The Lord will teach us his ways. – And we will follow in his footsteps. READINGS First reading From the book of Lamentations 3:1-33 Hope in time of mourning I am a man who knows affliction from the rod of his anger, One whom he has led and forced to walk in darkness, not in the light; Against me alone he brings back his hand again and again all the day. He has worn away my flesh and my skin, he has broken my bones; He has beset me round about with poverty and weariness; He has left me to dwell in the dark like those long dead. He has hemmed me in with no escape and weighed me down with chains; Even when I cry out for help, he stops my prayer; He has blocked my ways with fitted stones, and turned my paths aside. A lurking bear he has been to me, a lion in ambush! He deranged my ways, set me astray, left me desolate. He bent his bow, and set me up as the target for his arrow. He pierces my sides with shafts from his quiver. I have become a laughingstock for all nations, their taunt all the day long; He has sated me with bitter food, made me drink my fill of wormwood. He has broken my teeth with gravel, pressed my face in the dust; My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the Lord. The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall; Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me. But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope: The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. My portion is the Lord, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him. Good is the Lord to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him; It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth. Let him sit alone and in silence, when it is laid upon him. Let him put his mouth to the dust; there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to be struck, let him be filled with disgrace. For the Lord’s rejection does not last forever; Though he punishes, he takes pity, in the abundance of his mercies; He has no joy in afflicting or grieving the sons of men. RESPONSORY Lamentations 3:52,54,56,58; Acts 21:13 My enemies hated me for no reason; I said: I am lost. I called for help, O Lord, and you heard by prayer. – You said: Do not be afraid; you took up my cause and redeemed my life. For the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus, I am ready not only for imprisonment but even death. – You said: Do not be afraid; you took up my cause and redeemed my life. Second reading From a sermon by Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot Christ will forgive no sin without the Church The prerogative of receiving the confession of sin and the power to forgive sin are two things that belong properly to God alone. We must confess our sins to him and look to him for forgiveness. Since only he has the power to forgive sins, it is to him that we must make our confession. But when the Almighty, the Most High, wedded a bride who was weak and of low estate, he made that maid-servant a queen. He took her from her place behind him, at his feet, and enthroned her at his side. She had been born from his side, and therefore he betrothed her to himself. And as all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son because by nature they are one, so also the bridegroom gave all he had to the bride and he shared in all that was hers. He made her one both with himself and with the Father. Praying for his bride, the Son said to the Father: I want them to be one with us, even as you and I are one. And so the bridegroom is one with the Father and one with the bride. Whatever he found in his bride alien to her own nature he took from her and nailed to his cross when he bore her sins and destroyed them on the tree. He received from her and clothed himself in what was hers by nature and gave her what belonged to him as God. He destroyed what was diabolical, took to himself what was human, and conferred on her what was divine. So all that belonged to the bride was shared in by the bridegroom, and he who had done no wrong and on whose lips was found no deceit could say: Have pity on me, Lord, for I am weak. Thus, sharing as he did in the bride’s weakness, the bridegroom made his own her cries of distress, and gave his bride all that was his. Therefore, she too has the prerogative of receiving the confession of sin and the power to forgive sin, which is the reason for the command: Go, show yourself to the priest. The Church is incapable of forgiving any sin without Christ, and Christ is unwilling to forgive any sin without the Church. The Church cannot forgive the sin of one who has not repented, who has not been touched by Christ; Christ will not forgive the sin of one who despises the Church. What God has joined together, man must not separate. This is a great mystery, but I understand it as referring to Christ and the Church. Do not destroy the whole Christ by separating head from body, for Christ is not complete without the Church, nor is the Church complete without Christ. The whole and complete Christ is head and body. This is why he said: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the Son of Man whose home is in heaven. He is the only man who can forgive sin. RESPONSORY John 17:20,21,22,18 I pray for them, that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you. I have given them the glory you gave to me, – that they may be one as we are one. As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. – That they may be one as we are one.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 23:09:20 +0000
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