Occurring Scripture for the
Hour of Matins
Sunday
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings
4:1-4
And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered
themselves together to fight: and Israel went out to war against the
Philistines, and camped by the Stone of help [Eben-ezer]. And the Philistines came to Aphec, And put their army in array against Israel. And when they had
joined battle, Israel turned their backs to the Philistines, and there was
slain in that fight here and there in the fields about four thousand men.
And the people returned to the camp: and the ancients of Israel said: "Why
hath the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch unto us
the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Silo, and let it come in the midst
of us, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies." So the people
sent to Silo, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of the
Lord of hosts sitting upon the cherubim: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni
and Phinees, were with the ark of the covenant of God.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 4:5-11
And when the ark of the
covenant of the Lord was come into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great
shout, and the earth rang again. And the Philistines heard the noise of
the shout, and they said: What is this noise of a great shout in the camp of
the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the
camp. And the Philistines were afraid, saying: "God has come into the camp."
And sighing, they said: "Woe to us: for there was no such great joy
yesterday and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand
of these high gods? these are the gods that struck Egypt with all the
plagues in the desert." "Take courage and behave like men, ye Philistines:
lest you come to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have served you: take
courage and fight." So the Philistines fought, and Israel was overthrown,
and every man fled to his own dwelling: and there was an exceeding great
slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark
of God was taken: and the two sons of Heli; Ophni and Phinees, were slain.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 4:12-18
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of
the army, and came to Silo the same day, with his clothes rent, and his head
strewed with dust. And when he had come, Heli sat upon a stool over
against the way watching. For his heart was fearful for the ark of God. And
when the man had come into the city, he told it: and all the city cried out. And Heli heard the noise of the cry, and he said: What
means the noise of this uproar? But he made haste, and came, and told
Heli. Now Heli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim, and he
could not see. And he said to Heli: "I am he that came from the battle,
and have fled out of the field this day." And he said to him: "What was
done, my son?" And he that brought the news answered, and said: "Israel has
fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter of the
people: moreover thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are dead: and the ark of
God is taken. And when he had named the ark of God, he fell from his
stool backwards by the door, and broke his neck, and died.
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St John Chrysostom
Homily LX to the
people of Antioch.
His Word said: "This is My
Body." This we confess, and believe, and, with spiritual eyes, do see.
Christ has not left Himself to us in such form as that we can see, hear,
touch, smell, or taste Him and yet He left Himself to us in things which we can see, hear,
touch, smell, and taste, and which all men may understand. Thus also is it
in baptism by means of water, which men perceive outwardly, is given unto
them a gift which they can grasp only inwardly, that is, a new birth. If we
had no bodies, then would these things be given us without any outward and
visible signs, but since we are here made up of souls and bodies, there are
given to our souls gifts which they can grasp, in outward signs which our
bodies may perceive. How many are there who say "I would that I could see
His comely presence, His Face, His garments, even His shoes"? Behold,
you do see and touch Him, yes, you do feed upon Him. And if you would see His raiment,
behold, He has allowed you not only to behold it, but to
feed upon it, and handle it, and take it to yourself.
Lesson v
At this table of the Lord let no one
dare to draw near with squeamishness or carelessness. Let all be fiery, all
hot, all roused. To the Jews it was commanded touching the Paschal lamb: "And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your
feet, and your staff in your hand and ye shall eat it in haste it is the
Lord's Passover" (Exodus 12:11). But you need to be more watchful than they. They were
just about to travel from Egypt to Palestine, and therefore they bore the
guise of travelers but the journey that lies before you is from earth to
heaven. And therefore it behooves you in all things to be on your guard, for
the punishment of him that eats or drinks unworthily is no light one.
Think how you are indignant against him who betrayed, and those that
crucified the Lord and see to it well that you also be not "guilty of
the Body and Blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:27). As for them, they slew His Most Holy
Body but you, after all that He has done for you, do thrust Him into your polluted soul. For His love, it was not enough to be made Man, to be
buffeted, and to be crucified. He has also mingled Himself with us, by
making us His Body, and that not by faith only, but truly and in deed.
Lesson vi
Can anything be purer than what man ought to be, who eats of this great Sacrifice? Can sun-beams be clearer than that hand ought
to be which breaks this Flesh? that mouth, which is filled with that
spiritual fire? that tongue, which is reddened by that Blood, awful
exceedingly? That whereon the Angels fear to look, nor dare to gaze
steadfastly upon It, because of the blinding glory that shines from It,
upon This we feed, with This we become one, and are made one body of Christ,
and one flesh. "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can show
forth all His praise?" Where is the shepherd which feeds his flock with his own
blood? Nay, why should I say, shepherd? Many mothers there be, who after all
the pains of travail, give their own little ones to strangers to nurse. But
He would not do so, but feeds us with His Own Blood, and makes us to grow up
in His Own substance.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
Luke
Luke 14:16-24
At that time: Jesus spoke unto the Pharisees this
parable: "A certain man made a great supper, and invited many.
And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were
invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they
began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: 'I have bought a
farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee, hold me excused.' And
another said: 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray
thee, hold me excused.' And another said: 'I have married a wife, and
therefore I cannot come.' And the servant returning, told these things to
his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant:
'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither
the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame.' And the servant
said: 'Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.'
And the Lord said to the servant: 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and
compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto
you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper.'"
An homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
XXXVI upon the
Gospels.
Dearly beloved brethren, between the
dainties of the body and the dainties of the mind there is this difference,
that the dainties of the body, when we lack them, raise up a great hunger
after them, and when we devour them, straightway our fullness satisfies our
hunger. But about the dainties of the mind we are comfortable while as yet we lack them, and when we fill
ourselves with them, then are we more hungered after them, and the more, being
more hungered, we feed on them, the more are we more hungered thereafter. In the
bodily dainties, the hunger is keener than the fullness, but in the spiritual
the fullness is keener than the hunger. In the bodily, hunger seeks
fullness and is satisfied, but fullness in the spiritual brings greater hunger.
Lesson viii
Scriptural dainties, in the very eating, do
stir up the keenness of hunger in the mind which they fill, for, the more we
taste their sweetness, the better we know how well they deserve to be loved
and, if we taste them not, we cannot love them, for we know not how sweet
they are. And who can love that of which he knows nothing? Hence said the
Psalmist: "O taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 33:9), that is,
as it were, "If ye taste not, ye shall not see His goodness but let your
heart once taste the bread of life, and then indeed, having tasted and
proved His sweetness, ye shall be able to love Him." But these were the
dainties which man lost when he sinned in Eden, and when he had shut his own
mouth against the sweet bread whereof if any man eat he shall live for ever,
he forsook paradise.
Lesson ix
And we that, from the first man, are born under
the afflictions of this pilgrimage, are come into the world smitten with
spiritual satiety we know not what we ought to want, and the disease of our
satiety grows the worse, as our soul draws itself farther away from that bread
of sweetness. We no longer hunger after inward dainties, since we
have lost the use of feeding on them. And so in our satiety we starve, and
the sickness of long famishing makes prey of our health. We will not eat of
that inward sweetness which is made ready for us, and being enamored only
of things outward we sink into the wretchedness of loving starvation.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Sunday:
Grant, O Lord, that we may have a
perpetual fear and love of Thine holy name; for Thou never fail to direct
and govern by Thy grace, those whom Thou bring up in the steadfastness of
Thy love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to
venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever
perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Monday
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1
Kings 5:1-5
And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from
the Stone of help into Azotus. And the Philistines took the ark of God,
and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when the Azotians arose early the next day, behold Dagon lay upon his face on the
ground before the ark of the Lord: and they took Dagon, and set him again in
his place. And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, they
found Dagon lying upon his face on the earth before the ark of the Lord: and
the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the
threshold: And only the stump of Dagon remained in its place.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 5:6-8
And the hand of the Lord was heavy
upon the Azotians, and he destroyed them, and afflicted Azotus and the
coasts thereof with emerods. And in the villages and fields in the midst of
that country, there came forth a multitude of mice, and there was the
confusion of a great mortality in the city. And the men of Azotus seeing
this kind of plague, said: The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with
us: for his hand is heavy upon us, and upon Dagon our god. And sending,
they gathered together all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said:
"What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And the Gethrites
answered: "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about."
Lesson iii
1 Kings 5:8-12
And they carried the ark of the
God of Israel about. And while they were carrying it about, the hand of
the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he
smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had emerods in
their secret parts. And the Gethrites consulted together, and made
themselves seats of skins. Therefore they sent the ark of God into Accaron. And when the ark of God was come into Accaron, the Accaronites
cried out, saying: "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to
kill us and our people." They sent therefore and gathered together all the
lords of the Philistines: and they said: "Send away the ark of the God of
Israel, and let it return into its own place, and not kill us and our
people." For there was the fear of death in every city, and the hand of
God was exceeding heavy.
Where Corpus Christi is celebrated with an Octave:
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St John Chrysostom, Doctor of the
Church.
Continuation of Homily LX to the people of Antioch
In this mysterious Sacrament Christ mingles
Himself with all and each of His faithful ones. They are His children, and
He nurses them Himself, and gives them not over to another, again assuring
us that the Flesh He has taken to Himself is ours. We then, who have been
deemed entitled to be
treated with such love and such honour, let us be on guard. Do you not see
how eagerly those nursing seize on the breasts, how readily they fix their
mouths on the paps. Let us, with like eagerness, draw nigh to that Table,
and suck at that spiritual Cup. Yes, let us prize that gracious Food as the
nursing one does its mother's breast, and hold it the great misfortune of life to be
cut off from that Banquet. Here there are set before us no works of man's
power. He That worked at that Last Supper, the Same works the same here
still. As for us Priests, we hold the place of His ministers, but He Who hallows and changes is He. Here let there draw nigh no Judas, nor
covetous one—this is no Table for him.
But he who is Christ's disciple, let him come for the Lord said "I will keep
the Passover with My disciples," This is that Passover Table, and it is all
Christ's what is made there—it is not some of it Christ's work, and some of it man's work,
but it is all His work and not another's.
Lesson v
To this place let there draw clone none brutal, none
cruel, none in truth merciless, none unclean. I speak to all that take that
Holy Communion, and to you also, O ye that do administer the same. To you
now I turn my speech, to warn you with what great care that Gift is to be
given. No slight vengeance is that which awaits you if ye admit for a
partaker at the Lord's Table the sinner whose guiltiness you know. At your
hands will his blood be required. If a man be a General, a Governor, a
crowned Monarch, yet if he come there unworthily, forbid him—you
have greater power than he. To this end has God exalted you to the honor you
hold, that you may judge in such matters. This office is your dignity, this
is your strength, this is all your crown, this, and not the going about in
white robes and glittering vestments. And you, O layman when thou see the
Priest making the oblation, think not that He Which is then the real Worker
is such a Priest as thou see, but know of a surety that it is Christ's Hand
Which is stretched out, even though unseen by you.
Lesson vi
Let us hear, all of us, both Priests and laymen,
let us hear What Food it is of which we are made worthy—let us hear, I say,
and let us quake. The Lord satisfies us with His Own holy Flesh, setting
Himself slain before us. What excuse shall we have, if, being so
fed as we are, we sin as we do? If, eating of the Lamb, we are still wolves?
If, pastured as the sheep of the flock, we raven like lions? This mysterious
Sacrament forbids us not only outrage, but even the least enmity; It
is the Mystery of peace. Upon the Jews God laid it to make year by year by
solemn festivals a yearly commemoration of His mercies unto them, but upon
thee to do this in remembrance of His love to thee, day by day. To this
Table then let there draw nigh no Judas Iscariot, no Simon Magus. These men
fell through covetousness let us fly that bottomless pit.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according
to John
John 6:56-59
At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews
My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living
Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the
same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from
heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this
bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor
Tract XXVI
on John
"This is the bread which comes down from heaven," By "this bread," the Lord here signifies both the manna, and That Which we receive at the
Altar of God. Both these are, as it were, Sacramental signs, differing
indeed somewhat in their outward and visible part, but pointing to the Same
Thing signified. Hear what the Apostle said "Moreover, brethren, I
would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in
the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat" (1
Corinthians 10:1-3). This
meat was the same spiritually, but not really. They ate manna we eat Something
else. Spiritually they ate What we eat but our fathers not their fathers;
unto whom we are like not unto whom they are like. And it is added "And did
all drink the same Spiritual drink" (ibid. 4). They drank one thing, and we drank
Another, the difference being in the outer show, the sameness in that the
Same Thing is pointed to by both. And what was that Same Drink? "They drank
of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (ibid. 4). Him did
bread and rock alike signify. The Rock was a figure, but by the Word and in
the Flesh there is the very Christ Himself. And how came they to drink of
that rock "Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock
twice, and the water came out abundantly" (Numbers 20:11). These two strokes of the rod upon
the rock are a figure of the two beams whereof the Cross was made.
Lesson viii
Christ's faithful ones discern the Lord's Body
while they remain watchful members of His Body. They remain members of His
Body as long as they will to live according to His Spirit. The Spirit of
Christ gives life to nothing but the body of Christ. Now, my brethren,
understand what I am going to say. You are a man, and have a body and a
spirit. By spirit I mean the soul, which causes you to be a man at all.
You are a man, made up of soul and body. Your spirit is unseen, your body
is seen. Tell me, which of them is it that animates the other? Does your spirit derive animation from your
body, or your body from your spirit? Every
one who lives will answer, for if any one cannot answer this, I do not know
if he is alive. All who have life answer "Truly, it is my spirit which animates my body."
If you want to live by the Spirit of Christ, be
of the Body of Christ.
Lesson ix
Is it not my spirit which animates my
body? My spirit animates my body, and your spirit animates your body. The
Body of Christ lives not except by the Spirit of Christ. Hence it is that the
Apostle Paul said, concerning this Bread: "We, being many, are one
bread, and one body, for we are all partakers of that one Bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17). O what
a Sacrament of love! O what a seal of union! O what a bond of charity! He that
wills to live has here where to live, and from where to live. Let him come
near, let him believe, let him enter into that Body, that he may be
quickened. Let him not sever himself from the fit joining-together of all
the members—let him not be as a mortifying limb, that must needs be cut off,
nor a misshapen limb, a cause to blush. Let him be goodly, and useful, and
healthy. Let him cleave to the body; let him live by God to God; let him labor now on earth, that he may reign hereafter in heaven.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to
venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever
perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Tuesday
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1
Kings 6:1-3
Now the ark of God was in the land of the Philistines seven
months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners,
saying: "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? tell us how we are to
send it back to its place?" And they said: "If you send back the ark of the
God of Israel, send it not away empty, but render unto Him what you owe for
sin, and then you shall be healed: and you shall know why His hand departed
not from you."
Lesson ii
1 Kings 6:6-10
"Why do you harden your hearts,
as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? did not he, after he was struck,
then let them go, and they departed? Now therefore take and make a new
cart: and two cows that have calved, on which there has come no yoke, tie
to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. And you shall take the ark
of the Lord, and lay it on the cart, and the vessels of gold, which you have
paid him for sin, you shall put into a little box, at the side thereof: and
send it away that it may go. And you shall look: and if it go up by the
way of his own coasts towards Bethsames, then He has done us this great
evil: but if not, we shall know that it is not His hand that touched us, but
it hath happened by chance." They did therefore in this manner.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 6:12-15
And the cows took the
straight way that leads to Bethsames, and they went along the way, bellowing
as they went: and turned not aside neither to the right hand nor to the
left: and the lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the borders
of Bethsames. Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley:
and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the
cart came into the field of Josue a Bethsamite, and stood there. And there
was a great stone, and they cut in pieces the wood of the cart, and laid the
cows upon it, a holocaust to the Lord. And the Levites took down the ark
of God.
Lesson iv
From the Letter to Cæcilius by the Holy
Martyr Cyprian, Bishop
Book II, Letter 3 (towards the beginning).
In the deed of the Priest Melchisedech we see a type of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sacrifice. For thus
it is written in the writings of God "And Melchisedech King of Salem brought
forth bread and wine for he was the Priest of the Most High God and he
blessed [Abraham]" (Genesis 14:18). That Melchisedech was a type of
Christ, the Holy Ghost Himself testifies in the Psalms, where the First Person of the
Holy Trinity, even the Father, is set before us as saying unto the Second
Person, that is, the Son: "Before the daystar have I begotten thee. Thou art
a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedech" (Psalm 109:3,4). And
truly that same order comes of this sacrifice, and proceeds from this,
that Melchisedech was the Priest of the Most High God; that he offered bread
and wine; and that he blessed Abraham.
Lesson v
What Priest of the Most High God is there, more
so, than is our Lord Jesus Christ? He Who has made an offering unto God the
Father, and the same offering that Melchisedech made, bread and wine, that is
to say, His Own Flesh and His Own Blood. And, as concerning Abraham, that
ancient blessing was spoken likewise by fore-knowledge upon us. For if
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, truly,
who ever believes God and lives by faith, the same is found righteous,
and is shown unto us that he is already blessed in faithful Abraham, and
justified as the Apostle Paul proves, where he said: "Abraham believed God
and it was accounted unto him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Know ye therefore that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the Gospel unto Abraham, saying: "In thee shall all nations be blessed"
(Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4).
Lesson vi
In Genesis, therefore, in order that the Priest Melchisedech might in due order pronounce the blessing upon Abraham, there
was first offered a typical sacrifice, consisting of bread and wine. This
was the offering which our Lord Jesus Christ completed and fulfilled, when
He offered up bread and a cup of wine mingled with water. This fulfillment by
Him Who came to fulfill (cf. Matthew 5:17), utterly satisfied the
truth of the image which had gone before. The Holy Ghost, by Solomon, also clearly
foreshadows, as it were in a parable, the Lord's Sacrifice, pointing to the
victim slain, and the bread and the wine, and the Altar likewise, and the
Apostles as it is written "Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her
seven pillars she has killed her beasts, she has mingled her wine, she has
also furnished her table. She has sent forth her servants, she cries
upon the highest places of the city, saying 'Whosoever is simple, let him turn in
hither unto me.' As for them that want understanding, she says to them.
'Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you'" (Proverbs 9:1-5).
Lesson vii
The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59
At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews
My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living
Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the
same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from
heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this
bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop.
Tract XXVI on John
(toward the middle)
"Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead."
They did they eat and die because they believed only that which they
saw and that which they saw not, they understood not. Therefore they
were your fathers, because you are like them. Does this death, my brethren,
mean that death which is outward and bodily? And do not we also die, who eat
of that Bread Which cometh down from heaven? They died that death, and so
shall we also, as far, as I have said, as is meant that death which is
outward and bodily.
Lesson viii
But the death about which the Lord sounds the
alarm, the death that their fathers died, is another death than that which
is outward and bodily. Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, Phineas ate manna,
many ate manna in whom the Lord was well pleased and these are not dead. Because they understood spiritually that outward bread,
spiritually hungered thereafter, spiritually tasted thereof, and spiritually
were satisfied therewith. So also do we this day feed on a visible food, but
the Sacrament is one thing, and the grace of the Sacrament is another.
Lesson ix
"He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and
drinks damnation to himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29). Is it not written
that "When
Jesus had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon,
and after the sop Satan entered into him" (John 13:26, 27). And yet he
took it. And when he had eaten it, the enemy entered in and possessed him.
Not because what he ate was evil, but because he, being evil, dared to eat
that which was good. Look to it well, then, brethren, that you take
spiritually the Bread Which comes down from heaven. Bring innocence with
you to the Altar. Though your sins be daily, let them not be deadly. Before
you draw near to the Altar, think well what it is that ye say "Forgive us
our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." "For, if ye
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14). and you may draw near boldly, for to you It is Bread, and
not poison.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to
venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever
perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Wednesday
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 6:19-21; 7:1
But he slew of the men of Bethsames, because they had seen
the ark of the Lord: and he slew of the people seventy men, and fifty
thousand of the common people. And the people lamented, because the Lord had
smitten the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Bethsames
said: "Who shall be able to stand before the Lord this holy God? and to whom
shall he go up from us?" And they sent messengers to the
inhabitants of Cariathiarim, saying: "The Philistines have brought back the
ark of the Lord, come down and fetch it up to you."
Lesson ii
1 Kings7:2-4
And it came to pass, that from
the day the ark of the Lord abode in Cariathiarim days were multiplied, (for
it was now the twentieth year,) and all the house of Israel rested following
the Lord. And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: "If you turn
to the Lord with all your heart, put away the strange gods from among you, Baalim and Astaroth: and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him
only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." Then the
children of Israel put away Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 7:5-8
And Samuel said: "Gather all
Israel to Masphath, that I may pray to the Lord for you." And they gathered
together to Masphath: and they drew water, and poured it out before the
Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there: "We have sinned
against the Lord." And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath.
And the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together
to Masphath, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And
when the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines. And they said to Samuel:
"Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that
he may save us out of the hand of the Philistines."
Where the Octave of Corpus Christi is observed:
Lesson iv
From the Book on the Sacraments of Saintt Ambrose,
Bishop
Book IV Chapter 4
Who invented the Sacraments but the
Lord Jesus? The Sacraments came down from heaven, for all counsel is from
heaven. Nevertheless, it was a great and wonderful work of God when He
rained down manna upon His people, and the people labored not, and yet were
fed. Perchance, you say here, "it is my bread which is used." But that
bread is bread only till the Sacramental words are spoken at the
Consecration, instead of bread, there cometh to be the Body of Christ. This
therefore let us establish. How cometh it that that which was bread becomes
the Body of Christ—through the Consecration. And in what words and in Whose
language doth the Consecration take place?—In those of the Lord Jesus. All
the other things which are said, the ascription of praise to God the prayer
for the people, for kings, and for others which forms the first part. But
when that point is reached when this worshipful Sacrament is to be
consecrated, then the Priest uses no more his own words, but Christ's.
Lesson v
It is the word of Christ, therefore,
that does the necessary work in this Sacrament. And what is the word of Christ? It is
the word of Him at Whose bidding all things were made. The Lord commanded,
and the heavens were created; the Lord commanded, and the earth was formed;
the Lord commanded, and the seas were made; the Lord commanded, and all
creatures sprang into being. You see, then, how powerfully working a word is
the word of Christ. If then the word of Christ has such power that it can
make that to be which had never been, where does it appear greater than
when it makes one thing to be changed into Another. There was once no heaven,
there was once no sea, there was once no earth. But hear him who said "He spoke,
and it was done He commanded, and it stood fast." If, then, I am to
answer you, I tell you, that before the Consecration it is not the Body of
Christ, but after the Consecration it is the Body of Christ, for He Himself
"has spoken, and it is done He commanded, and it stands fast."
Lesson vi
And now I come back to my text. It is indeed a
great and worshipful fact that manna was rained down upon the Jews but,
consider which was the more great and worshipful, the manna from heaven
or the Body of Christ? The Body of that Same Christ by Whom the heavens were
made. And, again the fathers "did eat manna, and are dead."
He that eats of
this Bread, It is unto him "the remission of sins," and "he shall never
die." Therefore it is not idly that, when you receive, you say
"Amen," testifying in your heart that That Which you art taking is the
Body of Christ. The Priest says to you "The Body of Christ ”and you
answer "Amen" that is to say "It is true." What your tongue confesses,
let your heart hold to.
Lesson vii
The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59
At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews
My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living
Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the
same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from
heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this
bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop
Book VIII on
the Trinity
When we speak concerning the things of God, we must not speak
after the manner of men, nor after the manner of the world. Let us read
those things which are written, and understand those things which we read
and then let us act as having a perfect faith. We shall speak but folly and
godlessness if we speak concerning the natural truth of Christ in use and
have not learned at Christ's School how we should speak. He Himself said
"My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
Flesh and drinks My Blood, dwells in Me, and I in him." There is here no
room left for doubt as to What is His Flesh and what is His Blood.
Lesson viii
Now we know by the declaration of the Lord
Himself and by our Faith, the reality of His Flesh and Blood. And when we
eat the One and drink the Other, They work effectually in us to make us
dwell in Him and He in us. Is this not a reality? Surely it is not found true
by those who deny that Christ Jesus is Truly God. He is in us by
means of His Flesh, and we are in Him when that which we are is with Him in
God. That we dwell in Him through that Sacrament wherein His Flesh and Blood
are given unto us, He Himself doth testify, where He said "Yet a little
while, and the world sees Me no more, but you see Me. Because I live you
shall live also. I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
Lesson ix
But that this union in us is a real
one, He testifies thus "He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, dwells in
Me, and I in him." For no one dwells in Him in whom He does not dwell, since
he which receives has but received that Flesh of his own, which Christ has
taken into Himself. The mystery of this perfect union He had taught before,
when He said: "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father,
so, he that eats of Me, even he shall live by Me." He therefore lives by the
Father, and, as He lives by the Father, so shall we live by Him.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to
venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever
perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Thursday
Lesson i
From the first book of Kings
1 Kings
8:4-6
Then all the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel to Ramatha. And they said to him:
"Behold you are old, and your sons walk not
in your ways: make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have." And the
word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a
king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 8:7-9
And the Lord said to Samuel:
"Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they
have not rejected you, but Me, that I should not reign over them.
According to all their works, they have done from the day that I brought
them out of Egypt until this day: as they have forsaken Me, and served
strange gods, so do they also unto you. 9 Now therefore listen to their
voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king,
that shall reign over them.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 8:10-14
Then Samuel told all the words of the
Lord to the people that had desired a king of him, And said:
"This will be the right of the king, that shall reign over you: He will take
your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen,
and his running footmen to run before his chariots, And he will
appoint of them to be his tribunes, and centurions, and to plough his
fields, and to reap his corn, and to make him arms and chariots. Your daughters also he
will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers. 14 And he
will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best olive yards, and
give them to his servants.
Where the Octave of Corpus Christi is observed:
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of Saint Cyril of
Jerusalem
Catechetical Lectures XL
The teaching of the blessed Paul
seems of itself enough instruction for you concerning those Divine
Mysteries, whereof, if you be made worthy, you become therein, so to speak,
of one Body and of one Blood with Christ. Paul said that our Lord Jesus
Christ, "the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and, when He
had given thanks, He broke it, and gave it unto His disciples, saying 'Take,
eat this is My Body.' After the same manner also He took the cup, and gave
thanks, and said: 'Take this, and drink it this is My Blood'" (cf. 1
Corinthians 11:23-25). Since
therefore it is He Who hath definitely stated and said, concerning that Bread
"This is My Body," who will dare any longer to doubt that It is so?
And since it is He again that ha absolutely affirmed and said, concerning that
cup "This is My Blood" who is he that will doubt any longer, or say that
It is not His Blood?
Lesson v
At the beginning of His ministry, at Cana in
Galilee, the Lord turned water into wine, a thing which hath some qualities
in common with blood: and shall we deem Him less worthy that we should
believe Him, when He turned wine into Blood? When He was bidden to that
marriage in which two were made one flesh, He did the beginning of His
miracles to the amazement of all men; and shall we less surely hold that He
has given us His Body and Blood to be our meat and drink, or take them with
weaker faith that they are indeed His Body and His Blood nder the
appearance of bread? He give unto us His Body, and, under the appearance
of wine, His Blood and when you shall come to receive, it is on the Body
and Blood of Christ that you wilt feed, being made a partaker of His Body
and of His Blood. Thus, indeed, it is that we become Christ-bearers, namely, by
carrying about Christ in our bodies, when we receive His Body and Blood into
our own frames. Thus, as the blessed Peter hath it, we are "partakers of the
Divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
Lesson vi
Christ once said, in conversing with the Jews
"Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you have
no life in you" (John 6:54). But they took not spiritually that which He said, and "from
that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him" (ibid. 67).
They thought that He had bidden them to eat flesh. The Old Testament also
had Showbread, but this Old Testament bread was now to have an end. The
bread of the New Testament is "the Bread Which comes down from heaven," the
cup of the New Testament, the Cup of Salvation, that Bread and that Cup
Which hallow both souls and bodies. Wherefore I will have you to understand
that the Bread and Wine to which you come, are not mere common bread or mere
common wine for they are the Body and the Blood of Christ. Even if your senses do indeed deny this fact, yet let faith make
you right
sure of it. Judge not the Thing by the taste thereof, but let faith assure
you beyond all doubt you are partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Lesson vii
The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59
At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews
My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My
flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living
Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the
same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from
heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this
bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Cyril of
Alexandria
Book IV on
John—Chapter 17
"He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood," said the Lord, "dwells
in Me, and I in him." If a man takes two pieces of wax and melts them, and
pours the one into the other, they necessarily mingle—so
also, he that receives the Body and Blood of the Lord becomes so joined with the Lord
that he is found to be in Christ and Christ in him. Another comparison you
wilt find in Matthew. The Lord there said: "The kingdom of heaven is
like unto leaven which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal"
(Matthew 13:33), because,
as Paul said, "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6).
So also does a little of this Blessing draw the whole man unto Itself, and
fill him with Its grace and thus does Christ dwell in us, and we in Christ.
Lesson viii
As for ourselves, if we would win life
everlasting; if we would that the Giver of immortality should dwell in us,
let us run freely to receive this Blessing, and let us beware that the devil
succeeds not in laying a stumbling-block in our way, in the shape of a
mistaken reverence. Thou rightly say, and we know well, how that it is
written "Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord
unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself" (1 Corinthians 11:27). I therefore examine myself
and find myself unworthy. And I ask you, who cites these words to me, who
shall ever be found worthy? When will you be worthy to
be offered to Christ, if by sin you art unworthy, and you cease not to sin,
(for, as the Psalmist wrote "Who can understand his errors?") then
you shall forever lack this means of life and sanctification.
Lesson ix
Therefore, I counsel you to entertain
godly thoughts, and to live carefully and holily, and so to receive that
Blessing—a Blessing which, believe me, banishes, not
only death, but all
diseases as well. For when Christ dwells in us, He stills the law of death
in our members, which wars against the law of our mind, He gives strength to
godliness, He turns to calm the turbulent surging of our mind, He cures them
which are sick, He raises up them which are fallen, and, like the Good
Shepherd, Who gives His life for the sheep, He prevails that the sheep
perish not.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament
has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to
venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever
perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Friday
SACRED HEART OF JESUS
Lesson i
A Reading from the book of Jeremias
Jeremias 24:5-7
Thus said the Lord the God of Israel: "Like these good figs, so will I
regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this place into
the land of the Chaldeans, for their good. And I will set my eyes upon
them to be pacified, and I will bring them again into this land: and I will
build them up, and not pull them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck
them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and
they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall return
to me with their whole heart."
Lesson ii
Jeremias 30:18-19; 21-24
Thus said the
Lord: "Behold I will bring back the captivity of the pavilions of Jacob, and
will have pity on his houses, and the city shall be built in her high place,
and the temple shall be founded according to the order thereof. And
out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them that play: And
their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall come forth from
the midst of them: and I will bring him near, and he shall come to Me: for
who is this that sets his heart to approach Me," said the Lord? "And
you shall be My people: and I will be your God. Behold the whirlwind
of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent storm, it shall rest upon the
head of the wicked. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation,
till he have executed and performed the thought of his heart: in the latter
days you shall understand these things."
Lesson iii
Jeremias 31:1-3; 31-33
At that time, said the
Lord: "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my
people." Thus said the Lord: "The people that were left and escaped from
the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall go to his rest."
The Lord has appeared from afar to me. "Yes I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee." "Behold the days shall come," said the Lord,
"and I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: Not according to
the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the covenant which they
made void, and I had dominion over them," said the Lord. "But this shall
be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days," said the Lord:
"I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in
their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Lesson iv
From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI
Among
the wonderful developments of sacred teaching and piety, by which the plans
of the divine Wisdom are daily made clear to the Church, hardly any is more
manifest than the triumphant progress made by the devotion of the most
Sacred Heart of Jesus. Very often indeed, during the course of past ages,
Fathers, Doctors, and Saints have celebrated our Redeemer's love : and they
have said, that the wound opened in the side of Christ was the hidden
fountain of all graces. Moreover, from the Middle Ages onward, when the
faithful began to show a more tender piety towards the most sacred Humanity
of the Savior, contemplative souls became accustomed to penetrate through
that wound almost to the very Heart itself, wounded for the love of men. And
from that time, this form of contemplation became so familiar to all persons
of saintly life, that there was no country or religious order in which,
during this period, witnesses to it were not to be found. Finally, during
recent centuries, and most especially at that period when heretics, in the
name of a false piety, strove to discourage Christians from receiving the
most Holy Eucharist, the veneration of the most Sacred Heart began to be
openly practiced, principally through the exertions of St. John Eudes, who
is by no means unworthily called the founder of the liturgical worship of
the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Lesson v
But in order to establish fully and entirely the
worship of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to spread the same throughout
the whole world, God himself chose as his instrument a most humble virgin
from the order of the Visitation, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who even in
her earliest years already had a burning love for the Sacrament of the
Eucharist, and to whom Christ the Lord had very many times appeared, and was
pleased to make known the riches and the desires of his divine Heart. The
most famous of these apparitions was that in which Jesus revealed himself to
her in prayer before the blessed Sacrament, showed her his most Sacred
Heart, and, complaining that in return for his unbounded love, he met with
nothing but outrages and ingratitude from mankind, he ordered her to concern
herself with the establishment of a new feast, on the Friday after the
Octave of Corpus Christi, on which his Heart should be venerated with due
honour, and that the insults offered him by sinners in the Sacrament of love
should be expiated by worthy satisfaction. But there is no one who knows
not how many and how great were the obstacles which the handmaid of God
experienced, in carrying out the commands of Christ ; but, endowed with
strength by the Lord himself, and actively aided by her pious spiritual
directors, who exerted themselves with an almost unbelievable zeal, up to
the time of her death she never ceased faithfully to carry out the duty
entrusted to her by heaven.
Lesson vi
At length, in the year 1765, the Supreme Pontiff
Clement XIII approved the Mass and Office in honour of the most Sacred Heart
of Jesus ; and Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church. From then
on the worship of the most Sacred Heart, like an overflowing river, washing
away all obstacles, hath poured itself forth over all the earth, and, at the
dawn of the new century, Leo XIII, having proclaimed a jubilee, decided to
dedicate the whole human race to the most Sacred Heart. This consecration
was actually carried out with solemn rites in all the churches of the
Catholic world, and brought about a great increase of this devotion, leading
not only nations but even private families to it, who in countless numbers
dedicated themselves to the Divine Heart, and submitted themselves to its
royal sway. Lastly, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI, in order that, by its
solemnity, the feast might answer more fully to the greatly widespread
devotion of the Christian people, raised the feast of the most Sacred Heart
of Jesus to the rite of a double of the first class, with an octave ; and
moreover, that the violated rights of Christ, the supreme King and most
loving Lord, might be repaired, and that the sins of the nations might be
bewailed, he ordered that annually, on that same feast-day, there should be
recited an expiatory form of prayer in all the churches of the Christian
world.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
John
John 19:31-37
At that time : The Jews, (because it
was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the
sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers
therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that
was crucified with Him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they
saw that he was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of
the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out
blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his
testimony is true. And he knows that what he said is true; that you also may
believe. For these things were done, that the scripture might be
fulfilled: "You shall not break a bone of Him" (cf. Exodus 12:46;
Psalm 33:21). And again another scripture that said: "They shall look
on Him whom they pierced" (Zacharias 12:10).
An Homily of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop
Liber de ligno vitæ,
number 30
In order that the Church might be taken out of the side of Christ,
in his deep sleep on the Cross, and that the Scripture might be fulfilled
which said : "They shall look on him whom they pierced": it was divinely
ordained that one of the soldiers should pierce His sacred side with a
spear, and open it. Then forthwith there came flowing out blood and water,
which was the price of our salvation, pouring forth from its
mountain-source, in truth, from the secret places of his Heart, to give
power to the Sacraments of the Church, to bestow the life of grace, and to
be as a saving drink of living waters, flowing up to life eternal for those
who were already quickened in Christ. Arise, then, O soul beloved of Christ.
Cease not thy vigilance, place there thy lips, and drink the waters from the
fount of salvation.
Lesson viii
De vite mystica Chapter 3
Because we are now come
to the sweet Heart of Jesus, and because it is good for us to be here, let
us not turn away too soon. O how good and joyful a thing it is to
dwell in this Heart. What a good treasure, what a precious pearl, is Thine
Heart, O most excellent Jesus, which we have found hidden in the pit which
hath been dug in this field, namely, in Thy body. Who would cast away such a
pearl? No, rather, for this same I would give all my pearls. I will sell
all my thoughts and affections, and buy the same for myself, turning all my
thoughts to the Heart of the good Jesus, and without fail It will support
me. Therefore, O most sweet Jesus, finding this Heart that is Thine and mine,
I will pray to Thee, my God: admit my prayers into the shrine of Thine
attention: and draw me even more altogether into Thine Heart.
Lesson ix
For to this end was Thy side pierced, that an
entry might be open unto us. To this end was Thine Heart wounded, that in it
we might be able to dwell secure from alarms from without. And it was
wounded none the less on this account that, because of the visible wound, we
may perceive the wound of love which is invisible. How could this fire of
love better shine forth than for Him to permit that not only His body, but
that even His Heart, should be wounded with the spear? Who would not love
that Heart so wounded? Who would not, in return, love One who is so loving?
Who would not embrace One so chaste? Wherefore let we who are in the flesh
love in return, as much as we can, Him who so loves, embrace our wounded
One, whose hands and feet, side and Heart, have been pierced by wicked
husbandmen; and let us pray that He may deign to bind our hearts, still
hard and impenitent, with the chain of His love, and wound them with the
dart thereof.
Let us pray:
O God, who in the Heart of Thy Son, wounded by our
transgressions, dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow upon us the infinite
wealth of Thy love; grant, we beseech Thee, that revering it with proper
devotion, we may make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the
same.
Saturday
Within the Octave of the Sacred Heart
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings
9:1-4
Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Cis, the son of
Abiel, the son of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of
a man of Jemini, valiant and strong. And he had a son whose name was Saul,
a choice and goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a
goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all
the people. And the asses of Cis, Saul's father, were lost: and Cis said
to his son Saul: "Take one of the servants with thee, and arise, go, and seek
the asses." And when they had passed through mount Ephraim, And through the
land of Salisa, and had not found them, they passed also through the land of
Salim, and they were not there: and through the land of Jemini, and found
them not.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 9:5-8
And when they were come to the
land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: "Come, let us
return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses, and be concerned for us."
And he said to him: "Behold there is a man of God in this city, a famous man:
all that he says, comes certainly to pass. Now therefore let us go
there, perhaps he may tell us of our way, for which we are come." And
Saul said to his servant: "Behold we will go: but what shall we carry to the
man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make
to the man of God, nor any thing at all." The servant answered Saul again,
and said: "Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of
silver, let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way."
Lesson iii
1 Kings 9:14-17
And they went up into the city. And
when they were walking in the midst of the city, behold Samuel was coming
out over against them, to go up to the high place. Now the Lord had
revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: "Tomorrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of
Benjamin, and thou shall anoint him to be ruler over My people Israel: and
he shall save My people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have
looked down upon My people, because their cry is come to Me." And when
Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: "Behold the man, of whom I spoke to
thee, this man shall reign over My people.
Lesson iv
From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI
Among
all other proofs of the infinite kindness of our Redeemer, this one is
especially conspicuous, that, as the love of the Christian believers grew
cold, he, Divine Love itself, was proposed to be honored by a special
devotion, and that the rich treasures of his goodness were thrown wide open
by means of that form of worship with which we honor the most Sacred Heart
of Jesus, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). For,
as formerly God wished to give light to the human race as they came out of
Noe's ark by the signal of a treaty of friendship, "a bow appearing in the
clouds" (cf. Genesis 9:13-16), so, in those most troublesome times of a more recent age, when that
most subtle of heresies, Jansenism, was everywhere creeping in, and enemy of
the love of God and of piety, preaching that God was not so much to be loved
as a father, as to be feared as an unrelenting judge, the most kind Jesus
manifested unto the nations his most Sacred Heart, borne on high like unto a
banner of peace and love, an augury of certain victory in battle.
Lesson v
Because Our predecessor, Leo XIII, of happy
memory, desiring to obtain the advantages of such a great devotion to the
most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in his Encyclical Letter Annum Sacrum most
fittingly did not hesitate to proclaim : "When the Church, in the early
period of her history, was oppressed by the yoke of the Caesars, a cross
appeared in the heavens to a youthful emperor, which was at the same time
both the sign and the cause of that most complete victory, which was soon to
follow. Behold this day another most auspicious and most holy sign presented
to our eyes : that is to say, the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a Cross
set upon it, shining forth among flames of a most brilliant radiance. In
this, all our hopes are to be placed; from this, the salvation of mankind
is to be asked for and to be awaited."
Lesson vi
And it is indeed justly so; for in this most
auspicious sign and in that which follows from it, is there not
contained the highest model of piety of the whole of religion, and therefore
the rule of the more perfect life, inasmuch as it leads our minds the more
easily to a deeper knowledge of Christ the Lord, and to a more vehement love
of him, and moves our souls more effectually to a more exact imitation of
him? Therefore, no one will be surprised, that Our predecessors have
continuously vindicated this most approved form of devotion from the
accusations of objectors, that they have extolled it with the highest
praises, and have promoted it with the most ardent zeal, according as
considerations of the period and of affairs in general have demanded. And it
has come to pass by the providence of God, that the devout affection of
Christ's faithful people towards the most Sacred Heart of Jesus
daily obtains a great increase.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to
John
John 19:31-37
At that time : The Jews, (because it
was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the
sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers
therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that
was crucified with Him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they
saw that he was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of
the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out
blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his
testimony is true. And he knows that what he said is true; that you also may
believe. For these things were done, that the scripture might be
fulfilled: "You shall not break a bone of Him" (cf. Exodus 12:46;
Psalm 33:21). And again another scripture that said: "They shall look
on Him whom they pierced" (Zacharias 12:10).
An Homily of Saint John Chrysostom
Number 85/84 on John, Number 3
Dou you not see how mighty is the Truth? Through the zeal of the
Jews the prophecy is fulfilled. And more than one prophecy was fulfilled.
For when the soldiers came and broke the legs of the others, they broke not
the legs of Christ. But yet these soldiers, to please the Jews, did pierce
his side with a lance, and treat his body with contumely. O wicked and
accursed crime! But be not troubled, beloved, or cast down. They indeed did
it in ill-will, but they unwittingly contended for the truth, as verily the
prophecy foretold: "They shall look on him whom they have pierced". And more
than this, the evil deed served as a demonstration even afterwards to those
who were without faith, such as Thomas and others like him. This ineffable
mystery was also consummated to another end : "Forthwith came there out blood
and water." Not without cause or by mere chance did these fountains flow, but
because the Church was founded with Water and Blood.
Lesson viii
This is well-known to those who have been
initiated, namely, to all who have been regenerated by the Water, and
nourished with the Flesh and Blood, so that when you approach the
awesome cup, you should come as if you were about to drink from the
very side of Christ. And he that saw it bares record, and his record is true
: as though to say: "Not from others have I heard it, but I myself was
present, and saw it, and therefore my record of it is true." Truly indeed he thus speaks. For he speaks to us as of an insult, and not as of
something great and wonderful, else thou might doubt his testimony ; but
he, (thus shutting the mouth of heretics, and foretelling future mysteries,
and mindful of the treasure to be contained in them,) enumerates one by
one the events as they took place. "These things were done that the
Scriptures should be fulfilled: 'A bone of him shall not be broken.'" For even
though this was written concerning the lamb which the Jews used for their
Passover, nevertheless this lamb was a figure which came first to show forth
the reality yet to come, wherein the prophecy was to be perfectly fulfilled
; and that is why the Evangelist quotes the passage as a prophecy.
Lesson ix
Since the testimony he himself bares might not
everywhere be held worthy of belief, he cites Moses, to intimate that this
thing was not done by chance, but had already long ago been foretold in
writing. By Moses it was said : "A bone of him shall not be broken." And again
he rests his faith on the same Prophet : These things I have said, said
he, that ye may learn how great is the resemblance between the figure and
the reality. See what great care he takes, that what appears as
disgraceful and ignominious may be believed. For that the body should be
treated with contempt by the soldier, was far worse than its crucifixion.
But nevertheless, he said, I have both said these things, and have said
them most emphatically, that ye may believe. Let no one, therefore, deny
credence to these things, nor in shame tamper with our beliefs. For those
things which seem to be the most dishonoring, are in fact our greatest
pride.
Let us pray:
O God, who in the Heart of Thy Son, wounded by our
transgressions, dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow upon us the infinite
wealth of Thy love; grant, we beseech Thee, that revering it with proper
devotion, we may make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the
same.