THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

Daily Mass Readings

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Antiphon

 Cf. Ps 27 (26): 1-2

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; whom should I dread?

When those who do evil draw near, they stumble and fall.

Collect

O God, from whom all good things come,

grant that we, who call on you in our need,

may at your prompting discern what is right,

and by your guidance do it.

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 Kgs 18:20-39

Ahab sent to all the children of Israel

and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel.

Elijah appealed to all the people and said,

"How long will you straddle the issue?

If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him."

The people, however, did not answer him.

So Elijah said to the people,

"I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD,

and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

Give us two young bulls.

Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood,

but start no fire.

I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood,

but shall start no fire.

You shall call on your gods, and I will call on the LORD.

The God who answers with fire is God."

All the people answered, "Agreed!"

Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal,

"Choose one young bull and prepare it first,

for there are more of you.

Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire."

Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it

and called on Baal from morning to noon, saying,

"Answer us, Baal!"

But there was no sound, and no one answering.

And they hopped around the altar they had prepared.

When it was noon, Elijah taunted them:

"Call louder, for he is a god and may be meditating,

or may have retired, or may be on a journey.

Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened."

They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears,

as was their custom, until blood gushed over them.

Noon passed and they remained in a prophetic state

until the time for offering sacrifice.

But there was not a sound;

no one answered, and no one was listening.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me."

When the people had done so, he repaired the altar of the LORD

that had been destroyed.

He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob,

to whom the LORD had said, "Your name shall be Israel."

He built an altar in honor of the LORD with the stones,

and made a trench around the altar

large enough for two measures of grain.

When he had arranged the wood,

he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.

"Fill four jars with water," he said,

"and pour it over the burnt offering and over the wood."

"Do it again," he said, and they did it again.

"Do it a third time," he said,

and they did it a third time.

The water flowed around the altar,

and the trench was filled with the water.

At the time for offering sacrifice,

the prophet Elijah came forward and said,

"LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,

let it be known this day that you are God in Israel

and that I am your servant

and have done all these things by your command.

Answer me, LORD!

Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God

and that you have brought them back to their senses."

The LORD's fire came down

and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust,

and it lapped up the water in the trench.

Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said,

"The LORD is God! The LORD is God!"

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 16:1b-2ab, 4, 5ab and 8, 11

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;

I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

They multiply their sorrows

who court other gods.

Blood libations to them I will not pour out,

nor will I take their names upon my lips.

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

O LORD, my allotted portion and cup,

you it is who hold fast my lot.

I set the LORD ever before me;

with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

You will show me the path to life,

fullness of joys in your presence,

the delights at your right hand forever.

R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

Alleluia

Ps 25:4b, 5a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Teach me your paths, my God,

and guide me in your truth.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 5:17-19

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,

not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter

will pass from the law,

until all things have taken place.

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments

and teaches others to do so

will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments

will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

SAINT OF THE DAY

June 12

Blessed Jolenta of Poland

(1235 - 1298)

Jolenta was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. Her sister, St. Kunigunde, was married to the Duke of Poland. Jolenta was sent to Poland where her sister was to supervise her education. Eventually married to Boleslaus, the Duke of Greater Poland, Jolenta was able to use her material means to assist the poor, the sick, widows, and orphans. 

Her husband joined her in building hospitals, convents, and churches so that he was surnamed “the Pious.”

Upon the death of her husband and the marriage of two of her daughters, Jolenta and her third daughter entered the convent of the Poor Clares. War forced Jolenta to move to another convent where despite her reluctance, she was made abbess.

So well did Jolenta serve her Franciscan sisters by word and example, that her fame and good works continued to spread beyond the walls of the cloister. Her favorite devotion was the Passion of Christ. Indeed, Jesus appeared to her, telling her of her coming death. Many miracles, down to our own day, are said to have occurred at her grave.

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

02/19/24