Occurring Scripture for the Hour of Matins
Second Week after Pentecost
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday SaturdayLesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 4:1-4And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight: and Israel went out to war against the Philistines, and camped by the Stone of help [Eben-ezer]. And the Philistines came to Aphec, And put their army in array against Israel. And when they had joined battle, Israel turned their backs to the Philistines, and there was slain in that fight here and there in the fields about four thousand men. And the people returned to the camp: and the ancients of Israel said: "Why hath the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch unto us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Silo, and let it come in the midst of us, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies." So the people sent to Silo, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts sitting upon the cherubim: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were with the ark of the covenant of God.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 4:5-11And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord was come into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth rang again. And the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, and they said: What is this noise of a great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, saying: "God has come into the camp." And sighing, they said: "Woe to us: for there was no such great joy yesterday and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high gods? these are the gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert." "Take courage and behave like men, ye Philistines: lest you come to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have served you: take courage and fight." So the Philistines fought, and Israel was overthrown, and every man fled to his own dwelling: and there was an exceeding great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken: and the two sons of Heli; Ophni and Phinees, were slain.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 4:12-18And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Silo the same day, with his clothes rent, and his head strewed with dust. And when he had come, Heli sat upon a stool over against the way watching. For his heart was fearful for the ark of God. And when the man had come into the city, he told it: and all the city cried out. And Heli heard the noise of the cry, and he said: What means the noise of this uproar? But he made haste, and came, and told Heli. Now Heli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see. And he said to Heli: "I am he that came from the battle, and have fled out of the field this day." And he said to him: "What was done, my son?" And he that brought the news answered, and said: "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter of the people: moreover thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are dead: and the ark of God is taken. And when he had named the ark of God, he fell from his stool backwards by the door, and broke his neck, and died.
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St John Chrysostom
Homily LX to the people of Antioch.His Word said: "This is My Body." This we confess, and believe, and, with spiritual eyes, do see. Christ has not left Himself to us in such form as that we can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste Him and yet He left Himself to us in things which we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste, and which all men may understand. Thus also is it in baptism by means of water, which men perceive outwardly, is given unto them a gift which they can grasp only inwardly, that is, a new birth. If we had no bodies, then would these things be given us without any outward and visible signs, but since we are here made up of souls and bodies, there are given to our souls gifts which they can grasp, in outward signs which our bodies may perceive. How many are there who say "I would that I could see His comely presence, His Face, His garments, even His shoes"? Behold, you do see and touch Him, yes, you do feed upon Him. And if you would see His raiment, behold, He has allowed you not only to behold it, but to feed upon it, and handle it, and take it to yourself.
Lesson v
At this table of the Lord let no one dare to draw near with squeamishness or carelessness. Let all be fiery, all hot, all roused. To the Jews it was commanded touching the Paschal lamb: "And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand and ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lord's Passover" (Exodus 12:11). But you need to be more watchful than they. They were just about to travel from Egypt to Palestine, and therefore they bore the guise of travelers but the journey that lies before you is from earth to heaven. And therefore it behooves you in all things to be on your guard, for the punishment of him that eats or drinks unworthily is no light one. Think how you are indignant against him who betrayed, and those that crucified the Lord and see to it well that you also be not "guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:27). As for them, they slew His Most Holy Body but you, after all that He has done for you, do thrust Him into your polluted soul. For His love, it was not enough to be made Man, to be buffeted, and to be crucified. He has also mingled Himself with us, by making us His Body, and that not by faith only, but truly and in deed.
Lesson vi
Can anything be purer than what man ought to be, who eats of this great Sacrifice? Can sun-beams be clearer than that hand ought to be which breaks this Flesh? that mouth, which is filled with that spiritual fire? that tongue, which is reddened by that Blood, awful exceedingly? That whereon the Angels fear to look, nor dare to gaze steadfastly upon It, because of the blinding glory that shines from It, upon This we feed, with This we become one, and are made one body of Christ, and one flesh. "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can show forth all His praise?" Where is the shepherd which feeds his flock with his own blood? Nay, why should I say, shepherd? Many mothers there be, who after all the pains of travail, give their own little ones to strangers to nurse. But He would not do so, but feeds us with His Own Blood, and makes us to grow up in His Own substance.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 14:16-24At that time: Jesus spoke unto the Pharisees this parable: "A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: 'I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee, hold me excused.' And another said: 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray thee, hold me excused.' And another said: 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame.' And the servant said: 'Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.' And the Lord said to the servant: 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited, shall taste of my supper.'"
An homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
XXXVI upon the Gospels.Dearly beloved brethren, between the dainties of the body and the dainties of the mind there is this difference, that the dainties of the body, when we lack them, raise up a great hunger after them, and when we devour them, straightway our fullness satisfies our hunger. But about the dainties of the mind we are comfortable while as yet we lack them, and when we fill ourselves with them, then are we more hungered after them, and the more, being more hungered, we feed on them, the more are we more hungered thereafter. In the bodily dainties, the hunger is keener than the fullness, but in the spiritual the fullness is keener than the hunger. In the bodily, hunger seeks fullness and is satisfied, but fullness in the spiritual brings greater hunger.
Lesson viii
Scriptural dainties, in the very eating, do stir up the keenness of hunger in the mind which they fill, for, the more we taste their sweetness, the better we know how well they deserve to be loved and, if we taste them not, we cannot love them, for we know not how sweet they are. And who can love that of which he knows nothing? Hence said the Psalmist: "O taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 33:9), that is, as it were, "If ye taste not, ye shall not see His goodness but let your heart once taste the bread of life, and then indeed, having tasted and proved His sweetness, ye shall be able to love Him." But these were the dainties which man lost when he sinned in Eden, and when he had shut his own mouth against the sweet bread whereof if any man eat he shall live for ever, he forsook paradise.
Lesson ix
And we that, from the first man, are born under the afflictions of this pilgrimage, are come into the world smitten with spiritual satiety we know not what we ought to want, and the disease of our satiety grows the worse, as our soul draws itself farther away from that bread of sweetness. We no longer hunger after inward dainties, since we have lost the use of feeding on them. And so in our satiety we starve, and the sickness of long famishing makes prey of our health. We will not eat of that inward sweetness which is made ready for us, and being enamored only of things outward we sink into the wretchedness of loving starvation.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Sunday:
Grant, O Lord, that we may have a perpetual fear and love of Thine holy name; for Thou never fail to direct and govern by Thy grace, those whom Thou bring up in the steadfastness of Thy love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 5:1-5And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from the Stone of help into Azotus. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when the Azotians arose early the next day, behold Dagon lay upon his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord: and they took Dagon, and set him again in his place. And the next day again, when they rose in the morning, they found Dagon lying upon his face on the earth before the ark of the Lord: and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold: And only the stump of Dagon remained in its place.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 5:6-8And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he destroyed them, and afflicted Azotus and the coasts thereof with emerods. And in the villages and fields in the midst of that country, there came forth a multitude of mice, and there was the confusion of a great mortality in the city. And the men of Azotus seeing this kind of plague, said: The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us: for his hand is heavy upon us, and upon Dagon our god. And sending, they gathered together all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said: "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And the Gethrites answered: "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about."
Lesson iii
1 Kings 5:8-12And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about. And while they were carrying it about, the hand of the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. And the Gethrites consulted together, and made themselves seats of skins. Therefore they sent the ark of God into Accaron. And when the ark of God was come into Accaron, the Accaronites cried out, saying: "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people." They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines: and they said: "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return into its own place, and not kill us and our people." For there was the fear of death in every city, and the hand of God was exceeding heavy.
Where Corpus Christi is celebrated with an Octave:
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of St John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church.
Continuation of Homily LX to the people of AntiochIn this mysterious Sacrament Christ mingles Himself with all and each of His faithful ones. They are His children, and He nurses them Himself, and gives them not over to another, again assuring us that the Flesh He has taken to Himself is ours. We then, who have been deemed entitled to be treated with such love and such honour, let us be on guard. Do you not see how eagerly those nursing seize on the breasts, how readily they fix their mouths on the paps. Let us, with like eagerness, draw nigh to that Table, and suck at that spiritual Cup. Yes, let us prize that gracious Food as the nursing one does its mother's breast, and hold it the great misfortune of life to be cut off from that Banquet. Here there are set before us no works of man's power. He That worked at that Last Supper, the Same works the same here still. As for us Priests, we hold the place of His ministers, but He Who hallows and changes is He. Here let there draw nigh no Judas, nor covetous one—this is no Table for him. But he who is Christ's disciple, let him come for the Lord said "I will keep the Passover with My disciples," This is that Passover Table, and it is all Christ's what is made there—it is not some of it Christ's work, and some of it man's work, but it is all His work and not another's.
Lesson v
To this place let there draw clone none brutal, none cruel, none in truth merciless, none unclean. I speak to all that take that Holy Communion, and to you also, O ye that do administer the same. To you now I turn my speech, to warn you with what great care that Gift is to be given. No slight vengeance is that which awaits you if ye admit for a partaker at the Lord's Table the sinner whose guiltiness you know. At your hands will his blood be required. If a man be a General, a Governor, a crowned Monarch, yet if he come there unworthily, forbid him—you have greater power than he. To this end has God exalted you to the honor you hold, that you may judge in such matters. This office is your dignity, this is your strength, this is all your crown, this, and not the going about in white robes and glittering vestments. And you, O layman when thou see the Priest making the oblation, think not that He Which is then the real Worker is such a Priest as thou see, but know of a surety that it is Christ's Hand Which is stretched out, even though unseen by you.
Lesson vi
Let us hear, all of us, both Priests and laymen, let us hear What Food it is of which we are made worthy—let us hear, I say, and let us quake. The Lord satisfies us with His Own holy Flesh, setting Himself slain before us. What excuse shall we have, if, being so fed as we are, we sin as we do? If, eating of the Lamb, we are still wolves? If, pastured as the sheep of the flock, we raven like lions? This mysterious Sacrament forbids us not only outrage, but even the least enmity; It is the Mystery of peace. Upon the Jews God laid it to make year by year by solemn festivals a yearly commemoration of His mercies unto them, but upon thee to do this in remembrance of His love to thee, day by day. To this Table then let there draw nigh no Judas Iscariot, no Simon Magus. These men fell through covetousness let us fly that bottomless pit.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor
Tract XXVI on John"This is the bread which comes down from heaven," By "this bread," the Lord here signifies both the manna, and That Which we receive at the Altar of God. Both these are, as it were, Sacramental signs, differing indeed somewhat in their outward and visible part, but pointing to the Same Thing signified. Hear what the Apostle said "Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat" (1 Corinthians 10:1-3). This meat was the same spiritually, but not really. They ate manna we eat Something else. Spiritually they ate What we eat but our fathers not their fathers; unto whom we are like not unto whom they are like. And it is added "And did all drink the same Spiritual drink" (ibid. 4). They drank one thing, and we drank Another, the difference being in the outer show, the sameness in that the Same Thing is pointed to by both. And what was that Same Drink? "They drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (ibid. 4). Him did bread and rock alike signify. The Rock was a figure, but by the Word and in the Flesh there is the very Christ Himself. And how came they to drink of that rock "Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly" (Numbers 20:11). These two strokes of the rod upon the rock are a figure of the two beams whereof the Cross was made.
Lesson viii
Christ's faithful ones discern the Lord's Body while they remain watchful members of His Body. They remain members of His Body as long as they will to live according to His Spirit. The Spirit of Christ gives life to nothing but the body of Christ. Now, my brethren, understand what I am going to say. You are a man, and have a body and a spirit. By spirit I mean the soul, which causes you to be a man at all. You are a man, made up of soul and body. Your spirit is unseen, your body is seen. Tell me, which of them is it that animates the other? Does your spirit derive animation from your body, or your body from your spirit? Every one who lives will answer, for if any one cannot answer this, I do not know if he is alive. All who have life answer "Truly, it is my spirit which animates my body." If you want to live by the Spirit of Christ, be of the Body of Christ.
Lesson ix
Is it not my spirit which animates my body? My spirit animates my body, and your spirit animates your body. The Body of Christ lives not except by the Spirit of Christ. Hence it is that the Apostle Paul said, concerning this Bread: "We, being many, are one bread, and one body, for we are all partakers of that one Bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17). O what a Sacrament of love! O what a seal of union! O what a bond of charity! He that wills to live has here where to live, and from where to live. Let him come near, let him believe, let him enter into that Body, that he may be quickened. Let him not sever himself from the fit joining-together of all the members—let him not be as a mortifying limb, that must needs be cut off, nor a misshapen limb, a cause to blush. Let him be goodly, and useful, and healthy. Let him cleave to the body; let him live by God to God; let him labor now on earth, that he may reign hereafter in heaven.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 6:1-3Now the ark of God was in the land of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? tell us how we are to send it back to its place?" And they said: "If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty, but render unto Him what you owe for sin, and then you shall be healed: and you shall know why His hand departed not from you."
Lesson ii
1 Kings 6:6-10"Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? did not he, after he was struck, then let them go, and they departed? Now therefore take and make a new cart: and two cows that have calved, on which there has come no yoke, tie to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. And you shall take the ark of the Lord, and lay it on the cart, and the vessels of gold, which you have paid him for sin, you shall put into a little box, at the side thereof: and send it away that it may go. And you shall look: and if it go up by the way of his own coasts towards Bethsames, then He has done us this great evil: but if not, we shall know that it is not His hand that touched us, but it hath happened by chance." They did therefore in this manner.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 6:12-15And the cows took the straight way that leads to Bethsames, and they went along the way, bellowing as they went: and turned not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left: and the lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the borders of Bethsames. Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley: and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Josue a Bethsamite, and stood there. And there was a great stone, and they cut in pieces the wood of the cart, and laid the cows upon it, a holocaust to the Lord. And the Levites took down the ark of God.
Lesson iv
From the Letter to Cæcilius by the Holy Martyr Cyprian, Bishop
Book II, Letter 3 (towards the beginning).In the deed of the Priest Melchisedech we see a type of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sacrifice. For thus it is written in the writings of God "And Melchisedech King of Salem brought forth bread and wine for he was the Priest of the Most High God and he blessed [Abraham]" (Genesis 14:18). That Melchisedech was a type of Christ, the Holy Ghost Himself testifies in the Psalms, where the First Person of the Holy Trinity, even the Father, is set before us as saying unto the Second Person, that is, the Son: "Before the daystar have I begotten thee. Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedech" (Psalm 109:3,4). And truly that same order comes of this sacrifice, and proceeds from this, that Melchisedech was the Priest of the Most High God; that he offered bread and wine; and that he blessed Abraham.
Lesson v
What Priest of the Most High God is there, more so, than is our Lord Jesus Christ? He Who has made an offering unto God the Father, and the same offering that Melchisedech made, bread and wine, that is to say, His Own Flesh and His Own Blood. And, as concerning Abraham, that ancient blessing was spoken likewise by fore-knowledge upon us. For if Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, truly, who ever believes God and lives by faith, the same is found righteous, and is shown unto us that he is already blessed in faithful Abraham, and justified as the Apostle Paul proves, where he said: "Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying: "In thee shall all nations be blessed" (Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4).
Lesson vi
In Genesis, therefore, in order that the Priest Melchisedech might in due order pronounce the blessing upon Abraham, there was first offered a typical sacrifice, consisting of bread and wine. This was the offering which our Lord Jesus Christ completed and fulfilled, when He offered up bread and a cup of wine mingled with water. This fulfillment by Him Who came to fulfill (cf. Matthew 5:17), utterly satisfied the truth of the image which had gone before. The Holy Ghost, by Solomon, also clearly foreshadows, as it were in a parable, the Lord's Sacrifice, pointing to the victim slain, and the bread and the wine, and the Altar likewise, and the Apostles as it is written "Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars she has killed her beasts, she has mingled her wine, she has also furnished her table. She has sent forth her servants, she cries upon the highest places of the city, saying 'Whosoever is simple, let him turn in hither unto me.' As for them that want understanding, she says to them. 'Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you'" (Proverbs 9:1-5).
Lesson vii
The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop.
Tract XXVI on John (toward the middle)"Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead." They did they eat and die because they believed only that which they saw and that which they saw not, they understood not. Therefore they were your fathers, because you are like them. Does this death, my brethren, mean that death which is outward and bodily? And do not we also die, who eat of that Bread Which cometh down from heaven? They died that death, and so shall we also, as far, as I have said, as is meant that death which is outward and bodily.
Lesson viii
But the death about which the Lord sounds the alarm, the death that their fathers died, is another death than that which is outward and bodily. Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, Phineas ate manna, many ate manna in whom the Lord was well pleased and these are not dead. Because they understood spiritually that outward bread, spiritually hungered thereafter, spiritually tasted thereof, and spiritually were satisfied therewith. So also do we this day feed on a visible food, but the Sacrament is one thing, and the grace of the Sacrament is another.
Lesson ix
"He that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29). Is it not written that "When Jesus had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, and after the sop Satan entered into him" (John 13:26, 27). And yet he took it. And when he had eaten it, the enemy entered in and possessed him. Not because what he ate was evil, but because he, being evil, dared to eat that which was good. Look to it well, then, brethren, that you take spiritually the Bread Which comes down from heaven. Bring innocence with you to the Altar. Though your sins be daily, let them not be deadly. Before you draw near to the Altar, think well what it is that ye say "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." "For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14). and you may draw near boldly, for to you It is Bread, and not poison.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 6:19-21; 7:1But he slew of the men of Bethsames, because they had seen the ark of the Lord: and he slew of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the common people. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Bethsames said: "Who shall be able to stand before the Lord this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?" And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Cariathiarim, saying: "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord, come down and fetch it up to you."
Lesson ii
1 Kings7:2-4And it came to pass, that from the day the ark of the Lord abode in Cariathiarim days were multiplied, (for it was now the twentieth year,) and all the house of Israel rested following the Lord. And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: "If you turn to the Lord with all your heart, put away the strange gods from among you, Baalim and Astaroth: and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 7:5-8And Samuel said: "Gather all Israel to Masphath, that I may pray to the Lord for you." And they gathered together to Masphath: and they drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there: "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath. And the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Masphath, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines. And they said to Samuel: "Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us out of the hand of the Philistines."
Where the Octave of Corpus Christi is observed:
Lesson iv
From the Book on the Sacraments of Saintt Ambrose, Bishop
Book IV Chapter 4Who invented the Sacraments but the Lord Jesus? The Sacraments came down from heaven, for all counsel is from heaven. Nevertheless, it was a great and wonderful work of God when He rained down manna upon His people, and the people labored not, and yet were fed. Perchance, you say here, "it is my bread which is used." But that bread is bread only till the Sacramental words are spoken at the Consecration, instead of bread, there cometh to be the Body of Christ. This therefore let us establish. How cometh it that that which was bread becomes the Body of Christ—through the Consecration. And in what words and in Whose language doth the Consecration take place?—In those of the Lord Jesus. All the other things which are said, the ascription of praise to God the prayer for the people, for kings, and for others which forms the first part. But when that point is reached when this worshipful Sacrament is to be consecrated, then the Priest uses no more his own words, but Christ's.
Lesson v
It is the word of Christ, therefore, that does the necessary work in this Sacrament. And what is the word of Christ? It is the word of Him at Whose bidding all things were made. The Lord commanded, and the heavens were created; the Lord commanded, and the earth was formed; the Lord commanded, and the seas were made; the Lord commanded, and all creatures sprang into being. You see, then, how powerfully working a word is the word of Christ. If then the word of Christ has such power that it can make that to be which had never been, where does it appear greater than when it makes one thing to be changed into Another. There was once no heaven, there was once no sea, there was once no earth. But hear him who said "He spoke, and it was done He commanded, and it stood fast." If, then, I am to answer you, I tell you, that before the Consecration it is not the Body of Christ, but after the Consecration it is the Body of Christ, for He Himself "has spoken, and it is done He commanded, and it stands fast."
Lesson vi
And now I come back to my text. It is indeed a great and worshipful fact that manna was rained down upon the Jews but, consider which was the more great and worshipful, the manna from heaven or the Body of Christ? The Body of that Same Christ by Whom the heavens were made. And, again the fathers "did eat manna, and are dead." He that eats of this Bread, It is unto him "the remission of sins," and "he shall never die." Therefore it is not idly that, when you receive, you say "Amen," testifying in your heart that That Which you art taking is the Body of Christ. The Priest says to you "The Body of Christ ”and you answer "Amen" that is to say "It is true." What your tongue confesses, let your heart hold to.
Lesson vii
The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop
Book VIII on the TrinityWhen we speak concerning the things of God, we must not speak after the manner of men, nor after the manner of the world. Let us read those things which are written, and understand those things which we read and then let us act as having a perfect faith. We shall speak but folly and godlessness if we speak concerning the natural truth of Christ in use and have not learned at Christ's School how we should speak. He Himself said "My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, dwells in Me, and I in him." There is here no room left for doubt as to What is His Flesh and what is His Blood.
Lesson viii
Now we know by the declaration of the Lord Himself and by our Faith, the reality of His Flesh and Blood. And when we eat the One and drink the Other, They work effectually in us to make us dwell in Him and He in us. Is this not a reality? Surely it is not found true by those who deny that Christ Jesus is Truly God. He is in us by means of His Flesh, and we are in Him when that which we are is with Him in God. That we dwell in Him through that Sacrament wherein His Flesh and Blood are given unto us, He Himself doth testify, where He said "Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more, but you see Me. Because I live you shall live also. I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
Lesson ix
But that this union in us is a real one, He testifies thus "He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, dwells in Me, and I in him." For no one dwells in Him in whom He does not dwell, since he which receives has but received that Flesh of his own, which Christ has taken into Himself. The mystery of this perfect union He had taught before, when He said: "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so, he that eats of Me, even he shall live by Me." He therefore lives by the Father, and, as He lives by the Father, so shall we live by Him.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lesson i
From the first book of Kings
1 Kings 8:4-6Then all the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel to Ramatha. And they said to him: "Behold you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways: make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have." And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 8:7-9And the Lord said to Samuel: "Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all their works, they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day: as they have forsaken Me, and served strange gods, so do they also unto you. 9 Now therefore listen to their voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king, that shall reign over them.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 8:10-14Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people that had desired a king of him, And said: "This will be the right of the king, that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen, and his running footmen to run before his chariots, And he will appoint of them to be his tribunes, and centurions, and to plough his fields, and to reap his corn, and to make him arms and chariots. Your daughters also he will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best olive yards, and give them to his servants.
Where the Octave of Corpus Christi is observed:
Lesson iv
From the Sermons of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lectures XLThe teaching of the blessed Paul seems of itself enough instruction for you concerning those Divine Mysteries, whereof, if you be made worthy, you become therein, so to speak, of one Body and of one Blood with Christ. Paul said that our Lord Jesus Christ, "the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and, when He had given thanks, He broke it, and gave it unto His disciples, saying 'Take, eat this is My Body.' After the same manner also He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said: 'Take this, and drink it this is My Blood'" (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). Since therefore it is He Who hath definitely stated and said, concerning that Bread "This is My Body," who will dare any longer to doubt that It is so? And since it is He again that ha absolutely affirmed and said, concerning that cup "This is My Blood" who is he that will doubt any longer, or say that It is not His Blood?
Lesson v
At the beginning of His ministry, at Cana in Galilee, the Lord turned water into wine, a thing which hath some qualities in common with blood: and shall we deem Him less worthy that we should believe Him, when He turned wine into Blood? When He was bidden to that marriage in which two were made one flesh, He did the beginning of His miracles to the amazement of all men; and shall we less surely hold that He has given us His Body and Blood to be our meat and drink, or take them with weaker faith that they are indeed His Body and His Blood nder the appearance of bread? He give unto us His Body, and, under the appearance of wine, His Blood and when you shall come to receive, it is on the Body and Blood of Christ that you wilt feed, being made a partaker of His Body and of His Blood. Thus, indeed, it is that we become Christ-bearers, namely, by carrying about Christ in our bodies, when we receive His Body and Blood into our own frames. Thus, as the blessed Peter hath it, we are "partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
Lesson vi
Christ once said, in conversing with the Jews "Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:54). But they took not spiritually that which He said, and "from that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him" (ibid. 67). They thought that He had bidden them to eat flesh. The Old Testament also had Showbread, but this Old Testament bread was now to have an end. The bread of the New Testament is "the Bread Which comes down from heaven," the cup of the New Testament, the Cup of Salvation, that Bread and that Cup Which hallow both souls and bodies. Wherefore I will have you to understand that the Bread and Wine to which you come, are not mere common bread or mere common wine for they are the Body and the Blood of Christ. Even if your senses do indeed deny this fact, yet let faith make you right sure of it. Judge not the Thing by the taste thereof, but let faith assure you beyond all doubt you are partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Lesson vii
The Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59At that time Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eats of Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eats this bread, shall live for ever.
An Homily of Saint Cyril of Alexandria
Book IV on John—Chapter 17"He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood," said the Lord, "dwells in Me, and I in him." If a man takes two pieces of wax and melts them, and pours the one into the other, they necessarily mingle—so also, he that receives the Body and Blood of the Lord becomes so joined with the Lord that he is found to be in Christ and Christ in him. Another comparison you wilt find in Matthew. The Lord there said: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal" (Matthew 13:33), because, as Paul said, "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6). So also does a little of this Blessing draw the whole man unto Itself, and fill him with Its grace and thus does Christ dwell in us, and we in Christ.
Lesson viii
As for ourselves, if we would win life everlasting; if we would that the Giver of immortality should dwell in us, let us run freely to receive this Blessing, and let us beware that the devil succeeds not in laying a stumbling-block in our way, in the shape of a mistaken reverence. Thou rightly say, and we know well, how that it is written "Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself" (1 Corinthians 11:27). I therefore examine myself and find myself unworthy. And I ask you, who cites these words to me, who shall ever be found worthy? When will you be worthy to be offered to Christ, if by sin you art unworthy, and you cease not to sin, (for, as the Psalmist wrote "Who can understand his errors?") then you shall forever lack this means of life and sanctification.
Lesson ix
Therefore, I counsel you to entertain godly thoughts, and to live carefully and holily, and so to receive that Blessing—a Blessing which, believe me, banishes, not only death, but all diseases as well. For when Christ dwells in us, He stills the law of death in our members, which wars against the law of our mind, He gives strength to godliness, He turns to calm the turbulent surging of our mind, He cures them which are sick, He raises up them which are fallen, and, like the Good Shepherd, Who gives His life for the sheep, He prevails that the sheep perish not.
Let us pray:
Collect: Of the Day
Collect: Of Corpus Christi:
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of Thy passion, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of Thy redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Friday
SACRED HEART OF JESUSLesson i
A Reading from the book of Jeremias
Jeremias 24:5-7Thus said the Lord the God of Israel: "Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good. And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring them again into this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall return to me with their whole heart."
Lesson ii
Jeremias 30:18-19; 21-24Thus said the Lord: "Behold I will bring back the captivity of the pavilions of Jacob, and will have pity on his houses, and the city shall be built in her high place, and the temple shall be founded according to the order thereof. And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them that play: And their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall come forth from the midst of them: and I will bring him near, and he shall come to Me: for who is this that sets his heart to approach Me," said the Lord? "And you shall be My people: and I will be your God. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till he have executed and performed the thought of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand these things."
Lesson iii
Jeremias 31:1-3; 31-33At that time, said the Lord: "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people." Thus said the Lord: "The people that were left and escaped from the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall go to his rest." The Lord has appeared from afar to me. "Yes I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee." "Behold the days shall come," said the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them," said the Lord. "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days," said the Lord: "I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Lesson iv
From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XIAmong the wonderful developments of sacred teaching and piety, by which the plans of the divine Wisdom are daily made clear to the Church, hardly any is more manifest than the triumphant progress made by the devotion of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Very often indeed, during the course of past ages, Fathers, Doctors, and Saints have celebrated our Redeemer's love : and they have said, that the wound opened in the side of Christ was the hidden fountain of all graces. Moreover, from the Middle Ages onward, when the faithful began to show a more tender piety towards the most sacred Humanity of the Savior, contemplative souls became accustomed to penetrate through that wound almost to the very Heart itself, wounded for the love of men. And from that time, this form of contemplation became so familiar to all persons of saintly life, that there was no country or religious order in which, during this period, witnesses to it were not to be found. Finally, during recent centuries, and most especially at that period when heretics, in the name of a false piety, strove to discourage Christians from receiving the most Holy Eucharist, the veneration of the most Sacred Heart began to be openly practiced, principally through the exertions of St. John Eudes, who is by no means unworthily called the founder of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Lesson v
But in order to establish fully and entirely the worship of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to spread the same throughout the whole world, God himself chose as his instrument a most humble virgin from the order of the Visitation, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who even in her earliest years already had a burning love for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and to whom Christ the Lord had very many times appeared, and was pleased to make known the riches and the desires of his divine Heart. The most famous of these apparitions was that in which Jesus revealed himself to her in prayer before the blessed Sacrament, showed her his most Sacred Heart, and, complaining that in return for his unbounded love, he met with nothing but outrages and ingratitude from mankind, he ordered her to concern herself with the establishment of a new feast, on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi, on which his Heart should be venerated with due honour, and that the insults offered him by sinners in the Sacrament of love should be expiated by worthy satisfaction. But there is no one who knows not how many and how great were the obstacles which the handmaid of God experienced, in carrying out the commands of Christ ; but, endowed with strength by the Lord himself, and actively aided by her pious spiritual directors, who exerted themselves with an almost unbelievable zeal, up to the time of her death she never ceased faithfully to carry out the duty entrusted to her by heaven.
Lesson vi
At length, in the year 1765, the Supreme Pontiff Clement XIII approved the Mass and Office in honour of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus ; and Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church. From then on the worship of the most Sacred Heart, like an overflowing river, washing away all obstacles, hath poured itself forth over all the earth, and, at the dawn of the new century, Leo XIII, having proclaimed a jubilee, decided to dedicate the whole human race to the most Sacred Heart. This consecration was actually carried out with solemn rites in all the churches of the Catholic world, and brought about a great increase of this devotion, leading not only nations but even private families to it, who in countless numbers dedicated themselves to the Divine Heart, and submitted themselves to its royal sway. Lastly, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI, in order that, by its solemnity, the feast might answer more fully to the greatly widespread devotion of the Christian people, raised the feast of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus to the rite of a double of the first class, with an octave ; and moreover, that the violated rights of Christ, the supreme King and most loving Lord, might be repaired, and that the sins of the nations might be bewailed, he ordered that annually, on that same feast-day, there should be recited an expiatory form of prayer in all the churches of the Christian world.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 19:31-37At that time : The Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with Him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knows that what he said is true; that you also may believe. For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: "You shall not break a bone of Him" (cf. Exodus 12:46; Psalm 33:21). And again another scripture that said: "They shall look on Him whom they pierced" (Zacharias 12:10).
An Homily of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop
Liber de ligno vitæ, number 30In order that the Church might be taken out of the side of Christ, in his deep sleep on the Cross, and that the Scripture might be fulfilled which said : "They shall look on him whom they pierced": it was divinely ordained that one of the soldiers should pierce His sacred side with a spear, and open it. Then forthwith there came flowing out blood and water, which was the price of our salvation, pouring forth from its mountain-source, in truth, from the secret places of his Heart, to give power to the Sacraments of the Church, to bestow the life of grace, and to be as a saving drink of living waters, flowing up to life eternal for those who were already quickened in Christ. Arise, then, O soul beloved of Christ. Cease not thy vigilance, place there thy lips, and drink the waters from the fount of salvation.
Lesson viii
De vite mystica Chapter 3Because we are now come to the sweet Heart of Jesus, and because it is good for us to be here, let us not turn away too soon. O how good and joyful a thing it is to dwell in this Heart. What a good treasure, what a precious pearl, is Thine Heart, O most excellent Jesus, which we have found hidden in the pit which hath been dug in this field, namely, in Thy body. Who would cast away such a pearl? No, rather, for this same I would give all my pearls. I will sell all my thoughts and affections, and buy the same for myself, turning all my thoughts to the Heart of the good Jesus, and without fail It will support me. Therefore, O most sweet Jesus, finding this Heart that is Thine and mine, I will pray to Thee, my God: admit my prayers into the shrine of Thine attention: and draw me even more altogether into Thine Heart.
Lesson ix
For to this end was Thy side pierced, that an entry might be open unto us. To this end was Thine Heart wounded, that in it we might be able to dwell secure from alarms from without. And it was wounded none the less on this account that, because of the visible wound, we may perceive the wound of love which is invisible. How could this fire of love better shine forth than for Him to permit that not only His body, but that even His Heart, should be wounded with the spear? Who would not love that Heart so wounded? Who would not, in return, love One who is so loving? Who would not embrace One so chaste? Wherefore let we who are in the flesh love in return, as much as we can, Him who so loves, embrace our wounded One, whose hands and feet, side and Heart, have been pierced by wicked husbandmen; and let us pray that He may deign to bind our hearts, still hard and impenitent, with the chain of His love, and wound them with the dart thereof.
Let us pray:
O God, who in the Heart of Thy Son, wounded by our transgressions, dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow upon us the infinite wealth of Thy love; grant, we beseech Thee, that revering it with proper devotion, we may make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the same.
Saturday
Within the Octave of the Sacred HeartLesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 9:1-4Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Cis, the son of Abiel, the son of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a man of Jemini, valiant and strong. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all the people. And the asses of Cis, Saul's father, were lost: and Cis said to his son Saul: "Take one of the servants with thee, and arise, go, and seek the asses." And when they had passed through mount Ephraim, And through the land of Salisa, and had not found them, they passed also through the land of Salim, and they were not there: and through the land of Jemini, and found them not.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 9:5-8And when they were come to the land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: "Come, let us return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses, and be concerned for us." And he said to him: "Behold there is a man of God in this city, a famous man: all that he says, comes certainly to pass. Now therefore let us go there, perhaps he may tell us of our way, for which we are come." And Saul said to his servant: "Behold we will go: but what shall we carry to the man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor any thing at all." The servant answered Saul again, and said: "Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver, let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way."
Lesson iii
1 Kings 9:14-17And they went up into the city. And when they were walking in the midst of the city, behold Samuel was coming out over against them, to go up to the high place. Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: "Tomorrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shall anoint him to be ruler over My people Israel: and he shall save My people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon My people, because their cry is come to Me." And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: "Behold the man, of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over My people.
Lesson iv
From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XIAmong all other proofs of the infinite kindness of our Redeemer, this one is especially conspicuous, that, as the love of the Christian believers grew cold, he, Divine Love itself, was proposed to be honored by a special devotion, and that the rich treasures of his goodness were thrown wide open by means of that form of worship with which we honor the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). For, as formerly God wished to give light to the human race as they came out of Noe's ark by the signal of a treaty of friendship, "a bow appearing in the clouds" (cf. Genesis 9:13-16), so, in those most troublesome times of a more recent age, when that most subtle of heresies, Jansenism, was everywhere creeping in, and enemy of the love of God and of piety, preaching that God was not so much to be loved as a father, as to be feared as an unrelenting judge, the most kind Jesus manifested unto the nations his most Sacred Heart, borne on high like unto a banner of peace and love, an augury of certain victory in battle.
Lesson v
Because Our predecessor, Leo XIII, of happy memory, desiring to obtain the advantages of such a great devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in his Encyclical Letter Annum Sacrum most fittingly did not hesitate to proclaim : "When the Church, in the early period of her history, was oppressed by the yoke of the Caesars, a cross appeared in the heavens to a youthful emperor, which was at the same time both the sign and the cause of that most complete victory, which was soon to follow. Behold this day another most auspicious and most holy sign presented to our eyes : that is to say, the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a Cross set upon it, shining forth among flames of a most brilliant radiance. In this, all our hopes are to be placed; from this, the salvation of mankind is to be asked for and to be awaited."
Lesson vi
And it is indeed justly so; for in this most auspicious sign and in that which follows from it, is there not contained the highest model of piety of the whole of religion, and therefore the rule of the more perfect life, inasmuch as it leads our minds the more easily to a deeper knowledge of Christ the Lord, and to a more vehement love of him, and moves our souls more effectually to a more exact imitation of him? Therefore, no one will be surprised, that Our predecessors have continuously vindicated this most approved form of devotion from the accusations of objectors, that they have extolled it with the highest praises, and have promoted it with the most ardent zeal, according as considerations of the period and of affairs in general have demanded. And it has come to pass by the providence of God, that the devout affection of Christ's faithful people towards the most Sacred Heart of Jesus daily obtains a great increase.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John
John 19:31-37At that time : The Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with Him. But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knows that what he said is true; that you also may believe. For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: "You shall not break a bone of Him" (cf. Exodus 12:46; Psalm 33:21). And again another scripture that said: "They shall look on Him whom they pierced" (Zacharias 12:10).
An Homily of Saint John Chrysostom
Number 85/84 on John, Number 3Dou you not see how mighty is the Truth? Through the zeal of the Jews the prophecy is fulfilled. And more than one prophecy was fulfilled. For when the soldiers came and broke the legs of the others, they broke not the legs of Christ. But yet these soldiers, to please the Jews, did pierce his side with a lance, and treat his body with contumely. O wicked and accursed crime! But be not troubled, beloved, or cast down. They indeed did it in ill-will, but they unwittingly contended for the truth, as verily the prophecy foretold: "They shall look on him whom they have pierced". And more than this, the evil deed served as a demonstration even afterwards to those who were without faith, such as Thomas and others like him. This ineffable mystery was also consummated to another end : "Forthwith came there out blood and water." Not without cause or by mere chance did these fountains flow, but because the Church was founded with Water and Blood.
Lesson viii
This is well-known to those who have been initiated, namely, to all who have been regenerated by the Water, and nourished with the Flesh and Blood, so that when you approach the awesome cup, you should come as if you were about to drink from the very side of Christ. And he that saw it bares record, and his record is true : as though to say: "Not from others have I heard it, but I myself was present, and saw it, and therefore my record of it is true." Truly indeed he thus speaks. For he speaks to us as of an insult, and not as of something great and wonderful, else thou might doubt his testimony ; but he, (thus shutting the mouth of heretics, and foretelling future mysteries, and mindful of the treasure to be contained in them,) enumerates one by one the events as they took place. "These things were done that the Scriptures should be fulfilled: 'A bone of him shall not be broken.'" For even though this was written concerning the lamb which the Jews used for their Passover, nevertheless this lamb was a figure which came first to show forth the reality yet to come, wherein the prophecy was to be perfectly fulfilled ; and that is why the Evangelist quotes the passage as a prophecy.
Lesson ix
Since the testimony he himself bares might not everywhere be held worthy of belief, he cites Moses, to intimate that this thing was not done by chance, but had already long ago been foretold in writing. By Moses it was said : "A bone of him shall not be broken." And again he rests his faith on the same Prophet : These things I have said, said he, that ye may learn how great is the resemblance between the figure and the reality. See what great care he takes, that what appears as disgraceful and ignominious may be believed. For that the body should be treated with contempt by the soldier, was far worse than its crucifixion. But nevertheless, he said, I have both said these things, and have said them most emphatically, that ye may believe. Let no one, therefore, deny credence to these things, nor in shame tamper with our beliefs. For those things which seem to be the most dishonoring, are in fact our greatest pride.
Let us pray:
O God, who in the Heart of Thy Son, wounded by our transgressions, dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow upon us the infinite wealth of Thy love; grant, we beseech Thee, that revering it with proper devotion, we may make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the same.
