Words of the Word

Easter Week 6: Saturday
Feast of the Visitation of Mary

“Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (John 1:41b-42)

Origen of Alexandria comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

”Elizabeth, who was filled with the Holy Spirit at that moment, received the Spirit on account of her son. The mother did not inherit the Holy Spirit first. First John, still enclosed in her womb, received the Holy Spirit. Then she too, after her son was sanctified, was filled with the Holy Spirit. You will be able to believe this if you also learn something similar about the Savior. (In a certain number of manuscripts, we have discovered that blessed Mary is said to prophesy. We are not unaware of the fact that, according to other copies of the Gospel, Elizabeth speaks these words in prophecy.) Mary also was filled with the Holy Spirit when she began to carry the Savior in her womb. As soon as she received the Holy Spirit, who was the creator of the Lord’s body, and the Son of God began to exist in her womb, she too was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Homilies on the Gospel of Luke, 7)

Almighty ever-living God,
Who, while the Blessed Virgin Mary
was carrying Your Son in her womb,
inspired her to visit Elizabeth,
grant us, we pray,
that, faithful to the promptings of the Spirit,
we may magnify Your greatness
with the Virgin Mary at all times.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 6: Friday (after the Ascension)

“On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you” (John 16:23)

Origen of Alexandria comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

”And so, when the saints give thanks to God in their prayers, they acknowledge through Christ Jesus the favors he has done. And if it is true that one who is scrupulous about prayer ought not to pray to someone else who prays but rather to the Father whom our Lord Jesus taught us to address in prayers, it is especially true that no prayer should be addressed to the Father without him, who clearly points this out himself when he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Up till now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Now he did not say “ask me” or simply “ask the Father.” On the contrary, he said, “If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.” For until Jesus taught this, no one asked the Father in the name of the Son. And what Jesus said was true, “Up till now you have asked nothing in my name.” And also true was his saying, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (On Prayer, 15)

O God, who restore us to eternal life
in the Resurrection of Christ,
raise us up, we pray, to the author of our salvation,
who is seated at your right hand,
so that, when our Savior comes again in majesty,
those you have given new birth in Baptism
may be clothed with blessed immortality.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Ascension of the Lord
Solemnity

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Pope Saint Leo the Great offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“And so, dearly-beloved, let us rejoice with spiritual joy, and let us with gladness pay God worthy thanks and raise our hearts' eyes unimpeded to those heights where Christ is. Minds that have heard the call to be uplifted must not be pressed down by earthly affections, they that are fore-ordained to things eternal must not be taken up with the things that perish; they that have entered on the way of Truth must not be entangled in treacherous snares, and the faithful must so take their course through these temporal things as to remember that they are sojourning in the vale of this world, in which, even though they meet with some attractions, they must not sinfully embrace them, but bravely pass through them. For to this devotion the blessed Apostle Peter arouses us, and entreating us with that loving eagerness which he conceived for feeding Christ's sheep by the threefold profession of love for the Lord, says, dearly-beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul 1 Peter 2:11 . But for whom do fleshly pleasures wage war, if not for the devil, whose delight it is to fetter souls that strive after things above, with the enticements of corruptible good things, and to draw them away from those abodes from which he himself has been banished? Against his plots every believer must keep careful watch that he may crush his foe on the side whence the attack is made. And there is no more powerful weapon, dearly beloved, against the devil's wiles than kindly mercy and bounteous charity, by which every sin is either escaped or vanquished. But this lofty power is not attained until that which is opposed to it be overthrown. And what so hostile to mercy and works of charity as avarice from the root of which spring all evils? And unless it be destroyed by lack of nourishment, there must needs grow in the ground of that heart in which this evil weed has taken root, the thorns and briars of vices rather than any seed of true goodness. Let us then, dearly-beloved, resist this pestilential evil and follow after charity, without which no virtue can flourish, that by this path of love whereby Christ came down to us, we too may mount up to Him, to Whom with God the Father and the Holy Spirit is honor and glory for ever and ever.” (Sermon 74)

Easter Collect

Gladden us with holy joys, almighty God,
and make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving,
for the Ascension of Christ your Son
is our exaltation,
and, where the Head has gone before in glory,
the Body is called to follow in hope.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 6: Wednesday

“But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.h He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.” (John 16:13)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“Beloved, you should not expect to hear from us what the Lord refrained from telling his disciples because they were still unable to bear them. Rather, seek to grow in the love that is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to you so that, fervent in spirit and loving spiritual things, you may be able — not by any sign apparent to your bodily eyes or any sound striking on your bodily ears but by the inward eyesight and hearing — to become acquainted with that spiritual light and that spiritual word that carnal people are unable to bear. For that cannot be loved that is altogether unknown. But when what is known, in however small a measure, is also loved, by the same love, one is led on to a better and fuller knowledge. If, then, you grow in the love that the Holy Spirit spreads abroad in your hearts, “He will teach you all truth,” or, as other codices have it, “He will guide you in all truth;” as it is said, “Lead me in your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth.” So shall the result be, that not from outward teachers will you learn those things that the Lord at that time declined to utter, but you will all be taught by God, so that the very things that you have learned and believed by means of lessons and sermons supplied from without your minds themselves may have the power to perceive.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 96)

Easter Collect

Grant, we pray, O Lord,
that, as we celebrate in mystery
the solemnities of Your Son’s Resurrection,
so, too, we may be worthy
to rejoice at His coming with all the Saints.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 6: Tuesday

“But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.e But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria reflects on this verse from today’s Gospel, writes:

“After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary that we should become partakers and sharers of the divine nature of the Word. We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. However, this was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit. And the most fitting and appropriate time for the mission and descent of the Holy Spirit to us was the occasion of our Savior’s departure to heaven. As long as Christ was with them in the flesh, the believers would have thought that they possessed all the blessings he had to offer. But when the time came for him to ascend to his Father in heaven, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshiped him and to dwell in our hearts through faith. Only by his presence within us in this way could he give us the confidence to cry out, “Abba, Father,” and enable us to grow in holiness and, through our possession of the all-powerful Spirit, strengthen us to become invincible against the traps of the devil and the assaults of our fellow human beings.

You see that the Spirit changes those in whom he comes to dwell and alters the whole pattern of their lives. With the Spirit within them it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely other-worldly in their outlook and for cowards to become people of great courage. There is no question that this is what happened to the disciples. The strength they received from the Spirit enabled them to hold firmly to the love of Christ, facing the violence of the persecutors without fear. What our Savior said, then, was very true, that is, that it was to their advantage that he return to heaven. For that return was the occasion for the descent of the Spirit.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 10)

Easter Collect

Grant, almighty and merciful God,
that we may in truth receive a share
in the Resurrection of Christ your Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 6: Monday
Memorial: Saint Philip Neri

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, He will testify to me.” (John 15:26)

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem offers the following insight on this verse from today's Gospel:

“He is called the Comforter because He comforts and encourages us and helps our infirmities. We do not know what we should pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, that is, He makes intercession to God. Very often, someone has been outraged and dishonored unjustly for the sake of Christ. Martyrdom is at hand; tortures on every side, and fire, and sword, and savage beasts and the pit. But the Holy Spirit softly whispers to him, “Wait on the Lord.” What is now happening to you is a small matter; the reward will be great. Suffer a little while, and you will be with angels forever. “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us.” He portrays to the person the kingdom of heaven. He gives him a glimpse of the paradise of delight.” (Catechetical Lectures, 16)

Easter Collect

Grant, O merciful God,
that we may experience at all times
the fruit produced by the paschal observances.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Sanctoral Collect

O God,
Who never cease to bestow the glory of holiness
on the faithful servants you raise up for yourself,
graciously grant
that the Holy Spirit may kindle in us that fire
with which he wonderfully filled
the heart of Saint Philip Neri.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 6: Sunday

“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.” (John 14:19)

Saint Basil the Great offers the following insight on this verse from today's Gospel:

“[Jesus] applied the word world to those who, being bound by this material and carnal life and beholding the truth by material sight alone, were ordained through their unbelief in the resurrection to see our Lord no more with the eyes of the heart. For the carnal person who has never trained his mind for contemplation but rather keeps it buried deep in the lust of the flesh, as in mud, is powerless to look up to the spiritual light of the truth.” (On the Holy Spirit, 22)

Easter Collect

Grant, almighty God,
that we may celebrate
with heartfelt devotion these days of joy,
which we keep in honor of the risen Lord,
and that what we relive in remembrance
we may always hold to in what we do.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Saturday

“Remember the word I spoke to you,* ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:20)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria reflects on this verse from today’s Gospel, writes:

“Just as those who have been trained in agriculture cut up the land with the plough, and then bury the seed in the furrow and do not rely any further on their own skill but rather leave the rest to the power and favor of God — I mean the germination of the seed that is buried in the earth and nourishing it up to perfect fruit — so too I think the interpreter of the noblest truths ought only to sow the Word and leave the rest to God. The Savior therefore gives his advice in this matter to his disciples as a medicine for lack of spirit and a cure for listlessness. For, he says, do not ever choose to shy away from continuing to teach, even if some of those who have once been admonished should nullify the teaching that has been given to them. Rather, finding that even my words are often not received by many, do not strive to surpass my reputation. Instead, follow in my footsteps and do not become discouraged.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 10)

Easter Collect

Almighty and eternal God,
who through the regenerating power of Baptism
have been pleased to confer on us heavenly life,
grant, we pray,
that those you render capable of immortality
by justifying them
may by your guidance
attain the fullness of glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Friday

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” (John 15:16)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“You did not choose me, but I chose you.” That is amazing grace! For what were we before Christ had chosen us besides being wicked and lost? We did not believe in him, so as to be chosen by him. For if he chose those who already believed, then he was [in effect] chosen himself prior to his choosing [them]. This passage refutes the vain opinion of those who say that we were chosen before the foundation of the world because God foreknew that we should be good, not that he himself would make us good. For if he had chosen us because he foreknew that we should be good, he would have foreknown also that we should first choose him. For without choosing him we cannot be good, unless indeed someone can be called good who has not chosen good. What then has he chosen in those who are not good? You cannot say, I am chosen because I believed. For if you believed in him, you had already chosen him. Nor can you say, Before I believed I did good works and therefore was chosen. For what good work is there before faith when the apostle says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin”? What is there for us to say, then, but that we were wicked and were chosen, that by the grace of having been chosen we might become good?” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 86)

Easter Collect

Grant us, Lord, we pray,
that, being rightly conformed to the paschal mysteries,
what we celebrate in joy
may protect and save us with perpetual power.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Thursday

“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” (John 15:9-10)

Saint Basil the Great offers the following insight on these verses from today's Gospel:

“Now, if observing the commandments is the essential sign of love, it is very greatly feared that without love even the most effective action of the glorious gifts of grace — even of the most sublime powers and even of faith itself and the commandment that make a person perfect — will not be of help. It is evident, therefore, and undeniable that without charity — even though ordinances are obeyed and righteous acts are performed, even though the commandments of the Lord have been observed and great wonders of grace effected — they will be considered as works of iniquity because those who perform these acts have as their aim the gratification of their own will.” (Concerning Baptism, 1)

Easter Collect

O God, by Whose grace,
though sinners, we are made just
and, though pitiable, made blessed,
stand, we pray, by Your works,
stand by Your gifts,
that those justified by faith
may not lack the courage of perseverance.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Wednesday

“You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.” (John 15:3)

Saint Basil the Great offers the following insight on this verse from today's Gospel:

“The world, that is, life enslaved by the affections of the flesh, can no more receive the grace of the Spirit than a weak eye the light of a sunbeam. But the Lord, who by his teaching bore witness to purity of life, gives to his disciples the power of now both beholding and contemplating the Spirit. For “now,” he says, “you are clean through the word that I have spoken to you,” wherefore “the world cannot receive him, because it does not see him . . . but you know him. For he dwells with you.” And this is what Isaiah says, “He who spread forth the earth and that which comes out of it; he who gives breath to the people on it, and Spirit to them that trample on it.” For those who trample down earthly things and rise above them are shown to be as worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (On the Holy Spirit, 22)

O God,
Restorer and lover of innocence,
direct the hearts of your servants
towards Yourself,
that those You have set free
from the darkness of unbelief
may never stray from the light of Your truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Tuesday

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“And yet it is in him and from him that we have peace, whether it is the peace he leaves with us when going to the Father or that which he will give us when we ourselves are brought by him to the Father. And what is it he leaves with us, when ascending from us, other than his own presence, which he never withdraws? For he himself is our peace who has made both one. It is he, therefore, who becomes our peace, both when we believe that he is and when we see him as he is. For if — so long as we are in this corruptible body that burdens the soul and are walking by faith, not by sight — he does not forsake those who are sojourning at a distance from himself, how much more, when we have attained to that sight, shall he fill us with himself?” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 77)

Easter Collect

O God, Who restore us to eternal life
in the Resurrection of Christ,
grant Your people constancy in faith and hope,
that we may never doubt the promises
of which we have learned from You.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Monday

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” (John 14:21)

Saint Mark the Hermit offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“Do you see how [Jesus] has hidden his manifestation in the commandments? Of all the commandments, therefore, the most comprehensive is to love God and our neighbor. This love is made firm through abstaining from material things and through stillness of thoughts. Knowing this, the Lord enjoins us “not to be anxious about tomorrow,” and rightly so. For if someone has not freed himself from material things and from concern about them, how can he be freed from evil thoughts? And if he is beset by evil thoughts, how can he see the reality of the sin concealed behind them? This sin wraps the soul in darkness and obscurity and increases its hold on us through our evil thoughts and actions. The devil initiates the whole process by testing a person with a provocation that the person is not compelled to accept. But the one urged on by self-indulgence and self-esteem begins to entertain this provocation with enjoyment. Even if their discrimination tells them to reject it, yet in practice they take pleasure in it and accept it. If someone has not perceived this general process of sinning, when will he pray about it and be cleansed from it? And if he has not been cleansed, how will he find purity of nature? And if he has not found this, how will he behold the inner dwelling place of Christ? For we are a dwelling place of God, according to the words of prophet, evangelist and apostle.” (No Righteous By Works, 223)

Easter Collect

May Your right hand, O Lord, we pray,
encompass Your family with perpetual help,
so that, defended from all wickedness
by the Resurrection of Your Only Begotten Son,
we may make our way
by means of Your heavenly gifts.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 5: Sunday

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“But he is in a certain sense preparing the dwellings by preparing for them the dwellers. As, for instance, when he said, “In my Father’s house are many dwellings.” What else can we suppose the house of God to mean but the temple of God? And what that is, ask the apostle, and he will reply, “For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” This is also the kingdom of God that the Son is yet to deliver up to the Father. For it is to this kingdom, standing then at the right hand, that it shall be said in the end, “Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.” In other words, you who were the kingdom but without the power to rule, come and reign so that what you formerly were only in hope, you may now have the power to be in reality. This house of God, therefore, this temple of God, this kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, is as yet in the process of building, of construction, of preparation, of assembling. There will be dwellings in it even as the Lord is now preparing them. There are in fact such dwellings already even as the Lord has already ordained them.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 68)

Easter Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
constantly accomplish
the Paschal Mystery within us,
that those You were pleased
to make new in Holy Baptism
may, under your protective care, bear much fruit
and come to the joys of life eternal.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 4: Saturday

“If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

““Whatever you shall ask.” Then why do we often see believers asking and not receiving? Perhaps it is that they do not ask correctly. When a person would make a bad use of what he asks for, God in his mercy does not grant him it. It is even more the case that if someone asks what would, if answered, only tend to his injury, there is surely greater cause to fear, in case what God could not withhold with kindness, he should give in his anger. Still if God even in kindness often refuses the requests of believers, how are we to understand “Whatever you shall ask in my name, I will do?” Was this said to the apostles only? No. He says above, “He who believes in me, the works that I do he shall do also.” And if we go to the lives of the apostles themselves, we shall find that he who labored more than them all prayed that the messenger of Satan might depart from him but was not granted his request. Wake up then, believer, and note what is stated here: “In my name.” That [name] is Christ Jesus. Christ signifies King, Jesus signifies Savior. Therefore whatever we ask for that would hinder our salvation, we do not ask in our Savior’s name, and yet he is our Savior not only when he does what we ask but also when he does not. When he sees us ask anything to the disadvantage of our salvation, he shows himself our Savior by not doing it. The physician knows whether what the sick person asks for is to the advantage or disadvantage of his health. And [the physician] does not allow what would be harmful to him, though the sick person himself desires it. But the physician looks to his final cure. And some things we may even ask in his name, and he will not grant them to us at the time, though he will some time. What we ask for is deferred, not denied. He adds, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The Son does not do anything without the Father, inasmuch as he does it in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son, for the Father and Son are one.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 73)

Easter Collect

O God, who in the celebration of Easter
graciously give to the world
the healing of heavenly remedies,
show benevolence to your Church,
that our present observance
may benefit us for eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 4: Friday

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” (John 14:3)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria reflects on this verse from today’s Gospel, writes:

“If there were not many mansions in God the Father’s home, he would have said that he was going on before them to prepare beforehand the homes of the saints. But since he already knew that there were many homes already fully prepared and awaiting the arrival of those who love God, he says that he will depart, but not for this purpose. Rather, he leaves in order to secure the way to the mansions above, to prepare a passage of safety for you and to smooth the paths that were formerly impassible. For in times of old, heaven was utterly inaccessible to mortals, and no flesh as yet had ever traveled that pure and all-holy realm of the angels. But Christ was the first who consecrated for us the means of access to himself and granted to flesh a way of entrance into heaven. He did this by presenting himself as an offering to God the Father, the “firstfruits of those who are asleep” and are lying in the tomb, and by presenting himself as the first human being that ever appeared in heaven. For Christ did not ascend on high in order to present himself before the presence of God the Father. He always was and is and will be continually in the Father, in the sight of him who begat him. For he is the one in whom the Father takes delight. Rather, he who of old was the Word with no part or lot in human nature has now ascended in human form so that he may appear in heaven in a strange and unusual manner. And this he has done on our account and for our sakes in order that he, though “found as a man,” may still in his absolute power as Son — while yet in human form — obey the command, “Sit at my right hand,” and in this way transfer the glory of adoption through himself to the entire human race. For because he has appeared in human form, he is still one of us as he sits at the right hand of God the Father, even though he is far above all creation. He is also consubstantial with his Father due to the fact that he has come forth from him as truly God of God and Light of Light. He has presented himself therefore as man to the Father on our behalf so that he may restore us again, as it were, to behold the Father’s face — we who were removed from the Father’s presence by the ancient transgression.

“I shall not then,” he says, “depart to prepare mansions for you. There are already enough there. There is no need to make new homes for my creation. But I go to prepare a place for you because of the sin that has mastery over you in order that those of you who are on the earth will be able to be mingled with the holy angels. Otherwise, the holy multitude of those above would never mingle with those [below] who were so defiled. But now, when I shall have accomplished the work of uniting the world below with that above—giving you a way of access to the city on high as well — I will return again at the time of regeneration and ‘receive you with myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.’” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 9)

Easter Collect

O God,
Author of our freedom and of our salvation,
listen to the voice of our pleading
and grant that those You have redeemed
by the shedding of Your Son’s Blood
may have life through You
and, under Your protection,
rejoice for ever unharmed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 4: Thursday

“If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” (John 13:17)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria reflects on this verse from today’s Gospel, writes:

“It is not the knowledge of virtue but rather the practice of it that may be appropriately called worthy of both love and enthusiasm. Whenever actions go hand in hand with knowledge, then assuredly there is no small gain. But when either is lacking, the other will be seriously crippled. And it is written, even faith apart from works is dead. Although the knowledge of God who is one even in nature, and the confession of God in guilelessness and truth is all included in faith, even this is dead if it is not accompanied by the bright light that proceeds from works. Surely, therefore, it is utterly profitless merely to know what is good and yet have no desire to practice it at once.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 9)

Easter Collect

O God,
Who restore human nature
to yet greater dignity than at its beginnings,
look upon the amazing mystery
of Your loving kindness,
and in those You have chosen to make new
through the wonder of rebirth
may You preserve the gifts
of Your enduring grace and blessing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Week 4: Wednesday
– Feast: Saint Matthias, Apostle –

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” (John 15:16)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“You did not choose me, but I chose you.” That is amazing grace! For what were we before Christ had chosen us besides being wicked and lost? We did not believe in him, so as to be chosen by him. For if he chose those who already believed, then he was [in effect] chosen himself prior to his choosing [them]. This passage refutes the vain opinion of those who say that we were chosen before the foundation of the world because God foreknew that we should be good, not that he himself would make us good. For if he had chosen us because he foreknew that we should be good, he would have foreknown also that we should first choose him. For without choosing him we cannot be good, unless indeed someone can be called good who has not chosen good. What then has he chosen in those who are not good? You cannot say, I am chosen because I believed. For if you believed in him, you had already chosen him. Nor can you say, Before I believed I did good works and therefore was chosen. For what good work is there before faith when the apostle says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin?” What is there for us to say, then, but that we were wicked and were chosen, that by the grace of having been chosen we might become good?” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 86)

Today is the feast of the Apostle, Saint Matthias. In Sermon 3 on the Acts of the Apostles, Saint John Chrysostom offers a reflection on the selection of Saint Matthias to fulfill the office of Apostle.

Collect

O God,
Who assigned Saint Matthias
a place in the college of Apostles,
grant us, through his intercession,
that, rejoicing at how Your love
has been allotted to us,
we may merit to be numbered among the elect.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Easter Collect

O God, Life of the faithful,
Glory of the humble, Blessedness of the just,
listen kindly to the prayers
of those who call on You,
that they who thirst for what
You generously promise
may always have their fill of Your plenty.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter, Week 4: Tuesday

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)

Origen of Alexandria comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

”For “no one snatches us away from his hands,” according to what was said in the Gospel according to John. Yet it is not written that just as no one snatches us away, no one also falls from his hands. For one who is self-determined is free. And, I say, no one will snatch us away from the hand of God, no one can take us. But we are able to fall from his hands if we are negligent.” (Homilies on Jeremiah, 18)

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that, celebrating the mysteries of the Lord’s Resurrection,
we may merit to receive the joy of our redemption.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 4: Monday

“A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.” (John 10:12)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“Who then is the hireling? There are some in office in the church, of whom the apostle Paul says, “Who seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.” What does that mean, “who seek their own”? It means those who do not love Christ freely, who do not seek after God for his own sake. It means those who are pursuing temporal advantages, gaping for gain, coveting honors from people. When such things are loved by an overseer, and this is why they serve God, whoever does this is a hireling who cannot count himself among the children. For of such also the Lord says, “Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.” Listen to what the apostle Paul says of Timothy: “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly to you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your circumstances; for I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for you. For all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 46)

O God, perfect light of the blessed,
by whose gift we celebrate the paschal mysteries on earth,
bring us, we pray,
to rejoice in the full measure of your grace
for ages unending.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 4: Sunday

“But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” (John 10:5)

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus reflects on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“He offers you a shepherd. For this is what your good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep is hoping and praying for. Do you on your side offer to God and to us obedience to your pastors? Will you dwell in a place of pasture and be fed by refreshing waters, knowing your Shepherd well and being known by him? Will you follow when he earnestly calls you as a Shepherd through the door? Or will you follow a stranger climbing up into the fold like a robber and a traitor? Will you listen to a strange voice when that voice would take you away by stealth and scatter you from the truth on mountains, and in deserts, and pitfalls, and places that the Lord does not visit? And would you be led away from the sound faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one power and Godhead whose voice my sheep always heard — and may they always hear it — to follow deceitful and corrupt words that would tear them from their true Shepherd? May we all be kept from this, both shepherd and flock. May we guide and be guided away from such a poisoned and deadly pasture so that we may all be one in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and unto our heavenly rest.” (On Easter and His Reluctance, Oration 1)

Almighty ever-living God,
lead us to a share in the joys of heaven,
so that the humble flock may reach
where the brave Shepherd has gone before.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Mothers’ Day Blessing Prayer

Loving God, as a mother gives life
and nourishment to her children,
so you watch over your Church.
Bless these women, that they may be
strengthened as Christian mothers.
Let the example of their faith
and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
may honor them always
with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Saturday

“As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. " (John 6:66)

Saint Jerome offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“The medical men called surgeons pass for being cruel but really deserve pity. For is it not pitiful to cut away the dead flesh of another person with merciless knives without being moved by his pain? Is it not pitiful that the one who is curing the patient is callous to his sufferings and has to appear as his enemy? Yet this is the order of nature. While truth is always bitter, a pleasant disposition waits upon evildoing. Isaiah goes naked without blushing as a type of the captivity to come. Jeremiah is sent from Jerusalem to the Euphrates (a river in Mesopotamia) and leaves his girdle to be marred in the Chaldean camp among the Assyrians hostile to his people. Ezekiel is told to eat bread made of mingled seeds and sprinkled with the dung of people and cattle. He has to see his wife die without shedding a tear. Amos is driven from Samaria. Why is he driven from it? Surely in this case, as in the others, because he was a spiritual surgeon who cut away the parts diseased by sin and urged people to repentance. The apostle Paul says, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” The Savior himself found it no different. Many of the disciples left him because his sayings seemed hard.” (Letter 40)

O God,
Who in the font of Baptism
have made new those who believe in You,
keep safe those reborn in Christ,
that, defeating every onslaught of error,
they may faithfully preserve the grace of Your blessing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Friday

“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:55)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“Or think of it this way: Whereas people desire meat and drink to satisfy hunger and thirst, real satisfaction is produced only by that meat and drink that make the receivers of it immortal and incorruptible. He’s talking here about the fellowship of the saints where there is peace and unity, full and perfect. Therefore our Lord has chosen for the types of his body and blood things that become one out of many. Bread is a quantity of grains united into one mass, wine a quantity of grapes squeezed together. Then he explains what it is to eat his body and drink his blood: “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him.” So then to partake of that meat and that drink is to dwell in Christ and Christ in you. Whoever does not dwell in Christ, and in whom Christ does not dwell, neither eats his flesh nor drinks his blood; rather, he eats and drinks the sacrament of it to his own damnation.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26)

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who have come to know
the grace of the Lord’s Resurrection,
may, through the love of the Spirit,
ourselves rise to newness of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Thursday

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:44)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“Do not think that you are drawn against your will. The soul is drawn also by love. And in case someone says to us, “How can I believe with the will if I am drawn?” I say that it is not enough to be drawn by the will; you are drawn even by delight. What is it to be drawn by delight? “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” There is a certain craving of the heart to which that bread of heaven is sweet. If the poet could say, “Every person is drawn by his own pleasure” — not necessity but pleasure; not obligation but delight — how much more boldly ought we to say that a person is drawn to Christ when he delights in the truth, when he delights in blessedness, delights in righteousness, delights in everlasting life? Do not the bodily senses have their pleasures, and the soul its? Give me one who loves, who longs, who burns, who sighs for the source of his being and his eternal home, and he will know what I mean.

But why did he say, “Except my Father draw him?” If we are to be drawn, let us be drawn by him to whom his love said, “We will run after the fragrance of your ointment.” But let us see what is meant by this. The Father draws to the Son those who believe on the Son because they consider that God is his Father. For the Father begat the Son equal to himself. And those who think and believe truly and seriously that he on whom they believe is equal to the Father, these are the ones the Father draws to the Son. Arius believed the Son to be a creature; the Father did not draw [Arius]. One whom the Father has drawn said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And so was said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven.” This revelation is itself the drawing. For if earthly objects, when put before us, draw us how much more shall Christ, when revealed by the Father? For what does the soul long for more than truth? Here, we can more easily be hungered than satisfied, especially if we have good hope. There, we shall be filled. This is why he adds, “And I will raise him up at the last day,” as if he said, he shall be filled with that for which he now thirsts at the resurrection of the dead, for I will raise him up.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26)

Almighty ever-living God,
let us feel Your compassion more readily
during these days when, by Your gift,
we have known it more fully,
so that those You have freed from the darkness of error
may cling more firmly to the teachings of Your truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Wednesday

“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me...” (John 6:37)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“This is the reason why he does not cast out those who come to him. “For I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me.” The soul departed from God because it was proud. Pride casts us out, humility restores us. When a physician in the treatment of a disease cures certain outward symptoms but not the cause that produces them, his cure is only temporary. So long as the cause remains, the disease may return. That the cause then of all diseases, that is, pride, might be eradicated, the Son of God humbled himself. Why are you proud, O man? The Son of God humbled himself for you. It might shame you, perhaps, to imitate a humble man; but imitate at least a humble God. And this is the proof of his humility: “I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me.” Pride does its own will; humility does the will of God. For this very reason, therefore, I will not cast out the one who comes to me, because I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. I came to teach humility by being humble myself. Whoever comes to me is made a member of me. Such a person is necessarily humble, because he will not do his own will but the will of God; and therefore [this person] is not cast out. He was cast out, as proud. But he will not cast us out because we are members of the one who desired to be our head by teaching us humility.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 25)

Be present to your family, O Lord, we pray,
and graciously ensure
those You have endowed with the grace of faith
an eternal share in the Resurrection of Your Only Begotten Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voice ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Tuesday

“Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” (John 6:31-32)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“From a little bread, our Lord made an abundance of bread in the midst of the desert, and in Cana he turned water into wine. At first he set out to give instruction to their mouths about his bread and wine, until the time came for him to give them his blood and his body also. He gave them the taste of a superabundance of transitory bread and wine in order to give them an eager desire for the superabundance of his living body and blood. He gave them these lesser things without price, so that they might know that this gift of his, of highest value, was free. He gave to them freely those things that they were able to purchase from him at a price. He therefore did not sell to them anything that they were able to buy, so that they might know that there was no fee he required from them for that which they did not have; for they were able to pay the price of his bread and wine, but they could not pay the price of his body and blood. It was in this way that he not only gave to us freely, but he was even enticing us as well; for he gave these lesser things freely to captivate us to come and receive this of highest value, which is without price. These lesser things that he gave of bread and wine delighted the mouth; that [highest gift] of body and blood brings aid to the mind. He captivated us with these things, which bring pleasure to the palate, in order to draw us to that which brings life to [our] souls. For this reason, he hid the sweetness in the wine he made, so that they might know what treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.” (Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron, 12)

O God,
Who open wide the gates of the heavenly Kingdom
to those reborn of water and the Holy Spirit,
pour out on your servants
an increase of the grace you have bestowed,
that, having been purged of all sins,
they may lack nothing
that in your kindness you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Monday

“Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” (John 6:29)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“Why do you make ready your teeth and stomach? Believe, and you have eaten. Faith is, indeed, distinguished from works, as the apostle says, “that a person is justified by faith without works.” And there are works that seem to be good because they are not referred to that end from which they are good. “For the end of the law is Christ, unto justice to everyone who believes.” Therefore, he did not wish to separate faith from work, but he said that faith itself is a work. For this is the faith that works by love. He did not say, “This is your work” but “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent,” so that he who takes glory may take glory in the Lord.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 25)

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that, putting off our old self with all its ways,
we may live as Christ did,
for through the healing paschal remedies
you have conformed us to his nature.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 3: Sunday

“And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” (Luke 24:15-16)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

““We,” they said, “had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” O my dear disciples, you had hoped! So now you no longer hope? Look, Christ is alive! Is hope dead in you? Certainly, certainly, Christ is alive! Christ, being alive, found the hearts of his disciples dead, as he appeared and did not appear to their eyes. He was at one and the same time seen and concealed. I mean, if he wasn’t seen, how could they have heard him questioning them and answered his questions? He was walking with them along the road like a companion and was himself the leader. Of course he was seen, but he wasn’t recognized. For their eyes were restrained, as we heard, so that they wouldn’t recognize him. They weren’t restrained so that they wouldn’t see him, but they were held so that they wouldn’t recognize him.

Ah yes, brothers and sisters, but where did the Lord wish to be recognized? In the breaking of bread. We’re all right, nothing to worry about — we break bread, and we recognize the Lord. It was for our sake that he didn’t want to be recognized anywhere but there, because we weren’t going to see him in the flesh, and yet we were going to eat his flesh. So if you’re a believer, any of you, if you’re not called a Christian for nothing, if you don’t come to church pointlessly, if you listen to the Word of God in fear and hope, you may take comfort in the breaking of bread. The Lord’s absence is not an absence. Have faith, and the one you cannot see is with you. Those two, even when the Lord was talking to them, did not have faith, because they didn’t believe he had risen. Nor did they have any hope that he could rise again. They had lost faith, lost hope. They were walking along, dead, with Christ alive. They were walking along, dead, with life itself. Life was walking along with them, but in their hearts life had not yet been restored.” (Sermon 235)

May your people exult for ever, O God,
in renewed youthfulness of spirit,
so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption,
we may look forward in confident hope
to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter, Week 2:Saturday
Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“But there is still something to excite thought in his doing such greater works by the apostles. For he did not say, as if merely with reference to them, “the works that I do shall you do also. And greater works than these shall you do,” but wishing to be understood as speaking of all that belonged to his family, he said, “He who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do.” If, then, he who believes shall do such works, he who shall not do them is certainly no believer, just as “He who loves me, keeps my commandments” implies, of course, that whoever does not keep them does not love. In a similar way, also, it is said here, “He who believes in me shall do such works.” The one who does not do good works, therefore, is no believer. What have we here, then, brothers? Is it that one is not to be counted among believers in Christ who will not do greater works than Christ? It would be hard, unreasonable, intolerable to suppose so, that is, unless it is rightly understood. Let us listen, then, to the apostle when he says, “To him who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” This is the work in which we may be doing the works of Christ, for even our very believing in Christ is the work of Christ.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 72)

Set aside, O Lord,
the bond of sentence written for us by the law of sin,
which in the Paschal Mystery you canceled
through the Resurrection of Christ your Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

- OR -

O God, who willed that through the paschal mysteries
the gates of mercy should stand open for your faithful,
look upon us and have mercy,
that as we follow, by your gift, the way you desire for us,
so may we never stray from the paths of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, who gladden us each year
with the feast day of the Apostles Philip and James,
grant us, through their prayers,
a share in the Passion and Resurrection
of your Only Begotten Son,
so that we may merit to behold you for eternity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI devoted General Audiences to the life and significance of Saint Philip and Saint James (‘the Lesser’) back in 2006. An excerpt from Tertullian’s On the Prescription of Heretics offers insights to ponder on this apostolic feast day.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Easter, Week 2: Friday
Voices ever ancient, ever new: St Augustine
Memorial: St Athanasius of Alexandria, bishop

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” (John 6:9)

Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“To provide a brief explanation: the five loaves are understood as the five books of Moses; rightly they are not wheat but barley because they belong to the Old Testament. For you know that barley was created in such a way that one can scarcely get to its kernel. For this kernel is clothed with a covering of husk, and this husk is tenacious and adhering, so that it is stripped off with effort. Such is the letter of the Old Testament, clothed with the coverings of carnal mysteries; but if one gets to its kernel, it feeds and satisfies. And so a boy was carrying five loaves and two fishes. If we should seek to know who this boy was, perhaps he was the people of Israel, carrying the loaves and fish with a childlike understanding and not eating of them itself. For those things that it was carrying, when kept shut, were a burden, but when opened, were food. Moreover, the two fish seem to us to signify those two sublime personages in the Old Testament who were anointed to make holy and rule the people, the priest and king.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 24)

O God, hope and light of the sincere,
we humbly entreat you to dispose our hearts
to offer you worthy prayer
and ever to extol you
by dutiful proclamation of your praise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Almighty
ever-living God,
Who raised up the Bishop
Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding
champion of
Your Son’s divinity,
mercifully grant,
that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection,
we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of You.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI devoted a General Audience to the life and significance of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria (297-373) back in June 2007. On the Incarantion of the Word is one of Saint Athanasius’ more famous works wherein he defends the genuine humanity and divinity of Jesus, the Divine Person Who became flesh for our salvation.

The Lord is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!