Vigils Reading - Epiphany of the Lord
2025-01-05
THE GLORY OF CHRIST
From a sermon by St John Henry Newman
◊◊◊
The Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of
Christ. The word may be taken to mean the manifestation of His glory, and leads
us to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in the midst of His
court, with His servants around Him, and His guards in attendance. At
Christmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His temptation; and on
Good Friday His sufferings and death; and on Easter Day His victory; and on
Ascension Thursday His return to the Father; and in Advent we anticipate His
second coming. And in all of these seasons He does something, or suffers
something: but in the Epiphany and the weeks after it, we celebrate Him, not as
on His field of battle, or in His solitary retreat, but as an august and glorious
King; we view Him as the Object of our worship.
Then only, during His whole earthly history, did He fulfil the type of
Solomon, and held (as I may say) a court, and received the homage of His
subjects; namely, when He was an infant. His throne was His undefiled
mother’s arms; His chamber of state was a cottage or a cave; the worshippers
were the wise men of the East, and they brought Him presents, gold,
frankincense and myrrh. All around and about Him seemed of earth, except to
the eye of faith; one note alone had He of divinity. As the great of this world are
often plainly dressed, and look like other people, except for having some one
costly ornament on their breast or on their brow; so the Son of Mary in His lowly
dwelling, and in an infant’s form, was declared to be the Son of God Most High,
the Father of ages, and the Prince of Peace, by His star; a wonderful appearance
which had guided the wise men all the way from the East, even unto Bethlehem.
This being the character of this Sacred Season, our services throughout it,
as far as they are proper to it, are full of the image of a king in his royal court, of a
sovereign surrounded by subjects, of a glorious prince upon a throne. There is
no thought of war, or of strife, or of suffering, or of triumph, or of vengeance
connected with the Epiphany, but of august majesty, of power, of prosperity, of
splendor, of serenity, of benignity. Now, if at any time, it is fit to say, “The Lord
is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.” “The Lord sits
above the waters, and the Lord remains a king forever.” “The Lord of Hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” “O come, let us worship, and fall down,
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.” “O magnify the Lord our God, and fall
down before His footstool, for He is holy.” “O worship the Lord in the beauty of
holiness; bring presents, and come into His courts.”

Vigils Reading
2025-01-06
THE SEASON OF MAJESTY
The continuation of a sermon by St John Henry Newman
◊◊◊
You will observe, then, that the only display of royal greatness, the only
season of majesty, homage and glory, which our Lord had on earth, was in His
infancy and youth. Gabriel’s message to Mary was in its style and manner such as
befitted an Angel speaking to Christ’s Mother. Elizabeth, too, saluted Mary, and the
future Baptist his hidden Lord, in the same honorable way. Angels announced His
birth, and the shepherds worshiped. A star appeared, and the wise men rose from
the East and made Him offerings. He was brought to the temple, and Simeon took
Him in his arms, and returned thanks for Him. He grew to twelve years old, and
again He appeared in the temple, and took His seat in the midst of the doctors. But
here His earthly majesty had its end, or if seen afterwards, it was but now and then,
by glimpses and by sudden gleams, but with no sustained light and no diffused
radiance.
We are told at the close of the last-mentioned narrative, “And He went down
with His parents, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.” His subjection
and servitude now began in fact. He had come in the form of a servant, and now He
took on a servant’s office. How much is contained in the idea of His subjection! and
it began, and His time of glory ended, when He was twelve years old.
Solomon, the great type of the Prince of Peace, reigned for forty years, and
his name and greatness was known far and wide through the East. Joseph, the
much-loved son of Jacob, who in an earlier age of the Church, was a type of Christ
in His kingdom, was in power and favor eighty years, twice as long as Solomon. But
Christ, the true Revealer of secrets, and the Dispenser of the Bread of life, the true
wisdom and majesty of the Father, manifested His glory only in His early years,
and then the sun of Righteousness was clouded. For He was not to reign really, till
He left the world. He has reigned ever since; nay, reigned in the world, though He is
not sensible presence in it – the invisible King of a visible kingdom – for He came
on earth only to show what His reign would be, after He had left it, and to submit to
suffering and dishonor, that He might reign. Christ descends to the shadows of this
world, with the transitory tokens on Him of that future glory into which He could
not enter till He had suffered. The star burned brightly over Him for a while,
though it then faded away.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-07
A HYMN ON THE MANIFESTATION
OF CHRIST
By St Ephrem the Syrian
◊◊◊
Blessed is the King Who has come and will come!
The Redeemer shone forth to the blind, but they looked to others.
The Sun showed His rays, but they were clothed in darkness.
The Resplendent One sent His light, and it summoned the children of light
to reveal to the children of darkness, “Behold in your midst is the light,
but over your eyes a veil.” To You be glory, New Sun!
The prophets announced His birth but did not specify His time.
He sent the Magi, and they came and declared His time.
But the Magi who made known the time did not specify where the Infant was.
The glorious star of light ran and showed were the Infant was…
A pair of announcers expressed the properties of the Only-Begotten:
the star of light and John – one a shining forth, the other a voice.
For the One Announced was also a Word and a Light.
Voice and ray serve Him. The shining forth announced His light
and the voice His wisdom. More blessed is the First-born than His announcers!
John gazed at Him and cried, “This is the Lamb of God!”
The Lamb grew fat and matured, and He came to be an offering.
John was not afraid to cry, “Behold, it is He!” –
even if the slayers attack, even if it was the time of sprinkling
so that forgiveness would be by His blood, Blessed is the Compensator of our
sins.
The glorious star of light was not like John,
for there was a place where it rose and made straight the way for the simple,
but there was a place where it sank and made the path of the wolves go astray.
It kept the Lamb from the slaughter so that the day for the slaughter would
come, that in Him the flock would be pardoned. Blessed is He in Whom
His possessions were redeemed!

Vigils Reading
2025-01-08
TAKING GOD ON HIS OWN TERMS
By Fr Edward Leen4
◊◊◊
Everybody knows that the call of the Magi typifies the vocation of the
Gentiles to the Church of God. But to penetrate more deeply into this mystery
and to read therein an experience common to a multitude of souls demands a
deeper understanding of God’s way of manifesting himself to his creatures, and
a keener discernment of his action in human souls. God is a hidden God, and
must be so for us. He manifests himself obscurely. God does not hide himself
from us purposely or to make approach to him more difficult. He desires
revelation of himself to us, and approach to him on our part. God in his
approach to us but tempters his brilliancy to accommodate it to our weak and
diseased spiritual vision. He, as it were, takes care not to hurt our soul’s sight.
But he aims at revelation through dimmed radiance. The incarnation, which is
the utmost concealment of the Godhead that there is, or that can be — except
that of the Eucharist alone — is the greatest revelation of God.
That we are dull of perception is certainly not due to the mode in which
God reveals himself, but must be traceable to our fault. It is the poor quality of
our faith that is responsible for this dullness. We do not take God on his own
conditions. We are always given to imposing ours on him. We have a tendency
to decide for ourselves what shall be the sensible exterior vesture of God’s
message. We clothe that message with a garment woven of our own ideas and
imaginings, and we reject the material selected by God himself for his
revelation.
Not so the wise men. They took God on his own terms. We choose a
certain mode for his manifestation, and they acknowledged him as God in the
lowliness of the guise in which he appeared. They looked on a babe and they said
God. Their faith was superb. That the three wise men were able to discern in the
form of a helpless babe, lying in an earthly Mother’s frail arms, under a
miserable roof, the king of kings, the great redeemer of the human race that had
been spoken of in prophecy for centuries before, was a truly marvelous thing. It
is a proof that they must have been men of very pure lives and to a large extent
immune from the corruption of the world in which they lived. Gifted with great
science, as their name implies, they must have had clear and docile and simple
minds, minds eager to acquire the truth and ready to submit to it, no matter how
much it might conflict with the traditions and prejudices of their race.
The wonderful faith of these men passes all belief. Their appearance in the
pages of Saint Matthew is like a sudden burst of glorious sunshine, breaking in a
flood of glory, through a sky wrapped in a mantle of somber grey. And the star
went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was; and seeing
the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house
they found the child with Mary his Mother. Their long quest had come to an
end. As they saw the humble roof under which the child was, and as they
perceived the lowly simple conditions of his parents, were they taken aback?
Had they any misgivings? Were they harassed by any doubts? Were they
expected to discern in this humble babe an object of their kingly homage? It was
the supreme test to which they were put, and their magnificent faith triumphed
over all appearances. Their hearts responded loyally to the touch of grace, for
they were unprejudiced and ready to concede to God whatever form he should
choose for his manifestation.

4 In the Likeness of Christ, pp. 56-68; reprinted in Meditations on the Sunday Gospels: Year A; introduced and edited by John
E. Rotelle, Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1995, pp. 32-33.9

Vigils Reading
2025-01-09
GOD’S DISCRETION IN
REVEALING HIMSELF
By Réné Voillaume
◊◊◊
Jesus appears in the world without giving any warning of his coming and
without making known to any neighbor who he is. Had he come into the world
in his house at Nazareth, all his relatives would have made an event of his birth
with the neighbors and the other inhabitants of the town. He would have been
heralded and celebrated. He would thus have allowed himself to behave well
enough like a true little Nazarene, but he would have been confiscated, as it
were, by his earthly family and his earthly country. Quite to the contrary, he
elects to be born away from home, on a journey, amid an anonymous crowd; in
this way, he would really belong to everybody, and could come quietly and
discreetly, with no tumult and excitement.
God, if he had so wished, could naturally have made all sorts of efforts to
spread the news abroad. And if any proof were needed of this, one could point to
his having mobilized the angels but contented himself with bringing a few poor
shepherds to the manger. It is also clear from this that he could easily have
brought the whole of Jerusalem and all the just among the Israelites with pure
and upright hearts, worshipers of God and living in expectancy of the Messiah.
And there were in fact many of them, all true friends of his, in the country of
Judea and Galilee!
But it is obvious that God did not wish to impose his Son: people must
come to him by seeking and discovering him. Even the shepherds and the Wise
Men, though warned personally, had to search for him with the help of a sign
which, rather than leading them easily and directly to the manger, was little
more than a suggestion to send them on their way. The shepherds must have
gone to many houses and stables before they found the right babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes.
As for the Magi, they had to show some initiative in order to discover, by
the normal means at their disposal, the birthplace of the young king of Israel.
Jesus was infinitely discreet; he simply waited, and such a way of appearing
could have made us somewhat impatient, had it not been proved for centuries
back that people have found in this very discretion a true sign of God. That sign
of weakness, which draws people in spite of themselves, makes them surrender
and acknowledge themselves outdone, without Jesus ever having forced himself
upon them in any way other than a certain presence — a presence that waits, and
invites, and demonstrates God’s heaven in a humble manner which gives hope
and humility, peace and love — just how, one does not really know! God is a
master who knows how to go about speaking to us with the use of the things of
the earth — these various beings, both animate and inanimate — and the events
of human history.

Vigils Reading - St Gregory of Nyssa
2025-01-10
ON PURITY OF HEART
From a commentary by St Gregory of Nyssa
◊◊◊
Now the divine nature, as it is in itself, according to its essence,
transcends every act of comprehensive knowledge, and it cannot be approached
or attained by our speculation. Mortals have never discovered a faculty to
comprehend the incomprehensible; nor have we ever been able to devise an
intellectual technique for grasping the incomprehensible. For this reason the
great Apostle calls God’s ways unsearchable, teaching us that the way that leads
to knowledge of the divine nature is inaccessible to our reason; and hence none
of those who have lived before us has given us the slightest hint of
comprehension suggesting that we might know that which in itself is above all
knowledge.
Yet the Lord does not deceive us when he promises that the pure of heart
shall see God; nor does Paul deceive us when he teaches that no one has seen
God nor can see Him. The Lord does not say that it is blessed to know something
about God, but rather to possess God in oneself: Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they shall see God. And this teaches us that the one who purifies his heart of
every creature and of every passionate impulse will see the image of the divine
nature in his own beauty. So too in this short sentence the Word, I think, is
giving us the following advise: All you mortals who have within yourselves a
desire to behold the supreme Good, when you are told that the majesty of God is
exalted above the heavens, that the divine glory is inexpressible, its beauty
indescribable, its nature inaccessible, do not despair at never being able to
behold what you desire. For you do have within your grasp that degree of the
knowledge of God which you can attain. For, when God made you, Hr at once
endowed your nature with this perfection: upon the structure of your nature He
imprinted an imitation of the perfections of His own nature, just as one would
impress upon wax the outline of an emblem. But the wickedness that has been
poured all over this divine engraving has made your perfection useless and
hidden it with a vicious coating. You must then wash away, by a life of virtue, the
dirt that has come to cling to your heart like plaster, and then your divine beauty
will once again shine forth.
It is just like those who look at the sun in a mirror. Even though they
cannot look up directly at the heavens, they do see the sun in the mirror’s
reflection just as much as those who look directly at the sun. So it is, says our
Lord, with you. Even though you are not strong enough to see the light itself, yet
you will find within yourselves what you are seeking, if you would but return to
the grace of that image which was established within you from the beginning.
For the Godhead is all purity, freedom from passion, the absence of all evil. And
if you possess these qualities, God will surely be within you. When your mind is
untainted by any evil, free of passion, purified of all stain, then will you be
blessed because your eye is clear. Then because you have been purified you will
perceive things that are invisible to the unpurified. The dark cloud of matter will
be removed from the eye of your soul, and then you will see clearly the blessed
vision within the pure brilliance of your own heart. And what is this vision? It is
purity, holiness, simplicity, and other such brilliant reflections of the nature of
God; for it is in these that God is seen.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-11
TODAY HE MANIFESTED
HIS GLORY
From a sermon by Blessed Guerric of Igny
◊◊◊
“Arise, be enlightened, Jerusalem, for your Light has come.” This present
day of lights has been enlightened for us and consecrated by the Light of Light.
He had lain hidden and unknown, but today he has vouchsafed to reveal himself
to the world for the enlightenment of all nations. For today he revealed himself
to the Chaldeans by the sign of a new star, dedicating in them as in first fruits the
faith of all nations. Today he revealed himself to the Jews, by the witness not
only of John but also of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, when, baptized in the
Jordan, he consecrated the baptism of all. Today he manifested his glory before
his disciples when by changing water into wine he prefigured that ineffable
mystery in which by his word the substance of things are changed…
The Lord indeed had come; he was in the world, and the world was made
through him, but the world did not know him. He was born, but he was not
known, until the day of light began to manifest him. So the Prophet says: “O new
Jerusalem, great city of the new king, arise, be enlightened, for your light has
come.” Arise, you who sit in darkness; look at the light which has risen up in the
darkness but is not mastered by the darkness. Draw near to him and be
enlightened, in his light you shall see the light, and it will be said to you: “You
were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Look upon the Eternal
Light which has tempered itself to your gaze, so that he who dwells in
inaccessible light affords access even to weak and bleary eyes. See the Light in a
lamp of earthenware, the Sun in a cloud, God in man, the Splendor of Glory and
Brightness of Eternal Light in the clay vessel of your flesh.
Majesty indeed lies hid in human nature, power in lowliness; but signs
and prodigies break through the covering and leave no doubt as to their origin.
“The works which I do,” he says, “bear witness to me.” Great indeed is the
witness of John, who came to bear witness as a lamp to the light. But much
greater is that heavenly witness which the Father and the Holy Spirit bore to the
Son, the Father by his voice, the spirit in the form of a dove; since on the
evidence of two witnesses every claim is established… A new-born child cries on
earth while in the heavens he creates a new star, so that light may witness to
Light, a star to the Sun, and so that kings in the splendor of its rising may be led
to the Eternal Splendor which has also risen up…
Thanks be to you who bade light shine out of darkness and have kindled a
light in our hearts whose shining is to make known your glory as you have
revealed it in the features of Jesus Christ… We know indeed through faith,
holding on to it as to a trustworthy pledge so that we shall know by sight too. In
the meantime increase our faith, leading us on from faith to faith, from
brightness to brightness, by your Spirit, so that from day to day we may enter
more deeply into the treasures of light…until, through faith, we are led to the
vision of your face, as if led by a leading star to our Leader at Bethlehem.

Skema
2025-01-12
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
1st Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
January 12 – 18, 2025

Sun
12
Mon
13
Tue
14
Wed
15
Thu
16
Fri
17
Sat
18

Office
Baptism of the Lord
Weekday
Weekday
SS Maur & Placid
Office for Vocations
St Anthony, Abbot
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Isa 42:1-9, 49:1-9
1 Kings 1:1-31
1 Kings 1:32-53
1 Kings 2:1-12
1 Kings 2:13-35
1 Kings 2:36-46
1 Kings 3:1-15

Lauds
Acts 19:1-7
Joel 1:1-8
Joel 1:9-12
Joel 1:13-20
Joel 2:1-6
Joel 2:7-11
Joel 2:12-17

Mass
21
305
306
307
308
309
310

1st
Isa 40:1-5, 9-11
Heb 1:1-6
Heb 2:5-12
Heb 2:14-18
Heb 3:7-14
Heb 4:1-5, 11
Heb 4:12-16

2nd
Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
1 Cor 1:1-9

Gospel
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Mark 1:14-20
Mark 1:21-28
Mark 1:29-39
Mark 1:40-45
Mark 2:1-12
Mark 2:13-17

Vespers
Rev 21:1-7
1 Cor 1:1-9
1 Cor 1:10-17
1 Cor 1:18-25
1 Cor 1:26-31
1 Cor 2:1-5
1 Cor 2:6-13

Vigils Reading - Baptism of the Lord
2025-01-12
BY WATER AND
THE HOLY SPIRIT
From a commentary by Hippolytus of Rome
◊◊◊
As soon as he had been baptized, Jesus came out of the water. The
heavens were opened to him and the Spirit of God in the form of a dove came
down and rested on him. Then a voice from heaven said: This is my beloved
son, in whom I am well pleased.
If the Lord had yielded to John’s persuasion and had not been baptized,
do you realize what great blessings and how many we should have been
deprived of? Heaven was closed until then; our homeland on high was
inaccessible. Once we had descended into the depths we were incapable of rising
again to such lofty heights. The Lord was not only baptized himself; he also
renewed our fallen nature and restored to us our status as God’s children. At
once the heavens were opened to him. The world we see was reconciled with the
world that lies beyond our vision; the angels were filled with joy, earthly
disorders were remedied; mysteries were revealed; enemies were made friends.
The heavens were opened to him you have heard the evangelist say. This
happened for three wonderful reasons. The heavenly bridal chamber had to
open its shining gates to Christ at his baptism because he was himself the
bridegroom. The gates of heaven also had to be lifted up to allow the Holy Spirit
to descend in the form of a dove and the Father’s voice to resound far and wide.
The heavens were opened to him and a voice said: This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.
This is my beloved Son who appeared on earth without leaving his
Father’s side. He both appeared and did not appear, for he was not what he
seemed. As far as appearance goes the one who gives baptism is superior to the
one who receives it. This is why the Father sent the Holy Spirit down on him
from heaven. As in Noah’s ark a dove revealed God’s love for the human race, so
now it was in the form of a dove, as though with an olive branch in its beak that
the spirit descended. He did so to make sure that the Father’s voice would be
recognized and the ancient mystery would be believed. Which prophesy? The
one that says: The Father’s voice resounded over the waters. The God of glory
thunders. The Lord thunders across many waters. And what does he say? This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Pay close attention now, I beg you, for I want to return to the fountain of
life and contemplate its healing waters at their source. The Father of
immortality sent His immortal Son and Word into the world; he came to us to
cleanse us with the water and the spirit. To give us a new birth that would make
our bodies and souls immortal, He breathed into us the Spirit of life and armed
us with incorruptibility.
Therefore in a herald’s voice I cry: Peoples of every nation; come and
receive the immortality given in baptism. To you who have spent all the days of
your life in the darkness of ignorance I bring the good news of life. Leave your
slavery for freedom, the tyrant’s yoke for a kingdom. corruptibility for eternal
life. Do you wish to know how to do this? By water and the Holy Spirit. That is to
say, by the water through which we are born again and given life, and by the
Spirit who is the Comforter sent for your sake to make you a child of God.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-13
THE LIVING
APOSTOLIC CHURCH
By Cardinal Jean Danielou
◊◊◊
It is the manhood of Jesus that is the Temple of the new Law, but this
manhood must be taken as a whole, that is to say, it is the Mystical Body in its
entirety; this is the complete and final Temple. The dwelling of God is the
Christian community whose Head is in heaven, and whose members are still
making their earthly pilgrimage; it is the true Temple of which the Temple of
stone was the figure. “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ“…
There is a basic difference between the Temple at Jerusalem and the
Christian Church. Under the old law, the presence of God is connected with the
building of stone; under the new law, it is connected with the spiritual
community. The church of stone is not in the succession of the Temple, but of the
synagogue; it is the assembly, the ecclesia, the meeting-place. Or rather, at the
same time it continues both of them, since it is the normal place for the sacrifice.
But it can be dispensed with; it is not necessary that it should be there for the
celebration of the Mass, while the community is necessary.
Thus is fulfilled the saying of Jesus: “Where there are two or three
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them“. It is the
essential condition required for the offering of an acceptable host that is
presented in the Sermon on the Mount, where it is written: “If you offer your gift
at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has any thing against
you, go first to be reconciled to your brother: and then coming you shall offer
your gift“. No offering is accepted save that which is made in charity, in
community. For there the temple is, the one and only place where man is in the
presence of God.
This is an extraordinary fact, as extraordinary in its own order as the
presence of God in the Temple at Jerusalem. God enters into relationship not
with isolated souls, but with the community. Through the baptismal rites, the
entry of the catechumen into the church of stone is a figure of entry into the living
Church, into the community which is the place of meeting with God. Of this
meeting the Eucharist is the permanent sign, being at once the sacrament of the
mystical body and the sign of the real presence, and bringing about at the same
time union with God and the strengthening of the bonds of charity. Sin has the
effect simultaneously of alienating the sinner from the presence of God, and of
separating the sinner from the community. The primitive discipline of the
Church made this clear when it excluded the sinner publicly from the community.
The sinner still remains excluded from communion; and reconciliation with God
is necessarily required by the community as intermediary. This is the meaning of
confession, in which the priest represents the people, which itself represents God.
This is why the Church has the deposit of the living Word of God. It is in her
that the Word mysteriously dwells, thus continuing the Incarnation of the Logos.
We come to faith in Christ not by the study of dead literary documents, but in a
preliminary way through the living witness of an organism sustained and
animated by Christ, through the teaching of the living Apostolic Church; in a full
and effective way by immediate contact with the living Christ in the Church,
through the operation of grace acting in all its fullness in the sacrament.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-14
HE INCLINES TO ME
AND I TO HIM
From a sermon on the Song of Songs by St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
[In the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, he quotes Scripture, saying “It
is written in the law of Moses: ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the
grain.'”] It is obvious that what the Apostle says about oxen has no reference to the
Bride [of Christ, which is the Church]; he who loves her and gave himself for her
must needs care for her. Is she not that lost sheep whose care came before even that of
the heavenly flock? The shepherd left the rest and came to earth to find her. He
sought her diligently, and when he found her he did not lead her, but carried her
back! Then on her account he called the angels together and celebrated a new and
joyful festival with her. How then can it be said that he will not care for her, when he
deigned to carry her on his shoulders?
She is not mistaken, then, when she says, ‘The Lord takes thought for me’, nor
is she deceived when she says, ‘The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me’, or when she
says anything else which shows God’s love for her. Thus it is that she speaks of the
Lord of Hosts as her beloved, and glories that he who judges all things in tranquility
cares for her. Why should she not glory? She has heard him saying to her, ‘Can a
woman forget her child, and not have compassion on him? And even if she does
forget him, yet I will not forget you.’ Again, ‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous.’
Now what is the Bride but the congregation of the righteous? What is she but the
generation of those who seek the face of the Bridegroom? It cannot be that he should
incline to her, and she not incline to him. Therefore she says, ‘He inclines to me and I
to him.’ He inclines to me because he is good and gracious; I incline to him because I
am not ungrateful. He gives me grace from his graciousness; I give him gratitude for
grace. He has a care for my deliverance and my salvation; I for his honor and the
fulfillment of his will. He has a care for me, and for no other, for I am his only dove; I
have a care for him and for no other; I do not hear the voice of others, nor do I listen to
those who say “Look, here is Christ” or “look, there he is!”’ It is the Church who
speaks.

Vigils Reading - SS Maur & Placid
2025-01-15
SAINTS MAUR AND PLACID
From the “Dialogues” of St Gregory the Great
◊◊◊
The holy man, St Benedict, having returned to Subiaco, long continued to
shine by his virtue and miracles, and assembled a great number of solitaries
who consecrated themselves to the service of God, so that, with the aid of our
Lord Jesus Christ, he built twelve monasteries, placing in each twelve Religious
with an Abbot to govern them. He retained with himself only a few of his
disciples who, he thought, still needed his presence to be better formed to
perfection. It was at this time that many persons in Rome, conspicuous for their
nobility and virtue, began to visit him and offer their children that he might
mold them to piety, and teach them to live for God alone. Aequitas and
Tertullus, who had the honor of being Roman Patricians, came to see the saint
and confided to his care their two children; the former was distinguished for
spotless innocence of life, and merited, though young, to be chosen by his
master to assist him in his functions. As to Placid, being only a boy, he was
subject to the weaknesses inseparable from tender age…
The venerable Benedict being one day in his cell, the boy Placid…went out
to fetch water from the lake, but, when dipping his pitcher into the water, not
taking sufficient heed, his body followed the vessel and he fell into the lake. The
waves immediately bore him out from the land as far as the usual flight of an
arrow. The saint, who was in his cell, knew of the sad accident at that very
instant, and at once calling Maurus, his disciple, said to him: “Brother Maurus,
run with all speed; the boy who went to fetch water fell into the lake and has
been already carried off a long distance.”
The thing wonderful and unheard of since that instance of the Apostle
Peter! Maurus having asked and received the blessing, ran to the lake to execute
the order of his Abbot. Thinking he was treading upon dry land, he advanced to
the very place whither the waves had carried off the child, and laying hold of him
by the hair, brought him back with great haste to the shore. Having reached the
land, he began to reflect on what he did, and casting a look behind, saw that he
had been running over the waves. He was astonished thereat and very much
afraid, seeing that he had performed what he would not have dared to undertake
if he had been aware of what he was doing. Having returned to the monastery,
he narrated the whole occurrence to the Abbot. The venerable Benedict did not
attribute this miracle to his own merit, but to the obedience of the disciple.
Maurus, on the other hand, said he was only fulfilling a command, and could
have no share in a miracle which he unconsciously performed.
During this pious dispute arising from the humility of the holy Abbot and
his disciple, the boy rescued from peril presented himself as arbitrator, and put
an end to the contest thus: “When I was being drawn out of the waves, I saw the
Abbot’s robe above my head, and it seemed to me that it was he who delivered
me from the water.”…
An ancient tradition says that the monk Maurus was sent into Gaul by the
same holy Father. There, according to the same tradition, he founded a
monastery at Glannofol; after having governed it for a long time, he died in the
Lord in a good old age, renowned for his sanctity and miracles… while Placid died
a martyr’s death in Sicily in 541, a few years before the death of St Benedict
himself.

Vigils Reading - Office for Vocations
2025-01-16
THE PROMISES WHICH
YOUR LIPS HAVE UTTERED
From “The Mirror of Charity” by St Aelred of Rievaulx
◊◊◊
These three elements — stability, conversion of life, and obedience —
constitute the essential character of monastic profession… Blessed Benedict
recommends obedience, which he wants to be neither tardy nor tepid, neither
morose nor grumbling, unwavering in the face of injuries and adversities, and
unflagging even in the face of death…
How then can anyone who does not keep these things keep to his
profession? Someone will say: if someone is proud, stubborn, impatient, and yet
observes all the things mentioned above, must we say that he keeps the Rule of
Saint Benedict? I maintain that if a monk has committed any of these faults
against God’s law, he will not be guilty of transgressing his profession if he
makes amends for them according to the means prescribed by the Rule.
But what if someone looks at the Rule of Saint Benedict as a tool for
pruning away vices more easily and fulfilling the gospel precepts more carefully,
and yet, as could happen, abusing this excellent tool, he neither prunes away his
vices nor acquires virtues by it. Does he not keep the Rule to his peril then, and
still not fulfill Christ’s precepts? Does blessed Benedict not allude to this? We
are going to establish, he says, a school of the Lord’s service, in which we hope
not to institute anything harsh or burdensome…
To beginners, of course, this strictness seems not inconsiderable when
they think about the meager, paltry quantity of food and drink, the roughness of
the clothing, the discomforts of fasts and vigils, the wearing grind of daily work,
and all the other things we find he instituted in the Rule. If anyone does not
agree that the Rule consists of these alone, at least let him admit what cannot be
denied except by stubborn obstinacy: that our profession and Rule consist of
both, that is, of virtues and observances, and let him therefore not refuse to
admit that we necessarily practice both.
If you have charity it is not necessary for you to be forced to fulfill the
promises which your lips have uttered. If you scorn fulfilling the things you
promised by putting your signature to them and calling on God and his saints as
your witnesses, you can be very sure you do not have charity. For do you love
someone you mock? If anyone does other than he has promised, he said, let him
know that he will be condemned by the God whom he mocks.

Vigils Reading - St Anthony, Abbot
2025-01-17
THE PATH OF VIRTUE
From “The Life of Anthony” by St Athanasius
◊◊◊
All the monks were one day gathered around Anthony so as to hear his
words. He said to them with the authority of a prophet: “The Holy Scriptures are
sufficient for our instruction; nevertheless it is a good thing to encourage each
other mutually in the faith and to urge one another in discourse. You, therefore,
in a filial manner, bring what you know to your father, and I, your elder, will
transmit to you something of what I have experienced.
In the first place, let us all endeavor together not to become lax after
having begun well, and not to be discouraged in the face of difficulties. Let us
not say to ourselves: We have been living the ascetical life for a long time. On
the contrary, let us increase our ardor every day as if we were just beginning, for
a person’s whole life is very short compared with the centuries to come, and the
whole of time present is nothing compared with eternal life… After combating
on earth we shall obtain no earthly inheritance but a celestial one, and when we
have left this corruptible body we shall receive it again incorruptible. Therefore,
dear sons, let us not be discouraged nor find the time long. Let us not believe
ourselves doing too much, for ‘The sufferings of this present time cannot be
compared to the glory that will be revealed in us.’
For this reason, my sons, let us remain firm in asceticism and flee from
sloth. The Lord is working with us, as it is written: ‘God collaborates for good
with the one who has chosen what is good.’ In order to avoid negligence we will
do well to meditate upon the Apostle’s words: ‘I die every day’. If, in fact, we live
as if each day were that of our death, we shall not sin. This means that every day,
on waking, we must think that we shall not last until evening; and every night, in
falling asleep, we must think that we shall not reawaken.
Having thus begun and walked along the path of virtue, let us press
straight on, straining forward. Let no one look back, like Lot’s wife, especially as
the Lord has said: ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for
the kingdom of God.’ Looking back is nothing else than feeling regret, and
renewing a taste for things of the world.
Do not fear, on hearing talk of virtue, that it will remain foreign to you. It is
not far from us nor outside of us. It is a work which is taking place within us, and
an easy thing if only we wish it. The Greeks leave their country and cross the sea
to gain learning, but as for us we have no need to travel to obtain the kingdom of
heaven, nor to cross the ocean to become instructed in virtue. The Lord indeed
said: ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ So virtue has need only of our will, as it
is in us and finds its source in ourselves… If we had to go outside of ourselves to
acquire virtue, it would be difficult; but since it is actually within us, let us keep
ourselves from evil thoughts and preserve our soul for the Lord as a trust received
from him, to the end that he may recognize his handiwork, for it is in the state in
which he formed it.

Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
2025-01-18
IN PRAISE OF THE
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY’S HUMILITY
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
Not everyone is a virgin, but there are still fewer who join humility to
virginity, as does Mary. So if you can do no more than admire Mary’s virginity,
try to imitate her humility and for you this will be enough.
But in Mary there is something else still more admirable [than humility
joined to her virginity]; her childbearing allied with her virginity. Never since
the world began has it been known for any woman to be at once a mother and a
virgin. If you just think whose mother she is surely you must be astounded at
such marvelous greatness. Who could ever admire this enough? To your way of
thinking, or rather, not yours but Truth’s, should she not be exalted above all the
choirs of angels, she who bore God the Son? Who else would dare, as Mary did,
to call ‘son’ the Lord and God of angels, and to say “son, why have you treated us
so?” Would any angel dare this? They already consider it a great favor to be
called, and to be, angels, when they are no more than spirits, as David suggests
when he says “He makes the spirits his angels.” Yet his was the same Majesty
whom they serve with awe and reverence that Mary, knowing herself the
mother, confidently called her son.
Nor did God disdain to be called what he had deigned to become. As the
Evangelist tells us a bit later, “he was obedient to them.” Who? God. To whom?
To men. God, I repeat, to whom the angels are subject, he whom the
principalities and the power obey, he was obedient to Mary. And not only to
Mary but to Joseph, too, for Mary’s sake. Marvel then at these two things: the
gracious kindness of the Son and the surpassing dignity of the mother. Choose
which you consider more wonderful. Just imagine!.. God does what a woman
says—unheard of humility. A woman outranks God — unparalleled sublimity. In
praise of the virgins we sing that “they follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” Of
what praise then do you consider her worthy, who preceded him?
Man, learn to obey! Earth, learn to be subject! Dust, I say, learn to submit
yourself! The Evangelist tells you that your Creator was obedient to them –
meaning to Mary and Joseph, of course. Blush for shame… God stoops down in
humility, and you exalt yourself? God is obedient to men, and you, anxious to lord
it over men, set yourself up as your own authority? God preserve me from ever
thinking such a thing! And if I should, may he be so kind as to rebuke me with that
answer he have to the apostle: “Get behind me, Satan! You do not know the things
of God.” Every time I seek to lord it over men, I am trying to get in front of my God
– and then, in all truth, I do not know the things of God. For it was said of him
that he was obedient to them.

Skema
2025-01-19
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
January 19 – 25, 2025

Sun
19
Mon
20
Tue
21
Wed
22
Thu
23
Fri
24
Sat
25

Office
2nd Sunday
Bl Cyprian Tansi
St Agnes
Weekday
Weekday
St Francis de Sales
Conversion of St Paul

Vigils
1 Kings 3:16-28
1 Kings 4:1-7, 20-28
1 Kings 4:29-5:12
1 Kings 5:13-6:13
1 Kings 6:14-38
1 Kings 7:1-22
2 Macc 3:22-36

Lauds
Joel 2:18-22
Joel 2:23-27
Joel 3:1-5
Joel 4:1-8
Joel 4: 9-16
Joel 4:17-21
Sir 39:1-10

Mass
66
311
312
313
314
315
519

1st
Isa 62:1-5
Heb 5:1-10
Heb 6:10-20
Heb 7:1-3, 15-17
Heb 7:25-8:6
Heb 8:6-13
Acts 22:3-16

2nd
1 Cor 12:4-11

Gospel
John 2:1-11
Mark 2:18-22
Mark 2:23-28
Mark 3:1-6
Mark 3:7-12
Mark 3:13-19
Mark 16:15-18

Vespers
1 Cor 2:14-3:4
1 Cor 3:5-9
1 Cor 3:10-17
1 Cor 3:18-23
1 Cor 4:1-5
1 Cor 4:6-13
2 Cor 4:7-18

Vigils Reading - 2nd Sunday
2025-01-19
THE NEW CHALICE
OF ETERNAL SALVATION
From a commentary by St Maximus of Turin
◊◊◊
The Son of God went to the wedding so that marriage which had been
instituted by his own authority, might be sanctified by his blessed presence. He
went to a wedding of the old order when he was about to take a new bride for
himself through the conversion of the Gentiles, a bride who would forever
remain a virgin. He went to a wedding even though he himself was not born of
human wedlock. He went to the wedding not…to enjoy a banquet, but rather to
make himself known by miracles. He went to the wedding not to drink wine, but
to give it, for when there was none left for the wedding guests, the most blessed
Mary said to him: They have no wine.
Jesus answered as though he was displeased: Woman, he said, is that my
concern or yours? It can hardly be doubted that these were words of
displeasure. However, this, I think, was only because his mother mentioned to
him so casually the lack of wine, when he had come to offer the peoples of the
whole world the new chalice of eternal salvation. By his reply, My hour has not
yet come, he was foretelling the most glorious hour of his passion and the wine
of our redemption which would obtain life for all. Mary was asking for a
temporal favor, but Christ was preparing joys that would be eternal.
Nevertheless the Lord in his goodness did not refuse this small grace while great
graces were awaited.
Holy Mary, therefore, since she was in very truth the Mother of the Lord,
and in her spirit knew in advance what would happen and foresaw the Lord’s
will, took care to advise the servants to do whatever he told them. Of course this
holy Mother knew that the rebuke of her Son and Lord was not an insult born of
anger, but that it contained a mysterious compassion.
Then, to save his Mother from embarrassment because of his reproach,
the Lord revealed his sovereign power. Addressing the expectant servants, he
said, Fill the jars with water. The servants promptly obeyed, and suddenly in a
marvelous way the water began to acquire potency, take on color, emit
fragrance, and gain flavor – all at once it changed its nature completely.

Vigils Reading - Blessed Cyprian Tansi
2025-01-20
THE ROAD TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE
From the homily of Pope St John Paul II
at the Beatification of Blessed Cyprian Tansi
◊◊◊
The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in the
Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God; his long hours
before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous
love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met
him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he
always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral
needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy
Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to
promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people
was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian
Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with
the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his
own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing
sanctification.
Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every
human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate
themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish
existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the
illusion which had fascinated them, and that they eventually find in the depths
of their heart the road leading back to the Father’s house. He encouraged people
to confess their sins and receive God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and
hand on the gift of the reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of
Nigerian life. Father Tansi tried to imitate the father in the parable: he was
always available for those searching for reconciliation. He spread the joy of
restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of
Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God
and with Holy Communion…
Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness
which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was
first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the
missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly
African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are
called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are
now ready for the harvest… Father Tansi’s witness to the Gospel and to
Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the
Universal Church…
We must be convinced that each of us, according to our particular state in
life, is called to do no less than what Father Tansi did. Having been reconciled
with God, we must be instruments of reconciliation, treating all men and
women as brothers and sisters, called to membership in the one family of God…

Vigils Reading - St Agnes
2025-01-21
ST AGNES
From The Oxford Dictionary of Saints
◊◊◊
The earliest witness to her cult is the Deposito Martyrum of 354. About
the same time a basilica was built in her honor over her grave in the Via
Nomemtana. Her name was in the Roman Canon; her feast was kept in
numerous churches of both East and West from early times. This evidence from
calendars and martyrologies make her one of the most famous and universal of
the early Roman martyrs. Writers who praised her include Ambrose, Jerome,
and Prudenius.
Her 5th-century Acts, wrongly attributed to Ambrose, made her a girl of
only thirteen who refused marriage because of her dedication to Christ. Calmly
and deliberately she preferred death to any violation of her consecrated
virginity; for this reason she has been venerated by many nations. She was
killed by the sword…piercing her throat. Legendary accretions to this simple
story were numerous, but unhistorical.
Through the remembrance of the word agnus (lamb) to Agnes, her
principal iconographic emblem is a lamb, at least from the time of the 6th
century mosaics at San Apollinare Nunco at Ravenna. On her feast are blessed
the lambs which produce the wool from which pallia for archbishops are woven
by the nuns of St Agnes’s convent in Rome. In England, as elsewhere, her cult
was ancient and widespread, with five early church dedications.
With other virgin martyrs she also appears…frequently in late medieval
stained glass, but the finest cycle of her life story is on a gold and enamel cup at
the British museum, which formerly belonged to the Duke of Berry and passed
through the Duke of Bedford to King Henry VI… Formerly the Roman calendar
contained a second feast in her honor on January 29th. This seems to have
commemorated her birthday rather than her octave.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-22
THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE
From the encyclical “The Gospel of Life” by Pope St John Paul II
◊◊◊
The human person is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the
dimensions of earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of
God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the
inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. In a special way
believers in Christ must defend and promote this right, aware as they are of the
wonderful truth recalled by the Second Vatican Council: By his incarnation the
Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human being”. This
saving event reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who “so
loved the world that he gave his only Son”, but also the incomparable value of
every human person.
The Church acknowledges this value with ever new wonder. She feels
called to proclaim to the people of all times this Gospel, the source of invincible
hope and true joy for every period of history… Today this proclamation is
especially pressing because of the extraordinary gravity of threats to the life of
individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenseless. In
addition to the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger and disease, violence and
war, new threats are emerging on an alarmingly vast scale…
All this is causing a profound change in the way in which life and
relationships between people are considered. The fact that legislation in many
countries, has determined not to punish these practices against life, and even to
make them altogether legal, is both a disturbing symptom and a significant
cause of grave moral decline. Choices once unanimously considered criminal
and rejected by the common moral sense are gradually becoming socially
acceptable. Even certain sectors of the medical profession, which by its calling
is directed to the defense and care of human life, are increasingly willing to carry
out these acts against the person.
The end result of this is tragic; not only is the fact of the destruction of so
many human lives still to be born or in their final stage extremely grave and
disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the fact that conscience itself,
darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly
difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of
human life.
The present encyclical, the fruit of the cooperation of the episcopate of
every country of the world, is therefore meant to be a precise and vigorous
reaffirmation of the value of human life and its inviolability, and at the same
time a pressing appeal to each and every person, in the name of God, respect,
protect, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this direction will you
find justice, development. True freedom, peace and happiness.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-23
ON THE THRESHOLD
OF CONTEMPLATION
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux
◊◊◊
My brethren, I beseech you, be on your guard all the time, for this is the
hour of battle… Let us stand firmly at our post. Let us lean with all our strength
on the invincible rock which is Christ, in accordance with these words from the
scriptures: “He set my feet on a rock, and ordered my goings”. Thus set up and
fortified, let us apply ourselves to contemplation: we shall see what is said to us
and what we should answer to him who reproaches us.
The first stage of contemplation…is that we should ceaselessly consider
the Lord’s wishes as to what pleases him, what he wants. For we all make many
mistakes. Our want of simplicity bruises the honesty of his will, and this
prevents us from unifying ourselves, from cleaving to him. So let us humble
ourselves beneath the mighty hand of the Most High God and hasten to lay our
wretchedness before the eyes of his mercy, saying, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall
be healed; save me, and I shall be saved”, and again, “Lord, be merciful to me,
heal my soul, for I have sinned against you’.
When the eye of the heart has been purified by this kind of thought we no
longer live with a heart full of bitterness but in the joys which are found in the
Spirit of God. And now we consider no longer what is God’s will for us, but what
this will is in itself. For God wills life, and nothing is better or more profitable
than to conform to his will. That is why the eagerness with which we try to
preserve our life should be directed, as far as possible, into never swerving from
the path which brings us to God’s will…
Let us recall how gentle the Lord is, how good he is in himself. With the
prophet let us ask to see the Lord’s will, let us ask him to bring us, no longer to
our hearts but to his temple, “to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to visit
his temple”. And in addition let us say with him, “My God, my soul is vexed
within me: therefore will I remember you”.
These two things embrace the content of the whole spiritual life: at the
sight of ourselves we are troubled and contrite, and in fear of our salvation;
while in contemplating God we find relief, and the joy of the Holy Spirit brings
us consolation. On one side, fear and humility; on the other, hope and love.

Vigils Reading - St Francis de Sales
2025-01-24
A DELICATE SENSE
OF GOD’S PRESENCE
By St Francis de Sales
◊◊◊
The soul thus inwardly recollected in God or in God’s presence is at times
rendered so sweetly attentive to the goodness of its beloved as to think that its
attention is not actually attention, so simply and so delicately is it exercised. It
is like certain rivers which flow so calmly and smoothly that those who look at
them or sail on them seem neither to see nor to feel any motion, since they see
no waves or currents whatever. This loving repose of the soul is called the
“prayer of quiet” by the holy virgin Teresa of Jesus, and is scarcely different
from that which she calls “the sleep of the powers,” at least if I understand her
properly.
Indeed, even men in love are at times content with being near or within
sight of the one they love without actually speaking to her and without thinking
especially either of her or of her perfections. They seem to be pleased and
satisfied with enjoying this dear presence, not by any consideration they give it
but by a certain calm and repose their spirit finds in it…
Sometimes this repose goes so deep in its tranquility that the whole soul
and all its powers remain as if sunk in sleep. They make no movement or action
whatsoever, except the will alone and even it does no more than receive the joy
and contentment that it receives but enjoys it insensibly. It does not think of
itself but of him whose presence gives it such pleasure. It is like what often
happens when we drop off unaware into a light sleep. We only half hear what
our friends are saying around us, or feel their caresses almost imperceptibly
without feeling that we feel.
Nevertheless, the soul enjoying in this sweet repose such a delicate sense
of God’s presence, even though it does not have perception of such enjoyment,
still shows clearly how precious to it and how worthy of love is this happiness.
For when anyone tries to deprive the soul of it or something turns it from it, then
that poor soul complains, cries out, even weeps at times. It is like a little child
awakened before it has slept enough; by the pain it feels on being awakened
clearly shows the pleasure it had in sleep. For this reason the heavenly shepherd
adjures the daughters of Sion, “by the roes and harts of the fields,” not to cause
the beloved to awaken up until she pleases, that is, to let her awaken by herself.
A soul thus at peace in its God would not change that repose for all the world’s
greatest goods.

Vigils Reading - Conversion of St Paul
2025-01-25
THE BEARER OF A MISSION
By Fr Lucien Cerfaux
◊◊◊
In terms of today, Paul passed from the Jewish religion to Christianity. He
is the first of the great “converts” who distinguish the pages of Christian history
and provide the apologists with proof of the supremacy of our religion. Yet he
himself would not have used the term “conversion” if this implied abandoning
one religion for another. For him Christianity was not a new religion, distinct
from Judaism. If it had been suggested to Paul that he was no longer a Jew, he
would not have understood what was meant. The many protests in the epistles
do not apply to the past: Paul is and continues to be Hebrew and Jew, in race
and religion…
We can state definitely that St Paul interprets the event which took place
on the road to Damascus as a call from God, a vocation to a mission which ranks
him with the prophets of the Old Testament. Like the prophets, he has been
granted a vision; like them, he has been given a mission, and like them too, he is
constrained to answer the call: his human resolve is endowed by grace to such
an extent that it is God himself who carries out the work with which the Apostle
is entrusted.
The book of Acts confirms these conclusions. Paul is the chosen instru-
ment to “carry” the name of Christ, that is, to bear witness, in the midst of
persecution, before kings, nations and Israel. The three accounts of the vision at
Damascus agree with the Epistle to the Galatians; Paul changed abruptly from
being an active persecutor of the church and submitted himself to the orders
transmitted by Christ…
There are two distinct aspects of his vocation. The first concerns salvation
only: the chosen are destined for the messianic era; they are called children of
God, they receive the messianic graces. The summons to the messianic feast was
known to the rabbis from the first century and was used by Jesus. A second
series of texts reserves the call to outstanding leaders in the Old Testament such
as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the prophets, who were predestined before their
birth and “called” at the chosen moment by God. When he calls someone by
name it is to entrust that one with a mission.
St Paul is called as the bearer of a mission. He is ranked on the same level
as the spiritual leaders of Israel and shares their privileges. His mission is
addressed to the gentiles, to whom he will transmit the call to the messianic
graces.

Skema
2025-01-26
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (C), Weekdays (I)
Jan. 26 – Feb. 1, 2025

Sun
26
Mon
27
Tue
28
Wed
29
Thu
30
Fri
31
Sat
1

Office
SS Robert, Alberic, & Stephen
SS Timothy & Titus
St Thomas Aquinas
Office for the Dead
Weekday
Weekday
Memorial of the BVM

Vigils
Lev 26:3-13
1 Kings 7:23-51
1 Kings 8:1-21
1 Kings 8:22-40
1 Kings 8:41-53
1 Kings 8:54-66
1 Kings 9:1-14

Lauds
Sir 2:1-11
Amos 1:1-5
Amos 1:6-10
Amos 1:11-15
Amos 2:1-5
Amos 2:6-16
Amos 3:1-8

Mass
606, 322, 815.8
520, 317
318
319
320
321
322

1st
Sir 44:1,10-15
2 Tim 1:1-8
Heb 10:1-10
Heb 10:11-18
Heb 10:19-25
Heb 10:32-39
Heb 11:1-2, 8-19

2nd
Heb 11:1-2, 8-16

Gospel
Mark 10:24b-30
Mark 3:22-30
Mark 3:31-35
Mark 4:1-20
Mark 4:21-25
Mark 4:26-34
Mark 4:35-41

Vespers
Eph 4:1-6
1 Cor 4:14-21
1 Cor 5:6-13
1 Cor 6:1-11
1 Cor 6:12-20
1 Cor 7:17-24
Rom 12:1-5

Vigils Reading - SS Robert, Alberic, & Stephen
2025-01-26
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE
CISTERCIAN ORDER
A reading from the “Exordium Parvum”
◊◊◊
We Cistercians, the first founders of this Church, in this document hereby
relate to our successors how this Monastery and its way of life took its beginning
according to the Laws of Holy Mother the Church; by what authority it began,
and also by what persons and at what times; so that by the telling of the plain
and unadulterated truth, they may be moved to a deep love for this Monastery
and for the observance of the Holy Rule of St Benedict which was begun in it by
us through the Grace of God; and that they might pray for us who have borne the
heat and the burden of the day without losing courage; that they might labor
with great fervor in the straight and narrow way which the Rule describes, even
unto complete union with God, when, having shed the garments of this flesh,
they might happily rest in eternal peace.
In the year 1098, Robert of blessed memory, the first Abbot of the Church
of Molesme founded in the Diocese of Langre, together with some of the
brethren from the same Monastery, came to the venerable Hugh, who was at
that time the Legate of the Holy See and the Archbishop of the Church of Lyons,
stating that they desired to live their life under the guidance of the Holy Rule of
Father Benedict, and that in order that they might follow out these designs with
greater freedom and security, they earnestly entreated him that he would bless
and endorse their project with his Apostolic Authority. The Legate was happily
pleased with their desire, and he laid the foundation of their beginnings by his
Letter.
After these affairs, Robert and those who sided with him returned to
Molesme and chose from that community of brethren those who wished to
associate with themselves, brothers who had made their vows according to the
Rule; so that between those who had spoken to the Legate at Lyons and those
who had been chosen from the Monastery, there were twenty-one monks.
Accompanied by such a troop, they made their way in all haste to the desert
which was called Citeaux… Because of the thickness of the woods and
undergrowth, it was very rarely visited by people and it was inhabited by
nothing but wild animals.
When they arrived there, the men of God immediately conceived a great
and holy reverence for the place, for the more contemptible and inaccessible it
was to the people of the world, the more they considered it fit for their life. This
was the very reason for which they had come there. Far away and hidden by the
density of trees and undergrowth, they began to construct a monastery there
with the help of the Bishop of Chalons-sur-Saone and the consent of the one
who owned the property. For these men, while they were still at Molesme,
inspired by the grace of God, had frequently spoken among themselves about
the transgressions of the Rule of Blessed Benedict, Father of Monks. They had
lamented and grown sad in spirit, seeing that both they and the rest of the
monks who had promised by their Solemn Profession that they would observe
this Rule, kept that promise to a very small degree. On account of this, by the
authority of the Holy See, they came to this solitude in order that they might
fulfill their profession by the observance of the Holy Rule.

Vigils Reading - SS Timothy & Titus
2025-01-27
THE VIRTUE OF ST TIMOTHY
AS A PATTERN FOR CHRISTIANS
From a sermon by St John Henry Newman
◊◊◊
“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and
for your other infirmities”. This is a remarkable verse, because it accidentally tells
us so much. It is addressed to Timothy, St Paul’s companion, the first Bishop of
Ephesus. Of Timothy we know very little, except that he did minister to St Paul,
and hence we might have inferred that he was a man of very saintly character; but
we know little or nothing of him, except that he had been from a child a careful
reader of Scripture…
Timothy…had so read the Old Testament, and had so heard from St Paul the
New, that he was a true follower of the Apostle, as the Apostle was of Christ. St Paul
accordingly calls him “my own son”, or “my true son in the faith”. And elsewhere
he says to the Philippians that he has “no man like-minded to Timothy, who would
naturally” or truly “care for their state”… St Paul does not expressly tell us that he
was a man of mortified habits; but he reveals the fact indirectly by cautioning him
against an excess of mortification. “Drink no longer water,” he says, “but use a little
wine.” It should be observed that wine, in the southern countries, is the ordinary
beverage; it is nothing strong or costly. Yet even from such as this, Timothy was in
the habit of abstaining, and restricting himself to water; and, as the Apostle
thought, imprudently, to the increase of his “frequent infirmities.”
There is something very striking in this accidental mention of the private
ways of this Apostolic Bishop. We know indeed from history the doctrine and the
life of the great saints, who lived some time after the Apostles’ age; but we are
naturally anxious to know something more of the Apostles themselves and their
associates. We say, “Oh that we could speak to St Paul – that we could see him in his
daily walk, and hear his…teaching! – that we could ask him what he meant by this
expression in his Epistles, or what he thought of this or the other doctrine.” This is
not given to us. God might give us greater light than He does; but it is His gracious
will to give us the less. Yet perhaps much more has been given us in Scripture, as it
has come to us, than we think, if our eyes were enlightened to discern it there. Such,
for instance, is this text; it is a sudden revelation, a glimpse of the personal
character of Apostolic Christians; it is a hint which we may follow out. For no one
will deny that a very great deal of doctrine, and a very great deal of precept, goes
with such a fact as this: namely, that this holy man, without impiously disparaging
God’s creation, and thanklessly rejecting God’s gifts, yet, on the whole, lived a life
of abstinence.
I cannot understand why such a life is not excellent in a Christian now, if it
was the characteristic of Apostles and friends of Apostles then. I really do not see
why the trials and persecutions, which surrounded them from Jews and Gentiles,
their forlorn despised state, and their necessary discomforts, should not even have
exempted them from voluntary sufferings in addition, unless such self-imposed
hardships were pleasing to Christ. Such were the holy men of old. How far are we
below them! Alas for our easy sensual life, our cowardice, our sloth! Is this the way
by which the kingdom of God is won?

Vigils Reading - St Thomas Aquinas
2025-01-28
THE ATTITUDE OF ST THOMAS
AQUINAS BEFORE THE TRUTH
By Josef Pieper
◊◊◊
In considering the teaching of St Thomas, we should not understand it
merely as the material substance of an explicitly formulated set of doctrines.
Much too rarely does one remember that the substance of the content [of his
writings] has its origin in a very special attitude of St Thomas, human as well as
intellectual, not only in the sense that this attitude colors the work with its
particular emphasis, but also in the sense that without this special human
attitude, what has been written might never have been written at all.
Should we therefore not consider this attitude, this temper of mind –
though Thomas himself never expressly formulated it – as part and parcel of the
spirit of the ratio of the Universal Doctor of Christendom – the bold intrepidity
which impelled and enabled the young mendicant friar at the University of Paris
to “re-cognize” the truth of the Aristotelian worldview, to re-integrate it as an
essential part into the intellectual heritage of the Christian West, undaunted by
the opposition of the defenders of traditional doctrine. And should we not see in
the personal “style” of this bold recognition of truth and reality likewise an
element of “timeliness,” in the sense of an exemplary attitude?…
In times such as these it is imperative to call to mind the qualities which
make Thomas what he was: the all-inclusive, fearless strength of his
affirmation, his generous acceptance of the whole of reality, the trustful
magnanimity of his thought. And we find occasion, also, to remember: The
formal and theoretical justification for this attitude is found precisely in
Thomas’s doctrine of the infinitely many-sided truth of things. Truth cannot be
exhausted by any (human) knowledge; it remains therefore always open to new
formulation.
On the other hand, what we call here the “Thomist attitude” would have to
include, in order to remain true to its master, the resolution not to relinquish a
single particle of the heritage of truth; for it is the hallmark of the “modernity” of
Albert and Thomas that both refused to disrupt and abandon, for the sake of new
ideas, the realm of tradition. They relinquished neither the Bible nor Augustine
(nor, consequently, Plato) for the sake of Aristotle. The new territory which awaits
conquest today…is of virtually immeasurable scope… Thomas Aquinas might
attain to a new timeliness, both affirmative and corrective.

Vigils Reading - Office for the Dead
2025-01-29
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN
From a letter by St Alphonsus Liguori
◊◊◊
While we remain on earth, it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand
or describe the happiness of heaven. One reason for this is that we think and
imagine only in terms of earthly enjoyments. If a horse were made capable of
reasoning and then were promised a rich feast from its owner, the animal would
envision a meal made up of the choicest hay and oats. Our concept of heaven is
formed under the same limitations. In heaven we will be totally enthralled with
a beauty far surpassing anything we have experienced here on earth. In heaven
we will be sure that we love God and he loves us.
What is more, this love of ours will be constantly extended by the ever
increasing knowledge that we will gain of the magnitude of God’s love for us. We
will see how God showed this love, for example, by becoming man and dying on
the cross for us and by giving us himself in the holy Eucharist.
Also, we will see how many graces God gave us in our lifetime; how he
delivered us from so may temptations; how much patience he showed by
enduring our many weaknesses and sins; how merciful he was to us in giving us
so many lights, so many chances, so much love.
In heaven we will forever enjoy a kind of happiness which, even as eternity
progresses, will always be as new as at the first moment we began to enjoy it. We
shall be always satisfied, yet always craving. We will be forever hungry, yet always
sated with infinite delights, because desires in heaven produce no pain, and
pleasure in heaven never becomes boring.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-30
THE FIRE OF LOVE
By John of Ford
◊◊◊
‘May your will’, Lord Jesus, ‘be done on earth as it is in heaven for you,̓
said that it was your will that fire be enkindled on this earth, the fire you came to
send upon it. What you desired has happened. The furnace that is in Jerusalem
has enkindled a furnace on earth. Here on earth, just as in heaven, you have
made your ministers flames of fire, and like a devouring fire, they devour to the
right and to the left.
Indeed, love is never satisfied. It feels distaste for nothing, it does not
think anything should be rejected. It issues its call equally to the good and to the
bad, receiving them indiscriminately and making no distinction in favor of one
rather than the other. The only distinction, perhaps, is that it usually overflows
more copiously for those in whom sin has abounded. It is characteristic of love
that, like fire, it burns more fiercely where it finds sturdier tinder, and the
quality and quantity of what instigates it, makes its flame grow ever stronger.
Jesus makes this crystal clear in his parable of the two debtors; it is the one who
is forgiven most who loves most). He loves more, says Jesus, to whom more is
given; he loves more, meaning that he is urged by the debt and the material is
there to prompt him to greater love.
In my opinion, this is why Zechariah said those words I quoted above, that he
would make ‘the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a
flaming torch among the sheaves Obviously, because wood is harder than hay, it is.̓
better material for fires, and the more difficult it is to set it burning, the more it
blazes up once it has begun. It seems to change into the very substance of fire,
taking on its color as well as its heat. The sheaves, on the other hand, are those
whose sins are venial, and the flaming torch, that is, the opportunity to be forgiven
and receive unmerited grace, consumes them with a spark. Yet it is not a fiery spark
that touches the wood, but a furnace, so that, in some wonderful way, the wood
itself becomes fire by the intensity of the heat. And the wood takes to itself not only
the ability to burn, but also to enkindle.

Vigils Reading
2025-01-31
SIMPLICITY AND OPENNESS
From the Collected Works of Saint Rafael Arnaiz
◊◊◊
One must walk so many tortured paths to arrive at simplicity. Complication
is such an uncomfortable thing…and we human beings like to complicate
everything for ourselves. Often, if we fail to practice virtue, it’s because our
complicated nature rejects what is simple. Often, we fail to appreciate the
magnificence hidden within an act of simplicity, because we look for greatness in
complicated things; we judge the magnificence of things based on their difficulty…
I clearly see that what seemed dark and complicated to me before is actually
rather simple and straightforward. Virtue…God…the interior life, how difficult I
thought it was to live that! It’s not that I’m virtuous now, or that I have a
completely clear knowledge of God and spiritual life, but I’ve realized that you get
there without complications or complexities, without clever philosophy, without
technical challenges. I’ve come to see that you reach God in precisely the opposite
manner. You come to know Him through simplicity of heart and being
uncomplicated. There’s nothing difficult about acts of love… What’s truly difficult
is wanting to know God by searching out His mysteries. The former leads us to
God, and the latter does not…
So, then, why do we lack virtue at times? Because we aren’t simple; because
we complicate our desires; because everything we want is made difficult by our
weak will, which gets carried away by whatever is pleasing, comfortable, and
unnecessary, and often by its passions. We lack virtue not because it is difficult, but
because we don’t want it. We lack patience…because we don’t want it. We lack
temperance…because we don’t want it. We lack chastity…for the same reason. We
would be saints if we wanted to be…it’s much harder to become an engineer than it
is to become a saint. If only we had faith!
The interior life…the spiritual life, a life of prayer. “My God! That must be
difficult!” But it’s not at all. Get rid of everything in your heart that’s in the way,
and you’ll find God there. That’s it. Often we look for things that aren’t there, and
on the other hand we’ll walk right by a treasure without seeing it…We look for Him
in a whole tangled mess of things, and to us, the more complicated they are, the
better. And all the while, we are carrying God around inside of us, yet we don’t look
for Him there. Collect yourself within…gaze upon your nothingness, gaze upon the
nothingness of the world, place yourself at the foot of the cross, and if you are
simple, you will see God… All we have to do is want Him, and God will fill the soul
again in such a way that you’d have to be blind not to see it.
If a soul wants to live according to God’s ways…it must be rid of everything
that is not Him…and that is it. It’s quite easy. If we wanted to, and if we asked God
with simplicity, we would make great progress in the spiritual life. If we wanted to
be saints, we would be… But we’re such fools that we don’t want to…We prefer to
waste time on stupid vanities. We’ll regret that someday.
But I am very happy, because I have come to see that everything is simple
and straightforward…and this is within my reach.
