Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time



“Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year.” (Hebrews 10:1.)

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

The way which seems right to us for understanding the Scriptures and the investigation of their meaning, we consider to be the following: we are instructed by Scripture itself regarding the ideas that we ought to form of it. In the Proverbs of Solomon we find just such instruction for the examination of holy Scripture. “For your part,” he says, “describe these things to yourself in a threefold manner in counsel and knowledge, that you may answer words of truth to those who question you.” Each one, then, ought to describe in his own mind, in a threefold manner, the understanding of the divine letters, that is, so that the simple may be edified, so to speak, by the very body of Scripture; for that is what we call the common and historical meaning. But if some have begun to make considerable progress and are able to see something more than that, they may be edified by the very soul of Scripture. And those who are perfect and resemble those of whom the apostle says, “We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are doomed to pass away. But we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, which God has decreed before the ages for our glorification.” Such people may be edified by the spiritual law3 which has a shadow of the good things to come, edified as if by the Spirit. For just as man is said to consist of body, and soul and spirit, so also does sacred Scripture, which has been granted by God’s gracious dispensation for the salvation of man.” (On First Principles, 4.)


“Here is an impressive fact: the author is so bold as to start with a radical critique of "the Law." He could have been content with criticizing the former sacrifices, the immolation of animals, but no! He criticizes the Law that prescribes offering that kind of sacrifice. The author does admit a certain relationship between the Law and "the good things to come," the eschatological good things, but it is a very imperfect relationship: the Law has only a "sketch" of them (the first meaning of the Greek word skia, is "shadow"); it does not have "the very expression of the realities" (literally: their "image"; cf. Col 2: 17).” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 158-159.)




Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
direct our actions according to Your good pleasure,
that in the name of Your beloved Son
we may abound in good works.
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







How shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us?



Saint Basil the Great
Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Detailed Rules for Monks

Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

What words can adequately describe God’s gifts? They are so numerous that they defy enumeration. They are so great that any one of them demands our total gratitude in response. Yet even though we cannot speak of it worthily, there is one gift which no thoughtful man can pass over in silence. God fashioned man in his own image and likeness; he gave him knowledge of himself; he endowed him with the ability to think which raised him above all living creatures; he permitted him to delight in the unimaginable beauties of paradise, and gave him dominion over everything upon earth.

Then, when man was deceived by the serpent and fell into sin, which led to death and to all the sufferings associated with death, God still did not forsake him. He first gave man the law to help him; he set angels over him to guard him; he sent the prophets to denounce vice and to teach virtue; he restrained man’s evil impulses by warnings and roused his desire for virtue by promises. Frequently, by way of warning, God showed him the respective ends of virtue and of vice in the lives of other men. Moreover, when man continued in disobedience even after he had done all this, God did not desert him.

No, we were not abandoned by the goodness of the Lord. Even the insult we offered to our Benefactor by despising his gifts did not destroy his love for us. On the contrary, although we were dead, our Lord Jesus Christ restored us to life again, and in a way even more amazing than the fact itself, for his state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave.

He bore our infirmities and endured our sorrows. He was wounded for our sake so that by his wounds we might be healed. He redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for our sake, and he submitted to the most ignominious death in order to exalt us to the life of glory. Nor was he content merely to summon us back from death to life; he also bestowed on us the dignity of his own divine nature and prepared for us a place of eternal rest where there will be joy so intense as to surpass all human imagination.

How, then, shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us? He is so good that he asks no recompense except our love: that is the only payment he desires. To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome by a kind of dread and numbness at the very possibility of ceasing to love God and of bringing shame upon Christ because of my lack of recollection and my preoccupation with trivialities.



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 Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church



“For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf.” (Hebrews 9:24.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on these verses from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today on the Memorial of the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas of Aquinas:

If the ancient custom of sacrifices is clear to you, let us see what these things also contain according to the mystical understanding. You heard that there were two sanctuaries: one, as it were, visible and open to the priests; the other, as it were, invisible and inaccessible. With the exception of the high priest alone, the others were outside. I think this first sanctuary can be understood as this church in which we are now placed in the flesh, in which the priests minister “at the altar of the whole burnt offerings” with that fire kindled about which Jesus said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled.” And I do not want you to marvel that this sanctuary is open only to the priests. For all who have been anointed with the chrism of the sacred anointing have become priests, just as Peter says to all the church, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Therefore you are a priestly race, and because of this you approach the sanctuary... Therefore the priesthood is exercised in this way in the first sanctuary and the offerings are offered. And from this sanctuary the high priest, dressed in the sanctified garments, proceeds and enters into the interior of the veil just as we already pointed out above in citing the words of Paul, “Christ has entered not into a sanctuary made with hands but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” Therefore, the place of heaven and the throne itself of God are designated by the figure and the image of the interior sanctuary.” (Homilies on Leviticus, 9.)


“He points out immediately that that entry is not simply a personal glorification of Christ; it is destined to be a great benefit for us. This glorification, indeed, is not simply an individual one; it is priestly, because it is the result of a sacrifice that was an act of complete solidarity with sinful humans and in their favor. It is as high priest "established for men" ( 5: 1) that Christ is received into the glory of God. In the preceding section, the author declared already that Christ is "for ever living to intercede" for "those who approach God through him" (7:25). He says it again here in other words: Christ has entered "into heaven itself, to appear now in the presence of God in our favor" (9:24 )." (Hebrews 7:3).” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 156.)




Collect
O God,
Who made Saint Thomas Aquinas
outstanding in his zeal for holiness
and his study of sacred doctrine,
grant us, we pray,
that we may understand what he taught
and imitate what he accomplished.
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







Third Sunday in Ordinary Time



“He continued: “Go, eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks, and allot portions to those who had nothing prepared; for today is holy to our LORD. Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD is your strength!” (Nehemiah 8:10.)

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

“For it is a holy day of the Lord for us when we take pains to hear and carry out his words. On this day it is proper that, however much outwardly we have endured the obstacles of tribulations, we should be “rejoicing in hope,” in keeping with the apostle’s saying: “As if sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” On this day we are also commanded to eat fat food and drink sweet drink, that is, to rejoice over the abundance of good action bestowed on us by God and over the very sweetness of hearing God’s Word” (On Ezra and Nehemiah, 3.)




Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
direct our actions according to your good pleasure,
that in the name of your beloved Son
we may abound in good works.
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 Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops



“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of life in Christ Jesus...” (2 Timothy 1:1.)

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

“From the outset Paul lifts up Timothy’s mind: Do not tell me of dangers in this life. They make us ready for eternal life, where there are no dangers, grief or mourning. God has not made us apostles that we might meet dangers but to be prepared to suffer and die. But Paul did not recount to him his own troubles, as this would merely increase his grief. Rather Paul begins immediately with offering comfort, saying, “According to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ.” But if it is a “promise,” do not seek it here. For “hope that is seen is not hope.” (Homilies on 2 Timothy)




Collect
O God,
Who adorned Saints Timothy and Titus
with apostolic virtues, grant,
through the intercession of them both,
that, living justly and devoutly
in this present age,
we may merit to reach our heavenly homeland.
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

 




I have fought the good fight



Saint John Chrysostom
Bishop and Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Homily 2: In Praise of Saint Paul

Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops

Though housed in a narrow prison, Paul dwelt in heaven. He accepted beatings and wounds more readily than others reach out for rewards. Sufferings he loved as much as prizes; indeed he regarded them as his prizes, and therefore called them a grace or gift. Reflect on what this means. To depart and be with Christ was certainly a reward, while remaining in the flesh meant struggle. Yet such was his longing for Christ that he wanted to defer his reward and remain amid the fight; those were his priorities.

Now, to be separated from the company of Christ meant struggle and pain for Paul; in fact, it was a greater affliction than any struggle or pain would be. On the other hand, to be with Christ was a matchless reward. Yet, for the sake of Christ, Paul chose the separation.

But, you may say: “Because of Christ, Paul found all this pleasant.” I cannot deny that, for he derived intense pleasure from what saddens us. I need not think only of perils and hardships. It was true even of the intense sorrow that made him cry out: Who is weak that I do not share the weakness? Who is scandalized that I am not consumed with indignation?

I urge you not simply to admire but also to imitate this splendid example of virtue, for, if we do, we can share his crown as well.

Are you surprised at my saying that if you have Paul’s merits, you will share that same reward? Then listen to Paul himself: I have fought the good fight, I have run the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth a crown of justice awaits me, and the Lord, who is a just judge, will give it to me on that day—and not to me alone, but to those who desire his coming. You see how he calls all to share the same glory?

Now, since the same crown of glory is offered to all, let us eagerly strive to become worthy of these promised blessings.

In thinking of Paul we should not consider only his noble and lofty virtues or the strong and ready will that disposed him for such great graces. We should also realize that he shares our nature in every respect. If we do, then even what is very difficult will seem to us easy and light; we shall work hard during the short time we have on earth and someday we shall wear the incorruptible, immortal crown. This we shall do by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all glory and power belongs now and always through endless ages. 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 Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church



“It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself...” (Hebrews 7:26-27.)

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

“In the house of Levi, because “they became priests without an oath,” they did not last; he, on the contrary, lasts forever. In fact, it cannot happen that he speaks falsely about the oath, because he said, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’” of the priests according to the order of Melchizedek. And “Jesus Christ” was “a much better” mediator than the former priests in that thing, which he promised us through the New Testament.

While before it was necessary that the priests were many, because death interrupted the older ones in the course of their office and they did not last forever, now there is no other high priest with our Lord, “who lives forever to make intercession for us,” not in the victims of the sacrifices but in prayers. “And he is able for all time to save us,” not in the earthly delights, which nourish us for a few days, but “when we draw near to God through him” in eternity.

“It was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners ... who had no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself,” not for him but for the sins of humankind. “The law appointed” weak “men as high priests” who certainly needed to offer sacrifices for their sins. “The word of the oath,” however, “which” was provided in David “later than the law, appointed the Son” who remains “perfect forever.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews)



“Christ, for his part, has become a high priest “for ever”; his sacrifice of priestly consecration has introduced his human nature into the eternity of God, because that sacrifice was a victory over death, obtained through death itself (see 2:14). He therefore has a priesthood that does not pass from one high priest to another. He does not leave his work unfinished: “He is able to save completely those who through him approach God” because he is “still living.” His priestly activity does not consist in offering sacrifices endlessly but in “interceding” (7:25), thanks to the power that his unique sacrifice gave him.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 125.)




Collect
O God, Who for the salvation of souls
willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales
become all things to all,
graciously grant that, following his example,
we may always display
the gentleness of Your charity
in the service of our neighbor.
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








Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time



“This “Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,” “met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings” and “blessed him...”” (Hebrews 7:1.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Eusebius of Caesarea writes:

“An ancient priest of the Mosaic order could only be selected from the tribe of Levi. It was obligatory without exception that he should be of the family descending from Aaron and do service to God in outward worship with the sacrifices and blood of irrational animals. But he that is named Melchizedek, which in Greek is translated “king of righteousness,” who was king of Salem, which would mean “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without line of descent, not having, according to the account, “beginning of years or end of life,” had no characteristics shared by the Aaronic priesthood. For he was not chosen by humans, he was not anointed with prepared oil, he was not of the tribe of those who had not yet been born; and, strangest of all, he was not even circumcised in his flesh, and yet he blesses Abraham, as if he were far better than he. He did not act as priest to the Most High God with sacrifices and libations, nor did he minister at the temple in Jerusalem. How could he? It did not yet exist. And he was such, of course, because there was going to be no similarity between our Savior Christ and Aaron, for he was neither to be designated priest after a period when he was not priest, nor was he to become priest, but be it. For we should notice carefully in the words, “You are a priest forever,” he does not say, “You shall be what you were not before,” any more than, “You were that before which you are not now” — but by him who said, “I am who I am,”1 it is said, “You are, and remain, a priest forever.”

And the fulfillment of the oracle is truly won drous to one who recognizes how our Savior Jesus, the Christ of God, now performs through his ministers even today sacrifices after the manner of Melchizedek’s. For just as he, who was priest of the Gentiles, is not represented as offering outward sacrifices but as blessing Abraham only with wine and bread, so in exactly the same way our Lord and Savior himself first, and then all his priests among all nations, perform the spiritual sacrifice according to the customs of the church and with wine and bread darkly express the mysteries of his body and saving blood. This by the Holy Spirit Melchizedek foresaw and used the figures of what was to come, as the Scripture of Moses witnesses, when it says, “And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abraham.” And thus it followed that to him only was the addition of an oath, “The Lord God has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”

The psalm too, continuing, even shows in veiled phrase the passion of [Christ], saying, “He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.” And another psalm shows “the brook” to mean the time of temptations: “Our soul has passed through the brook; yes, our soul has passed through the deep waters.” He drinks, then, in the brook, that cup of which he darkly spoke at the time of his passion, when he said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” And also, “If this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

It was, then, by drinking this cup that he lifted up his head, as the apostle says, for when he was “obedient unto death, even death on a cross, therefore,” he says, “God has highly exalted him,” raising him from the dead and setting him at his right hand, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name which is named, not only in this world but in that which is to come. And he has put all things in subjection under his feet, according to the promise made to him, which he expresses through the psalmist, saying, “Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool. Rule in the midst of your foes.” It is plain to all that today the power of our Savior and the word of his teaching rule over all them that have believed in him, in the midst of his enemies and foes.” (Proof of the Gospels, 5.)


“The remarks that follow are surprising because they do not quote the text in Genesis; on the contrary, they are based on what that text does not say. It does not name the father of Melchizedek, nor his mother; it says nothing about his ancestry; it does not speak of his birth or of his death. It can therefore be said that, in this text, Melchizedek is "without father, without mother, without ancestry, having neither a beginning of days nor an end of life" (Hebrews 7:3).” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 117.)




Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
Who govern all things,
both in heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the pleading of Your people
and bestow Your peace on our 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.




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

 


Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children



“... so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.” (Hebrews 6:18.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:

“Through two unchangeable things” ... the former is that he swore by himself. The latter is that David said, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, that you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” It is by this means that we who have been made coheirs of his promise “might have strong encouragement.” We “have fled for refuge” in order to protect ourselves, not for God’s justice, in order that God may draw and drive us away from the evils of this world, and may open for us the way “into the inner shrine behind the curtain.” We do not go in first. We do not go into the shrine of the tabernacle, where Moses went, but into the inner shrine in heaven, “where Jesus has gone as a forerunner, having become a high priest forever,” not in order to offer the victims of sacrifices, like Aaron, but to offer the word for all nations, like Melchizedek.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews)



“The author then speaks of “two unchangeable acts in which it is impossible that God lied” (6:18). What are these “two acts”? The author has named only one of them, God's “oath,” but it may be understood that the other “unchangeable act” is the oracle itself. The “two irrevocable acts” are therefore the oracle in the psalm and the divine oath that backs it up.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 114.)




Collect
God our Creator, we give thanks to You,
Who alone have the power
to impart the breath of life as
You form each of us in our mother’s womb;
grant, we pray, that we,
whom You have made stewards of creation,
may remain faithful to this sacred trust and
constant in safeguarding
the dignity of every human 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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen








Who can express the binding power of divine love?



Saint Clement of Rome
Apostolic Father, Bishop of Rome and Martyr

An excerpt from his Letter to the Corinthians

Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

Let the man truly possessed by the love of Christ keep his commandments. Who can express the binding power of divine love? Who can find words for the splendor of its beauty? Beyond all description are the heights to which it lifts us. Love unites us to God; it cancels innumerable sins, has no limits to its endurance, bears everything patiently. Love is neither servile nor arrogant. It does not provoke schisms or form cliques, but always acts in harmony with others. By it all God’s chosen ones have been sanctified; without it, it is impossible to please him. Out of love the Lord took us to himself; because he loved us and it was God’s will, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his life’s blood for us—he gave his body for our body, his soul for our soul.

See then, beloved, what a great and wonderful thing love is, and how inexpressible its perfection. Who are worthy to possess it unless God makes them so? To him therefore we must turn, begging of his mercy that there may be found in us a love free from human partiality and beyond reproach. Every generation from Adam’s time to ours has passed away; but those who by God’s grace were made perfect in love have a dwelling now among the saints, and when at last the kingdom of Christ appears, they will be revealed. Take shelter in your rooms for a little while, says Scripture, until my wrath subsides. Then I will remember the good days, and will raise you from your graves.

Happy are we, beloved, if love enables us to live in harmony and in the observance of God’s commandments, for then it will also gain for us the remission of our sins. Scripture pronounces happy those whose transgressions are pardoned, whose sins are forgiven. Happy the man, it says, to whom the Lord imputes no fault, on whose lips there is no guile. This is the blessing given those whom God has chosen through Jesus Christ our Lord. To him be glory 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 Agnes, Virgin and Martyr



“Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” (Hebrews 5:1.)

Pseudo-Dionysius, the Areopagite comments on this verse from the Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

The rites of consecration and those being consecrated denote the mystery that the performer of consecration in love of God is the exponent of the choice of the divinity. It is not by virtue of any personal worth that the hierarch summons those about to be consecrated, but rather it is God who inspires him in every hierarchic sanctification. Thus Moses, the consecrator in the hierarchy of the law, did not confer a clerical consecration on Aaron, who was his brother, whom he knew to be a friend of God and worthy of the priesthood, until God himself commanded him to do so, thereby permitting him to bestow, in the name of God who is the source of all consecration, the fullness of a clerical consecration. And yet our own first and divine consecrator — for Jesus in his endless love for us took on this task — “did not exalt himself,” as Scripture declares. Rather, the consecrator was the one “who said to him ... ‘You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’” (Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, 5.)



“The author immediately gives one of the aspects of this mediation: the high priest must "offer sacrifices for sins." Sins, in fact, break off relations between humanity and God. The offering of sacrifice for sins is therefore a basic function of the exercise of a priestly mediation. Let us note that this offering has a double aspect: on the one hand, it is an act of worship made to God; on the other hand, it is at the same time an act of mercy on behalf of sinners. Therefore the aspect of the relation of Christ with humanity, which is the main aspect to be dealt with in this second section 4:15-5:10, cannot be dissociated from the aspect of its relation with God.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 100.)




Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
Who choose what is weak in the world
to confound the strong, mercifully grant,
that we, who celebrate the heavenly birthday
of Your martyr Saint Agnes,
may follow her constancy in the 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 the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen








Vindication - not about being correct but being right ... in right relationship



εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication (צֶדֶק, tsedeq) shines forth like the dawn
and her victory (יְשׁוּעָה, yshuwʿah) like a burning torch.
Nations shall behold your vindication (צֶדֶק, tsedeq),
and all the kings Your glory;
you shall be called by a new name
pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.
You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,
a royal diadem held by Your God.
No more shall people call you “Forsaken, “
or your land “Desolate,”
but you shall be called “My Delight,”
and your land “Espoused.”


θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

The Divine word voiced by an unstoppable Isaiah rumbles through the cosmos this Sunday with news that breaks the fabric of day-to-day tedium announcing an entirely new way of living. “Vindication” and “victory,” as sounded in the translation heard today, offers not only a “new name” but also a new way of covenanting with God as “My Delight,” “My Espoused.” Key to this new way of relating to and with the Lord lies in the Divinely initiated and sustained works of “vindication” and “victory.”


What exactly does Isaiah mean by “vindication?” In our present culture, we tend to view “vindication” as ‘being proved right,’ especially after some ordeal or confrontation. There may even be a hint of revenge or punishment added for good measure that attempts to justify oneself as the person-in-the-right after a contentious argument or hurtful ‘discussion.’ Biblically though, “vindication” translates the Hebrew word צֶדֶק, (tsedeq). Tsedeq is part of a family of Hebrew words formed from the Hebrew root word צָדַק (tsadaq). While conveying a legal aspect of ‘being in the clear,’ ‘being not-guilty,’ the root tsadaq fundamentally has to do with ‘right’ in the sense of ‘right-living,’ ‘right or proper order,’ ‘right, just, or proper relationship.’ In addition to “vindication,” tsadaq and its forms often appear in English biblical translation as “just,” “justice,” “right,” or “righteous.”

Tsadaq, especially when it is applied to people throughout the Scriptures, refers often to living in proper relationship: proper relationship with God, with others, with the true self and all of creation. Used extensively by the Fathers of the Church, tsadaq (the Fathers used the Greek of tsadaq: dikaios) expressed the original harmony that radiated from creation. Original Justice is ‘original tsadaq’ declaring, that since all reality flowed from the hand of the Creator, all reality originally was in right-relationship with the Creator; all creation was tsadaq with the Creator. Far from a contemporary usage and understanding of ‘justice,’ biblical justice is first and foremost about living life relationally as well as each relationship in its proper place, a relationship that ruptured into disorder with the advent of sin.

Yet as Genesis makes clear in that protoevangelical verse (3:15), help is on the way to heal the rupture and disorder humanity caused.

In the translation proclaimed this Sunday, that healing is “victory (יְשׁוּעָה, yshuwʿah).” Yshuwʿah, like so many Hebrew words, is grounded in a root word and in this case it is (יָשַׁע, yashaʿ). Yashaʿ is the Hebrew root from which many of the “salvation” words are derived in Sacred Scripture. While later usage of yashaʿ will include aspects of ‘healing’ and ‘restoration,’ the original usage of yashaʿ is ‘grounded’ in Ancient Near Eastern understanding of ‘land.’ In that world, land was never owned. Purchasing land and receiving legal title or deed to the land is a much later historical development. Initially, land was a gift, a gift that was ‘wide, broad and spacious (yashaʿ).’ How is it that this word yashaʿ, which is all about wide, broad and spacious land, come to mean “victory” or “salvation?” For the ancients, to live on a ‘wide, broad, and spacious land’ meant to have all the necessary resources to live. Land that was ‘wide, broad and spacious’ would have a better chance of access to water, sufficient room to farm and to herd as well as the ability to protect oneself and family. When all of these resources were present, one lived yashaʿ, one lived “victory,” one lived the life of salvation.

Once again, the central event of Christianity and the core message of mercy rings through these Biblical texts. Yashaʿ, while the root of the words that provide Biblical “victory” and “salvation,” yashaʿ is the Hebrew root for the Divine Name, Jesus! No longer “victory” and “salvation” grounded in land that is wide, broad and spacious, salvation is the right-relationship (tsadaq) with the Divine Person Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God Who walked the land of earth. Being in relationship with Jesus Who blesses one with the Gift of being “My Delight ... My Espoused” is both an event of victory and healing, a living of salvation. Far from a perceived notion of mindless, heartless, obligatory living of a moral code divorced from a Person and laced with images of ‘doing good to earn heaven,’ Christian salvation is about the Person Jesus Who desires to encounter, to befriend and to love us. The ‘moral code,’ those ways of thinking, speaking and acting are rooted in a response to Him as a Person within a relationship of love. One avoids sin and seeks His Face and His Kingdom way of living not because of a whimsical edict, but because of a graced-movement of the heart and intellect that desires the Truth of Divine Love. One lives this “Way” because of love, Divine Love revealed and embodied in a Person, Jesus.






Second Sunday in Ordinary Time



“You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” (Isaiah 62:3.)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“You will be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” Now this compares both each holy soul and the collective church, that is, the company of the saints, to a garland tied together from many flowers or to a royal diadem, shining with Indian jewels and with a variety of beautiful forms. For many are the noble characteristics of the saints, and there is not one type of distinction but many and various and Christ himself said about his own sheep or the flock of those believing in him, “No one shall snatch them from the hand of the Father.”

“As a young man marries a virgin.” This is said to the church about the time in the beginning when it was constituted from the Jewish tribes. For the godly disciples were Jewish according to their human origin, but they stood out from the others and took the lead since they had apostolic status. Yet they retained a great love and respect for their religion, so that there seemed to be great affection toward it as a man ought to feel toward a young virgin bride when he lies with her.

“The Lord will rejoice over you.”For the only-begotten Word of God came down from heaven to make the church fertile, which he presented to himself as a pure virgin, without spot or stain, wholly blameless. She received from him the seeds of the evangelical citizenship, became pregnant and gave birth, not with blood but rather as one shaped to the beauty of the truth.” (Commentary on Isaiah)

A study of Isaiah’s meaning of vindication and victory for this Sunday.


Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
Who govern all things,
both in heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the pleading of Your people
and bestow Your peace on our 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.


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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Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time



“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15.)

Pope Saint Leo the Great comments on this verse from the Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“By the saving cooperation of the indivisible divinity, whatever the Father, whatever the Son, whatever the Holy Spirit accomplishes in a particular way is the plan of our redemption. It is the order of our salvation. For if human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, had remained in the honor of their own nature and, undeceived by the devil’s lies, had not deviated from the law placed over them for their lusts, the Creator of the world would not have become a creature. The eternal would not have undergone temporality, and God the Son, equal to God the Father, would not have assumed the “form of a servant” and the “likeness of sinful flesh.” Since, however, “through the devil’s envy death entered the world” and because captive humanity could only be freed in one way, namely, if that one would undertake our cause who, without the loss of his majesty, would become true man, and who alone had no contagion of sin, the mercy of the Trinity divided for itself the work of our restoration so that the Father was appeased, the Son was the appeaser, and the Holy Spirit enkindled the process. It was right that those to be saved should do something for themselves, and, when their hearts were turned to the Redeemer, that they should cut themselves off from the domination of the enemy. In regard to this, the apostle says, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”” (Sermon 77)




“It should also be noted that the attitude of compassion toward other sinners did not form part of the outlook of the priesthood of the Old Testament. Between Christ the mediator and the former priesthood, a double contrast is therefore, paradoxically, noticeable: the former priests are sinful men, but they are not taught compassion for sinners, whereas Christ, who is sinless, is full of mercy for his blameworthy brothers and sisters (cf. Rom. 5:8).” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 97.)



Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
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 First Week in Ordinary Time



“Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed...” (Hebrews 4:1.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:

“In fact, if Joshua, the son of Nun, who allowed them to inherit the land, had settled them and given them rest, they still would not speak at all about the “other day of rest.” Indeed, Joshua made them rest, because he gave them the land as an inheritance, but they did not rest in it perfectly, as God perfectly rested from God’s works, for they lived in toils and wars. If that rest was not a true rest, since Joshua himself, the giver of their rest, was urged by the wars, if this is their condition, I say, there still remains the sabbath of God, who gives rest to those who enter there, as God rested from God’s works, that is, from all the works which God made.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 4.)



God's rest cannot simply mean the land of Canaan. God's rest is not a place but a state of which the account of creation speaks. The promise to enter into God's rest is a promise to have a share with God in that blessed state, that peace, that joy. Thanks to their faith, believer have a foretaste of it.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 92-93.)



Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
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








The Word creates a divine harmony in creation



Saint Athansius of Alexandria
Bishop and Great Eastern Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Against the Pagans

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. In these words John the theologian teaches that nothing exists or remains in being except in and through the Word.

Think of a musician tuning his lyre. By his skill he adjusts high notes to low and intermediate notes to the rest, and produces a series of harmonies. So too the wisdom of God holds the world like a lyre and joins things in the air to those on earth, and things in heaven to those in the air, and brings each part into harmony with the whole. By his decree and will he regulates them all to produce the beauty and harmony of a single, well-ordered universe. While remaining unchanged with his Father, he moves all creation by his unchanging nature, according to the Father’s will. To everything he gives existence and life in accordance with its nature, and so creates a wonderful and truly divine harmony.

To illustrate this profound mystery, let us take the example of a choir of many singers. A choir is composed of a variety of men, women and children, of both old and young. Under the direction of one conductor, each sings in the way that is natural for him: men with men’s voices, boys with boys’ voices, old people with old voices, young people with young voices. Yet all of them produce a single harmony. Or consider the example of our soul. It moves our senses according to their several functions so that in the presence of a single object they all act simultaneously: the eye sees, the ear hears, the hand touches, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and often the other parts of the body act as well as, for example, the feet may walk.

Although this is only a poor comparison, it gives some idea of how the whole universe is governed. The Word of God has but to give a gesture of command and everything falls into place; each creature performs its own proper function, and all together constitute one single harmonious order.

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, Abbot



“Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13.)

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Give us this day our superessential bread.” Ordinary bread is not “superessential,” but this holy bread is superessential in the sense of being ordained for the essence of the soul. Not of this bread is it said that it “passes into the stomach and is discharged into the drain.” No, it is absorbed into your whole system to the benefit of both soul and body. By “this day” he means “daily,” as in Paul’s “while it is called ‘today.’” (Mystagogical Lectures, 5.)




“In the Old Testament, house of God and rest of God are parallel notions. God rests in his house (cf. Ps. 132:8, 14. 2Chr 6:41). Christians have the "heavenly vocation" (Heb. 3:1) to enter with Christ into the "rest of God." They are already part of the house of Christ and of God (3:6); by faith they are already entering into God's rest (4:3), but they are called upon to enter in a definitive and perfect way.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 88.)




Collect
O God,
Who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony
to serve You
by a wondrous way of life in the desert,
grant, through his intercession,
that, denying ourselves,
we may always love You above all things.
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

 


br />

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time



“Now since the children share in blood and flesh, he likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil...” (Hebrews 2:14.)

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Jesus sanctified baptism when he himself was baptized. If the Son of God was baptized, can anyone who scorns baptism pretend to piety? Not that he was baptized to receive the remission of sins—for he was without sin—but, being sinless, he was nevertheless baptized that he might impart grace and dignity to those who receive the sacrament. For, “since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature,” that we, sharing his incarnate life, might also share his divine grace. Thus Jesus was baptized that we, in turn, so made partakers with him, might receive not only salvation but also the dignity. The dragon, according to Job, was in the water, he who received the Jordan in his maw. When, therefore, it was necessary to crush the heads of the dragon, descending into the water, he bound the strong one, that we might receive the “power to tread upon serpents and scorpions.” It was no ordinary beast, but a horrible monster. No fishing ship could last under a single scale of his tail; before him stalked destruction, ravaging all in her path. But life came running up, that that maw of death might be stopped and all we who were saved might say, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” Baptism draws death’s sting.” (Catechetical Lectures, 3.)




“But, paradoxically, death, the instrument of the power of the devil, has been transformed by Christ into an instrument of victory over the devil. The purpose of the Incarnation is the latter: the transformation of death into an instrument of victory, that - it must be said - to the force of love. Christ's victory over "the one who held the power of death" ensures the liberation of believers (2:15). Instead of being held in slavery by the feat of death, which is seen as an inevitable negative outcome, believers know they are associated with Christ's victory.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 79.)




Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
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

 


br />

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time



“For it was not to angels that he subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. Instead, someone has testified somewhere...” (Hebrews 2:5-6.)

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (part 2 of the background of Saint Gregory of Nyssa is found here) offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Mass Psalm:

“When, according to the prophetic word, people were alienated from the life-giving womb through sin and went astray from the womb in which they were fashioned, they spoke falsehood instead of truth. Because of this, the Mediator, assuming the first fruit of our common nature, made it holy through his soul and body, unmixed and unreceptive of all evil, preserving it in himself. He did this in order that, having taken it up to the Father of incorruptibility through his own incorruptibility, the entire group might be drawn along with it because of their related nature, in order that the Father might admit the disinherited to “adoption” as children and the enemies of God to a share in the Godhead. And just as the first fruit of the dough was assimilated through purity and innocence to the true Father and God, so we also as dough in similar ways will cleave to the Father of incorruptibility by imitating, as far as we can, the innocence and stability of the Mediator.

Thus, we shall be a crown of precious stones for the only begotten God, having become an honor and a glory through our life. For Paul says, “Having made himself a little lower than the angels because of his having suffered death, he made those whose nature had previously become thorny through sin into a crown for himself, transforming the thorn through suffering into honor and glory.” And yet, once he has “taken away the sins of the world” and taken upon his head a crown of thorns in order to weave a crown of “honor and glory,” there is no small danger that someone may be discovered to be a burr and a thorn because of his evil life, and then be placed in the middle of the Master’s crown because of sharing in his body. The just voice speaks directly to this one: “How did you get in here without a wedding garment? How were you, a thorn, woven in with those fitted into my crown through honor and glory?” (On Perfection)



If Jesus was “crowned with glory and honor” and became, in his very humanity, “superior to the angels” (1:4), it is “because of the death He suffered” (2:9). At first sight it may seem strange that a death, something negative, should be a cause of glorification. In reality, what produced the glorification of Jesus is not his death itself but the way he faced his death. He made it the occasion of a perfect offering, of filial obedience to God and fraternal solidarity with humankind.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 74.)


Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
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 First Week in Ordinary Time



“... who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word. When he had accomplished purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high...” (Hebrews 1:3.)

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (part 2 of the background of Saint Gregory of Nyssa is found here) offers the following insight on this verse from today’s proclamation from Hebrews:

“The majesty of the Father is expressly imaged in the greatness of the power of the Son, that the one may be believed to be as great as the other is known to be. Again, as the radiance of light sheds its brilliance from the whole of the sun’s disk . . . so too all the glory which the Father has is shed from its whole by means of the brightness that comes from it, that is, by the true Light. Even as the ray is of the sun—for there would be no ray if the sun were not—the sun is never conceived as existing by itself without the ray of brightness that is shed from it. So the apostle delivered to us the continuity and eternity of that existence which the Only Begotten has of the Father, calling the Son “the brightness of God’s glory.” (Against Eunomius, 8.)



“Continuing the upward movement he began by passing from the final inheritance to to the initial creation, the author rises still higher and contemplates the very being of the Son, which is defined by His relation to God: the Son is the «resplendence of the glory» of God «and perfect expression of His being. For the first expression, the author clearly inspired by the description of Wisdom in the Book of Wisdom, the only other passage in the Bible that uses the word resplendence.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, page 55.)



Collect
Attend to the pleas of Your people
with heavenly care, O Lord,
we pray, that they may see
what must be done and
gain strength to do
what they have seen.
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

 


The Baptism of the Lord



“After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22.)

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

The Lord was baptized. The heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him. A voice from the heavens thundered and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased.” We should say that heaven was opened at the baptism of Jesus and for the plan of forgiving sins. These are not the sins of him “who had committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.” The heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit came down for the forgiveness of the whole world’s sins. After the Lord “ascended on high, leading captivity captive,” he gave them the Spirit. The Spirit had come to him, and he gave the Spirit at the time of his resurrection, when he said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they will be forgiven him. If you retain them for anyone, they will be retained.” But “the Holy Spirit came down upon the Savior in the form of a dove.” The dove is a gentle bird, innocent and simple. Hence we too are commanded to imitate the innocence of doves. Such is the Holy Spirit: pure, swift, and rising up to the heights.” (Homilies on the Gospel of Luke, 27.)




Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
Who, when Christ had been baptized
in the River Jordan and
as the Holy Spirit descended upon Him,
solemnly declared Him Your beloved Son,
grant that Your children by adoption,
reborn of water and the Holy Spirit,
may always be well pleasing to 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.




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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I have labored with all my powers to fulfill the duties of my office



Saint John Neumann
Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia (USA)

An excerpt from his A Letter to Cardinal Barnabo

Feast of Saint John Neumann, Bishop (Philadelphia USA)

Indeed, I have apparently delayed too long in writing to the Holy See the letter promised by the Archbishop of Baltimore in the name of the council. However, this delay was not without reason. For the council was scarcely finished and I was discussing the division of Diocese of Philadelphia and my translation to a new see with one of the Fathers of the council, when the Father intimated to me [that he did not know] whether that could more probably be hoped for, since the Holy See thought that I would resign from the episcopate, or wished to resign. In the same way when the Archbishop of Baltimore informed me of the designation of a coadjutor, he added that in the event that I should persevere in the desire to resign, the Holy See would permit me to give the title of the ecclesiastical property to the same coadjutor.

I was no little disturbed by the fear that I had done something that so displeased the Holy Father that my resignation would appear desirable to him. If this be the case, I am prepared without any hesitation to leave the episcopacy. I have taken this burden out of obedience, and I have labored with all my powers to fulfill the duties of my office, and with God’s help, as I hope, not without fruit. When the care of temporal things weighed upon my mind and it seemed to me that my character was little suited for the very cultured world of Philadelphia, I made known to my fellow bishops during the Baltimore council of 1858 that it seemed opportune to me to request my translation to one or the other see that was to be erected (namely in the City of Pottsville or in Wilmington, North Carolina). But to give up the episcopal career never entered my mind, although I was conscious of my unworthiness and ineptitude; for things had not come to such a pass that I had one or the other reason out of the six for which a bishop could safely ask the Holy Father permission to resign. For a long time I have doubted what should be done.

Although my coadjutor has proposed to me that he would take the new see if it is erected, I have thought it much more opportune and I have asked the Fathers that he be appointed to the See of Philadelphia, since he is much more highly endowed with facility and alacrity concerning the administration of temporal things. Indeed, I am much more accustomed to the country, and will be able to care for the people and faithful living in the mountains, in the coal mines and on the farms, since I would be among them.

If, however, it should be displeasing to His Holiness to divide the diocese, I am, indeed, prepared either to remain in the same condition in which I am at present, or if God so inspires His Holiness to give the whole administration of the diocese to the Most Reverend James Wood, I am equally prepared to resign from the episcopate and to go where I may more securely prepare myself for death and for the account which must be rendered to the Divine Justice.

I desire nothing but to fulfill the wish of the Holy Father whatever it may be.




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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