Friday 12 December 2008
Friday of the 2nd week of Advent
or Our Lady of Guadalupe

About today

· Email | Your website: Banners · Syndication (RSS feed)
Your PC or Mac: Download/Install | Mobile phone: WAP | Handheld: AvantGo · Download/Install

Tomorrow: Saint Lucy, Virgin, Martyr
NEW: Universalis for the iPhone

Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.

A suitable hymn may be inserted at this point.

Psalm 37 (38)
The plea of a sinner in great peril
Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, do not ruin me in your anger: for I am pierced by your arrows and crushed beneath your hand. In the face of your anger there is no health in my body. There is no peace for my bones, no rest from my sins. My transgressions rise higher than my head: a heavy burden, they weigh me down. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 37 (38)

The plea of a sinner in great peril

Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath,
do not ruin me in your anger:
for I am pierced by your arrows
and crushed beneath your hand.

In the face of your anger
there is no health in my body.
There is no peace for my bones,
no rest from my sins.
My transgressions rise higher than my head:
a heavy burden, they weigh me down.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Psalm 37 (38)
My wounds are corruption and decay because of my foolishness. I am bowed down and bent, bent under grief all day long. For a fire burns up my loins, and there is no health in my body. I am afflicted, utterly cast down, I cry out from the sadness of my heart. Lord, all that I desire is known to you; my sighs are not hidden from you. My heart grows weak, my strength leaves me, and the light of my eyes – even that has gone. My friends and my neighbours keep far from my wounds. Those closest to me keep far away, while those who would kill me set traps, those who would harm me make their plots: they plan mischief all through the day. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 37 (38)

My wounds are corruption and decay
because of my foolishness.
I am bowed down and bent,
bent under grief all day long.

For a fire burns up my loins,
and there is no health in my body.
I am afflicted, utterly cast down,
I cry out from the sadness of my heart.

Lord, all that I desire is known to you;
my sighs are not hidden from you.
My heart grows weak, my strength leaves me,
and the light of my eyes – even that has gone.

My friends and my neighbours
keep far from my wounds.
Those closest to me keep far away,
while those who would kill me set traps,
those who would harm me make their plots:
they plan mischief all through the day.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Psalm 37 (38)
But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; like one who is dumb, I do not open my mouth. I am like someone who cannot hear, in whose mouth there is no reply. For in you, Lord, I put my trust: you will listen to me, Lord, my God. For I have said, “Let them never triumph over me: if my feet stumble, they will gloat.” For I am ready to fall: my suffering is before me always. For I shall proclaim my wrongdoing: I am anxious because of my sins. All the time my enemies live and grow stronger; they are so many, those who hate me without cause. Returning evil for good they dragged me down, because I followed the way of goodness. Do not abandon me, Lord: my God, do not leave me. Hurry to my aid, O Lord, my saviour. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 37 (38)

But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
like one who is dumb, I do not open my mouth.
I am like someone who cannot hear,
in whose mouth there is no reply.

For in you, Lord, I put my trust:
you will listen to me, Lord, my God.
For I have said, “Let them never triumph over me:
if my feet stumble, they will gloat.”

For I am ready to fall:
my suffering is before me always.
For I shall proclaim my wrongdoing:
I am anxious because of my sins.

All the time my enemies live and grow stronger;
they are so many, those who hate me without cause.
Returning evil for good they dragged me down,
because I followed the way of goodness.

Do not abandon me, Lord:
my God, do not leave me.
Hurry to my aid,
O Lord, my saviour.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Reading	Isaiah 27:1-13 ©
That day, sing of the delightful vineyard! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it for fear its leaves should fall; night and day I watch over it. I am angry no longer. If thorns and briars come I will declare war on them, I will burn them every one. Or if they would shelter under my protection, let them make their peace with me, let them make their peace with me. In the days to come, Jacob will put out shoots, Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit. Has he beaten her as he beat those who beat her? Has he murdered her as he murdered those who murdered her? You have punished it with expulsion and exile; he pursued it with a blast as fierce as the wind from the east. Now here is how Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, here is the ransom for its sin: he treats all the altar stones like lumps of chalk that are ground to powder. Sacred poles and solar pillars stand no longer, for the fortified city is abandoned now, it lies deserted, forsaken as a wilderness. There the herd grazes, there it rests and browses on the branches. The boughs are dry and broken, women come and use them for firewood; for this is a nation without understanding and so its Maker will have no pity for it, he that shaped it will show it no favour. That day, the Lord will start his threshing from the course of the River to the wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, sons of Israel. That day, the great trumpet will be sounded, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, and those exiled to the land of Egypt, and they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.

Reading

Isaiah 27:1-13 ©

That day,
sing of the delightful vineyard!
I, the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it
for fear its leaves should fall;
night and day I watch over it.

I am angry no longer.
If thorns and briars come
I will declare war on them,
I will burn them every one.
Or if they would shelter under my protection,
let them make their peace with me,
let them make their peace with me.

In the days to come, Jacob will put out shoots,
Israel will bud and blossom
and fill the whole world with fruit.
Has he beaten her as he beat those who beat her?
Has he murdered her as he murdered those who murdered her?
You have punished it with expulsion and exile;
he pursued it with a blast as fierce as the wind from the east.
Now here is how Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
here is the ransom for its sin:
he treats all the altar stones
like lumps of chalk that are ground to powder.
Sacred poles and solar pillars stand no longer,
for the fortified city is abandoned now,
it lies deserted,
forsaken as a wilderness.
There the herd grazes,
there it rests and browses on the branches.
The boughs are dry and broken,
women come and use them for firewood;
for this is a nation without understanding
and so its Maker will have no pity for it,
he that shaped it will show it no favour.

That day, the Lord will start his threshing
from the course of the River to the wadi of Egypt,
and you will be gathered one by one,
sons of Israel.
That day, the great trumpet will be sounded,
and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,
and those exiled to the land of Egypt,
and they will worship the Lord
on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.

Reading	A treatise against the heresies, by St Irenaeus
Eve and Mary
The Lord, coming into his own creation in visible form, was sustained by his own creation which he himself sustains in being. His obedience on the tree of the cross reversed the disobedience at the tree in Eden; the good news of the truth announced by an angel to Mary, a virgin subject to a husband, undid the evil lie that seduced Eve, a virgin espoused to a husband. As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve. Christ gathered all things into one, by gathering them into himself. He declared war against our enemy, crushed him who at the beginning had taken us captive in Adam, and trampled on his head, in accordance with God’s words to the serpent in Genesis: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall lie in wait for your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel. The one lying in wait for the serpent’s head is the one who was born in the likeness of Adam from the woman, the Virgin. This is the seed spoken of by Paul in the letter to the Galatians: The law of works was in force until the seed should come to whom the- promise was made. He shows this even more clearly in the same letter when he says: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman. The enemy would not have been defeated fairly if his vanquisher had not been born of a woman, because it was through a woman that he had gained mastery over man in the beginning, and set himself up as man’s adversary. That is why the Lord proclaims himself the Son of Man, the one who renews in himself that first man from whom the race born of woman was formed; as by a man’s defeat our race fell into the bondage of death, so by a man’s victory we were to rise again to life.

Reading

A treatise against the heresies, by St Irenaeus

Eve and Mary

The Lord, coming into his own creation in visible form, was sustained by his own creation which he himself sustains in being. His obedience on the tree of the cross reversed the disobedience at the tree in Eden; the good news of the truth announced by an angel to Mary, a virgin subject to a husband, undid the evil lie that seduced Eve, a virgin espoused to a husband.
As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve.
Christ gathered all things into one, by gathering them into himself. He declared war against our enemy, crushed him who at the beginning had taken us captive in Adam, and trampled on his head, in accordance with God’s words to the serpent in Genesis: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall lie in wait for your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel.
The one lying in wait for the serpent’s head is the one who was born in the likeness of Adam from the woman, the Virgin. This is the seed spoken of by Paul in the letter to the Galatians: The law of works was in force until the seed should come to whom the- promise was made.
He shows this even more clearly in the same letter when he says: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman. The enemy would not have been defeated fairly if his vanquisher had not been born of a woman, because it was through a woman that he had gained mastery over man in the beginning, and set himself up as man’s adversary.
That is why the Lord proclaims himself the Son of Man, the one who renews in himself that first man from whom the race born of woman was formed; as by a man’s defeat our race fell into the bondage of death, so by a man’s victory we were to rise again to life.

Concluding Prayer
Almighty God, grant that your people may be watchful as they await the coming of your only-begotten Son so that as he himself taught us we may be ready with lighted lamps to meet him when he comes. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

January 2009
Wed 7	Wednesday after Epiphany Sunday or Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Priest
Thu 8
Fri 9
Sat 10
Sun 11	The Baptism of the Lord Feast
Mon 12	Monday of week 1 of the year or Saint Aelred of Rievaulx, Abbot
Tue 13	Tuesday of week 1 of the year or Saint Hilary, Bishop, Doctor
Wed 14
Thu 15

Calendar used: Europe - England

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. For on-line information about other Random House, Inc. books and authors, see the Internet web site at http://www.randomhouse.com.

Site sponsored by Cardbox – "The database for real people"