Universalis: Today

Thursday 4 December 2008
Thursday of the 1st week of Advent
or Saint John Damascene, Priest, Doctor

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Tomorrow: Friday of the 1st week of Advent
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Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come.

Saint John Damascene, priest, Doctor: He was born of a Christian family in Damascus in the second halt of the seventh century, where his father was a high official under the Umayyad caliph; a post which he inherited. When the Iconoclast movement (seeking to prohibit the veneration of icons) gained acceptance in the Byzantine court, John, being under Muslim rather than Byzantine rule, was able to write effective treatises attacking Iconoclasm and attacking the emperor for supporting it. At about this time he retired to the monastery of Saint Sabas near Jerusalem, where he became a monk and was ordained. He died in the middle of the eighth century.
He wrote many theological treatises in a dangerously clear and accessible style which made the issues understandable even by non-experts. His name was reviled and execrated by the imperial Iconoclast party even after his death. Sometimes known as “the last of the Church Fathers,” he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1883. See the article in Wikipedia.

Mid-morning reading (Terce)	Micah 5:3-4 ©
He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord, with the majesty of the name of his God. They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land. He himself will be peace.

Noon reading (Sext)	Haggai 2:6,9 ©
A little while now, and I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. The new glory of this Temple is going to surpass the old, and in this place I will give peace – it is the Lord of Hosts who speaks.

Afternoon reading (None)	Malachi 3:20-21 ©
For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays; you will leap like calves going out to pasture. You will trample on the wicked, who will be like ashes under your feet on the day I am preparing, says the Lord of Hosts.

December 2008
Wed 3	Saint Francis Xavier, Priest
Thu 4	Thursday of the 1st week of Advent or Saint John Damascene, Priest, Doctor
Fri 5
Sat 6	Saturday of the 1st week of Advent or Saint Nicholas, Bishop
Sun 7	2nd Sunday of Advent
Mon 8	The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Solemnity
Tue 9	Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Wed 10	Wednesday of the 2nd week of Advent
Thu 11	Thursday of the 2nd week of Advent or Saint Damasus I, Pope

Calendar used: United States

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.

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