THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Thursday of the Third Week in Advent

Antiphon

Cf. Ps 119 (118): 151-152

 

You, O Lord, are close, and all your ways are truth.

From of old I have known of your decrees, for you are eternal.

Collect

Unworthy servants that we are, O Lord,

grieved by the guilt of our deeds,

we pray that you may gladden us

by the saving advent of your Only Begotten Son.

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

God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Reading

Is 54:1-10

    Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,

        Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,

    For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife

        than the children of her who has a husband,

        says the Lord.

    Enlarge the space for your tent,

        spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;

        lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.

    For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;

        your descendants shall dispossess the nations

        and shall people the desolate cities.

    Fear not, you shall not be put to shame;

        you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced.

    The shame of your youth you shall forget,

        the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.

    For he who has become your husband is your Maker;

        his name is the Lord of hosts;

    Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

        called God of all the earth.

    The Lord calls you back,

        like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

    A wife married in youth and then cast off,

        says your God.

    For a brief moment I abandoned you,

        but with great tenderness I will take you back.

    In an outburst of wrath, for a moment

        I hid my face from you;

    But with enduring love I take pity on you,

        says the Lord, your redeemer.

    This is for me like the days of Noah,

        when I swore that the waters of Noah

        should never again deluge the earth;

    So I have sworn not to be angry with you,

        or to rebuke you.

    Though the mountains leave their place

        and the hills be shaken,

    My love shall never leave you

        nor my covenant of peace be shaken,

        says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

Responsorial Psalm

30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I will extol you, O Lord, for you drew me clear

    and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord, you brought me up from the nether world;

    you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Sing praise to the Lord, you his faithful ones,

    and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

    a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in,

    but with the dawn, rejoicing.

R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

“Hear, O Lord, and have pity on me;

    O Lord, be my helper.”

You changed my mourning into dancing;

    O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Alleluia

Luke 3:4, 6

R.    Alleluia, alleluia.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:

All flesh shall see the salvation of God.

R.    Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 7:24-30

When the messengers of John the Baptist had left,

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. 

“What did you go out to the desert to see a reed swayed by the wind? 

Then what did you go out to see? 

Someone dressed in fine garments? 

Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously

are found in royal palaces. 

Then what did you go out to see? 

A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 

This is the one about whom Scripture says:

    Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

    he will prepare your way before you.

I tell you,

among those born of women, no one is greater than John;

yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”

(All the people who listened, including the tax collectors,

who were baptized with the baptism of John,

acknowledged the righteousness of God;

but the Pharisees and scholars of the law,

who were not baptized by him,

rejected the plan of God for themselves.)

SAINT OF THE DAY

December 15

Blessed Mary Frances Schervier

(1819 - 1876)

Born into a distinguished family in Aachen—then ruled by Prussia, but formerly Aix-la-Chapelle, France—Frances ran the household after her mother’s death, and established a reputation for generosity to the poor. In 1844, she became a Secular Franciscan. The next year she and four companions established a religious community devoted to caring for the poor. In 1851, the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis were approved by the local bishop; the community soon spread. The first U.S. foundation was made in 1858.

Mother Frances visited the United States in 1863 and helped her sisters nurse soldiers wounded in the Civil War. She visited the United States again in 1868. She encouraged Philip Hoever as he was establishing the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis.

When Mother Frances died, there were 2,500 members of her community worldwide. They are still engaged in operating hospitals and homes for the aged. 

Mother Mary Frances was beatified in 1974.

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