Words of the Word

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!

Easter, Week 2: Thursday.
Voices ever ancient, ever new: Saint John Chrysostom
Optional memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker

“The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven [is above all].” (John 3:31)

Saint John Chrysostom comments on this verse from today’s Gospel reading:

“As the worm gnaws through the wood from which it is born, and rust destroys the iron from which it came, and moths consume fleece, so pride destroys the soul that nourishes it. Therefore we need perseverance to get rid of it. John himself can hardly subdue it in his disciples even with all of his cogent arguments. He has to say again what he has said above, “He that comes from above is above all.” He means: you make much of my testimony and say that the witness is more worthy to be believed than Jesus to whom I bear witness. Know this, that it is impossible for the one who comes from heaven to be accredited by an earthly witness. He is above all, being perfect in himself and above comparison.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John, 30)

O God, Who for the salvation of the world
brought about the paschal sacrifice,
be favorable to the supplications of Your people,
so that Christ our High Priest, interceding on our behalf,
may by His likeness to ourselves
bring us reconciliation,
and by His equality with You
free us from our sins.
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.

God our Father
You gave to us
the just-man
Saint Joseph,
who was completely
obedient to the call
of the Holy Spirit,
by being spouse to the Virgin Mother of God
and watching like a father over Jesus,
Your Only Begotten Son.

Gracious Father,
charge once again Saint Joseph,
patron of our parish,
to watch over us as he watched over
Mary and Your Son, Jesus:
• to know Your Will,
• to be given the grace to carry it out faithfully, and
• the wisdom to respond to Your love for us.

Saint Joseph, patron of our parish,
guard and protect us
from all that keeps us
from following more closely
Jesus, your son and Son of God,
in the unfolding mysteries
of the Father’s plan for our salvation.

As in all things,
we make this prayer
through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever. Amen.

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

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter, Week 2: Wednesday

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

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

“Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man, but he was also God. He was of the race of David but Adam’s creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest — yet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on himself for love of you.” (Poem 2)

As we recall year by year the mysteries
by which, through the restoration of its original dignity,
human nature has received the hope of rising again,
we earnestly beseech your mercy, Lord,
that what we celebrate in faith
we may possess in unending love.
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 2: Tuesday

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up...” (John 3:14)

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

“Let me try to explain, as far as the Lord enables me to, what these signs mean. The rod stands for the kingdom, the snake for mortality. It was by the snake that humanity was given death to drink. The Lord was prepared to take this death on himself. So when the rod came down to earth it had the form of a snake because the kingdom of God, which is Jesus Christ, came down to earth. He put on mortality, which he also nailed to the cross. In his mercy God provided a remedy, a remedy that restored health at the time but also foretold the wisdom that was to come in the future. Whoever has been bitten by the snakes of sin need only gaze on Christ and will have healing for the forgiveness of sins. And so, brothers, it is the mortality that the Lord took on himself that the church must go on experiencing as his body, of which he is the head, as man, in heaven. So the church experiences mortality, which was inflicted through the seduction of the serpent. We owe death to the sin of the first persons, but afterward we shall reach eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But when does the church arrive at life and return to the kingdom? At the end of the world. That is why he took it by the tail, which is the end, in order to restore his rod to its original condition.” (Sermon 6)

Enable us, we pray, almighty God,
to proclaim the power of the risen Lord,
that we, who have received the pledge of his gift,
may come to possess all he gives
when it is fully revealed.
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 set Saint Catherine of Siena
on fire with divine love in her contemplation
of the Lord’s Passion and
her service of Your Church,
grant, through her intercession, that your people,
participating in the mystery of Christ,
may ever exult in the revelation of His glory.
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 2: Monday

“Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” (John 3:5)

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

“First of all, it is necessary that the continuity of the old life be cut. And this is impossible unless one is born again, according to the Lord’s word. For the regeneration, as indeed the name shows, is a beginning of a second life. So before beginning the second, it is necessary to put an end to the first. For just as in the case of runners who turn and take the second course, a kind of break and pause intervenes between the movements in the opposite direction, so also in making a change in lives it seems necessary for death to come as mediator between the two, ending all that goes before, and beginning all that comes after.” (On the Holy Spirit, 15)

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies,
transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage,
may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker.
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 2014, the Second Sunday

“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” (John 20:27)

Saint Gregory of Nyssa offers the following insight on these verses from today's Gospel:

“Once he had accustomed people to seeing the miracle of resurrection in other bodies, he confirmed his word in his own humanity. You already received a glimpse of that word working in others — those who were about to die, the child who had just ceased to live, the young man at the edge of the grave, the putrefying corpse, all alike restored by one command to life. Now look at him whose hands were pierced with nails, look at him whose side was transfixed with a spear. Pass your fingers through the print of the nails, thrust your hand into the spear wound. You could surely guess how far within your hand would reach by the breadth of the external scar since the wound that gives admission to the hand shows to what depth the iron entered. If he then has been raised, well may we utter the apostle’s exclamation, “How do some say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Since, then, every prediction of the Lord is shown to be true by the testimony of events — in fact, we not only learned this from his words but also received the proof in his deeds from the very same people who returned to life by resurrection — what other occasion is left for those who do not believe? Let us rather bid farewell to those who pervert our simple faith by “philosophy and vain deceit.” Let us instead hold on to our confession [of the resurrection] in its purity, a confession that we have learned through the gracious words of the prophet, “You shall take away their breath, and they shall fail and turn to dust. You shall then send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.” (On the Making of Man, 25)

God of everlasting mercy,
Who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast
kindle the faith of the people You have made Your own,
increase, we pray, the grace You have bestowed,
that all may grasp and rightly understand
in what font they have been washed,
by Whose Spirit they have been reborn,
by Whose Blood they have been redeemed.
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 Saturday 2014

“After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country.” (Mark 16:12)

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

“Jesus appeared; he was visible to their eyes, yet he was not recognized. The master walked with them on the way; in fact, he was the way on which they were not yet walking; but he found that they had wandered some distance from the way. For when he was with them before his passion, he had foretold all — that he would suffer, that he would die, that he would rise again on the third day — he had predicted all; but his death was as a loss of memory for them. They were so disturbed when they saw him hanging on the cross that they forgot his teaching, did not look for his resurrection, and failed to keep his promises in mind.” (Sermon 235)

O God, who by the abundance of your grace
give increase to the peoples who believe in you,
look with favor on those you have chosen
and clothe with blessed immortality
those reborn through the Sacrament of Baptism.
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 Friday 2014

“Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.” (John 20:13)

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

“Mystically, the broiled fish is Christ who suffered. And he is the bread that came down from heaven. The church is united to his body in order to participate in everlasting blessedness. This is why he says, “Bring of the fish that you have now caught,” in order to signify that all of us who have this hope and are in that number seven of disciples, which represents the universal church here, partake of this great sacrament and are admitted to this bliss.” (Tractate on the Gospel of John, 123)

Almighty ever-living God,
who gave us the Paschal Mystery
in the covenant you established
for reconciling the human race,
so dispose our minds, we pray,
that what we celebrate by professing the faith
we may express in deeds.
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 Thursday 2014

“While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, He [Jesus] asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of baked fish; He took it and ate it in front of them.” (Luke 24:41-43)

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

“While they were still flustered for joy, they were rejoicing and doubting at the same time. They were seeing and touching, and scarcely believing. What a tremendous favor grace has done us! We have neither seen nor touched, and we have believed. While they were still flustered for joy, he said, “Have you got here anything to eat? Certainly you can believe that I am alive and well if I join you in a meal.” They offered him what they had: a portion of grilled fish. Grilled fish means martyrdom, faith proved by fire. Why is it only a portion? Paul says, “If I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Imagine a complete body of martyrs. Some suffer because of love, while others suffer out of pride. Remove the pride portion, offer the love portion. That is the food for Christ. Give Christ his portion. Christ loves the martyrs who suffered out of love.” (Sermon 229)

O God, who have united the many nations
in confessing your name,
grant that those reborn in the font of Baptism
may be one in the faith of their hearts
and the homage of their deeds.
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 Wednesday 2014.

“... but their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him [Jesus].” (Luke 24:16)

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

O God, who gladden us year by year
with the solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection,
graciously grant
that, by celebrating these present festivities,
we may merit through them to reach eternal joys.
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.

Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter Tuesday 2014.

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”” (John 20:15)

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

“Perhaps this woman was not as mistaken as she appeared to be when she believed that Jesus was a gardener. Was he not spiritually a gardener for her when he planted the fruitful seeds of virtue in her heart by the force of his love? But why did she say to the one she saw and believed to be the gardener, when she had not yet told him whom she was seeking, “Sir, if you have taken him away?” She had not yet said who it was who made her weep from desire or mentioned him of whom she spoke. But the force of love customarily brings it about that a heart believes everyone else is aware of the one of whom it is always thinking. After he had called her by the common name of “woman,” he called her by her own name, as if to say, “Recognize him who recognizes you.” And so because Mary was called by name, she acknowledged her creator and called him at once “Rabboni,” that is, “teacher.” He was both the one she was outwardly seeking and the one who was teaching her inwardly to seek him.” (Forty Gospel Homilies, 25)

O God, who have bestowed on us paschal remedies,
endow your people with heavenly gifts,
so that, possessed of perfect freedom,
they may rejoice in heaven
over what gladdens them now on earth.
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.

Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter Monday 2014.

“And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.” (Matthew 28:9)

Saint John Chrysostom comments on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“After they had departed with fear and joy, Jesus met them, saying, “Hail!” They ran to him with great joy and gladness. They “took hold of his feet.”

Thus they received by his touch an irrefutable proof of his resurrection, with full personal assurance of it. And they “worshiped him.”

What does he then say? “Do not be afraid.” Again, Jesus himself casts out their fear, making room for faith: “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Note well how he himself sends good tidings to his disciples by these women. He thereby brings honor to women, as I have so often said, honor to that sex which is most prone to be dishonored. Through these women he brings good hope and the healing of that which was diseased.

Some among you may desire to be like these faithful women. You too may wish to take hold of the feet of Jesus. You can, even now. You can embrace not only his feet but also his hands and even his sacred head. You too can today receive these awesome mysteries with a pure conscience. You can embrace him not only in this life but also even more fully on that day when you shall see him coming with unspeakable glory, with a multitude of the angels. If you are so disposed, along with him, to be compassionate, you shall hear not only these words, “All hail!” but also those others: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.” (The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 89)

O God, who give constant increase
to your Church by new offspring,
grant that your servants may hold fast in their lives
to the Sacrament they have received in faith.
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.

Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!

Voices ever ancient ever new, Easter: the First Sunday

“Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples.” (Matthew 28:8)

Saint John Chrysostom comments on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“He calls upon them not only to behold the evidence but to attest it further to others: “Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.” The angel here is preparing the women to take the good news to the other disciples. They are to tell of the evidence that made them believe — the empty tomb. Furthermore, “He is going before you to Galilee.” He says this to relieve them from anxieties and the fear of danger, that their faith not be hindered.” (The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 89)

O God, who on this day,
through your Only Begotten Son,
have conquered death
and unlocked for us the path to eternity,
grant, we pray, that we who keep
the solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection
may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit,
rise up in the light 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.

Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Easter Triduum 2014: Holy Saturday morning

“Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9)

Saint John Chrysostom comments on this verse from today’s Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings:

“He says that there are “three” rests: one, that of the sabbath, in which God rested from works; the second, that of Palestine, in which, when the Jews had entered, they would be at rest from their hardships and labors; the third, that which is rest indeed, the kingdom of heaven, where those who obtain it do indeed rest from their labors and troubles. Of these three then he makes mention here. And why did he mention the three, when he is speaking only of the one? That he might show that the prophet is speaking concerning this one. For he did not speak, he says, concerning the first. For how could he, when that had taken place long before? Nor yet again concerning the second, that in Palestine. For how could he? For he says, “They shall not enter into my rest.” It remains, therefore, that it is this third.” (On the Epistle to the Hebrews, 6)

All-powerful and ever-living God,
Your only Son went down among the dead
and rose again in glory.
In Your goodness
raise up your faithful people,
buried with him in baptism,
to be one with Him
in the everlasting life of heaven,
where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!