afflicted and reconcile the estranged; let us take in the wanderer and
succor the oppressed; let us clothe the naked and cherish the sick. And may
every one of us that shall offer to the God of all goodness this Advent
sacrifice of fasting and alms be made by Him fit to receive an eternal reward
in His heavenly kingdom! We fast on Wednesday and Friday; and there is
likewise a Vigil on Saturday at the Church of St. Peter, that by his good
prayers we may the more effectually obtain what we ask for, through our Lord
Jesus Christ, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, lives and reigns,
one God, world without end. Amen.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
John
John 1:19-28
And this is the testimony of John, when
the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask Him: "Who
are you?" And He confessed, and did not deny: and He confessed: "I am
not the Christ." And they asked him: "What then? Are you Elias?" And
he said: "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered: "No." And
they said to Him: "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent
us? What do you say of yourself?" He said: "I am the voice of one crying
out in the wilderness, 'make straight the way of the Lord,' as said the
prophet Isaias." And those that were sent, were of the Pharisees.
And they asked him: Why do you baptize, if you are
not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?" John answered them, saying:
"I baptize with water; but there is One Who stood in your midst, Whom you do
not know. He it is Who shall come after me, Who is preferred before me: the latchet of
Whose shoe I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethania,
beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
An homily of Pope Saint Gregory the
Great
The seventh on the Gospels
Dearly beloved
brethren, the first thing which strikes us in today's Gospel is the
humility of John. He was so great that it was thought he might be
the Christ; yet he soberly chose rather to seem only what he really was,
than to let the belief of men invest him with a dignity which did not belong
to him; for he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, "I am not the
Christ," at the same time he would not deny what he was in reality; and thus
his very truth-speaking made him a member of Him Whose title he would not by
falsehood take. In that he arrogated not to himself the name of Christ, he
became a member of Christ. While he humbly strove to confess his own
weakness, he earned by his simplicity a part in the grandeur of his Master.
Lesson viii
In considering this subject we find an apparent
contradiction between one of John's statements, and the saying of our
Redeemer recorded in another part of the Gospel. (cf. Matthew 17:10-13) When
His disciples asked our Lord regarding the coming of Elias, He answered:
"Elias has already come, and they knew him not, but have done unto him
whatsoever they listed. And if ye will receive it, this that is, John is
Elias" (cf. Matthew 11:11-15). But when John was asked if he was Elias, he answered:
I am not. How comes it then, dearly beloved brethren, that we find the Truth
Itself asserting what the prophet of the Truth denied? It must evidently be
that our Lord meant one thing and John meant something else, when the Lord said,
"This is,"
and John said, "I am not." For how can he be the prophet of truth, if he speak not
according to the word of Him Who is the Eternal Truth?
Lesson ix
Let us then more minutely examine these words, and we shall
find that there is no real contradiction. When the Angel announced to
Zacharias the coming birth of John he said "He shall go before Him in the
spirit and power of Elias" (Luke 1:17). As the old Elias will come again
before the Second Advent of the Lord, so did John, as the new Elias, go
before the First Advent, in the spirit and power of Elias. As the old Elias
will be the Fore-runner of the Judge, so the new Elias was the Forerunner of
the Savior. John then was Elias in spirit, but not in person; and our Lord asserted of the spirit what John denied of the person.
Collect:
Let us pray: Incline
Thine ear to our prayers, we beseech Thee, O Lord; and enlighten the
darkness of our minds by the grace of Thy visitation. Who livest and
reignest....
Monday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 28:1-3
Woe to the crown of pride, to the
drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory of his joy, who
were on the head of the fertile valley, staggering with wine. Behold
the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind,
as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious
land. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden
under feet.
Lesson ii
Isaias 28:4-7
And the fading flower the glory of his
joy, who is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be as an early fruit
before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that sees it shall behold, as
soon as he takes it in his hand, he will eat it up. In that day the
Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the remnant
of his people: And a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment,
and strength to those who return out of the battle to the gate. But
these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have
erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness,
they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they
do not see, they are ignorant of good judgment.
Lesson iii
Isaias 28:16-18
Therefore, thus says the
Lord God: "Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried
stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that
believeth, let him not be shakten. And I will set judgment in weight,
and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and
waters shall overflow its protection. And your league with death shall
be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the
overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it."
Collect of Sunday
Tuesday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 30:18-20
Therefore the Lord waits
that He may have mercy on you: and therefore shall He be exalted in sparing
you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait
for Him. For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping you
shall not weep, He will surely have pity on you: at the voice of your cry,
as soon as He shall hear, He will answer you. And the Lord will give
you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause your teacher to flee
away from you any more, and your eyes shall see your teacher.
Lesson ii
Isaias 30:22-25
And you shall defile the plates of your graven things of silver, and the
garment of your molten things of gold, and shall cast them away as the
uncleanness of a menstruous woman. And bid it be gone. And rain shall be given to your seed, wherever
you sow in the land: and the bread of the wheat of the land shall be most plentiful, and
fat. Your lambs shall enjoy abundant pasture. And
your oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mixed feed as
it was winnowed in the floor. And there shall be rivers of running
waters upon
every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill
in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall.
Lesson iii
Isaias 30:26-28
And the light of the moon shall be as
the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the
light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of His
people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound. Behold the name of
the Lord comes from afar,
His wrath burns, and is heavy to bear: His lips are filled with
indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire. His breath is a
torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to reduce the nations
to nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.
Collect of Sunday
Ember Wednesday
Lesson i
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Luke
Luke 1:26-38
At that time, the Angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, unto a
virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and
the virgin's name was Mary. And the Angel, having entered, said unto her,
«Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.»
Who, having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what
manner of salutation this might be. And the Angel said to her, «Fear not
Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy
womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He
shall be great and shall be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord
shall give Him the throne of David His father; and He shall reign in the
house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.» And Mary
said unto the Angel, «How shall this be done, because I know not man?» And
the Angel answering, said to her, «The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And, therefore, the Holy
that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy
cousin Elizabeth, she also has conceived a son even in her old age, and this
is the sixth month with her that is called barren; because nothing shall be
impossible with God.» And Mary said, «Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it
done to me according to thy word.»
An homily of Saint Ambrose, Bishop
Book II on Luke.
The mysteries of God are unsearchable,
and it is especially declared by a Prophet, that a man can hardly know His
counsels (cf. Wisdom 9:13). Nevertheless, some things have been
revealed to us, and we may gather from some of the words and works of the
Lord our Savior, that there was a special purpose of God, in the fact that
she who was chosen to be the mother of the Lord was espoused to a man. Why
did not the power of the Highest overshadow her before she was so espoused?
Perhaps it was lest any might blasphemously say that she had conceived the
Holy One in fornication.
Lesson ii
And the angel came in unto her. Let us learn
from this Virgin how to bear ourselves, let us learn her modesty, let us
learn by her devout utterance, above all let us learn by the holy mystery
enacted. It is the part of a maiden to be timid, to avoid the advances of
men, and to shrink from men's addresses. Would that our women would learn
from the example of modesty here set before us. She upon whom the stare of
men had never been fixed was alone in her chamber, and was found only by an
angel. There was neither companion nor witness there, that what passed might
not be debased in gossip and the angel saluted her.
Lesson iii
The mystery of this
message was so great that it was not given through the mouths of men, but
was spoken by an Angel. This is the first time that any ear has heard "The
Holy Ghost shall come upon you." The words are heard and believed. Finally,
she said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to
your word." Look at her humility, her readiness to serve. She who was
chosen to be the Lord's mother proclaims herself His handmaid.
Collect:
Let us pray: Hasten, we beseech
Thee, O Lord, and do not delay, and grant us the help of Thy heavenly power,
that those who trust in Thy goodness may be helped by the consolations of
Thy coming. Who livest and reignest.
Thursday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 33:1-2
Woe to you who spoil—shall
you not be spoiled yourself? and you who despise, shall not thyself also be despised? when
you shalt have made an end of spoiling, you shalt be spoiled: when being
wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised. O Lord,
have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the
morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.
Lesson ii
Isaias 33:3-6
At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the
lifting up thyself the nations are scattered. And your spoils shall be gathered together as
the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them. The Lord is
magnified, for He has dwelled on high: He has filled Sion with judgment
and justice. And there shall be faith in your times: riches of
salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is His treasure.
Lesson iii
Isaias 33:14-17
Sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling
has seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire?
which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walks in justice, and
that speaks truth,
that casts away avarice by oppression, and shakes his hands from all
bribes, that stops his ears lest he hear blood, and shuts his eyes
that he may see no evil. He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of
rocks shall be his high nest: bread is given him, his waters are sure.
His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the land far off.
Collect of Sunday
Ember Friday
Lesson i
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Luke
Luke 1:39-47
At that time Mary, rising up, went into
the hill country with haste to a city of Juda, and she entered into the
house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leapt in her womb: and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she cried out with a loud
voice, and she said, «Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb. And how is it that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For
behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the
infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed,
because these things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the
Lord.» And Mary said, «My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God my Savior.»
An Homily of Saint Ambrose, Bishop
Commentary on
Luke, Bk. ii. c
When any one asks another to be
believed, he is bound to give some reasonable ground. And so the Angel, when
he announced to Mary the counsel of God, gave, as a proof, the conception of
Elizabeth, then aged and barren, that Mary might perceive, by this example,
that with God nothing is impossible. When the holy Virgin had heard it, she
arose and went to visit her cousin. She did not go to see if what she had
heard was true, because she did not believe God, or because she knew not who
the messenger had been, or yet because she doubted the fact adduced in
proof. She went joyfully as one who has received a mercy in answer to his vow goes to pay
it.
She went with devotion, as a godly person goes to execute a religious duty.
She went into the hill country in joyful haste. And is it not something that
she went up into the hills? God was already in her womb, and her feeling
bore her continually upward. The grace of the Holy Spirit knows no slow
working.
Lesson ii
Godly women will learn
from the example of the Mother of God to take a tender care of their
kinswomen who are with child. In pursuance of this charity, Mary, who had up
tot this time remained alone at home, was not
deterred by her maidenly shyness from entering on a public journey; she
faced for this end the hardships of mountain travelling; and encountered
with a sense of duty the weary length of the way. The Virgin left her home,
and went into the hill country with haste, unmindful of the trouble, and
remembering only the office to which her cousinly love prompted her, in
spite of the delicacy of her sex. Maidens will learn from her not to idle
about from house to house, to loiter in the streets, nor to take part in
conversations in public. Mary, as she was swift to pass through the
public roads, so was she slow again to enter on them and she abode with her
cousin about three months.
Lesson ii
As the modesty of Mary is a pattern for the imitation of all
maidens, so also is her humility. She went to see Elizabeth, like one cousin
going to visit another, and as the younger to the elder. Not only did she
first go, but she first saluted Elizabeth. Now, the purer a virgin is, the
humbler ought she to be. She will know how to submit herself to her elders.
She that professes chastity ought to be a very mistress of humility.
Lowly-mindedness is at once the very ground in which devotion grows, and
the first and principal rule of its teaching. In this act of the Virgin then
we see the greater going to visit and to succor the lesser Mary to
Elizabeth, Christ to John.
Collect:
Let us pray: Stir up Thy power, we
beseech Thee, O Lord, and come: that they who trust in Thy goodness may be
the more speedily freed from all adversity. Who livest.
Ember Saturday
Lesson i
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Luke
Luke 3:1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate
being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his
brother tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias
tetrarch of Abilinia, under the high-priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of
the Lord was given unto John, the son of Zachary in the desert. And he came
into the region about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the
remission of sins, as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias
the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the desert, 'Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make straight His paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every
mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough ways made plain, and all flesh shall see the
salvation of God.'"
An homily of Pope Saint Gregory the
Great
Homily X on the Gospels.
The date, at which the Fore-runner of our Redeemer entered on his public
office of preaching, is indicated to us by the name of the ruler of the
Roman Commonwealth, and by those of the princes of Palestine. The time of
his preaching is indicated by these names, because he came as the
Fore-runner of Him Who was to be the Redeemer of some Jews and many
Gentiles. Moreover in the enumeration of these worldly monarchs there is a
foreshadowing of the fact, that the Gentiles were about to be gathered into
one, and the Jews to be scattered abroad in punishment of their unbelief; in
the whole heathen Commonwealth we find the title of one Emperor, but in the
small kingdom of Judaea are mentioned four masters.
Lesson ii
The blessed voice of the Savior said: "Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation" (Luke 11:17). And we may well look
for the ruin of the Jewish state when we see it divided among so many
rulers. We observe likewise that the names of the reigning priests as well
as kings are given. The Evangelist Luke hath left on record the chiefs both
of the monarchy and of the priesthood who held office when John the Baptist
began to preach, because John preached Him Who is at once our Priest and our
King.
Lesson iii
"And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins." It is evident from these words that
John the Baptist not only preached, but also administered the baptism of
repentance, and yet that baptism of repentance which he gave, was not really
a baptism for the remission of sins. For there is only one baptism for the
remission of sins, and that is our Christian baptism. It is worthy of note
here that the words used are, preaching the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins, for he himself owned that his baptism was not the true
baptism that washes away sin. Even as the Eternal Word of God made Flesh was
greater than the preacher that went before Him, so was His holy baptism, by
which our sins are washed away, far greater than that baptism of repentance
which the Fore-runner preached, and which could never wash away sin.
Collect:
Let us pray: O God, Who sees that we are afflicted because of our
wickedness, grant in Thy mercy that we may be comforted by Thy visitation.