Fifth Sunday after Easter
Psalm 22, verse 26
I will offer praise
in the great assembly; my vows I will fulfill before those who FEAR him.
This whole psalm is a lament unusual in structure and in intensity of feeling. The psalmist’s present distress is contrasted with God’s past mercy while enemies surround him. Yet, he wants to praise God while in the midst of suffering, he cries out a universal chorus of praise. This Psalm is important in the New Testament. Its opening words occur on the lips of the crucified Jesus, and several other verses are quoted, or at least alluded to, in the accounts of Jesus’ passion. I wonder if John the Baptist also prayed this psalm to strengthen himself before his own passion.
Remember warriors of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that we too shall be confronted with our own passions in
this life; when this happens; come to this psalm and sing it in your heart as
did John and Jesus before entering the fray. Then if the Lord carries us
through this battle let us “Offer praise in the great assembly” and
thanksgiving recounting to the other worshipers the favor received from God and
invite them to share in the sacrificial banquet.
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[1]
CHAPTER II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord
and of the Gift
of the Holy Spirit
The eighth day: image of
eternity
26. By contrast, the Sabbath's
position as the seventh day of the week suggests for the Lord's Day a
complementary symbolism, much loved by the Fathers. Sunday is not only the
first day, it is also "the eighth day", set within the sevenfold
succession of days in a unique and transcendent position which evokes not only
the beginning of time but also its end in "the age to come". Saint
Basil explains that Sunday symbolizes that truly singular day which will follow
the present time, the day without end which will know neither evening nor
morning, the imperishable age which will never grow old; Sunday is the
ceaseless foretelling of life without end which renews the hope of Christians
and encourages them on their way. Looking towards the last day, which fulfils
completely the eschatological symbolism of the Sabbath, Saint Augustine
concludes the Confessions describing the Eschaton as "the peace of
quietness, the peace of the Sabbath, a peace with no evening". In
celebrating Sunday, both the "first" and the "eighth" day,
the Christian is led towards the goal of eternal life.
Fifth Sunday after
Easter[2]
The liberty of the New Covenant and its perfection in prayer and the Spirit.[3]
THE Introit of the Mass is again a joyful thanksgiving for our redemption. “Declare the voice of joy, and let it be heard, alleluia; declare it even to the ends of the earth; the Lord hath delivered His people, alleluia, alleluia” (Isaias xlviii.20). “Shout with joy to God, all the earth, sing ye a psalm to His name, give glory to His praise.”
Prayer. O God, from Whom all good things proceed, grant to Thy suppliants that by Thy inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by Thy direction perform them.
EPISTLE. James i.
23-27.
Dearly Beloved: Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only: deceiving your own selves. But if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer: he shall be compared to a man be holding his own countenance in a glass: for he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.
GOSPEL. John xvi. 23-30.
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father: in that day you shall ask in My name: and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world and I go to the Father. His disciples say to Him: Behold now Thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb; now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou comest forth from God.
Why does God wish us to pray to Him? To remind us:
1. That
all good things come from Him, and that without Him we have nothing.
2. That we may confide in Him and try to make ourselves worthy of His divine grace, by thoughts pleasing to Him, and valuing more, and using better, the graces we receive.
Why is our prayer often not heard? Because we often ask for something that would be more hurtful than profitable to us.
When ought we to pray? At all times, but especially at,
1. morning,
noon, and night.
2. in
time of great temptation.
3. when
receiving the sacraments.
4. when
about to undertake anything important.
5. at the hour of death.
Which is the best of all prayers? The Lord’s Prayer: but though we say it a hundred times, it will fail to produce its beneficial effects if we repeat it thoughtlessly, without thinking of its meaning or purpose.
SHORT EXPLANATION OF THE LORD’S PRAYER.
Why does this prayer commence with Our Father? To encourage us thereby to a child-like confidence in God. as our Father, Who loves all men, and is ever ready to help them.
Why do we say, Who art in heaven, since God is everywhere? To admonish us to lift up our hearts to heaven, our true home, where God has set up the throne of His kingdom.
What do we ask of God in this prayer? In the first petition, hallowed be Thy name, we pray that God may be known and loved by all men, and that His name may be glorified by a Christian life.
In the second petition, Thy kingdom come, we pray God to enter and rule in our hearts by His grace, to spread His Church throughout the whole world, and after our death to award us eternal happiness.
In the third petition, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, we offer ourselves entirely to God, and declare ourselves ready to be subject to the dispositions of His holy will, as are the angels in heaven, and pray to Him for grace to do this.
In the fourth petition, give us this day our daily bread, we ask for all things which we need; for the body, as food and clothing, and for the soul, as grace and the divine word.
In the fifth petition, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us, we pray to God for forgiveness, but only so far as we forgive those that injure us. We must therefore remember that we shall not obtain forgiveness from God so long as we have in our heart’s hatred against anyone
In the sixth petition, and lead us not into temptation, we acknowledge our frailty, and ask God to remove temptations from us, or, if He permit us to fall into those which the world, the flesh, and the devil prepare for us, to give us grace not to consent to them, but by combating and overcoming them, to Gain the merit and the crown of justice.e
In the seventh petition, but deliver us from evil,
we pray to God to preserve us from sin, and the occasions of sin; an evil death
and hell; also, from all temporal evils, so far as may be for the salvation of
our souls.
Daily Devotions
·
Today in honor of the
Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no
shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 11 day 5
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
[2] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
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