Occurring Scripture for the
Hour of Matins
Fourth Week of Advent
Sunday
The Vigil of Christmas is celebrated
on December 24th. Then follow Christmas and its Octave.
On all of these days the readings for this week of Advent are omitted.
Lesson i
A reading from the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 35:1-7
The land that was desolate and
impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall
flourish like the lily. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall
rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty
of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty
of our God. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak
knees. Say to the fainthearted: "Take courage, and fear not: behold
your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and
will save you." Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a
hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in
the desert, and streams in the wilderness. And that which was dry
land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.
Lesson ii
Isaias 35:7-10
In the dens where dragons dwelt before,
shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush. And a path and
a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall
not pass over it, and this shall be a straight way for you, so that fools
shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor shall any
mischievous beast go up by it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there
that shall be delivered. And the redeemed of the Lord shall return,
and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon
their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning
shall flee away.
Lesson iii
Isaias 41:1-4
Let the islands keep
silence before Me, and the nations take new strength: let them come near,
and then speak, let us come near to judgment together. Who has raised
up the just one from the east, has called him to follow Him? He shall give
the nations in His sight, and He shall rule over kings: He shall give them
as the dust to His sword, as stubble driven by the wind, to His bow.
He shall pursue them, He shall pass in peace, no path shall appear after His
feet. Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations
from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last.
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of Pope Saint Leo the Great
I on the
December Fast and Almsgiving.
Dearly beloved brethren, if we study
attentively the history of the creation of our race, we shall find that man
was made in the image of God, that his ways also might be an imitation of
the ways of his Maker. This is the natural, real, and highest dignity to
which we are capable of attaining, that the goodness of the Divine nature
should have a reflection in us, as in a glass. As a means of reaching this
dignity, we are daily offered the grace of our Savior, for as in "the first
Adam all men are fallen, so in the Second Adam can all men be raised up
again" (I Corinthians 15:22).
Lesson v
Our restoration from the consequences of Adam's fall is
sheer mercy of God, and nothing else; we would not have loved Him unless He
had first loved us (1 John 4:19), and scattered the darkness of our
ignorance by the light of His truth. This the Lord promised by the mouth of
Isaiah, where He saith: "I will bring the blind by a way that
they knew not, and I will lead them in paths that they have not known I will
make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things
will I do unto them and not forsake them" (Isaias 42:16). And again: "I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after Me (Isaias 65:1).
Lesson vi
And we know from the Apostle John how God fulfilled His
promise, "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given
us an understanding, that we may know Him That is True, and be in Him That
is True, even in His Son" (1 John 5:20). And again: "Let us therefore love God,
because He first loved us. For His great love then wherewith he hath loved
us" (1 John 4:19). "God renews His likeness in us. And, moreover, in order
that He may find in us the reflection of His goodness, He gives us that
whereby to work along with Himself, (Who works all in all,) lighting, as
it were, candles in our dark minds, and kindling in us the fire of His love,
to make us love not Himself only, but likewise, in Him, whatsoever He loves."
Lesson vii
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 Abilina; Under the high priests Annas and Caiphas;
the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert.
And he came into all the country 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: A voice of one crying in the wilderness:
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 plain; and all flesh
shall see the salvation of God.
An Homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
XX on the Gospels.
John said
unto the multitude, that came forth to be baptized by him: "O generation of
vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" The wrath to
come in one sense signifies the great vengeance of the Latter Day—the
sinner who does not repent of his sin now will have no mean whereby to flee
from punishment then. Let us remark that addressing evil children copying
the example of evil parents, the Baptist called them a generation of vipers
in that they were envious of the righteous, and persecuted them; that they
repaid evil for evil; that they hunted out ways of harming their neighbors—in all these things following the pattern of carnal parents, the prophet likened them to a venomous brood hatched from a venomous stock.
Lesson viii
We also have sinned, we have fallen into wicked habits. What must we do,
if we would flee from the wrath to come? Let us hear John. Bring forth
fruits worthy of repentance. In which words let us remark that the Friend of
the Bridegroom demands not only fruits of repentance, but fruits worthy of
repentance. The former are one thing, and the latter another. In considering
then what are fruits worthy of repentance, we may remark that if we had done
nothing unlawful we might have had free use of things which are lawful, and
been able to sanctify ourselves without abstaining from indulgence in the
things of the world.
Lesson ix
But if any one, for
example, has fallen into fornication, or perhaps, into what is much worse,
adultery, he ought to make up for his lawless pleasure by abstaining in some
degree from lawful enjoyments. He that has sinned less is not bound to
mortify himself as much as he that has sinned more, nor he that is innocent like him that is guilty. Let every
one hearing these words bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, proceed to
judge himself by his own conscience, and the more he perceives that he hath
sinned, the greater penance let him do.
Collect:
Let us pray: Stir up Thy power and come, we pray Thee, O Lord, and with
great might succor us; that our deliverance, which our sins impede, may be
hastened by the help of Thy grace and the forgiveness of Thy mercy.
Monday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 41:8-10
But you Israel, are My
servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend: In
whom I have taken you from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts
thereof have called you, and said to you: You are My servant, I have chosen
you, and have not cast you away. Fear not, for I am with you: turn not
aside, for I am your God: I have strengthened you, and have helped you, and
the right hand of My just one has upheld you.
Lesson ii
Isaias 41:11-13
Behold all that fight against you shall
be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall
perish that strive against you. You shalt seek them, and shall not
find the men that resist you: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing
consumed the men that war against you. For I am the Lord your God, who
takes you by the hand, and says to you: "Fear not, I have helped you."
Lesson iii
Isaias 41:14-16
"Fear not, you worm of
Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped you," said the Lord: and
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. "I have made you as a new
threshing board, with teeth like a saw: you shall thresh the mountains, and
break them in pieces: and make the hills into chaff. You shall fan
them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter
them: and you shall rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel you shall
be joyful."
Collect of Sunday
Tuesday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 42:1-4
"Behold My Servant [Christ, who
according to his humanity, is the servant of God], I will uphold Him: My
Elect, My soul delights in Him: I have given My spirit upon Him, He shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor have
respect to persons, neither shall his voice be heard abroad. The
bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax He shall not quench:
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not be sad, nor
troublesome, till He sets judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait
for His law."
Lesson ii
Isaias 42:5-7
Thus says the Lord God Who created the
heavens, and stretched them out: Who established the earth, and the things
that spring out of it: Who gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to
them that tread thereon. "I the Lord have called you in justice, and
taken you by the hand, and preserved you. And I have given you for a
covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles: That you might
open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of prison, and
them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."
Lesson iii
Isaias 42:10-13
"I the Lord, this is My name: I will
not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven things. Behold, the
first things have come: and new things do I declare: before they spring
forth, I will make you head them. Sing ye to the Lord a new song, His
praise is from the ends of the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all
that are therein: ye islands, and ye inhabitants of them. Let the
desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall dwell in houses: ye
inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry from the top of the
mountains. They shall give glory to the Lord, and shall declare His
praise in the islands. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty Man, as a
Man of war shall He stir up zeal: He shall shout and cry: He shall prevail
against His enemies."
Collect of Sunday
Wednesday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 51:1-3
"Give ear to me, you that
follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look to the rock from
which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out.
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sara who bore you: for I called him
alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. The Lord therefore will
comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and He will make her
desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of
praise."
Lesson ii
Isaias 51:4-6
"Hearken unto Me, O My people, and give
ear to Me, O My tribes: for a law shall go forth from Me, and My judgment
shall be a light for the nations. My just one is near at hand, My
Savior is gone forth, and My arms shall judge the people: the islands shall
look for Me, and shall patiently wait for My arm. Lift up your eyes to
heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish
like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and its
inhabitants shall perish in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever,
and My justice shall not fail."
Lesson iii
Isaias 51:7-8
"Hearken to
Me, you that know what is just, My people who have My law in your heart:
fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies.
For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them
as wool: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My justice from generation
to generation, Arise, arise, put on strength, O you arm of the Lord,
arise as in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Have you not
struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon? Have you not dried up
the sea, the water of the mighty deep, which made the depth of the sea a
path, that the delivered might pass over?"
Collect of Sunday
Thursday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 64:1-4
That Thou would rend the heavens, and
would come down: the mountains would melt away at Thy presence. They
would melt as at the burning of fire, the waters would burn with fire, that
Thy name might be made known to Thine enemies: that the nations might
tremble at Thy presence. When Thou shall do wonderful things, we shall
not bear them: Thou came down, and at thy presence the mountains melted
away. From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor
perceived with the ears: the eye has not seen, O God, besides Thee, what
things Thou have prepared for them that wait for Thee.
Lesson ii
Isaias 64:5-7
Thou have met him that rejoices, and
does justice: in Thy ways they shall remember Thee: behold Thou art angry,
and we have sinned: in them we have been always, and we shall be saved.
And we have all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a
menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities, like
the wind, have taken us away. There is none who calls upon Thy name:
that rises up, and takes hold of Thee: Thou have hid Thy face from us, and
have crushed us in the hand of our iniquity.
Lesson iii
Isaias 64:8-11
And now, O Lord, Thou art our Father,
and we are clay: and Thou art our maker, and we all are the works of Thy
hands. Be not very angry, O Lord, and remember our iniquity no longer:
behold, see we are all Thy people. The city of Thy sanctuary has
become a desert, Sion is made a desert, Jerusalem is desolate. The
house of our holiness, and of our glory, where our fathers praised Thee, is
burnt with fire, and all our lovely things are turned into ruins.
Collect of Sunday
Friday
Lesson i
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaias
Isaias 66:5-8
Hear the word of the Lord, you that
tremble at His word: Your brethren that hate you, and cast you out for My
name's sake, have said: "Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your
joy": but they shall be confounded. A voice of the people from the
city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord that renders recompense
to His enemies. Before she was in labor, she brought forth; before her
time came to be delivered, she brought forth a man child. Who has ever
heard such a thing? and who has seen the like to this? shall the earth bring
forth in one day? or shall a nation be brought forth at once, because Sion
has been in labor, and has brought forth her children?
Lesson ii
Isaias 66:9-12
"Shall not I Who make others to bring
forth children, Myself bring forth, said the Lord? shall I, that give
generation to others, be barren," said the Lord your God. Rejoice with
Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with
her, all you who mourn for her. That you may suck, and be filled with
the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with
delights, from the abundance of her glory. For thus says the Lord:
"Behold I will bring upon her, as it were, a river of peace, and as an
overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles, which you shall suck; you
shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you.
Lesson iii
Isaias 66:13-16
As one whom the mother caresses, so
will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall
see and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an
herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants, and He shall
be angry with His enemies. For behold the Lord will come with fire,
and His chariots are like a whirlwind, to render His wrath in indignation,
and His rebuke with flames of fire. For the Lord shall judge by fire,
and by His sword unto all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
Collect of Sunday