CHRIST, KING AND PRIEST FOREVER

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

A Scrutatio for 4^th Sunday of the CHRISTIAN SEASON OF ORDINARY TIME/TIME OF THE CHURCH

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Job 38:1-11 and 16-18 / Psalm 107:1-32 / II Corinthians 5:14-21 / Mark 4:35-41

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

Job 38:1 and 8-11 / Psalm 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29 and 30-31 / II Corinthians 5:14-17 / Mark 4:35-41

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

Introit: Psalm 27:1-2 and 3

Epistle: Romans 8:18-23

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 79:9-10 and 9:7-9

Gospel 

Luke 5:1-11

Offertory: 

Psalm 13:3-4

Communion Antiphon:

 Psalm 18:2

From an excerpt taken from a Treatise on the Trinity, written by a Priest of the Gospel of our LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH (Romans 15:16), Faustinus Luciferanus, written on the year 380 A.D. :         

CHRIST, KING AND PRIEST FOREVER

Our Saviour received a bodily anointing and so became a true king and a true priest. Both king and priest he was of his very self; a saviour could be nothing less. Hear in his own words how he himself became a king: I have been appointed king by God on Zion his holy mountain. Hear in the Father’s words that he was a priest: You are a priest for ever in the line of Melchizedek. Aaron was the first under the law to be made a priest by being anointed with chrism, yet the Father does not say, “in the line of Aaron,” lest it be believed that the Saviour’s priesthood could be passed on by inheritance, for at that time Aaron’s priesthood was transmitted by lineal descent. But the Saviour’s priesthood is not inherited because this priest lives on for ever. Therefore Scripture says: You are a priest for ever in the line of Melchizedek.

There is, therefore, a saviour in the flesh who is both a king and a priest, though his anointing was not physical but spiritual. Among the Israelites, those kings and priests who were actually anointed with oil were either kings or priests. No man could be both king and priest; he had to be one or the other. Only Christ was both king and priest; because he had come to fulfil the law, he alone possessed the twofold perfection of kingship and priesthood.

Those who had been anointed with the oil of kingship or priesthood, although they received only one of these anointings, were called messiahs. Our Saviour, however, who is the Christ, was anointed by the Holy Spirit so that the passage in Scripture might be fulfilled: God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness and raised you above your companions. The difference, then, between the one Christ and the many christs is in the anointing, since he was anointed with the oil of gladness, which signifies nothing other than the Holy Spirit.

This we know to be true from the Saviour himself. When he took the book of Isaiah, he opened it and read: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. He then said that the prophecy was fulfilled in the hearing of those listening.

Peter, the prince of the apostles, also taught that the chrism which made the Saviour a christ was the Holy Spirit; that is to say, the power of God. When in the Acts of the Apostles Peter spoke to that faithful and merciful man, the centurion, he said among other things: After the baptism which John preached, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, started out in Galilee and travelled about performing powerful miracles, and freeing all who were possessed by the devil.

So you see that Peter too said that Jesus in his humanity was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. Thus Jesus in his humanity truly became the Christ. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he was made both king and priest for ever. 

LET OUR PRAYER COME FROM A HUMBLE HEART

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

A Scrutatio for the 3rd Sunday of the CHRISTIAN SEASON OF ORDINARY TIME/TIME OF THE CHURCH

 

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Ezekiel 31:1-6 and 10-14 / Psalm 92 / II Corinthians 5:1-10 / Mark 4:26-34

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

Ezekiel 17:22-24 / Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14 and 15-16 / II Corinthians 5:6-10 / Mark 4:26-34 

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

Introit: Psalm 25:16, 18 and 1-2 

Epistle: I Peter 5:6-11

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 55:23, 17, 19 and 7:11

Gospel 

Luke 15:1-10

Offertory: 

Psalm 9:10-12

Communion Antiphon: Luke 5:10

From an excerpt taken from a Treatise on the Lord's Prayer, written by the Bishop of Carthage sometime between July 248 and April 249 to his death as a Martyr, giving up his life as a witness to CHRIST, on September 14, 258, with his last words: "DEO GRATIAS (THANKS BE TO GOD)!" a fitting way to end one's life in the embrace of HIM WHO HAS GIVEN HIS VERY LIFE FOR OUR SALVATION! This excerpt is entitled:          

 

LET OUR PRAYER COME FROM A HUMBLE HEART

When we pray, our words should be calm, modest and disciplined. Let us reflect that we are standing before God. We should please him both by our bodily posture and the manner of our speech. It is characteristic of the vulgar to shout and make a noise, not those who are modest. On the contrary, they should employ a quiet tone in their prayer.

Moreover, in the course of his teaching, the Lord instructed us to pray in secret. Hidden and secluded places, even our own rooms, give witness to our belief that God is present everywhere; that he sees and hears all; that in the fullness of his majesty, he penetrates hidden and secret places. This is the teaching of Jeremiah: Am I God when I am near, and not God when I am far away? Can anyone hide in a dark corner without my seeing him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Another passage of Scripture says: The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, observing both good and wicked men.

The same modesty and discipline should characterize our liturgical prayer as well. When we gather to celebrate the divine mysteries with 'God's priest, we should not express our prayer in unruly words; the petition that should be made to God with moderation is not to be shouted out noisily and verbosely. For God hears our heart not our voice. He sees our thoughts; he is not to be shouted at. The Lord showed us this when he asked: Why do you think evil in your hearts? The book of Revelation testifies to this also: And all the churches shall know that I am the one who searches the heart and the desires.

Anna maintained this rule; in her observance of it she is an image of the Church. In the First Book of Kings we are told that she prayed quietly and modestly to God in the recesses of her heart. Her prayer was secret but her faith was evident. She did not pray with her voice, but with her heart, for she knew that in this way the Lord would hear her. She prayed with faith and obtained what she sought. Scripture makes this clear in the words: She was speaking in her heart; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard; and the Lord heard her prayer. The psalmist also reminds us: Commune within your own hearts, and in the privacy of your room express your remorse. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Through Jeremiah he suggests this: Say in your hearts: Lord, it is you that we have to worship.

My friends, anyone who worships should remember the way in which the tax-collector prayed in the temple alongside the Pharisee. He did not raise his eyes immodestly to heaven or lift up his hands arrogantly. Instead he struck his breast and confessing the sins hidden within his heart he implored the assistance of God's mercy. While the Pharisee was pleased with himself, the tax-collector deserved to be cleansed much more because of the manner in which he prayed. For he did not place his hope of salvation in the certainty of his own innocence; indeed, no one is innocent. Rather he prayed humbly, confessing his sins. And the Lord who forgives the lowly heard his prayer. 

I WISH YOU TO PLEASE GOD, AND NOT MEN

 SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

A Scrutatio for the 2nd Sunday of the CHRISTIAN SEASON OF ORDINARY TIME/TIME OF THE CHURCH

 

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer

Genesis 3:1-21 / Psalm 130 / II Corinthians 4:13-18 / Mark 3:20-35 

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

Genesis 3:9-15 / Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8 / II Corinthians 4:13—5:1 / Mark 3:20-35

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

Introit: Psalm 18:19 and 1-2 

Epistle: I John 3:13-18

Gradual and Alleluia: Psalm 120:1-2 and 18:3

Gospel 

Luke 14:16-24

Offertory: 

Psalm 7:6

Communion Antiphon:

 Psalm 13:6 

From an excerpt taken from the Letter to the Church in Rome written by the Bishop of Antioch from the year A.D. 70 to his death as a witness for CHRIST in A.D.107., Ignatius Theophorus (Θεοφόρος-God Bearing):

I WISH YOU TO PLEASE GOD, AND NOT MEN

Ignatius, called Theophorus, to the church which has found mercy in the generosity of the Father on high and of Jesus Christ, his only Son; to the church which is loved and enlightened by the Father, who wills all that exists in accordance with the love of Jesus Christ our God; to the Church which rules over the land of the Romans, a church worthy of God, worthy of honor and of praise, worthy to be called blessed, worthy to receive the answer to its prayer, pure, and preeminent in love among Christian communities, observing the law of Christ and bearing the Father's name; I greet this church in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Father. To those who were in union, body and soul, with his every command, and filled inalienably with the grace of God, and cleansed wholly from all foreign stain, I wish every blameless joy in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Through my prayers I have been granted the favor of seeing you, my holy brothers, face to face, as indeed I have constantly asked. I now hope to embrace you as a prisoner in Christ Jesus, provided that it is God's will for me to be found worthy to the end. For a good start has been made, if only I may gain the grace to secure my prize without hindrance. For I fear that your love may harm me. It is easy for you to do as you wish, but hard for me to attain to God if you should not allow me to be martyred. 

I wish you to please God and not men---as indeed you are doing. I shall never again have such an opportunity to get to God, nor will you, if you keep silent, ever have the credit for a greater achievement. If you keep silent about me, I become a word of  God; but if you love me in the flesh, I become a meaningless cry. Grant me no more than to be made a sacrifice to God while there is still an altar at hand. Thus you may form a choir of love and sing praise to the Father in Christ Jesus for so graciously summoning the bishop of Syria from the sun's rising to come to the place of its setting. It is a fine thing for me to set with the sun, leaving the world and going to God, that I may rise in him. 

Take and receive, O Lord, my liberty
Take all my will, my mind, my memory
All things I hold and all I own are Thine
Thine was the gift, to Thee I all resign

Do Thou direct and govern all and sway
Do what Thou wilt, command, and I obey
Only Thy grace, Thy love on me bestow
These make me rich, all else will I forego.