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 thou, the heavens’ eternal King,

Creator, unto thee we sing,

With God the Father ever One,

Coequal, coeternal Son.

Thy hand, when first the world began,

Made in thine own pure image man,

And yoked to fleshly form of earth

A living form of heavenly birth.

And when the envy of the foe

Had marred thy noblest work below,

Clothed in our flesh, thou didst restore

The image thou hadst made before.

Once wast thou born of Mary’s womb;

And now, newborn from out the tomb,

O Christ, thou bid’st us rise with thee

From death to immortality.

Redeemer, thou for us didst deign

To hang upon the Cross of pain,

And give to us the lavish price

Of thine own Blood in sacrifice.

Grant, Lord, in thee each faithful mind

Unceasing Paschal joy may find;

And from the death of sin set free

Souls newly born to life by thee.

To thee, once dead, who now dost live,

All glory, Lord, thy people give,

Whom, with the Father, we adore,

And Holy Spirit forevermore.

Psalm 104 (105) The Lord is faithful to his promises

Sing to the Lord; tell all his wonderful works, alleluia.

Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name;

proclaim his works among the peoples.

Sing and make music to him

and reflect on all the wonders he has performed.

Glory in his holy name,

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord in his power,

always seek his face.

Remember the wonders he performed,

his miracles and the judgements he has uttered.

Seed of Abraham, his servants,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

The Lord himself is our God,

his rule extends over the whole earth.

He has always remembered his covenant,

that he made to last a thousand generations,

the agreement he made with Abraham,

the oath he swore to Isaac.

He made it a decree for Jacob,

an eternal covenant for Israel, saying

“I will give you Canaan

and measure it out as your inheritance.”

Although they were few in number,

a handful of wanderers,

although they were travelling from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another,

he let no harm come to them,

he rebuked kings in their defence:

“do not touch my anointed ones,

do no harm to my prophets.”

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.

Sing to the Lord; tell all his wonderful works, alleluia.

Psalm 104 (105)

The Lord did not forget the just man who was sold as a slave: he released him from the power of sinful men. Alleluia.

The Lord called down famine upon the land, he ground away every stick of bread.

He had sent a man to them, Joseph, and he was sold as a slave.

They confined his feet in fetters and put a ring around his neck –

until the Lord’s word came, the Lord spoke and justified him.

The king sent for him and released him – the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He set him to rule over his house, made him lord of all his possessions,

so that he could make the princes as wise as himself and teach wisdom to the elders.

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 did not forget the just man who was sold as a slave: he released him from the power of sinful men. Alleluia.

Psalm 104 (105)

The Lord remembered his holy word, and he brought out his people with joy. Alleluia.

And so Israel passed into Egypt

and Jacob lived in the country of Ham.

The Lord made his people grow enormously

and strengthened them against their enemies.

Then he turned the hearts of men against his chosen people,

so that they hated them and made plots against them.

He sent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

He made them prophesy

the signs and prodigies he would work in the land of Ham.

He sent shadows and darkness,

but they would not listen to his words.

He turned their rivers into blood,

killing all the fish.

Frogs ate up the earth,

even in the secret gardens of the palaces.

He summoned flies

and insects throughout the land.

He sent stones of hail and fire

to devastate their land.

He struck their vines and their fig-trees,

broke down the trees of their country.

He spoke, and locusts came,

and worms without number:

they ate all the grain of the land,

consumed all of the fruit.

He struck down the first-born of their land,

the flower of all their strength.

He led his people out with silver and gold;

not a single one of them stumbled.

Egypt rejoiced to see them go,

to see the last of the people they feared.

He sent a cloud to protect them,

and fire to light up their nights.

He led out his people in exultation,

his chosen ones in gladness.

He gave them the territory of the nations,

the fruits of the labours of the peoples.

All this he did

so that they would keep his decrees

and follow his laws.

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 remembered his holy word, and he brought out his people with joy. Alleluia.

God has given us a new birth into living hope, alleluia,

– through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, alleluia.

Reading	Apocalypse 22:10-21 ©

This, too, he said to me, ‘Do not keep the prophecies in this book a secret, because the Time is close. Meanwhile let the sinner go on sinning, and the unclean continue to be unclean; let those who do good go on doing good, and those who are holy continue to be holy. Very soon now, I shall be with you again, bringing the reward to be given to every man according to what he deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Happy are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city. These others must stay outside: dogs, fortune-tellers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone of false speech and false life.’

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to make these revelations to you for the sake of the churches. I am of David’s line, the root of David and the bright star of the morning.

The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ Let everyone who listens answer, ‘Come.’ Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free.

This is my solemn warning to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book; if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book.

The one who guarantees these revelations repeats his promise: I shall indeed be with you soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.

Responsory

I am of David’s line, the root of David and the bright star of morning. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Everyone who hears this must also say, Come. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, alleluia!

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. Come to me and listen to my words. Everyone who hears this must also say, Come. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, alleluia!

Reading	From a discourse on the psalms by Saint Augustine, Bishop

The Easter alleluia

Our thoughts in this present life should turn on the praise of God, because it is in praising God that we shall rejoice for ever in the life to come; and no one can be ready for the next life unless he trains himself for it now. So we praise God during our earthly life, and at the same time we make our petitions to him. Our praise is expressed with joy, our petitions with yearning. We have been promised something we do not yet possess, and because the promise was made by one who keeps his word, we trust him and are glad; but insofar as possession is delayed, we can only long and yearn for it. It is good for us to persevere in longing until we receive what was promised, and yearning is over; then praise alone will remain.

Because there are these two periods of time – the one that now is, beset with the trials and troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting serenity and joy – we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of the Alleluia we sing.

Both these periods are represented and demonstrated for us in Christ our head. The Lord’s passion depicts for us our present life of trial – shows how we must suffer and be afflicted and finally die. The Lord’s resurrection and glorification show us the life that will be given to us in the future.

Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbour, “Praise the Lord!” and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your actions.

We are praising God now, assembled as we are here in church; but when we go on our various ways again, it seems as if we cease to praise God. But provided we do not cease to live a good life, we shall always be praising God. You cease to praise God only when you swerve from justice and from what is pleasing to God. If you never turn aside from the good life, your tongue may be silent but your actions will cry aloud, and God will perceive your intentions; for as our ears hear each other’s voices, so do God’s ears hear our thoughts.

Responsory

You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy, alleluia.

You will weep while the world rejoices, but your sorrow will turn into joy, alleluia.

Let us pray.

Almighty, ever-living God,

you gave us the life of heaven

by the new birth of baptism;

you implanted in us the seed of eternity

by your gift of grace.

Lead us, in your providence,

to the fulness of glory.

[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

Diviine Intimacy Devotional

The Action of the Holy Spirit

Presence of God

O Holy Spirit, make me realize Your action in my soul; teach me to recognize it and correspond with it.

Meditation

1. Just as the Holy Spirit dwelt in the most holy soul of Christ in order to bring it to God, so He abides in our souls for the same purpose. In Jesus He found a completely docile will, one that He could control perfectly, whereas in us He often meets resistance, the fruit of human weakness; therefore, He desists from the work of our sanctification because He will not do violence to our liberty. He, the Spirit of love, waits for us to co-operate lovingly in His work, yielding our soul to His sanctifying action freely and ardently. In order to become saints, we must concur in the work of the Holy Spirit; but since effective concurrence is impossible without an understanding of the promoter's actions, it is necessary for us to learn how the divine Paraclete, the promoter of our sanctification, works in us.

We must realize that the Holy Spirit is ever active in our souls, from the earliest stages of the spiritual life and even from its very beginning, although at that time in a more hidden and imperceptible way. However, His very precious action was there, and it consisted especially in the preparing and encouraging of our first attempts to acquire perfection. By giving us grace, without which we could have done nothing to attain sanctity, the Holy Spirit inaugurated His work in us: He elevated us to the supernatural state. Grace comes from God; it is a gift from all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity: a gift created by the Father, merited by the Son in consequence of His Incarnation, Passion and death, and diffused in our souls by the Holy Spirit. But is to the latter, to the Spirit of love, that the work of our sanctification is attributed in a very special manner. When we were baptized, we were justified "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"; nevertheless, Sacred Scripture particularly attributes this work of regeneration and divine filiation to the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself pointed out to us that Baptism is a rebirth "of … the Holy Spirit" (John 3,5), and St Paul stated: "For in one Spirit were we all baptized" and "the Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God" (1 Corinthians 12, 13 — Romans 8,16). Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit who has prepared and disposed our souls for the supernatural life by pouring forth grace in us.

2. Besides this, in order to enable us to perform the supernatural acts, the Holy Spirit comes to strengthen our powers — the intellect and the will — by the infused virtues: charity, together with the other theological virtues of faith and hope, and the moral virtues. Thus, through His intervention, we become capable of performing supernatural acts. But the Holy Spirit does not stop there; like a good teacher, He continues to help us in our work, urging us to do good and sustaining our efforts. He invites us by His interior inspirations, as well as by exterior means, especially Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church. Sacred Scripture is the word of God, written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is the divine Paraclete who speaks to us therein, enlightening our intellects with His light and spurring our wills by His motions; hence, meditation on the sacred texts is somewhat like "attending the school" of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit continually teaches us and stimulates us to do good by the living word of the Church, since all those in the Church who have the mission to teach are under His influence when they expound sacred doctrine to the faithful. If we listen to the inspirations of the divine Paraclete, and accept His invitations, He unites Himself to us, aiding us by actual graces, so that we are able to perform virtuous acts. It is clear, therefore, that even when the spiritual life is in its first stages, and is concentrated on the correcting of faults and acquiring of virtues, the activity of the soul is entirely permeated and sustained by the action of the Holy Spirit. We give too little attention to this truth and therefore, in practice, we tend to ignore the constant work of the divine Spirit in our souls. Let us give thought to this, lest His inspirations and impulses go unheeded. "By the grace of God, I am what I am" said St Paul, and he could add: "His grace in me hath not been void." (1 Corinthians 15,10).

Colloquy

"O Holy Spirit, divine Guest of our souls, You are the noblest and most worthy of all guests! With the agility of Your goodness and love for us, You fly rapidly to all souls who are disposed to receive You. And who can tell the wonderful effects produced by you when you are welcomed? You speak, but without noise of words, and Your sublime silence is heard everywhere. You are always motionless, yet always in movement, and in Your mobile immobility, You communicate Yourself to all. You are always at rest, yet ever working; and in Your rest You perform the greatest, worthiest and most admirable works. You are always moving, but You never change Your place. You penetrate, strengthen and preserve all. Your immense, penetrating omniscience knows all, understands all, penetrates all. Without listening to anything, You hear the least word spoken in the most secret recesses of our hearts.

"O Holy Spirit, You stay everywhere unless You are driven out, because You communicate Yourself to everyone, except to sinners who do not want to rise from the mire of their sins; in them You can find no place to rest, nor can You endure the evil emanating from a heart which obstinately persists in wrongdoing. But You remain in the creatures who, by their purity, make themselves receptive to Your gifts. And You rest in me by communication, operation, wisdom, power, liberality, benignity, charity, love, purity; Your creature, You Yourself prepare him suitably to receive You." (St Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi)