THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Saturday after Epiphany

Antiphon

Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated,

whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison:

Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

Collect

 

Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care,

O Lord, we pray,

that they may see what must be done

and gain strength to do what they have seen.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

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

God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

1 Jn 5:14-21

Beloved:

We have this confidence in him

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 

And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask,

we know that what we have asked him for is ours. 

If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly,

he should pray to God and he will give him life. 

This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. 

There is such a thing as deadly sin,

about which I do not say that you should pray. 

All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.

We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin;

but the one begotten by God he protects,

and the Evil One cannot touch him. 

We know that we belong to God,

and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One. 

We also know that the Son of God has come

and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. 

And we are in the one who is true,

in his Son Jesus Christ. 

He is the true God and eternal life. 

Children, be on your guard against idols.

Responsorial Psalm

149:1-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b

R.        The Lord takes delight in his people.

 

Sing to the LORD a new song

            of praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Let Israel be glad in their maker,

            let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.

R.        The Lord takes delight in his people.

 

Let them praise his name in the festive dance,

            let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.

For the LORD loves his people,

            and he adorns the lowly with victory.

R.        The Lord takes delight in his people.

 

Let the faithful exult in glory;

            let them sing for joy upon their couches;

Let the high praises of God be in their throats.

            This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.

R.        The Lord takes delight in his people.

 

Alleluia

Mt 4:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

light has arisen.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 3:22-30

Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea,

where he spent some time with them baptizing. 

John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim,

because there was an abundance of water there,

and people came to be baptized,

for John had not yet been imprisoned. 

Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew

about ceremonial washings. 

So they came to John and said to him,

“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan,

to whom you testified,

here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”

John answered and said,

“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 

You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ,

but that I was sent before him. 

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;

the best man, who stands and listens for him,

rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. 

So this joy of mine has been made complete. 

He must increase; I must decrease.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

January 8

Saint Angela of Foligno

(1248 - 1309)

Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.

Around the age of 40, she recognized the emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God’s pardon for her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.

Shortly after her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was alternately absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in a religious community.

At her confessor’s advice, Angela wrote her Book of Visions and Instructions. In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion; she also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. This book and her life earned for Angela the title “Teacher of Theologians.” She was beatified in 1693, and canonized in 2013.

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