THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

Antiphon

Ps 105 (104): 43

 

The Lord brought out his people with joy,

his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing, alleluia.

Collect

O God, who by the abundance of your grace

give increase to the peoples who believe in you,

look with favor on those you have chosen

and clothe with blessed immortality

those reborn through the Sacrament of Baptism.

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

Acts 4:13-21

Observing the boldness of Peter and John

and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,

the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed,

and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.

Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them,

they could say nothing in reply.

So they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin,

and conferred with one another, saying,

“What are we to do with these men?

Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign

was done through them, and we cannot deny it.

But so that it may not be spread any further among the people,

let us give them a stern warning

never again to speak to anyone in this name.”

So they called them back

and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John, however, said to them in reply,

“Whether it is right in the sight of God

for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.

It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”

After threatening them further,

they released them,

finding no way to punish them,

on account of the people who were all praising God

for what had happened.

Responsorial Psalm

118:1 and 14-15ab, 16-18, 19-21

R.    I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.

 

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his mercy endures forever.

My strength and my courage is the LORD,

and he has been my savior.

The joyful shout of victory

in the tents of the just.

R.    I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.

 

“The right hand of the LORD is exalted;

the right hand of the LORD has struck with power.”

I shall not die, but live,

and declare the works of the LORD.

Though the LORD has indeed chastised me,

yet he has not delivered me to death.

R.    I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.

 

Open to me the gates of justice;

I will enter them and give thanks to the LORD.

This is the gate of the LORD;

the just shall enter it.

I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me

and have been my savior.

R.    I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.

 

Sequence 

Victimae paschali laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim

            Offer your thankful praises!

A Lamb the sheep redeems;

            Christ, who only is sinless,

            Reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous:

            The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.

Speak, Mary, declaring

            What you saw, wayfaring.

“The tomb of Christ, who is living,

            The glory of Jesus’ resurrection;

bright angels attesting,

            The shroud and napkin resting.

Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;

            to Galilee he goes before you.”

Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.

            Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!

            Amen. Alleluia.

Alleluia

Ps 118:24

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

This is the day the LORD has made;

let us be glad and rejoice in it.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mk 16:9-15

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week,

he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,

out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.

When they heard that he was alive

and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After this he appeared in another form

to two of them walking along on their way to the country.

They returned and told the others;

but they did not believe them either.

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them

and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart

because they had not believed those

who saw him after he had been raised.

He said to them, 

“Go into the whole world

and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

April 6

Saint Crescentia Hoess

(1682 - 1744)

Crescentia was born in 1682, the daughter of a poor weaver, in a little town near Augsburg. She spent play time praying in the parish church, assisted those even poorer than herself and had so mastered the truths of her religion that she was permitted to make her first Holy Communion at the then unusually early age of 7. In the town she was called 

“the little angel.”

As she grew older, she desired to enter the convent of the Tertiaries of Saint Francis. But the convent was poor, and because Crescentia had no dowry, the superiors refused her admission. Her case was then pleaded by the Protestant mayor of the town to whom the convent owed a favor. The community felt it was forced into receiving her, and her new life was made miserable. She was considered a burden and assigned nothing other than menial tasks. Even her cheerful spirit was misinterpreted as flattery or hypocrisy.

Conditions improved four years later when a new superior was elected who realized her virtue. Crescentia herself was appointed mistress of novices. She so won the love and respect of the sisters that, upon the death of the superior, Crescentia was unanimously elected to that position. Under her, the financial state of the convent improved and her reputation in spiritual matters spread. She was soon being consulted by princes and princesses; bishops and cardinals too sought her advice. 

And yet, a true daughter of Francis, she remained ever humble.

Bodily afflictions and pain were always with her. First it was headaches and toothaches. Then she lost the ability to walk, her hands and feet gradually becoming so crippled that her body curled up into a fetal position. In the spirit of Francis she cried out, “Oh, you bodily members, praise God that he has given you the capacity to suffer.” 

Despite her sufferings she was filled with peace and joy as she died on Easter Sunday in 1744.

She was beatified in 1900 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2001.

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

12/16/23