Occurring Scripture for the Hour of Matins
Week of the Third Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday SaturdayLesson i
A reading from the first book of Kings
1 Kings 9:18-21And Saul came to Samuel in the midst of the gate and said: "Tell me, I pray, where is the house of the seer?" And Samuel answered Saul, saying: "I am the seer, go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me today, and I will let you go in the morning: and tell you all that is in your heart. And as for the asses, which were lost three days ago, be not solicitous, because they are found. And for whom shall be all the best things of Israel? Shall they not be for you and for all thy father's house?" And Saul answering, said: "Am not I a son of Jemini of the least tribe of Israel, and my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken this word to me?"
Lesson ii
1 Kings 9:22-25Then Samuel taking Saul and his servant, brought them into the parlor, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited. For there were about thirty men. And Samuel said to the cook: "Bring the portion, which I gave you, and commanded you to set it apart." And the cook took up the shoulder, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: "Behold what is left, set it before you, and eat: because it was kept of purpose for you, when I invited the people." And Saul ate with Samuel that day. And they went down from the high place into the town, and he spoke with Saul upon the top of the house: and he prepared a bed for Saul on the top of the house, and he slept.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 9:26-27;10:1And when they were risen in the morning, and it began now to be light, Samuel called Saul on the top of the house, saying: "Arise, that I may let you go." And Saul arose: and they went out both of them, he and Samuel. And as they were going down in the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul: "Speak to the servant to go before us, and pass on: but stand still a while, that I may tell you the word of the Lord." And Samuel took a little vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said: "Behold, the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his inheritance, and you shall deliver his people out of the hands of their enemies, that are round about them. And this shall be a sign unto you, that God has anointed you to be prince."
Where the Octave of the Sacred Heart is observed
Lesson iv
From the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XIAmong the various devotions paid to the Sacred Heart, the one foremost in importance and interest is assuredly the Act of Consecration, whereby we give to the divine Heart of Jesus both ourselves and all that is ours; in recognition of the truth that all we have comes to us out of the infinite charity of the eternal Deity. But it is expedient that any attempt of ours at self-consecration be accompanied with the purpose of making expiation (otherwise called reparation) to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. In consecration the predominant intention may be said to be the purpose to repay (as it were) the love of the Creator by the love of us his creatures. But since Love Uncreated is passed over by human forgetfulness, and dishonored by the sins of mankind, we should endeavor to repair such outrages; and the performance of this duty is ordinarily known as reparation.
Lesson v
If we are, for the stated reasons, to undertake both of those practices, we must recognize that we are impelled to the duty of reparation by the most powerful motives of justice and love: of justice, in order to expiate the injury done to God by our sins, and to re-establish through penance the divine order which was violated by them; of love, in order to suffer together with Christ, (who patiently endured all possible dishonor,) so that we may offer Him some solace in return for his sufferings. For it is our duty to do more than honor God by the worship of adoration, whereby we adore his infinite Majesty, or by means of prayer, when we recognize His supreme dominion over us, or by acts of thanksgiving, when we praise His infinite generosity towards us. Because we are sinners, burdened with many offences, we must also make satisfaction to the offended justice of God, because of the numberless sins, offences and negligences we have committed. Wherefore, we must add to the act of consecration, by which we offer ourselves to God, and become thereby, as it were, sacred unto God by reason of the holiness which naturally flows from an act of consecration, as the Angelic Doctor teaches. We must add the act of reparation, by means of which all our faults are blotted out, lest through some chance the sanctity of Infinite Justice spurn our arrogant unworthiness, and look upon the gift of ourselves as something to be rejected rather than accepted.
Lesson vi
All men are under obligation to make reparation; for our souls are disfigured, as the Christian faith teaches, by original sin as a result of the pitiable fall of Adam. We are also subject to passions, whereby we are corrupted in a truly sad state, and have thus made ourselves worthy of everlasting condemnation. It is true that the proud philosophers of this world deny these truths, and in their place do raise up again the ancient heresy of Pelagius: which taught that in human nature there is a certain innate goodness wherewith, by our own powers, we are raised up to ever higher levels of perfection; but such false theories, born of human pride, have been condemned by the Apostle in his saying that all men are by nature the children of wrath. As a matter of fact, from the very beginning of the creation of the world, mankind recognized, in one way or another, the obligation of making reparation, impelled to do so, as by a natural instinct, in an endeavor to placate God by offering public sacrifices to Him.
Lesson vii
The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 15:1-5At that time: the publicans and sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: "This man receives sinners, and eats with them." And He spoke to them this parable, saying: "What man of you that has a hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? And when he has found it, he lays it upon his shoulders, rejoicing: And coming home, he call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost. I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance. Or what woman having ten drachmas; if she lose one drachma, does not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it? And when she has found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma which I had lost. So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.
An Homily of Pope Saint Gregory the Great
XXXIV on the Gospels.Ye have heard, my brethren, from the Gospel which has just now been read, how that the publicans and sinners drew near unto our Redeemer, and how that He received them, not only to converse, but also to eat with Him. And when the Pharisees and Scribes saw it, they murmured. From this learn that true righteousness is merciful, and false righteousness is contemptuous, even though the righteous often feel moved with just indignation at sinners. But it is one thing to feel indignant through pride, and another to feel so through love of law.
Lesson viii
The righteous indeed look down upon sinners, and yet, as not despising them; they abandon them, and yet, as not without hope; they fight against them, and yet, as loving them all the while; for if they are moved to chasten them grievously as touching the outer man, yet is it through charity which offers sweetness to their inner man. In their hearts they prefer before themselves them whom they are correcting; they hold as better than themselves them whom they judge. And thus doing, they watch by carefulness over them, which are committed unto their charge, and, by lowly-mindedness, over themselves.
Lesson ix
On the other hand, they whose exaltation comes of a false righteousness, look down upon their neighbor, but are softened by no mercy toward his misery, and they are all the more sinful, because they perceive not that they themselves are sinners. Of such were those Pharisees who judged the Lord because He received sinners, and, in the dryness of their own heart, rebuked the very Fountain of mercy. They were sick of so desperate a sickness that they knew not of themselves that they were sick; but, that they might know that they were so, the Heavenly Physician applied to them His tender ointments, and, by means of a gracious parable, lanced the boil of their pride of heart.
Let us pray.
Collect: of the Sunday:
O God, the protector of all that trust in Thee, without Whom nothing is strong, and nothing is holy, multiply Thy mercies upon us; that having Thee for our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, so that we lose not those which are eternal.
Collect: of the Sacred Heart:
O God, Who in the Heart of Thy Son, wounded by our transgressions, does 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.
Lesson i
A reading from the First Book of Kings
1 Kings 10:17-19And Samuel called together the people to the Lord in Maspha: And he said to the children of Israel: Thus said the Lord the God of Israel: "I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kings who afflicted you. But you this day have rejected your God, the only one Who saved you out of all your evils and your tribulations: and you have said: 'Nay: but set a king over us.' Now therefore stand before the Lord by your tribes, and by your families."
Lesson ii
1 Kings 10:20-24And Samuel brought to him all the tribes of Israel, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. And he brought the tribe of Benjamin and the kindred thereof, and the lot fell upon the kindred of Metri, and it came to Saul the son of Cis. They sought him therefore and he was not found. And after this they consulted the Lord whether he would come thither. And the Lord answered: "Behold he is hidden at home." And they ran and fetched him thence: and he stood in the midst of the people, and he was higher than any of the people from the shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people: "Surely you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people. And all the people cried and said: "God save the king."
Lesson iii
1 Kings 10:25-27And Samuel told the people the law of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord: and Samuel sent away all the people, every one to his own house. Saul also departed to his own house in Gabaa: and there went with him a part of the army, whose hearts God had touched. But the children of Belial said: "Shall this fellow be able to save us?" And they despised him, and brought him no presents, but he dissembled as though he heard not.
Lesson i
A reading from the First Book of Kings
1 Kings 12:1-5And Samuel said to all Israel: "Behold I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you. And now the king goes before you: but I am old and grey: and my sons are with you: having then conversed with you from my youth unto this day, behold here I am. Speak of me before the Lord, and before his anointed, whether I have taken any man's ox, or ass: If I have wronged any man, if I have oppressed any man, if I have taken a bribe at any man's hand: and I will despise it this day, and will restore it to you. And they said: "You have not wronged us, nor oppressed us, nor taken anything at any man's hand." And he said to them: The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found any thing in my hand." And they said: "He is witness."
Lesson ii
1 Kings 12:6-9And Samuel said to the people: "It is the Lord, who made Moses and Aaron, and brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand up, that I may plead in judgment against you before the Lord, concerning all the kindness of the Lord, which He has shown to you, and to your fathers: How Jacob went into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord: and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of Egypt: and made them dwell in this place. And they forgot the Lord their God, and He delivered them into the hands of Sisara, captain of the army of Hasor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 12:10-14But afterwards they cried to the Lord, and said: "We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth: but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee. And the Lord sent Jerobaal, and Badan, and Jephte, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies round about, and you dwelt securely. But seeing that Naas king of the children of Ammon was come against you, you said to me: 'Nay, but a king shall reign over us': whereas the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore your king is here, whom you have chosen and desired: Behold the Lord has given you a king. If you will fear the Lord, and serve him, and hearken to his voice, and not provoke the mouth of the Lord: then shall both you, and the king who reigns over you, be followers of the Lord your God.
Lesson i
A reading from the First Book of Kings
1 Kings 13:1-4Saul was a child of ... years when he began to reign, and he reigned ... years over Israel. And Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel: and two thousand were with Saul in Machmas, and in mount Bethel: and a thousand with Jonathan in Gabaa of Benjamin, and the rest of the people he sent back every man to their dwellings. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines which was in Gabaa. And when the Philistines had heard of it, Saul sounded the trumpet over all the land, saying: "Let the Hebrews hear." And all Israel heard this report: Saul has smitten the garrison of the Philistines: and Israel took courage against the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Galgal.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 13:5-8The Philistines also were assembled to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of people besides, like the sand on the sea shore for number. And going up they camped in Machmas at the east of Bethaven. And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened, (for the people were distressed,) they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews passed over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Galaad. And when Saul was yet in Galgal, all the people that followed him were greatly afraid. And he waited seven days according to the appointment of Samuel, and Samuel came not to Galgal, and the people slipped away from him.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 13:9-14Then Saul said: "Bring me the holocaust, and the peace offerings." And he offered the holocaust. And when he had made an end of offering the holocaust, behold Samuel came: and Saul went forth to meet him and salute him. And Samuel said to him: "What have you done?" Saul answered: "Because I saw that the people slipped from me, and you had not come according to the days appointed, and the Philistines were gathered together in Machmas, I said: 'Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Galgal, and I have not appeased the face of the Lord.' Forced by necessity, I offered the holocaust." And Samuel said to Saul: "You have done foolishly, and have not kept the commandments of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. And if you had not done this, the Lord would now have established your kingdom over Israel for ever. But your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought him a man according to his own heart: and him has the Lord commanded to be prince over His people, because you have not observed that which the Lord commanded."
Lesson i
A reading from the First Book of Kings
1 Kings 14:6-11And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised, it may be the Lord will fight for us, because it is easy for the Lord to save either by many, or by few." And his armor bearer said to him: "Do all that pleases your mind: go where you will, and I will be with you wherever you have a mind." And Jonathan said: :"Behold we will go over to these men. And when we shall be seen by them, If they say to us to us: 'Stay till we come to you': let us stand still in our place, and not go up to them. But if they shall say: 'Come up to us': let us go up, because the Lord has delivered them into our hands, this shall be a sign for us." So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said: "Behold the Hebrews come out of the holes where they were hiding."
Lesson ii
1 Kings 14:12-15And the men of the garrison spoke to Jonathan, and to his armor bearer, and said: "Come up to us, and we will show you a thing." And Jonathan said to his armor bearer: "Let us go up, follow me: for the Lord has delivered them into the hands of Israel." And Jonathan went up creeping on his hands and feet, and his armor bearer after him. And some fell before Jonathan, others his armor bearer slew as he followed him. And the first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was of about twenty men, within half an acre of land, which a yoke of oxen would plough in a day. And there was a panic in the camp, through the fields: and all the people of the garrison, who had gone out to plunder, were terrified, and the earth trembled: and it happened as a miracle from God.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 14:16-20And the watchmen of Saul, who were in Gabaa of Benjamin looked, and saw the multitude overthrown, and fleeing this way and that. And Saul said to the people that were with him: "Look, and see who is gone from us." And when they had sought, it was found that Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. And Saul said to Achias: "Bring the ark of the Lord." (For the ark of God was there that day with the children of Israel.) And while Saul spoke to the priest, there arose a great uproar in the camp of the Philistines: and it got louder, and was heard more clearly. And Saul said to the priest: "Draw in thy hand." Then Saul and all the people that were with him, shouted together, and they came to the place of the fight: and behold, among the Philistines, every man's sword was turned upon his neighbor, and there was a very great slaughter.
Lesson i
A reading from the First Book of Kings
1 Kings 15:1-3And Samuel said to Saul: "The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his People Israel: now therefore listen to the voice of the Lord: Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I have reckoned up all that Amalec has done to Israel: I how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now therefore go, and attack Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he has: spare him not, nor covet any thing that is his: but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 15:4-8So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as a shepherd would count his lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda. And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent. And Saul said to the Cinites: "Go, depart and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy you with him. For you have shown kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinites departed from the midst of Amalec. And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, as far as Sur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword.
Lesson iii
1 Kings 15:9-11And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: "I am sorry that I have made Saul king: for he has forsaken Me, and has not executed My commandments." And Samuel was grieved, and he cried to the Lord all night.
Where the Octave of the Sacred Heart is observed:
Lesson iv
From a Sermon by St. Bernard the Abbot
Sermon 61 on the Canticle of Canticles, Nos. 3-5For us who are so frail and weak, where is to be found a sure and certain place of abiding safety, or of everlasting rest? Where except in the Wounds of the Savior? There alone I may dwell safely. There alone I may find a safety as great as his mighty power to save. The world may rage around me; the body may weigh me down; the devil may lay snares for me; but if I hide me there I cannot fall, for I am founded on the firm Rock. If I have committed a great sin; if my conscience is sore troubled; I will not despair, for I have always in remembrance the Wounds of the Lord. For in all truth: He was wounded for our transgressions. And there is no sin so deadly that it cannot be remitted through Christ's death. If then I keep in remembrance a remedy so powerful and efficacious, I cannot in this present life be terrified by any evil, no matter how malignant.
Lesson v
But as for me, since mercies thus abound, I take to myself whatever is lacking in me; yes, I take it to myself with confidence; I take it to myself from the compassion of the Lord, with whom every kind of mercy abounds. For openings are not wanting, through which these mercies may flow forth. They have pierced His hands and His feet; yes, and His side too they have pierced with a spear. It is though these clefts that I am permitted to suck honey from the Rock, and oil out of the flinty Rock, and to taste and see how gracious the Lord is. His thoughts are thoughts of peace, and I knew it not. For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been His counselor? But the nail which pierced has become for me a key which unlocks, so that the will of the Lord is set open unto me. How could I, with such an opening, do other than to see His will? For the nails cry aloud, and the Wounds speak, saying the truth: That God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
Lesson vi
The iron entered into his soul, and came close to His Heart, that He might truly know compassion for my infirmities. The secrets of His Heart lie open, through the Wounds of His body. In this way is that great mystery of love laid open, there lie open the bowels of the mercy of our God, whereby the Day-Spring from on high has visited us. But why should the bowels of mercy not lie open through the wounds? For in what has it appeared more clearly than in Thy wounds, that Thou, O Lord, art sweet and gentle, and of great mercy? For greater pity has no man, than that a man lay down his life for those who were doomed and condemned to death. From this pity of the Lord is all my merit. I am not entirely destitute of merit, so long as He is not wanting in compassion. And if the mercies of the Lord are from eternity unto eternity, I also will sing the mercies of the Lord forever.
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, has 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).
A Homily of Saint Augustine, Bishop
Tract CXX on John, Nos. 2-3"But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water." Note that the Evangelist makes use of a word of special significance. He said not: "Penetrated his side": nor yet: "Wounded": nor any other thing; but rather: "Opened": that thereby in a sense the door of life might be thrown open, from whence the Sacraments of the Church have flowed forth, without which there is no entrance into that life which is the only true life. For that blood was shed for the remission of sins; and that water had brought into being the life-giving flagon, which same is both the laver of Baptism and the cup that gives refreshment to them that thirst. All this was announced long before, when Noah was commanded to make a door in the side of the ark, through which all living creatures which were not destined to perish in the flood might enter; and this same door is a figure of the Church.
Another figure is also to be found in the first woman. For she was made out of the side of the first man whilst he slept a deep sleep; and she was called: "Life": or as it may be interpreted: "The Mother of all living." Thus was indicated the great good which was later to come to pass, even before the great evil of transgression had come into being. Here, in the Gospel, the second Adam is shown as bowing His head, and sleeping His deep sleep upon the Cross, that a bride might be formed for Him out of that which came forth from His side as He slept. What a death, whereby the dead are raised anew to life! How clean and cleansing is this blood! What is more health giving than this wound! And he that saw it, said that his record is true: and he knows that what he says is true, that you might believe. He said not: "That you might know"; but: "That you might believe." For he knows, who has seen, that he, who has not seen, might believe his record. And believing belongs more to the nature of faith than does seeing.
Lesson ix
Commemoration of the Saint of the Day
Lesson i
A reading from the First Book of Kings
1 Kings 16:1-3And the Lord said to Samuel: "How long will you mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and come, that I may send you to Isai the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons." And Samuel said: "How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he will kill me." And the Lord said: "You shall take a calf of the herd with you, and you shall say: "I have come to sacrifice to the Lord." And you shall call Isai to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do, and you shall anoint the one whom I show to you.
Lesson ii
1 Kings 16: 4-11Then Samuel did as the Lord said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: "Is your coming here peaceable?" And he said: "It is peaceable: I have come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he purified Isai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And when they had come in, he saw Eliab, and said: "Is the Lord's anointed before him?" And the Lord said to Samuel: "Look not to his countenance, nor to the height of his stature: because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man: for man sees those things that appear, but the Lord looks into the heart." And Isai called Abinadab, and brought him before Samuel. And he said: "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." And Isai brought Samma, and he said of him: "Neither has the Lord chosen this one.' Isai therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Isai: The Lord has not chosen any of these." And Samuel said to Isai: "Are all of your sons here?" He answered: "There remains a young one, who is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Isai: "Send, and fetch him."
The third lesson is from the Office of the feast or from the Saturday Office of the Blessed Virgin
