THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

Antiphon

Cf. Hb 2: 3; 1 Cor 4: 5

 

The Lord will come and he will not delay.

He will illumine what is hidden in darkness

and reveal himself to all the nations.

Collect

 

Prepare our hearts, we pray, O Lord our God,

by your divine power,

so that at the coming of Christ your Son

we may be found worthy of the banquet of eternal life

and merit to receive heavenly nourishment from his hands.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Is 25:6-10a

On this mountain the LORD of hosts

    will provide for all peoples

A feast of rich food and choice wines,

    juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.

On this mountain he will destroy

    the veil that veils all peoples,

The web that is woven over all nations;

    he will destroy death forever.

The Lord GOD will wipe away

    the tears from all faces;

The reproach of his people he will remove

    from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.

    On that day it will be said:

“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!

    This is the LORD for whom we looked;

    let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”

For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

R.    I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

    In verdant pastures he gives me repose;

Beside restful waters he leads me;

    he refreshes my soul.

R.    I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

He guides me in right paths

    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk in the dark valley

    I fear no evil; for you are at my side

With your rod and your staff

    that give me courage. 

R.    I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

You spread the table before me

    in the sight of my foes;

You anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

R.    I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Only goodness and kindness follow me

    all the days of my life;

And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

    for years to come.

R.    I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Behold, the Lord comes to save his people;

blessed are those prepared to meet him.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 15:29-37

At that time:

Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,

went up on the mountain, and sat down there. 

Great crowds came to him,

having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,

and many others. 

They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. 

The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,

the deformed made whole, 

the lame walking, 

and the blind able to see,

and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said,

“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,

for they have been with me now for three days

and have nothing to eat. 

I do not want to send them away hungry,

for fear they may collapse on the way.” 

The disciples said to him,

“Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place

to satisfy such a crowd?” 

Jesus said to them, 

“How many loaves do you have?” 

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” 

He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. 

Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,

gave thanks, broke the loaves,

and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 

They all ate and were satisfied. 

They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

SAINT OF THE DAY

December 1

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

(1858 - 1916)

Born into an aristocratic family in Strasbourg, France, Charles was orphaned at the age of 6, raised by his devout grandfather, rejected the Catholic faith as a teenager, and joined the French army. Inheriting a great deal of money from his grandfather, 

Charles went to Algeria with his regiment, but not without his mistress, Mimi.

When he declined to give her up, he was dismissed from the army. Still in Algeria when he left Mimi, Charles reenlisted in the army. Refused permission to make a scientific exploration of nearby Morocco, he resigned from the service. With the help of a Jewish rabbi, Charles disguised himself as a Jew and in 1883, began a one-year exploration that he recorded in a book that was well received.

Inspired by the Jews and Muslims whom he met, Charles resumed the practice of his Catholic faith when he returned to France in 1886. He joined a Trappist monastery in Ardeche, France, and later transferred to one in Akbes, Syria. Leaving the monastery in 1897, Charles worked as gardener and sacristan for the Poor Clare nuns in Nazareth and later in Jerusalem. In 1901, he returned to France and was ordained a priest.

Later that year Charles journeyed to Beni-Abbes, Morocco, intending to found a monastic religious community in North Africa that offered hospitality to Christians, Muslims, Jews, or people with no religion. He lived a peaceful, 

hidden life but attracted no companions.

A former army comrade invited him to live among the Tuareg people in Algeria. Charles learned their language enough to write a Tuareg-French and French-Tuareg dictionary, and to translate the Gospels into Tuareg. In 1905, he came to Tamanrasset, where he lived the rest of his life. A two-volume collection of Charles’ Tuareg poetry was published after his death.

In early 1909, he visited France and established an association of laypeople who pledged to live by the Gospels. His return to Tamanrasset was welcomed by the Tuareg. In 1915, Charles wrote to Louis Massignon: “The love of God, the love for one’s neighbor…All religion is found there…How to get to that point? Not in a day since it is perfection itself: it is the goal we must always aim for, which we must unceasingly try to reach and that we will only attain in heaven.”

The outbreak of World War I led to attacks on the French in Algeria. 

Seized in a raid by another tribe, Charles and two French soldiers coming to visit him were shot to death on December 1, 1916.

Five religious congregations, associations, and spiritual institutes—Little Brothers of Jesus, Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Little Sisters of Jesus, Little Brothers of the Gospel, and Little Sisters of the Gospel—draw inspiration from the peaceful, 

largely hidden, yet hospitable life that characterized Charles. 

He was beatified on November 13, 2005.

THE LITURGY OF HOURS

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God
(Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer.  The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer.  At times the dialogue is between the Church or individual soul and God; at times it is a dialogue among the members of the Church; and at times it is even between the Church and the world.  The Divine Office "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father." (SC 84)  The dialogue is always held, however, in the presence of God and using the words and wisdom of God.  Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.  The two most important or hinge Hours are Morning and Evening Prayer. These each include a Gospel canticle:  the Canticle of Zechariah from Luke 1:68-79 for Morning Prayer (known as the Benedictus), and the Canticle of Mary from Luke 1:46-55 for Evening Prayer (known as the Magnificat). The Gospel canticle acts as a kind of meditative extension of the scriptural proclamation in light of the Christ event.  Morning and Evening Prayer also include intercessions that flow from the scriptural proclamation just as the Psalms prepare for it.

In the Hours, the royal priesthood of the baptized is exercised, and this sacrifice of praise is thus connected to the sacrifice of the Eucharist, 

both preparing for and flowing from the Mass.

"The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer." (CCC 1177)

OFFICE OF READINGS

"The office of readings seeks to provide God's people, and in particular those consecrated to God in a special way, with a wider selection of passages from sacred Scripture for meditation, together with the finest excerpts from spiritual writers. Even though the cycle of scriptural readings at daily Mass is now richer, the treasures of revelation and tradition to be found in the office of readings will also contribute greatly to the spiritual life" (General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours [GILH], no. 55).

https://www.universalis.com/0/readings.htm

LAUDS - Morning Prayer

"As is clear from many of the elements that make it up, morning prayer is intended and arranged to sanctify the morning. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God, as it is written: 'I was mindful of God and was glad' (Ps 77:4 [Jerome's translation from Hebrew]), or set our bodies to any task before we do what has been said: 'I will pray to you, Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning; I will stand before you in the morning and gaze on you' 

(Ps 5:4-5)."

"Celebrated as it is as the light of a new day is dawning, this hour also recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light enlightening all people (see Jn 1:9) and "the sun of justice" (Mal 4:2), "rising from on high" (Lk 1:78). Hence, we can well understand the advice of St. Cyprian: "There should be prayer in the morning so that the resurrection of the Lord may thus be celebrated" (GILH, no. 38).

https://www.universalis.com/0/lauds.htm

TERCE - Mid-Morning Prayer

"Following a very ancient tradition Christians have made a practice of praying out of private devotion at various times of the day, even in the course of their work, in imitation of the Church in apostolic times. In different ways with the passage of time this tradition has taken the form of a liturgical celebration.

"Liturgical custom in both East and West has retained midmorning, midday, and midafternoon prayer, mainly because these hours were linked to a commemoration of the events of the Lord's passion and of the first preaching of the Gospel" 

(GILH, no. 74-75).

https://www.universalis.com/0/terce.htm

SEXT - Mid-Day Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/sext.htm

NONE - Afternoon Prayer

 https://www.universalis.com/0/none.htm

VESPERS - Evening Prayer

"When evening approaches and the day is already far spent, evening prayer is celebrated in order that 'we may give thanks for what has been given us, or what we have done well, during the day.' We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (see Ps 141:2). This sacrifice 'may also be interpreted more spiritually as the true evening sacrifice that our Savior the Lord entrusted to the apostles at supper on the evening when he instituted the sacred mysteries of the Church or of the evening sacrifice of the next day, the sacrifice, that is, which, raising his hands, he offered to the Father at the end of the ages for the salvation of the whole world.' Again, in order to fix our hope on the light that knows no setting, 'we pray and make petition for the light to come down on us anew; we implore the coming of Christ who will bring the grace of eternal light.' Finally, at this hour we join with the Churches of the East in calling upon the 'joy-giving light of that holy glory, born of the immortal, heavenly Father, the holy and blessed Jesus Christ; now that we have come to the setting of the sun and have seen the evening star, we sing in praise of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…'" 

(GILH, no. 39).

https://www.universalis.com/0/vespers.htm

COMPLINE - Night Prayer

"Night prayer is the last prayer of the day, said before retiring, even if that is after midnight" (GILH, no. 84).The Psalms that are chosen for Night Prayer are full of confidence in the Lord.

https://www.universalis.com/0/compline.htm

ABOUT TODAY

https://www.universalis.com/0/today.htm