Words of the Word

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious

“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face...” (Matthew 6:17.)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:

“Vainglory can find a place not only in the splendor and pomp of worldly wealth but even in the sordid garment of sackcloth as well. It is then all the more dangerous because it is a deception under the pretense of service to God. When one dazzles by immoderate adornment of the body and its raiment or by the splendor of whatever else one may possess, by that very fact one is easily shown to desire ostentacious display. This person deceives nobody by a crafty semblance of holiness. But if, through extraordinary squalor and shabbiness, one is attracting others’ attention to one’s manner of professing Christianity, and if one is doing this of choice and not merely enduring it through necessity, then one may determine by one’s other works whether one is doing it through an indifference toward needless adornment or through ambition of some kind. Indeed, the Lord has forewarned us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing: “By their fruits you shall know them.” Trials of one kind or another that cause these people to lose the very advantages they have gained through their dress or claimed to deny what they sought to gain by it will inevitably reveal whether it is a case of a wolf under a sheep’s skin or a sheep under its own. But just as sheep ought not to change their skin even though wolves sometimes hide themselves beneath it, so a Christian ought not try to delight the eyes of others by needless adornment just because pretenders very often assume that scanty garb which necessity demands and assume it for the purpose of deceiving those who are less aware.” (Sermon on the Mount, 2.)

Collect

O God,
giver of heavenly gifts,
who in Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
joined penitence
to a wonderful innocence of life,
grant, through his merits and intercession,
that, though we have failed
to follow him in innocence,
we may imitate him in penitence
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

“... that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45.)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:

“Since he calls us to the adoption as sons through the only begotten Son himself, he calls us to his own likeness. For, as the Lord at once adds, “He makes his sun to rise on the good and the evil and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” Now, if you would understand the expression “his sun” to mean not the sun that is visible to bodily eyes but his wisdom, to which the following expressions refer—“he is the brightness of eternal light” and also “The sun of justice is risen upon me,” as well as “But to you that fear the name of the Lord, the sun of justice shall arise” — then you must also understand the rain as a watering by the teaching of truth, because that teaching has become manifest to the good and to the evil. But you may prefer to understand it as the sun that is manifest to the bodily eyes of beasts as well as people and to understand the rain as the showers that produce the fruits that God has given us for the perfection of the body. I believe this to be surely the more probable meaning, since the other “sun” does not rise except on the good and the holy, for this is the very thing that the unjust bewail in the book that is called the Wisdom of Solomon: “And the sun [of understanding] has not risen upon us.” And the spiritual rain refreshes only the good, for the vine signifies the bad of whom it is said, “I will command my clouds not to rain upon it.” (Sermon on the Mount)

Collect

O God,
strength of those who hope in You,
graciously hear our pleas,
and, since without You
mortal frailty can do nothing,
grant us always the help of Your grace
that in following Your commands
we may please you by our resolve and our 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.

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

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

“But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” (Matthew 5:39.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“Jesus’ words regarding turning the other cheek concern more than simply long-suffering. For it is against nature to be so arrogant as to hit the other person. The one therefore who is “ready to give an answer” to every malicious person “concerning the faith that is in him” will not offer resistance. The spiritual meaning is this: To one who strikes him upon the right cheek — that is, against the rational doctrines—the believer will offer also the ethical ones. This will scandalize those who do not understand the reasonings of faith. They will cease from their accusations, since they will be ashamed and continue progress in divine things.” (Fragment 108)

Collect

O God,
strength of those who hope in You,
graciously hear our pleas,
and, since without You
mortal frailty can do nothing,
grant us always the help of Your grace,
that in following Your commands
we may please You
by our resolve and our 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.

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

Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one....” (Matthew 5:37.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s Gospel, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“He has prohibited anyone from swearing by his head, for in doing so one would be worshiping himself. Rather, Jesus intends to refer all glory to God, signifiying that human beings are not finally masters of themselves. Oaths made by the head are thus discredited. For if no one would relinquish his own child to another, how much more will God refuse to relinquish his own work to you? For though it be your head, yet it remains the property of another. For he did not say, “You cannot make one hair grow” but “You cannot make one hair white or black” or change its quality.

What is it then that exceeds a simple yes or no? It is the oath, not the perjury. For lying is openly acknowledged to be wrong, and no one needs to learn that it is of the Adversary. It is not an excess but a deficiency. An excess, though, means something more, something over and above the statement itself. This is the nature of an oath.

Someone might then object: If the evil one is the source of all oaths, how could they have found a place in God’s law? Well, we could say much the same thing about Jesus’ teaching on divorce. How is divorce now accounted adultery, particularly when divorce was permitted by Moses? What can we reply? The precepts Moses uttered at that time accounted for the weakness of those who were receiving the laws.

Just as a lisp is unworthy of a philosopher, so the scent of burnt offerings is unworthy of God. Our understanding of the principles of virtue has advanced beyond the time of Moses. Therefore divorce is now seen to be adultery and the necessity of an oath to be from the evil one. If the earlier laws had been devilish from the first, they would never have resulted in such goodness. Had Moses’ laws not been forerunners, Jesus’ teaching would not have been so easily received. Don’t require a present excellence from past laws, when their usefulness has now been surpassed. Still, if you wish to retain them, even now they demonstrate their virtue. They show their virtue most of all through the fault we discover by their aid. The faults we now see commend them most to us. For had they not brought us up well and prepared us for the reception of the greater precepts, they would not have appeared as good.

It is similar with the breast of the mother; when it has fulfilled its task, it dismisses the child to a more mature diet and after that appears useless. Thus the mother who once viewed it as necessary for the baby now taunts with ten thousand mockeries the child’s need for the breast. Breastfeeding is over. In the same way, Christ says that the ancient laws are from the evil one, not to indicate that the old law is of the devil but in order that he might with great earnestness lead them away from their ancient poverty.” (The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 17.)

Collect

O God, from Whom all good things come,
grant that we, who call on You in our need,
may at Your prompting discern what is right,
and by Your guidance do it.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.” (Matthew 5:29.)

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

“Since Jesus spoke before about lust for a woman, he now rightly refers to an unruly thought or feeling as an eye. By the right hand and other members of the body the onset of the will and emotions is suggested. Thus what we conceive in the mind we might complete with an act. Hence we must be aware that what is best in us may soon devolve into a vice. If your right eye and your right hand are an occasion of sin to you, how much more is this true of the left members. If your soul begins to slip, how much more the body, which has a greater tendency to sin. In other words, in the right eye and the right hand of one’s siblings and wife and children and relatives and neighbors, an emotion is indicated. If we perceive they are an obstacle to us in contemplating the true light, we must cut off those parts. Otherwise, in our desire to profit from others, we may perish for all eternity. Hence it is said concerning the high priest whose soul is dedicated to the worship of God: “He shall not defile himself for mother and father and children.” That is, he shall have affection only for the One to whose worship he is dedicated.” (Commentary on Matthew, 1.)

Collect

O God, from Whom all good things come,
grant that we, who call on You in our need,
may at Your prompting discern what is right,
and by Your guidance do it.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

“... leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:24.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

To give assent to sin is already a completed evil, even if someone does not actually commit the deed. And by this saying our Savior, hurling us away from the cause of sins, endeavors to cut sin off completely. For when this intention is not present in our souls, neither shall the action accompany it.” (Fragment 103)

Collect

O God, from Whom all good things come,
grant that we, who call on You in our need,
may at Your prompting discern what is right,
and by Your guidance do it.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot...” (Matthew 5:13.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s Gospel, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“It is as a matter of absolute necessity that he commands all this. Why must you be salt? Jesus says in effect: “You are accountable not only for your own life but also for that of the entire world. I am sending you not to one or two cities, nor to ten or twenty, nor even to one nation, as I sent the prophets. Rather, I am sending you to the entire earth, across the seas, to the whole world, to a world fallen into an evil state.” For by saying, “You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus signifies that all human nature itself has “lost its taste,” having become rotten through sin. For this reason, you see, he requires from his disciples those character traits that are most necessary and useful for the benefit of all.” (The Gospel of Matthew: Homily, 15.)

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
who gave Saint Anthony of Padua
to your people
as an outstanding preacher
and an intercessor in their need,
grant that, with his assistance,
as we follow the teachings
of the Christian life,
we may know your help in every trial.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

“Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold ...” (Tobit 12:8)

Saint Gaudentius of Brescia offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Frist Reading:

“It is written that fasting with almsgiving is a good thing. It was necessary to do both, to mitigate the Lord’s indignation. Perhaps you cannot fast, and you cannot because you do not want to — at least give food to someone who is hungry. You who cannot stand to fast for three hours past the usual hour can certainly understand what someone would suffer who unwillingly goes hungry because of his poverty. Your cruelty forces him to fast, you who, fattened by sumptuous banquets, do not think to relieve the poor person’s hunger with even a little food. You point to the possibility of famine, you pretend to be in need, you complain of unfavorable circumstances. You beg more shamefully than that poor person — indeed, you behave toward God like an ingrate with your false complaining. But what if there was a famine? Would you perhaps be the only one to feel it, and not that poor person? How is it that every day you lay out new silver, beautify your houses with marble, buy silk garments, trade necklaces adorned with gold and gems? It is shameful to mention and painful even to think of the number of peasants who, living on the lands of people who live in the luxury we have described, have died of hunger or been supported by the alms of the church.” (Sermons, 13.)

Collect

O God,
Whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech you,
all that might harm us
and grant all that works for our good.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Optional Memorial: Saint Ephrem, Deacon and Father of the Church

“Weeping, he exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” Then he prayed, “Blessed be God, blessed be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels. May his great name be with us, and blessed be all the angels throughout all the ages.” (Tobit 11:14)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“It is necessary to observe the means of expression the Evangelist used as to whether he says to us that the eyes of the blind person were opened or that he saw. He expresses that he opened his eyes with the words, “It was the sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.” But it also says that he saw with the words, “He went and returned seeing.” We will be able to find the difference between the expressions from Tobit. When white patches had formed over his eyes, it is not written that his eyes were later opened but that he saw. Of the rest, you will be able to observe one or the other aspect in the course of the entire episode related concerning the blind person, where one person asserts one thing and another that, with quite a bit of dissent from each other.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, Fragment 66)

Collect

Pour into our hearts O Lord,
we pray, the Holy Spirit,
at whose prompting the Deacon Saint Ephrem
exulted in singing of your mysteries
and from whom he received the strength
to serve you alone.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

The divine plan for the world is the mirror of the spiritual world

Saint Ephrem the Syrian

Deacon and Father of the Church

An excerpt from Sermo 3, De fine et admonitione

Optional Memorial, Saint Ephrem

Lord, shed upon our darkened souls the brilliant light of your wisdom so that we may be enlightened and serve you with renewed purity. Sunrise marks the hour for men to begin their toil, but in our souls, Lord, prepare a dwelling for the day that will never end. Grant that we may come to know the risen life and that nothing may distract us from the delights you offer. Through our unremitting zeal for you, Lord, set upon us the sign of your day that is not measured by the sun.

In your sacrament we daily embrace you and receive you into our bodies; make us worthy to experience the resurrection for which we hope. We have had your treasure hidden within us ever since we received baptismal grace; it grows ever richer at your sacramental table. Teach us to find our joy in your favor! Lord, we have within us your memorial, received at your spiritual table; let us possess it in its full reality when all things shall be made new.

We glimpse the beauty that is laid up for us when we gaze upon the spiritual beauty your immortal will now creates within our mortal selves.

Savior, your crucifixion marked the end of your mortal life; teach us to crucify ourselves and make way for our life in the Spirit. May your resurrection, Jesus, bring true greatness to our spiritual self and may your sacraments be the mirror wherein we may know that self.

Savior, your divine plan for the world is a mirror for the spiritual world; teach us to walk in that: world as spiritual men.

Lord, do not deprive our souls of the spiritual vision of you nor our bodies of your warmth and sweetness. The mortality lurking in our bodies spreads corruption through us; may the spiritual waters of your love cleanse the effects of mortality from our hearts Grant, Lord, that we may hasten to our true city and, like Moses on the mountaintop, possess it now in vision.

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

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

“Blessed are all who fear the LORD, and who walk in his ways.” (Psalm 128, 1)

In commenting on this verse from today’s Psalm, Cassiodorus writes:

“When he says, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord,” he shows that they are not blessed who fear with troubled mind the dangers of the world when temporal property is lost. For those dangers make people wretched when they torment them with groundless fear. They have no advantage, but rather a dimunition. They do not know an ascent, but rather destruction. In contrast, the fear of the Lord descends from love, is born of charity and is begotten of sweetness. A pious fear comforts the fearful and refreshes the afflicted, and does not know how to lack joy unless such fruit of fear has been put aside. About this fear it is written, “Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” How advantageous fear is, if children are taught by it! What sort of learning there is which is given with sweet affection!” (Explanation of the Psalms)

Collect

O God,
Whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech you,
all that might harm us
and grant all that works for our good.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

“Then sad at heart, I groaned and wept aloud. With sobs I began to pray: ...” (Tobit 3:1.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Regarding the second kind of prayer, see Daniel: “And Azarias standing up prayed in this manner and opening his mouth in the midst of the fire he said.” And Tobias: “And I began to pray with tears, saying, You are just, O Lord, and all your works are just and all your ways mercy and truth. And your judgments are true and just forever.” And since the passage in Daniel has been obelized on the ground that it is not found in the Hebrew text, and those of the circumcision reject the book of Tobias as not being canonical, I shall quote the words of Anna from the first book of Kings: “And she prayed the Lord, shedding many tears. And she made a vow, saying, O Lord of hosts, if you will look down on the affliction of your servant,” and so on. And in Habakkuk: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet with song. O Lord, I have heard your voice and was afraid. O Lord, I reflected on your works and was astonished. In the midst of two animals you will be known; in the approach of the years you will be recognized.” The example just given illustrates very well the definition of prayer inasmuch as he who offers it unites it with praise of God. And again, in the book of Jonah: “Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish. And he said, I cried out of my affliction to the Lord my God, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell you heard the screams of my voice. And you have thrown me into the deep in the heart of the sea, and a flood has surrounded me.” (On Prayer, 14.)

Collect

O God,
Whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech You,
all that might harm us
and grant all that works for our good.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

True doctrine dispels arrogance

Saint Gregory the Great

Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Moral Reflections on Job, Book 23-24.

Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Listen, Job, to what I say and ponder all my words. The teaching of the arrogant has this characteristic: they do not know how to introduce their teaching humbly and they cannot convey correctly to others the things they understand correctly themselves. With their words they betray what they teach; they give the impression that they live on lofty heights from which they look down disdainfully on those whom they are teaching; they regard the latter as inferiors, to whom they do not deign to listen as they talk; indeed they scarcely deign to talk to them at all—they simply lay down the law.

To teachers of this kind the Lord through the prophet says rightly: But you will rule them with severity and with power. There is no doubt that such as are prone not to correct their subjects with quiet reasoning, but to compel them to change by rough and domineering methods, rule with severity and power.

On the contrary true doctrine all the more effectively shuns the voice of arrogance through reflection, in which it pursues the arrogant teacher himself with the arrows of its words. It ensures that the pride which it attacks in the hearts of those listening to the sacred words will not in fact be preached by arrogant conduct. For true doctrine tries both to teach by words and to demonstrate by living example—humility, which is the mother and mistress of virtues. Its goal is to express humility among the disciples of truth more by deeds than by words.

Accordingly, when addressing the Thessalonians, Paul is oblivious of his own eminent dignity as an apostle; he actually says: We became as little children in your midst. Similarly, the apostle Peter enjoins: Be always prepared to satisfy everybody who asks a reason for the hope which is in you, and by adding the words, with a good conscience, speak gently and respectfully, Peter draws attention to the manner in which sacred doctrine should be taught.

When he tells his disciples: These things command and teach with all power, Paul really recommends the credibility that goes hand in hand with good behavior rather than the domineering exercise of power. When one practices first and preaches afterwards, one is really teaching with power. Doctrine loses credibility, if conscience tethers the tongue. Paul, therefore, in the saying quoted above, does not refer to the power of lofty rhetoric but to the confidence elicited by good deeds. Of the Lord, too, it is said: He taught with authority unlike the Scribes and the Pharisees. He alone in a unique and sovereign way spoke from the power of his goodness because no evil weakness led him into sin. For he had from the power of his own divine nature what he gave to us through the sinlessness of his human nature.

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

Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

“I did not know that sparrows were perched on the wall above me; their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing white scales on them. I went to doctors for a cure, but the more they applied ointments, the more my vision was obscured by the white scales, until I was totally blind. For four years I was unable to see, and all my kindred were distressed at my condition. Ahiqar, however, took care of me for two years, until he left for Elam.” (Tobit 2:10)

Saint Bede the Venerable comments on this verse from today’s First Reading:

“Do not be surprised, reader, that sometimes, typologically speaking, people’s good deeds have a bad meaning and their bad deeds a good meaning; that “God is light” would never have been written in black ink but always in bright gold if this were not permissible. But even if you should write the name of the devil in pure white chalk, it still means deep darkness. Tobit’s being blinded, therefore, denotes, as the apostle says, “that blindness has come on a part of Israel.” He was wearied with burying and blinded, because the one who tirelessly perseveres in good works is never deprived of the light of faith; the one who neglects to watch and stand firm in the faith and act powerfully and be strengthened spiritually lies down and sleeps from fatigue. The apostle’s saying fits him well: “Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.” Because of their swift flight, swallows are a figure of pride and volatility of heart, since their uncleanness immediately blinds those over whom it holds sway. For the one who recklessly enslaves his soul to the volatility of licentiousness and pride sleeps, as it were, lying down beneath a swallow’s nest. Now this blindness got the better of the people of Israel especially as the coming of the Lord in the flesh was imminent, when they were both being oppressed by the yoke of Roman slavery and transgressing the precepts of the divine law by very immoral living.” (On Tobit, 2)

Collect

O God,
Whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech You,
all that might harm us
and grant all that works for our good.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

“I remembered the oracle pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel: “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into dirges...” (Tobit 2:6.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Once the people fell down in the desert and died. Aaron their chief priest came and “stood in the midst of those who died and of those who lived,” so that the devastation of death might not advance even further among the rest. And then came the true high priest, my Lord, and he came into the midst between those dying and the living. That is, he came between those Jews who accepted his presence and those who not only did not accept but also killed themselves more completely than him, saying, “The blood of that one be on us and on our children!” So also “all the righteous blood that has been poured forth on the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah whom they killed between the sanctuary and the altar, will be required from that generation” that said, “His blood on us and on our children.” Therefore, these are a part of the dead people because they do not properly perform either the feast of unleavened bread or the feast days. But “their feast days have been turned into sorrow and their songs into lamentations,” they who, even if they wished, could not celebrate the feast days in that place that the Lord God chose. And indeed we ourselves did not say to them, “You will have no part in this altar or in the inheritance of the Lord,” but they themselves of their own accord refute the true altar and the heavenly high priest and have been brought to such a point of unhappiness that they both lost the image and did not accept the truth. Therefore it is said to them, “Behold, your house is left to you deserted.” For the grace of the Holy Spirit has been transferred to the nations; the celebrations have been transferred to us because the high priest has passed over to us, not the imagined but the true high priest, chosen “according to the order of Melchizedek.” It is necessary that he offer for us true sacrifices, that is, spiritual, where “the temple of God is built from living stones,” which is “the church of the living God” and where true Israel exists.” (Homilies on Joshua, 26.)

Collect

May the Martyr Saint Boniface
be our advocate, O Lord,
that we may firmly hold the faith
he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood
and confidently profess it by our 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.

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

Pentecost Sunday — Mass during the Day

“But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:9.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Second Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Is the Spirit of God somehow different from the Spirit of Christ, or are the two one and the same? As far as I can follow the logic of this passage, not to mention what the Savior says of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel, namely, that “he proceeds from the Father” and “he receives of me,” to which he adds by way of explanation: “Father, everything which is mine is yours, and everything which is yours is mine; wherefore I said, that he receives of me.” When, I say, I consider the logic of this unity between the Father and the Son, it seems to me that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are one and the same Spirit.

We can understand this to mean that someone who is not of such a character as to deserve to have the Spirit of Christ is not recognized as belonging to him. It may also be understood to mean that anyone who does not act in the Spirit, who is not prepared for righteousness, for truth, for the proclamation of the Word of God, for the preaching of the kingdom of heaven, for rejecting the letter of the law and for opening up its spirit, for resisting sin, for everything which will prevent him from coming to death, is not Christ’s disciple.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, 4.)

Reflections on the Gospel for Pentecost.

Collect

O God,
Who by the mystery of today’s great feast
sanctify Your whole Church
in every people and nation,
pour out, we pray,
the gifts of the Holy Spirit
across the face of the earth
and, with the divine grace that was at work
when the Gospel was first proclaimed,
fill now once more the hearts of believers.
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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Fifth Sunday of Easter

"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 comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:

“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.)

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.

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

Mary’s Motherhood in the Order of Grace

Second Vatican Council

An excerpt from Lumen Gentium, 61-62.

Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima

Predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence which determined the incarnation of the Word to be the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin was on this earth the virgin Mother of the Redeemer, and above all others and in a singular way the generous associate and humble handmaid of the Lord. She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace.

This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and cultics, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.

For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.

The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer.

Collect

O God,
Who chose the Mother of Your Son
to be our Mother also,
grant us that,
persevering in penance and prayer
for the salvation of the world,
we may further more effectively each day
the reign of Christ.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

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

Fourth Sunday of Easter

“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])

Collect

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.

Reflection on Sunday’s Gospel

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

Prayer
— Saint Joseph the Worker —

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,

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,

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!

Glory to the Father

and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be forever. Amen

“Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”

Stay with us, Lord Jesus,

for evening draws near,

and be our companion on our way

to set our hearts on fire with new hope.

Help us to recognize Your presence among us

in the Scriptures we read,

and in the Breaking of the Bread,

for You live and reign

with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen. Alleluia!

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

“Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task ...” (Acts 6:3.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“Now when Matthias was to be presented, it was said, “It must be someone who has been with us the whole time.”4 But not so here, since this was different. No longer did they put it to the lot, and although they could have made the choice themselves, moved as they were by the Spirit, they wanted the testimony of the people. Determining the number, ordaining the chosen and other such business rested with them, but the choice itself they entrusted to the people, so as not to give the appearance of showing favor. For even God entrusted it to Moses to choose as elders the men he knew.” (Homilies On the Acts of the Apostles, 14.)

Collect

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. Amen.

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

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