Day: February 3, 2018

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(Usus Antiquior) Sexagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 4 February 2018 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Corinthios – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11 : 19-33 and 2 Corinthians 12 : 1-9

 

Fratres : Libenter suffertis insipientens : cum sitis ipsi sapientes. Sustinetis enim, si quis vos in servitutem redigit, si quis devorat, si quis accipit, si quis extollitur, si quis in faciem vos caedit. Secundum ignobilitatem dico, quasi nos infirmi fuerimus in hac parte.

In quo quis audet, (in insipientia dico) audeo et ego : Hebraei sunt, et ego : Israelitae sunt, et ego : Semen Abrahae sunt, et ego : Ministri Christi sunt, (ut minus sapiens dico) plus ego : in laboribus plurimis, in carceribus abundantius, in plagis supra modum, in mortibus frequenter.

A Judaeis quinquies quadragenas, una minus, accepi. Ter virgis caesus sum, semel lapidatus sum, ter naufragium feci, nocte et die in profundo maris fui : in itineribus saepe, periculis fluminum, periculis latronum, periculis ex genere, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in civitate, periculis in solitudine, periculis in mari, periculis in falsis fratribus : in labore et aerumna, in vigiliis multis, in fame et siti, in jejuniis multis, in frigore et nuditate : praeter illa, quae extrinsecus sunt, instantia mea cotidiana, sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum.

Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? Quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? Si gloriari oportet : quae infirmitatis meae sunt, gloriabor. Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui est benedictus in saecula, scit quod non mentior. Damasci praepositus gentis Aretae regis, custodiebat civitatem Damascenorum, ut me comprehenderet : et per fenestram in sporta dimissus sum per murum, et sic effugi manus ejus.

Si gloriari oportet (non expedit quidem), veniam autem ad visiones et revelationes Domini. Scio hominem in Christo ante annos quatuordecim, (sive in corpore nescio, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus scit 🙂 raptum hujusmodi usque ad tertium caelum.

Et scio hujusmodi hominem, (sive in corpore, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus scit 🙂 quoniam raptus est in paradisum : et audivit arcana verba, quae non licet homini loqui. Pro hujusmodi gloriabor : pro me autem nihil gloriabor nisi in infirmitatibus meis.

Nam, et si voluero gloriari, non ero insipiens : veritatem enim dicam : parco autem, ne quis me existimet supra id, quod videt in me, aut aliquid audit ex me. Et ne magnitudo revelationem extollat me, datus est mihi stimulus carnis meae angelus satanae, qui me colaphizet.

Propter quod ter Dominum rogavi, ut discederet a me : et dixit mihi : Sufficit tibi gratia mea : nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur. Libenter igitur gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis, ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi.

English translation

Brethren, you gladly suffer the foolish, whereas yourselves are wise. For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devours you, if a man takes from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strikes you in the face. I speak according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part.

Wherein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I also dare. They are Hebrews, so am I. They are Israelites, so am I. They are the seed of Abraham, so am I. They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise), I am more, in many more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.

Of the Jews I had received forty stripes save one. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, besides those things which are without, my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalised, and I am not on fire? If I must need glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is blessed forever, knows that I do not lie. At Damascus the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes to apprehend me, and through a window in a basket I was let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands.

If I must glory (it is not expedient indeed), but I will come to the visions and the revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know, but God knows) such one rapts even to the third heaven.

And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell, but God knows), that he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter. For such one I will glory, but for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities.

For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish, for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees in me, or anything he heard from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me.

For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in infirmity.” Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sexagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 4 February 2018 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Introit

Psalm 43 : 23-26 and 2

 

Exsurge, quare obdormis, Domine? Exsurge, et ne repellas in finem : quare faciem Tuam avertis, oblivisceris tribulationem nostram? Adhaesit in terra venter noster : exsurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et libera nos.

Deus, auribus nostris audivimus : patres nostri annuntiaverunt nobis.

Response : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Arise, why do You sleep, o Lord? Arise, and cast us not off to the end. Why do You turn Your face away, and forgot our trouble? Our belly had cleaved to the earth. Arise, o Lord, help us and deliver us.

O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have declared to us.

Response : Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Collect

Deus, qui conspicis quia ex nulla nostra actione confidimus : concede propitius; ut, contra adversa omnia, Doctoris gentium protectione muniamur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

O God, You Who see that we put not our trust in any deed of our own, mercifully grant that by the protection of the Teacher of the Gentiles we may be defended against all adversities. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 February 2018 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Ansgar, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s first reading we heard about the young king Solomon at the start of his reign praying to the Lord asking for guidance and strength. And God asked Solomon for what he desired, and he answered the Lord with the request for wisdom, the wisdom to judge right from wrong, in leading the people of God as he was still young and lacking in experience.

God was pleased with Solomon’s request, praising him because he did not ask what the others in the world normally would have requested. Given that we can request for anything we want to have, many of us would have chosen to request for money, or material possessions, or prestige, or worldly glory, or length of life and comforts of life, or even all of them. But Solomon did not do that.

He asked from God what the world could not give him, and wisdom, that is true wisdom is something that only God alone can grant to those to whom He was willing to reveal it. Ultimately money, wealth, prestige, long life and everything else that we normally desire, are all temporary and impermanent, and eventually we will lose all of them, and we will bring nothing with us at the end of our lives.

But even wisdom itself cannot guarantee everything or safeguard everything. If we read on further about the life of king Solomon, we will notice how in his later age, during his old ages, he was swayed by his many wives and fell into sin, erecting many pagan idols and altars to the foreign gods to satisfy his wives and concubines. God was angry at Solomon because he was unable to keep his commitment to Him and instead fell into temptation of his great wealth and power.

This is a reminder for us, that all of us must not be tempted and must resist the temptations of money, of prestige, of worldly glory, of material possessions, that we do not fall into sin as Solomon had been. Instead, we should really put our complete trust in God, in His wisdom and in His ways. When we start to put our trust in our own power and abilities, that is when we begin to sway away and be tempted.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God cares for us so much that He is willing to go to such great lengths to provide us what we need, and give us what we need. Just as He has offered help to Solomon in his time of need, He gave us nothing less than His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and our Saviour, and in the Gospel passage we heard today, we see just how committed He is to all of us.

Despite being very tired, as Jesus and His disciples ministered to many people in many different places, when He saw the people being lost, leaderless and clueless, like sheep without a shepherd, He had pity and compassion on them, and He continued teaching them for many hours, guiding them to the right path by His words, telling them and calling them to repentance from their sins.

We should heed what the Lord has done, and as Christians, we must be courageous in doing what the Lord Himself had done and shown us. And we should perhaps model ourselves after faithful servants of God, whose memory we remember and celebrate today, namely St. Blaise and St. Ansgar. St. Blaise was a holy bishop and martyr of the faith, who lived in what is now today Armenia. St. Ansgar was a renowned missionary and bishop who worked hard to spread the faith in the region now part of northern Germany.

St. Blaise was a very skilled and experienced physician who often ministered to the people for their various sickness and illness, caring for them physically as well as spiritually, as their bishop and shepherd. He cultivated a strong spiritual life and habits, which was notable among his flock, and many were inspired by his great faith and dedication to God.

During one of the last great persecutions of the Church and the faithful, St. Blaise was among those who were arrested by the authorities, and as he remained steadfast in his beliefs and in his zeal in living the faith he had, he was martyred by beheading. However, his examples and great faith remained alive many decades, centuries after he died, even until this very day.

St. Ansgar meanwhile ministered to the many pagan peoples and tribes living in the area now found in the northern parts of Germany and Scandinavia. He went from place to place, working hard in the footsteps of the Lord Himself, teaching the people about the faith and about God. Many turned to the faith and converted because of his hard work, and slowly, more and more people, throughout northern Germany and Scandinavia became Christians.

He lived simply and devoutly, committing himself to prayer and fasting. St. Ansgar cared greatly also for the weak and for the poor, ministering to them regularly. Many were inspired by his examples and followed suit in the ministry to the people of God, and more and more people wanted to be baptised as Christians, having witnessed what the holy man of God had done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all as Christians also do the same in our own lives, that in whatever capacity we are in, and in whatever way we can contribute, we may be able to spend our time, effort and attention, to love the Lord all the more, to dedicate ourselves ever more, and to put our trust in God alone, just as St. Blaise and St. Ansgar had done.

Let us not be tempted by worldly glory, hubris, desire, greed, ambition and all the other things which are major obstacles in our path to reach out to the Lord. Rather, let us all be ever more humble before God and men alike, so that in everything we do, we say and we act, we do them for the greater glory of God, and God Who knows all that we do, will bless us greatly. May God be with us always, with our efforts and works. Amen.