A SACRIFICE TO GOD IS A CONTRITE SPIRIT

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

A Scrutatio for 6^th Sunday of the CHRISTIAN SEASON OF ORDINARY TIME/TIME OF THE CHURCH

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Ezekiel 2:1-7 / Psalm 123 / II Corinthians 12:2-10 / Mark 6:1-6 

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Ezekiel 2:2-5 / Psalm 123:1-2a, 2bc and 3-4 / II Corinthians 12:7-10 / Mark 6:1-6

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Psalm 27:8-9 and 1 

Epistle: Romans 6:3-11

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 86:16, and 31:1-2

Gospel 

Mark 8:1-9

Offertory: 

Psalm 17:3-7

Communion Antiphon: Psalm 27:6

From the passage of a sermon written by the former prodigal son of the saintly woman named  Monica, the Cassanova of Thagaste, transformed by GOD'S GRACE to be HIS Valiant Bishop of Hippo Regius and Doctor of HIS Holy Church, Aurelius Augustinus, entitled:

A SACRIFICE TO GOD IS A CONTRITE SPIRIT

 

I acknowledge my transgression, says David. If I admit my fault, then you will pardon it. Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon. But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others. This was not the way that David showed us how to pray and make amends to God, when he said: I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. He did not concentrate on others' sins; he turned his thoughts upon himself. He did not merely stroke the surface, but he plunged inside and went deep down within himself. He did not spare himself, and therefore was not impudent in asking to be spared.

Do you want God to be appeased? Learn what you are to do that God may be pleased with you. Consider the psalm again: If you wanted sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; in burnt offerings you will take no delight. Are you then to be without sacrifice? Are you to offer nothing? Will you please God without an offering? Consider what you read in the same psalm: If you wanted sacrifice, I would indeed have given it, in burnt offerings you will take no delight. But continue to listen, and say with David: A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God does not despise a contrite and humble heart. Cast aside you former offerings, for now you have found out what you are to offer. In the days of your fathers, you would have made offerings of cattle - these were the sacrifices. If you wanted sacrifice, I would indeed have given it. These then, Lord, you do not want, and yet you do want sacrifice.

You will take no delight in burnt offerings, David says. If you will not take delight in burnt offerings, will you remain without sacrifice? Not at all. A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; God does not despise a contrite and humble heart.

You now have the offering you are to make. No need to examine the herd, no need to outfit ships and travel to the most remote provinces in search of incense. Search within your heart for what is pleasing to God. Your heart must be crushed. Are you afraid that it might perish so? You have the reply: Create a clean heart in me, O God. For a clean heart to be created, the unclean one must be crushed.

We should be displeased with ourselves when we commit sin, for sin is displeasing to God. Sinful though we are, let us at least be like God in this, that we are displeased at what displeases him. In some measure then you will be in harmony with God's will, because you find displeasing in yourself what is abhorrent to your Creator. 

WOULDEST THOU BEAR THE BLOOD OF CHRIST?

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

 Scrutatio 

for the 

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF THE LAMB

(July 1, 2015. Wednesday)

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

 Exodus 12:21-27 or 24:3-8 / Psalm 40 or 116 / Hebrews 9:11-15 or 12:18-19 and 22-24, or I Peter 1:17-21 or I John 5:4-8 / Mark 14:12-16 and 22-26 or 15:16-20, or Luke 22:39-44 or John 19:31-37 

 

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

 Exodus 12:21-27 or 24:3-8 / Psalms 40:2+4ab, 7-8a, 8b-9 and 10 or 116:12-13, 15+16bc and 17-18 / Hebrews 9:11-15 or 12:18-19 and 22-24, or I Peter 1:17-21 or I John 5:4-8 / Mark 14:12-16 and 22-26 or 15:16-20, or Luke 22:39-44 or John 19:31-37  

 

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Revelations 5:9-10 and Psalm 89:1 

Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15

Gradual and Alleluia: I John 5:6-8 and 9

Tract: Ephesians 1:6-8 and Romans 3:24-25

Gospel 

John 19:30-35

Offertory: 

I Corinthians 10:16

Communion Antiphon: Hebrews 9:28

For today’s FEAST let us meditate on this 4^th century A.D. Homily:

From the Sermon of John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople from the year 398 to the year 404 A.D.

(Homilia 84. in Joannem, cap. 19.)

WOULDEST THOU BEAR THE BLOOD OF CHRIST?

Wouldest thou hear the power of the Blood of Christ? Then let us look at the figure thereof, let us call to mind the old type, and tell the story written in the ancient Scriptures. The Egyptians would not let God take away Israel His firstborn, And Moses said Thus saith the Lord About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill, and all the first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast that ye may know how that the Lord hath put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Ex. xi. 4-7. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood.. and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. xii. 21-23. And could the blood of a sheep save a man Yea, in good sooth not because it was blood, but because it represented in a figure the Blood of the Lord.

THE MARTYRS REALIZED WHAT THEY TAUGHT

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

THE MARTYRS REALIZED WHAT THEY TAUGHT

Scrutatio 

for the 

FEAST OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL

(June 29, 2015, Monday)

 

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Ezekiel 34:11-16 / Psalm 87

 / II Timothy 4:1-8

 / John 21:15-19

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Acts 12:1-11 / 

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9.

 / 

II Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 / Matthew 16:13-19

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Acts 12:11 and Psalm 139:1-2 

Epistle: Acts 12:1-11

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 45:16-17 and Matthew 16:18

Gospel 

Matthew 16:13-19

Offertory: 

Psalm 45:16-17

Communion Antiphon: Matthew 16:18

For today's Feast of the Holy Apostles of the Church of Christ in Rome (Romans 1:8, 16:16, and this article) let us meditate on this Homily of the 4th Century Bishop of Hippo Regius (Modern day Annaba, Algeria), His Excellency, the Most Reverend Father in God, Aurelius Augustinus entitled:

THE MARTYRS REALIZED WHAT THEY TAUGHT

This day has been made holy by the passion of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. We are, therefore, not talking about some obscure martyrs. For their voice has gone forth to all the world, and to the ends of the earth their message. These martyrs realized what they taught: they pursued justice, they confessed the truth, they died for it.

Saint Peter, the first of the apostles and a fervent lover of Christ, merited to hear these words: I say to you that you are Peter, for he had said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Christ said: And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church. On this rock I will build the faith that you now confess, and on your words: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my Church. For you are Peter, and the name Peter comes frompetra, the word for “rock,” and not vice versa. “Peter” comes, therefore, from petra, just as “Christian” comes from Christ.

As you are aware, Jesus chose his disciples before his passion and called them apostles; and among these almost everywhere Peter alone deserved to represent the entire Church. And because of that role which he alone had, he merited to hear the words: To you I shall give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. For it was not one man who received the keys, but the entire Church considered as one. Now insofar as he represented the unity and universality of the Church, Peter’s preeminence is clear from the words: To you I give, for what was given was given to all. For the fact that it was the Church that received the keys of the kingdom of God is clear from what the Lord says elsewhere to all the apostles: Receive the Holy Spirit, adding immediately, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you retain, they are retained.

Rightly then did the Lord after his resurrection entrust Peter with the feeding of his sheep. Yet he was not the only disciple to merit the feeding of the Lord’s sheep; but Christ in speaking only to one suggests the unity of all; and so he speaks to Peter, because Peter is first among the apostles. Therefore do not be disheartened, Peter; reply once, reply twice, reply a third time. The triple confession of your love is to regain what was lost three times by your fear. You must loose three times what you bound three times; untie by love that which your fear bound. Once, and again, and a third time did the Lord entrust his sheep to Peter.

Both apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles’ blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their preaching and their confession of faith. 

WE PROCLAIM CHRIST TO THE WHOLE WORLD

 SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

A Scrutatio for 5^th Sunday of the CHRISTIAN SEASON OF ORDINARY TIME/TIME OF THE CHURCH

 

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 / Psalm 122 / II  Corinthians 8:1-9 and 13-15 / Mark 5:21-24 and 35-43 

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Wisdom of King Solomon 1:13-15 and 2:23-24 / Psalm 30:2+4, 5-6 and 11-12a+13b / II Corinthians 8:7, 9 and 13-15 /  Mark 5:21-43

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Psalm 27:7-9 and 1 

Epistle: I Peter 3:8-15

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 84:9, 8 and 21:1

Gospel 

Matthew 5:20-24

Offertory: 

Psalm 16:7-8

Communion Antiphon: Psalm 27:4

An excerpt taken from the Homily of the Blessed Servant of God, Pope Paul VI, during the occasion of the Celebration of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Divine Liturgy of the Most Sublime Sacrifice of the Mass at the Quezon Memorial Circle, offered at the last day of His Holiness' Apostolic Visit to the Philippines on November 30, 1970 A.D. :    

 

WE PROCLAIM CHRIST TO THE WHOLE WORLD

 

Not to preach the Gospel would be my undoing, for Christ himself sent me as his apostle and witness. The more remote, the more difficult the assignment, the more my love of God spurs me on. I am bound to proclaim that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God. Because of him we come to know the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn of all creation; in him all things find their being. Man’s teacher and redeemer, he was born for us, died for us, and for us he rose from the dead.

All things, all history converges in Christ. A man of sorrow and hope, he knows us and loves us. As our friend he stays by us throughout our lives; at the end of time he will come to be our judge; but we also know that he will be the complete fulfilment of our lives and our great happiness for all eternity.

I can never cease to speak of Christ for he is our truth and our light; he is the way, the truth and the life. He is our bread, our source of living water who allays our hunger and satisfies our thirst. He is our shepherd, our leader, our ideal, our comforter and our brother.

He is like us but more perfectly human, simple, poor, humble, and yet, while burdened with work, he is more patient. He spoke on our behalf; he worked miracles; and he founded a new kingdom: in it the poor are happy; peace is the foundation of a life in common; where the pure of heart and those who mourn are uplifted and comforted; the hungry find justice; sinners are forgiven; and all discover that they are brothers.

The image I present to you is the image of Jesus Christ. As Christians you share his name; he has already made most of you his own. So once again I repeat his name to you Christians and I proclaim to all men: Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, Lord of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we play in it. He is the mediator – the bridge, if you will – between heaven and earth. Above all he is the Son of man, more perfect than any man, being also the Son of God, eternal and infinite. He is the son of Mary his mother on earth, more blessed than any woman. She is also our mother in the spiritual communion of the mystical body.

Remember: it is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and re-echo for all time even to the ends of the earth.