Occurring Scripture for the Hour of Matins
Sunday after the Ascension
Lesson i
A reading from the First Epistle of Saint
John the Apostle
1 John 1:1-5
That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled, of the Word of Life: For the Life was
manifested; and we have seen and bear witness, and declare unto you the Life
Eternal, which was with the Father, and has appeared to us: That which we have
seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship
with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with His Son Jesus
Christ. And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and your
joy may be full. And this is the declaration which we have heard from
Him,
and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness.
Lesson ii
John 1:6-10
If we say that we have fellowship with
him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and speak not the truth. But if we walk in the
light, as He also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make
Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Lesson iii
1 John 2:1-6
My little children, these things I write to
you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the just: And He is the propitiation for our sins:
and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And by this
we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says
that he knows him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in Him. But he that keeps His word, in him in very deed the
charity of God is perfected; and by this we know that we are in Him. He
that says that he abides in Him, ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.
Lesson iv
From the sermons of Saint Augustine, Bishop
II on the Ascension.
Dearly beloved brethren, our Savior has gone up from us into heaven, but let
us not be troubled on earth. Let only our heart be there with Him, and we
shall have peace here. Let us in heart there ascend with Christ in the mean
while, and when that glad day which He has promised comes, our body
will follow. But we must know, my brethren, that there are some things that
cannot ascend with Christ: pride cannot, nor covetousness, nor brutishness;
not one of our diseases can ascend to where our Healer is. And, therefore,
if we would follow our Healer, we must leave our diseases and sins behind
us. All such things tie us down, as it were, with bands, and hamper us in
a net of sins but, with God's help, we will say with the
Psalmist: "Let us break their bands asunder" (Psalm 2:3), that we may be able honestly
to say to the Lord: " Thou hast loosed my bonds I will offer to thee the
sacrifice of thanksgiving" (cf. Psalm 115:16-17).
Lesson v
The Resurrection of the Lord is our hope; the Ascension of the
Lord is our glorification. Today we keep the solemn holy day of the
Ascension. If, therefore, our keeping of this holy day is to be a right,
faithful, earnest, holy, godly keeping, we must in mind, likewise ascend, and
lift up our hearts unto the Lord. When we ascend we must not be high-minded,
nor flatter ourselves with our good works, as though they were our own. We
must lift up our hearts to the Lord. When man's heart is lifted up, but
not unto the Lord, such lifting-up is pride. To lift up the heart to the
Lord, is to make the Most High our Refuge. Behold, my brethren, a great
wonder. God is high, but if thou art lifted up He flees from thee, whereas,
if thou humble thyself, He comes down to thee. Why? "The Lord is high,
yet hath He respect unto the lowly but the proud He knows from afar" (cf. Psalm
137:6)
To the lowly He has respect, that He may raise them up. The proud He knows
from afar, that He may thrust them down.
Lesson vi
Christ arose again, to give us hope that
we mortals will yet
put on immortality. He has assured against a hopeless death, and against the
thought that death ends life. We were troubled, even as touching the soul
but Christ, arising from the grave, has assured us of the resurrection of
the body also. Believe therefore, that thou may be made pure. First it
behooves thee to believe, if by faith thou would in the end worthily see
God. And if thou would see God, give ear to His own words: "Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Think first, then, how to purify
thine heart. Take from it whatsoever thou see in it that displeases God.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
John
John 15:26-27; 16:1-4
But when the Paraclete comes, whom I
will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the
Father, He shall give testimony of me. And you shall give testimony,
because you are with Me from the beginning. These things I have
spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. They will put you out
of the synagogues: yes, the hour comes, that whoever kills you, will think
that he is doing a service to God. And these things will they do to
you; because they have not known the Father, nor Me. But these things
I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told
you of them.
A homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop.
Tract LXXXXII on John.
The Lord Jesus, in
that discourse which He addressed to His disciples after the Last Supper,
when He was on the very eve of the Passion, when He was, as it were, about
to go away and leave them as touching His bodily Presence (albeit as
touching His spiritual Presence He is with us always even unto the end of the
world) in that discourse He exhorted them to bear patiently the persecution
of wicked men, whom He speaks of as "the world" out of the which world,
nevertheless, He said that He had chosen His disciples themselves,
that they might know that it was by the grace of God that they were what
they were, whereas it was by their own sins that they had been what they had
been.
Lesson viii
"If they have persecuted Me, they
will also persecute you" (John 15:20).
Here He clearly points to the Jews, the persecutors both of Himself and of
His disciples, so that we see that they which persecute His holy ones are as
much citizens of the world of damnation as they which persecuted Himself. He
said: "They know not Him That sent Me" (John 15:21) and yet again, "They
have hated both Me and My Father" (John 15:20), that is to say, both
the Sender and the Sent, the meaning of which words we have already treated
in other discourses and with that He comes to the words: "That the word
might be fulfilled that is written in their law They hated Me without a
cause" (John 15:20).
Lesson ix
Then says the Lord, as though in
continuation: "But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, Which proceeds from the Father,
He shall testify of Me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been
with Me from the beginning." What connection has this with the words "Now have they both
seen and hated both Me and My Father but that the word might be fulfilled
that is written in their law: 'They hated Me without a cause'" (John
15:24-25)? Is it that
when the Comforter has come, even the Spirit of Truth, He will confound by
irrefutable testimony those who have both seen and hated both God the Son
and God the Father? Yes, indeed, some there were who had seen and still
hated, whom the testimony of the Comforter converted to the faith which
works by love.
Let us pray:
O Almighty and everlasting God, grant that our will be ever
meekly subject unto Thy will, and our heart ever honestly ready to serve Thy
majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Monday
Lesson i
A reading from the First Epistle of Saint John the Apostle
1
John 3:1-6
Behold what manner of charity the
Father has bestowed upon us,
that we should be called, and should be the sons of God. Therefore the world knows us
not, because it knew Him not. Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of
God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know, that,
when appears, we shall be like Him: because we shall see Him as
He is. And every one that has this hope in Him, sanctifies himself, as
He also is holy. Whoever commits sin also commits iniquity; and
sin is iniquity. And you know that He appeared to take away our sins, and
in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him, sins not; and
whoever sins, has not seen Him, nor known Him.
Lesson ii
1 John 3:7-12
Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that does justice is just, even as He is just. He that commits sin is of the
devil: for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son
of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever
is born of God, commits not sin: for His seed abides in him, and he can not
sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, as are the children of the devil. Whoever is not just, is not of
God, nor he that loves not his brother. For this is the declaration,
which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And
wherefore did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked: and his
brother's just.
Lesson iii
1 John 3:13-18
Wonder not, brethren, if the world
hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we
love the brethren. He that loves not, abides in death. Whoever hates
his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life
abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because
He has laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. He that has the substance of this world, and shall see his
brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity
of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue,
but in deed, and in truth.
Lessons iv-ix are recited if the
Octave of the Ascension is observed
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom,
Patriarch
On the Ascension, Tome III
Then Christ went up
into heaven, He offered unto the Father the First-fruits of our nature, and
the Father marvelled at the offering, seeing the Majesty of the Priest and
the Spotlessness of the oblation. He received the Sacrifice into His Own
hands, He made It to sit upon His Throne, nay, more, He gave It a place at
His Own Right Hand. Let us ask what nature was His Who heard the words: "Sit
Thou at My right hand" (Psalm 109:1), what nature was His to Whom God said "
Be Thou Partaker of My Throne" (cf. ibid.)? It was the same nature as was his who heard
the sentence "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). Archangels beheld our nature upon the Throne of the Lord, refulgent with
eternal glory.
Lesson v
It was not enough of glory for Him to be exalted
above the heavens, nor to be ranked with angels but He was exalted above the
heavens, He went up above the Cherubim, He ascended beyond the Seraphim,
neither found He His rank beneath the Throne of the Lord of lords. Behold
how high the heaven is above the earth, and the earth above hell, how high
above the heaven is the heaven of heavens, how high above the heaven of
heavens the Angels, above the Angels the Higher Powers, and above the Higher
Powers the Throne of the Lord. Above all these hath One of our nature been
exalted, so that man, which had fallen so low that there was no farther fall
for him, is now in place so high, that there is thence no ascending.
Lesson vi
Paul also, dwelling on this, said: "He
That descended is the Same also That ascended up far above all heavens," even as
he had said: "Now, that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended
first into the lower parts of the earth"" (Ephesians 4: 10&9). Learn hence Who it
was That ascended, and with what nature He was exalted. And with this
thought I wish to bring my sermon to an end. From the thought of that
glorified Manhood let us learn with amazement what the goodness of God is
that goodness which hath crowned with an honour, higher than which is none,
and a glory, greater than which is none, a Person Sharer of our nature, even
That Person Which this day hath taken the place which is His of right, above
all things other than Himself.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Mark
Mark 16:14-20
At length He appeared to the eleven as they
were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of
heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after he was risen
again. And he said to them: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized, shall
be saved: but he that believes not shall be condemned. And these signs
shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils: they
shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they
shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their
hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after
He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand
of God. But they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working
with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed.
An Homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
So
then, after "the Lord Jesus had spoken unto them, He was received up into
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." We learn in the Old Testament,
(cf. 4
Kings 2:11),that Elijah was taken up into heaven. But this word "heaven" may
mean either the terrestrial atmosphere, or the space external to the sphere
of this planet. Of these the atmosphere closely surrounds the earth, and we
call the birds "the fowls of the heaven," because we see them fly therein.
It was only up into this that Elijah was taken, that he might be carried off
suddenly into some part of the earth, to us unknown, and there live in
profound peace of body and soul, until the end of the world, when he will
return and pay the debt of nature. For him, therefore, death waits, but is
not escaped. But our Redeemer made it not to wait for Him, but conquered it,
and by rising again shattered it, and by His Ascension showed forth the
glory of His rising again.
Lesson viii
We must mark also, how that Elijah was taken
up in a chariot (ibid.), as though to show plainly that for a mere man some outward
help was needful. This help was given to him by Angels, as plainly appears,
since it was impossible for one whom a weak nature yet weighed down
earthward, to fly up even into the atmosphere. But of our Redeemer we read
not that He was borne up in a chariot, or by Angels, since He by Whom all
things were made, clearly rose above all things by His Own Power. He
returned unto Him with Whom He was, and whither He returned, there He abode,
for albeit as touching His Manhood He ascended up into heaven, yet, as
touching His Godhead, He still comprehended both heaven and earth.
Lesson ix
Commemoration of the Saint of the Day
Tuesday
Lesson i
From the First Epistle of Saint John the Apostle
1 John
4:1-6
Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
to see if
they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
By this is the spirit of God known. Every spirit which confesses that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh, is of God: And every spirit that denies
Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he
comes, and he is now already in the world. You are of God, little
children, and have overcome him. Because greater is He that is in you, than
he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore of the world
they speak, and the world hears them. We are of God. He that knows
God, hears us. He that is not of God, hears us not. By this we know the
spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Lesson ii
1 John 4:7-14
Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for
charity is of God. And every one that loves, is born of God, and knows
God. He that loves not, knows not God: for God is charity. By
this has the charity of God appeared towards us, because God has sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity:
not as though we had loved God, but because He has first loved us, and sent
His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so
loved us; we also ought to love one another. No man has seen God at any
time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His charity is perfected
in us. In this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us:
because He hath given us of His spirit. And we have seen, and do
testify, that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.
Lesson iii
1 John 4:15-21
Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the
Son of God, God will abide in him, and he in God. And we have known, and
have believed the charity, which God has for us. God is charity: and he that
abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him. In this is the
charity of God perfected in us, that we may have confidence in the day of
judgment: because as He is, we also are in this world. Fear is not in
charity: but perfect charity castes out fear, because fear has pain. And
he that fears, is not perfected in charity. Let us therefore love God,
because God has first loved us. If any man say, "I love God," and hates
his brother; he is a liar. For he that loves not his brother, whom he
sees, how can he love God, whom he sees not? And this commandment we
have from God, that he, who loves God, love also his brother.
Lessons iv-ix are recited if the
Octave of the Ascension is observed
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St. Maximus, Bishop
Sermon 43, the second on Pentecost.
My holy brethren, ye remember that I have likened the Savior
to that eagle, touching which it is written in the Book of Psalms: "thy youth is renewed like the eagle's"
(Psalm 102:5) There are many points of
likeness. The eagle rises above ground, wings his way aloft, and mounts
skyward—even so did the Savior rise from the depth of the grave, mount up
unto the exalted mansions of Paradise, and enter the heights of heaven. The
eagle leaves below him the foul mists of earth, flies above, and drinks
in health from a purer air even so did the Lord leave below Him the filthy
slough of sinners on earth, and rejoice Himself with the honesty of a purer
life, when He soared again into His Own holy home.
Lesson v
In all ways, therefore, is the Savior aptly
likened to an eagle. But what can we make of this, that the eagle is a bird
of prey, often times a plunderer. Even in this he is like to the Savior. He
bore off His prey, when He carried off from the jaws of hell to heaven the
Manhood Which He had swooped to take to Himself, yea, when He led captive to
an higher home him whom He had delivered from the mastership of another
lord, namely the devil, even as it is written by the Prophet, "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast
received gifts among men" (Psalm 67:19).
Lesson vi
"Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led
captivity captive." O how nobly does the Prophet paint the Triumph of the
Lord. We hear how, of old time, when kings marched in triumph, the
procession of prisoners walked before the chariot of their conqueror.
See,
the Lord enters the heavens, not after, but amid a most glorious band of
captives. That band are not led before His chariot, but themselves bear up
their Savior. In some mystic sense, when the Son of God bore to heaven the
Son of man, captivity both led and was led.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Mark
Mark 16:14-20
At length He appeared to the eleven as they
were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of
heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after he was risen
again. And he said to them: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized, shall
be saved: but he that believes not shall be condemned. And these signs
shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils: they
shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they
shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their
hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after
He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand
of God. But they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working
with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed.
An Homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
We
must ponder the meaning of these words of Mark, "He sat on the right hand of
God," and how that Stephen said, "Behold, I see the heavens
opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God"
(Acts 7:55). Why does Mark say that "He sat," whereas Stephen testifies that he saw Him
"standing"? But ye know, my brethren, that to sit is for Him that judges; to
stand, for Him that fights, or helps.
Lesson viii
Since therefore, our Redeemer has
ascended into heaven, and even now is Judge of all, beside that at the end
of the world He will so come, therefore does Mark say that He "sits" where
He has
gone, because we look for Him, after His glorious Ascension, that He
will come again at the end to be our Judge. But Stephen, while yet he was in
the throes of the battle, saw Him That was helping him standing. Stephen on
earth was overcoming the unbelief of his persecutors, but it was the grace
of Him That is in heaven that fought in him all the while.
Lesson ix
"And they went forth and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following."
What are we to see in this, what are we to remember, but that obedience
followed commandment, and signs obedience But now, since, by the will of
God, we have lightly run over our reading from the Gospel, it remains that
we should say something by way of reflection on this great Festival.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that
just as we do believe thine Only-Begotten Son, our Savior, to have this day
ascended into the heavens, so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend,
and with Him continually dwell. Through the same.
Wednesday
Lesson i
A reading from the Second Epistle of Saint John the
Apostle
2 John 1:1-5
The ancient to the lady Elect, and her children, whom
I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all they that have known the
truth, for the sake of the truth which dwells in us, and shall be with
us for ever. Grace be with you, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and
from Christ Jesus the Son of the Father; in truth and charity. I was
exceeding glad, that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have
received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not
as writing a new commandment to thee, but that which we have had from the
beginning, that we love one another.
Lesson ii
2 John 1:6-9
And this is charity, that we walk according to
His commandments. For this is the commandment, that, as you have heard from
the beginning, you should walk in the same: For many seducers are gone out
into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh: this
is a seducer and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that you lose not the
things which you have wrought: but that you may receive a full reward.
Whoever revolts, and continues not in the doctrine of Christ, has not
God. He that continues in the doctrine, the same has both the Father and
the Son.
Lesson iii
2 John 1:10-13
If any man comes to you, and brings not this
doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him, "God speed you."
For he that says unto him, "God speed you," communicates with his wicked
works. Having more things to write unto you, I would not by paper and
ink: for I hope that I shall be with you, and speak face to face: that your
joy may be full. The children of thy sister Elect salute thee.
Lessons iv-ix are recited if the
Octave of the Ascension is observed
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa.
Commentary on the Lords Ascension.
The very thought of this day's Festival is
great enough in itself, but the Prophet David hath much inflamed our joyful
enthusiasm by the Psalms. This noble Prophet has, as it were, gone out of
himself, as though the body were a weight duller than his spirit could bear
he joins company with the Powers of heaven, and tells what they said
when they went with the Lord heavenward, and cried in tones of command to
those Angels who work on earth, and by whose heralding the Birth of the
Incarnate One had been proclaimed "Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be
ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in"
(Psalm 23:7&9).
Lesson v
He,Who contains all things, is
everywhere, but for the sake of those who receive Him, He is pleased to make
Himself a local Presence which has bounds. Not only did He become a Man among men, but when
conversing among Angels, He allowed that title also to be given Him. The
gatekeepers therefore ask "Who is this King of glory?" and it is answered
them that He is "The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle,"
the Lord, Whose work it had been to fight him who held mankind in bondage,
and to "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil"
(Hebrews 2:14that now that dark enemy was trampled down, and man had had won for
him freedom and peace.
Lesson vi
The keepers run to the gates, and bid the doors unfold, that
the Lord may enter in, to take again the glory which He had there among them
before. But when they see Him, clad in the likeness of sinful flesh, (cf. Romans 8:3), they know Him not, even Him Who is red in His apparel, because
that He hath trodden Alone the winepress of human pain, and the blood is
sprinkled upon His garments. Therefore they cry again to their fellows that
bear Him company: "Who is this King of glory?" And they answer them no more:
"The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle" but "The Lord of
hosts the Lord, Whose Own are become the kingdoms of the world the Lord, Who
hath made Himself the Head of all things the Lord, Who hath made all things
new" (Apocalypse 21:5). He is the King of glory!
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Mark
Mark 16:14-20
At length He appeared to the eleven as they
were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of
heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after he was risen
again. And he said to them: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized, shall
be saved: but he that believes not shall be condemned. And these signs
shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils: they
shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they
shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their
hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after
He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand
of God. But they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working
with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed.
An Homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
The first question
we have to ask is why we read that Angels appeared at the time of the Birth
of the Lord, but we read not that they appeared in white apparel whereas,
when the Lord ascended into heaven, it is written that the angels which
appeared were clad in white. "While they beheld, He was taken up, and a
cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white
apparel," (Acts i. 9, 10.) White raiment is an outward sign of solemn inward
joy. That the occasion of God-made-Man entering into heaven was a great
Festival for Angels, is the reason which we see why angels are specially
named as robed in white at His Ascension, and not at His Birth. At the Birth
of the Lord the Godhead was manifested veiled under the form of a servant,
but at His Ascension the Manhood was seen exalted and white vestments are
more apt to exaltation than humiliation.
Lesson viii
Therefore were the angels bound to
appear in white apparel at the Ascension. At His Birth, He Who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, was seen in the form in which He had
humbled Himself; at His Ascension the Manhood Which He had taken into God
was seen glorified. Again, dearly beloved brethren, we must remember today,
how that Christ has "blotted out the hand-writing that was against us," and reversed the sentence which
doomed us to corruption. That same nature to which it was said, "Dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19) that same nature is His Who hath this
day ascended up into heaven. It is because of this up-lifting of our flesh
that blessed Job, by a figure, called the Lord a bird. The Jews could not
understand the Mystery of the Ascension, and in view of this their unbelief,
blessed Job said mystically "He knew not the path of the bird" (cf. Job 28:7).
Lesson ix
The name of a bird is well given to the Lord, Who bodily soared
up into heaven. And the path of that Bird knows no man, who believes not
in the Ascension into heaven. It is of this glorious occasion that the
Psalmist said: "Who hast set thy glory above the heavens" (Psalm 8:2), and
again "God is gone up with a shout, and the Lord with the sound of a
trumpet" (Psalm 46:6). And yet again he said: "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou
hast led captivity captive" (Psalm 67:19). "When Christ ascended up on high, He
led captivity captive" (Ephesians 4:8), because by His Own incorruptibility He
swallowed up our corruptibility. "He gave gifts unto men," because by
sending the Spirit from above, He gave "to one, the word of wisdom to
another, the word of knowledge to another, the working of miracles to
another, the gifts of healing; to another, divers kinds of tongues to
another, the interpretation of tongues" (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Thursday
Octave Day of the Ascension
Lesson i
From the Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the
Ephesians
Ephesians 4:1-8
I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and
mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one
Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one
faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and
through all, and in us all. But to every one of us is given grace,
according to the measure of the giving of Christ. Wherefore He said:
"Ascending on high, He led captivity captive; He gave gifts to men"
(Psalm 67:19).
Lesson ii
Ephesians 4:9-14
Now that He ascended, what is it, but because
He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that
descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens, that He
might fill all things. And He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets, and others some
to be
evangelists, and others some to be pastors and doctors, for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ: Until we all meet in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness
of Christ; that henceforth we be no more children tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men,
by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive.
Lesson iii
Ephesians 4:15-21
But speaking the truth in charity, we may in all
things grow up in Him who is the Head, even Christ: from Whom the whole
body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplies, according to the operation in the measure of every part, makes
increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in charity. This
then I say and testify in the Lord: That henceforth you walk not as the
Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is
in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. Who despairing, have
given themselves up to lasciviousness, unto the working of all uncleanness,
unto covetousness. But you have not
so learned Christ; if so be that you have heard Him, and have been taught
in Him.
Lessons iv-ix are recited if the
Octave of the Ascension is observed
Lesson iv
A reading from the Sermons of Saint Augustine, Bishop.
III on
the Ascension, 176th on the Season.
Dearly beloved brethren, all the
wonderful works which our Lord Jesus Christ did in this world, under the
weakness of our nature, are profitable for us when He exalted His Manhood
above the stars, He showed that heaven may open for a believer and while He,
the Conqueror of death, went up into the heavenly mansions, He showed to him
that overcomes, where he also may follow. Therefore, the ascension of the
Lord is the seal of the Catholic Faith, which assures in us the hope of the
gift which is yet to come to us, from a miracle from which we already feel the
fruits. Thus let every one that is faithful, having already received so
much, learn to hope for that which is promised, on the ground of that which
he knows to have been given, and hold the goodness of God in times which
have been, and times which now are, as a sure pledge of the same in times to
come.
Lesson v
An earthly Body, then, is now lifted up
above the heights of heaven. The Bones, Which but a little while before had
lain within the narrow walls of the grave, have made Their entry among the
angelic hosts. Human nature has been given a place in the lap of immortality and therefore the
Apostle whose account we have heard read, said "When He had spoken these
things, while they beheld, He was taken up" (cf. Acts 1:9). When
you hear
these words, "taken up," you must understand by them the ministry
of the angelic army whereby this Festival reveals to us the Mystery of Him
who is both God and Man. United in One Person, we see in Him who lifted up,
Divine Power, and in Him Who was lifted up, true Man.
Lesson vi
Therefore are utterly to be loathed those pestiferous teachings
of Eastern falsehood, those brand new inventions of ungodliness which
dare to assert that He Who in One Person is both Son of God and Son of Man,
has
but one nature. On the one hand, if a man says that Christ is not Partaker of
the Divine nature, he hath denied the glory of his Maker—on the other, he
who says that the Manhood is not of the nature of man, has denied the
mercy of his Savior. As touching these points, it is well-nigh impossible
for an Arian to believe that the Gospel writers are any better than liars,
since they distinctly assert in some places that the Son of God is equal,
and, in others, that He is inferior, to the Father. Farther, if a man be
given over to this soul-slaying delusion of believing that our Savior hath
only one nature, he must of necessity admit either that it was only God, or
that it was only man who was crucified. But it was not so. If He had been of
no nature but the Divine, He could not have suffered, and if He had been of
no nature but the human, He could not have conquered death.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Mark
Mark 16:14-20
"He that believes and is baptized,
shall be saved: but he that believes not shall be condemned. And these
signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils:
they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if
they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay
their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover." And the Lord
Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sits at
the right hand of God. But they going forth preached everywhere: the
Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.
An Homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
Homily XXIX
The Prophet Habacuc has also spoken of the glory of Christ's Ascension in the words "The
sun was lifted up on high, and the moon stood still in her habitation"
(Habacuc 3:11). Who is
here signified by the Sun, if not the Savior or by the Moon, if not the
Church? Until the Lord was withdrawn from her sight, (that is, by His
Ascension,) His Holy Church was pale before the hostile glare of the world,
but after He was ascended, she waxed stronger, and distinctly shed forth the
beams of that faith which had hitherto dwelt hiding in her. "The sun was
lifted up, and the moon stood still in her habitation" when the Lord was
gone away into heaven, His holy Church waxed stronger in her enlightening
power.
Lesson viii
Hence it is that Solomon has put into the mouth of the, (same) Church
the words: "Behold, He cometh! leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon
the hills" (Canticles 2:8). These hills are His lofty and; noble achievements. "Behold, He
cometh leaping upon the mountains" When He came to redeem us, He came, if I
may so say, in leaps. My dearly beloved brethren, would you know what His
leaps were? From heaven He leapt into the womb of the Virgin, from the womb
into the manger, from the manger on to the Cross, from the Cross into the
grave, and from the grave up to heaven. Behold, how the Truth made manifest in
the Flesh did leap for our sakes, that He might draw us to run after Him for
this end did He rejoice, as a strong man to run a race.
Lesson ix
Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, it behooves
us in heart and mind to ascend there, where we believe Him to have already ascended
bodily. Let us fly earthly lusts, for we, who have a Father in heaven, let
nothing be sweet below. And very much must we keep in our minds this
thought, that He Who ascended up in peace, will return in dreadful Majesty
and will require from us with justice an account of our keeping of those
commandments which He gave us in mercy. Let no man therefore reckon lightly
this season which is given unto us that we may repent ourselves, nor be
reckless touching the state of his soul; our Redeemer will be all the
sterner, when He comes to judgment, as He has been wondrously longsuffering before.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that as we do
believe thine Only-Begotten Son our Savior to have this day ascended into
the heavens, so we may also in heart and mind ascend there, and continually
dwell with Him. Through the same.
Friday
Lesson i
A reading from the Third Epistle of Saint John the Apostle
3
John 1:1-4
The ancient to the dearly beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Dearly beloved, concerning all things I make it my prayer that thou may
proceed prosperously, and fare well as thy soul prospers. I was
exceedingly glad when the brethren came and gave testimony to the truth in
thee, even as thou walk in the truth. I have no greater grace than
this, to hear that my children walk in truth.
Lesson ii
3 John 1:5-10
Dearly beloved, thou do faithfully
whatever thou do for the brethren, and that for strangers, who have given
testimony to thy charity in the sight of the church: whom thou shall do well
to bring forward on their way in a manner worthy of God. Because, for his
name they went out, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to
receive such, that we may be fellow helpers of the truth. I had written
perhaps to the church: but Diotrephes, who loves to have pre-eminence among
them, does not receive us. For this cause, if I come, I will advertise
his works which he does, with malicious words prating against us. And as if
these things were not enough for him, neither does he himself
receive the brethren, and them that do receive them he forbids, and
casts out of the church.
Lesson iii
3 John 1:11-14
Dearly beloved, follow not that which
is evil, but that which is good. He that does good, is of God: he that does
evil, has not seen God. To Demetrius testimony is given by all, and by
the Truth itself, yea and we also give testimony: and thou know that our
testimony is true. I had many things to write unto thee: but I would not
by ink and pen write to thee. 14 But I hope speedily to see thee, and we
will speak mouth to mouth. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Salute
the friends by name.
Saturday
VIGIL OF PENTECOST
Lesson i
The Beginning of the Catholic Epistle of blessed
Jude the Apostle
Jude 1:1-4
Jude, the servant of Jesus
Christ, and brother of James: to them that are beloved in God the Father,
and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Mercy unto you, and peace,
and charity be fulfilled. Dearly beloved, taking all care to write
unto you concerning your common salvation, I was under a necessity to write
unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints. For certain men are secretly entered in, (who were
written of long ago unto this judgment,) ungodly men, turning the grace of
our Lord God into riotousness, and denying the only sovereign Ruler, and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Lesson ii
Jude 1:5-8
I will therefore admonish you, though
you once knew all things, that Jesus, having saved the people out of the
land of Egypt, did afterwards destroy them that believed not: And the
angels who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation, He
has reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment of the
great day. As Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighboring cities, in like
manner, having given themselves to unnatural fornication, and going after
other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
In like manner these men also defile the flesh, and despise dominion, and
blaspheme majesty.
Lesson iii
Jude 1:9-13
When Michael the
archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he
dared not bring against him the judgment of insulting speech, but said: "The
Lord command thee." But these men blaspheme whatever things they know
not: and all things they naturally know, like dumb beasts, in these they are
corrupted. Woe be unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain:
and after the error of Balaam they have for reward poured out themselves,
and have perished in the contradiction of Core. These are spots in
their banquets, feasting together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds
without water, which are carried about by winds, trees of the autumn,
unfruitful, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, Raging waves of the
sea, foaming out their own confusion; wandering stars, to whom the storm of
darkness is reserved for ever.
Lesson iv
From the Treatise on the Creed, addressed to the
Catechumens by Saint Augustine, Bishop
Book IV. Chapter I
We are yet the unborn offspring of a
great Mother. Our Holy Mother the Church hath by the most sacred sign of the
Cross received you into her womb, and from there she is now just about to
bring you forth, as she hath already brought forth your brethren, with
thrills of spiritual joy. But until, through the washing of regeneration,
she brings you forth into true light, she feeds you in her womb with such
food as becomes your condition, and in gladness matures her children for the
glad moment of her delivery. This Mother is not stricken by the doom of Eve,
to bring forth children in sorrow, and they themselves often times weeping
than laughing. Rather, your spiritual Mother annuls the sentence of your
earthly Eve, who by disobedience, endowed her offspring with death;
the Church, by obedience, gives them newness of life. All the mystic prayers
and ceremonies which have been and are still being performed over you by the
ministry of the servants of God, exorcisms, prayers, spiritual songs,
on-breathings, haircloth, prostrations, baring of the feet, the dread which
ye feel, albeit so safe, all these things, I say unto you, are the
nourishment which ye are ever fed; drawing from your Mother while yet ye are
in her womb, that at the baptismal birth she may be able to present you
strong and laughing babes unto Christ.
Lesson v
We have also received the Creed, which is the shield of
the travailing Mother against the venom of the dragon. In the Apocalypse of
the Apostle it is written "And the dragon stood before the woman which was
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born"
(Apocalypse 12:4). That this dragon is the devil ye all know. Ye know likewise
that by the woman is signified the Virgin Mary, who, herself a Virgin, bore
our Virgin Head, and who is revealed unto us as a type of the Holy Church,
in that, even as Mary, though she bore a Son, remained a Virgin, so the
Church does in all times give birth to all her members, and yet is ever
presented a chaste virgin to Christ. I have undertaken, with the help of the
Lord, to expound every clause of the Creed, that I may bring home to your
understandings what each contains Your hearts are ready, for the enemy has
been shut out of your hearts.
Lesson vi
We have made profession of renouncing
the enemy. At the moment of that profession it was not before men only, but
in the presence of God and His Angels that you said "I do renounce him."
Renounce him, not only in your words, but in your ways not only with your
voices, but with your lives not only with your lips, but in your works. Know
well that the wrestling which you have undertaken is a strife with an enemy
who is subtle, and old, and patient now that ye have once renounced him, let
him never again find in you his works never again give him the right to
bring you into bondage. O Christian thou wilt be caught and exposed, if thou
do one thing and profess another; if thou art faithful in name, and make it
to be evident by thy works that thou hast broken the faith pledged by this
promise; if some while thou go into a church to pray, and anon to the shows
to join in applauding obscene presentations. What have thou to do any more
with the pomps of the devil, which thou have renounced.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
John
John14:15-21
At that time, Jesus said unto His disciples:
"If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and
He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever.
The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not,
nor knows Him: but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and
shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.
Yet a little while: and the world will see Me no more. But you see Me:
because I live, and you shall live. In that day you shall know, that I
am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He that has My
commandments, and keeps them; he it is that loves Me. And he that loves Me,
shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself
to him."
A homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop
Tracts LXXIV and LXXV on John.
By these words of the Lord "I will pray
the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter", He implies that He Himself is a Comforter. The Greek
word used, namely "Parakletos," signifies also an Advocate, and is used in
that sense where it is written "We have an Advocate (Parakleton) with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous" (1 John 2:1). "Even the Spirit of truth, Whom the
world cannot receive" (John 14:17), because as we read elsewhere,
"the carnal mind is enmity against; God; for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be" (cf. Romans 8:7) as we may say plainly
nothing can make unrighteousness righteous. By "the world," in this place,
we must understand the lovers of the world, a love which comes not of the Father. And therefore it is that this love of
the world, which we strive to lessen and to destroy in ourselves, is
contrary to "the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).
Lesson viii
"The Spirit of truth Whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him" for to love the world is to lack those
spiritual eyes, which are able to see Him Who is invisible, the Holy Ghost. "But ye know Him," said the Lord to His disciples, "for He shall dwell with
you, and shall be in you." He will be in them to dwell in them, not dwell in
them to be in them for one must first be in a place before one dwell there.
But lest the Apostles should think that the words, "He shall dwell with
you," signified that He should visibly abide with them for a while, as do
guests in the houses of men, the Lord said in explanation "He shall be in
you."
Lesson ix
Therefore is He seen That is invisible. If He were not in us
we could have in us no knowledge of Him but He is seen in us, as we see our
conscience. We see the faces of other men, but we cannot see our Own but of
consciences we see none save that within ourselves. But our conscience is
never elsewhere but within us whereas the Holy Ghost may be without us, as
well as within us. He is given to be within us, and, unless He be within us,
we can neither see nor know Him, either within or without us. Then, after
that He had promised the Holy Ghost, the Lord, lest they should deem that He
was to give them that other Comforter instead of Himself, and that He
Himself was to be no longer with them, said also "I will not leave you
orphans I will come to you." Therefore, although the Son of God hath made us
by adoption sons of His Own Father, and has willed that the Same Who is His
Father by nature should be our Father by grace, nevertheless, He shows
that He Himself has toward us a love as of a Father, when He said "I will
not leave you orphans."
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, grant that our will be ever
meekly subject unto thy will, and our heart ever honestly ready to serve thy
majesty. Through Jesus Christ Thy Son.