Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

Introduction

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen. Alleluia.

Hymn

O Three in One, and One in Three,

Who rulest all things mightily,

Bow down to hear the songs of praise

Which, freed from bonds of sleep, we raise.

While lingers yet the peace of night,

We rouse us from our slumbers light;

That might of instant prayer may win

The healing balm for wounds of sin.

If, by the wiles of Satan caught,

This night-time we have sinned in aught,

That sin thy glorious power today,

From heaven descending, cleanse away.

Let naught impure our bodies stain,

No laggard sloth our souls detain,

No taint of sin our spirits know,

To chill the fervour of their glow.

Wherefore, Redeemer, grant that we

Fulfilled with thine own light may be:

That, in our course, from day to day,

By no misdeed we fall away.

Grant this, O Father ever One

With Christ, thy sole-begotten Son,

And Holy Ghost, whom all adore,

Reigning and blest for evermore.

Psalm 34 (35) The Lord, a saviour in time of persecution

O Lord, arise to help me.

Judge, Lord, those who are judging me:

attack those who are attacking me.

Take up your shield and come out to defend me.

Brandish your spear and hold back my pursuers.

Say to my soul, “I am your deliverance.”

Let them be thrown into confusion,

those who are after my life.

Let them be weakened and put to flight,

those who plan harm to me.

Let them be like chaff blowing in the wind,

when the angel of the Lord scatters them.

Let their paths be dark and slippery,

when the angel of the Lord harries them.

For it was without cause that they spread out their nets to ensnare me,

without cause that they dug a pit to take my life.

Let death come upon them suddenly,

may they be entangled in their own nets.

But my soul will exult in the Lord

and rejoice in his aid.

My bones themselves will say

“Lord, who is your equal?”

You snatch the poor man

from the hand of the strong,

the needy and weak

from those who would destroy them.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

O Lord, arise to help me.

Psalm 34 (35)

Lord, plead my cause; defend me with your strength.

Lying witnesses rose up against me;

they asked me questions I could not answer.

They paid me back evil for the good I did,

my soul is desolation.

Yet I – when they were ill, I put on sackcloth,

I mortified my soul with fasting,

I prayed for them from the depths of my heart.

I walked in sadness as for a close friend, for a brother;

I was bowed down with grief as if mourning my own mother.

But they – when I was unsteady, they rejoiced and gathered together.

They gathered and beat me: I did not know why.

They were tearing me to pieces, there was no end to it:

they teased me, heaped derision on me, they ground their teeth at me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord, plead my cause; defend me with your strength.

Psalm 34 (35)

My tongue shall speak of your justice, all day long.

Lord, how long will you wait?

Rescue my life from their attacks,

my only life from the lions.

I will proclaim you in the great assembly,

in the throng of people I will praise you.

Let not my lying enemies triumph over me,

those who hate me for no reason,

who conspire against me by secret signs,

who do not speak of peace,

who plan crimes against the innocent,

who cry out slanders against me,

saying “Yes! Yes! We saw it ourselves!”

You see them, Lord, do not stay silent:

Lord, do not leave me.

Rise up and keep watch at my trial:

my God and my Lord, watch over my case.

Judge me according to your justice,

Lord: my God, let them not rejoice over me!

Let them not think to themselves,

“Yes! We have what we wanted!”

Let them not say,

“We have swallowed him up.”

But let those who support my cause rejoice,

let them say always “How great is the Lord,

who takes care of his servant’s welfare.”

And my tongue too will ponder your justice,

and praise you all day long.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

My tongue shall speak of your justice, all day long.

My son, keep my words in your heart.

– Follow my commandments and you will live.

Reading	Ecclesiasticus 43:14-37 ©

Praise of God in his creation

By his command the Lord sends the snow,

he speeds the lightning as he orders.

In the same way, his treasuries open

and the clouds fly out like birds.

In his great might he banks up the clouds,

and shivers them into fragments of hail.

At sight of him the mountains rock,

at the roar of his thunder the earth writhes in labour.

At his will the south wind blows,

or the storm from the north and the whirlwind.

He sprinkles snow like birds alighting,

it comes down like locusts settling.

The eye marvels at the beauty of its whiteness,

and the mind is amazed at its falling.

The cold wind blows from the north,

and ice forms on the water,

settling on every watery expanse,

and water puts it on like a breastplate.

He swallows up the mountains and scorches the desert,

like a fire he consumes the vegetation.

But the mist heals everything in good time,

after the heat falls the reviving dew.

By his own resourcefulness he has tamed the abyss,

and planted it with islands.

Those who sail the sea tell of its dangers,

their accounts fill our ears with amazement:

for there too there are strange and wonderful works,

animals of every kind and huge sea creatures.

Thanks to him all ends well,

and all things hold together by means of his word.

We could say much more and still fall short;

to put it concisely, ‘He is all.’

Where shall we find sufficient power to glorify him,

since he is the Great One, above all his works,

the awe-inspiring Lord, stupendously great,

and wonderful in his power?

Exalt the Lord in your praises

as high as you may – still he surpasses you.

Exert all your strength when you exalt him,

do not grow tired – you will never come to the end.

Who has ever seen him to give a description?

Who can glorify him as he deserves?

Many mysteries remain even greater than these,

for we have seen only a few of his works,

the Lord himself having made all things –

and having given wisdom to devout men.

Responsory

Praise the God of heaven for all men to hear, and thank him for the mercy he has shown you.

Worship him, sing his praise, tell of all his marvellous works, and thank him for the mercy he has shown you.

Reading	From a Discourse Against the Pagans by Saint Athanasius, bishop

The Word creates a divine harmony in creation

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.

Responsory

Praise the God of heaven for all men to hear, and thank him for the mercy he has shown you.

Worship him, sing his praise, tell of all his marvellous works, and thank him for the mercy he has shown you.

Let us pray.

In your love, Lord,

answer our humble prayer:

give us the grace to see what we have to do

and the strength to do it.

[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 2
1.	AND again he entered into Capharnaum after some days.	Et iterum intravit Capharnaum post dies,	και εισηλθεν παλιν εις καπερναουμ δι ημερων και ηκουσθη οτι εις οικον εστιν
2.	And it was heard that he was in the house, and many came together, so that there was no room; no, not even at the door; and he spoke to them the word.	et auditum est quod in domo esset, et convenerunt multi, ita ut non caperet neque ad januam, et loquebatur eis verbum.	και ευθεως συνηχθησαν πολλοι ωστε μηκετι χωρειν μηδε τα προς την θυραν και ελαλει αυτοις τον λογον
3.	And they came to him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four.	Et venerunt ad eum ferentes paralyticum, qui a quatuor portabatur.	και ερχονται προς αυτον παραλυτικον φεροντες αιρομενον υπο τεσσαρων
4.	And when they could not offer him unto him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was; and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay.	Et cum non possent offerre eum illi præ turba, nudaverunt tectum ubi erat : et patefacientes submiserunt grabatum in quo paralyticus jacebat.	και μη δυναμενοι προσεγγισαι αυτω δια τον οχλον απεστεγασαν την στεγην οπου ην και εξορυξαντες χαλωσιν τον κραββατον εφ ω ο παραλυτικος κατεκειτο
5.	And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.	Cum autem vidisset Jesus fidem illorum, ait paralytico : Fili, dimittuntur tibi peccata tua.	ιδων δε ο ιησους την πιστιν αυτων λεγει τω παραλυτικω τεκνον αφεωνται σοι αι αμαρτιαι σου
6.	And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts:	Erant autem illic quidam de scribis sedentes, et cogitantes in cordibus suis :	ησαν δε τινες των γραμματεων εκει καθημενοι και διαλογιζομενοι εν ταις καρδιαις αυτων
7.	Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only?	Quid hic sic loquitur ? blasphemat. Quis potest dimittere peccata, nisi solus Deus ?	τι ουτος ουτως λαλει βλασφημιας τις δυναται αφιεναι αμαρτιας ει μη εις ο θεος
8.	Which Jesus presently knowing in his spirit, that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: Why think you these things in your hearts?	Quo statim cognito Jesus spiritu suo, quia sic cogitarent intra se, dicit illis : Quid ista cogitatis in cordibus vestris ?	και ευθεως επιγνους ο ιησους τω πνευματι αυτου οτι ουτως αυτοι διαλογιζονται εν εαυτοις ειπεν αυτοις τι ταυτα διαλογιζεσθε εν ταις καρδιαις υμων
9.	Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk?	Quid est facilius dicere paralytico : Dimittuntur tibi peccata tua : an dicere : Surge, tolle grabatum tuum, et ambula ?	τι εστιν ευκοπωτερον ειπειν τω παραλυτικω αφεωνται σου αι αμαρτιαι η ειπειν εγειραι και αρον σου τον κραββατον και περιπατει
10.	But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)	Ut autem sciatis quia Filius hominis habet potestatem in terra dimittendi peccata (ait paralytico),	ινα δε ειδητε οτι εξουσιαν εχει ο υιος του ανθρωπου αφιεναι επι της γης αμαρτιας λεγει τω παραλυτικω
11.	I say to thee: Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.	tibi dico : Surge, tolle grabatum tuum, et vade in domum tuam.	σοι λεγω εγειραι και αρον τον κραββατον σου και υπαγε εις τον οικον σου
12.	And immediately he arose; and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all; so that all wondered and glorified God, saying: We never saw the like.	Et statim surrexit ille : et, sublato grabato, abiit coram omnibus, ita ut mirarentur omnes, et honorificent Deum, dicentes : Quia numquam sic vidimus.	και ηγερθη ευθεως και αρας τον κραββατον εξηλθεν εναντιον παντων ωστε εξιστασθαι παντας και δοξαζειν τον θεον λεγοντας οτι ουδεποτε ουτως ειδομεν

1. And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
2. And straightway many were gathered together, inasmuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word to them.
3. And they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
4. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, your sins be forgiven you.
6. But there were certain of the Scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
7. Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
8. And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason you these things in your hearts?
9. Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Your sins be forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?
10. But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, (he says to the sick of the palsy,)
11. I say to you, Arise, and take up your bed, and go your way into your house.
12. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; inasmuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

BEDE; Because the compassion of God deserts not even carnal persons, He accords to them the grace of His presence, by which even they may be made spiritual. After the desert, the Lord returns into the city; wherefore it is said, And again he entered into Capernaum, &c.

AUG. But in Matthew writes this miracle as if it were done in the city of the Lord, whilst Mark places it in Capernaum, which would he more difficult of solution, if Matthew had also named Nazareth. But seeing that Galilee itself might be called the city of the Lord, who can doubt but that the Lord did these things in His own city, since He did them in Capernaum, a city of Galilee; particularly as Capernaum was of such importance in Galilee as to be called its metropolis? Or else, Matthew passed by the things which were done after He came into His own city, until He came to Capernaum, and so adds on the story of the paralytic healed, subjoining, And, behold, they presented to him a man sick of the palsy, after he had said that He came into His own city.

PSEUD-CHRYS. Or else, Matthew called Capernaum His city because He went there frequently, and there did many miracles. It goes on: And it was noised that he was in the house, &c. For the desire of hearing Him was stronger than the toil of approaching Him.

After this, they introduce the paralytic, of whom Matthew and Luke speak; wherefore there follows: And they came unto him bearing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four.

Finding the door blocked up by the crowd, they could not by any means enter that way. Those who carried him, however, hoping that he could merit the grace of being healed, raising the bed with their burden, and uncovering the roof, lay him with his bed before the face of the Savior. And thus is that which is added: And when they could not lay him before him, &c.

There follows: But when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the sick of the palsy, Son, your sins be forgiven you. He did not mean the faith of the sick man, but of his bearers; for it sometimes happens, that a man is healed by the faith of another.

BEDE; It may indeed be seen, how much each person's own faith weighs with God, when that of another had such influence that the whole man at once rose up, healed body and soul, and by one man's merit, another should have his sins forgiven him.

THEOPHYL. He saw the faith of the sick man himself, since he would not have allowed himself to be carried, unless he lad had faith to be healed.

BEDE; Moreover, the Lord being about to cure the man of the palsy, first loosed the chains of his sins, in order to show that he was condemned to the loosening of his joints, because of the bonds of his sins, and could not be healed to the recovery of his limbs, unless these were first loosened. But Christ's wonderful humility calls this man, despised, weak, with all the joints of his limbs unstrung, a son, when the priests did not deign to touch him. Or at least, He therefore calls him a son, because his sins are forgiven him. It goes on: But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man speak blasphemies?

CYRIL; Now they accuse Him of blasphemy, anticipating the sentence of His death: for there was a command in the Law, that whosoever blasphemed should be put to death. And this charge they laid upon Him, because He claimed for Himself the divine power of remitting sins: wherefore it is added, Who can forgive sin, save God only? For the Judge of all alone has power to forgive sin.

BEDE; Who remits sin by those also to whom he has assigned the power of remitting, and therefore Christ is proved to be very God, for He is able to remit sins as God. The Jews then are in error, who although they hold the Christ both to be God, and to be able to remit sins, do not however believe that Jesus is the Christ. But the Arians err much more madly, who although overwhelmed with the words of the Evangelist, so that they cannot deny that Jesus is the Christ, and can remit sin, nevertheless fear not to deny that He is God.

But He Himself, desiring to shame the traitors both by His knowledge of things hidden and by the virtue of His works, manifests Himself to be God. For there follows: And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned, he said to them, Why reason you these things in your hearts? In which He shows Himself to be God, since He can know the hidden things of the heart; and in a manner though silent He speaks thus, With the same power and majesty, by which I look upon your thoughts, I can forgive the sins of men.

THEOPHYL. But though their thoughts were laid bare, still they remain insensible, refusing to believe that He who knew their hearts could forgive sins, wherefore the Lord proves to them the cure of the soul by that of the hotly, showing time invisible by the visible, that which is more difficult by that which is easier, although they did not look upon it as such. For the Pharisees thought it more difficult to heal the body, as being more open to view; but the soul more easy to cure, because the cure is invisible; so that they reasoned thus, Lo, He does not now cure the body, but heals the unseen soul; if He had had more power, lie would at once have cured the body, and not have fled for refuge to the unseen world. The Savior, therefore, showing that He can do both, says, which is the easier? as if He said, I indeed by the healing of time body, which is in reality more easy, but appears to you more difficult, will prove to you the health of the soul, which is really more difficult.

PSEUD-CHRYS. And because it is easier to say than to do, there was still manifestly something to say in opposition, for the work was not yet manifested; wherefore He subjoins, But that you may know, &c. as if He said, Since you doubt my word, I will bring on a work which will confirm what was unseen. But He says in a marked manner, On earth to forgive sins, that He might show that He has joined the power of the divinity to the human nature by an inseparable union, because although He was made man, yet He remained the Worth of God; and although by an economy He conversed on the earth with men, nevertheless He was not prevented from working miracles and from giving remission of sins. For his human nature did not in any thing take away from these things which essentially belonged to His Divinity, nor the Divinity hinder the Word of God from becoming on earth, according to the flesh, time Son of Man without change and in truth.

THEOPHYL. Again, He Says, Take up your bed, to prove the greater certainty of the miracle, showing that it is not a mere illusion; and at time same time to show that He not only healed, but gave strength; thus He not only turns away souls from sin, but gives them the power of working out the commandments.

BEDE; A carnal sign therefore is given, that the spiritual sign may be proved, although it belongs to the same power to do away with the distempers of both soul and body, whence it follows: And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all.

CHRYS. Further, He first healed by the remission of sins that which He had come to seek, that is, a soul, so that when they faithlessly doubted, then He might bring forward a work before them, and in this way His word might be confirmed by the work, and a hidden sign be proved by an open one, that is, the health of the soul by the healing of the body.

BEDE; We are also informed, that many sicknesses of body arise from sins, and therefore perhaps sins are first remitted, that the causes of sickness being taken away, health may be restored. For men are afflicted by fleshly troubles for five causes, in order to increase their merits, as Job and the Martyrs; or to preserve their lowliness, as Paul by the messenger of Satan; or that they may perceive amid correct their sins, as Miriam, the sister of Moses, and this paralytic; or for the glory of God, as the man born blind and Lazarus; or as the beginnings of the pains of damnation, as Herod and Antiochus. But wonderful is the virtue of the divine power, where without the least interval of time, by time command of the Savior, a speedy health accompanies His words. Wherefore there follows: Insomuch that they were all amazed. Leaving the greater thing, that is, the remission of sins, they only wonder at that which is apparent, that is, the health of the body.

THEOPHYL. This is not however the paralytic, whose cure is related by John, for he had no man with him , this one had four; he is cured in the pool of the sheep market, but this one in a house. It is the same man, however, whose cure is related by Matthew and Mark. But mystically, Christ is still in Capernaum, in the house of consolation.

BEDE; Moreover, whilst the Lord is preaching in the house, there is not room for them , not even at the door, because whilst Christ is preaching in Judea, the Gentiles are not yet able to enter to hear Hum, to whom, however, though placed without, he directed the words of His doctrine by His preachers.

PSEUDO-JEROME; Again, the palsy is a type of the torpor, in which man lies slothful in the softness of the flesh, though desiring health.

THEOPHYL. If therefore I, having the powers of my mind unstrung, remain, whenever I attempt any thing good without strength, as a palsied man, and if I be raised on high by the four Evangelists, and be brought to Christ, and there hear myself called son, then also are my sins quitted by me; for a man is called the son of God because he works the commandments.

BEDE; Or else, because there are four virtues, by which a man is through an assured heart exalted so that he merits safety; which virtues some call prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. Again, they desire to bring the palsied man to Christ, but they are impeded on every side by the crowd which is between them, because often the soul desires to be renewed by the medicine of Divine grace, but through the sluggishness of the groveling body is held back by the hindrance of old custom. Oftentimes amidst the very sweetnesses of secret prayer, and, as it may be called, the pleasant converse with God, a crowd of thoughts, cutting off the clear vision of the mind, shuts out Christ from its sight. Let us not then remain in the lowest ground, where the crowds are bustling, but aim at the roof of the house, that is, the sublimity of the Holy Scripture, and meditate on the law of the Lord.

THEOPHYL. But how should I be borne to Christ, if the roof be not opened. For the roof is the intellect, which is set above all those things which are within us; here it has much earth about it in the tiles which are made of clay, I mean, earthly things: but if these be taken away, the virtue of the intellect within us is freed from its load. After this let it be let down, that is, humbled. For it does not teach us to be puffed up, because our intellect has its load cleared away, but to be humbled still more.

BEDE; Or else, the sick man is let down after the roof is opened, because, when the Scriptures are laid open to us, we arrive at the knowledge of Christ, that is, we descend to His lowliness, by the dutifulness of faith. But by the sick man being let down with his bed, it is meant that Christ should be known by man, whilst yet in the flesh. But by rising from the bed is meant the soul's rousing itself from carnal desires, in which it was lying in sickness. To take up the bed is to bridle the flesh itself by the bands of continence, and to separate it from earthly pleasures, through the hope of heavenly rewards. But to take up the bed and to go home is to return to paradise. Or else the man, now healed, who had been sick carries back home his bed, when the soul, after receiving remission of sins, returns, even though encompassed with the body, to its internal watch over itself.

THEOPHYL. It is necessary to take up also one's bed, that is the body, to the working of good. For then shall we be able to arrive at contemplation, so that our thoughts should say within us, never have we seen in this way before, that is never understood as we have done since we have been cured of the palsy; for he who is cleansed from sin, sees more purely.

Catena Aurea Mark 2

The Paralytic of Capharnaum is Lowered from the Roof

6c.
Sant Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

Catholic

Almanac:

Friday, January 14
Liturgical Color: Green
Today the Church remembers Bl. Peter Donders. Ordained a priest, he traveled to Batvia in 1856 to work in a leper colony. Peter was a constant irritation to authorities as he fought for better conditions for the lepers, but always got what he wanted.

Spiritual Bouquet
A different meditation each time you click.

	Meditations by Padre Pio
	When you are well, listen to the Mass. When you are not ill and cannot attend, then you say the Mass.

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: January 14, 2011
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Father of love, hear our prayers. Help us to know your will and to do it with courage and faith. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Ordinary Time: January 14th

Friday of the First Week of Ordinary Time Old Calendar: St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church; St. Felix of Nola, priest and martyr

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Felix who lived in the third century. He was a priest and suffered greatly in the Decian persecution. The tomb of St. Felix at Nola, a small town in the south of Italy, was a much frequented place of pilgrimage in Christian antiquity, and in the Middle Ages veneration of him spread throughout the west. Along with St. Hilary his feast is celebrated today on the Tridentine Calendar. According to the Ordinary Rite St. Hilary's feast is now celebrated on January 13.

St. Felix
In one of the early persecutions the priest Felix was first tortured on the rack, then thrown into a dungeon. While lying chained on broken glass, an angel appeared, loosed his bonds, and led him out to freedom. Later, when the persecution had subsided, he converted many to the Christian faith by his preaching and holy example. However, when he resumed his denunciation of pagan gods and false worship, he was again singled out for arrest and torture; this time he escaped by hiding in a secret recess between two adjacent walls. No sooner had he disappeared into the nook than a thick veil of cobwebs formed over the entrance so that no one suspected he was there. Three months later he died in peace (260), and is therefore a martyr only in the wider sense of the word.

St. Paulinus of Nola (see June 22), who cherished a special devotion toward St. Felix, composed fourteen hymns (carmina natalicia) in his honor. In his day (fifth century) the saint's tomb was visited by pilgrims from far and wide and was noted for its miraculous cures.

— The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Against eye disease; against eye trouble; against false witness; against lies; against perjury; domestic animals; eyes.

Symbols: Cobweb; deacon in prison; spiderweb; young priest carrying an old man (Maximus) on his shoulders; young priest chained in prison with a pitcher and potsherds near him; young priest with a bunch of grapes (symbolizes his care of the aged Maximus); young priest with a spider; young priest with an angel removing his chains.

Things to Do:

Let us be convinced that if we strive and struggle in God's behalf, we may also rely on His special protection. God shields you from your enemies, even, if need be, by a spider's web. Spend some time recalling occasions when you were protected in an unusual way from harm.

Lauds -- Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer (Lauds)

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

Introduction

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen. Alleluia.

Hymn

Eternal glory of the sky,

Blest hope of frail humanity,

The Father’s Sole-begotten One,

Yet born a spotless Virgin’s Son.

Uplift us with thine arm of might,

And let our hearts rise pure and bright,

And, ardent in God’s praises, pay

The thanks we owe him every day.

The day-star’s rays are glittering clear,

And tell that day itself is near:

The shadows of the night depart;

Thou, holy Light, illume the heart.

Within our senses ever dwell,

And worldly darkness thence expel:

Long as the days of life endure,

Preserve our souls devout and pure.

The Faith that first must be possessed,

Root deep within our inmost breast:

And joyous Hope in second place,

Then Charity, thy greatest grace.

All laud to God the Father be;

All praise, eternal Son, to thee;

All glory, as is ever meet,

To God the Holy Paraclete.

Psalm 50 (51) God, have mercy on me

Lord, you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice offered on your altar.

Take pity on me, Lord, in your mercy;

in your abundance of mercy wipe out my guilt.

Wash me ever more from my guilt

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know how guilty I am:

my sin is always before me.

Against you, you alone have I sinned,

and I have done evil in your sight.

Know this, so that you may give just sentence

and an unbiased judgement.

See, I was conceived in guilt,

in sin my mother conceived me;

but you love truth in the heart,

and deep within me you have shown me your wisdom.

You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be made clean;

you will wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

You will make me hear the sound of joy and gladness;

the bones you have crushed will rejoice.

Turn your face away from my sins

and wipe out all my transgressions;

create a pure heart in me, God,

put a steadfast spirit into me.

Do not send me away from your presence,

or withdraw your holy spirit from me;

give me again the joy of your salvation,

and be ready to strengthen me with your spirit.

I will teach the unjust your ways,

and the impious will return to you.

Free me from the guilt of bloodshed, God, God my saviour,

and my voice will glory in your justice.

Open my lips, Lord,

and my mouth will proclaim your praise;

for you do not delight in sacrifices:

if I offered you a burnt offering, it would not please you.

The true sacrifice is a broken spirit:

a contrite and humble heart, O God, you will not refuse.

Be pleased, Lord, to look kindly on Zion,

so that the walls of Jerusalem can be rebuilt,

Then indeed you will accept the proper sacrifices, gifts and burnt offerings;

then indeed will bullocks be laid upon your altar.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord, you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice offered on your altar.

Canticle	Isaiah 45

All peoples, turn to the Lord

All the descendants of Israel shall glory in victory through the Lord.

In truth you are a hidden God,

the God and Saviour of Israel.

They were dismayed and ashamed, all the makers of idols,

all of them fled in dismay.

Israel has been saved by the Lord, saved for ever;

you will not be dismayed or ashamed,

to the end of time.

For thus says the Lord, the God

who made the heavens,

who made the earth, shaped it, set it firm –

he did not make it to be empty,

but to be full of life –

“I am the Lord, there is no other.

I have not spoken secretly,

in some dark corner of the earth.

I have not said to the children of Jacob, ‘seek me in vain.’

I am the Lord who speaks justice, who proclaims uprightness.

“Gather together, come, approach me

all you who have been rescued from the Gentiles.

They were ignorant, who raised up wooden idols

and begged favours of a god without power.

Announce it – come, ponder it together –

who was saying this from the beginning, who foretold this from the start?

Am I not the Lord?

Is there any other God but me?

Do you seek a just God who will save you? There is no other.

“Turn to me and you will be saved, all you ends of the earth;

for I am God, there is no other.

“I have sworn by my own being,

I have decreed a judgement that will not be revoked;

for every knee will bend to me,

every tongue swear by my name.”

“Only in the Lord,” they will say,

“are there justice and strength!”

All who resisted him will come to him, and be dismayed;

but in the Lord all descendants of Israel

will receive justice and glory.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

All the descendants of Israel shall glory in victory through the Lord.

Psalm 99 (100) Enter the Temple with joy

Come before the Lord, singing for joy.

Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,

and serve him with joy.

Exult as you enter his presence.

Know that the Lord is God.

He made us and we are his

– his people, the sheep of his flock.

Cry out his praises as you enter his gates,

fill his courtyards with songs.

Proclaim him and bless his name;

for the Lord is our delight.

His mercy lasts for ever,

his faithfulness through all the ages.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Come before the Lord, singing for joy.

Short reading	Ephesians 4:29-32 ©

Guard against foul talk; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners, otherwise you will only be grieving the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.

Short Responsory

Every morning, let me hear of your mercies.

– Every morning, let me hear of your mercies.

Make me know the path I should follow.

– Every morning, let me hear of your mercies.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

– Every morning, let me hear of your mercies.

Canticle	Benedictus

The Messiah and his forerunner

The Lord has come to his people and brought about their redemption.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption.

He has raised up the sign of salvation

in the house of his servant David,

as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones,

his prophets through the ages:

to rescue us from our enemies

and all who hate us,

to take pity on our fathers,

to remember his holy covenant

and the oath he swore to Abraham our father,

that he would give himself to us,

that we could serve him without fear

– freed from the hands of our enemies –

in uprightness and holiness before him,

for all of our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High:

for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path,

to let his people know their salvation,

so that their sins may be forgiven.

Through the bottomless mercy of our God,

one born on high will visit us

to give light to those who walk in darkness,

who live in the shadow of death;

to lead our feet in the path of peace.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

The Lord has come to his people and brought about their redemption.

Prayers and Intercessions

We worship Christ, who by his cross brought salvation to the human race, and we pray to him:

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Christ, you are our daylight: shine on us this morning,

and cleanse us of every evil inclination.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Watch over what we think, what we say, and what we do,

so that today we may be pleasing in your sight.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Turn your face away from our sins,

and wipe out all our transgressions.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Through your cross and resurrection

give us the strength of the Holy Spirit.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Lord God,

you hold out the light of your Word

to those who do not know you.

Strengthen in our hearts the faith you have given us,

so that no trials may quench the fire your Spirit has kindled within us.

[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

Amen.

May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life.

AMEN

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Mark 2:1-12

“Your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)

No matter how strong or agile, active or independent you are, you have something in common with this paralyzed man. In fact, we all do: We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We have all preferred ourselves to the One who created us, choosing our way over God’s way and, therefore, against our own good (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 398). And so we all need to hear Jesus say, “Child, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5).

Yes, your sins are forgiven! No matter what you’ve done, why you’ve done it, or who you’ve done it to, Jesus still forgives you. The world has never seen anything like the kind of transformation that can occur in a forgiven soul. You don’t have to remain paralyzed by guilt or shame. If you feel that your hands are too weak to serve God and your knees are too feeble to follow him, they can be strengthened by the flow of his mercy and grace.

Yes, your sins are forgiven! And because of God’s mercy, the eyes of the blind can be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame can leap, and the mute can sing for joy (Isaiah 35:4-6). Jesus has done it. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, and he now says to you: “Child, your sins are forgiven!”

If you’ve never heard Jesus speak those glorious words, run to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Tear the roof off the building if you have to, lower yourself as low as necessary, and get in the presence of our Lord to hear him say, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

Let the Holy Spirit show you what Jesus wants to heal in your life. Perhaps it’s anger and bitterness or resentments and grudges. Let him massage the hard knots of unforgiveness until they relax and your pain is eased. Fears and feelings of unworthiness because of your past sins, whether sins of omission or sins of commission, can melt away. Right now, even today, Jesus stands ready to say to you: “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

“Jesus, forgive me. Heal me. Strengthen what is weak, soften what is hard, and set my feet again on the pathway to you. Raise me up to walk with you today.”

Hebrews 4:1-5,11; Psalm 78:3-4,6-8

Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Daily Marriage Tip for January 14, 2011:

(Weekly Date Idea) Still have some old ice skates around? Watch for a hard freeze, bundle up and head for a pond. Or rent skates and go to a rink instead. Follow it with hot chocolate. Try another winter sport if you’re not so steady on blades.

Vultus Christi

Père Garrigou-Lagrange on Psalmody

By

Father Mark

on January 14, 2011 10:01 AM |

Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange's remarkable teaching on liturgical prayer in The Three Ages of the Interior Life is a suitable complement to yesterday's post on psalmody. The subtitles in boldface are my own.

The Psalmody of the Divine Office: The Great Prayer of the Church

One of the greatest means of union with God for the religious soul is the psalmody, which in religious orders is the daily accompaniment of the Mass. The Mass is the great prayer of Christ; it will continue until the end of the world, as long as He does not cease to offer Himself by the ministry of His priests; as long as from His sacerdotal and Eucharistic heart there rises always the theandric act of love and oblation, which has infinite value as adoration, reparation, petition, and thanksgiving. The psalmody of the Divine Office is the great prayer of the Church, the spouse of Christ; a day and night prayer, which ought never to cease on the surface of the earth, as the Mass does not.

A School of Contemplation, of Self Oblation, of Holiness.

For those who have the great honor to take part in the chant, the psalmody should be an admirable school of contemplation, of self oblation, of holiness. That it may produce these abundant fruits, the psalmody should keep what is its very essence; it ought to have not only a body which is well organized according to harmonious rules, but also a soul. If it ceases to be the great contemplative prayer, it gradually loses its soul and, instead of being a soaring, a rising toward God, and a repose, it becomes a burden, a source of fatigue, and no longer produces great fruits. Therefore we shall discuss briefly first of all deformed and materialized chant, then true psalmody, which is a deliverance, like the chant of the Church, above all the noises of earth.

Deformed Psalmody: A Body Without a Soul

Deformed psalmody is a body without a soul. Generally, it is marked by unseemly haste, as if undue haste, which, according to St. Francis de Sales, is the death of devotion, could replace true and profound life. The words of the Office are badly pronounced without rhythm or measure. The antiphons, which are often beautiful, are poorly said and become unintelligible, the hymns even more so. The lessons which are not punctuated as they should be, are read as one would read the most indifferent or even the most boring passages, when, as a matter of fact, they are concerned with the splendors of divine wisdom or what is most beautiful in the lives of the saints. People wish to save time, four or five minutes which they will devote to worthless trifles, and they lose the best of the time given by God. Father de Condren used to say: "If a master spoke to his servant as a number of people speak to God while saying the Divine Office, the servant would think that his master was insane to be jabbering in such fashion."

As a result of haste, the psalmody of which we are speaking is mechanical and not organic; just as in a body without a soul, the members are no longer vitally united, but only placed together. The Office becomes a series of words following one another. The great meaning of a psalm is no longer comprehended; to one who is trying to grasp this meaning and to follow it, this mechanical chant brings fatigue and is an obstacle to true prayer.

Is this manner of chanting a lifting of the soul toward God? Perhaps, but it is a uniformly retarded elevation, like the movement of a stone that has been thrown into the air and tends to fall back; whereas true prayer ought, like a flame, to tend spontaneously toward heaven.

Remedies

What remedies can be applied to this evil? The remedy is to be found in recalling the rules for the chant. But this remedy is not effective if it alone is applied. The evil is deeper, and we must go to its roots. In reality, there is only one truly effective remedy that makes possible the utilization of the others: namely, the restoration of the spirit of prayer. Similarly, in order to restore functions to a body without a soul, life would have to be restored to it.

When the Heart Disengages from Choral Prayer

Deformed psalmody shows us that, for a soul which has no personal life of prayer, the recitation of the Office becomes altogether material, a wholly exterior worship. Not possessing the habit of recollection, this soul is assailed by thoughts foreign to the Office; its work, studies, or business affairs keep returning to its memory, and at times even thoroughly vain thoughts come. The most interior persons sometimes experience this distress. But in the case of those we are speaking of, it is a habitual state of negligence, and in them distraction does not remain in the imagination; it invades the higher faculties. How can anyone in this state taste the divine words of the psalms, the prophets, the Epistles, the most beautiful pages of the fathers and of the lives of the saints which are daily offered to us in the Divine Office? All these spiritual beauties remain unperceived like colorless and insipid objects. The great poetry of the Psalmist and the most profound cries of his heart become spiritless and monotonous.

Routine Mummifies the Liturgy

One day in choir, St. Bernard saw above each religious his guardian angel who was writing down the chant. The manner of writing differed greatly, however: some wrote in letters of gold, others in silver, while still others wrote with ink or with colorless water; one angel held his pen poised and wrote nothing. Routine mummifies the most profoundly living passages and reduces them to mechanically recited formulas. This manner of chanting is nothing but practical nominalism, a sort of materialism in action. The higher faculties do not live in a prayer made thus; they remain somnolent or scattered. A person may still hear the symphony of the Office, more beautiful than the most famous symphonies of Beethoven, but for lack of an interior feeling, he can no longer appreciate it. Often the Divine Office is studied from the historical point of view, or from the canonical point of view of strict obligations, and these distinctions are held to; but it is especially from the spiritual point of view that it must be considered and lived.

Contemplative Chant

What should the contemplative chant be? This chant is distinguished precisely by the spirit of prayer, or at least by the aspiration which inclines us to it, which desires it, seeks it, and at length obtains it. We are thus shown how much the contemplation of the mysteries of faith is in the normal way of sanctity: this contemplation alone can give us in liturgical prayer the light, peace, and joy of the truth tasted and loved, gaudium de veritate.

The spirit of prayer, more intimately drawn from mental prayer, is lost as soon as one hurries to finish daily prayer, as if it were not the very respiration of the soul, spiritual contact with God, our Life, It was in the spirit of prayer that the psalms were conceived without it, we cannot understand them or live by them. "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God."

The Pauses: Vital Rest Between Aspiration and Respiration

If the psalmody has this spirit, then in place of mechanical haste, which is a superficial life, we find profound life for which we do not need continually to recall liturgical rules, for these rules are merely the expression of its inner inclinations. Then, without excessive slowness the words are well pronounced, undue haste is avoided, and the pauses, serving as a vital rest between aspiration and respiration, are observed. The antiphons are tasted, and the soul is truly nourished with the substance of the liturgical text.

Psalmody and Mental Prayer

Whoever has the duty of reading the lessons, which are often most beautiful, should look them over ahead of time in order not to spoil their meaning. He who reads the lessons well avoids a too evident expression of his personal piety, but the great objective meaning of Scripture explained by the fathers remains intelligible, and here and there he grasps its splendors in the midst of its divine obscurities. No effort is made to save four or five minutes, and he ceases to lose the precious time given by God. He is even led at the end of the chant to prolong prayer by some moments of mental prayer, like the religious in bygone days who, at night after Matins and Lauds, spent some time in profound recollection. Many times in the history of their lives mention is made of these secret prayers, of this heart to heart conversation with God in which they often received the greatest lights, which made them glimpse what they had sought till then during hours and hours of labor. When this spirit of prayer prevails, real life begins, and one understands that mental prayer gives the spirit of the chant; whereas the psalmody furnishes to mental prayer the best possible food, the very word of God, distributed and explained in a suitable manner, according to the cycle of the liturgical year, according to the true time, which coincides with the single instant of immobile eternity.

A Lifting Up of the Soul Toward God

Such prayer is no longer mechanical, but organic; the soul has returned to vivify the body; prayer is no longer a succession of words; we are able to seize the vital spirit running through them. Without effort, even in the most painful hours of life, we can taste the admirable poetry of the psalms and find in them light, rest, strength, renewal of all energies. Then truly this prayer is a lifting up of the soul toward God, a lifting up that is not uniformly retarded, but rather accelerated. The soul burns therein and is consumed in a holy manner like the candles on the altar.

The Angelic Doctor Moved to Tears

St. Thomas Aquinas deeply loved this beautiful chant thus understood. It is told of him that he could not keep back his tears when, during Compline of Lent, he chanted the antiphon: "In the midst of life we are in death: whom do we seek as our helper, but Thou, O Lord, who because of our sins art rightly incensed? Holy God, strong God, holy and merciful Savior, deliver us not up to a bitter death; abandon us not in the time of our old age, when our strength will abandon us." This beautiful antiphon begs for the grace of final perseverance, the grace of graces, that of the predestined. How it should speak to the heart of the contemplative theologian, who has made a deep study of the tracts on Providence, predestination, and grace!

The Spiritual Anemia of the Theologian

The chant, which prepares so admirably for Mass and which follows it, is one of the greatest means by which the theologian, as well as others, may rise far above reasoning to contemplation, to the simple gaze on God and to divine union. The theologian who has spent a long time over his books in a positive and speculative study of revelation, in the refutation of numerous errors and the examination of many opinions relating to the great mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, the life of heaven, needs, after such study, to rise above all this bookish knowledge; he needs profound recollection, truly divine light, which is superior to reasoning and gives him the spirit of the letter which he has studied. Otherwise he grows spiritually anemic and, because of insufficient contact with the light of life, he cannot give it adequately to others. His work remains too mechanical, not sufficiently organized and living, or it may be that the governing idea of his synthesis has not been drawn from a high enough source; it lacks amplitude, life, radiation, and little by little it loses its interest. The theologian needs often to find the living and splendid expression of the mysteries that he studies in the very words of God, such as the liturgy makes us taste and love: "Taste, and see that the Lord is sweet." (3)

The word of God, which is thus daily recalled to us in prayer,is to its theological commentary what a simple circumference is to the polygon inscribed in it. We must forget the polygon momentarily in order to enjoy a little and in a holy manner the beauty of the circle, which the movement of contemplation follows, as Dionysius used to say. This is found during the chant, if mechanical haste is not substituted for the profound life which ought to spring from the fountain. The body of the chant must be truly vivified by the spirit of prayer.

Worthy Choral Prayer Attracts Good Vocations

There is great happiness in hearing the Divine Office thus chanted in many monasteries of Benedictines, Carthusians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans. This prayer attracts good vocations, whereas the other, because it is materialized, drives them away. When we hear the great contemplative prayer in certain cloisters, we feel the current of the true life of the Church; it is its chant, both simple and splendid, which precedes and follows the sublime words of the Spouse: the Eucharistic consecration. We are made to forget all the sorrows of this world, all the more or less false complications and all the tiresome tasks imposed by human conventions. God grant that the chant may ever remain thus keenly alive day and night in our monasteries! It has been noticed that when it ceases at night in those convents where it should go on, the Lord raises up nocturnal adoration to replace it, for living prayer ought not to cease, and prayer during the night, by reason of the profound silence into which everything is plunged and for many other reasons, has special graces of contemplation: Oportet semper orare.

Holy Repose

The chant thus understood is the holy repose which souls need after all the fatigues, agitations, and complications of the world. It is rest in God, rest that is full of life, rest which from afar resembles that of God, who possesses His interminable life tota simul, in the single instant which never passes, and which at the same time measures supreme action and supreme rest, quies in bono amato.

A Cure for Pious Sentimentality

We may define the mutual relations of mental prayer and the Divine Office by saying that from mental prayer the Office receives the habit of recollection and the spirit of prayer. On the other hand, mental prayer finds in liturgical prayer an abundant source of contemplation and an objective rule against individual illusions. The Divine Office cures sentimentality by continually recalling the great truths in the very language of Scripture; it reminds presumptuous souls of the greatness and severity of divine justice, and it also reminds fearful souls of infinite mercy and the value of the passion of Christ. It makes sentimental souls live on the heights of true faith and charity, far above sensibility.

It will suffice here to recall one example among many: the tract from the Mass for Quadragesima Sunday taken from psalm 90: "He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector and my refuge: my God, in Him will I trust. For He hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters and from the sharp word. He will overshadow thee with His shoulders: and under His wings thou shalt trust. His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that flieth in the day. . . or of the noonday devil. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. . . . For He hath given His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. . . . He shall cry to Me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him and I will glorify him. I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him My salvation."

All the Ages of the Spiritual Life

The liturgy recalls all the ages of the spiritual life by the joyful mysteries of the childhood of the Savior, by His passion, and by the glorious mysteries; it thus gives true spiritual joy which enlarges the heart: "I have run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou didst enlarge my heart." It prepares the soul for the more intimate and silent prayer of meditation.

Vespers -- Evening Prayer

Vespers (Evening Prayer)

Introduction

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen. Alleluia.

Hymn

O gladsome light, O grace

Of God the Father’s face,

The eternal splendour wearing;

Celestial, holy, blest,

Our Saviour Jesus Christ,

Joyful in thine appearing.

Now, ere day fadeth quite,

We see the evening light,

Our wonted hymn outpouring;

Father of might unknown,

Thee, his incarnate Son,

And Holy Ghost adoring.

To thee of right belongs

All praise of holy songs,

O Son of God, Life-giver:

Thee therefore, O most High,

The world doth glorify,

And shall exalt for ever.

Psalm 40 (41) Prayer in time of sickness

Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.

Blessed is he who takes thought for the helpless,

for the Lord will keep him safe in time of trouble.

The Lord will guard him and give him life.

He will give him good fortune on the earth,

and not betray him into the power of his enemies.

The Lord will lend him strength on his bed of pain;

you will transform all his sickness into health.

I said, “Lord, have mercy, heal my soul,

for I have sinned against you.”

My enemies spoke against me, saying: “When will he die?

When will his name perish?”

When one of them came to visit me, he talked of nothing,

but stored up wickedness in his heart.

He went out, and told tales against me.

All my enemies whispered together against me,

imagined the worst:

“A plague has taken hold of him:

he has lain down and will not rise.”

Even my dearest friend, in whom I put my trust, who had eaten my bread –

even he trampled me down.

But you, Lord – have mercy on me,

revive me, and I will pay them back.

This is how I know that I have your favour,

when my enemy cannot triumph over me,

when you raise me up because of my innocence,

and put me in your presence for all eternity.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

from the beginning to the end of time.

Amen! Amen!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.

Psalm 45 (46) God, our refuge and our strength

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

The Lord is our refuge and our strength,

a true help in our troubles.

Therefore we do not fear,

even when the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the depths of the sea,

the waves roar and foam

and rise up to shake the mountains.

The streams of the river give joy to the city of God,

the holy dwelling-place of the Most High.

God is within it, it will not be shaken;

God will give help as the day dawns.

The nations are in turmoil and kingdoms totter:

at the sound of his voice, the earth flows like water.

The Lord of strength is with us,

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come and see the works of the Lord,

who has done wonders on the earth.

He puts an end to wars over all the world:

he tramples the bow, shatters weapons, and burns the shields with fire.

Stop and see that I am God:

I will be exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.

The Lord of strength is with us,

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Canticle	Apocalypse 15

A hymn of adoration

All the peoples will come and adore you, Lord.

Great and wonderful are your deeds,

O Lord God the Almighty!

Just and true are your ways,

O King of the ages!

Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord?

For you alone are holy.

All nations shall come and worship you,

for your judgements have been revealed.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

All the peoples will come and adore you, Lord.

Short reading	Romans 15:1-3 ©

We who are strong have a duty to put up with the qualms of the weak without thinking of ourselves. Each of us should think of his neighbours and help them to become stronger Christians. Christ did not think of himself: the words of scripture apply to him – the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

Short Responsory

Christ in his love has washed us clean with his blood.

– Christ in his love has washed us clean with his blood.

He has made us a kingdom and priesthood for God.

– Christ in his love has washed us clean with his blood.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

– Christ in his love has washed us clean with his blood.

Canticle	Magnificat

My soul rejoices in the Lord

He has come to help us, his servants: he has remembered his mercy.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation.

For he has shown me such favour –

me, his lowly handmaiden.

Now all generations will call me blessed,

because the mighty one has done great things for me.

His name is holy,

his mercy lasts for generation after generation

for those who revere him.

He has put forth his strength:

he has scattered the proud and conceited,

torn princes from their thrones;

but lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel,

he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

He has come to help us, his servants: he has remembered his mercy.

Prayers and Intercessions

Blessed be God. In his kindness he answers the prayers of those in need and fills the hungry full of good things. Let us put our trust in him and pray:

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Lord and gentle Father, we pray for the suffering limbs of the Church:

whose Head, your Son, suffered on the cross, and completed his sacrifice as day was ending.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Free those who are in bondage, give sight to the blind,

look after widows and orphans.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Clothe the faithful in your armour

to resist the snares of the Devil.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Be close to us, Lord, in our last hours:

in your compassion, judge us to be faithful and let us leave this world at peace with you.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Lead the dead into your light:

may they enjoy the sight of you for ever.

– Lord, show us your compassion.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Lord God,

teach us the lessons of your Son’s Passion,

and so enable us, your people,

to bear the yoke he makes light for us.

[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

Amen.

May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life.

AMEN

Regnum Christi

A Man and His Friends

INTERNATIONAL | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time (Jan. 14, 2011)

January 14, 2011
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Father Paul Campbell, LC

Mark 2:1-12
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”—he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

Introductory Prayer: Jesus, thank you for this time to be with you. I humbly offer you my intention to set all my distractions aside so that I can encounter you, my Lord and my God. I hope in you and know that you could never let me down. I love you and long to love you with all of my strength. Aware of my misery and weakness, I trust in your mercy and love.

Petition: Lord, increase my zeal for souls.

1. The Paralytic One day, four men carried a friend to Jesus. It made all the difference in the world to the friend, for he was paralyzed and was unable to approach Jesus on his own. He had heard of the miracles Jesus had performed, but had never seen them. His own healing was out of the question: he couldn’t go to Jesus on his own. Had his four friends not stepped in and brought him to Jesus, he would never have been cured. Their faith and love made his healing possible. Who does Jesus want me to bring to him? Do I invite people to prayer and adoration? Do I invite people to Mass and confession?
2. The Four Friends These four men were not stopped by the obstacles in their way. How long they traveled isn’t mentioned, but even a short distance is tiring when carrying a man on a mat. When they arrived at the house, it was full of people who had traveled to hear and see Jesus and to be cured by him. It was impossible for the men to get inside the house through the door, but they didn’t give up. They didn’t quit. They carried their friend up to the rooftop and lowered him down into the house. By persevering we can achieve anything. Love knows no boundaries or limits.

3. Jesus God wants to save so many people. He wants to bring real healing into their lives, but he wants to heal them through us. Jesus could have found the paralyzed man. He chose, rather, to let the others bring the man to him. Jesus wanted to heal him, but without the charity in the hearts of the four men, the healing might never have been accomplished. Who does Jesus wish to encounter through me? How can I be a better instrument of his love?

Conversation with Christ: Lord, help me to realize more deeply that you want me involved in salvation history. I’m on the front lines. You entrust souls to me, and you want to bless their lives through my prayers, my sacrifices and my work. Increase my love for these souls. They need my help and my fidelity. I don’t want to let them down. Help me to be faithful.

Resolution: I will make a sacrifice today for the person most in need of God’s grace.

Homily of the Day

Are We Really Different?

January 14th, 2011 by Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.

Heb 4:1-5, 11 / Mk 2:1-12

It’s a foolish mistake we Christians make all too often. Our vocation as followers of Jesus is to live by values that are essentially counter-cultural. True Christians judge success and greatness by standards that are very different from the world’s. Having and getting are not our highest values. Building a just society in which everyone has a place takes top billing for true Christians.

The list of differences between Christians and the culture is long, and it poses very nicely the essential question for us: When it comes to lived values, are we recognizable as Christians? Do our daily choices speak unmistakably that we are different from the surrounding culture in wholesome ways?

One Bread, One Body

<< Friday, January 14, 2011 >>

Saint of the Day

Hebrews 4:1-5, 11
View Readings

Psalm 78:3-4, 6-8

Mark 2:1-12

"WHOM SHOULD I FEAR?" (Ps 27:1)

"We ought to be fearful of disobeying lest any one of you be judged to have lost his chance of entering." —Hebrews 4:1

Most of us are afraid of what other people think of us. We may be afraid of failure, death, or pain. Because of our fears, we sometimes let ourselves be manipulated into disobeying God. However, we should be more fearful of disobeying God than of enduring even the worst sufferings. God is not to be trifled with. "Make no mistake about it, no one makes a fool of God!" (Gal 6:7) "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31). "Do not fear those who deprive the body of life but cannot destroy the soul. Rather, fear Him Who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna" (Mt 10:28).

Although we should obey God because of love and not just fear, we still should be fearful that the Lord will finally let us get the full wages of our sins, that is, death and eternal damnation (Rm 6:23). The fear of the Lord is not just a reasonable reaction to the possibility of damnation. It is also an awe and deep awareness of God's presence. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Is 11:2-3). As the early Church did, we should be "making steady progress in the fear of the Lord" and at the same time enjoying "the increased consolation of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 9:31). "He who fears the Lord is never alarmed, never afraid" (Sir 34:14).

Prayer: Father, gift me with the fear of You.

Promise: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, 'My Son, your sins are forgiven.' " —Mk 2:5

Praise: Edward was able to discern his calling to the priesthood by observing the holiness of his uncle who was a longtime, faithful priest in the service of God's people.

Compline -- Night Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer)

Introduction

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen. Alleluia.

This is an excellent moment for an examination of conscience. In a communal celebration of Compline, one of the penitential acts given in the Missal may be recited.

Hymn

Now that the daylight dies away,

By all thy grace and love,

Thee, Maker of the world, we pray

To watch our bed above.

Let dreams depart and phantoms fly,

The offspring of the night,

Keep us, like shrines, beneath thine eye,

Pure in our foe’s despite.

This grace on thy redeemed confer,

Father, co-equal Son,

And Holy Ghost, the Comforter,

Eternal Three in One.

Psalm 87 (88) The prayer of one gravely ill

Lord my God, I call for help by day, I cry at night before you.

Lord God, my saviour,

I have cried out to you by day and by night.

Let my prayer come before you:

turn your ear to my request.

For my soul is full of evils,

my life has come close to its end.

I am counted with those who go down to the pit:

I am left without help.

I am one of the dead,

like the murdered who sleep in their tombs,

who lie there forgotten,

cut off from your care.

You have thrust me down into the pit,

to the gloom and the shadow of death.

Your anger weighs heavy upon me;

you have drowned me under your waves.

You have taken my friends away from me:

you have made me hateful in their sight,

I am shut in, I may not go out.

My eyes are weak from my sufferings.

I have called to you, Lord, all the day;

I have stretched out my hands to you.

Is it for the dead that you perform your wonders?

Will the ghosts rise up and proclaim you?

In the tomb, will they tell of your kindness?

Will they tell of your faithfulness in the place of the lost?

Will your wonders be known in the darkness,

or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

And so I have called out to you, Lord,

and in the morning my prayer will come before you.

With what purpose, Lord, do you reject my soul?

Why do you hide your face from me?

I am poor; from my youth I have been dying;

I have borne the terrors you sent, I am lost in confusion.

Your anger has overrun me, your terrors have broken me:

they have flowed round me like water,

they have besieged me all the day long.

You have taken my friends and those close to me:

all I have left is shadows.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord my God, I call for help by day, I cry at night before you.

Reading	(Jeremiah 14:9) ©

Lord, you are in our midst, we are called by your name. Do not desert us, O Lord our God!

Short Responsory

Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

You have redeemed us, Lord, God of faithfulness.

– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

– Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.

Canticle	Nunc Dimittis

Keep us safe, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us as we sleep, so that we can keep watch with Christ and rest in peace.

Now, Master, you let your servant go in peace.

You have fulfilled your promise.

My own eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples.

A light to bring the Gentiles from darkness;

the glory of your people Israel.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Keep us safe, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us as we sleep, so that we can keep watch with Christ and rest in peace.

Let us pray.

Lord, let us be so united with your only Son that we become worthy to rise with him into new life, who lives and reigns for ever and ever, Amen.

May the almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.

AMEN

	Alma Redemptoris Mater

Kind mother of our Redeemer,

the way to heaven for us, now and always,

come to our help as we fall and strive to rise.

All nature stood still in wonder

when you gave flesh

to your own flesh’s Creator.

Virgin at Gabriel’s greeting,

Virgin now and always –

take pity on us sinners.

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli

porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti,

surgere qui curat, populo: tu quae genuisti,

natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem,

Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore,

sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.

Hebrews 4:1-5, 11

Through Faith We Can Attain God’s “Rest”

[1] Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any
of you be judged to have failed to reach it. [2] For good news came to us just as
to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did
not meet with faith in the hearers. [3] For we who have believed enter that rest,
as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall never enter my rest,”’ al-
though his works were finished from the foundation of the world. [4] For he has
somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the se-
venth day from all his works.” [5] And again in this place he said, “They shall
never enter my rest.”

[11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort
of disobedience.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1-11. This chapter is a further exhortation to fidelity and develops the theme of
that “rest” which the people of Israel failed to attain. The comparison between
Moses and Jesus (cf. 3:1ff) is now extended to Jews and Christians. Moses had
tried to get the people of Israel to stay true to God and so enter their place of
rest (cf. Deut 12:9-10). He laid down the precept of sabbath rest (Deut 5:12-15;
Ex 20:8-11; 35:1-3; Num 15:32-36) in memory of God’s resting after the Creation,
and as a sign of the Covenant and a symbol of eternal rest. In the Gospel Christ
promises a new kind of rest, an eternal one, in the house of the Father (cf. Jn
14:1-3, 27).

The history of the chosen people is not, then, a mere chronicle of past events.
It is something meaningful to us today and full of lessons for Christian living. To
Christians also, as members of the new Israel, God offers a “rest”, one which is
richer than the temporal rest the Jews obtained when they took possession of
the promised land, for the rest promised to Christians is rest in heaven.

However, the Jews disobeyed God’s commandments; they soiled themselves by
worshipping idols and failed to grasp the significance of their own history. And
they confused God’s rest, their true destiny, with the sabbath rest—a physical
rest which they practised in an almost exclusively external way (cf. Mk 3:1-6; Lk
13:10-17). Christians also can run a similar risk if they fail to hold on to everything
which Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant has won for them.

1. God’s promise of rest remains valid, but to attain it one needs to be faithful and
obedient—to have a vigilance which comes from holy fear of God, a fear of being
excluded from eternal blessedness. The text can also be interpreted as meaning
“Let us fear, lest any one of you despair because he thinks he has been exclu-
ded permanently”; that is, “let us fear despair”.

In this context “rest” refers to all the supernatural graces we obtain through grace,
particularly that of seeing and enjoying God in the future life. This rest, which will
reach its perfection in heaven and which begins in this life with faith and grace, is
man’s true end or destiny. “God works with creative power by sustaining in exis-
tence the world that he called into being from nothing, and he works with salvific
power in the hearts of those whom from the beginning he has destined for ‘rest”’
(John Paul II, “Laborem Exercens”, 25).

The saints have often liked to describe the joy which heaven gives, that eternal
rest which God deigns to grant souls who depart this world. “Who can measure
the happiness of heaven, where no evil at all can touch us, no good will be out
of reach; where life is to be one long laud extolling God, who will be all in all [...].
This, indeed, will be that ultimate Sabbath that has no evening and which the
Lord foreshadowed in the account of his creation [...]. Only when we are remade
by God and perfected by a greater grace shall we have the eternal stillness of
that rest in which we shall see that he is God. Then only shall we be filled with
him when he will be all in all” (St Augustine, “The City of God”, XXII, 30).

Losing this “rest” is the only thing one should really fear.

2. The good news was proclaimed to the Jews in the sense that they also heard
the preaching of Moses which aimed at preparing the chosen people to be gene-
rous in their fidelity to the Lord’s promises. The Israelites, however, rebelled
against those who were the first to hear the divine message—Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Moses himself, Joshua and the prophets.

The preaching of the Word can actually harden a person’s heart if he does not li-
sten to it with the right dispositions. “To obtain salvation it is not enough to hear
the words. One needs to take them in with faith and keep a firm hold on them.
What good was God’s promise to those who received it if they did not receive it
faithfully or failed to put their trust in his power—if they did not, so to speak, fuse
with, become one with, the divine words?” (Theodoret of Cyrus, “Interpretatio Ep.
Ad Haebreos”, IV). What proves a person’s true obedience to God’s word is his
solidarity with those to whom God had given the authority to proclaim it.

3-8. The believer can be said to “enter God’s rest” because in this life he already
begins to be intimate with the three divine Persons. In biblical terms the “rest” is
connected with the Covenant which God establishes with men. “Rest” is the re-
ward for faithfulness to the Covenant; it begins in this life in the form of serenity
and interior peace and the enjoyment of material things (such as the promised
land), but will reach its perfection only in heaven. In this sense, as Psalm 95
reminds us, God promised his people rest repeatedly: the psalm speaks of a
“today” when they will enter his “rest”: everyone can begin to enjoy “today” the
rest of divine friendship, provided he does not harden his heart, provided he re-
pents and becomes faithful again.

Christians have received a further invitation from God to enter his rest: because
many Jews proved to be unfaithful, a new people of God was established. This
marks a new “today”, a new point when one can opt for fidelity and enter the pro-
mised land. This “today” has two characteristics: it requires our free response to
God’s decision to call us; and it does not happen immediately: for the new peo-
ple of God, also, there is a future “sabbath”, that is, heaven.

To appreciate the subtle play of words, one should remember that the same term
is used in Hebrew for the word “rest” and for the sabbath as a day of the week.

11. The sacred writer ends his commentary on Psalm 95 with a short, concise
exhortation summing up what he has been saying and inviting his readers to en-
ter God’s rest without delay.

“There are a number of reasons why the text speaks of striving to enter (God’s)
rest,” St Thomas comments. “First, because, there is a long road ahead. Then
because time is short—and we do not know how much time we have. Third, be-
cause ours is a pressing interior call which urges us on with the stimulus of love.
Finally, because of the danger of delaying, as happened in the case of the foolish
virgins (Mt 25:1-13), who arrived late and failed to gain entry” (”Commentary on
Heb.”, 4, 2).

The central idea is not only urgency and eagerness but also dogged perseverance
with the help of grace.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Mark 2:1-12

The Curing of a Paralytic

[1] And when [Jesus] returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported
that He was at home. [2] And many were gathered together, so that there was
no longer room for them, not even about the door; and He was preaching the
word to them. [3] And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men.
[4] And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed
the roof above Him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pal-
let on which the paralytic lay. [5] And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the
paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

[6] Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, [7]
“Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God
alone?” [8] And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus ques-
tioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question thus in your
hearts? [9] Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to
say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk?’ [10] But that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”— He said to the paralytic —
[11] “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” [12] And he rose, and
immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were
all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

4. Many Jewish houses had a terraced roof accessible by steps at the back.
The same structure can be found even today.

5. Here Jesus emphasizes the connection between faith and the forgiveness of
sins. The boldness of the people who brought in the paralytic shows their faith
in Christ, and this faith moves Jesus to forgive the man’s sins. We should ques-
tion how God views our faith: the faith of these people leads to the instantaneous
physical and spiritual curing of this man. We should notice also that one per-
son’s need can be helped by the merits of another.

In this man’s physical paralysis, St. Jerome sees a type or figure of spiritual pa-
ralysis: the cripple was unable to return to God by his own efforts. Jesus, God
and man, cured him of both kinds of paralysis (cf. “Comm. in Marcum, in loc.”).
Cf. notes on Matthew 9:2-7.

Jesus’ words to the paralytic—”Your sins are forgiven”—reflect the fact that his
pardon involves a personal encounter with Christ; the same happens in the
Sacrament of Penance: “In faithfully observing the centuries-old practice of the
Sacrament of Penance—the practice of individual confession with a personal act
of sorrow and an intention to amend and make satisfaction—the Church is defen-
ding the human soul’s individual right, man’s right to a more personal encounter
with the crucified forgiving Christ, with Christ saying, through the minister of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation: ‘Your sins are forgiven’; ‘Go, and do not sin again’
(John 8:11). As is evident, this is also a right on Christ’s part with regard to every
human being in the soul’s life constituted by the moment of conversion and for-
giveness” (John Paul II, “Redemptor Hominis”, 20).

7-12. Here we find a number of indicators of Jesus’ divinity: He forgives sins, He
can read the human heart and has the power to instantly cure physical illnesses.
The scribes know that only God can forgive sins. This is why they take issue
with our Lord’s statement and call it blasphemous. They require a sign to prove
the truth of what He says. And Jesus offers them a sign. Thus just as no one can
deny that the paralytic has been cured, so no one can reasonably deny that he
has been forgiven his sins. Christ, God and man, exercised power to forgive sins
and, in His infinite mercy, He chose to extend this power to His Church. Cf. note
on Matthew 9:3-7.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Office of Readings

Daily Readings for: January 14, 2011(Readings on USCCB website)

Morning Prayer (Lauds)

AMEN

Meditation: Mark 2:1-12

Père Garrigou-Lagrange on Psalmody

Vespers (Evening Prayer)

AMEN

Homily of the Day

Are We Really Different?

One Bread, One Body

"WHOM SHOULD I FEAR?" (Ps 27:1)

Compline (Night Prayer)

AMEN

Daily Readings for: January 14, 2011
(Readings on USCCB website)